The riders have had a very eventful second half of the week. The surf has turned on for them and when I saw them last night for the diaries they had smiles like Garfield the cat. They'd been on a sneaky ‘free surf’ and had scored it just before sunset. We talked a lot about what they'd learned that week and how it had all started making sense.

Lukas, Anna and Toby all have their own boards now and are progressing quickly. We've been concentrating on making it through the impact zone and out the back to catch face waves and angle the take offs. The guys are working it out at their own rate but most important of all is they're out there and back in with the smiles.

Friday was also school day where the riders are attending the local school and helping out in the class rooms as well as with activities. This Friday was ‘beach day’ at Hermosa School and the guys were able to help out, acting as lifeguards for some of the younger kids as well as getting stuck in with other day to day school duties.

A well earned rest over this w/e and then its back on the water for more surf lessons on Monday for the start of week 3.

"Pura Vida"

George

The surf in the early part of the week was perfect for the guys, the swell was coming in at a good direction and so allowed the guys good rides as they stayed open and ran all the way to the beach. We´ve had it difficult of late with most of the waves closing out making ithard to get good rides.

The guys are still practicing the tasks I set them with angled take off and turning on the face. This is all really the beginning of the more advanced manoevres allowing them to really make the best of the unbroken waves out back. All are managing to get out back and they all understand and can read the waves and conditions very well.
We have sampled a couple of the other beaches to keep a variety going.

The second half of the week has seen unseasonal offshore winds (coming from the shore and into the waves) this normally would be welcome, the problem is the strength of that wind, it´s actually blowing quite hard and reminds me of my days in Wales.

The weather is still very hot sending the guys to their hammocks and the shade in the afternoons.
Lukas has turned out to be abit of a Chelsea fan and can always be found infront of the tv when they´re playing, let´s hope they don´t lose again, I can´t bare the long face.

Their have been some plans to go out and party but we haven´t managed it yet, the evening seem to end after some pool, all exhausted from all the water time.

Toby has shown himself to be a bit of a Robinson Crusoe, returning with arms full of coconuts and serving the juice up to everyone.

Lukas is getting good at ding repairs as he seems to keep dropping his board.
The only one who still manages to get out and party seems to be Anna, monday Reggae night seems to be a favourite.

We´re waiting on the new promised swell due in today, let´s hope we get those long rides going again.
Linley´s due in today so we´ve organized a bit of a bbq with nice fresh fish.

I´ll tell you alla bout that in the next blog.

G

Hello to all back in the UK, I’m writing this sitting by the bar after my first full day back in the Costa Rican heat, and I must say that the guys have all settle in extremely well. Gone are the wintered faces that I waved goodbye from Heathrow airport little more that 3 weeks ago. Anna, Loukas, and Toby are all supporting healthy tans, and have very comfortably adapted to the Costa Rican way of life.



Arriving only yesterday afternoon George had purchased some “Mahi Mahi” a local fish, which we grilled over an open beach fire watching the sunsetting, I couldn’t have asked for a better evening!

With it being a clear 30c every day the pace of life is slow out here, with days being spent surfing in the morning, and either taking part in some of the extra activities available in the afternoon, or simply getting stuck into the warm ocean waves again.


Under George’s expert guidance everybody’s surfing has developed impressively since the start of the trip, which bodes well with us only being halfway through.

We’ve got a busy week in store with lots of surfing, a quad journey, a snorkelling trip, and we have earmarked a slight delay in the road trip in order to attend the local Rodeo. The rodeo is a big part of the Costa Rica culture, and it sees the community pull together for a weekend of entertainment and skill, so the team have voted on a slight delay to the Road Trip so that we have the opportunity to stay for it.


Linley and George

The time is flying by over here, the guys have now completed their 4th week, but we have still got another 2 action packed ones to follow!

The waves have been really good these last few days, with the guys getting in by 7 30 every morning staying in for a couple of hours, and then finishing the day with another session of similar length. I’ve been seriously impressed by everyone’s abilities, the first waves I was Loukas get her flew along the face with a lot of speed, looking very composed! Toby had his best waves of the trip last night and was so excited that he was even whooping himself as he managed to shoot across the “glassy” sunset waves. Anna’s not one to be outdone by the boys, and is keeping them to their paces and is normally the last one out of the water, and the keenest to get back in.

George gave everyone a talk on "surfboards" yesterday afternoon. the different types, their history, different tails etc. it's always important to keep building up the all round knowledge of the sport, and all that comes with it!

We’ve delayed the snorkelling trip which was scheduled for today in order to take advantage of the good conditions, and are off on the quad bikes tomorrow to check out the nearby town of Montezuma which is one of the first settlements on the Nicoya Peninsula, where we’re going of for an adventurous ride through the maze of paths through the indigenous jungle hunting for the lost waterfalls, and the fountain of eternal youth (well, maybe not the fountain, and the waterfall never got lost, but its pretty impressive!)

Saturday’s Rodeo day which should be pretty exciting, and then it’s off on the Road Trip on Sunday; so we’ve got a real action packed few days in store!

I thought I’d finish this one with a little Rider’s prospective, and Toby kindly agreed to put together a few lines to finish up.

So it’s over and out from me, and over to Toby:

Hello I don’t know who I’m talking to this is Toby from Costa Rica. It’s real decent out here, some would say too hot but pretty much perfect with pool and beach in walking distance. Been doing a lot considering how lazy I feel most of the time! Surfing in the morning is normally better as there’s no wind but especially over the last few days the conditions have been real nice, pretty big, clean and glassy.

Another amazing thing about Costa Rica is the wildlife, you can sit on a hammock somewhere and see anything any everything from monkeys, iguanas and parrott to when your out surfing and you see fish skimming along next to you. And the other day we were pretty lucky we were sitting out back and saw a whale slapping its big tale on the water, which is something I never imagined I’d see in my life. Despite it being so hot and dry the plants are all blooming, compared to the dull grey of England theres every colour under the sun everwhere you look.

Had a real good night out the other day at what’s called a “Full Moon Party”. Have met a lot of people because everyone’s travelling and doing the same which is good. They’re all real friendly only hard thing is the language but were getting there! Foods way better than England as I was expecting basic just rice and beans but there’s a real good selection to suit all. Anyway’s an afternoon surf beckons! Have fun!!

Well guys, what can I say, we have been very busy since the last blog, so excuse the delay.

Since last week we set off on our Quad adventure over to Montezuma, we found the lost waterfalls and the guys had a great time jumping from the rocks into the sweet cool water, a very nice change from the salty warm sea water!

We trekked up to the waterfalls after a hearty breakfast of Gallo Pinto the local breakfast consisting of rice and beans with eggs. That was the fuel we needed to sustain us on our quest.
We spent a few hours there then made our way back to the waiting quads and headed back to Santa Teresa through a few other little villages along the dirt tracks and back roads which hug the south end of the peninsula along the reefy beaches and turquoise water.

Back at Santa Teresa in one piece though extremely dusty and tired from the fun day. We closed the day with a fun surf and another Costa Rican sunset.

The guys have improved so much since the conditions turned more favourable. The surf has been epic all week with perfect 3 to 4 foot clean waves with no wind at all on some days for the whole day.

Saturday morning was another great surf of the same size. I set the guys a few tasks they had to deal with while surfing, namely position on the waves and stance, just some tweaking of the finer points, the guys are of a great level now but we can still do some fine tuning to get rid of the less desireable habits they might have picked up when not concentrating, things like making sure the knees stay bent when dropping down the face of the wave and most importantly looking in the direction you want to travel along the wave and choosing the right lines to make sure you get nice long rides. No need to say the guys excelled at all the tasks set and had a great time achieving them.

The guys all got freshened up and by 4 pm we all headed off to the Rodeo in Cobano, the nearby town.

I’m going to hand you over to Loukas who’s going to take you through the evening:

Hi all, Loukas here. So we arrived to the rodeo via taxi. There was a real local feel to it all which was nice, not too many tourists!!! The team seemed to head straight to the unhealthy stalls full of snacks and ice cream with a nice cold cerveca on the side. After checking everything out we went to collect our tickets to enter the area. The rodeo took its time to get started, introducing all the riders to us etc. After an hour of sitting down and the locals shouting in our face trying to sell more snacks it was time for the entry of the first bull. We thought it was wise to sit in the seated area for the first couple of rides just to suss how dangerous these bulls were. Then that time came, Linley says ‘who’s up for it?’ So we headed down inside of the ring, staying nice and close to the exit marked in yellow, later on we get a little more adventurous, edging nearer to the gate where the bull enters which was great fun. After a while we think its time to head back home when they release a smaller more feisty bull loose into the ring so we watched on the bull knocking over the crazy locals. We called it a night after that knowing we had an early start for the road trip the next morning, so picked up a few drinks and headed back. Overall it was a really entertaining night.

On Sunday we started our Road trip up the coast. We loaded the 4x4s and have driven up through the area of Nosara where we just stayed for one night, and we are now up at a place called Tamarindo. It’s great to see some of the different towns, as we had all grown very comfortable in Santa Teresa. We’ve got a really nice 3 bedroom apartment with a pool and a/c, so it’s great to all be living with each other. We’ve had a few good waves here, but fingers crossed things are going to keep getting better tomorrow!

George, Linley, Anna, Toby and Loukas