Costa Rica! This time: Surfkayak!

What an odyssey!
So this is my first short international flight, first dedicated surfkayak trip, first HD video, first boating in 2011, first... SO. MUCH. FUN.
I actually gotta give a big THANKS to brother and sister in law, who invited us on their Costa surf trip as a wedding present and covered the beachhouse, my wife's flight...
Well, I still wasn't gonna go, raftguides are on a bit of a tight budget in the winter I guess. And I don't have a surfboard or -kayak. Couldn't justify it.
Until about a week before that trip I got a mail from Fluid!
They upgraded my team status (Yay A-Team!) and my mind started spinning. I contacted Gavin Rains, our North American distributor, he still had an Element in stock. Now getting it to Canada would have been impossible so after a bunch of calls and emails he managed to get it sent to Detroit - 6h drive from here and the airport we would fly out of.
I booked my flight a few days before we would take off.
The boat arrived on a Wednesday, I picked it up on Thursday, we kept in our hotel in Detroit and flew out with it on friday (or was it Thursday, Friday, Saturday? Who cares.). I didn't even unwrap it before checking in.

Well, the rest of the story... Chill times.
Costa Rica was beautiful, a totally different experience from the 3 months in 2008 that I spent there broke in the middle of recession waiting around in the mountains for work.
The places we stayed at were gorgeous, Kon Tiki at Playa Negra, run by amazing people for a few days and then a beach house with a private trail straight to the break. And our own pool. So all we really did was hang, have beers and rum, bbq fresh fish and go surfing. Twice a day. Conditions were not world class but there was something every single day of the trip.

One thing though. Reefbreaks are something else in a kayak! On a few occasions at Playa Negra I had to literally surf slalom between the rocks if I didn't get off the wave early enough. So here's all my respect to the kayak surfers out there!

As I said, this is my first video in HD. For the first time in 3 years I have a camera and a computer that are fun to work with. Makes me pretty motivated for the season here in Canada.

Anyways. Judge yourself. Here's the video. Ideally go to vimeo, put it on HD, watch it full screen, crank up the sound and take a break from winter.



Peace,
Sven