Share your BREAKTHROUGHS, share the STOKE!

In this section, we like to share the results of our community.

Surfing, as we all know, is an extremely challenging, complex sport.

It involves swimming, breath holding, Breathing in all forms, stability, mobility, amazing coordination, ocean reading, and connection with the ocean.

So even making the smallest progress in your surfing journey, IS SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE ABOUT!

Regardless of your surfing level, share the stoke with the community!

⬇️ I´ll go first!

As many of you might know, I did not grow up being a surfer. I grew up in the city, far away from the ocean, but always felt a deep connection with water. Every time I had access to a pool, I would dive to the bottom and stay down there for as long as possible. Absolute silence. Just me and the water. Always found such a profound state of calmness down there.

Long story short, I could have never imagined my life making such a big turn and ending up living on the beach, surfing every single day of my life. I moved to Costa Rica in 2016, when I was 22, and started surfing at that age.

In 2019, I went for the very first time to Puerto Escondido, one of the heaviest beach breaks in the world. Although I was physically and mentally prepared, I was afraid. Fear is not something to be hidden, you just need to know how to manipulate it, understand it, and use it to your favor.

Being respectful of the ocean is not something to be ashamed of.

It took me 3 days to get in the water. Just seeing the size of the breaking waves felt unreal. I have never witnessed so much power from a short distance. As I was starting to realize that this "respect" was slowly morphing into "I don´t know if I am ready for this", I realized I had to find a way to get more confidence and just go for it.

I went to the nearest shop, bought some fins (the ones that bodyboarders use), went back home to get my GoPro, and went into the lineup.

Funny enough, I am not scared of the water itself. It is just the respect I have for such a powerful wave. On top of that: an unknown break, with multiple horror stories, was not very motivating.

I figured I needed to paddle out and swim around, just to slowly start building confidence, seeing how deep the water was, how strong the currents were, and just feel the place out.

I ended up doing this for around 3-4 days straight. Every single morning, I would wake up, get my fins, and go for a swim. Do some pictures, and get more familiar with the break. Understand the peaks. The speed of the wave. The intensity. I was studying everything while also experiencing one of the most intense breaks I`ve been into.

After 7 days of being in Puerto Escondido, I finally decided to paddle out with my big 8.2 Gun. This was also a new experience for me: I´ve progressed my way into shortboards, and I have not been using a longer board like this in years. But everything was part of the experience, it was all about experiencing this firsthand, being conservative with my wave selection and just slowly building up confidence.

It took me a few days to adjust to the board, to the intensity of the wave, the vertical drop, but after a few days, I caught this wave. I did not get into the barrel as it was the biggest wave I committed to drop in the whole trip so far. I remember turning around and paddling as strong as I could to get in the wave, the offshore threw me slightly off and I ended up late dropping.

I could make it down the wave, felt the drop was forever, and couldn´t turn the board and went straight to the beach.

Still, this was one of the most memorable waves I got in the whole trip. Not because it was the best barrel, or because it was the biggest one, but because it was a breakthrough moment: the same intensity I was seeing with my own eyes that very first day, that I was almost about to quit and turn around, justifying myself with tons of excuses, etc...

Now I was feeling this intensity, but not with my eyes, but with MY WHOLE BODY. I WAS THERE.

I PADDLED OUT. I TURNED AROUND. I DROPPED THE WAVE.

Luckily there was a photographer who captured this beautiful moment. Probably most people would think "You absolutely missed the barrel, bro!" and yes, I did 🤣, but that wave gave me the confidence to later get the barrels I always dreamt of when seeing pictures of Puerto Escondido.

One of my biggest surfing breakthrough moments for sure.

Hope you enjoyed the story time, and looking forward to sharing the stoke and hearing all kinds of surfing stories from you guys!

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