Basically, they’re using their knowledge of such things as wind direction, the profile of the seabed underneath, and the nature of the swells on that particular beach to make their decisions.

How Wind Affects Waves

An offshore wind can make a wave stand up, giving you a beautiful wall to slide down.

If the wind is blowing offshore, it means the wind is blowing from the land to the sea.  When there is a direct offshorewind, the waves will stand up a little higher before spilling over because the wind is literally shouldering into the wave, holding it up for a moment.  This results in waves that break closer to the shore in shallower water and with greater intensity.

An onshore wind blows from the sea to the land and will push the waves over, making them break further out.

The contour of the sea bottom will also affect where waves break.  In the ocean, moving water does not travel as one. Instead, the top layer of water moves faster than the bottom layer. As water approaches a beach and the sea bottom rises closer to the surface, the top layer slides up over the bottom layer, forming a swell.

How the Sea Bottom Affects Waves

Anomalies on the sea bottom such as sand bars can affect where a wave will break.

A swell becomes a wave and breaks when the slower moving bottom can no longer support the faster moving top.  Anomalies on the sea bottom such as sand bars can affect where a wave breaks by hindering the slower moving bottom, causing the top layer to overtop it earlier.  If a succession of waves appears to be breaking in the same area, further out than the rest of the waves, this is a sign that a sand bar may have developed in that area.  Experienced surfers may head to that area to take advantage of the consistency of the breaks there until the sea bottom shifts again.

In addition, surfers who surf a particular beach may know the profile of the sea bottom and use this information to position themselves.  This is especially the case if there are reefs in the area.  If they won’t share their knowledge, you can observe what they do and follow suit.

How to Return to Where the Waves Are

Finally, be aware that it is difficult for anyone to determine their precise position on the water when they are lying close to the surface.  Even if you know more or less where you want to be, it can be difficult to be sure you are in the right place unless you align yourself with landmarks on the land.  Once you find a good spot, pick out a tree or a point of land to align yourself with so you can return to that spot again.

By observing the direction of the wind and looking for anomalies that cause waves to break in clusters, you can locate a good spot where waves break more favorably. By aligning yourself with a landmark, you can return to that spot repeatedly.  Experienced surfers do this intuitively, but you can do it to, by learning to read the waves.

Image Credits:

Beautiful wave, David Baron; Sliding down a wall, Fathzer; Curling break, Daniel D’Auria

Whale on the road to Uvita Surf School. (Click any picture to enlarge.)

When you come to Uvita Surf School, your first challenge will be to find us.  Costa Rican’s do not share the same love of signage that North Americans do. So to get here you may need some guidance.

The first part is relatively easy. From the San Jose airport, follow the signs to the town of Escazu. Take route 1 from the airport to route 39 and then to route 27. All of this unfolds in about 6 miles (10 km).

Once you are on route 27 and have

See the indoor soccer field on your right? Keep going.

passed the exits for Escazu, follow the signs to stay on route 27 in the direction of Orotina. This road becomes a toll road that runs for roughly 40 miles (60 km) heading west. You will pass through four toll booths and pay about $5 (2500 colones). Exit on Hwy 34 near the town of Orotina and head toward the towns of Tarcoles & Jaco.

Hwy 34 is the coast road and is the longest part of the trip.

Two concrete A's. Keep going.

You will be on this road for roughly 2½ hours, traveling south the whole way. Relax and enjoy the drive. You will pass through the towns of Jaco, Parrita and Quepos.

South of Quepos you will travel another 50 km (30 miles) before arriving at the police control booth near the Baru River. You needn’t stop at this booth unless signaled to do so. Keep heading south.

You will pass over the Baru River and see the entrance to the town

Turn left at the T-Intersection.

of Dominical immediately on your right. Keep going.

Uvita is 20 km (12 miles) south of Dominical. You will know you are getting close when you see a gas station on your right. Shortly after the gas station, you will see a Supermercado on your left. Then you will cross a bridge. Here’s where you have to keep your eyes peeled.

On your right, you will see a bus stop that has the words Cabinas

Street for Uvita Surf School.

Gato on the side. There is a road just in front of it. Turn right on this road.

Carry on for about 100 yards and you will see the statue of a whale on your left. See the whale? You are on the right track. Keep going.

A little further on, you will see an indoor soccer field on your right. It looks like a colorfully painted field house. Keep going.

In another 40 yards you will come

Uvita Surf School and Los Almendros

to a small triangular park formed by the merging of an intersecting road on your right. In the park is a pair of blue concrete letters A&A. Keep going.

After 200 hundreds yards, you will come to a T intersection. Turn left.

Now you are on the same street as Uvita Surf School. Go about 100 yards and Uvita Surf School is on your right adjoining a restaurant/bar called Los Almendros. If you don’t see the surf school, ask at the bar. Both businesses are owned by the same family.

It may take a few twists and turns to get here, but you will be amply rewarded once you arrive. Surfing with Uvita Surf School can be the adventure of a lifetime.

Today’s lesson will be devoted to learning to speak like a surfer.  If you don’t want to be called out as a poser, you’ll have to do more than just shred.  You’ll have to master the meaning of such key terms as stick (a surfboard), bone yard (the area where the waves break), and Quasimodo (riding forward in a hunched-over position).

Now when a surfer starts out, he or she is considered a mere hodad (a non-surfer, one who just hangs around at the beach).  If you are a youngster and just learning to surf, you will labeled a gremlin or a grommet, and you will be expected to earn your stripes by drinking a few Neptune cocktails, which is to say you will be expected to take a few bellies full of seawater as a result of bitchin’ wipeouts.  If you get some sand facials into the mix, this can only accrue to your advantage.

Intermediate Surfer Talk

Later, as you become more accepted in the surfing community, you may find others referring to you as bro or bra, a sure sign that you have arrived.  Feel free to be stoked.

It will be important now that you do not back down or give up on pounders (hard breaking waves) and return in shame to riding ankle busters (small waves) or riding out in the soup (the foamy part of a broken wave).  And once you are a bra you must never be seen sponging (bodysurfing).

Advanced Surfer Talk

As your skills improve, you will be expected to carve and shred, climb and drop, always angling for a primo ride.  You will want to show that you can shoot the curl making yourself comfortable in the green room (the space inside the tube).

Fer sure, you will occasionally take the gas (wipe out) and you may even sell the Buick (vomit seawater after a wipeout), but you will almost certainly win the admiration of your bras and you may even catch the eye of a bitchin’ beach bunny who will be amped just to yak with you.

At the end of the day you can relax in your baggies (oversized boxer-type swim trunks) and enjoy some gnarlatious refreshments with your bras and their honeys as you reminisce about the day’s activities and get stoked for tomorrow’s off the richter tubes.  It’s all so totally rad.

Congratulations, you are now a surfer and can speak the language too.

Duke Kahanamoku popularized surfing in the United States in the 1920's.

Imagine you are an archeologist and you are excavating an ancient site when you stumble on a piece of pottery 3000 years old and there on the side is a picture of a man surfing.  Cowabunga, dude!

Surfing goes way back, back before written language, back to the very beginning.  If you think about it, it’s one of the most obvious of sports.  What is body surfing but plunging ahead into a wave and letting it carry you?  Hey, that’s even easier than swimming.  It’s not much of a leap to think of putting a board between you and the wave for purposes of riding.  And then standing up on the board?  Hello?

Enter the Duke

Maybe it was because immersing yourself in the cold waters of the North Sea was an unpleasant idea at any level, but the Europeans came late to the whole concept.  It wasn’t until 1769 that Europeans mariners first witnessed happy natives shredding the curl in the Hawaiian Islands and sent word back to the motherland that something rad was going on.

The Hawaiians were all about surfing.  They even incorporated it into their religion.  Priests helped build the surf boards and then prayed to the gods to bring them tasty waves.  I know a few dudes who would gladly sign up for that Sunday school.

In 1912 a US Olympic swimmer by the name of Duke Kahanamoku, a Hawaiian, began to expose the world to surfing.  Up until that time it had remained mostly confined to Hawaii and the Polynesian Islands, so when the Duke started demonstrating it in the United States and Australia, people gasped.

Gidget and the Beach Boys

It’s no surprise that someone so cool should end up in Hollywood.  Yep, Duke ended up in the movies, working as a character actor and taking small roles.  While he was in Southern California in the 1920’s his followers gave birth to a small, fledgling surf culture.  He eventually moved back to Waikiki, but the surf culture remained, taking root along the coast from Malibu to Huntington Beach.
In the early 1960’s the hit movie Gidget awakened thousands of restless teenagers to the idea of riding the waves.  The new craze got a boost from the emergence of surf music which saw its greatest exemplars in the Beach Boys who sent hit after hit rocketing up the charts.  Before long surfing was everywhere, from the rocky coasts of Great Britain to the far flung reaches of South Africa.

Costa Rica Rising

In the 1990’s veterans surfers weary of the crowded conditions on the beaches of Southern California discovered pristine waters, epic waves and uncrowded beaches on the western coast of Costa Rica.  Small, often primitive surf camps began popping up from Dominical to Uvita and all along the Pacific coast.

Today those surf camps are the villages and towns that form a necklace of surf communities along the west coast of Costa Rica.  And while plenty of other attractions bring visitors to the area today, surfing remains one of its main draws.

And to think that it all started 3000 years ago!  Surfing is deep, man.  It’s primo!

Pura vida!

1.  Don’t paddle out directly behind another surfer.

If a large wave breaks unexpectedly and you are lined up behind another surfer, he can get spilled over on top of you. You can get clonked in the head by his board, which would cause him to be sorry and you to retire to the beach with a throbbing skull. Instead, paddle beside the other surfer, keeping about 30 feet between you.

2.  Don’t let go of your board when a big wave bears down on you.

A sure sign of a beginner is the timidity displayed when a surfer jumps off his board in the face of a big crashing wave. If you are not in a position to ride it, do a turtle roll by turning upside-down and propelling the through the wave, holding on to the rails of the board at all times. Letting go of the board can be dangerous to yourself and others, even if you are wearing a leash.

Paddling over the shoulder can put you in the path of another surfer. The ensuing collision could be ugly.

3.  Don’t paddle over the shoulder of a wave when another surfer is about to ride.

The shoulder of the wave is the part near the peak that has not yet spilled over. Since surfers often catch a wave near the peak, paddling over the shoulder could put you directly in the path of another surfer who is just popping up. The resulting collision could be ugly. Instead, take a wide berth around breaking waves when paddling out.

4.  Don’t paddle through the lineup.

The lineup is the area where surfers sit on their boards, waiting for the waves to break. There is a loose etiquette to the lineup, basically first come first served, although sometimes the lead surfer might let another surfer go ahead of him. For this reason, avoid paddling through the lineup as you may be cutting off a surfer who is paddling to catch a wave.

Respect the lineup. Don't cut in front of other surfers.

5.  Don’t jockey for position in the lineup.

Unless the surfers ahead of you in the lineup give you a clear signal that they are not going to take a wave, sit tight and wait your turn. It may look like the other surfers are passing up opportunities at premium waves, but give them the benefit of the doubt and don’t try to move up on them. If they think you are horning in you could make enemies, resulting in an unpleasant day of surfing for everyone.

6.  Don’t “drop in” on another surfer.

One rule you should try never to break when surfing is “dropping in” on another surfer, which simply means you are cutting in front of him, trying to catch the wave he is paddling for. Not only is dropping in rude, it’s also dangerous. The act of paddling around another surfer to beat him to a breaking wave is called “snaking” and is particularly frowned upon. Don’t do it.

Do commit to your wave. Don't just bail and slide back over the shoulder. Other surfers are waiting.

7.  Do commit to your wave.

Once you’ve committed to a wave, stay committed. Don’t give up on it and slide back over the shoulder to wait for another turn. Remember, there are other surfers waiting to go. A surfer who can’t commit to a wave is either too selfish or too inexperienced to judge a wave properly. You don’t want to be labeled as either.

8.  Do get out of the way when you are called off by another surfer.

Sometimes it happens that, without any ill intent, two surfers start paddling for the same wave. Usually the more experienced of the two will make some kind of signal to call the other surfer off. If you hear someone trying to call you off, back down and get out of the way. Failure to do so is both dangerous and rude.

9.  Do defer to more skilled surfers when there is a conflict.

One of the unwritten rules of surfing is that the more experienced surfers always have the right of way. Refusing to defer to more skilled surfers when there is a conflict can lead to a dangerous game of one-upmanship that you can only lose. If you honor this tradition you will earn the respect of other surfers and be welcome among them, allowing you a better chance to become an experienced surfer yourself.

10.  Do apologize if you ruin someone’s wave.

Even the most well intentioned surfer may occasionally make a mistake and ruin another surfer’s wave. If this happens, be sure to apologize. A simple acknowledgment that you were in the wrong can go a long way toward smoothing ruffled feathers and defusing conflict. Surfers who respect others can usually expect to be treated the same, leading to more pleasurable surfing for all.

Image credits:

Don’t let go, Bengt Nyman; Paddling over the shoulder, Stan Shebs; Respect the lineup, Public Domain; Commit to your wave, Jonathan Billinger

Surfing on the beaches of southwest Costa Rica can be considered especially green given that it sustains an environment richer than most.

The Amazing Natural Environment of Costa Rica

The waters near Uvita, Costa Rica are home to the largest coral reef on the Pacific coast of Central America.  There are mangrove swamps here teeming with wildlife.  Iguanas and hawksbill turtles frequent the beaches.  The area is a mating ground for humpback whales.  Frigate birds, ibises and pelicans soar overhead.  The area is a virtual paradise.

Of all the sports performed in and around Uvita, surfing has probably the lowest impact on the environment.  Unlike scuba diving and snorkeling, surfers seldom impinge directly on delicate ecosystems.  Wildlife is left to go about its business.  Even excursion boats motoring passively along watching wildlife have a greater potential impact on the environment than surfing.

Green Surfing in Costa Rica

Surfing, when performed in a protected natural environment like Ballena National Park adjacent to Uvita, is even more green than surfing on a nearby public beach.  That’s because park rangers monitor activity within the park to insure a safe and sustainable environment.  You will see little in the way of refuse or other human impact when you surf Ballena National Park.

Surfing in Costa Rica can be green in another way too.  Sustainability often extends beyond wildlife to local people and cultures.  When you do business with a native Costa Rican you help to sustain local businesses and the economy, buttressing their traditional way of life.

Uvita Surf Camp is a locally owned surf school in Uvita, Costa Rica.  It is run by Tito, a native of the area.  He and his staff conduct classes on Colonia Beach within Ballena National Park.  They are diligent about keeping the environment clean and undisturbed.  It is their home.

Surfing is green.  This is true in general.  But surfing in Costa Rica can be even greener.  If you are looking for a sustainable green sport, surfing in Costa Rica may just be the greenest of the green.

How to Choose a Surfboard by Skill Level

Generally, surfboards are of two types: long boards and short boards.  Long boards are better for beginners.  The longer wider surface makes the board more stable.  Long boards also tend to be thicker than short boards, providing greater floatability and making it easier for beginners to paddle into a wave.

Long boards are usually about 2 feet longer than the height of the rider.  Most long boards have pin tails (a tail contoured to a soft point) which allows for greater control in the water.  Beginners usually prefer control over maneuverability.  They like to cruise down the surface of a wave rather than cut back and sweep.  The single fin on long boards allows for more stable cruising.

More experienced surfers often choose short boards.  Short boards require skill to balance and maneuver, but they allow for sharp cut backs and crisp release off the tops of waves.  Short boards may have a variety of different tail contours.  Rounded tails provide a loose, turnable board.  Squash tails (where the tail is squared off) make for greater speed but less launch.

How to Choose a Surfboard by Age and Strength

Older surfers may aspire to sweep and soar like twenty-somethings, but this is often impractical.  Knowing your own strength is the key to enjoying the surfing experience.  Because so much of surfing is paddling, older surfers may prefer a board that permits them to paddle more easily.

Epoxy boards provide greater floatability than more traditional fiberglass boards.  Increased floatability makes it easier to paddle because the board experiences less drag in the water.  Another factor that contributes to floatability is thickness.  An epoxy board that is long and thick requires less strength and endurance than a shorter, thinner fiberglass board.

How to Choose a Surfboard by Preferred Style of Surfing

Broadly speaking, there are two types of surfers: cruisers and shredders.  Cruisers like to cruise down the surface of a wave, enjoying a nice long ride.  Shredders like to sweep and cut, performing adept maneuvers.

Long boards with their greater stability are usually preferred for cruising.  Short boards with their more responsive design are favored by shredders.

Long boards usually have one fin, making for increased stability when holding a straight line.  Short boards are available with different fin configurations ranging from two to four fins.  An arrangement of three fins is referred to as a “thruster”.  For the shredder who seeks speed, launch and maneuverability, the thruster is often preferred.

You will have many choices when it comes to choosing a surfboard.

Whether you are a beginner or an expert, old or young, a cruiser or a shredder, there is a surfboard that is right for you.  When you know how to choose the right surfboard and you choose wisely, your surfing experience can be everything you imagined it could be.

Mastering the art of popping up is a rite of passage for beginning surfers.

The soft, spilling waves of southwest Costa Rica are perfect for learning to surf.  Even so, many beginning surfers struggle for a while before mastering the art of standing up on the board.  Whether you are surfing in Costa Rica or anywhere else, learning to “pop up”, is the first challenge in surfing.

To pop up successfully, you will need to put your best foot forward.  The question is: Which is your best foot?  You will need to determine if you are “natural”, meaning you balance better with your left foot forward, or “goofy”, with your right foot forward.  It’s not a simple matter of being right-handed or left-handed.  Many right-handers, for example, are more comfortable balancing with their left foot forward.

To figure this out, imagine what you would do if you were walking on ice.  Most people will slide one foot forward in order to maintain balance.  Which foot is it?  That’s the foot you will put forward when surfing.

“Popping up” is getting to a standing position on your surfboard with the correct foot forward as quickly as possible.  It is the key to successful surfing.  To pop up successfully, grab the edges of the board just above your rib cage.  Arch your back and lift your shoulders and chest.  If you are a practitioner of yoga, the position you are in before popping up is similar to the cobra pose.

Keep looking forward.  Then in one fluid motion, bring your correct foot forward placing it on the board where your belly button was.  Turn your back foot down to your instep.  When you stand, you will be facing out to one side.  Remain in a low crouching position and ride.

Keep in mind that the correct motion consists of bringing your foot forward to be under your body.  If you find yourself kneeling on the board you are probably shifting your weight back over your feet.  To avoid this, try to keep your butt down and your head high.

Before heading out to the waves, practice popping up on the beach.  Use a stick to draw the shape of the surfboard in the sand.  Lie down and try it a few times.

Once you head out to the waves don’t get too discouraged if you don’t master it right away.  Most beginning surfers experience a rite of passage when it comes to popping up.  Keep at it and you will master it in time.

Few beaches are as forgiving to beginning surfers as the beaches of southwest Costa Rica, but even surfing in Costa Rica will be a challenge until you learn to master the art of popping up.

The coast from Dominical down to Bahia Ballena is part of the eastern Pacific tropics, a lush region that is home to many exotic species of animal life, some of which can cause you pain if you’re not careful.  The two to be most cautious of are stringrays and jellyfish.

Surfing Free of the Stingray

Stingrays are found lying in the sand of coastal waters.  If you step on one, it will whip around and sting you with its muscular tail, driving as many as 4 sharp, barbed stingers into your sorry self.  The resulting pain will intensify over 2 hours before beginning to subside.  You may also become nauseous and experience muscle cramping.

It is unlikely that the sting will kill you unless it strikes you directly in the heart or severs an artery.  The vast majority of stingray stings occur on the lower leg or foot.

Stingrays are not aggressive.  They will not seek you out to sting you.  But if you step on one it will act defensively and give you something to remember it by.

The trick to avoiding stringrays while surfing is to let them find you.

The trick to avoiding stingrays is to let them find you before you find them.  You are advised to shuffle your feet in the sand as you wade out to surf.  The stingray will detect the agitation and take off.

At the Uvita Surf School in Playa Uvita there has not been a stingray incident in several years.  Nevertheless, Tito, the lead surfing instructor, always advises his students to practice caution by using the foot shuffling method when heading out into the waves.

Surfing Free of the Jellyfish

If stingray stings are rare, it is even less likely that you will encounter a jellyfish, but it is possible.  Jellyfish are a potential hazard on beaches throughout the world and jellyfish stings are the most common marine injury on the planet.

If you brush up against a jellyfish, you will be pierced with a cluster of needlelike filaments that discharge a nasty venom.  The stinging sensation will be immediate and the pain will increase over 10 minutes before leveling off.  You will experience a redness of the skin, itchiness and minor swelling.  You may become nauseous or experience muscle spasms.

You can lessen the trauma by treating the sting properly.  Don’t wash it in fresh water.  That will only stimulate the imbedded needles to secrete more venom.  Instead, apply vinegar to the wound.  Don’t brush at the wound.  Instead try to lift the needles away or shave them off with shaving cream and a razor.

You may want to take an oral antihistamine like Benadryl to lessen your body’s allergic reaction to the venom.  The effects of the sting may last from a few hours to a few weeks depending on the toxicity of the venom.

The good news for Costa Rican surfers is that jellyfish tend to proliferate in areas of over-fishing and marine contamination, neither of which are a problem in the clean, fish-friendly waters of southwest Costa Rica.  Jellyfish sightings along the beaches of southwest Costa Rica are quite infrequent.

So the likelihood that you will be stung by a stingray or a jellyfish while surfing in Costa Rica is rare, but not unheard of, so it’s best to be prepared with proper knowledge of how to avoid them and what to do if a sting occurs.

Image Credits:

Stingray, Gary Rinaldi

Today the 4 km (2 mile) stretch of beach attracts surfers from around the world seeking its unusual breaks.  In Dominical, where the rain forest meets the ocean, the waves are hollow, fast and powerful.  They break both right and left.  The sand bars that form at the mouth of Rio Baru create this uncharacteristic condition, throwing up 6 ft swells that delight surfers.  Further out, good point breaks can be found.

The bottom at Dominical is sandy with a few rocks near the river mouth at low tide.  The best surfing occurs at mid-tide going low.  Surfers should be wary of riptides and undertow.

After surfing, the town comes to life.  Dominical is home to a number of small beachfront bars and clubs.  These open air venues beneath the palms are the perfect resort for those seeking a cold bottle of beer and some laidback music underscored by the pounding of the surf.

The town faces the ocean across the beach.  Numerous cabinas and small resorts cater to visitors.  Restaurants serving everything from Thai food to tapas are within easy walking distance.  There are yoga studios and sports rentals.  Dominical is a town on the rise.

As of now, Dominical still retains the vibe of a small, secluded surf village but this may soon change.  Until recently, the Costanera Highway running along the Pacific Coast fell short of Dominical by 22km, effectively cutting it off to all those unwilling to undergo the teeth-rattling dirt road that permitted access from the north.  Now, however, the highway is finished, allowing a straight shot down from Jaco and other crowded surf beaches further north.  Surfing Dominical is bound to become more popular.

The good news is that while Dominical may remain the jewel in the crown of surfing on the central coast, there are plenty of other great surf beaches necklaced all the way down the coast from Dominical to the Osa Peninsula.  Within a 10 minute drive of Dominical, Uvita Beach provides great surfing for those willing to venture a little further out.  Shuttles run from Dominical to these other beaches.

Those in search of an idyllic surfing experience will love Dominical.  Ask anyone who has been there and they will tell you.  Surfing Dominical is magical.