3rd Annual Legend Surf Classic
The Third Annual Legend Surf Classic Puerto Rico takes place January 15-18, 2016 in Rincon, Puerto Rico. This years event proudly features several surfing greats. Hawaiian Reno Abellira, whose groundbreaking performance at the 1968 World Contest, set the stage for a new revolution is surfboard design.
Acclaimed waterman Mike Doyle, won the Duke Invitational at Sunset Beach, Hawaii in 1968, SURFER Poll winner in both ‘65 and ‘68, and all around waterman for over fifty years. Charlie Bunger started Bunger Surfboards in the early 60’s on Long Island, New York and became instumental in developing the now thriving NY surf community. Dick Catri, considered by many to be “the godfather” of East Coast surfing, honed his skills in Hawaii before settling in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Dick galvanized the local surf community in Cocoa and went on to sponsor many of Florida best surfers including Gary Propper, Bruce Valluzi and Mike Tabeling. Surfer/Filmmaker, Danny Herlihy, started surfing in the early 60’s in Ocean City, Maryland. Danny went on to surf California, Mexico and Hawaii, before literally discovering the now-famous big wave spot know as Tres Palmas in Rincon Puerto Rico. Danny, along with his good friend, the late Duke Michaels, will be honored at this years’ event for being the surfers who not only discovered and named Tres Palmas, but who also discovered and named popular spots like Dogmans, Gas Chambers and BC’s.
Introduced by Monty Smith in 2014, The Legend Surf Classic Puerto Rico, embraces its mission to ‘promote and celebrate the rich surfing history of Puerto Rico”. This nonprofit event does so by recognizing the original surfers who introduced surfing to Puerto Rico and by acknowledging surf legends from around the world who have made a significant impact on Puerto Rico’s growing surf culture. Puerto Rico’s surf culture includes many traveling surfers who now call Puerto Rico home, creating, over time, a unique surfing community. During 1969-70, hundreds of traveling surfers came to Puerto Rico, nick-naming Puerto Rico, “Hawaii of the East”. Similar to last year’s legends, Fred Hemmings and Nat Young, we have again invited surfing legends from around the world. Our hope is to grow this event in anticipation of the 2018 50th anniversay of the 1968 World Contest, held at Domes, Rincon. The ‘68 World Contest coincided with the short board revolution where Wayne Lynch took center stage, “blowing minds” with his vertical surfing, along with Hawaiian speed-demon, Reno Abellira, Australian National Champion, Midget Farrelly, and the eventual winner Fred Hemmings, from Hawaii. Danny Herlihy will be presenting a slideshow of the original photos taken at Tres Palmas. Also, Barry Church, the man responsible for photographing the ‘68 contest, will be exhibiting his work on site.
The Third Legend Surf Classic Puerto Rico has a 4-day window for the two-day contest, including expression sessions. The contest entry fee is $70 per division with two divisions costing $100. Contestants will be invited to special Legend activities and each participant will receive goodie bags. The event includes a gala dinner and an awards ceremony to round out this classic event.
Online contestant entry forms can be found on our website. Visit our website at: www.legendsurfclassicpr.org. Or visit us on Facebook at: FB/legendsurfclassicpuertorico For further information
contact Monty Smith at info@legendsurfclassicpr.org or John Ryan at jhamptonryan@yahoo.com for all press inquiries .
Celebrate International Surfing Day
June 20 is the official International Surfing Day, but the Rincon chapter of Surfrider is celebrating, June 23, with a stand-up paddle board race in La Parguera. The event starts at 9am and will is sure to be a great day with prizes given for winners in each category. If you can't make it down there, celebrate Surfing Day in Puerto Rico by taking in some waves we you're at. Looks like there might be some small ones at Domes and I hear Middles had some nice waves at the end of the week. See you in the water!
Corona Extra Pro Surf in Middles Offers Highest Prize
The Corona Extra Pro surfing event is October 7-10, 2011 at Middles in Isabela. THis year event organizers are offering the biggest purse in the history of Puerto Rican surfing, as described in this press release from APSPR (Puerto Rico Professional Surfing Association):
Werner Vega, President of APSPR (Puerto Rico Professional Surfing Association) announced that the Puerto Rico Tourism Company has partnered with Corona Extra to confirm a prize purse of $37,000 for their event on October 8 & 9, to be held at Playa Middle in Isabela, on the Northwest coast. This represents an increase of 240% over the largest prize money ever awarded before at a Puerto Rican contest. $25,000 in prize money will be awarded to the Men and $12,000 to the Women surfers. The addition of major sponsorship from the Puerto Rico Tourism Company shows a huge commitment to the sport and its athletes.
The Corona Middles Pro will also be the third and final event on the ratings for the season, which will decide the 2010-2011 APSPR Champions. Currently leading the ratings are Brian Toth, 26, from Isabela and Lisalie Gonzales, 23, from Canovanas. Both Toth and Gonzales were the winners of the 2010 Corona event at Middles, and have maintained their lead in the rankings through the last event, held at Domes, in Rincon, in March of this year. However, the ranking points on offer for the upcoming event mean that both title races are far from over.
Coming at the end of a very busy Atlantic hurricane season, organizers are hopeful that October at Middles will provide the strong Atlantic swells which make Puerto Rico the surfing mecca of the Caribbean. "The close proximity of Puerto Rico by air has made it the favorite winter destination for East Coast surfers from the U.S., especially the Northeast", said Vega. "New Jersey pros Matt Keenan and Jason Reagan are regular visitors, and are again expected at Middles. Florida pro Jeremy Johnston took second place at Domes this spring and should be back, along with Amy Nicholl, who won the Women's event".
For competitors: "All entries should be received with payment no later than Wednesday, September 28, 2011. Past Wednesday September 28 a late entry fee of $35.00 will be charged, announced APSPR Executive Director, Viviane Vega. "Entry deadline is Saturday, October 1, 2011 at 4 p.m. For more information visit APSPR website, or call: (787) 872-2490 between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday".
In addition to both days of surfing competition, Corona Extra will feature nighttime entertainment at several locations throughout the host town of Isabela, ensuring that the fun will continue around the clock all weekend.
Stand Up Paddleboarding in Puerto Rico
As the winter surf season winds down and the calm summer waters begin to creep in, stand up paddleboarding, or SUP, is a great way to stay in surfing shape and experience the water from a different perspective. Of course many SUPers are wave riders as well, but try touring the west coast on a standup paddleboard, the reefs and coral and fish and tortugas are just below your feet, its an incredible show. There are lots of SUP rentals on the West Coast of Puerto Rico, try Aquatic Dive and Surf in Aguadilla for rentals as well as tours.
If you're a more experienced stand up paddleboarder, you may enter one of the competitions on the island of Puerto Rico, the Xplora Splash Fest is this weekend in Carolina and every April, the Rincon Beach Boy Paddleboard race is held, great time to meet other SUP riders and share info on the sport.
Rincon Food
I get a lot of requests about where to eat, here is the first in a series about Rincon, Aguadilla and Isabela restaurants, food carts and bars. Rincon has plenty of different types of places with varying prices to match, Buen Provecho Rincon!, is a great dining guide published by Rhea Maxwell of the El Coqui magazine, but I have a few favorties in Rincon and most of them are pretty inexpensive.
EC Bakery, on the way out of town towards Mayaguez has the best coffee con leche I've had in PR, they also make a nice breakfast. Rock Bottom at Casa Verde has great breakfast burritos and a full bar so that Bloody Mary craving can get fixed and if you want to be more civilized, the English Rose is top notch quality.
Lunch in Rincon had a serious upgrade since the Pool Bar started making afternoon fish tacos and Ode to the Elephants opened theirs doors to lunch as well. There's a great Pincho stand at Steps Beach called Steps Quick Lunch and the pinchos at the Club Nautico in the Rincon Marina are huge, cheap and good.
For dinner on the cheap I go to Happy Burger for chicken tacos or Surf Pizza, a truck near the Lazy Parrot that makes a great pie, but Pool Bar sushi is always very good and the Calypso Cafe has great ceviche to go with Happy Hour rum punches.
So after a nice day in the water be assured you will not have to look far for some great food in Rincon. Coming next, Aguadilla food....
Why Surf Puerto Rico?
There are plenty of places to surf around the world, Hawaii, Indonesia, Portugal, Central America just to name a few, but economics makes Puerto Rico a great place to start. United States citizens don't need a passport to travel to Puerto Rico and there are direct flights into Aguadilla airport (BQN) from New York, Miami and Boston.
I guess it comes down to how much time and money you have. A surfing vacation to Nicaragua sounds "epic", but with the cost and time it takes to get there, it better be. Many California surfers don't know about the great Caribbean surfing because they can travel to surf in Mexico or Hawaii, but many surfers from the East Coast hop on a plane and enjoy a 3 or 4 day surf vacation in Puerto Rico a few times a year.
Did I mention the water? Caribbean surfing means warm, clear water, surf with sea turtles and see the coral below your board. And of course, "leave your wetsuit behind!"
Planning a Puerto Rico Surf Vacation
We came to Puerto Rico because we wanted to surf, but we didn't realize how many great surfing breaks existed on this island until after living here and exploring. If you are planning a Puerto Rico surfing vacation, think about how many days you will be here and how much driving are you willing to do. Rincon has so many guest houses and hotels as well as great surfing beaches so it is the most popular spot, but Isabela and Aguadilla are great options. I definitely suggest spending some time in all three towns.
The drive between the 3 towns is about 40 minutes, so day trips from one area to another are easy and worthwhile. But staying in Aguadilla or Isabela is a different experience than Rincon, try a few days each of these towns and you may decide you prefer one over the other.
On this website we have listings for lodging, surf schools and board rentals from all 3 towns. We know all of people who have listed on this site and wouldn't recommend them unless we felt they represented the best of PR. Feel free to contact me for more info about the west coast of PR.
Surfing Events in Puerto Rico
After the epic events of last year's Rip Curl Pro in Isabela, most of the surfing events held in Puerto Rico may seem like a let down, but the fact is, these events have some incredible surfers, beautiful locations and more often than not, great waves. The Federacion de Surfing of Puerto Rico held an event last month in San Juan and is having another this weekend at Wilderness in Aguadilla. It's a great chance to see local talent on some great waves on the West Coast of Puerto Rico.
The Asociacion Profesional de Surfing de Puerto Rico hold 2 events every year on the West Coast. March 11-13 in Rincon at Domes Beach, the Corona Extra Pro Circuit comes to town and later in the year will be held at Middles in Isabela, sight of the Rip Curl Pro. These are huge events on the island and draw the best surfers, big crowds and some great moments.
The Rincon Beach Boy Paddleboard Race being held April 2, 2011 at the Villa Cofresi is a little different type of event, but lots of fun to see. There are all types of categories and the races are easy to watch from the beach, a really great day in Rincon.
Our First Surf Session in Puerto Rico
Our first surf session in Rincon was a few days after we moved here. It was August, but Sandy Beach had some small waves and my wife and I were ready to get in the water. We had both surfed some before in California, but knew a lesson might help us get on the waves faster. At the Parking Lots beach just down from Sandy Beach, Carlos from The Boarding House was renting boards and giving surf lessons. The first few weeks we were here Carlos helped my wife, CC, get used to the break at Parking Lots and Antonios', chose a nice board for her to rent and even got me on a nice big board. Later when we bought a long board that needed some repairs, he fixed it up for very little. Almost like he just wanted to share his love of the water and surfing. It was this introduction to Rincon and the Puerto Rico surf culture that made is so happy to have found this spot on the island. Carlos and the Boarding House still rent boards and have a surf school as well as a vacation rental, check out their website: www.boardinghousepr.com.
Tell Us Your Puerto Rico Surfing Story
We meet so many great people here in Puerto Rico who, like us, have come to surf in warm water and soak up some local flavor. We, like so many before us decided to stay, others come back year after year and still there are so many who we've met and it's their first time surfing Puerto Rico. Most tell stories of the cold weather and water back home or hearing about the big surf that comes to Western Puerto Rico every winter. The old timers speak wistfully of days when there were no big condos or highways and they had the waves to themselves. The newbies are just stoked to be on the island, finding the best spots and meeting new people. Everyone has a story to tell and we'd love to hear yours. Whether you just spent your first surf vacation here or have been doing it for years, tell us about it and send some pictures of your favorite places. We've created a new Community Page for these stories and pics so check it out to hear about days gone by or some new adventures Surfing West PR!Send stories or pics to jim@surfwestpr.com
Surf Season in Puerto Rico
It's December first and the surfing season has hit the west coast of Puerto Rico. The first swells came in a week before Thanksgiving and we've had a great start to what will be a great winter of surf. We've started a regular surf report at Swell info for Rincon, we will report from various beaches, Maria's to Sandy, depending on where the best surf is.
Our Rincon listings have been growing and we're proud to have a new listing in Aguada for Aquatix Sports & Surf Shop. They offer great prices on board rentals and even offer group discounts.
We also have started a Facebook page and have over 160 friends, look for our postings to see what's going on in the surf communities of Isabela, Aguadilla and Aguada as well as Rincon.
If you're coming to Puerto Rico and need some advice about where to stay or where to get a surfboard, feel free to contact us with any questions.
Just a note about the Surfrider Foundation in Rincon; we have a new chair, Jim Crotty, a great surf photographer from Aguada who has contributed to this website, but more importantly brings a vast amount of knowledge and dedication to executing the Surfrider Fundation's mission here in Puerto Rico. The Rincon chapter is the only Surfrider chapter on the island. If you would like to get involved meetings are held on the first Thursday of every month at 7:00pm at Club Nautico at the marina in Rincon.
Coming soon to our pages, a dedicated photographer's gallery with great surf shots by Angelo Cordero, Jim Crotty and more.
Muchas Olas
Jim & CC
Introducing Surf West PR.com!
Puerto Rico has many places to surf. The Caribbean has many places to surf. But no part of the Caribbean has so many great places to surf as Western Puerto Rico. Rincon gets most of the credit, but Aguadilla and Isabela have amazing waves. And there's a small town just north of Rincon, Aguada that locals have surfed for years.
Surf West PR.com was made to tell the world that western Puerto Rico is the Surf Capital of the Caribbean and to show them the way to the best waves, surf shops, surf schools, and places to eat and drink.
It's also an opportunity for the surf related businesses in these towns to come together in one spot and get their information out to surf travelers. Each of these towns have tourism organizations, but they aren't connected, the surfing businesses and tourism supported businesses need a larger presence on the internet, that is exactly what this site hopes to do. Less than 2 weeks since going live we have had a great response and we will work to build this site's awareness in search engines and travel publications as the demand for online information grows. Please contact us for listing information or questions.
Saludos and happy surfing!
Jim & CC