Texto: Trevor Brown Fotos: Paul Gerace

Surfing is much more than a sport. It’s a life style. It’s an obsession guiding your thoughts, influencing how you live, where you travel, and connecting you with the natural surroundings. It’s a way of life that forces you to be conscious of the natural state and flow of the planet.

Surf Season

The waves we surf start as energy molecules created by a distant storm that travels across the sea until they collide with the coastline creating various shapes of waves. For a brief moment of pure adrenaline filled ecstasy you catch a glide on this wave as it peals and crashes into shallow water. The breaking of the waves creates an abundance of negative ions said to positively affect your mood via releasing serotonin and endorphins.

Surf Season2

The combination of these sensations is unique and very addictive. Through a better connection with mother earth, surfers are able to predict the waves and live for these moments. The tides are dictated by the moon. They are ever changing which requires you to keep track of their daily schedule. Surf breaks get better or worse with the change of water levels and the push or pull of the tide.

On the Pacific side of Costa Rica, the tides are drastic leaving only small windows of time for optimum surf. For example, with a high tide the waves can be slow, while a dead low tide can cause the waves to close out and be unrideable. The size and direction of the swell must also be taken in consideration when timing your surf window. Being conscious of wind direction is also essential. When the wind changes direction, a surfer will take notice.

The atmospheric pressure change of an approaching storm may destroy the texture of surface water by creating chop, or, it can do the opposite and clean up previously poor conditions.