After weeklong delay, second leg of Triple Crown of Surf Nosara surf contest took place at Playa Guiones on Saturday, Feb. 16, with its 54 participants from all over the country, as well as the United States and Brazil.

The second leg was originally planned for Saturday, Feb. 9 at the outer reefs of Playa Garza. According to one of the organizers, Estaban Lopez Paniagua from Nosara Tico Surf School, the contest had to be rescheduled due to poor swell conditions in Garza. He said, “people kind of bummed out because they wanted to go out on boats and jet skis.”

Change of location not only disappointed the expectations of the surfers, but also resulted in less participation in the contestants and audience, therefore faster paced contest. “It was fast because there weren’t that many people,” Paniagua added.

There wasn’t mini grommet and women’s open categories this time.  Paniagua said “we didn’t make any medals for them because it was going to be at the outer reefs of garza.”

The day started with good conditions in the earlier morning hours but around midday change in the waves made it more difficult to surf for the contestants. Christian Santamaria, first place winner of longboard category, said that the waves got very choppy and the speed was very inconsistent in the afternoon.

Acclaimed local surfer, Kevin Montiel, 16, who got placed second in junior and fourth in open categories is excited for the final leg of the contest, which will take place on March 2nd, again in Playa Guiones. He said, “it is gonna be fun and really hard also.” Montiel is not the only one to be provoked for the final round of the contest. Santamaria, who excelled from his fourth placement in men’s open category in the first leg to first place in longboard and third place in men’s open categories this past Saturday, wants to advance his winnings and sounds ambitious about it.

According to Paniagua, third contest is going to have tag team game. Each team can have five members where every member of the teams is going to have 10 minutes to catch 3 waves and needs to declare at least the two of them to be successful. Each heat is going to have two teams and the one with most points will be the recipient of a cash prize.

First place winners of the second leg of the contest:

• Ian Bean - Masters
• Angelo Banomelli - Men’s Open
• Christian Santamaria - Longboard
• Evan Brownell - Junior
• Aldo Chirinos - Grommet