Brown and Vindas Battle for Costa Rica Surf Championship
Written by Claire
Brown looks to defend his lead in this weekend’s final surf circuit event.
This weekend the Costa Rica National Surf Circuit will host its 7th and final event in Playa Hermosa, just south of Jaco, in front of the Hotel Terrazas del Pacifico. The 5-star event will determine which surfers take the 1st place title in 13 categories. The winner of the Miss Surf Organic & Natural will also be chosen in a separate competition at the end of the tournament.
Currently surfers Gilbert Brown and Luis Vindas are ranked high enough to take the lead in the Open category, promising a talented fight to the finish. Brown held on to the lead early in the tournament with consistent performances that placed him in the top four in every single tournament, and giving him 1st place in two of them. Vindas managed to nearly catch up to Brown after two consecutive wins at 4-star events in Dominical and Playa Carmen.
The final score for each surfer is determined by the average of their top 4 event scores. So, while Brown holds a strong overall lead, when tallied according to the rules, Vindas finds himself a mere 65 points behind, making the 1st place title up for grabs. The winner of the Playa Hermosa even will be awarded 2000 points, which would assure either of the top two the win.
Further behind the top two, Mattías Braun, Jason Torres and Juan Carlos Naranjo still have a slight chance of making it to one of the top two positions, and will be anxiously awaiting a poor performance by either Brown or Vindas. However, the two only need to reach the quarter finals round to ensure that one of them will walk away with the title.
Looking at each surfer’s history, they both have a good chance of hanging on to the top positions thanks to consistent surfing and high levels of performance in national and international tournaments. Vindas has had a great run of tournaments in Playa Hermosa, which is just minutes from his home town of Jaco. The surfer has won five consecutive events at two different points on the beach. He also won two of the surf circuit events and was a finalist in the Central American Championship.
Brown, for his part, was the first Costa Rican Surfer to classify in the Open category of the Panamerican Surf Games in Chile in Nov. 2007, and was a finalist in the Central American Surf Championship as well at all 6 surf circuit events from this year.
On the women’s side, Lisbeth Vindas, a 6 time national surf champion, currently has a lead of 400 points (when counting her top three performances) over her rival Nataly Bernold, who hold’s last year’s Women’s Champion title. The lead assures Lisbeth a first place win, and her 7th National Surf Champion title if she can come in in 3rd place or higher in the final tournament. Bernold would not only have to win the tournament, but hope that Vindas does not classify in the top four finalists to take the win.
Lisbeth has had a very consistent season, winning 4 of the 6 events, and classifying in all of them.
On the Junior’s side, 15-year-old Carlo Muñoz took an early upset over previous leader and current Junior’s Champion, Jairo Pérez, and has since pulled away with a 500 point lead. Like Lisbeth, Muñoz must aspire to a 3rd place finish or higher to maintain his hold on 1st place, giving him his first National Junior’s Championship.
The wave conditions this weekend are expected to be strong tubes between 3 and 5 feet high, as is characteristic of the surfing spot. The morning hours will see the most challenging wave sets thanks to high tide, so spectators are advised to arrive early.
More than 250 surfers are expected to compete, which would end the Costa Rican National Surf Circuit 2007-2008 with the highest participation level in the history of the competition.
Other community events will take place such as trash collection by local elementary schools, and the Chicas REEF (models sponsored by the REEF clothing line). On Saturday night a night surfing competition will take place with an award of $500 going to the winning team. Signups will take place at the Bar/Restaurant Tabacon from 5pm to 7pm for $12. The Miss Surf Organic & Natural Competition will also take place, and a winner will be announced. The winner will receive $1000 and a chance to compete in this year’s Chica REEF competition.
Photo courtesy of Shifi Surf Shots.
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Filed under: Surf on April 22nd, 2008
[…] Brown and Vindas Battle for Costa Rica Surf ChampionshipThis weekend the Costa Rica National Surf Circuit will host its 7th and final event in Playa Hermosa, just south of Jaco, in front of the Hotel Terrazas del Pacifico. The 5-star event will determine which surfers take the 1st place … […]
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