(Left to right) Alejandro Hernandez Lopez, Alex Hernandez, Dorian Torrez, Alex Gomez and Andrey Lopez Grommet will represent Samara in the National Surf Circuit’s first event in Jaco this weekend, January 22 and 23. (Photo provided by team sponsor Zona de Confort)

Five Samara locals will battle the waves with Costa Rica’s best surfers this weekend and in future months as a team in the Circuito Nacional de Surf 2011 (2011 National Surf Circuit).  

Alex Gomez, team captain, better known as Choco, has competed in the national circuit for four years now but before he went independently.  He said he thinks it will be more fun this year to go as a team with other friends.  He will be competing in Longboard and Masters Open. 

Alejandro Hernandez Lopez will compete in the Open category, Alex Hernandez will compete in Mini Grommet, Dorian Torrez will compete in Junior and Andrey Lopez will compete in Grommet.  Andrey Lopez was the National Mini Grommet Champion in 2009.  All of the team members have competed nationally except for Alex Hernandez, who has been competing in local tournaments and is ready to test his skills nationally. Team members have been practicing as much as possible to gear up for the competition.    

Costa Rica’s national surf competition consists of five events.  It kicks off this weekend, January 22 and 23, with the Torneo Britt Iced (Britt Iced Tournament) at Jaco Beach.  Other events will take place February 26 and 27 at Playa Palo Seco, the Copa Quiksilver (Quiksilver Cup) April 2 and 3 in Guiones Beach, Nosara, the Copa Off! (Off! Cup) at Santa Teresa Beach April 30 and May 1 and the Gran Final OCEAN by DayStar (Grand Finale OCEAN by DayStar) at Playa Hermosa, Jaco, June 10-12.