Surf Report (from page 15) Concluded ISA President Fernando Aguerro during the Closing Ceremony: “The 2014 ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Championship has been a total success, with the largest number of competitors in history. The event has grown from about 150 last year to nearly 250 in just one year, and it is now officially closed. “I am very happy about our host, the government and people of Nicaragua, and the private sector, who have done an amazing job on making this the most memorable ISA SUP and Paddleboard World Championship ever! It’s never easy to leave a place that has treated you very nicely, so I’m sad that we’ll be leaving tomorrow, all as ambassadors of Nicaragua. Hopefully, we’ll be coming back soon to beautiful Nicaragua, the place where the offshore winds never stop, and where the water and air are always very warm.”
Overall Team Results
1. Australia 2. USA 3. Brazil 4. Spain 5. France 6. Mexico 7. South Africa 8. Peru
16,750 13,100 10,667 10,501 9,532 9,398 9,032 8,671
9. Venezuela 10. New Zealand 11. Nicaragua 12. Great Britain 13. Guatemala 14. Canada 15. Denmark 16. Costa Rica
8,266 8,261 7,527 7,360 6,234 6,180 5,053 3,870
Let’s revisit a competition that took place a couple of months ago in Playa Hermosa de Jaco. This was the Circuito Nacional Master & SUP. We already know which of the SUP winners ended up at an international championship, but I don’t want to forget to give a shout out to the older surfers who did this circuit. These include Gustavo Castill (Jaco), Geancarlo Loria (Jaco), frequent WSG medaller Craig “Tequila” Schieber (Limon) ,and Dennis Picado (Jaco), who won the Masters, Grand Masters, Kahuna and SUP, respectively. When the Costa Rica National Masters surf team is put together for the World Surfing Masters Championship this August in Peru, look for these names to be among the competitors. Said Castillo: “I would like to thank the Federation for giving us this space to surf as the Masters, as we are the oldest surfers in the country, but we are still active in this sport. I’m happy to be a National Masters Champion again and ready to face off against the world once more.”The Circuito Guanacaste de Surf is in the books. Finishing up the premier year of surf contests around the area in Playa Negra, it’s safe to say that the organizers accomplished their goals of promoting local talent as well as Guanacaste beaches. Over in the Circuito Nacional Olympus presented by Adrenaline Rush, surfers competed in the 5th date of the nationwide contest. The COPA Unit, which took place in Santa Teresa’s waves of nearly ten feet, saw Maykol Torres of Esterillos pull out a barnburner in the finals, earning him a second win this year on the tour—the first taking place in Bejuco. He’s now sitting pretty at the top of the Open ranks and if he maintains his high level of surfing in the last three dates, he could see his first national championship. (continued page 29)