Learning to surf in Nosara, CR during the summer?

naw man you will be learning to surf in the little shore break they arnt going to take you outside to get pounded. you will be riding white water there is no reason to worry. it doesnt matter when you go but it does. youll be riding white water, i went during the rainy season and it didnt rain once. i went during the dry season and it stormed like no other 1 day.

 

no dude you wont be on the outside in a week your crazy haha. i would worry about standing up first. it looks easier than it is, folly beach is way more heavy then cr anyways even if you did go outside youll be okay.

 

You can learn to surf in Nosara in the summer. Lots of people do. It will occasionally get 2x overhead but 5-7 feet is more common.

If you are in good physical condition, a good swimmer, and have some decent instruction, you will be out there chasing unbroken waves pretty fast. I attended a surf camp there in July a couple years back and had about a year of surf experience and was surfing out the back in OH+ waves right away. There was a guy in our group and his two daughters - he was probably 50 and they were early 20s, they were total beginners at surfing but all three were triathloners and in really good shape. They were paddling out and taking on unbroken waves by the third day.

But make sure to get some lessons from a good surf instructor (there are tons there) if you haven't surfed before, otherwise you will be flailing about. And hit the pool and swim a lot on a regular basis in the month or two before going, you need to be in shape to get the most out of an experience like that.

 

Just man up dude. As long as your not learning by yourself on a shallow reef break you'll be fine. My brother took me out to teach me when i was 13 in February in NJ when the water was 40 degress and the air was 20. Waves were overhead for me cause i was like 5 foot nothin and i got pounded all day. Made me fearless though. You'll survive. Just make sure to take that last breath before you get held down. And don't fight it, let it toss you until it slows down a little then go for the surface. You'll make it. Or you'll die with honor. Either way it's gonna be ok.

 

thats like flying into outer space to get your basic pilot's license. Save money and learn at your closest beach. Then head down there for a winter break when the waves are more mellow when you actually have a chance to take advantage of the excellent waves there.

 

Don't let this guy crush your dreams. Its not rocket science. Especially if they have people teaching you on the inside first and you're there for a month. You're gonna have a blast.

 

bunghole, your no surf expert man. your from fl and yall get no waves get on folly beach level then come talk to me. how can you give advice when you live in delray? wtf is a delray? like a stingray?

 

i though cr was biggest during rainy season? not summer?

Anyhow, surf lessons thru surf schools are a joke. Dont waste your money. Buy a board and wetsuit and learn at home, where you will spend the majority of your time surfing anyway.

 

Hey gimme a break i just moved here from Jersey. And i don't know what Delray means , I don't speak cubano. There are some decent spots here believer it or not that will give up some short rides. Nothin like the good ol' jersey shore though.

 

Rainy season is summer.

 

Not all surf schools are a waste. If you can come up with the coin, SurfSimply in Nosara is highly recommended. Perfect for your stated abilities / surfing goals. There are several people on this SI Forum who have done the surf coaching program at Surf Simply & all would tell you, hands-down, this is the place to learn the sport. It's also the place to improve your surfing no matter what your level from beginner to pro.

Don't sweat the wave size. You'll have enough to think about just trying to master functional stance, feet, hips, hands, head & a whole lot more.

A proper surf coaching place will not only teach you to surf, they will give you the tools to continue to get better as you practice in the months & years ahead.

Sure, if you have years to burn trying to learn a sport by yourself, with nothing but ignorant, wrong inputs from your friends or, worse, opinions on the mechanics of how to surf from people on websites like this one, don't bother with coaching. But, if you want to learn correctly, get some coaching. Good coaching.

(And, no, that doesn't mean some Tico shoving you into the shorebreak & yelling 'feel the ocean & go go go!')

 

Most touristy type places have the surf schools that just push you into the wave and say go go go. If you find one thats more than that good for you.

 

There are a lot of different breaks around Nosara that you can surf. Nosara does tend to get big and hold a pretty decent size swell. I've surfed there when it was triple overhead!

However when its big or too big you can just find another break. It can be 20 foot in Nosara and Mal Pais maybe 3-4 foot. The coastline doesn't run straight up and down.... there's plenty of bends and nooks and bay's/coves in which a swell will hit at different angles. This allows different breaks to range in all different sizes during the same swell.

 

If your gonna go for that long and your gonna surflike 3-4 times a week probably more, plan your trip so that a couple of months are during peak season. If your not a couch potatoe you should be ready for chest/shoulder/head high unboken waves pretty quickly.

 

I just want to say, this thread has "cumicon", "bungholesurfer", and "frontsidecrotch grab" as participants; am I on the right website?

 

Guiones is a place where you don't have to have a car. All the stores, beach, places are walking distance from one another. If you need wheels, save up a bit & buy a scoot.

Guiones has blown up, namely due to the NYT articles, the 'Outside' magazine article, the 'NatGeo Exlporer' article, and the 23+ surf schools that heavily promote the place as the spot to learn how to surf.

The wave is not heavy, unless it's double overhead. In other words, it can get big & still be pretty user-friendly. By comparison, I've surfed heavier water in chest high AI than overhead Guiones (those friggin east coast USA closeouts).

Guiones gets crowded as hell starting in November through approx May. It's like a bus pulls up every day at 0700 & disgorges a couple hundred surfers from the jungle. Once you get to know locals, and there's huge gringo expat community there, you'll discover other, less-crowded breaks. I'm not naming them; you'll have to do that ground work for yourself.

 

I remember the days when you could barely get there in a four wheel drive (and sometimes not) let alone a bus!