Costa Rica's Weekly Surf Report for August 19, 1999

Brought to you each Thursday by local surf businesses throughout Costa Rica. See http://www.crsurf.com/link.html for pics., forecast links, and tide charts.

FEATURES

National Stats:

Tides

Swell Direction

Area Reports:

Wave Heights & Conditions

Forecasts & Best Spot

Upcoming Events / Contests

SPONSORS by Area


Patti at Best Western - Vista Villas & The Monkey Bar "Guanacaste's Surf Connection" (653-0114) in Tamarindo - tamvv@sol.racsa.co.cr

2) Louis at Hotel Las Tortugas (653-0458) in Playa Grande - nela@playagrande.co.cr

3) Steve from Tropico Latino Lodge (640-0062) in Santa Teresa - troplat@sol.racsa.co.cr

4) Neil’s House in Playa Grande garda@costarica.net

5) From Mike at Villa Hermosa Hotel (643-3373)

taycole@sol.racsa.co.cr

6) From David at Escuela D’Amore (777-1143) in Manuel Antonio – damore@sol.racsa.co.cr

7) Paco at Hotel Rio Lindo (787-0078) in Dominical - hotelriolindo@costarica.net

8) ) Mel Baker from A.T.E.C. atecmail@sol.racsa.co.cr in Puerto Viejo

(750-0188)

TIDES (add 50 minutes each day) ~ MAREAS (sume 50 minutos cada día)

High for Fri. (8/20) – 9:16 a.m.; Height – 7.8 ft.

Low – 3:31 p.m.; Height – 2.1 ft.

Alta para Vrn. (13/8) – 9:16 a.m.; Tamaño - 232 cm.

Baja – 3:31 p.m.; Tamaño: 64 cm.

SWELL DIRECTION -- DIRECIÓN DEL SWELL

Pacific – A South swell mixed with some W from Tropical Storm Fernanda will make some peaks 2+ overhead, but should be smaller by next Tuesday. Best day is Sunday.

Caribbean – Waves in the chest or better range from Tropical disturbances west of the Antilles. Should remain decent for the next week.

Pacifico – Un swell de sur con algo de un tormenta tropical a este van a hacer picos dos pies sobrecabeza, pero sería mas pequeña para el próximo martes. El mejor día es domingo.

Caribean – Olas de tamaño pecho o mejor de tormentas tropicales que estan oeste de las islas Antilles. Sería mantener buena para la próxima semana.

AREA REPORTS

NICOYA (N)

(1) Patti at Best Western, Tamarindo Vista Villas -

AREA WAVE HEIGHTS AND CONDITIONS: SW swell already showing in "T Bay", 5’, glassy sets in the am. Onshores early and then switching out to offshores at sunset. Conditions coming up with a new SW coming in on Sunday - shorebreaks 2 overhead by Monday, outside breaks sould be 10+. High tide at 9:30 am Friday. WHAT TO EXPECT THIS WEEKEND (weather and waves): Rain coming in late afternoon,. Waves are glassy and barrelling early morning. Rain expected over the weekend. Waves should continue to increase and by Late Monday all SW breaks should be 5 to 10. BEST PLACE TO SURF THIS WEEKEND IN YOUR AREA: Pick a SW break - Playa Negra - perfect conditions in the morning. Playa Grande glassy in the am. T Bay has a great rivermouth left....Try a boat trip to Witch's and Ollies. Perfect conditions 5-7. Of course Playa Avellannes will be firing down the line. Baby's Beach, Rivermouth and Little Hawaii - early morning as we go down to 1 surf session a day, except at low tides breaks.... NEWS AND UPCOMING EVENTS: Best Western - Vista Villas in Tamarindo for up to the minute surf reports and boat trips to Witch's & Ollies.

(2) From Louis at Hotel Las Tortugas in Playa Grande - AREA WAVE HEIGHTS AND CONDITIONS: The waves came up today and are just overhead. Morning offshores and high tides are combining up for some great surf. Wed at 8:30 AM, outgoing tide was particularly spectacular with only 5 people out. WHAT TO EXPECT THIS WEEKEND (weather and waves): Morning tides all weekend and a growing swell should produce some great surf conditions. BEST PLACE TO SURF THIS WEEKEND IN YOUR AREA: Thurs. morning was great at dead high at Chicken Head rock just North of the hotel. The lower tides have been great in front of the hotel. If it gets big we'll slip down into the bay toward Tamarindo.

(3) From Steve at Tropico Latino Lodge in Santa Teresa (next to Mal Pais) - WAVE HEIGHTS & CONDITIONS:The surf has been running around shoulder high this week. It has picked up this morning with 4' sets out of the SW. Conditions are not great with a lot of wind out to sea and early onshores.WHAT TO EXPECT THIS WEEKEND: Hope that this swell builds. Weather will become more unpredictable as we move into the the more serious part of the rainy season. As long as it doesn't rain too late at night, we should have clean surf in the mornings. BEST PLACE TO SURF THIS WEEKEND: Sta. Teresa continues to be the best spot - particularly with low tide moving towards dawn

(4) From Neil Garda in Playa Grande - AREA WAVE HEIGHTS AND CONDITIONS: Playa Grande waves about head level, sloppy. No pests in the water. WHAT TO EXPECT THIS WEEKEND (weather and waves): probably more of the same.

JACO & HERMOSA (JH)

(5) From Mike at Villa Hermosa - AREA WAVE HEIGHTS AND CONDITIONS: 3 feet overhead on sets, glassy in mornings and afternoons, definitly barreling WHAT TO EXPECT THIS WEEKEND (weather and waves): strong swell, will probably hold for weekend expect some overhead waves, rain in afternoons BEST PLACE TO SURF THIS WEEKEND IN YOUR AREA: if not too big and closing out "the Tree" for higher tides, Roca Loca low tide. Jaco will be fun at high tide also.

(6) From Chuck in Jaco - 4-6 foot faces kind of ridable in the a,m, but real strange seems to be out of the s.w. but a couple of different swells out there it was kind of glassy in the a.m but had the "funky bump" too! afternoon heavy low tide thumpers not big but plenty thick! I think for the weekend it should clean up some so check the beach break if it drops or moves more westerly and if not keep an eye on the points which i won’t name cause everybody already knows them HAH HAH ! see ya A FRIEND IN COSTA RICA

QUEPOS & MANUEL ANTONIO (QMA)

(6) From David at Escuela D’Amore in Quepos - 1. Tamaño y consistencia de las olas esta semana- a) Playa Playitas: suaves, tranquilas, limpias, no muy consistentes y están midiendo cerca de 5 pies en marea alta. b)Isla Damas: fuertes, picadas, limpias, consistentes y están midiendo 8 pies en marea alta. c) Playa Espadilla: suaves, tranquilas, consistentes, no muy limpias yestán midiendo de 2 a 3 pies en marea alta. 2. Que esperan este fin de semana con respecto al tiempo y las olas? R/ Bueno, con respecto al tiempo es muy probable que haiga mucho sol y calor; y con respecto a las olas, creo que se van a mantener iguales. Los surfeadores del área de Manuel Antonio pinsan que en playa Playitaslas olas van a estar un poquito más grandes, algo así como 6 pies. 3. Los mejores lugares para surfear este fin de semana son:a) Playa Playitas y Isla Damas, aquí podemos encontrar las mejores olasde la zona. Además estos dos lugares son los más frecuentados por lossurfeadores por ser lugares para profesionales en el deporte del surf. 4. Hay alguna noticia o evento venidero? R/ No, por el momento no tenemos ninguna noticia ni evento venidero.

AND IN ENGLISH – Not today – hope you’ve been studying …

DOMINICAL & SOUTHERN PACIFIC (D)

(7) From Hotel Rio Lindo in Dominical - AREA WAVE HEIGHTS AND CONDITIONS: More rain in the early afternoon, all spots are at least head high down south and perfect early. Dominical breaking 1-2’ overhead with a few tubes at mid-tide. WHAT TO EXPECT THIS WEEKEND: Continued onslaught of present S swell mixed with some Tropical Storm bumps. BEST PLACE TO SURF THIS WEEKEND IN YOUR AREA: The left point before the wind gets on it. UPCOMING EVENTS: Next Basura Buster’s cleanup on August 21st. (See David at Gringo Mike’s for details)

CARRIBEAN (C)

see national report