PHOTO OF CARLOS MUÑOZ AT BILLABONG ISA WORLD SURFING GAMES COSTA RICA 2009
PHOTO BY FABIAN SANCHEZ

ELLEN ZOE:: FEDERACIÓN DE SURF

LISBETH VINDAS, NATALY BERNOLD FINISH GAMES RANKED 11TH, 15TH WOMEN’S RESPECTIVELY


Playa Hermosa, COSTA RICA August 4, 2009 – In a day when the Costa Rica National Surf Team saw three team members eliminated from the Billabong International Surfing Association (ISA) World Surfing Games Costa Rica 2009, 16-year-old Carlos Muñoz (Esterillos) provided two of the most exciting—and winning—heats so far in this tournament. The nailbiting started in both of his repercharge heats when he interfered with other surfers, causing the elimination of half of the second highest scoring wave, and forcing the youngster to surf his tail off to gain a high-point tally. Each time, Muñoz achieved the goal and came away with a 1st place win and the admiration of the crowd on the beach.

The first time this happened was in repercharge Round 4. Muñoz took off left while Robert Diaz of Venezula had taken off first going right. Muñoz crossed in front of Diaz for the interference. With a couple of showy waves—one with a 360 air, and another with 4 maneuvers including a nice tailslide—he earned a total of 11.39 to squeak by Diaz by 1.39 points.

“I didn’t think I was going to make it after the interference,” Muñoz said afterward. “I’m happy. It was a hard heat, there were no good waves. Only thank God and surfing hard, I won.”

Then in Round 5 repercharge, he made the same mistake again paddling into the same wave as Peru’s Matias Mulanovich for another interference as the crowd moaned. Once again, Muñoz gathered up his wits and managed to surf around the rock up to a floater like a skateboard then later do a 360 slider. The announcer said: “It’s nice to see a surfer who not only wants to win, but who entertains the crowd.” Again, Muñoz did win, with a 9.50, by .67 over Jesus Chareon of Venezuela.

Muñoz said: “I’m really happy that nothing bad happened because of the interference. I had a lot of luck today because of this. I hope to get a lot of experience with these days coming because of things like this.”

Luis Vindas of Jaco started the day strong with spectacular surfing at Podium 1. The crowd witnessed a nice right that offered an assortment of roundhouses and other maneuvers and another right with over the top snaps, a left with very good cutbacks. He earned 1st place in that repercharge Round 3 heat besting Dominican Republic’s Brandon Sanford at 2nd place, Austria’s Chris Schnitzer at 3rd place and Mexico’s Angelo Lozano at 4th place.

In the next heat, however, things fell apart. While Jesus Chacon maintained the lead, at the last moments of the heat Vindas surfed a great wave placing him at 2nd. But, Puerto Rico’s Brian Toth, also surfed a great wave in those last seconds, and his score came back higher ultimately placing him at 2nd and Vindas at 3rd for the final tally. Vindas was out of the World Surfing Games. He is ranked 25th in the world.

The Women today had a rough time. Lisbeth Vindas of Jaco lost her first main event Round 3 at Podium 1 when she just couldn’t put anything together and landed in 4th place behind France’s Pauline Abo, South Africa’s Rosanne Hodge and Japan’s Nao Oomura. She did recover her footing spectacularly at Podium 2 with a 2nd place win behind Venezuela’s Yocelyn Aldana. After a brief rest, Vindas head back in the water for repercharge Round 5, but the level of surfing was extremely high and Lisbeth fell out to 4th place. 1st place was Samantha Cornish of Australia, 2nd place was Alessia Quizon of Hawaii and 3rd place was Nao Oomura of Japan.

The news however was still good for Lisbeth. She came out of the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games Costa Rica 2009 ranked at #11 Women’s. That’s a 14 point improvement from the #25 ranking she received at the World Surfing Games Portugal 2008.

“And the level of surfing there in Portugal wasn’t half as good as it is here,” Vindas explained.

“I really enjoyed this World Surfing Games. I did the best I could but the level of surfing is way out of my league for girls. Our boys they can win. But those girls out there, they are a young, powerful, radical generation. I feel like I’m a classical big wave surfer. But I had a great time.”

Nataly Bernold of Jaco, the other Costa Rica Women’s surfer, also finished her run today with the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games Costa Rica 2009. Actually, she was the first one out when she came in 4th place in her repercharge Round 4 heat, surfing valiantly against superb 1st place Australian Samantha Cornish, 2nd place Brazilian Barbara Muller, and 3rd place Frenchwoman Lee Ann Curren (daughter of legend Tom Curren).

Nataly earns a ranking of 15th Women’s.

“It’s going to happen sooner or later. At least she passed 3 heats. She tried her best. I wanted more. Now I have to continue being positive and motivating until the last one dies,” said José Ureña, President of the Federacion de Surf de Costa Rica and head of the Technical Body of the Costa Rica National Surf Team.

The Costa Rica National Surf Team remain very much alive in the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games. Along with Carlos Muñoz in repercharge Open, there’s Jason Torres (Jaco) and Gilbert Brown (Puerto Viejo) still surfing in the main event Open. Beginning tomorrow, Diego Naranjo (Jaco) and Cristian Santamaria (Nosara) will compete in the Longboard category.

“It’s looking like Costa Rica is on the medal path,” said Fernando Aguerre, ISA President. “I would like to see Costa Rica score some medals. As a fan of Costa Rica, it is excellent how surfing has come up as not only a sport, but as a culture here. Here at the World Surfing Games, the beach has been taken over by surfers. I think the amount of people who have come out for this one is among the highest number we have had, and it’s people that really like surfing. Surfing is so popular in Costa Rica. You go to any beach in Costa Rica and there are two types of people: People like us who surf, and people who want to surf!”

To watch all the action of the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games Costa Rica 2009, please go to www.surfingcr.net.