Guess what? These last few months, where I haven’t been blogging and you’ve been wondering why I’ve slacking so much… well, I was actually really fucking busy. We all were. And we still are! Why? Because tomorrow, on 11/11/11, the folks at Witch’s Rock Surf Camp are proud to announce the grand opening of Volcano Brewing Company. Perched on a hill overlooking Lake Arenal, rimmed by multiple volcanos and lush green vegetation, Volcano Brewing Company is …

Finally, almost six months later, I am back to surfing and feeling human again. Not just on a longboard, but on my blue 5’10 that I shaped right before I blew out my MCL. At first I was falling on every wave, but now its starting to come together again and I’m remembering how to carve those cutbacks and do some big whacks off of the top. Fucking finally. And the Tamarindo Rivermouth has had …

Tamarindo has no lifeguards.  Why? The Costa Rican government doesn’t provide them. Most people tend to do nothing except complain about how the Costa Rican government doesn’t provide them. Whenever a local resident, business, or organization has tried to manage a lifeguard program in the past, it ends up being too difficult trying to get other residents and businesses to contribute to a lifeguard fund (especially in the low season when nobody has money).  Dealing …

It took a surfing injury to keep me out of the water for what has to be almost three months now.  I tried surfing last week, which didn’t work out too well.  I feel like I could still be a month out of the water.  Hard to stay out of the surf for that long, but it has been good in that it has allowed me to progress tons on my various “joe walsh projects”. …

Sometimes I wish I wasn’t self-motivated. Seriously, I could slack much better if I just cared a little less. I don’t have a boss, so I could totally fuck off and tell everyone around me that I was working really hard on stuff. But I don’t. Probably because I’m injured and not surfing. I end up going into the matrix to a point where I should take a break every once in a while. No …

It’s official and you’re hearing it here first.  The legendary Robert August is joining the WRSC family in a very special way: by personally hand-shaping custom surfboards at Witch’s Rock Surf Camp in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. I was sitting with Robert last Friday on the couch in the Skybox, drinking Imperials, watching the waves in the Tamarindo Rivermouth and talking a little story.  He told me about having to sneak film canisters out of India …

Since my knee injury was keeping me out of the water in Costa Rica, and since I wanted to hide away somewhere and work on this book project, I came up to New York for the last 12 days.  I have been riding a mountain bike around Manhattan rehabbing my knee, getting a chance to learn the city well.  I participated in (more like just showed up and started riding along with) the 5 Boro …

My mom called me yesterday to see if I really was in the United States or not. “Joe?  Where are you?”. “I’m in New Jersey mom.”  ”New Jersey??” she asks again.  ”Yes mom, New Jersey.”  I’m not even sure exactly where I’m at, except that I am in New Jersey. There are deer and geese and tons of wildlife everywhere. Maybe I’ve become more tico than gringo, but to me there seems to be plenty …

I’m celebrating the fact that 99 out of the initial 100 baby chicks are still alive. When you’ve never done something before (like raising free range chickens) you constantly doubt yourself and make up reasons why it won’t work out. In my case, I’ve been worried that iguanas or skunks or chicken hawks or an owl or even a jaguar (I saw one last week for the first time ever, only 5 miles from Tamarindo!) …

Today was a game changer. CBS’s the Price Is Right aired on national television, the grand prize was a trip to Witch’s Rock Surf Camp. I don’t care how you slice or dice it, that is some cool shit. I know Bob Barker retired from the show, which is a real bummer, but Drew Carey ain’t that bad. He still wields the skinny microphone, and the fact that nobody won the WRSC grand prize today means …