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Costa Rica team join opening ceremony
by Ellen Zoe Golden
16/10/2006:// When the 21st edition of the 2006 Lost Energy Drink International Surfing Association (ISA) World Surfing Games (WSG) kicked off yesterday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. PDT, Costa Rica’s National Surf Team joined 33 other countries in the traditional “Parade of Nations’ on the Huntington Pier.
Dressed in team uniforms consisting of red shirts with white lettering proclaiming “COSTA RICA Surf Team,” worn with blue pants, the Tico procession formed under sunny skies behind Costa Rica’s unofficial Ambassador of Surf, Robert August. August has help boast the Central American country’s surf tourism tremendously beginning when the “Endless Summer” star—and Huntington resident—put his adopted second home of Costa Rica and some of its breaks in the sequel film, “Endless Summer II.” The longboard legend has a Robert August Surf Shop in Tamarindo as well.
Following August, carrying the Costa Rican flag, was 13-year-old Nataly Bernold (also of Tamarindo); then came Diego Naranjo (Jaco) and Gilbert Brown (Puerto Viejo). The three were trailed by Iván Castillo (Quepos), Walter Gatgens (Jaco); Nino Myrie (Puerto Viejo), Lisbeth Vindas (Jaco), Luis Vindas (Jaco), as well as Antonio Pilurzu, President of the Federacion de Surf de Costa Rica (FSC); Jose Ureña, Team Coach and Vice President FSC; Christophe “Kiki” Commarieu, Publisher of Surfos, the Latin American Surfing Magazine based in Costa Rica; and various FSC support staff.
When the Tico delegation completed its march down the Pier to the staging area, Brown poured sand from Playa Langosta, Costa Rica into a specially crafted acrylic box during the “Sands of the World” ceremony. Each country in the WSG participates in this ritual, according to the ISA, because the “multi-colored layers of sand ceremoniously display the fraternal spirit, unity and the ISA’s hopes for a peaceful world and continued spirit of community through the sport of surfing.”
Costa Rican team member Naranjo agreed with that philosophy. “I feel really proud of my country,” he said. “To participate in this day’s events with all the cultures, colors and different country’s getting together in Huntington Beach is great. We’re getting the opportunity to make the world a better place through this sport.”
With the 33 sands all mixed, the surf teams perched on the lawn in front of him and the official speeches completed, ISA President Fernando Aguerre, pronounced the words all had been waiting to hear: “I declare the 21st World Surfing Games Open!”
Naranjo, turns out, is the first to hit the waves today for Costa Rica, surfing in the Longboard category.
“We have big hopes for Diego,” reported Coach Ureña. “He’s been training hard for both Open and Longboard. And just before he arrived in Huntington, Diego competed in a tournament in Puntarenus, Costa Rica, and won 1st place in Longboard.”
Tico’s Walter Gatgens and Iván Castrillo are also set to compete in Bodyboarding today, with Lisbeth Vindas—who normally reigns as Costa Rican Women’s Surf Champion—going at it in Bodyboarding Women’s division as well.
To view the Costa Rica National Surf Team in action at the 2006 Lost Energy Drink ISA World Surfing Games go to www.isasurf.org or www.surfingamerica.org/isa
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