Tag Archive for 'surfing'

Tennis & Surf Anyone?

Published
by
Shirley
on August 6, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

The last two nights of our Costa Rican vaction was spent at 15 Love Bed and Breakfast, a tennis hotel that also offers surf lessons. Rowan and I had to check this place out. Oliver & Emily are the wonderful owners of this beautiful bed and breakfast.  I couldn’t believe that a place like this existed.  Its my two favorite passions in life all rolled into one.

We shared stories of how K-Claw started and Oliver and Emily shared their experiences about building the hotel and making tennis the center of its activities. The courts were in great condition and the whole hotel was decorated with so much much pizzaz and modern amenities.  The breakfast they served up was fresh and delicious.  The next time my ladies doubles team needs to practice, I think we’ll consider making this place our home court :D

Rowan and I played tennis the first night, and after 4-5 hours of surfing for the last seven days, we weren’t very agile. Regardless, we had a fun time complaining about how sore we were while we chased tennis balls around.

We met two cool couples the same age as us, Jamie & Kate from London and Karina & Tiness (i know i spelled his name wrong..sorry) from Zurich. Karina is cardiologist, Tiness a dentist, Jamie a realtor and Kate works for The British Independent Films.

The last night we played doubles with both Emily & Oliver.  Emily’s got a really wicked forehand, but it makes sense since her husband is the tennis pro! It was really fun to hang out with those guys.  Rowan and I always admire people who are passionate about what they do, it inspires us to do the best we can with K-Claw!

View just walking in the main door.

View walking out from our room

Isn’t it awesome?

I got binoculars for my b-day…surf check from my room!!

Oliver & Emily….Emily is sporting the K-Claw Finesse Dress!

Tamarindo sunset

Jamie, Kate & Me

Last night in Costa Rica!

Good Obsessions in Costa Rica

Published
by
Shirley
on August 6, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Howdy Folks! Rowan and I just got back from Costa Rica last week, man it was difficult to get on the plane back to H-town. We spent 7 awesome nights at Playa Guiones, which is located on the North Pacific side of Costa Rica. The last two nights we stayed at a tennis & surf camp in Tamarindo.

I decided Costa Rica would be the best place to satisfy my new surfing obsession and my 30th b-day. We signed up for surf lessons at Innocent Surf School. Ru & Gem are the kick ass owners of this establishment. Jack is another instructor at Innocent and we had the pleasure of surfing with him our last day. By the seventh day Rowan and I were soooo incredibly tired, but luckily Jack had enough charisma and enthusiasm for all three of us! We had so much fun learning how to surf that we’ve convinced ourselves we need to live by the beach!

Rowan and I shared our experiences starting up K-Claw with Ru & Gem, and now they are scheming up plans to offer Innocent Surf School apparel from rash guards, t-shirts to bikinis. I know these two will succeed, they have such good energy about them.

Playa Guiones was a wonderful place to visit. There were a lot of ex-pats living in the area and friendly locals. I chose this place because it was less touristy than other beaches in Costa Rica. I didn’t want to shop, bar hop or do organized trips… I just wanted to sit in a hammock and surf all day long.

We met a lot of cool and interesting people during the surf lessons. Netysha left her job on Wall Street and decided to surf for two months and write a blog about her experiences, Surfing Nosara. I totally respect her for taking the time to follow her passion–it takes a lot of courage to do that. Patrick her boyfriend was a hilarious dude that we enjoyed surfing with. He always had a way with words in the water, especially when a set was about to pound us in the impact zone! We also had a little visitor everyday for breakfast, Tico the cat. Since we were in the jungle, we called him our jungle cat. I love cats so Tico just made our vacation more perfect.

My birthday couldn’t of been any better. I was in the water caught a few good waves, saw an amazing sunset and then had a wonderful dinner with eight people we just met. I had the largest grin on my face the whole day, thanks guys!!

Our taxi ride from San Jose airport to Playa Guiones

Our little casita

The big 3-0 celebration!

B-Day sunset

Rowan & Jack sharing Motrin for aches & pains!

Me & Gem

Ru in front of the shop

Tico being a naughty jungle cat

All smiles

Yeah~all in all it was a pretty sweet trip. We are definitely going back :D

Surfing & Tennis

Published
by
Shirley
on May 29, 2008
in life, teaching and tennis
. 0 Comments

I’ve never been so excited about a sport before, although I must have felt the same way about tennis when I was 8 cause I’m still playing it today! Its been a little over a year since I started surfing and well I’m proud to say I’m an advanced beginner. I don’t know if advanced beginner is a surfing term, but for those of you who are tennis players you know exactly what an advanced beginner is.  I’ve played tennis close to 22 years and I kind of forgot the feeling of ripping a backhand down the line for the first time. I guess I forgot the newness of being a beginner and progressing to the next level. Surfing is reminding me, in a very humbling way in fact.  You see the errors I’m used to are balls in the net, balls flying out, mis-hits which is all very frustrating……but trying to get through a breaking wave, getting slammed by the lip, almost hitting the jetty…..sharks….. a whole new way of doing a sport—it’s awesome and humbling!I think surfing has helped me be a better teaching pro, especially when I teach beginners……I guess remembering when I wasn’t so good myself is giving me new insight…..