places I've been

Not only is it 2010 but it is February. How exactly did that happen?

I am feeling pretty overwhelmed. I'm going on vacation. Right now. Yes, I'm sitting in the Liberia airport about to catch a flight to LA. My dad is picking me up, we're driving back to San Diego. My grandfather just died. Ed Walsh, may you rest in peace. If it wasn't for my dad's father and mother, Witch's Rock Surf Camp wouldn't be what it is today. They helped my dad and I out incredibly in the early years, when my dad and I both ran the camp. He lived well into his 90s. We're having a family gathering tomorrow. Everyone is in good spirits, its more like the Walsh clan is having a wake in memory of Ed and Rose Walsh :-) I am happy to be going there and I'll enjoy seeing all of my family.

This trip to SD and back will have to be quick because I'm guiding a surf tour on the Zori a week from Wednesday, on Feb 17th. That has been taking up a ton of my time lately. We have done a major retrofit, including:

- complete engine overhaul

- new windows throughout

- aft stateroom modifications (converted to 2 staterooms, 1 stateroom with double bed and 1 stateroom with 3 single beds)

- new curtains, new beds w/ marine upholstery for sleeping on deck

- new aft deck canopy with new shade (200 sq ft of shade added to the boat)

- 2 Air Breeze 12 volt wind generators

- new inverter

- new 12 volt 22inch flat screen TV / DVD player

- 12 volt coffee maker

- 12 cubic ft fridge / freezer

- a bunch of other stuff too

I've had to become a 12 volt system expert, research everything online, ship it to guests flying down, line up welders/electricians/carpenters/tons of other experts. Many thanks to Catalina, Valerie, Charlie, Luis Contreras, my dad, too many WRSC guests and other staff members to name. The trip is going to be really good, we're going to surf Witch's Rock, Ollie's Point, then up to Nicaragua for a few days... should be insane and I can't wait. So I guess my trip is really a California - Costa Rica - Nicaragua one thats going to last the next 3 weeks.

Now I know you're probably going to agree, it was only a matter of time, but the time has come: my kids have started surfing! Officially, Otis stood up and rode his first wave on January 20th.

He is three, turning four the end of next month. Happy wanted to surf too, so we pushed him into some waves on his stomach.

A couple of days later Happy stood up and rode his first wave, about a week before his 2nd birthday. Crazy. So, now its official, my kids surf. Otis has gone about 5 times since, and stands up on almost every wave. Makes me wish I had started at his age...

Happy Birthday Happy. You turned 2 years old!

February 1st, 2010

February 1st was Happy's birthday. We had cake and ice cream for dinner and Pizza Hut for desert. The boys at a sugar overload and went to bed screaming. Classic birthday night for a 2 year old. I gave both Happy and Otis haircuts for their birthday.... pretty much shaved their heads. I had to do it since Holly had given Otis a haircut last week and it looks really bad and I felt bad for him, plus both of them with long hair was kindof cramping my style (just kidding what style?), so I just hacked it all off. They actually look really old now and it makes me realize how fast the time is flying by.

Holy shit this house is expensive and it takes forever to finish.

gotsta have the new tile

a kitchen goes here, with a really cool spacey granite counter top

all I need is my couch and an Imperial and I'm doing pretty good (and some swell).

I was personally devastated by the earthquake in Haiti. I remember feeling similarly with the tsunami in 2004. It is still difficult to understand exactly how much has been done, but needless to say it was a sad event. Things like this make me tell my family I love them as often as possible. Even though the surf camp has been spending so much money lately I wanted to make sure I started giving back. Thank you Jane Bocker for giving me that copy of Yvon Chouinard's book Let My People Go Surfing. It was a nice read and gave me inspiration for years to come. As part of Witch's Rock Surf Camp's data migration to Quickbooks this year, we are setting up a 1% for the planet fund as part of our operating expenses. I figure if I can get the surf camp organized to this point, we can probably afford to give 1%, especially to things like this.

If you haven't heard of the Wegener brothers, maybe you should. I met Tom Wegener my first year at UCSD back in 1996. He had just finished making a surf movie Siestas y Olas (you should own a copy too), which I went and saw in downtown La Jolla. A great story of buying an old Suburban and driving it throughout mainland Mex for 3 months... It was a motivating factor in my life and helped me make the move to Costa Rica. The last few years I got to know Tom's brother Jon, who is always at the surf shows with Margaret Yao and Bing Copeland aka Bing Surfboards. They are all from southern CA so we share common friends from there. So, as for the Wegeners, they are legends. They have been a driving force behind the revival of the alaia, an old school Polynesian surfboard with no fin.

Anyways, long story short, the WB Surf Camp was doing another surf trip to Witch's Rock Surf Camp in Tamarindo Costa Rica, I got to hang and surf with owner Rick Civelli, got to know his guide Jason Andre... Jason is making alaias out of the Wrightsville Beach area in North Carolina. So officially Jason is the second guy I know who makes alaias. He brought down 2 and ironically only went home with 1.

Thank you for the alaia Jason! I haven't had a chance to go sliding yet, as last week was totally flat and I was going berserk. now this AM the waves picked up and I'm stuck waiting for my plane. So that you know I plan to take this board with my on my Nicaragua trip next week, I will give you the full report. I am STOKED. The board is shaped really nicely, definitely a LOT of attention to detail. I like alaias because if you were stranded on a deserted island you could make your own surfboard and surf your own waves. dope!

I am happy to see the sport of surfing finding it's roots. Except for stand up paddleboards which I still think are still super gay. Sorry SUP riders I know and am friends with. We can still be friends, I just hope you stick to the harbor or the estuary or long paddles down to Grande away from where the rest of us are surfing.

Whenever I think of North Carolina I think of Stephen Monticone. He was an original WRSC staff member from the old days. He used to run the Coco camp, back when there was a Coco camp. I heard the news that Stephen was getting married this May in Ocracoke, so I've made it my plan to take the Walsh clan to Stephen's home island and see it all go down. My good friend John Cheshire is also getting married in NYC shortly after in June, so maybe we'll be doing an east coast trip, seeing some weddings, catching some east coast waves... Wow... watching my friends slowly all get married... everyone all of a sudden is having kids too. Having kids isn't even that weird to me anymore. Time flies by... Congrats to Bill and Emily, as well as to Nicki and Andrina, more beautiful babies for Otis and Happy to grow up with.

Thank you Outback Jack's in Brasalito, for becoming the newest member of the Zephyr Biodiesel Collective.

Who needs a place to rent? Joe's friends have studio apartments 500 meters north from the Fertama hardware store for $250/month and 2 bedroom/2 bath apartments for $450/month. If you want to live in Avellanas we have a 3 bedroom /2 bath brand new home for rent for $1500/month long-term. If you want to build a rancho there and make a bar on the commercial property adjacent to the house we can talk about how to do it.

So once again the WRSC crew flew to Orlando Florida for the twice-a-year Surf Expo. We had a great show and as always had a great time.

This photo was the afternoon of day #1. That night Yana, Valerie and I went out to dinner and had some (more) beers. The next morning, officially day #2, I woke up really hung over. Everyone else was chipper. How could this be? Yana drove, Val talked, I moaned. I got out of the car at the steps of the convention center and threw up in the grass. It wasn't pretty. Fortunately I powered through and made it. By the way, Florida was 35 degrees and I didn't bring shoes. I thought you didn't need shoes in Florida. besides that the show was great.

Our good buddy Mark Tucker flew out from Atlanta for the show. He grew up skating with Tim Pain, they ran into each other, and the next thing its Mark, Tim Pain and I, talking about the skate park we're going to build next to the surf camp here in Tamarindo. I think I could have some sponsors lined up. If Tim Pain built our park it would be so rad its kindof hard to explain unless you know who Tim Pain is. So, if you like the idea of a Tim Pain skate park on the beach in town, let me know because you could be the lucky person to pay for it!

Talking about the surf shop, here's the deal. We have our bus parked in front, we don't have any signs up. Yes, normal surf shops have signs. We will too, soon enough. We don't want to officially "open" until we have our wish list bought and in the shop. We are still stocking things up, but you can expect Firewire, Stewart, Volcom, Rip Curl, Nixon, Von Zipper, Ocean Minded, Santiki, Rusty, WRONG, Dragon, Hynson, FCS, Headhunter, this list goes on. Unfortunately much of what was initially shipped didn't include some key women's orders that we had made, but just this morning I saw a box of Rip Curl women's bikinis show up. Slowly we're getting there, I just don't want to put up the signs or move the bus until we're ready. We've waited this long, we might as well keep tinkering before our grand re-opening. even though we're already open. make sense?

I am happy that the Saints won. I am bummed they weren't playing the Chargers though. Me bitching about the Chargers will probably last forever.

HELP: Do you know of an awesome band that wants to play at our surf contest event for next to free? for a free vacation to Costa Rica?

I know, I need to get better at the communication thing. But really... what guy doesn't? Yeah, life is full of excitement borderline craziness makes-me-wanna-get-away kind of feeling. Sometimes that exactly what you have to do. I packed my California surf guide, my 4/3 wetsuit with booties and hood, I've got a 5'11 sitting in my parent's garage and a truck in the driveway. I even brought my snowboard gear, I hear its snowing up in Big Bear. I'll spend some quality time with the family... then visit with my friends... then hit the road for a couple of days and see some shit... should be nice.

Hope for Haiti beach concert

Hello everyone,

The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. I have been lost in my own world these last few weeks, but don't worry I didn't disappear! I'm here at the surf camp, working hard during this high season, trying to move my family back into our apartment above the bar. But no worries, as the waves have been pretty good these last few days. I promise to write a proper blog in the next couple of days.

More important than work or surf, I am constantly feeling thankful for all of my wonderful family and friends. This earthquake in Haiti is a reminder of how lucky all of us really are during these times.

Tomorrow night WRSC is hosting a Hope for Haiti Benefit Concert, with all of the proceeds going to the relief efforts in Haiti. Check out the flier below. The event starts at sunset, there will be tons of good music, great food, cold drinks, a nice bonfire, beach blankets, dancing etc. We expect very good times!

If you're not in the Tamarindo area, you can still donate to the efforts in Haiti. Here is how:

1) Go to https://www.hopeforhaitinow.org

2) Donate any amount you feel comfortable with

I, Joe Walsh, will personally match your donation (up to $1000). This can be one person or ten people, doesn't matter to me. I just want to help out. If you donate, simply reply to this blog with your confirmation number and donation amount.

Thank you, PURA VIDA,

Joe

10 Excuses Why:

Today I finally took a couple of hours away from normal life for some well-deserved Joe time. I just bought a guitar again (since Happy broke the tuning pegs off of my last one in the house) and I've been playing a lot of music these last few days. finally. So that makes me smile. So much has been going on despite my attempts at narrowing my circle of responsibilities. Its all going great though, and I am definitely happy, even though I'm tired. Tired from surfing, working, building, parenting, thinking. Ready to simply maintain. Not tired of watching the Chargers though. I do have to move in two days so thats been stressful. But then again the surf has been firing so I don't really care too much. Work has been great, even though its been a total bitch. The Zori is INSANE. and as normal I am rambling sorry :-)

#1

I love surfing. The last 3 months the Tamarindo Rivermouth has been very giving to me. I am happy that I am moving back to live above the restaurant in a few days because I will only have more time in the water surfing, and surfing when the waves are best. It is great to always keep an eye on the waves as often as possible as it gets really good with nobody out. We had a mysto due-north swell hit Tamarindo this past weekend. Avellanas and Marbella were only waist to chest high, Tamarindo was reaching double overhead sets. It was only breaking here in town which was crazy. It was big and pretty fast...there were some insane waves.

Here I am going for it out in front of the camp on the best day of the swell, not huge but clean.

I love the Tamarindo Rivermouth, it can set up just perfectly. In the end I didn't make it out of this barrel, but I've been making a lot of them lately and I never get sick of trying.

#2 I am always stoked to hang with good friends!

Here is my good friend from UCSD Andrew Illig and his brother Mike, they were just down here for a week.

Andrew and I go way back. He is now a doctor in New York City while I run a surf camp in Tamarindo. He comes and surfs, checks out my ears, makes sure I'm not dying. Then we go surf and proceed to get shacked at Witch's Rock. I love Andrew. He enjoys the fine life of good waves, traveling, hanging with friends, chilling out and enjoying life. While he and his brother were down we went out on the Zori on a surf expedition to Witch's Rock and Ollie's Point, which gets me to my next point:

#3 The Zori kicks ass

About 10 days ago I took off on the Zori for Ollie's Point and Witch's Rock with some of my friends.

-Andrew Illig

-his brother Mike

-his (and my) friend Greg

-señor Flash Miranda

-Blake Mycoskie (founder of TOMS shoes)

So I guess that would make six of us, plus Charlie (the captain of the Zori). Hanging with good friends, looking for good waves, fishing for lunch... that about sums up the trip.

This fish turned into sashimi about 10 minutes after Andrew landed it. The rest was dinner that night as well as dinner the next night.

Chilling with Andrew and Flash.

The parking lot at Ollie's Point was completely empty except for the Zori.

I took my family on a boat trip on the Zori last weekend. We fished, surfed, and swam in a little hidden bay only a few miles away from Tamarindo. Otis and Happy had the best time ever, it was an awesome day.

Getting ready for a sunset surf with Blake from TOMS shoes. Blake is a really good guy. Its ironic that we're friends, we were introduced through my friends from the band Switchfoot. We share a lot of things in common. He sells shoes, and for every pair of TOMS he sells he gives a pair of shoes away. He just flew back down here a couple of days ago from Washington DC where Hillary Clinton gave him an award at the White House, and he just rang the stock exchange bell with Snoop Dogg of all people. Meanwhile I give away bong rips with every surf tour I guide, I voted for Bill Clinton and I listen to Snoop Dogg. OK, so maybe we don't have as much in common as I thought. No matter what, he likes to surf and I like to surf, and thats about all that really matters in my little world. So we surfed and had the best surf trip ever.

#4 My landlord sucks.

OK, who in the hell tells their tenants that they have to move out 2 weeks before Christmas and only give a 1 week notice? Apparently my landlord does. I couldn't fucking believe it. We had our Christmas decorations up, our Christmas tree full of lights and ornaments, presents all wrapped up and ready to go. Then we were told we had a week to move.

Instead of freaking out about the fact that Christmas in Tamarindo = everywhere is booked up (including the surf camp), I decided that I would get our house above the restaurant remodeled in 7 days instead of the 3 months we were planning on taking. Ambitious? maybe. Possible? maybe. Here I am, 5 days into it and 2 days left to go, realizing I might be camping with my boys in a tent on the beach in front of WRSC Wednesday night.

Wednesday Dec. 9 - 9am

The crew tear down the old walls of the original beach house.

Wednesday Dec. 9 - 11:30am

getting things all cleaned up and ready for the remodel.

Thursday Dec. 10 - 11am

Building the floor structure.

Friday Dec. 11 - 2pm

Walls start to go up.

Friday Dec. 11 - 4pm

Holly laughs when I tell her I'm going to have the bathroom done by Wednesday December 16th, probably because it doesn't even yet look like a bathroom.

Saturday Dec. 12 - 1:30pm

Walls are going up. We are spraying a ton of insulation in all of the walls to block the sounds of a busy bar. Falling to sleep listening to Tico Hendrix is cool the first 20 times, then it gets old.

To sum things up, today is Monday, its currently 9:30PM. The walls of our bedroom, the kid's bedroom, and our bathroom are almost done. Tomorrow we'll start to tile the bathroom, install the toilet and sink, and install the ceilings. Wednesday we'll install the doors. The house won't be done, but we will hopefully have a comfortable place to sleep. No matter what, the Walsh family knows how to roll with it. We've been rolling with it for this long. We were planning on moving back to WRSC, we just figured there wasn't any pressure and that we could take our time with things. Nope. In true Joe Walsh fashion I've created yet another chaotic environment where things must get done well before anyone would imagine possible. Lets see how it goes.

#5 the Witch's Rock Surf Shop is finally (just about) open!
You see, I was actually getting SICK of construction when I got the notice that I had to move out of my condo. We've been building our surf shop for the last few months. It has been a slow project, but we did an amazing job. We took down the curtains and temporary walls and have been setting up the displays and making signage. The shop truly looks beautiful.



A sign like this one is currently being built by Grafiko Tamarindo.

Andres and Rodolfo are stoked to finally move into the new shop.

We received our new Witch's Rock shirts last week. This week and next week we're waiting on the arrival of boxes of product from Rip Curl, Volcom, Rusty, Dakine, WRONG, and more. By Christmas we'll have the shop stocked with tons of boardshorts, tshirts, rashguards, surf shirts, surf hats, hats, bikinis, shorts, sandals, backpacks, neoprene vests/short johns/spring suits, and a collection of other random surf shop essentials. Things are starting to fill in, the shop looks great, we are all really stoked with how it turned out. I will be announcing an official surf shop launch party date very soon, stay posted :-)

#6 thats a HUGE bitch!

look at the size of the breakfast burrito I (mostly) ate, served up at Cotijas in Tierrasanta, SD CA 92124

3 weeks later, I am still full.

#7 WRSC Biodiesel Collective program is finally taking off!

Have you heard the rumor that Zephyr Eco is opening a brick and mortar market at the surf camp? Its true. As soon as we move the WRSC sales office into the new surf shop, Zephyr is taking over the existing office space at the entrance of WRSC and turning it into a full time organic market. Not only will this space be a market, it will also be headquarters for all of the community programs we are working on. One such program is the biodiesel collective program. How does this work?

Its pretty simple:
#1 you have a restaurant in Guanacaste (the closer to us the better). We schedule a time to pick up your used cooking oil.
#2 Zephyr Eco takes the oil and processes it into biodiesel.
#3 The resulting glycerin (byproduct of the biodiesel process) is used to make soap, surf wax, sunscreen, and more. All of these products are fully biodegradable by the way.
#4 The biodiesel is used to power the WRSC vans and the WRSC surf yacht Zori

Also:
#5 For every hotel/restaurant that participates in the Biodiesel Collective program, Zephyr Eco gifts back 10% of all WVO (waste vegetable oil) received in the form of biodiesel, or soap/surf wax/sunscreen. We also list your company on the new Zephyr Eco website which is about to launch, advertising your business as part of the Biodiesel Collective.

The new market is going to be great. The space will serve the community well, administering this and other community programs we are launching. We are networking all of the sustainable professionals in the region, literally just trying to get the right information out there. Stay posted to the new zephyrecoproject.com website that will be online in the very near future (thank you Jane Bocker).

#8 How about those San Diego Super Chargers?

I sat at the bar yesterday with Larry and Yana and watched the Chargers seal the deal against the Cowboys. We are now 10-3, and a full 2 games in front of Denver. Unlike years past, I have kept my mouth shut and silently watched as SD has gone from 2-3 to 10-3. I am hoping they end the season 13-3. I am really hoping to see them play New Orleans in the Super Bowl. Rivers vs Brees, 2 explosive offenses. I'd have to go to that game in Miami. fingers crossed... I could go on and on about the Chargers, but instead I'm just going to enjoy whats been going on this season and smile.

#9 Email sucks. My email has become a responsibility. It makes me feel guilty. What about just talking to people in person, or calling them on the phone? I know I go through these phases of email me don't call me or call me don't email me. And the irony is that I love computers and the internet. I keep a blog. Mr Google is a dear friend. My iphone has become my lifeline. Instead of worrying about email, I live in this fantasy land in my tiki hut with a perfect tubing right-hander out in front (sound familiar?)

#10 I must be the luckiest dad in the world

My two boys are my entire world now. It is hard for me to remember what life was like before them. I am so lucky to have such a great family. Lately I've made sure to make plenty of time to hang out with my boys regardless of how much work or surf is going on. They really do make me complete and I am really thankful.



and thats it. I'm tired. I'm going home. Monday night football is on TV. I don't care about the 49ers or the Cardinals but I do like the idea of falling asleep watching football on tv. Tomorrow I'm going surfing and hopefully getting some good waves. And hopefully my bathroom will get tiled and I'll be moving in there on Wednesday. This week will be interesting. At least I explained it all the best I could.

MIA

I feel alive again. Finally the waves picked up and the wind fixed itself. Hurricane Ida in the Caribbean sucked all of the air from the Pacific, creating this nasty onshore flow that lasted for what seemed like forever but was really only about 10-12 days or so. Still, it seemed endless.

Just when I was starting to lose all hope, finally the hurricane went north, the conditions cleaned up, and everyone started getting shacked. Over three days last week I got 5 in-and-out tube rides surfing the Tamarindo Rivermouth. It was sick, total tube vision. I can't stop thinking about how sick the waves were last week. (exhale)

Everyone seemed to be getting tubes. Here's some pics from around the Tamarindo area:

Witch's Rock Surf Team - Luis Castro

Viper, a local surfer from Nosara getting shacked at Marbella

Trey Brownell, one of the owners of W.R.O.N.G., Playa Avellanas

If you haven't yet checked it out, WRSC now has our web cam on Surfline.com

Check it out here:

http://www.surfline.com/surf-report/tamarindo-costa-rica_5782/

There have been tons of things happening at Witch's Rock Surf Camp over the last four months. As I reflect on it all, I realize why I'm exhausted. We went to 3 trade shows in 2 months (btw we just signed up to do the Surf Expo in Orlando this coming January), traveling to 3 corners of the US. We launched a new surf yacht tour with the Zori and we're about to open the new surf shop. Both of these endeavors are new businesses within themselves, each on their own would be an overwhelming experience even if we weren't trying to simultaneously run the surf camp. We opened new WRSC offices across the street from the camp. We hired a new CFO. We hired Yana, helping with new business development as I personally try to "back out" of my existing job and move back into a job that allows me to surf more, test new products, go to more places. I know it has only been a few months of heavy lifting, I'm just glad the low season has ended and now its time to just manage the camp. And at least now I realize why I'm not so good with email, blogs, returning phone calls or even showing up lately.

A new office with a big whiteboard on the wall = time to really plan shit out. Here we are with the new shop, figuring out where everything is going to go.

We are finishing up the light boxes, kindof hard to explain but you'll see them when they're done and they should look sick. Audio, electrical, internet and cable all ran above the caña brava ceiling we're installing this week. Paint is done, the slat wall is about to go up.

The WRSC maintenance crew hammering up some caña brava outside of the new shop entrance.

Humbero Sanchez and his son Yeudi are my favorite wood workers here in Costa Rica. I've had them make tons of things over the years. They finished the front desk / counter and internet cafe desks, and currently they're doing the finishing work for the shop from the tile to the ceiling (walls, light boxes, woodwork).

If you listen to Costa Rica's RADIO DOS radio station (99.5), you'll notice the groovy sounds of American 70s and 80s hits. Perfect for the older ex-pats and younger throwbacks as well. I went to Radio Dos' headquarters in San Jose last week and signed a deal to deliver surf reports daily starting the end of this month. I've actually already started recording them and they are playing currently on Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays. Last night I was driving and I heard it, and it made me laugh when I thought about how we started the surf camp with Holly doing laundry by hand in her bikini and me driving a boat to Witch's Rock and Ollie's Point (no GPS, no phone, while trying to remember where all of the rocks were so I wouldn't hit them). All I wanted to do is surf, and thats all I still want to do. I'm actually sitting in the Liberia Airport right now, about to board a flight with Holly to San Diego. We're going to be MIA for a few days surfing California from San Diego to probably around Arroyo Grande, depending on the conditions. I am so stoked that a NW swell is about to hit

If you don't know how to read this, basically it means we're getting a big northwest swell. San Diego will be smaller so we're driving up to Ventura / Santa Barbara area and hopefully I'll be scoring perfect right point-breaks. Holly and I are going on the first vacation we've ever taken without the boys. Weird. Awesome. Kindof sad. Still awesome though. This morning we woke up and realized that we were leaving on vacation and we got really happy.

That really makes me think a lot about our boys. I miss them already. Thankfully Holly's mom Suzanne is staying at our house and watching them.

In case you want a good laugh, this is what our Halloween looked like this year:

Otis was a robot, Happy was a bunch of grapes. Happy actually loved his costume, I'm not sure what he was crying about when I took this photo but it surely wasn't because he was dressed up as grapes. Otis was on Planet Otis, as normal. They both won prizes from the costume contest in town. I dressed up as Santa Clause and handed out candy at the kid's Halloween party. Damn was that costume hot. I was sweating balls and couldn't wait to take off that wig, hat, beard and suit and find the closest Imperial I could get my hands on.

Another cute pic of my kids, this time with Pipas on the beach (get used to me always posting pics of my kids, they kill me with cuteness)

Hey, do you know anyone who wants to relocate / retire in Costa Rica? My good friend Patrick McNulty has a nice 1,100 sq meter lot in Avellanas that he is selling for $28,000. This is a little over a quarter acre and perfect for a home, there is water to the lot and electricity right there too. Find him at www.skullbonepass.com if you want more info. Also, WRSC has a lot that we are selling. It is 723 sq. meters and has a stunning ocean view. Its located approximately 4-5 minute walk behind the surf camp, on the mountain here in Tamarindo. The price is $150,000, I'm pretty sure this is the cheapest ocean view lot of it's kind in Tamarindo. Contact the WRSC Sales Office if you want to go look at it (US/Canada - 1-888-318-SURF, CR - 2653-1262). Here's the plano:

Here's what the view is like (there are ocean views in all directions so email if you want more pics sent to you)

I almost forgot to tell you all the coolest thing. WRSC just partnered up with a large cut and sew factory here in Costa Rica. We are now local-sourcing all of our t-shirts and rashguards here in Costa Rica as opposed to shipping shirts from China or other countries. I am a firm believer of trying your best to find local products, services, and staff as much as possible. Not only does it cut down on one's carbon footprint, but it also reinvests one's money in the area. I'd rather be supporting Costa Rica and Costa Ricans instead of people I've never met in places I've never been.

We're screening a few hundred Witch's Rock t-shirts for the new shop opening next week. Next will be women's tanks and men's / women's rashguards. We're currently developing a new surf shirt that is loose and dries quickly. I tested out one of the early samples and now my nipples feel like they're peeling off, totally rashed out of control. Not quite as glamorous as it sounds, being the product tester will always come with issues like this until you get it perfect. At least we have the perfect place to get it right.

Thats about it. My plane is boarding, I'm planning on sleeping for a few hours, then hanging with my family and good friends, surfing California's cold water, and getting to know my wife again. pura vida - joe

inwards onwards

Oh blog, I give you my heart and soul as I try to relax a mind that is consumed with a thousand flickering thoughts. If I do this right, I walk away feeling like I've just spoken to my therapist and that everything is going to be OK. Things aren't bad, in fact they are very good, but being overwhelmed wasn't what I was hoping I'd be feeling these days. So where should we start?

Fish Out Of Water - New York City


I stayed in Brooklyn for a week, my neighbor being the black model guy from Zoolander who was blown up in that gas station explosion. WRSC had a booth at the Adventure Travel Show in Manhattan at the Javits Center. I stayed up there when everyone else came back to Tamarindo. It was the least I could do since so many people visit us from New York, I wanted to reciprocate. I figured I could tell the big apple about little tamarindo and our surf camp, and also hang out with some good friends and catch up on drinking some Sierra Nevadas and Blue Moons. I took the train everywhere, got lost in the big city, almost froze so I walked a lot to help stay warm, listening to Manu Chao and Gorillaz, the Black Keys and Iggy Pop. Contemplating life, headphones in New York just makes sense.

A publicist as well as a past guest of WRSC, Josiel Estrella decided to thank us by visiting us at the show and then going out and getting us a bunch of press for the surf camp. I found myself on the news show Open on Bronxnet last Wednesday morning. It wasn't until I showed up at the station that I realized I was going on live tv in New York City. Here's a pic of what the tv studio looked like. A few minutes later was the human interest piece on our little camp in Tamarindo, born when we drove an old school bus from San Diego to Costa Rica 9 years ago. Pot smokers represent.



Since I had only planned on being in NYC for the weekend, I didn't bring many clean clothes. My jeans were on day six, shirt day 3. I realized I was the only one wearing sandals and nobody else had long sun-bleached hair with salt water micro dreads. Fortunately my good friends Andrew and Georgia put me up for a night and loaned me warm clothes. I went to UCSD with Andrew, we surfed Blacks all of the time and took some Baja trips. He is now a doctor working a few blocks from where they live on 21st and 2nd Ave. He keeps a truck with an expandable camper shell three blocks away as well. I guess this is what surfers do, or at least what they should.  I'm looking forward to Andrew coming down to WRSC at the end of November, that's going to be good times.



I had to leave early, so Andrew went to Mollusk Surf Shop in Brooklyn on my behalf and hooked up with one of the owners, Eric. I had been meaning to say whats up to them for some time. People living in the area can cruise into Mollusk and get info about WRSC. They can help you book a trip to the camp or on one of our surf tours.  Soon you will find our passports there.

I had met with the Billabong Surf Shop in Times Square a couple of days earlier. A total Disneyland opposite to a place like Mollusk. They said they would place passports in every bag that they sell, and that they give out 5,000 bags/day. Wow, that's a lot of bags I start thinking... and paper... Then I start thinking about how loud it is and how you couldn't have a conversation about going on a surf trip in that store. I guess its a different type of marketing, not necessarily a bad one.

I do know that I like it when you can go into a surf shop and talk to them about surf. Surfing, and WRSC for that matter, exists through word-of-mouth and story telling so why not continue doing that when sharing the surf camp with people? I'm planning another trip to NY to surf and check out the smaller shops on Long Island, hopefully before the water gets into the 30s. I love being able to travel and surf and having it be called work, even if the water is cold.


I Want My House Back

What the hell was I thinking when I moved out of my house? I was staring at the ocean constantly and I had a bar only a few steps away. Oh wait, now I remember. I had snakes living in the floorboards big enough to eat my kids. I forgot about that.

Now I'm living across the street and down the road a little way. Yes, its close, but its not the same at all. At least my wife and kids are happy where we live. I'm happy too, but I can't wait to move back home and be staring at the rivermouth all day long again. I know this is only a temporary move until we fix up our house. It is the original house built 40 years ago, it definitely needs some love. Soon enough I keep saying.

I've decided to dress up as Santa Clause for Halloween this year.  That was easy enough.

playlist!"> Ringtones">

pandora.com and playlist.com are helping me through each and every day.  So are my boys...

Getting The New Surf Shop Open

The majority of any focus of mine lately has been on finishing the remodeling of the new surf shop. Building materials, lighting, audio, video, flat screens, slat wall, clothing racks, inventory systems, office furniture, new witch's rock t-shirts, Rusty, Rip Curl, Da Kine. Joey needy money. It always happens slower than you want, but since I've been bootstrapping this entire surf camp since day 1 it is no surprise I am bootstrapping the new shop as well. Otis and Happy, its your college fund and I'm sorry but I'm spending it. I'm the guy who in 2003 asked Jeeves how to build a hotel in costa rica and then paid for it with credit cards, selling old rental boards and cheap beer to make the cash to pay for it all.  I will find a way to shake my money maker and get this shop stocked before high season.  And if it takes a few months to get stocked up, well then thats fine too.  Nothing to stress over, nothing a good surf can't fix.  I still can't believe how long I've been talking about this project, to see it almost complete feels really good, and scary, if that makes sense.



I'm thinking we'll have moved into the new shop area no later than November 15th. I really hope I can stop thinking about this part of the surf camp, it creates a tunnel vision I'm getting sick of seeing however excited I might be. I'm going to have to shift gears soon because after this week we go from low season back to being almost completely booked at the hotel. I just want the high season to get here so I can go back to running the surf camp.  I'm getting ready for offshore winds and rivermouth tubes.

If I Had Sleeves These Would Be Up Them

Maverick Kickstart will be shooting an episode on-location at WRSC Tamarindo March 2-6, 2010.  This weekly reality show takes risk-adverse individuals on extreme adventures to "kick start" their lives.  We were hooked up with this TV show through past WRSC guest and Old Dudes Surf Club member Craig Neuhoff.  I didn't really think that surfing was considered risky, but then again this past summer when I was surfing off of the Osa Peninsula during that solid 15 ft. swell, under gunned and with a broken leash, well I guess that would have been a good scene to throw into this show.

The North Face is coming to Costa Rica.  The North Face is already the proud provider of camping equipment for WRSC Surf + Camp Expeditions.  Witch's Rock Surf Camp is taking this relationship further.  With the launch of the new surf shop we will be carrying a line of The North Face products in Tamarindo.  The North Face is also opening two retail stores in San Jose, CR this month.  Never stop exploring.

Greg Gordon, founder of CRsurf.com, named WRSC's first US sales rep (S. Florida).  What does that mean?  Pretty soon you can visit your local surf shop in south Florida and pick up your Witch's Rock Surf Camp passport.  Greg can help answer any questions you might have and book your trip for you.  You not only get excellent travel service from a local surfer that knows WRSC and Costa Rica like the back of his hand, but after your trip you'll also get discounts from your local shop back home.

Witch's Rock Surf Camp named as sponsor for Tamarindo CNS Surf Contest March 2010.  For the third year in a row, we are hosting this contest, the party, and the awards ceremony.  The date hasn't been set in stone yet, but everyone is expecting this season to be pretty huge.  This past July the CNS hosted the Billabong World Surfing Games.  We have some great surf talent in this country and it is exciting to watch the sport grow.

OK I think that's about it for now.  I promise to break radio silence and be more communicative if you promise to stop asking me why I haven't been blogging lately.  Deal?

moderate thought

yeah, I know I've been lagging on the blogging. The truth is, things are happening really fast. I feel like I can't just write a 5 minute explanation of whats going on. But I can. It can come out in spurts and it probably should.

I just moved offices. I rented some office space across the street from the surf camp, this is the new WRSC Admin Office. The Reservations Office is going where the Admin Office was, to be connected to the new surf shop we are currently building and that will be open by the end of the month I hope. We are finally opening the Zephyr Eco Store where the Reservations Office is currently, on the right hand side as you enter the camp. That's gonna be sweet. Lots of moving and building in other words. Planning is key, and I suck at planning. I have commitment issues all over. Its all working out though.

My left ear has water in it and it hurts. I've surfed every day except for today, the Rivermouth has been pretty fun. It hasn't been epic, but fun, every day something to surf. I do find myself sharing waves with tons of SUPs lately. When I'm on a 5'9 and they're on a 12'6 and they're paddling for every set wave that comes in, well... that just kindof sucks. Then there's the longboarders who get all of the waves but still find they need to drop in on you and take your wave too. Like a little kid that can't share. Then you have to get over it because you see those guys every day and thats just the way they are, and I just want to surf. They want waves. SUPs are wave hogs, face it. Thats why I don't carry them in the surf shop. The last thing I want is to be responsible for a herd of SUPs running over everyone else in the Tamarindo Rivermouth line-up and taking all of the waves. I don't care how popular they're becoming. Its ironic, seeing longboarders that used to complain about all of the crowds now themselves riding SUPs. I think its pretty selfish to sit on the main peak on one of those things. If I can catch waves on a 5'9 then your normal longboard should be good enough. You don't need a battleship SUP to get all of the waves. I hope I don't become a bitter old man surfer.

Our biodiesel reactor is built, WRSC is turning our used cooking oil from Eat @ Joe's into biodiesel and powering our vans, my truck, and the Zori. October means that most all of the restaurants are closing, so it might be a little difficult to collect a ton of used oil this month, but we're going to try. I just bought an old Toyota Landcruiser that will do the pickup route. If you have a restaurant in the Tamarindo area and want to donate your used oil, I will give you back biodiesel that will work in ANY diesel vehicle. I will also promote your company because you'll be promoting sustainability. You can also buy biodiesel for your diesel engined vehicle from Zephyr Eco, email me for details. The service will officially start in November. Oh, and by the way, Eat @ Joe's is offering Joe's to Go starting on October 15th. Call 2653-1238 and order your breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks, sushi, whatever whenever, and we'll deliver it to your house or hotel room (in recycled to-go containers by the nacho-powered landcruiser). Check the WRSC website soon about it all.

Zephyr Eco is opening it's store to the public in November. What does this mean? Organic market will be open daily. You can buy fruits and veggies that haven't been soaked in pesticides, from local farmers here in Costa Rica. Locally sourced organic products mean less carbon footprint. Be healthier, or at least offset your beer consumption. Find green products for the home or workplace. Green construction services in Guanacaste will be available, with our network of architects, builders, and products making living/working sustainably in Costa Rica even easier. Our Alemania residential lots will be available to the public. I will be sending a ZEP newsletter out in the next couple of weeks, once the new website is launched.

All of this blogging and new website talk. My laptop broke in San Diego and I learned to do most things on my phone. Valerie's laptop got stolen and I gave her mine because I wasn't using it much. Lately my job has been more about building things in the real world, not in a virtual one.

I never got a chance to give a HUGE thank you to Amber Shaffer for hosting the WRSC crew in San Diego for the ASR show. We moved into her house in Rolando, busted out the inflatable beds, took over the DVR and soon had a constant stream of the Office, Robot Chicken, and Reno 911. I clogged the toilet in the garage really bad. Yana sported the sleep apnea mask thingie that sounds like Darth Vader. Valerie and I got totally barreled under this bush next to Amber's garage while practicing front-side cutbacks on the Shred Sled. Mark Tucker, I know you talk shit about those boards but man are they fun, especially while rocking some Pandora via the iPhone data plan via some ipod speakers in the driveway.

Getting back to Tamarindo from the family road trip and 2 trade shows was a relief. I love the condo that I'm renting for the family, though living above the surf camp bar with live music nightly and waves right out in front wasn't bad at all. But now we have more space, its twice as big. I have a huge bedroom with room for everything. We have 2 tvs with cable instead of just one, and the big screen is in the bedroom. No more Lazy Town marathons, I get my CSI Miami or whatever AXN is playing. Chargers are on the restaurant TV every Sunday, besides that I don't have much of a schedule. High tide vs. low tide. Time with the family vs. time at the surf camp. A never-ending list of things to do. I just hired a CFO so that's going to help. His name is Carlos Silva, his brother is Jose, a lawyer here in Tamarindo. We have another trade show next weekend in New York City so I guess that means I should buy a plane ticket sometime soon. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but my original ideas of staying for some time and getting some surf has been replaced with ones involving getting the new surf shop built and open in weeks, not months, organizing the business now that we finally have a full-time CPA working for WRSC. It was good timing too, because we got served with a late tax bill the first day he started the job!

It is very hard to believe that this is low season. It hasn't rained much at all. If this keeps up, next season is going to have water shortages and power outages. Today and tomorrow, most of our guests check out and we have only a few rooms booked. Only 4 weeks to do the construction projects, reorganization of everything that needs reorganizing. In 4 weeks the 2009/2010 surf season officially starts. Looking at the calendar, the hotel is going to be pretty booked up starting next month. Isn't this year going by fast?

I survive 32 years

I take a moment and think about the last month. I realize that I'm pretty tired and ready to get home to Tamarindo. I just need a few nights of sleep in that king size bed. No more couches, inflatable mattresses, or RV couches that fold into beds. No more guest bedrooms, no more sleeping in a tent. I'm going back to Tamarindo to my king bed with a TV in my bedroom.

I'm flying to Denver tomorrow. Holly and the boys have been in Colorado for the last two weeks while I've been in San Diego for the ASR show. Holly decided to get off of the RV trip and visit with her family when we were driving cross country. I really miss my family and can't wait to see them tomorrow. We're going to chill out for a few days before going to CR simply to get away from work and be somewhere where nobody can find us. When we do return to CR, I have a meeting with my Congresswoman and a representative from the MINAE on Monday in San Jose.

Instead of trying to explain everything about driving cross country with my parents, my wife and my kids, I'll let some random iphone photos and captions do it for me. Two trade shows in less than a month can get a bit overwhelming. I'm just rolling with it. I have a really awesome crew at the surf camp that are really stepping up and allowing this to all happen.

Holly, Otis, Happy and I camped in a family tent and chilled out in such places as "swampy Florida" and "middle of nowhere Ohio". We fit 2 inflatable mattresses and Happy's crib, along with our suitcases, in the tent. Driving across the entire United States from Florida to Ohio to Michigan to Colorado to San Diego. I am pretty impressed that our family of 6 with two little kids (that need naps) could drive 6,000 miles like we did, and we didn't kill each other! It was National Lampoons Vacation in many ways however.

We drove to New Buffalo, Michigan because I heard there was a swell on the lake. We arrived to find shoulder high wind swell at about 3 second intervals with howling onshore wind, so I opted for a Sierra Nevada instead. I saw a few people attempting to surf, beginner surfers just getting pounded into the sand. It didn't look nice out there at all, though I know it can get good there when the conditions are right. The guy at the Third Coast Surf Shop told me the surf would be better in Indiana. Indiana, huh?

Otis caught his first fish on the road trip.

I literally cast the line out, handed him the rod to reel it in, and right as he started reeling he caught this little Bluegill. He was super stoked. Then he didn't want to fish anymore and instead just played with all of the rubber worms in the tackle box.

Here we are in Nebraska.

Go Chargers! yeah, I know they didn't look too good for the 1st three quarters of their Monday night opener, but they got it together in the 4th and beat the Raiders. Happy and Otis are both in the Chargers crew along with Papi and their dad.

I think my parents are more afraid of our boys after taking this trip with us across the US. I don't think they realized how much attention they need, how loud they are, and how little their RV was. On this particular morning it was freezing, as Gunnison Colorado is at 7,700 ft elevation. Of course the boys wake up at the crack of dawn. I told Otis to take Happy's hand and go knock on the motor home door and ask Nana and Papi (kid code for grandma and grandpa) to watch them. That plan backfired as my parents were still sleeping. Camping with kids as young as ours can get a little difficult after a couple of weeks, but we managed. Holly has been with the boys ever since. We didn't get to hang as a family on my birthday which kindof sucked, and I'm still promised a birthday cake, so I hope I'm going to get that tomorrow when I finally see my little groms again. Did I mention that I miss my family?

On this road trip we ended up spending a lot of time together as a family of 6. I am very lucky to have been given the chance to drive cross country with my parents, my wife and my boys. Most people never get that kind of opportunity.

Orlando and San Diego meant the Surf Expo and the ASR Trade Show. We have a booth, it lives in these three crates. We ship these boxes around the US to different trade shows and promote the surf camp. The idea is that we get more guests, which continues to pay our bills and lets us surf as our job. Anything to keep surfing is OK with me.

Here we have Larry and (did I ever tell you that I had a personal assistant?) Valerie.

For the record, if you really want to get in touch with me please note that me and the Internet had a fight and my computer broke. Please contact my personal assistant Valerie AT witchsrocksurfcamp DOT com if you need to find me. I've been MIA really bad lately, I'm sorry. But now you know you can contact Valerie. Some random turtle at the ASR show last week, not really sure why this photo made it here but I kindof liked it.

Its really cool when a true surf legend cruises up to your booth to shoot the shit. Here we have Tom Carroll. If you don't know who this guy is you shouldn't be surfing. Other surf legends that cruised by included Shaun Thompson and Jeff Clark. Tom Carroll was awesome, we talked about big wave surfing. He made me feel really tall.

As we wrapped things up in San Diego we had Marc B play a short set at our booth. On percussion was Max, a WRSC guest 4 years ago. Marc and Max are going to play a show at WRSC in a couple of months, stay tuned for more info. Check out their music and buy it, support them, Marc B is going big.

As soon as we get back this weekend there are tons of work things going on, but all I really care about is getting back so I can surf, see my friends, and hang out with my wife. Holly is the coolest chick in the world and the best thing thats ever happened to me.

keeping on keeping on

ACDC - its a long way to the top.mp3

I was in Playa Coco this last week finding a new place to moor the Witch's/Ollie's boat and decided to moor it right where we used to keep our boat when we had the WRSC Playas del Coco surf camp open back in the day. My old next door neighbor, the infamous one-legged fisherman Jimbolo, is watching over the boat for us. He runs a few fishing boats in Coco as well as the Bar Matapalo, not much more than a tico bar hangout for crusty fishermen types and skinny dogs. I showed Yana, my newly hired right-hand, the old surf camp building that sits next door to the bar. It has aged in these last few years. I got a little sad, thinking about all of the memories I have from living there with Holly, back when I drove our shitty little boat to Witch's Rock and Ollie's Point, back when she cooked and cleaned, back when we couldn't afford any employees, only volunteers, before we ever talked about having children or getting married.

Man... that was only 8 years ago. Now I'm writing this blog, packing a few items because tomorrow I'm flying with my wife and 2 boys, Larry and Yana, everyone is heading to Florida to host the WRSC booth at the Surf Expo in Orlando this week. What a long strange trip its been since we started the camp in January 2001. It feels pretty good, pretty crazy, definitely amazing and completely scary all at once. I've been to the Surf Expo and the ASR trade shows before, but never has Witch's Rock Surf Camp actually hosted it's own booth there. I used to daydream about it years ago but never thought it would ever happen. To be honest, I used to daydream about most all of what WRSC has become, never really thinking we'd get this far. We're staying in an RV park in Kissimmee for the week, definitely done in the roots WRSC style. Trailer parks have the best parties, everyone knows that!

If you're reading this and planning on going to either of these shows, you should stop by and visit our booth and sign up to win a free surf trip on the ZORI surf yacht. We have some killer new WRSC passports, you collect passport stamps and earn tons of cool stuff. Get a passport, get stamps, get free swag. Oh, and I have passes for the shows too, so hit me up if you can't scrape up some on your own and if I have any left I'll give them to you.

Surf Expo - Orlando - August 20-22, 2009

ASR Trade Show - San Diego - September 10-12, 2009



Everyone thought I was crazy to take off on the boat for such a long surf trip, not knowing where we were going or if the boat would bring us back. I had a plan, kind of. Besides just getting sick waves, the way I saw it, I needed to take that trip so I could push the Zori to the limits and make sure she was up to the challenge of being our lead surf tour boat. She is. The trip was awesome.

The biggest swell of the year hit while we were off of the west tip of the Osa Peninsula in the middle of nowhere. Greg Tamm, ex captain of the Marlin del Rey catamaran, was crewing on the boat so we had some good time to get to know each other. We paddled out and surfed at this left point break near Drake Bay, the only ones out. The problem with being cut off from the rest of the world is that nobody is there to call you or send you an email to tell you that the biggest swell of the year is hitting. And when you're exploring surf spots with nobody out, it can be very hard to tell how big the waves are. I was surprised and undergunned when I paddled into 15 ft plus waves. The sets were huge. I bear-hugged my surfboard when I duck dove, hoping it wouldn't break and leave me to get washed in on the rocks inside. I caught one wave, rode it all the way in, and decided I had shown up to a tennis match with a baseball bat. My 6'0 just wasn't made for these waves. It was intense. Below is a pic that Rene took from the panga, so you can only see the back of the wave Greg and I had just duck dove. I figure the back of that wave is at least 8 feet, maybe bigger. When I got back to the boat I realized the waves had literally torn off and broken my leash, so I was pretty stoked I didn't lose my board ducking any of those sets.

ha ha ha! look closely at the photo and see the looks on our faces. We were like "holy shit, here comes a cleanup set!". That night I made a point to call Holly and my parents, just to tell them I loved them.


The Rio Sierrpe:

the wave looks mellow, but it was the same peak day of the swell. What we thought was an empty lineup ended up being double overhead and nonstop waves. The river is super wide, and with the incoming tide we were literally being sucked up the river. It took me about 45 minutes to get back to the boat, whereas Greg literally got picked up by a river boat making it's way back to the ocean. I figure that since Greg lived in Hawaii the last ten years and rips at surfing I wouldn't feel too bad about just wanting to go back to the boat and have a few beers instead.


We caught tons of fish on the trip. This one Mahi Mahi fed 6 men for two nights.



Here's a sailfish we caught that weighed about 100 pounds. We caught it on 15 pound test line. Can someone google that and see if its some kind of record?



Check out this Pavones barrel. The monday after the swell there was still a little swell and there were only about 15 people in the water, which is insanely uncrowded for such a long was as Pavones.



My kids were really excited when I got home from the boat trip. Here is baby Happy, quickly turning into a little man. Its unbelievable. He is repeating all of the words that he hears. No longer a baby, now a little man.




And then of course there's Otis who is almost three and a half. how crazy.

Holly, Otis, Happy and I are going to Orlando so I can go to the trade show. My parents have driven across the US from San Diego in their Lazy Days motorhome, they are currently entering Florida in time to pick us up at the airport tomorrow. After the Surf Expo we're heading north to Cape Hatteras for a few days. I've always wanted to surf the Outer Banks and never have, so this will be great. After Hatteras we're driving to the Great Lakes, to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Football Hall of Fame in Cleveland. My dad is pretty stoked about this part of the trip. If there is good surf weather I'm planning on hooking up with the Third Coast Surf Shop and surf Lake Michigan. After that we're going to Colorado to hang out with Holly's family and go camping in the mountains. I think Vegas is on the itinerary, then to San Diego in time to host the ASR trade show September 10-12.

Wow, I guess that means I'm leaving for Florida tomorrow and that I'm going to be on the road again for the next four weeks. Hmm... OK....

I am declaring email bankruptcy (again). You might just need to forward me that sent message from last week or last month. I'm really sorry. I read all email, but to ensure a response (like for WRSC or Zephyr things) please email me through the WRSC contact page. My personal assistant Valerie is much more organized than I am :-| I have been traveling a lot and I gave my desk to Yana so that means I'm not really on the computer that much.

adrift

We've been on the boat for 8 days now. Today the swell is peaking,
there are some pretty big waves passing under the boat as we cruise
towards Drake Bay (located on the north side of the Osa Peninsula). A
lot has happened in the last week, and up until now I've only sent a
few quick blurbs from my phone while I had cell coverage. Lets see
how typing on this laptop works out, and then let's see how well that
iPhone app works that tethers my cell phone with my laptop as to get
internet on my laptop. I'm pretty sure old school pirates didn't
worry about shit like this.

My friend from the UCSD days Frank Lemes left a couple of days ago to
return to Hawaii, where he is now a doctor living with his wife Mandy
and their soon-to-be-born son Cruz. Frank told me he was coming down
to Costa Rica a few months ago, and the timing was just right to have
him arrive to Liberia and jump on the boat as we left Tamarindo. We
surfed, fished, drank beers and talked story the whole week. I heard
about all of the guys we went to school with from Poole Street and the
Shores houses, and amazingly how so many of them are still so
connected to surfing. That made me happy to hear. It was pretty cool
to get a college degree while surfing Blacks every day. It made me
realize how much I have missed since moving to Costa Rica after I
graduated college, and happy that I moved to Costa Rica as who knows
what I'd be doing if I got a real job in the US instead. Probably not
something that would have me on a boat en route to Isla Burica, Panama
right now.

Larry McKinney was on the trip up until yesterday. Larry has to be
the best guy to go on surf trip with. He is always laughing and
making jokes. I saw him get a really good tube ride at some random
beach break we surfed that we forgot to name. There was nobody out
but us and the set waves were reaching a few feet overhead. I also
saw Chilo get a solid tube ride at the same beach the day before.
Chilo and Luis are now back in Tamarindo. Chilo was so excited to
return to Tamarindo, I don't think he realized what he was getting
himself into when he volunteered to take off on the surf yacht for an
undetermined amount of time. He is returning to oversee the
restoration of the panga we have sitting on the side lot next to the
hotel. In two weeks that boat will be brand new again, with a new
115hp 4-stroke Yamaha outboard, seat cushions, and a new canopy.
Chilo was a little sad to see his boat the Holly Gwee go south with me
while he returned north, but I promised him that she was going to see
some amazing places and to be happy for her. It works out perfectly
to be towing the Holly Gwee behind the Zori, as we can jump off at any
point we want and cruise closer the coastline on the panga checking
multiple surf spots with relative ease.

Boats aren't cheap, especially big ones that you buy used from owners
that didn't use them much. I knew I'd be needing to make some
upgrades, and we decided to do them while we were in Quepos, so it was
a little bit sooner than I had anticipated. Now that I'm at sea its
all better. It was almost like we had to press the pause button for a
couple of days to buy all new batteries (5 batteries that cost
$375/each), a new giant cooler, filters, 12 gallons of oil, tons of
rope, more lures, more flashlights, 2 new waterproof floating VHF
radios, a new tool kit, $300 in groceries, etc. etc.. This probably
wouldn't be too bad if I wasn't just dropping $25,000 on the new WRSC
Surf Expo / ASR booth and our brand new brochures we wanted to get
done in time for the World Games of Surfing in Playa Hermosa next
week. In my world (and probably in yours too), $25,000 is a ton of
cash. Add to that the thousands of dollars to actually have a booth
at those shows, plane flights Costa Rica - Orlando and Costa Rica -
San Diego for me plus the staff I send along, hotel stays, food, beer
(gotta have a separate budget just for beer), gas, that surfboard one
must buy for himself while checking out other booths at the surf
shows, and so on, and it gets to be a ton of cash, something near
$40,000 I'm expecting. I guess I need to keep the faith about it all
as I'll probably be the only surf camp in the world with our own booth
at these shows, and it will give everyone an opportunity to know about
our kick-ass new surf boat that does nothing but seek excellent, empty
waves. And for Larry I guess its part of his job to have had to go on
the yacht on a surf trip, so that he can properly explain exactly what
it is like for booking guests. You should give him a call if you want
to know more about it. And if you're going to be at the Surf Expo
August 20-22 in Orlando or the ASR trade show in San Diego September
10-12, stop by our booth and chill out at the bar (yeah of course we
built a bar for the trade show booth).

My family came down to Quepos Tuesday night to visit. They left
yesterday morning, a quick 36 hour trip but an amazing one
nonetheless. Otis and Happy were really stoked to get to hang out
with Daddy, we pretty much just chilled and didn't do much at all on
Wednesday. We went on a few walks, threw rocks into the estuary,
played with dominos, tried to swim in the hotel pool but couldn't
because Otis has a nasty earache. I somehow got stung by a bee on my
forehead and proceeded to have a swollen Klingon head for the rest of
the afternoon which sucked. Visiting with my boys and Holly makes
doing these longer trips easier. I know that soon enough I'll have
the entire family on the boat, once the boys are old enough to swim.
Maybe we'll take off on a trip around the world one of these days,
once I figure out what all of these dials and switches on the boat do!
I'm learning quickly though, and fortunately I have a very solid
captain named Charlie. Charlie was the captain of the Blue Dolphin
for the last 5 years and has been on the water for 26 years all in
all. He brought with him his friend Rene, also a Tico and a really
nice guy who has been surfing Costa Rica for the last 30 years. I
also brought along Greg, who just quit captaining the Marlin del Rey
catamaran in Tamarindo and is now on board with us and helping out.
Let it be known that I have nothing to do with their desire to work on
our surf boat, I never called them and asked them to quit working
where they were working. I didn't even know Charlie or Greg until
these last few weeks. It probably has something to do with their
options to either work on a boat that goes on a booze cruise every
afternoon out of Tamarindo or work on a surf boat with nothing but
surfing going on. They are all super cool and great to hang out with.
Oh, and everyone cooks really freaking well. awesome.

I just returned from being on deck watching a humpback whale breach
near the boat. We are 15 miles off of Osa, near Canoa Island. There
are tons of dolphins jumping in the air a ways off, doing flips,
playing. It is surreal. We're all along out here and its totally
beautiful, just a perfect cruising day. Radio 2 is cranking on the
radio, some of the songs suck but most are pretty good classics from
the 70s and 80s. If Larry was here he'd know the name of every artist
in less than 10 milliseconds. Traveling on the surf yacht is insane,
in a very good way. Yes, there are world famous surf spots like
Pavones and Matapalo that we'll visit while passing through, but its
the untouched surf breaks- the ones that can only be accessed by boat-
that make this trip what it is. Most every surf session has been with
nobody else out, just those of us on the yacht. Last week when there
wasn't supposed to be much swell we found waves at least head high,
often a few feet overhead. Alone. We pick up our first WRSC surf
yacht guests Hanna and Rob tomorrow afternoon in Puerto Jiminez.
After a few days we will be anchored on the Costa Rica / Panama
border, surfing the point break and untouched reefs that are hidden
there. No road access, only along the beach on horseback or in the
ocean by boat. It is wild. Maybe the only place in Costa Rica where
you can watch jaguars prowling the beach at night looking for turtles.
Macaws flying along the coastline. Getting to surf empty waves that
I saw on Google Earth, anchoring in private coves with crystal blue
water, empty reefs. The surf yacht was all I could hope for and more,
I am the luckiest guy alive. After years of looking at big boats I
finally went for it and I couldn't be happier about things.

Day 4 on the boat

Day 4 on the boat. Since we departed Tamarindo, we have surfed fun
waves in Nosara, Camaronal, somewhere in the Gulf of Nicoya (where
supposedly there are no waves they say), Playa Hermosa, some remote
beachbreak near the Boca Damas, and now here in Quepos. GPS waypoints
recorded for the trip. Lots of fishing, huge Mahi Mahis, Mackerals,
even a 100 pound Sailfish we caught on 15 pound test line. Needless
to say we've eaten fish every day. Figuring out the new boat has been
good. I am super stoked, everything seems to be mechanically sound
with Zori. Plenty of room for everyone to chill. Luis Castro is
homesick, so is Chilo, looks like I might be running the boat for a
while with Charlie while we find a permanent 1st mate. The TV broke
this morning, it fell in rough seas, a bummer since I hadn't yet
gotten around to bolting it to the wall and I forgot to take it off
the shelf this morning. We had been getting crazy playing Transworld
Surf all night. At least I have another TV back in Tamarindo and will
get it on Wednesday when the van arrived with some food and supplies.
I'm planning on getting the boat documents ready to cross into Panama
and explore the islands in the Gulfo Chiriqui. I'm going to post pics
on the WRSC Surf Yacht page of the website in a couple of days. There
is a lot of other stuff going on back in Tamarindo, so I'm kindof
really happy to be hiding out on this boat. As I float here now, I
realize I'm exactly where I need to be.

Sent from my iPhone