A Bowl of Stupid

Initially transcribed: 09/04/07 - C.R.

(Heading out into the water on the first day of my trip)

Living in Miami, it’s often easy to deceive myself that I’m a pretty good surfer. And while there is some very good local surfing talent in the Miami area, to be perfectly honest, it’s pretty hard to get “that” good when you’re confined to surfing – if you’re lucky – for 6 months of the year on 2-5 foot wind-chopped waves and the occasional hurricane swell (in which case you tend to have more pressing issues - like keeping the roof from flying off your house - and the local Police usually close the beaches to surfers anyway).

Like everything, it’s difficult to become very good at something when you don’t have the opportunity to do it very often – sorta like trying to run the Indy 500 after living in Manhattan and taking the subway everywhere for 10 years. It’s just not happening.

In other words, it’s hard to be great surfer when there’s never great surf. And it’s even more difficult to be a great big wave surfer under those same conditions. There are exceptions, and there are a number of people who are just born with the innate talent - Kelly Slater is the prime example (the man, who is the best surfer in the world and learned to surf in Central Florida, is a freak of nature). That is generally the exception, not the rule.

Not only is it difficult to refine your balance, your takeoffs, and your overall maneuvering skills – the absolute heart of the sport – it’s also extremely difficult to overcome the “mind-fuck” that can often come with surfing bigger wave.

And when you don’t go surfing in those conditions for over a year, that “mind fuck” can be the most debilitating part – ruining any chance you may otherwise have for honing your skills.

More on that later.

Although I went to Costa Rica with no clear plans as to where I would be surfing, I had essentially worked out in my head what area of the country (Guanacaste), and figured on staying in that general area for several days, at least, since I had had much success there previously. Apart from that, however, I had not much else planned out.

But when I got to one particular (semi-secret) surf spot, which is an outstanding point break (which is where the ocean swells hit either immovable rock or reefs and allow for waves to form in the same spot over and over again, like a machine) that I have been to many times previously, I found that it was in the beginning stages of what was, in my mind, an outrageous swell.

If you’re not familiar with surfing and what I mean by a "swell", I'll explain.

First off, the surf is not always “up.” The ocean is a function of weather patterns, seismic anomalies, the angle of those factors in relation to the surf spot itself, as well as a host of other things. If there is a severe weather pattern which causes the entire ocean to move – a ground swell – that comes from a proper direction, then “surf’s up.”

And the type of break — beach, point, reef — also determines the greatness of the waves, with reef and point breaks typically able to hold bigger surf when beach breaks cannot.

Such was the case upon my arrival at the point break in Guanacaste. Water temperature was about 82 degrees F, air temp about 89 F, offshore breezes (which help to maintain the size and structure of the waves), the tide was coming up, and the conditions were, for me, quite perfect.

Moreover, whenever I first arrive somewhere on a trip, I’ve usually got a bit of an adrenaline flowing through my veins in anticipation of getting out in the water and simply “doing what I went there to do.” For that reason, when I first arrived to this first place I stopped in Costa Rica this time, I didn’t notice, nor did it bother me that the surf was already picking up to about 10 foot faces.

I went looking for fun and I found it.

Soon after I went out, I starting talking to a guy in the water – a really great guy named Manny Vargas (who I later learned is a former professional boogie-border turned surf-magazine editor/adventure traveler — more on that later).

After spending some time in the water with him, I learned that Manny, unlike some, was as keen as I about sharing waves, since there’s always going to more. In contrast, there are a large number of surfers who are all about getting as many waves as possible, damn the others in his or her way, the number of waves already taken in that session, or whether the other surfers are local to that break.

Might makes right.

Yet there are others, like Manny and myself, who know there are plenty of waves and there will always be more – with or without us to surf them. Surfing is not necessarily about how many waves you get or keeping others from getting waves. It's about having fun in the water. For that reason, with people like Manny, it’s really easy to have a fun time in the water regardless of the conditions. Share and share alike makes for a really great vibe in the water. The alternative, the possessive and angry vibe, can ruin an otherwise outstanding session.

The first day was “share and share alike,” which combined with the pre-installed adrenaline high I was on, made for a great time when the bombs started falling from the depths of the Pacific as the day progressed.

My trip began with an absolutely perfect first day.

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