Eight Annual "Circuito
Nacional de Surf"
Competition This Weekend
José Ureña, President of
Federation de Surf de
Costa Rica (FSC),
announced the beginning
of the 2007-08 Circuito
Nacional de Surf (CNS)
will this weekend in
Playa Jaco.
The 3-star Copa Mango,
set for both mornings at
7:00 a.m. in front of
Hotel Copacabana, begins
its eighth year with a
slew of champions
leading the charge at
the first of seven
contests at this
five-month, countrywide,
six-beach tournament.
“It’s been quite a year
for the veterans of the
Circuito system,” said
Ureña. “Diego Naranjo
won the 2007 Circuito
Nacional de Surf Open
Championship, then he
placed 3rd in the
Mexpipe Vans Pro. Luis
Vindas was our first
Triple Crown winner, and
had some top ALAS (Asociasion
Latinamerica de Surf)
wins this year.
Federico Pilurzu was Top
100 on the WQS and made
it to the Hawaiian North
Shore’s Triple Crown,
while Gilbert Brown
scored a Bronze medal at
the Pan American Surfing
Games to become the 3rd
best surfer in all of
Latin America. And then,
Jairo Pérez, won the
ALAS Reef Costa Rica.”
“Costa Rica is
maintaining a very high
international reputation
in surfing right now and
that’s because of the
Circuito system,” he
added. “With the start
of the 2007-08 season,
the young kids starting
out are looking at the
contest and thinking
that they too can one
day become like these
veterans and do what
they are doing. They can
also compete now against
these champions. And
that’s exciting to
them.”
When the first horn
blows on Saturday
morning, these new kids
will face the
aforementioned veterans
as well as others with
great developed surfing
talent vying for those
prestigious trophies.
According to Ureña,
these challengers will
include competitors in
the Open category such
as 2005 Pan American
Junior gold medal winner
Jason Torres (Jaco),
2006-07 Costa Rican
National Boys Champion
Carlos Muñoz (Esterillos),
2005-06 Costa Rican
National Surf Champion
Isaac Vega (Tamarindo),
and top-CNS-ranked Luis
Castro (Tamarindo),
Mattias Brown
(Montezuma), Josimar
Fuentes (Jaco), Ronald
Brown (Puerto Viejo),
Juan Carlos Naranjo (Jaco),
José Calderon and Juan
Calderon.
Nataly Bernold recently
took the National
Women’s Champion crown
from 5-time Costa Rican
National Women’s
Champion Lisbeth Vindas
of Jaco. Bernold also
holds the National
Junior Women’s title and
at only 14-years of age,
and a “contest machine”
in the words of Ureña,
is hard-pressed to give
either award away.
Meanwhile, Debbie Zec of
Domincal, and Hermosa’s
Lupe Gallucio are still
in it to win it.
This year’s CNS will
welcome still another
field of new young
ladies looking to surf
their way to a
championship, says the
President of the
Federacion. And, never,
Ureña added, count
Vindas out, especially
when she surfed away
with her second Central
American Surf
Championship this year.
“One more thing: Last
year, Diego Naranjo
hoped to inspire a new
generation of
longboarders by surfing
in that division all
season long,” commented
Ureña. “Because of this,
and Mauricio Umano (Jaco)
showing that
longboarding can be
challenging as well,
Luis Vindas and others
are looking to compete
in the longboard
division, something we
have been hoping would
happen. We really need
to bolster that category
with surfers for our
national and
internationally
competitions.”
At the present time, the
Champions of the 2006-07
CNS to beat are: Diego
Naranjo/Open (Jaco),
Nataly Bernold/Women’s (Jaco),
Jairo Pérez/Junior (Jaco),
Nataly Bernold /Junior
Women’s (Jaco), Carlos
Muñoz /Boys (Esterillos),
Michael Torres/Grommets
(Esterillos), Tomas King
/Mini-Grommets Boys (Tamarindo),
Naomi Bernold/Mini-Grommets
Girls (Jaco), Cedric
Auffret/Longboard (Tamarindo),
Cassio Carvalho/Masters
(Hermosa), Rándall
Ruiz/Novice (Tamarindo),
Joan Mojica/Bodyboard
Men (Venezuela) and
Jimena Calvo/Bodyboard
Women’s (Boca Barranca).
The inscriptions for the
Copa Mango, the first
date of the Circuito
Nacional de Surf, can be
made on Friday, December
7, between 5:00-7:00
p.m. at the Jass Surf
Shop in Playa Jacó.
Annual membership for
FSC is c10,000, and the
cost for Open, Women’s
Longboard, Bodyboaders
and Masters is c6,000 to
inscribe. Boys, Juniors,
Junior Women’s,
Grommets, Mini-Grommets
and Novices will pay
c5,000 to register.
With the 2007-08
Circuito Nacional de
Surf, spectators at the
beach will also be
treated to the return of
the contest for Miss
Surf 2008. This year,
the concurrent event
which will bring the
most beautiful women of
the country to the
contests will be called
“Miss Surf Organic &
Natural.” Each winner
will receive $100 and a
chance to gain the
overall crown—and
$1,000—at the Gran
Finals in April.
For more information on
the Circuito Nacional de
Surf or the Federacion
de Surf de Costa Rica,
please go to the new
webpage at surfingcr.net.
Available here is useful
information, news,
photos, films and videos
to accompany all
activities on Costa
Rica’s surf, surfers and
contests. In addition,
every surfer in the FSC
will eventually be
profiled, and noted with
their achievements in
the water.
“We hope that this will
attract sponsorship
money as well,” Ureña
stated. “Everybody still
needs money to
accomplish their goals.”
The Costa Rican beaches,
surf breaks and more are
also noted on the
website. Also, surf
schools are listed, but
only those certified by
the International
Surfing Association
(ISA) are indicated on
the site. “This will
motivate this country’s
surf schools to get
certified by the ISA
program we have brought
into Costa Rica; this is
for safety and quality
assurance,” adds Ureña.
The full dates of the
2007-08 Circuito
Nacional de Surf are:
December 8-9 Playa Jaco
Copa Mango
January 12-13 Playa
Hermosa Trofeo Op
February 2-3 Playa
Tamarindo Torneo Witch’s
Rock
February 23-24 Playa
Nosara 4th Fecha
March 15-16 Playa Carmen
Torneo Playa Carmen
April 5-6 Playa
Dominical 6th Fecha
April 26-27 Playa
Hermosa Gran Final
Terraza-Reef
National Sponsors
include: 911 Groovy
Radio, Witch’s Rock Surf
Camp, Hotel & Resort
Terraza del Pacifico,
Bar & Restaurant El
Tabacon, Hotel Playa
Carmen, Quique Surf
Shop, Coldwell Banker
Peninsula Trading Co.,
Banzaii Surfboards,
Banana Wax, Remax
Surfside, Cala Luna
Hotel & Villas, The
Backyard Hotel, Mango
Surf & Skate, Jass Surf
Shop, Roca Bruja Surf &
Skate Shop, Carton
Surfboards, Chiclets
Canopy Tree Tour,
Gimnasios Platinum
Fitness Center, Chuck’s
W.O.W. Surf Shop, Shifi
Surf Shots, Surfos
Magazine
|
|
