Under a growing swell and with water temps resembling that of a jacuzzi, the international contingency of some of the world’s best surfers congregated at Costa Rica’s Playa Hermosa for the sixth day of the Billabong ISA World Games fueled by Monster Energy today.
Team USA, who has been trying since 1996 to regain the gold medal in the Overall Team Standings, made a huge step today by keeping all of their remaining surfers alive.
The partial Overall Team Standings show a strong USA lead. The current top five nations are:
1º – USA – 19080 points
2º – Hawaii – 16960 points
3º – Australia …  Details
Big board performances became a key factor in their nations standing as the Longboard division opened today at the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games fueled by Monster Energy.
Under cloudy skies, sometimes pouring rain and choppy, shifting beachbreak, the big favorites along with a few small determined dark horses advanced to the next round in the most difficult conditions yet.
Underdogs like New Zealand and Venezuela who already have surfers qualified through to the next round, kept them competitive with advancing longboarders. Venezuela’s team gathered as a group every time they had a heat in the water, chanting, cheering and waving their flags like men possessed.
“The enthusiasm from the Venezuelan team is so motivating… Details
Video Surfing – Jordy California Rehab Session – Check out the latest clip of Jordy Smith going for a California road trip and uncovering the gold in the sunshine state!
“LEUCADIA is the last hippie town in Southern California,†declared Carolyn Jopes, sitting across from me at the Pannikin Cafe on a sunny summer afternoon. Perched on the edge of Highway 101, the cafe is housed in the former Encinitas station of the Santa Fe Railroad, built in 1888. Its lofty, mellow-yellow facade calls to passers-by: “What’s the hurry? Stop driving and hang out.â€
Ms. Jopes, 63, was telling me about her escape from Washington some 20 years ago. “When I heard the word Leucadia,†she said, “it sounded so dreamlike, I said, ‘I want to live there.’ †Fit and with flowing gray hair, she surfs nearly every day… Details