Wave | Hostels and Hot Rollers

Yes, the unthinkable happened. The only bright side is that it prompted our dear friend Shaun to write another post…

I may not know surfing…but I think it’s supposed to be in one piece.

Well today is a day I would rather forget. I hardly got any sleep last night thinking about my surf the next morning. I was going to be all over the lefts and was so excited. Consequently I got a terrible sleep, but whatever, I checked the beach first thing and it looked good. Winds were even slightly offshore. I went out at low tide when it is supposed to be quite good at Santa Teresa.

It wasn’t all that crowded either and I was stoked. I got a couple smaller waves right away. It was a nice little warm up. It seemed the smaller ones had better shape to them and you had to be quite selective with the bigger waves as they would often close out.

I was sitting in a sparce line up as a set came in, and I wasn’t in the best spot. I tried to paddle over to the peak before it arrived, but ended up just teatering for awhile. I finally gave up as it seemed too late and about to close out. Unfortunately I dragged too far in I was in a bad spot for the other set waves. I paddled like mad and tried to get under the next wave. There was a guy dropping in, so I had to head towards the impact area to try and stay out of his way.My duck dive wasn’t so successful.

devastating…

After a short bounce around, I feverishly tried to get back my tombstoning board to get under the next wave. Just as I got it, the next wave was about to break and I just dove under. I came up and quickly grabbed my board, or half my board. The other half caught the wave and made it to shore. It was devastating and so demoralizing. In a few weeks I’d grown attached to that board and was, although getting my ass kicked at times, loving the waves at Santa Teresa.

Its been big since the day I arrived and I have to paddle way more but its nice to surf decent waves… I’m from Canada so my expectations are low… Anyways, I slogged my way to the beach where a local kindly was holding the rest of my board with a huge grin. He apologetically gave it back and I did the big walk of pity back up the beach and to the hostel.

While walking back I kept thinking the board was a little too big anyways. It would have been good for the following week in Grande and Tamarindo though. I was less bummed thinking of the prospect of getting a smaller board.

When I got back the hostel owner had a look and figured I could easily

Walk of Shame

get it fixed. I checked out the used boards at almost all the shops in town, and it was slim pickings, Tamarindo had better options. However, it turns out there is a board shaper in town. Denis of Denga Surf Shop had a look and figured he could fix it since it was a clean break. He said it will be a lot stiffer afterwards but something tells me that with my surfing, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. I figure I can use it in the upcoming weeks with the smaller surf. After that I can either sell it or keep it.

On a side note, Denga Surf Shop builds there own boards and has a lot to choose from. It’s a nice shop. I think its about 20 days to get a board custom made. The new boards that he has in stock are going for about $400 to $450 which is a wicked deal compared to the used boards here that people are trying sell for $250 plus. If you are in Santa Teresa and buying a board make sure you check out Denga. I don’t recommend buying a new board if you are travelling around because it will get thrashed (or snapped), but they have some good options if you’re here long term.

This day may have sucked, and I may have bought a case of beer and nearly have it downed, but I’m in Costa Rica surfing nearly every day, and I’m here with the love of my life. Things are pretty damn good. Pura f’in vida eh! and go nucks go… 7 straight.

So there you have it! We cut it pretty close with the board repair. We ended up heading a couple days after it broke, and left the board in Santa Teresa to be fixed. The board was going to be sent in a cab when it was done. We sat outside our hotel for hours waiting, Shaun’s knuckles getting whiter and whiter. We were leaving for the 5 hour drive back to Tamarindo early the next day so it was now or never. I watched Shaun got more and more stressed out, calling the board shop, and our previous hostel to try and track it down. Thankfully, around 7:45pm the cab pulled up. I think we both felt equal relief!