UPDATE: Carlos Muñoz surprised everyone on the beach at Trestles with an amazing performance (WATCH!) during his heat against Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina, who happens to be the current World Championship Tour champ. In just seconds, attacked a long right that stoked the crowd and earned him a quick seven points to pull a huge upset and win the heat. Costa Rican flags flew on the beach and Carlos nearly cried when he learned of his 13.90 score, one point less than Kelly Slater!

 

At one of the world’s top professional surfing tournaments, some of the biggest names in the sport wait for their respective heat in the waves of Southern California. In the men’s category, the competitors are predominantly from the nations known to produce competitive surfers: Australia, Brazil and the United States. This year marks the first occasion that a surfer from Costa Rica competes in the Hurley & Swatch Pro of the ASP World Tour.

 

Readers of The Costa Rica Star who follow professional surfing are certainly familiar with Carlos Munoz, the first Tico to earn a spot in the Hurley Pro and one of the most exciting surfers representing our country in international competitions. The Hurley Pro is part of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, which is considered the maximum representation of competitive pro surfing; Carlos “Cali” Muñoz earned his spot by means of wild card voting among fans who viewed online videos of Cali in action.

 

The wild card voting event is part of an effort by the ASP World Tour to include more Latin American surfers from countries other than Brazil in the competition. Costa Rica is a prime surfing destination that has hosted ASP World Tour events in the past, but surfing at a professional level has just gotten started in the last few years. Now that the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport supports surfing as an important competitive activity for Costa Rica, we may see more participation by Tico surfers in the major international events.

 

Readers who are not familiar with Cali Muñoz should read our previous articles on this surfer, whose career we have been following since early 2012:

 

Beyond Central America Carlos was never a household name; but, as with any great feat in life, that can change in seconds. In Carlos’ case that changed in about five seconds as he scored the Volcom Pipeline Pro’s first perfect ten (the highest score possible) heat against some of the world’s most elite Pipeline specialists. He took off on a long Backdoor right and nabbed one of the longest barrels of the day. After exiting the barrel loud hoots and hollers could be heard echoing from the Volcom house, Carlos’ main sponsor.

 

Cali has been in Trestles, a top surfing region in San Diego County, for a few days; however, he has yet to compete. Mother Nature did not cooperate during the initial days of the 2014 Hurley & Swatch Pro, and the lack of swells prompted organizers to call a Lay Day (no surfing) on Wednesday. Instead of watching heats, attendants got to listen to live music by the likes of Slightly Stoopid, a California band that enjoys playing in Costa Rica.

 

Conditions improved on Thursday with sets producing up to 6-foot waves, but faces were mostly in the 3-5 foot range. As of Thursday morning, Cali had not yet competed; he is on the 6^th heat against Gabriel Medina of Brazil and Adam Melling of Australia. The Tico surfer faces strong competition, but he is already making Costa Rica proud with his presence in this tournament.