Surf Trip to Costa Rica from Pete Andersen, Team Manager.

Part Three

Well, we have been pretty busy the last few days. We are staying out in the boonies away from the crowds so I apologize for not being able to update this each day. The swell has been slowly increasing and the clouds have been slowly decreasing, which is nice.

Playa Negra has become our home base due to it's nice point break right out front and also a solid beach break just a few minutes walk away.
 Setting up camp in front of the beach break.

The evenings have been great at the beach break near Negra as the spot is at it's best as the tide comes up. Serfas has been able to get some solid shots between pedicures and Coconut Body Butter rubdowns.

Serfas workin hard.

The light in the evenings has been incredible. The last hour before the sun disappears is the prime time to try and get shots.

Ryan Cameron with one of the thousands of hermit crabs scattering around the beach.

Rodrigo 'The Caveman' Miranda enjoying the sun.

To try and find good surf without the crowds we opted to hire a boat to take us out to Witch's Rock and Ollie's Point. To make sure we got to the breaks at a decent time we had to wake up at 4am, drive for an hour and a half north, then take an hour long boat ride to get there. Funny enough, there was still a pretty solid line-up once we got there. Witch's Rock was blown out so we continued on to Ollie's point.

Sam Zuegner enjoying the boat ride.

Ollie's point is a point break about 20 miles south of the Nicaraguan boder. It is named after Oliver North because one of his drop off/jump points for moving illegal arms and cocaine to and from the Contras back in the 80's, is just a few miles away. It is actually the spot where the US authorities arrested him.


Ollie's Point.

With just a few days left we will be hoping for more sun, more waves, and of course, a win for the Oiler's in game 7.

Peace,

Pete Andersen

(Team Manager)         

Part Two

Been a few days, sorry. We are out in the boonies searching for waves and it is a little difficult to stay in touch with the world. We have hit up a few beaches around where we are staying, Avellanas, Negra, and a couple spots in between that I am told I am not allowed to discuss on here. These weird surfers and their secret spots and handshakes and shit. Ah well. A little mix up at the gas station ended with our Diesel van being filled with Diesel and me breaking down in Sketchville, population: 3. Two real gnarly ‘Ticos’ (locals) and me. 3 phone calls to Thrifty and $20 US for the Ticos later, I somehow got all sorted out. Mental note, even though you know how to say Diesel in Spanish (ironically it is spelt and pronounced the same as english), and it is written in big red letters across the fuel cap....it doesn’t mean the gas station attendant will figure it out.

Clouds and mediocre swell have put a damper on the productivity getting photos but the guys aren’t letting that stand in the way of a good time in Tamarindo after the sun goes down. An unnamed member of the crew remained behind to help a nice local girl home and had to be picked up again bright and early the next day. From the sounds of it the Tico’s don’t sleep in hammocks all the time.

Talk to you again soon.
Peace, Pete

Part One

     We are currently shooting the Spring '07 catalog in Costa Rica with Ripzone surfers Sam Zuegner, Ryan Cameron, Rodrigo Miranda and Powder Room surfer Catherine Temple. Scott Serfas, photographer extraordinaire, will be shooting the photos. Now the shots included here are mostly my own so don't think that Scott has gotten exponentially better at taking photos all of a sudden.

     Scott, Ryan, Cath and I flew to Houston from Vancouver where we met Sam, who had started his day in San Diego. We continued on to Liberia, Costa Rica where we met up with Rodrigo and rented a 12 passenger van to take us to the coast just south of Tamarindo. Rodrigo had his own little mini 4x4 SUV that he had rented so we followed him as he has spent a lot of time in Costa Rica and new the route.

     About halfway to our destination I did my best impression of a rally car driver as we got a little sideways at 80 kmh in the pissing rain on a pot-holed corner. Luckily the van straightened itself out and we continued on our way and arrived at the hotel Iguanazul exhausted from the trip and promptly passed out.

     Up early we enjoyed some breakfast and spent the day checking out the local breaks.

Catherine Temple and Ryan Cameron checking out the surf at Playa Negra

After an unbelievable sunset surf at Playa Negra we had some dinner and crashed out early as a 6 am start is planned for tomorrow morning.

Sunset at Playa Negra... meah, not bad.

Sam Zuegner caught lookin the wrong way after a sunset surf at Playa Negra.

The forecast looks amazing so we have our fingers crossed. Talk to you in a few days!

Peace, Pete