Two of Costa Rica’s best surfers, Noe Mar McGonagle and Carlos “Cali” Muñoz had another great session at the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, California where they both managed to qualify to the fourth round. Carlos Muñoz, described by the WSL site today as “the embodiment of the pura vida surfing life”, showed his surfing skills today and scored one of the best waves in the day, which e...

Leilani McGonagle and Emily Gussoni concluded their participation in the US Open of Surfing where they took part of the Supergirl WQS 6,000 that took place at “Surf City”, Huntington Beach in California. McGonagle finished in ninth place making it to Round 6 of the event. Unfortunately Emily Gussoni didn’t make it past round 2 of the event. The Supergirl event had a total of 128 participan...

Six Costa Rican surfers will take part in the biggest surfing event in the world, the Vans US Open of Surfing, that will be held July 31 through August 6 at “Surf City”, Huntington Beach in California The event includes four World Surf League (WSL) events; the men who take part of the Qualifying Series (QS) are going after 10,000 valuable points toward the Championship Tour Qualification. Car...

Jason Torres from Jacó and 12-year-old Valentina Resano from Nicaragua are the National Surfing Champions 2017. The Reef Final of the “Kölbi” National Surfing Tournament took place this weekend at Hermosa Beach, Puntarenas and left two new National Champions, Valentina Resano and Jason Torres in the open female and male categories respectively. Torres and Resano took the titles that until to...

In July, a suit was filed with the Costa Rican Administrative Litigation Tribunal requesting the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC, its initials in Spanish) and the Ministry of the Environment and Energy (MINAE) undertake a scientific study to determine whether or not there is an over-population of crocodiles in the country. Each year there are at least a few human encounters with cr...

Hermosa Beach in Puntarenas will be witness to the final date of the “Kölbi” Surfing Tournament that will take place July 21, 22 and 23. After 5 dates of competition, the National Surfing Tournament comes to an end and the weekend is expected to have not just great surfing but also great entertainment. On Friday, July 21st after the different competitions there’s a concert scheduled at the B...

A group of Costa Ricans with a passion for science, the environment and surf have been working on a way to replace the polyurethane (a polymer and the fifth type of plastic most used in the world) found in surfboards for another more environmentally friendly material. Surfboards are generally made with polyurethane foam blank, fiberglass and polyester resin. The contamination caused by a surfbo...

With the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Central Pacific county of Garabito is the first in Costa Rica to implement a public policy on controlling and monitoring plastics on its beaches, said the international agency yesterday. The beaches of Jacó, Hermosa, Herradura, Tárcoles and Guacalillo will be jointly monitored by surfers and the municipal government to fight...

Jacó beach offered great conditions for the competitors at the fifth date of the Kolbi National Surf Tournament this weekend; it was a Canadian-Costa Rican, Sean Foerster who took the first place in the male open category while Costa Rican Lisbeth Vindas won in the female open. 18-year-old Foerster from Samara, Guanacaste, won for the first time in the Open category and added his name to the fa...

As is typical around the new moon, tides will be higher than usual starting tomorrow and lasting until around Wednesday of next week on both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts of Costa Rica, detailed a report by Omar G. Lizano Rodríguez, coordinator of the Oceanographic Information Module (MIO, its initials in Spanish) at the University of  Costa Rica's Center for Research in Marine Sciences and Lim...

Jaco will be the scenario of the fifth date of the “Kölbi” Surfing Tournament, and for the first time ever the Surfing Federation will be implementing random doping tests to the participating athletes. “It is a pleasure for the Federation to announce to the country that our surfing just like the rest of the Olympic disciplines will be seeking transparency and fair play through the use of doping...

Roca Bruja or Witch Rock in Playa Naranjo, Guanacaste is one of the best surfing spots in Costa Rica, very well-known among local surfers but not as promoted for tourists who many times come and go without ever hearing about his fantastic spot. Roca Bruja originally Peña Bruja, Playa Naranjo is part of the Santa Rosa National Park, there are no constructions here or infrastructure of any sort e...

Costa Rica’s National Surfing Team concluded its participation in the ISA World Surfing Games in Biarritz, France having only earned one bronze medal, which was won by Leilani McGonagle; however, the overall participation left the country in position 9 among the 47 participating countries. Costa Rica has managed to stay in the top 10 since 2004. The medal won by Leilani and the good participa...

Costa Rican surfer Leilani McGonagle won the bronce medal in the ISA World Surfing Games in France. McGonagle earned her pass to the semifinals yesterday, and competed early this morning to take the first place in her heat, getting to the finals where she faced Bianca Buitendag from South Africa and locals Pauline Ado and Johanne Defay. Ado took the gold with a score of 12.17 points, followe...

In the second day of competition in Biarrtiz, France at the ISA World Surfing Games, the female competitors of “La Sele de Surf”, Costa Rica National Surfing Team, had a sweet and sour outing. Leilani McGonagle finished round 2 with a total score of 11.73 beating Minami Nonaka from Japan (9.74), Marion Philippe from Tahiti (7.37) and Russian Irina Kosokubina (4.27). In round 3 McGonagle dropped...

Costa Rica’s National Surf team finally got their boards and gear in Biarrtiz, France where they have been since Tuesday to take part on the ISA World Surfing Games. Yesterday the organization of the event informed that the first three days of competition will be for the female competitions, so in other words Leilani McGonagle and Emily Gussoni, female representatives of Costa Rica began compe...

The Costa Rica National Surf Team arrived to Biarrtiz, France this past Tuesday to represent the country at the ISA World Surfing Games that will have its opening ceremony this Saturday, May 20, while the competition will officially kick off on Sunday. The team, formed by Jason Torres (Jacó), Jair Pérez (Jacó), Leonardo Calvo (Puntarenas), Anthoy Fillingim (Santa Teresa), Leilani McGonagle (Pa...

Anthony Fillingim took the male open competition while Leilani McGonagle was the winner in the female open in the fourth date of the “Kölbi” National Surf Tournament that took place in Playa Guiones, Nosara, Guanacaste. Fillingim, was in the fourth position when he reached the final and needed an 8.83 to take the first place, he caught the perfect wave at the right time and scored a 9.17 with o...

The fourth date of the “Kölbi” National Surf Tournament is happening this weekend in Playa Guiones,Nosara,Guanacaste. Jason Torres from Jacó took the first place of the open competition during the third date in Santa Teresa de Cóbano which was held on April 22-23; Zulay Martínez was the winner in the female open category. The event will also offer concerts for the entertainment of the attend...

The “Beach Break” at Banana Beach in Santa Teresa de Cóbano, Puntarenas, provided the perfect waves for the competitors to showcase their skills and for the audience to witness a great show during the third date of the “Kölbi” National Surf Tournament, OTIS Cup, especially on Saturday. 2-meter-high waves (6 feet), allowed for a very close competition among the 161 participants that started ou...

The “Kölbi” National Surf Tournament will have its third date this weekend in Santa Teresa de Cóbano, Puntarenas. Some of the best surfers in the country participate in this competition with the goal of being called to be part of the National Surfing Team that will represent the country in the International Surfing Association (ISA) World Championship which will take place in France this May. ...

Finding the perfect wave has been called a mystic experience by surfers, many of whom comb the world’s beaches in search of unbeatable breaks. A recent study by Sydney University economist Sam Wills and Thomas McGregor of Oxford University, good waves are a valuable commodity. “We find that surfing waves contribute approximately US$50 billion to global economic activity each year,” said the res...

The International Life Saving Federation (ILS) in conjunction with the International Surfing Association (ISA) granted Costa Rica the International License that makes it one of three countries in the world to be certified and authorized to offer training in Aquatic Rescues; this training will be taught by surf and stand-up-paddle (SUP) instructors certified as lifeguards and trained in water rescu...

The first date of the “Kölbi” National Surf Tournament which took place in Dominical Beach this weekend gathered almost 170 competitors, one of the highest numbers in participation for this tournament. Some of the most popular faces of Costa Rican surf were unable to attend due to their participation in different international events. For this first date it was Jason Torres former national c...

The “Kölbi” National Surf Tournament will have kick start its seventeenth edition this January 21st and 22nd at Dominical Beach; in total this event will have six different dates, visiting the main four ocean sites in Costa Rica: North Pacific, South Pacific, Central Pacific and the Caribbean: January 21 and 22 Dominical Beach March 25 and 26 Puerto Viejo April 22 and 23 Santa Teresa May 20 ...

Lima, Dec. 30 — This capital's La Pampilla beach has become the first in Peru and in Latin America with night-time lighting, an improvement the municipal government says aims to encourage the country's world-class surfers to extend their activity past sunset. Starting this week, 1,000-watt LED lights atop four posts 18 meters (59 ft) high will illuminate the shoreline in the Lima district of Mira...

The Central American Surfing Games came to an end today in Jaco, and Costa Rica’s team took the crown for the 11th time with 15,503 points followed by Guatemala with a total of 10,770 points. In the individual categories Costa Rica achieved four gold medals in: Open Male, Open Female, Junior Male and Male U16. Nicaragua took home two gold medals in categories Junior Female and Female U16 while S...

The Central American Surfing Games kick off today with the opening ceremony that will take place at the Jaco Beach Best Western Hotel, this private event will be hosted by the Costa Rican Surfing Federation represented by its President, Randall Chaves. Competitions will begin Friday at 7 a.m. and will extend through the weekend with the participation of the delegations of: Nicaragua, Panama, E...

Costa Rican surfer drowns while surfing in Puntarenas The Red Cross found Saturday the body of 15 year old Campbell Cardoza, a local surfer that went missing on Friday while surfing in Banana Beach, Santa Teresa de Cóbano, Puntarenas. Apparently Cardoza was surfing at around 4 p.m. on Friday when he was hit by a tourist’s long-board which caused him to drown, the body was found approximatel...

Costa Rica's Surfing Federation announced the list of wwenty athletes in 7 different categories that have been selected to be part of Costa Rica’s National Surfing Team and will represent the country in the upcoming Central America Surfing Games. Aspects taken into consideration when selecting the participant athletes included their individual performance during the National Circuit Kolbi 2016, ...

The eleventh edition of the Central American Surfing Games will be back to Costa Rica after five years. The last time Costa Rica hosted this event was back in 2011 at Hermosa Beach, prior to that it had been done in 2006 in Esterillos Centro. This time around the stage selected is Jaco Beach. Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Costa Rica will be participating in this edition that ...

The World Surf League Qualifying Series Essential Costa Rica Open Pro came to an end today after 5 days of competition and a lot of good waves, excitement and even crocodiles. Costa Rica’s Noe Mar McGonagle got to the semi-final but was unable to qualify to the final, after getting a score of 6.87 for his last wave when he needed a 7.01. Noe Mar competed against a very tough opponent, Ethan Ewi...

With no crocodiles making an appearance in Esterillos today, the male and female quarterfinals of the WSL Essential Costa Rica Open Pro are defined, only one Costa Rican went through to this stage in the competition, Noe Mar McGonagle, Carlos Muñoz was eliminated in Round 5 and female competitors, Emily Gussoni, Coral Wiggins, Lisbeth Vindas and Leilani McGonagle all were eliminated in round 2. ...

The Essential Costa Rica Open Pro is in its third day of action and for the second time in these three days a delay occurred because of the presence of a crocodile in the water. Round 5 of the male competition was underway when Brazilian surfer Tales Rodrígues alerted of the presence of the reptile, which he later told Surfline website was about the size of his surf board. Immediately the ...

The second day of competition of the Essential Costa Rica Open Pro 3000 at Esterillos Este beach in Parrita, Puntarenas, came to an end, and out of the starting 224 competitors there’s only 96 left (64 men, and 32 women). The level of competition is high, today after round 3 concluded, 4 male Costa Rican athletes continue in competition: Jason Torres, Noe Mar McGonagle, Jair Pérez and Cali Muñ...

With all the news about Costa Rican surfer Leilani McGonagle and her recent bronce medal at the ISA Junior World Championship, we can’t help but wonder where in Costa Rica Leilani and her brother Noe Mar have learned to surf; the answer: Pavones in Puntarenas. According to La Nacion Revista Dominical, Sean McGonagle and Jamie Cada, Noe Mar and Leilani’s parents, met in a surf trip in Costa Rica...

Costa Rican Leilani McGonagle finished in third position in the final of female U-18 at the VISSLA ISA World Junior Championship with a score of 7.97; Brisa Hennessy from Hawaiian took the gold with total points of 11.33 , Vahine Fierro from Tahiti was second with 8.26 points; these two competitors (Hennessy and Fierro) where actually up against Costa Rican Emily Gussoni in the semi-finals earli...

Leilani McGonagle and Emily Gussoni classified to the semi-finals of the VISSLA Isa World Junior Championship in category U-18. Malakai Martinez made it to the quarterfinals but was not able to advance, coming in the fourth position of his heat. The Costa Rica surfing team participated in the final of the Aloha Cup and finished in third position which earns them the bronze medal; Hawaii took...

In day 7 of 9 at the Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship in Portugal, Costa Ricans Leilani McGonagle and Emily Gussoni earned their pass to Round 4 with first place wins in their respective heats in the U-18 female category. McGonagle went against representatives of teams Japan, Brazil and USA while Emily had to face USA, Germany and Japan. Malakai Martinez also got his pass from Round...

Today at Azores, Portugal where the Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship underwent its 6th day of competition, Costa Rica’s Malakai Martinez and Oscar Urbina classified to the fourth round of category U-16; they are part of the 108 competitors that remain in competition out of the 371 that started last Saturday. Unfortunately, Costa Rica lost today a lot of the other members of the team...