Joe Walsh Project - the Wandering Surfer

Witch's Rock Pirate Radio

2010-08-28T14:15:00.003-06:00

For those that love music, surfing, and Costa Rica, please read on. The surf engineers at Witch's Rock Surf Camp are discussing how best to launch our own pirate Witch's Rock Pirate Radio station. Our station will include fresh tunes that span many genres, from punk to bluegrass to hip hop to classic rock, all killer no filler. We will also host topics of interest to the surfing community. This includes surf reports and forecasts, local industry interviews, coverage of the CNS contests, Costa Rican beach environmental updates, and more.

Ideas that we are considering include:

- fresh audio content playing in our surf shop and restaurant Eat @ Joe's

- surf commentary + fresh audio content that can be heard via witchsrocksurfcamp.com (and audio player that can pop out and sit on your desktop, keeping you company at work and connecting you to the Costa Rica surf community)

- an hour-long radio show broadcasted weekly on 91.1 Groovy (Costa Rica 91.1 FM) or Radio Dos (Costa Rica 99.5 FM)

We're getting close, but we can't do this without your input. What do you think about all of this? Are we wasting our time? Are we on the right track? Maybe its an iphone app waiting to happen? Maybe we should turn the music down a little bit?...

Whatever the case may be, we want to hear from you. You helped us get this far.

Surf Trip Destination Review - Bocas del Toro, Panama Caribbean

2010-08-25T15:25:00.004-06:00

As part of my service to the world, I travel to various surf destinations, go surf, and then blog about it. I make plenty of mistakes and then help others not to make the same ones. When I like someone or something I like to support them however I can. Nobody besides me is paying my salary, so I find ways to pay the bills however I can. I offer a few surf tours here and there, I try out different gear and suggest what works vs. what doesn't. If you find anything in my blog helpful or interesting, please feel free to comment below. I am not the best at email but Witch's Rock Surf Camp is, so contact them with any inquiries 7-days-a-week (www.witchsrocksurfcamp.com, CR-506-2653-1262 , US-888-318-SURF). Better yet just comment on the joewalshproject.com blog post.

BOCAS DEL TORO, PANAMA

I have been to Bocas del Toro a couple different times over the last few months. The place is really chill and I plan on spending a few weeks there in October. The people are mellow, the place is beautiful, the waves are SICK. If you aren't a decent surfer you probably shouldn't go, however, as the shallow reefs are the real deal. I got multiple tube rides along with multiple reef cuts and multiple dings in my board.

Getting there from Costa Rica:

If you live in Costa Rica, I suggest driving through San Jose to Limon on the Caribbean side, then turn right and head south until you reach the border. From Tamarindo it takes about 8 hours to make the drive, from San Jose it takes about 4 - 4.5 hours. You can drive your car across the border if you want, but since Bocas del Toro is a series of islands a car is kindof useless, so I prefer to keep my truck on the CR side in a car park right next to the border crossing. I figure if my truck gets stolen, if it gets stolen in Costa Rica I'd have a better chance of finding it. Plus I don't think my INS insurance would be helpful if my truck was stolen or in an accident in Panama. The parking cost is about $8/day, and it seems pretty secure (lotsa big dogs). Make sure to get to the border between 7am and 5pm or you are screwed because the border closes, and there is NOWHERE decent to stay nearby. Trust me, because I found this out the hard way. Check out of Costa Rica, walk across the border bridge, check in to Panama. The time difference is 1 hour ahead in Panama, so instantly you lose an hour. From here you can take a private taxi for $20 or so, or jump on a shuttle for $5-10/person, going to the port town of Almirante, specifically to the water taxi depot. From here there are boats leaving every 30 minutes that go to Isla Colon, the biggest island of the Bocas del Toro island chain. This boat taxi costs $4 plus $1 for each surfboard and takes about 20 minutes. The other alternative to driving is flying on Nature Air, they have 3 or 4 flights to Bocas del Toro weekly from San Jose, Costa Rica. The price is about $330 round trip from Tamarindo the last time I checked.

Getting there from the US/Canada:

Buy a round trip ticket to Panama City. I use kayak.com all the time, seems to get me cheap flights last minute, plus they have a good iphone app so I can check ticket prices on the go. From Panama City you can book a round trip ticket flying Air Panama. Boards cost only $10 each way, the total price each way is about $100. The alternative is to take a bus from Panama City to Almirante, this is 10-12 hours vs. 1 hour flying. You decide your budget and time issues, I thought Air Panama was great and I'd fly them again.

Whats the deal about Bocas?

OK, so why go to Bocas del Toro? A few reasons... the place is beautiful. The water is clear, with tons of fish and starfish. It reminds me of a little pirate town. There are only a few square blocks of roads on the biggest island, some of the smaller islands like Isla Carenero only have a walking path around the perimeter. There is a total Caribbean vibe, houses are painted teal and pink and purple and built on wooden posts over the water. Beers are cheap, so is the Abuelo Rum. Like I said, the waves are insane and it is more consistent than you would think. The breaks closest to Isla Carenero are accessible by boat taxi and cost $4-5 each way. There are lots of waves further away from civilization accessible only by boat.

I have a small (30 ft) sailboat sitting in a small marina on a small island in Bocas del Toro. This is an ideal method for seeing more of the coastline and exploring new waves and beaches. Bocas del Toro is an archipelago consisting of ten islands, with the ones further south more isolated and unsurfed. To help pay the slip fees and maintenance costs of owning a sailboat in Bocas del Toro, I offer her as a rental to select individuals with extensive sailing experience. She is available with a captain as well, though as I said it is only a 30 ft sailboat. It is great for a couple, or a few friends, looking to sail the Caribbean, go snorkeling/diving/fishing/surfing. There is a forward double V berth, a table that extends to a double berth, a bench that folds to a half berth, and two aft quarter berths. I wouldn't go anywhere on the boat with more than a total of 4, it just isn't very big.

Summary

The waves are serious, the people are friendly, the place is great. If you're looking for Indo and don't want to pay Indo rates, consider these islands instead. December through March is the peak swell season, although there is surf throughout the year. Waves can get BIG and can break in shallow water over sharp reef. If you are a learning surfer, there is a surf spot near Isla Carenero I can point you towards, though I'd suggest going to Tamarindo instead because most every spot will be out of your league. You can visit Bocas and do the budget trip by staying on Isla Colon in a cheap hostel, hiring boat taxis to surf daily, and cooking meals. You can go pimp and stay in a nice eco lodge outside of town with your significant other. You can go adventurous without spending a ton and rent a boat with a couple of friend and explore the outer islands.

WRSC Playa Coco : photos from September 2001

2010-08-16T10:53:00.000-06:00

For those of you unfamiliar with how Witch's Rock Surf Camp was started, the short version goes like this: We drove a school bus from San Diego, California, USA to Playa Coco, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. We rented an old shack of a house on the south end of the beach, bought the only boat we could afford, and opened WRSC in February 2001. I drove boats to Witch's Rock and Ollie's Point and ran our small bar and my girlfriend (now wife) Holly cooked, cleaned, and managed our 4 cabinas. It was about as basic as you can get, but it worked because we cared enough. We eventually opened the existing Witch's Rock Surf Camp in Tamarindo later that year and closed the Playa Coco surf camp in early 2003. WRSC now boasts 60 employees and almost ten years of history at doing what I've always loved: surfing. Our original surf camp in Playa Coco will always show the roots approach we took in creating what has become an amazing business I am very proud to be a part of.

The original surf camp was an old tico beach house. 4 bedrooms upstairs (for guests), 2 bedrooms downstairs (staff + office), 2 shared bathrooms downstairs, smallest kitchen ever, no hot water, no AC, screen windows, lotsa dust. At least it was beach front. Too bad there are no waves in Playa Coco, but with enough gas money we could boat up to Witch's Rock and Ollie's Point, which we did almost daily. We scored a lot of amazing waves over those first couple of years...

One of the four original cabinas. We rented these rooms for $10/night. No air conditioning. Not even a bathroom. But they did have a great view of the ocean. This bed had no sheets because I had a friend staying and we needed to use the sheets for the one room occupied by an actual paying customer.

Our first boat, a 21 ft. deep-V fishing boat with a Mariner 150hp 2-stroke outboard (that always broke down). Still, at $9000 this boat got us out to Witch's and Ollie's many, many times. Our first boat captain Paulino and my old partner David Ambler can be seen helping load boards onto the boat for this morning's trip.

We hired Paulino about six months after we started WRSC, I think he was our first employee. He was the brother of our next door neighbor. It was really hard to understand what he said, it was more like a series of old-man noises and crusty fisherman grunts. Even though he was a miserable old man from the sea I still hold a place for him in my heart, and I still see him around Coco and talk to him about the old days from time to time.

Some of my first employees included Chris Brown and Sailor Dave. When Chris showed up fresh out of college I handed him a machete and told him to chop the plants in the yard. He thought I was crazy, but now, 9 years later, ironically Chris is a landscape architect back in San Diego. Sailor Dave's story is a little more unique: after sinking his sailboat at Witch's Rock while doing an overnight trip for the camp, he slowly deteriorated over the next few months (while living at the surf camp mind you). Talk about an amazing character: he was a mechanic, carpenter, black-belt in karate, captain, and accomplished waterman who could surf and spearfish very well. A week after this photo was taken, on the day of September 11th, I sat at my bar with Sailor Dave and watched as the World Trade Center was attacked. Dave opened himself a beer and hasn't stopped drinking since. He moved to Nicaragua (Playa Madera) and started training Nicaraguan youth fighting skills so they could overthrow the Nicaraguan government. To this day, in the San Juan del Sur area you will hear the locals refer to "Crazy Dave". They're talking about Sailor Dave. I always really liked Dave and I miss him dearly, even if he's gone over the edge.

Mitch Mitchell, 2001/2002 WRSC chef and surf guide. Mitch made the meanest pizza ever and was a total blast to hang out with. From what I hear he's living in the Santa Cruz mountains in a yurt.

Mitch, myself, and Holly- morning coffee time. The surf must have been flat this day.

Our second employee Lucia. She ended up working at the surf camp for a couple of years. She would cook breakfast, clean the cabinas, buy the groceries, rake the dirt, feed the chickens, do the laundry, and so on. Her son Neils would always hang out and play Playstation. We would take him on early surf trips and teach him how to surf.

Neils, learning to surf on Chris Brown's blue 9'0 Stewart longboard at Witch's Rock. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Afloat somewhere off of the coast between Witch's Rock and Ollie's Point. Paulino and Sailor Dave with the engine hood taken off, trying to drain the water from the carburetor. This was a common experience back in the day.

I somehow ended up with Andy Waer's 7'0 single fin G-Star that he had had shaped for our first surf trip to Costa Rica in 1998. I remember riding this board on a bigger day at Witch's Rock and really liking it, and after it broke I had meant to get a board like it but never found one in Costa Rica. I finally got around to it (9 years later) and made that 6'4 single fin. A little smaller board but the same idea.

me longboarding Ollie's Point on a small day...

and then on a hybrid on a little bit bigger day...

early WRSC guest at Ollie's Point.

another early WRSC guest at Ollie's Point.

a local grom from Playa Coco dropping in...

unknown at Ollie's Point.

John Cheshire, one of WRSC's earliest guests and still a very good friend of mine to this day. I was hanging out with John last week when I was in New York and he gave me this roll of film with all of these old school Coco photos. Thank you for these classic pics John!

Sunburned and surfed out, chilling in the back yard with the school bus and Sailor Dave's engine from the sailboat he lost at WR. We named that dog Puppy, bummer that she got ran over by the garbage truck a little while after this picture was taken.

My dad, the infamous PK Walsh. As is normal he's trying to figure out how to extend his trip in Costa Rica.

Lunch break: Mitch Mitchell, my good friend from high school Patrick Tworoger, and Sailor Dave, afloat off of Witch's Rock.

On the beach in front of the camp, waiting for the surf boat, a friend of mine from high school Ryan Rolla, who was visiting along with some others for my birthday in early September.

We had a birthday party for Chris Brown and I (September 3), my mom (September 9) and Pat Tworoger (September 14). Sailor Dave had a giant sack full of red snapper he had speared earlier in the day, and he was grilling them up in foil in these things he called Smack Packs, something he had learned to make while surfing in Indonesia. We were some of the only gringos living in the south side of Coco, and normally we were too tired to party because all we did was surf, but on this night we totally raged and drank all of the Imperial and Pilsen in the bar.

At the party: one of the early WRSC characters I will remember most is Doctor Jim (the guy with the hole in his forehead). Doctor Jim was our neighbor and he had lived in Costa Rica for many years. He drank rum and coke all day long. If our bar was out of rum or coke, he'd bring it from his house, demand that we made him a drink, and we still charged him for it. He'd tell stories about how he had a Learjet and was planning an around-the-world trip, or about how he had a 100ft catamaran on the beach near San Francisco. The story about the hole in his head was that it was from World War 2, where he was shot point-blank in the head while hostage in a prison camp but that he didn't die. He claimed to be a doctor, of which kind I have no idea. Guests would come back from surf trips with sore necks or backs from surfing all day and Doctor Jim would provide free neck and back adjustments. He would be totally wasted while doing this, mind you. Fortunately nobody ended up paralyzed. Doctor Jim was a total trip. I'm not sure what happened to him. I doubt any of his stories were true, though I wish they were. He would be wasted and you still couldn't beat him in chess. He was just one of those kind of guys. I'd love to see him again, but he's not the kind of person you can find on facebook.

The end of every day looked something like this. We didn't have very much money, we were starting a new business out and it had more than it's fair share of problems, but we were enjoying the life we were living. I didn't know what the future held for us, but as long as we got to surf great waves I didn't really care.

These photos were taken during the first week of September, 2001. At the time we had just found a house for rent in Tamarindo and were considering expanding our surf camp business. Then the September 11th attacks happened, air travel vanished, and we questioned ourselves and our business plan. It was gutsy, but we went ahead and rented the Tamarindo house and in October 2001 we opened the Tamarindo surf camp that exists to this day. Over the years, WRSC has grown by leaps and bounds. You can read more by visiting http://www.witchsrocksurfcamp.com/witchs-rock-history.php.

I hope this blog helps explain how things started out a little bit better. If anyone has any old Coco stories or photos please feel free to comment on this post.

pura vida

Joe Walsh

www.joewalshproject.com

www.facebook.com/joewalshproject

1 Week with LSD

2010-08-11T12:45:00.003-06:00

When Sean Mattison of Von Sol Surfboards gave me a 5'9" Von Sol Shadow and told me to ride it and it would change my world, I had to believe him. He had proven to be correct the last time he gauged my surfing and got me riding a 5'9" Hynson Black Knight Quad. But this time it was different. Where the Hynson rules the fish world, vertical top to bottom snaps or keeping a good line on a heavy, pitching wave can be a problem. The Shadow solved this problem, and I was seriously in love. A couple months and a hundred surf sessions later, the board is still very solid despite a few repaired dings where I took reef rolls at Bocas del Toro. It has proven itself in sub-waist-high Casitas to 2-foot-overhead Caribbean tubes. I can't say enough good things about Sean's boards, maybe you should consider adding one to your quiver.

As a fellow surfer living in Costa Rica and traveling to remote corners of the world, I value a good surfboard more than anything else that I own. I have wanted different types of boards that I simply could not find in Costa Rica anywhere. An old school fish with fat keel fins, a retro step-up thruster for bigger waves, a lighter noserider longboard that you can still throw around... all hard or impossible to find. Or maybe I'm just being picky. I guess I'm not the standard Tamarindo 5'6" and 140 pounds, more like 6'2" and 185 pounds. A traditional quiver doesn't excite me much. I keep changing my mind and want to try new things. Living in a small town surrounded by smaller villages, I started feeling helpless. What happens when my board breaks? If the Shadow has shown me this much, where can I go from here? How do I even begin to explain to a shaper what I'm trying to accomplish with my surfing? What if I'm in the middle of nowhere and I never plan on coming back? I would need to master the craft of building a surfboard. I realized I needed to take control of this situation.

(current ding repair shop at Witch's Rock Surf Camp)

I started out by working with Chilo and Javier doing some basic ding repair at the surf camp. Even though I've been surfing for almost 20 years, I had never repaired my own dings. Yeah, I threw some resin in some cracks and covered some dings with stickers, but that was about it. This was a fresh perspective on a life I had lived for so long. Smoking weed and watching how-to videos on youtube started becoming the daily norm. I downloaded a John Carper how-to-shape video and watched it about ten times. Then I started watching his glassing video. Then I bought a few tools from the Do-It Center. I guess this is how things like this start out.

Understanding the need to be trained by a seasoned veteran, I started thinking about my friend David Levy in Rhode Island. David has been shaping LSD Surfboards in Narragansett, Rhode Island for the last 15 years. He has always helped me out however he could, and when he offered me the spare bedroom in his house and an opportunity to apprentice for him I couldn't refuse the opportunity. Next thing you know I'm sleeping in his spare bedroom, eating his Moose Tracks ice cream, and working on boards in his shop. This was last week by the way.

(David Levy at home in his shaping room in Narragansett)

David Levy started surfing Rhode Island in 1963 at age 12, only a year or two after the sport gained popularity in the state. He's never strayed too far from home. If there are waves, go to the beach and you'll more than likely see his big white van with big LSD letters on the sides. He'll be the guy out on the 6'0 Levy Surf Designs quad fish catching all the waves. Levy is a local surf icon and a really good guy to know if you surf and want to surf in his neck of the woods.

In 1976 David Levy and Peter "Pan" Panagiotis founded the Watershed Surf Shop in Wakefield, Rhode Island. The Watershed was the go-to surf shop for core surfers everywhere from Cape Cod to Connecticut. Past Watershed employees included artist Shepard Fairey, who created an LSD decal printed on rice paper that Levy used on early surfboards. For Levy, working in the surf retail side of the industry had it's shortcomings. Short buying seasons, always owing some brand for product that hadn't yet sold, and missing waves when they were breaking were just a few of them. The famous surf shop's legacy ended after 25 years when Levy and Panagiotis closed the Watershed in 2001.

(Vintage early 1980s Watershed ad)

After the Watershed closed, Levy started building LSD Surfboards full time and, to this day, does nothing else besides build, repair, and restore surfboards. "People say I'm not grumpy anymore," Levy says. "I work when I want to and surf when I want." I couldn't agree more with this line of thinking.

I was introduced to David Levy in 2004 or 2005 or so, I can't remember exactly when. I was in Rhode Island during the first week of October and there was a swell and I got Matunuck pretty fun. After the swell dropped and everyone was surfed out, my good friend Patrick McNulty and I drove up to check the waves at Monahans Dock. David Levy was the only one still out surfing, catching the last of the dying swell. That instance pretty much sums up Levy's commitment to the sport, art, and life that is surf. Since meeting him that day Levy and I have become good friends and we've surfed many times in Costa Rica and Peru together.

I flew from Panama to New York, Andrew Illig loaned me his old Ford truck with the sickest camper you've ever seen and I drove from Manhattan to Rhode Island, showing up on a Friday afternoon and going straight to work. Since we're in the middle of summer, tons of boards with dings were stacked up in Levy's back yard. When one wants to learn to build a surfboard, one must first master the art of ding repair. I was given more than a few pointers on how to prep and seal boards, how to apply fiberglass cloth patches, good sanding techniques, which pads go with which sandpaper, differences between polyester resins and epoxy resins, and so on and so forth.

(fixing lots and lots of dings)

As the days went on, my repair jobs became bigger and bigger. Suddenly I was reglassing entire tails and noses by myself. I helped Levy as he handled more complicated tasks like routing fin boxes and glassing some custom wooden fishes a client had built for the Sacred Craft show. More than anything I just kept my mouth shut and tried to do what he told me. I did so much grinding and sanding that it became second nature. I was itching (literally) to shape a board, but after dings comes glassing. I felt like I was in the movie North Shore and Levy was Chandler and I was Rick Cain. I didn't care, I was just happy to be doing something totally different and really liking it. Nobody to interrupt me and my thoughts except for the occasional Rhode Island surfer dropping off or picking up a board. I was beginning to see why Levy had made the switch.

I had just been to a BBQ party at the Mollusk Surf Shop in Brooklyn a few days before where I saw some old footage of Terry Fitzgerald surfing Indo on a retro single fin. There was this old, heavy, yellow blank that was sitting in Levy's house and it seemed perfect for the job. We used an old Local Motion template that had been used on some retro thrusters from the late 70s / early 80s and went to work. I watched, listened and helped as Levy cut the foam away. We ended up with a pretty sick board.

(glassing my first surfboard)

After the foam was shaped it was time to apply the cloth. If one can understand the process of repairing a surfboard, the concept of glassing a board becomes easier. Of course I needed David to help explain to me the correct way to glass a surfboard, but it wasn't completely foreign because I had been fixing dings all week. I think the fact that I grew up painting houses with my dad also prepared me for glassing; using a brush to pain resin on a board is pretty similar. Working with Levy reminded me a lot of growing up painting with my dad (ironically Levy's dad was also a painter). Good times.

After the glassing comes the sanding. 40, 60, 100, 150, and 220 grit was as far as I went. I had thought about giving the board some color so I could get some experience airbrushing, but the weather had been kindof bad and it would have taken way too long to dry. Besides, the waves were picking up and I had to get the truck back to NYC. The board was already done and ready to surf.

We had built a tube riding machine perfect for when the surf has some size: 6'4" x 20 1/2" x 2 11/16". The board is a single fin with it's wide point a few inches above center. It has plenty of foam, especially in the front third of the board, so I'm going to have an extra half second or so to get to my feet when I'm dropping in on a double overhead pitting bomb in Bocas. After my last trip to the Caribbean during a swell, I knew I'd be back soon and realized I needed a bigger board. Those reef passes are the real deal. I had been looking around in Costa Rica for a board like this for months- no, for years. It just wasn't happening. Thankfully now that I'm making my own boards I won't have problems like this anymore.

(6'4" single fin, built with only one thing in mind: getting shacked)

I could tell that this was only the beginning and that I've started off down a new path. I have since drawn up some plans for the shaping and glassing room that I am slowly building at Witch's Rock Surf Camp. There is no pressure of completion dates or board orders, all of this is being done because I love surfing and want to make my own surfboards. If you surf long enough, and if you're lucky enough to have a mentor take you under his or her wing, making surfboards is a natural step in the surfing life. Thank you David Levy for sharing your wisdom and your stoke.

pura vida

Joe Walsh

www.joewalshproject.com

whats next?

2010-08-05T21:15:00.000-06:00

hello world,

you're probably wondering what the hell is going on. I'm mean, normally you can't get me to shut up, and now I'm giving you the hot cold treatment and not saying anything at all. Why would that be? trust me, its not you, its me. This blog started out as a wonderful way for me to lay out the things going on in my little world. I could save writing a few emails, I could share a few things with people I never got around to telling them in person, I could keep my friends and family far away up to date on what the surf camp was doing. Surfing has been my life for many years now, I have been so involved with it I think, speak, and dream of it, and all of that blended together as my blog joewalshproject.com. I am now partially stepping out of running WRSC so that I can travel more, learn how to build surfboards, and start a garden. I still live with my wife and boys in Tamarindo (and plan to for a very long time), though I am currently traveling between Costa Rica, Panama, hurricanes on the east coast and southern California. I never expected my blog to grow as much as it did. It has now grown to a point where I no longer feel like sharing ever personal detail of my life with thousands of people I don't know but who know me. I have always loved writing and will continue to do so. This blog will be focused purely on my perspectives of surfing and the surfing industry. Making this division will allow me to write more frequently, and not feel bad about not personally sharing enough, or often enough, etc etc. Thank you for reading this blog and being patient while I figured out what the problem was. More posts will follow shortly.

pura vida

(the other) Joe Walsh

www.facebook.com/joewalshproject

the search

2010-05-24T14:40:00.001-06:00

OK, so where did I leave off? I was driving to Panama with my 4 year old son to check out a sailboat that I found on craigslist. I was freaking out. I guess I still am. Running Witch's Rock Surf Camp gives me a lot of joy, but at the same time I go through periods where I need to drop off of the map entirely. Being responsible for so much can be difficult. A little sailboat surfing a remote island off of the Panamanian coast sounded like a viable option for when I feel the need to get away. Plus, the idea of taking a solo trip with Otis was something I really wanted to do. So Witch's Rock Surf Camp bought the sailboat, and it is staying in Bocas del Toro for the next year and doing some trips to surf some ledgy caribbean juice (an example of joy). I've decided that backside barrels are something I better get really good at if I ever plan to spend serious time in Indo, and fortunately Bocas del Toro has lots of them. Plus, there's another wave called Silverbacks that looks pretty intense, its a big bowl right hander. I see bigger waves in my future.

While in Bocas del Toro, Otis and I stayed on an island that didn't have any roads. There was a simple concrete walking path that followed the water's edge around the island. Everyone has boat houses, and boat taxis are the only way to get around from island to island.

I had the most amazing time traveling with my son. We took our time stopping at the Barra Honda caves, getting stuck at the CR/Panama border and having to spend the night in a tiny nameless village, pulling up giant sea stars from crystal clear water while swimming together in the Panamanian Caribbean, and getting lost on the Poas Volcano in northern Costa Rica after a land slide forced us to take a detour on our way back to Tamarindo. Each day from the moment we woke up until the moment we both fell asleep, Otis and I cruised together everywhere and did everything together. The conversations we had, the feelings I now have after taking a trip like that... lets just say I am super stoked about having those experiences :-)

A sweet little Caribbean beach shack where we stayed.

perfect rocking chairs

Otis making friends with another little boy on the island.

Back at home in Tamarindo, Holly and I are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We haven't had much time to spend together lately, me working lots of hours for the camp and her getting the new market open daily (which finally has happened by the way). Our home above the restaurant is still "under construction", which can take it's toll after 3 months of wanting to be done with everything. Still living out of boxes, its getting a little old but we almost have closets and curtains and paint... and 2 little boys that are so awesome. Everything else will work itself out and everything will be Ok when you have 2 little boys like Otis and Happy.

Otis and Happy, already doing the pirate thing

child on back, chasing other child, over and over and over again

mis hijos

a shot of Holly and I, watching a set break over the reef at Playa Negra.

These past few weeks, um, lets just say the last two months, have been more difficult than most. I have been frustrated with work, which happens when you manage a business that really is a bunch of smaller businesses all working together. I am currently complaining only because I am fixing things, and because it feels so fucking good to be getting through a list that, not that long ago, seemed so insurmountable I simply did not know how to go about starting on it, so I didn't do anything.

Thankfully I have a wonderful family to return to when I make it back to San Diego, where I'm at currently. My mom has been cooking some great home-cooked meals these last couple of days. My dad and uncle are doing well, and so is the hot tub in the backyard. My 07 Tundra is running smoothly, I've surfed Blacks, Scripps and Trestles. The back of the truck is full of surfboards, numerous wet wetsuits, a couple of skateboards, and the last three years of mail (which I've started I've started going through in an attempt to organize life). The waves have been decent, always something to ride until this past weekend. We were getting freezing 25 knot winds onshore, but as of this morning the waves were cleaning up and I got a few turns in down at Scripps, just like always. I've brought Nick Holt as my assistant on this trip, he's keeping me focused on work and out of trouble. He's dealing with some of my emails and calls, actually allowing me to have a productive work week while catching up with lots of friends and my family, which has been needed. I was getting burnt out in Tamarindo, which happens from time to time, and when it happens you catch a plane and change it up.

The following article appeared on the home page of the San Diego Chargers website last week-

As life-long Chargers fans, my father and I were really stoked to have the surf camp profiled as a loyal Chargers establishment, which it is. I am hooking up with a few of the guys on the team that surf this weekend at a BBQ in Bay Park. If they come down to WRSC I might need to take down my "Nachos as big as your ASS" sign for the week.

SCION XB FOR SALE

I figure I'll take this chance to reach out to anyone thinking about buying a new car, or wanting a new car for a used car price, or just looking for a good deal.

Click here to see my family's 2008 Scion XB for sale on Autotrader for $17,000. It only has 5,912 miles, has loaded extras, gets 35-40 mpg, and fits in the tiniest parking space its not even funny. The car is sitting in San Diego 92124, help me sell it and I'll give you a free surfboard (a new one, not a shitty used one!)

NEW WITCH'S ROCK EYE CANDY

I am always tweaking things. Here we go with some classic logo meets pirate design...

new Witch's Rock logo? we could be on to something.

the new general theme for the new website.

the new sunglass display for the surf shop, located on the wall opposite the daily calendar boards.

There is a lot of artwork floating around right now, I need to post more of it so people can see what we're working on. Yana has been great as a designer, he has expressed interest in moving his family from Tamarindo to LA to help launch the Witch's Rock brand from soCal. That could be the best plan considering the cut and sew factories and access to quality fabric and screening. We want to have more control over the shirts and rashguards we design and sell, and it has been very tough finding reliable partners for this in CR.

I have been lurking in San Diego in my truck looking for waves and working on my phone for the last 6 days. Life is good when work is surf.

sitting on the bluffs overlooking Blacks, after getting great waves all morning and catching up with old Blacks surf friends Pat Zabrocki and Paul Cleary.

I hooked up with my friend Sean Mattison, founder of Von Sol Surfboards and Coach of the US Surf Team. Click here for his surfboard blog. Sean and I share some common friends from San Diego and other parts of the world. I have been riding Sean's Black Knight quad for the last year. It has been a great board, though it has limitations in bigger, steeper waves that are common to fish boards. I needed something that could hold in bigger waves, in steep low-tide rivermouth pits... something that could fire off the bottom and hit the lip really hard... something with characteristics of a thruster. Sean Mattison's Von Sol Shadow delivered 100% and is my new go-to surfboard. It is SICK.

5'9 Von Sol Shadow, 4 + 1 fin setup

I have already started hooking up some friends with boards in the San Diego area. If you currently ride a fish and are looking for a next level surfboard to combine fish carves with tight snaps and vertical top-to-bottom surfing attacks, check out Von Sol. After my first magic session at Trestles last Friday I am a believer, thank you Sean. Contact me for bro rates on custom boards.

Sean Mattison hack attack

ZEPHYR ECO UPDATE

I have very little battery life remaining and the winds are starting to lie down. What follows is the very quick update. We're getting a Zephyr facebook page going this week.

The Zephyr Eco Market is now open DAILY, call Holly at 506 8829 0257 for market inquiries. Get organic produce direct by supporting local organic farmers. The market is located at the north entrance of Witch's Rock Surf Camp.

The Zephyr Eco farm project has made great advancements. Below are some preliminary master plan images. I am going through a list of current lot owners and giving a more detailed overview. These maps will be available in the market starting June 1st.

topographic map of the mountain terrain.

Master plan showing roads, lots, the institute, the resort property, walking paths, common areas, etc.

The Zephyr Land Institute will provide accommodations for 48 people. University groups, scientists, volunteers, students, studying/working/learning in this space.

All property owners will build on a small percentage of their land. The remaining property will utilize permaculture to bring spring/rain water to crops planted throughout the farm. The local community of Alemania, Guanacaste will gain employment providing harvesting services. Property owners have personal rights to everything grown on their land.

the Zephyr Lodge, as talked about many times in this blog over the last 4 years.

laptop battery = just about dead. Wind is also dying. time to go surf. I will update you soon as I have tentative plans to meet with the CEO of O'neill and I received a party invite to some Los Angeles radio station party at some rented mansion in Malibu and I'm wondering if they emailed me the invitation by mistake. I have one week left in California, John Alexander drove down from Arroyo Grande, waves are only getting cleaner, I've got a new board that is insane, my dad has the Volcano and a hot tub, mom is cooking up great food, water is much warmer than norCal, maybe I might just stay here and continue working on my long list of responsibility.

while Otis sleeps

2010-04-26T07:28:00.007-06:00

While Otis sleeps, I have bigger kid problems. How quickly life can go from one range of feelings and emotions to another. Its almost like if you spend too much time talking about how good things are, inevitably sooner or later something is gonna go to shit. And it did. Not entirely shit, because even in total shit still mode I still have a great family and we're still living in a beautiful place. Lets just say I've had a lot of work to deal with (and in case you were mistaken, I prefer to work "just enough"). I just want to surf.

After 6 months of trying to meld my Costa Rican accountant along with the financial workings and processes of Witch's Rock Surf Camp, I realized it just wasn't going to work and had to let him go. Never have I had to fire someone for being too nice, but the good lesson I learned is that a good accountant should be an asshole. You want someone who is going to call out employees for double marking their time cards or demand that the fruit truck delivers to the receiving person at 7am, not to the night guards at 430am. What I see as common sense must be the result of 9 years of just doing it, because my accountant sure couldn't seem to figure it out, and as a result I was returned a company in much worse financial state than when I left it. Another lesson I have relearned, this time for good (I believe I first heard it from Kenny Rogers), is that you really must sit at the table and count your money and not let other people do it for you. Use accountants for lame financial studies and delivering reports, but always keep an eye on the top line numbers. Otherwise you're assuming everyone else is as good at doing what you do, and that just isn't always going to be the case.

On the surfing side, things haven't been much better. I've had a few days here and there, but most of April has been taking over the accounting job (which took me 3 weeks to fix by the way). The first 10 days of April were epic, completely firing in the Tamarindo Rivermouth. I sat at the desk and processed restaurant / bar/ shop banks, usually paddled out around 10am. The winds always seemed to switch at 10:05am to onshore, bitch slapping me back to the desk. Then I pulled a muscle in my shoulder/neck doing pull-ups in my kitchen, making it worse. I did get a few good surfs in this last week though, and as work has been easier and easier each week I've tried to relax and take more time off.

It took me a while to get out of the matrix though. I took whatever negative energy I was building up, and my lack of timing with surfing, and started doing suspension training workouts with Nick Holt using TRX bands. Add to this some running on flat ground, some running up and down some really really high stairs, and everything starts feeling OK. I actually started doing this more instead of just drinking more (which is often the case when one has tons of work), and I think its actually helping. Where once sat a keg now starts looking more and more like a six pack, quite shocking actually. I am sleeping better at night and I feel more grounded with work.

My family has been good. Otis and Happy are awesome, as always. Holly has been really busy getting the new market up and running full speed ahead. She is ready to open it daily, which only means more work, but it is quite exciting to see it finally opening up. She and I haven't had too much time to hang out lately though, and its been bothering me. I find myself reading Surfers Journal stories about guys like me who sail away to Micronesia and I start thinking more and more about things like this. I have successfully gotten Holly onto the Zori for 1 day trip for about 5 hours. We had a great time with the boys, cruising, fishing, swimming, hanging on a quiet beach. But the ocean scares her. Holly is a talented surfer who could be very good if she went surfing more frequently, but she just doesn't feel comfortable with the ocean. And thats OK with me, really, its totally fine. But I only feel comfortable when I am in or very near to the ocean. And as I try to get out of the matrix and not think about work, and spend more time connected to the ocean and the outside world beyond Tamarindo, Holly has been totally drawn to the market and therefore sucked into the matrix. I find it hard to talk about anything but work, and thats not how its supposed to be. I want to be talking about 5 or 10 or however many years down the road, how Holly and I and the boys could sail way to Kiribati and New Zealand.

Then I started thinking that maybe its just me, being my emotionally fragile self. My wife in fact joined me on the school bus and moved to Costa Rica without ever having been here before or speaking any Spanish whatsoever. My boys are all fired up to go wherever I want to go. At times I just need to know I have an escape plan. Since Saturday was the first official day of low season, I packed my bags, I packed Otis' bags, and we left on a road trip together. It was rather quite spontaneous. My feelings were probably just ones of working too much and not having enough time to chill with my family. I had never taken a trip with just Otis, so thats just what we did. We left Tamarindo on Saturday and headed to Samara. We played on the beach, we ate hamburgers, I taught him to throw some darts. Yesterday we drove to Barra Honda National Park, hiked and explored a giant underground cave. Otis was a stud even though it was a little scary. We ate at the Monteverde restaurant and played with the giant dinosaur. We are currently in Denny's in San Jose, me eating Moons Over My Hammy and Otis eating some chocolate chip pancakes, because he can eat whatever he wants while we're on vacation. In about 10 minutes we'll get in the truck and head east to the Caribbean, to Limon, then south, crossing the Panama border and taking a water taxi to Bocas del Toro, Panama. I found this awesome little sailboat for sale online, the owner is selling it pretty cheap and its ready to cross some oceans. Otis and I are going to check it out. Plus, from what I hear Bocas del Toro is quite amazing.

PS this isn't a freakout blog where I'm going to disappear on a sailboat.

very very content

2010-03-28T22:48:00.001-06:00

This blog. Its pretty much all about surfing. Its my own blog, its for me and anyone else who bothers to read it. I've kept this blog for so long that I feel bad when I don't write a blog that often. I intend to print it up some day and keep it for when my kids get older. Much older. The blog follows many different topics, but mostly its about surfing and life in the surf world and living in Tamarindo raising my family and what the fuck to make of it all. Life feels either really complicated or really easy depending on how you want to view things.

Let me clear up a rumor from the start: I was not attacked by a crocodile. Yes, we were at Ollie's Point last Tuesday and yes I was in the water very close to a crocodile (30-40 feet or so), and yes the crocodile was swimming towards me with his mouth open and all of his shiny sharp teeth staring at me, but no I did not at all get attacked. Thank you Chilo and Charlie for picking me up in the panga right away. It was entertaining watching the entire lineup at Ollie's Point clear out after that moment, not that it happens that often but when it does its pretty interesting if you happen to be in the water.

I hit the nail on the head with these Zori trips. This is something I have wanted to do for a very long time, from the very beginning of Witch's Rock Surf Camp. I am really happy that the boat is working out and that all of our guests have had such a good time. I knew we would get it dialed, but still the initial not-knowing along with the big cash investment and then the learning curve involved in owning a big boat, the setting up of a new business and so on, it can be daunting. But fortunately I'm not the only one who wants to surf remote surf breaks on a yacht and we've started getting a serious number of booked trips. I'm going to stay really busy this summer, which makes me very very content.

The Zori now has a great aft canopy, 4 staterooms, a wind generator 12-volt system that powers the lights, music, the charger for the ipod or vhf radios. We run all Zori tours with a surf panga as our dingy. It helps having a dingy with a 115hp Yamaha to make quick runs to check waves. I can honestly that this yacht is more dialed in for surfers going on extended surf trips than any other boat in the area. It is pretty dope. Since my last blog I've taken a group on a 7 day surf tour in Nicaragua and guided 3 different multi-day surf trips to Witch's Rock and Ollie's Point. I guess you could say I've been on the boat a lot lately instead of keeping up with facebook and email. I have experienced some great surf that wouldn't have happened if I wasn't on the boat, and thats the whole point.

10 days out of the last 20 have been like this.

9 years ago was March 2001. We had just opened WRSC, which meant we had rented a run-down house on the beach in Playa Coco, bought a small boat, and opened the most crude bar you've ever seen. All I wanted to do was surf really good waves, and taking people to Witch's and Ollie's by boat seemed to be a great way to do it. Mind you I didn't have any clue about boats and grew up always getting sea sick. All we could afford was this shitty little fishing boat, which we bought and which I captained. When I finally had my first guests wanting to pay me to take them to Witch's Rock, I realized I'd never actually taken the boat that far and I had no idea how to get there. There was no Google Earth, I didn't own a gps or any charts, so I ended up watching Endless Summer II at 4am looking for landmarks from when Robert August goes there in the film. All worked out well, I found Witch's Rock, we surfed, I found our way back home, and then over time I repeated this process many many times. This lead to an affinity for being a surf explorer on the open water. Along the way I dreamed of owning a bigger boat that could do multi-day trips, allowing me to get even further off of the map.

the view from WRSC Playas del Coco

It wasn't long before I was running trips to Witch's and Ollie's every day. Sometimes I'd send out two boats. It became obvious that sending more people to the surf breaks wasn't a sustainable business model. I was also getting so many requests for surf lessons that I ended up constantly driving guests to Tamarindo to teach them how to surf. Tamarindo and surf lessons seemed like the great way to grow the business so we opened our second surf camp in Tamarindo in October of 2001. This camp grew quickly, people loved it, it was a lot of fun but it was also a lot more work. Priorities needed to be reevaluated.

Holly Rice and Maxi Molina digging holes, July 2002

After a couple of years of managing both surf camps, we decided to close the Coco camp and put our eggs in the Tamarindo basket. This was a solid move. Running two surf camps was so much more work, and our guest experience suffered. We wanted to make things easier on us. I wanted to be able to surf more. Tamarindo blossomed, the surf camp grew big time, and the rest is history.

We have slowly evolved over the years into an 18 room hotel, nice surf shop, very comfortable restaurant and bar on the beach. Over the years, I have been approached at different times by investors of one type or another. I usually don't bring up these encounters in my blog, and I'm not really sure why. Maybe its because I don't want people to think I have huge plans that will change the way things are now. Changing the vibe of this place is the last thing I want to do! As the founder of the company, I need to listen to all propositions and make intelligent decisions.

A couple of years ago I was approached by what I thought to be a solid opportunity. An ex-Vice President of Intercontinental Hotels and a headhunter with extensive history with Nike and Motorola wanted (and still want) to bring investors to WRSC with the plans to open up 3-5 more similar surf camps in other beach towns. I hadn't seriously considered what that would mean, but after many months they came to me with a drawn out investment plan as a pdf that was distributed quite far. People like Jake Burton and John Hendricks read the proposal, I started having phone calls with people from Quiksilver and Nike. The opportunities seemed worth being involved in talking about what could be. And so I did.

2 and a half years later, I'm one month away from being free from a contract I thought I was supposed to sign, a contract that has limited me from being able to talk to any other companies about a possible investment deal. Its a long story, let me try to state it as simply as possible: after much thought, I have no interest in signing up for big deals with big corporations that call for opening more Witch's Rock Surf Camps. Our property in Tamarindo is special, it wouldn't work the way it works here pretty much anywhere else. WRSC started with driving a school bus from California to Costa Rica, not five school buses. Not with a huge budget. Not all corporate. It might work for Intercontinental Hotels, but I'd rather work on making high quality surf shirts developed from sustainable caña brava or surf wax derived from glycerin, which was derived from making biodiesel, not opening up central offices in San Jose. And my GM Yana, well, Yana is the shit and the man I've entrusted the power to help make this happen. We will move along steadily as we have for so long, growing a company organically and feeling so connected to it that it feels like its an extension of what you are.

I guess you could say it has been the Zori that has allowed me to come full circle with my initial goals for moving to Costa Rica in the first place. All I really wanted to do, and all I still really want to do is surf. All of this talk of corporate acquisitions and power suits can be blown out of my ass. I just figured you should know, because I felt kindof weird not telling you about all of this these last couple of years. Lets just call this a breakthrough in our relationship, shall we?

Again thinking about surfing, did I mention that right outside of my house the waves have been very very good? I love it when that happens!

the Tamarindo Rivermouth showing the classic deep barrel section

My good friend Andrew Illig came down with his wife Georgia last week. We hung out all week and scored tons of great waves. I'm sure its nice to be able to check out of New York City for 8 days and get enough good waves to last 3 months. I made sure to dial him into the best that we could get. Heres a few pics from one of many solid sessions, this time right out in front of WRSC in the rivermouth:

Andrew Illig, shwa-PACK!

Andrew Illig tube ride #7

Andrew Illig tube ride #34

Joe Walsh setting up for the pit...

at 6ft 3inches I squeeze myself into the barrel by doing the patented two-arms-forward classic-tube-ride approach (don't even think about stealing it because its mine!)

another gem stands up on the sand bar...

I love my 5'9" Hynson Black Knight Quad, it has served me well this last year. It is my favorite board, but it has its limitations like any other board. My friend Sean Mattison has just released a sick new board called the Von Sol. Its a hybrid between a fish and a thruster, with characteristics that bring out the best of both designs. It stays tighter in the pocket and allows for more vertical top-to-bottom attacks, a couple of features the standard fish design lacks. Check out Sean simply RULING in Nicaragua recently, to music from my friends Chad, Jon and Tim from the band Switchfoot, then check out the new Von Sols in the Witch's Rock Surf Shop in the very near future.

Another successful surf contest, another successful beach party. Two weeks ago WRSC hosted the CNS Torneo Witch's Rock surf contest here in Tamarindo. It was the best turnout we have had, the beach was packed. The conditions were not epic by any means, but early mornings had clean waves with chest high sets, there were some barrels coming in...

lots of airs by tiny rippers (like 120 pound Luis Castro)

the beach was packed with spectators

the guys weren't the only ones who were killing it out there

Matias Braun from Montezuma won, though there was a lot of talent in the water and it could have gone many ways

everyone packed into the surf camp for the awards ceremony Sunday afternoon

Tamarindo Surfrider Pub Crawl: If you were in Tamarindo for St Patrick's Day, chances are you saw or were on the WRSC school bus doing the Tamarindo Surfrider Pub Crawl. I drank too many beers to count BY FAR, thank you to Mike, Yana, Holly, Reggie and everyone else who bought me a beer (I finally recovered a couple of days ago)

Holly, getting ready to take a shot as we celebrate the babysitter

Flash and I raising some havoc

I'm realizing that I didn't announce that I moved my family out of the condo and back into our house above the surf camp restaurant. Yes I did, it was the last day of February. So I guess that means we've been here about 4 weeks now. The space was the original rooms in the original house that we originally rented when we started WRSC Tamarindo, now its remodeled and our new home. Its not quite done yet, but its close to being done, and at least we get to live back on the beach.

a view from the kitchen out towards the beach (still need to finish the deck)

new tiled bathrooms are far better than the skybox bathroom squalor

I will post more photos when we get the house more in order (when we're not living out of suitcases). We need to build our closets and kitchen furniture, paint, install a couple of doors, mirrors, an AC, put up a new handrail on our deck, and so on, but at least we're back on the beach. Yes, the live music can get a little old from time to time, but most of the time its like living above a bar (oh wait, we are living above a bar). The boys sleep through it. I have a nice view of the surf from pretty much every room, so when the waves are crackalackin' like they were this morning I can run out there and score (priceless).

And now I'm g0ing to throw in a bunch of photos of my kids. Anyone who has kids and doesn't show everyone they know too many photos of their kids, there is something wrong with you. Kids are rad.

My boys remind me how awesome life is and what my priorities are. Happy turned 2 on February 1st, Otis turns 4 tomorrow!! holy shit this is happening way too fast!!!

Otis and Happy, growing up really fast

Otis and his self portrait

Happy, always wanting to steal my Powerade

checking out bugs at the Arenal Volcano last Thursday

the Liberia Mall jump-jump

The boys are spending more and more time in the water. It is awesome! We gave Otis an early birthday present today, a new boogie board out of the surf shop. Its small enough that he can handle it on his own, much easier than an 8 ft soft top surfboard. Otis spent 2 hours paddling the board into waves and riding them up onto the sand by himself. To watch him while I was sitting in a beach chair, that felt crazy. Happy is right there behind him and I'm pretty sure it will be Happy that will be the big wave surfer in the family.

Thats about everything thats been going on around here. My family is doing great, the surf camp is doing well, life is good. We have been very lucky to have a lot of friends and family pass through, right now my parents are down here for a couple of weeks. Tomorrow we'll have a birthday party for Otis. I'm trying to make sure to put love into everything. When I get time I've been going through and emailing old friends which has been nice.

road trip = firing surf at Rincon

2010-02-14T21:37:00.003-06:00

I have this wonderful ability to fall asleep pretty much whenever and wherever I want. I don't take proper naps, instead I just nod off when I'm on the plane, or when I'm sitting in line at the bank. I can kindof even sleep standing up, like in line at Disneyland on a crowded day. Every town near the beach seems to have a friend's couch I can call home; it doesn't matter how uncomfortable the couch is, after a couple beers any couch will do. or just sleep on the floor. And then there's always camping, or sleeping in your van, or the driver's seat of your truck like I did on Friday night. yeah, I could have bought a hotel room, but that would have required further effort and money, not that I'm a totally cheap bastard but I definitely appreciate living the same life I've always lived. I did surf treks to Baja and camped in a van throughout high school and college. I moved to Costa Rica while camping on a school bus. Taking the path less traveled and experiencing life is what it is all about.

I say that, but tonight I'm flying to Los Angeles and have a ten hour layover and instead of sleeping in the airport terminal as I normally do I'm going to get a hotel room with a big tv, order some delivery pizza, and fall to sleep. Tomorrow morning I'll get that flight to Miami, to catch another flight to Liberia, get home at night, then have only Tuesday and Wednesday morning to hang with my family before I'm off again.

I would like to have more time with my boys and with Holly, and I will after this Nicaragua boat trip. Our house is almost done being fixed up... the Zori will have been given hundreds and hundreds of hours of care as we finish this major period of upgrades. I spent the day driving around San Diego today, shopping for Holly and the boys, and for the Zori. I got this sweet Garmin hand held color GPS unit. I found the Central and South America Pacific Coast chip and bought it. Also some vhf radios, a solar flashlight, some stainless doodads, some netting, some shoes for Happy that light up when he walks, a skateboard for Otis, some old curtains from the cottages in OB, a mac airport extreme router, a new hard drive, powdered electrolyte drink mix, my shred sled, some new books, so much gear to a point where I just checked in 2 49.5 pound bags. At least my homecoming will be a little like Santa showing up, which is the least I can do after missing valentines day and taking off on a surf trip on the Zori three days from now.

And as my mind constantly returns to the sport, art, and life that is surf, let me remember the beautiful waves I experienced these last couple of days. On Friday the swell report was looking pretty good with that big NW swell on its way, so I packed the sleeping bag and surf gear and drove the truck north up to Ventura. C Street was looking about chest high and fairly glassy on Friday afternoon, and I had over 2 hours left until dark, so of course I went surfing. I had a lot of really fun right handers… long waves that were kindof fluffy even though there was a little size. C Street can be really fun, even though its not nearly as pitching of a wave as Rincon. The sets started coming in at about head high by the time the sun was setting. While I'm out surfing I strike up a conversation only once, with one guy, a guy named Steve from Oregon. He had just driven down and it was the first time he'd surfed C Street. I tell him I'm from Tamarindo, and ironically he lived in Tamarindo for a couple of years back in the 90s. Then we find that we share the same friends, and that last Sunday I was surfing Marbella with the same Jimmy that just two weeks ago was staying at Steve's house in Oregon. something about how they were skiing and tripping acid, but then a set wave came and I lost track of him out in the water after that. Amazingly coincidental yet predictable how us surfers tend to be, always on the search for that next perfect wave. When you omit all of the nonsurfers the world really is a very small place.

So Saturday morning John Hugo Alexander drives down from Arroyo Grande. I wake up before dawn in desperate need of coffee. We meet back at the C St parking lot and find the swell has filled in even more but that the tide is quite high. We drive up the coast towards Santa Barbara. As we near Rincon, its apparent that the wave is firing and not too many people are out. Its still only 630am. Its about 45 degrees outside, the wind is blowing offshore, and my wetsuit is absolutely freezing from sitting wet in the truck all night. Only the truly committed cross this line. I manage the wetsuit and a hypothermia-combatting surfer's jog to the water. And the rewards of driving up here and camping out and trying to time the swell perfectly?… perfect Rincon. Not too crowded, tons of waves. Tons of long waves. Multiple barrels. John Hugo on one side, Joel Tudor on the other side. I ended a four hour Rincon session with a couple of waves that will be embedded in my mind for a long time.

So now I'm in LA in some crappy shuttle van on the way to the Travelodge, already thinking about surfing Witch's Rock and Nicaragua. Before I know it I'll be bringing my boys along with me on these trips. soon enough.

California Update

2010-02-11T21:54:00.000-06:00

the surf has been crackalackin these last few days. Yeah, a little bit of rain on Tuesday afternoon, but Tuesday early AM, yesterday afternoon, and especially this morning the wind was howling offshore and waves in the chest/shoulder/head high range were coming through. Some closeouts, plenty of open ones, lots of super long rides from the outer peak to basically the sand.

This is all with the local surf report calling for "waist high". I'm curious as to how big its going to get tomorrow, check out the forecast below-

The swell will be NWN direction, filling in tomorrow throughout the day. I think the call is to drive up to Santa Barbara / Ventura counties and get some right point break surf since I'm up here. My flight goes back to CR Sunday night so I've got the time. Anyone going to be surfing in the area?

I am super stoked to be hanging out low pro in San Diego, hanging with my folks, my aunt and uncle, surfing in the mornings, seeing some friends in the evenings. Time with the family is super important, but unfortunately most of the time we find things to stress us out and make us feel like we don't have the time. I have really enjoyed not doing much at all. I am trying to unplug from work so I can just chill and let everyone else do the talking for a few days. I have a solid crew running things while I'm gone so I'm not worried. Plus, when I do get back to Costa Rica I'm only in town for 2 days before leaving on the boat on a 7 day surf trip up into Nicaragua with guests. 7 days of multiple surf sessions... newly retrofitted surf yacht... almost sounds too good to be true. Ah yes, but one can't forget the months and months that we have been working hard on the boat upgrade. I am very much looking forward to doing nothing but surfing, fishing, and connecting with ma nature.

I have been meaning to post some new pics of the surf shop so everyone can see how far we've gotten. Don't think that just because I haven't been talking about it we haven't been working hard on it, because we have and things are looking pretty dope. Here ya go:

we're going to move the bus next month for the CNS surf contest March 12-14 at WRSC. This is going to be our official grand (re)opening dates. We're hoping to have the rest of our inventory in the shop by then, so stop by and check it all out.

If you come into the shop now, you'll find some Witch's Rock t-shirts, Volcom shirts, boardshorts, neoprene vests, hats, some Rip Curl bikinis, t-shirts, Rusty boardshorts and assorted gear, and tons of WRONG shirts, hoodies, belts and more. Mostly all men's clothing right now, not at all what we planned but the brands all shorted us on the women's clothing. We are waiting for a huge women's order from Santiki, which everyone already seems to LOVE.

By February 23rd: Ocean Minded mens and womens sandals, Dakine gear, backpacks, racks, stomp pads, leashes, surf hats, FCS fins, Headhunter sunscreen

By March 12th: more Rip Curl clothing, more bikinis, more rashguards, Dragon eyewear, Firewire and Channel Islands (poly) surfboards, more Stewart longboards

So yeah, theres the shop update. more pics are on the WRSC blog- http://www.witchsrocksurfcamp.com/blog.php

places I've been

2010-02-08T12:18:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-26T21:05:00.004-06:00

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:

2009-12-14T21:59:00.000-06:00

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 :-)

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

2009-11-17T13:18:00.001-06:00

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

2009-10-26T12:50:00.001-06:00

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

2009-10-03T16:07:00.003-06:00

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

2009-09-16T16:57:00.003-06:00

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

2009-08-16T17:40:00.001-06:00

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

2009-07-24T16:55:00.001-06:00

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

2009-07-19T21:48:00.000-06:00

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

Larry lands the first fish on the new boat

2009-07-16T16:54:00.000-06:00

surf trip essentials

2009-07-16T10:04:00.000-06:00

Family time before the surf tour

2009-07-15T09:05:00.000-06:00

This family portrait brought to you by CRsurf.com

I guess I have a dog now

2009-07-14T11:23:00.000-06:00

Otis named him Shaka, he is the newest addition to the Walsh family. I
guess this is what happens when you tell your wife you're going
surfing on a boat trip for an unspecified amount of time.

Reboot

2009-07-12T13:59:00.000-06:00

I am back, but only to tell you that I am leaving. I have been meaning
to blog for weeks, and as more time goes by I think that I should
write more, but then I think about how I hate long emails and blogs,
how it makes my mind wander, so let me just summarize.

I bought a boat. A yacht really. WRSC is now in the overnight surf
charter business. I'm leaving this week on the maiden voyage with
Larry, Dr Frank Lemes, Rafa, Chilo, maybe Pira, and our new captain
Charlie. Charlie has just finished 5 years captaining for the Blue
Dolphin catamaran and is ready to take our surf tours to Panama,
Nicaragua and beyond. We're going south to Matapalo / Pavones and
beyond, call the camp if you want to join us.

I got back from ten days on the road surfing exactly three weeks ago.
I didn't upload the pics yet, reason being we were working feverishly
on the new WRSC website. We launched the new website 6 days ago, so
stoked. www.witchsrocksurfcamp.com

Waves have been fun. Last week was pretty big, the rivermouth got
good. Two people drowned last Sunday, one guy while surfing in Negra.
I knew him, Alfredo I think his name was, the Channel Islands
surfboards Latin American rep. I was just surfing with him a week
earlier. I heard he had kids. I didn't want to tell Holly but I
figured she'd hear about it anyways. Man that guy surfed better than
me, it could have been anyone. Life is fucked up like that.

Holly and I went out last night, something we rarely do since having
kids. Holly's partner in the Organic Market, Andrea, and her husband
Diego babysat for us. We drank some of their "organic" mushroom tea
and went to Helena's house warming party. Shortly after getting there
I realized that I shouldn't have let myself go anywhere, Holly and I
escaped outside and, after a few hours, returned to earth. What a
funny, entertaining evening it was, totally fun, we fell asleep dying
laughing.

Today is family day. Kids, wife, beach, pool, couch, bed, tv, pac man,
cheeze-its, Imperial. Tomorrow we bring the yacht to Tamarindo. We
leave tentatively on Thursday, waiting for a better swell report to
make detailed plans. We are surf pirates. Point breaks = buried
treasure. I'm probably gone most of a month on this trip, ironing out
details, marking GPS points, definitely "working" thank god I call
this work. The surfing world games are the 1st week of August in Playa
Hermosa, def going to check that out. WRSC will have a booth at the
Surf Expo in Orlando August 20-22, come say hi to us if you're at the
show. Also going to have a booth at ASR in San Diego Sept 10-12. I
kindof wish I was going to the US Open in Huntington this month but
not as much as surfing Matapalo and Pavines, I cannot wait.

I'm ditching the laptop and keeping the phone. I will keep you posted
on this surf adventure :-)