FOUR COSTA RICAN NATIONAL COMPETITORS MAKE QUARTERFINALS 

TUESDAY AT THE 2008 ISA WORLD SURFING GAMES IN PORTUGAL

COSTA DE CAPRICA, PORTUGAL October 15, 2008 Morning – Yesterday, on the 3rd day of the International Surfing Association (ISA) World Surfing Games (WSG) in Costa de Caprica, in the province of Almeda, Portugal, the Costa Rican National Surf Team stole the show. First, Jason Torres, Luis Vindas and Jairo Pérez demonstrated outstanding skills, enough to classify for the quarterfinals of the Open category. Later in the day, in her own Heats, Nataly Bernold, the youngest surfer in this international competition with 15 years of age, repeated the same feat, and was set in the quarterfinals of the Women’s division as well. This is a new world record.

The ISA itself acknowledged the surfing: “....Costa Rican surfers were once again the talk of the beach ...” they reported.

This presentation marks a new chapter, an elevated mark for the Ticos, in the international surfing arena. The most recent achievement was in 2006, at the ISA World Surfing Games in Huntington Beach, California, when the Costa Rican National Surf Team featured one remaining surfer in 8th place at the end. The team, at that time, placed 8th place out of 32 countries. Yesterday, Costa Rica already has three surfers in the Open quarterfinals. In addition, Bernold was in the quarterfinals as well. This bodes well for a better Costa Rican Team position overall this year.

The Women’s division was the first to enter the water yesterday near 8:30 local time. Nataly won 1st place in her Heat against rivals of Argentina, Portugal and England. Then, ahead, six Heats more, team member Lisbeth Vindas made 2nd place behind the Portuguese Joana Rocha. In Round 2, Bernold managed to classify to the quarterfinals with a 2nd place finish behind Peru’s Anali Gomez and over Chantelle Rautenbach from South Africa, who came in 3rd place. Lisbeth, because of a poor selection of waves, will have to finish out the World Surfing Games in repercharge.

The Open category was, quite simply, inspired. After magnificent action on the 1st day, the Ticos maintained their high level yesterday when Torres, Vindas and Pérez passed into the quarterfinals from their respective heats. Torres was the first to enter the water, and characteristic of his game managed to build energy with two good waves that placed him 1st in a Heat that contained the highly rated Nat Young of the United States. Young came in 4th place.

Then, Luis Vindas entered a Heat full of Latin American radicals: Felipe Braz of Brazil, Rafael Pereira of Venezuela and Diego Cadena of Mexico, to whom he pushed his way forcefully to 1st place with a well selected left and a right. The rest fell to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, respectively.

And finally, Pérez, in arguably the hardest Heat of the day for the Ticos, with surfers from Portugal, South Africa and Australia, obtained a very high score with the help of the second best wave of the day. The score was 9.3, a delight to the powerhouse surfer, who made his moves in precarious conditions.

Upon leaving the water, team members from Australia, one by one approached the Tico giving him their congratulations for the spectacular heat that had just played out. “You would have made the WCT on that one,” expressed the Technical Director of Australia to Pérez, calling him the “small giant of Latin America.”

Of the four Latinos in the Open category in quarterfinals now, three are of Costa Rica. “We are fulfilling our objectives in each presentation that we have managed to advance more and are establishing to our record. This allows us to see the future we projected and dreamed of. Today was a day we remembered why we work so hard,” affirmed Jose Ureña, Technical Director and coach of the Costa Rica National Surf Team.

Today the Tico Team is surfing repercharge rounds where Walter Gatgens and Richard Marin in the Bodyboard category will run. In addition, Lisbight Vindas in Women’s and Gilbert Brown in Open will hit the water.