June 14th, 2022

Somewhere in Nicaragua

Like this guys turn, it’s all about timing. I heard it wasn’t (so) onshore just a little earlier, BUT, like the saying around here goes…. there’s pretty much always something to surf, rain or shine!

That’s a legit WSL turn if may say so!

No barrels on this Tuesday. Just a lot of rail work. . . and the kids were punching the clock today!

I shot at noon and this guy hitting the “noon” dial dead on, didn’t even look like he was coming in for his 12 o’clock lunch break any time soon.

Small but fun little sections and waves and actually, great conditions ironically to up your surfing without having the solid 8-10 factor days we normally have here. If you can surf like this in these kinds of conditions; it shows you’ve been putting in your time no matter what the waves are doing.

The local workers work hard. Damn hard. You haven’t seen gnar gnar physical labor until you’ve paid a little visit to Nicaragua. They pretty much do 90% of everything by hand (that’s not including some little basics like saws, but they mix and pour all the concrete by hand and lay the iron by hand and use sticks – that’s right sticks and thick branches that they cut with machetes perfectly to use as supporters for the ceilings, roof staircase and anything that has concrete that needs to set and wait on to be completely dry to move on to the next phase of building). And then meanwhile, they come play soccer for an hour on their short little window of a lunch break, and this is what makes this place so unique. They’d rather go play a game of soccer (and it’s not exactly cool weather) than eat or take an actual break. Nicest people, but built like machines!

Here’s a machine of a (as they call it on the live WSL events) rotator! jajaja that one has aways cracked me up!

So much ripping, but the grey skies were getting darker and darker, so I figured I would save it for tomorrow as it’s forecast to be a lot nicer and possibly not even onshore. (crossing fingers).

The man, the myth, the legend. If you read the NSR report, yeah, this one right here, it all started really from this guy. Bryan (aka Pancho) McMandon. El Jefe came down to Nica waaaaay back (also with his surfing partner in crime and other brain child for the little entrepreneurial thing called “The Nicaragua Surf Report”, Hot Carl… AKA “Carlitos Caliente” when surfing in Nicaragua was just an idea for the real adventurists, looking for new places that weren’t already so over crowded and the lineups were pretty much empty up and down the entire Emerald Coast here. It all started with some pictures that were posted to just some friends… I’m not even sure what platform Bryan was using, had to have been before Myspace, so maybe AOL? The point is, I’ve been following NSR since my first trip here in 2004, and NSR I believe goes back as far as 2005, so somewhere, I was lucky enough to learn about their little idea and daily postings to show how good the surf was down here, by a couple lucky dudes, who I’ve been following from day one (AND also, whom I am fortunate to work with and have been since 2017). Their little empire which has grown exponentially, (and this all cannot go unnoticed without mentioning the real wizards behind the curtains and behind the scenes 2 other important others who make NSR what is today, is Heather (Bryans wife) and (Eugenia (Carl’s wife) who also play an integral part that has built and grown NSR into what it is now for almost 2 decades, employing well over the 100 persons mark over that time span and what’s really awesome is during the Governmental vs the People crisis, and the entire time throughout COVID, they didn’t lay off a single person from their very heavily and well dedicated staff. Including Operational management (Baldo and Sarah), cleaning, maintenance, concierge, surf shop employees, and for me, best of all – the photographers. They didn’t want to lose any of their dedicated workers (which are all like family to NSR) or make them unemployed during some of the hardest times I’ve ever witnessed, at least for me, while living here in Nicaragua. So every time you read the report, or now go to the newer more modern app like Instagram, just remember, it all started with a camera and a vision. The rest is history and if you’ve ever come down and stayed via NSR, you’re a part of that history as well. So we all Thank YOU!!!! :)On that little historical side note. . . let’s pray for some clean fun sunny waves for tomorrow! Cheers ~ SBSRemember, even if you didn’t make the highlights you can always look at the link here for all theDaily Surf Shotsfrom each day, there might be a good chance you’re in there!AND don’t forget to follow us and always check out our current happenings on our daily Instagram stories hereNSRor my photography hereNica Surf Shots