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SURFING IS… WITH KURT RIST

Southampton-based surfer Kurt Rist is all about big barrels. During the summer, he runs a surf camp near Water Mill, about 90 miles from New York City. Yet come late fall, the daredevil takes off for northwest Ireland, just in time for the first big swell to hit. His destination of choice is the off-the-beaten path County Sligo, where he has surfed the massive Prowlers Wave, a gnarly, frigid wave that breaks two miles from the shoreline. In fact, this powerful wave needs to have just the right conditions – a big swell and no wind – for it to be ridden, something that happens about once every four years. Well, Rist lucked out earlier this year: his journey down the wave’s 55-foot face landed him on the front page of The Irish Times.

Rist admits that he’s a big fan of the less-traversed waters of Ireland, despite the chill factor.“Ireland is pretty out there,” says Rist, who started surfing on a boogie board when he was 7-years-old. “I’ve been surfing near the cliffs of Moher– these 800-foot high cliffs that meet the ocean. You hike down a steep, winding goat trail and then you’re surfing this huge wave. Just pure cliffs and the surfing’s crazy.”

Another secret, world-class wave break Rist returns to regularly in Ireland is Mullaghmore. Here, his surfing fantasies are fulfilled – big barrels and consistent huge waves. “I’m looking for double to triple overheads with a barrel. I am all about trying to find massive tubes,” he says. He’s also surfed the Aran Islands off of the Irish coast – “It’s crazy. Everyone speaks Gallic and there are these huge, heavy waves in the middle of nowhere and there’s no one around. That’s what makes it heavier. To get hurt, it’s a bit more of a situation out there,” he says.

While Ireland may be one of his top destinations, Rist also heads to Mexico in the spring, specifically Puerto Escondido, to surf the Mexican pipeline. Rist, who grew up surfing in Shinnecock on Long Island, also plans to surf Jaws in Maui this year. “I’m looking for that huge barrel. It’s more of a complete experience,” he says, when he compares Jaws to breaks like Mavericks in California, which attracts numerous adrenaline junkies, but doesn’t have the same pull for Rist.

One wonders: does the guy ever get scared? “I’ve had some bad injuries, a few heavy wipe outs, been rattled around really bad. I definitely get scared going out sometimes, but I’ll see these huge, perfect waves and I’m like ‘wow, I want that.’ I just get really pumped up.” This fearlessness and passion explains why he was recently featured in – along with other hard-core New York surfers – EMPIRE NOW, the first-ever New York surf thriller, produced by NYSEA and Transition Productions, a film which embodies the fun-loving, carefree spirit of New York’s surf community.

Name: Kurt Rist

Age: 29

Where do you live: Southampton, NY.

Years surfing:  22

Surfing is: “Freedom and life. It’s free expression. For me, when I’m out in the water, I’m just myself. Anywhere I am in the world, if I’m in the ocean, I feel at home.”

Aug 26, 2014 | Categories: Random | Tags: | Comments Off on SURFING IS… WITH KURT RIST

Buy Local

do one thing logoMany companies that position themselves as using sustainable materials obtain them from locations outside the U.S., ship them to another location to process, and then back to the U.S. for sale, contributing to carbon pollution in the process. A good example is wood from South America that’s shipped to Asia for production and then back to the U.S. for sale. So while this wood may be identified as “sustainable,” the process to turn it into products most definitely is not. Try to research the supply chain of your purchases—especially if they’re big ones, such as furniture—and buy locally made and sourced as much as possible.

Aug 25, 2014 | Categories: Sustainability | Tags: , , | Comments Off on Buy Local

The Tamandua

The most common of Costa Rica’s three species of anteater, the tamandua tears open the nests of ants and termites using its strong forearms and remarkable claws.  These talons are so large and sharp that it has to walk on the sides of its feet to avoid injuring its own palms.   Once the targeted nest has been invaded, the tamandua jams its 16 inch long tongue into the ensuing melee, its little barbs and sticky saliva snagging as many of the unlucky insects as it can before their sharp bites and stings forces the animal to abandon the buffet.   Being susceptible to the insects’ natural defenses means there isn’t enough time to completely destroy the colony, which can rebuild and replenish itself before the next unwelcome visit.  The tamandua can actually sniff out over 50 nests and eat up to 9000 insects per day, but that impressively long snout doesn’t contain any teeth, so the victims are ground up in the gizzard with a little help from the dirt and pebbles that naturally come along with licking the ground.   The tamandua’s prehensile tail helps it travel around in trees with ease, and if threatened, serves as a sort of kickstand as it props itself up and lashes out with its claws at the threat.  And if that isn’t enough of a deterrent, it can release a pungently foul odor from a gland at the base of its tail, making this guy a master of the art of defense: both coming and going.

Aug 21, 2014 | Categories: Costa Rica, Nature | Comments Off on The Tamandua

SURFING IS…WITH NICK FAIRMAN

Looking for a reprieve from team sports, Florida native Nick Fairman ventured into surfing when he was a teenager. Although raised in Orlando, his love of the ocean didn’t stop at his favorite surf break in New Smyrna Beach. “It’s where I have all my first memories of something so great.” He also traveled to Costa Rica on a regular basis as a child, instilling in him a love of the country that would later inspire him to move there and open up a juice bar called Go Juice, where the signature drink is banana coffee: “I always felt a connection to my surroundings here whether it was the waves, the people or the solitude that seems to be hard to find in such a busy world.”

As for his fondest memories in the ocean, “I will never forget the sun rising almost at the exact time I first rode down the line of an open-faced wave,” he recalls of surfing Florida’s Atlantic coast. Indonesia was also memorable for him, which he describes as “mind-blowing for its scenery.” But his love of surfing certainly transcends locale. “It never ceases to amaze me how raw of a feeling surfing is in terms of transportation. Moving forward with only a plank and a wave under your feet is almost beyond being comprehensible,” says Fairman. When asked about the most unusual spots he’s surfed at, he replies: “If I had to pick a place, hands down it would be Taranaki, New Zealand. Mount Taranaki is looming down on you like a watch dog and you surf chilly, deep blue waves that garner so much energy and strength.”

Even though surfing the warm, hospitable Costa Rican waves on a nearly daily basis still feels exotic to him, Fairman’s definitely put himself in slightly hairier situations. “Getting called out of the water by the Shark Patrol at Nahoon Reef, South Africa was pretty scary. You hear a siren and see these guys waving white flags with sharks on them. Luckily, it was only bull sharks, but still.”

Costa Rica though, at least for now, will remain his home. “I’m learning to understand that Pura Vida is much more than just a phrase here.”

Name: Nick Fairman

Age: 26

Where do you live: Nosara, Costa Rica

Years surfing: 15

Surfing is: “Respect. Being involved with a force as humbling as the ocean has always helped me understand what respect is. I respect that I will never have the upper hand in the ocean.”

Aug 19, 2014 | Categories: Random | Tags: | Comments Off on SURFING IS…WITH NICK FAIRMAN

Get A Better Bag

do one thing logoPlastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade, which means they break into tiny toxic bits that pollute our oceans. Meanwhile, the average American tosses more than 300 plastic bags each year, which has resulted in a plastic bag cemetery the size of two Texases floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Want to make a difference? Bring your own bag, baby! Just say no to that shopper—paper and plastic—and fold up a reusable bag to stash instead. We like the organic cotton or hemp bags from Envirosax, which roll up small enough to fit in your pocket!

Aug 18, 2014 | Categories: Sustainability | Tags: , , , | Comments Off on Get A Better Bag

Guinoes Surf Photo of the Week

In a nod to the sister sport of skateboarding, throwing out the tail in a power slide.  You can almost hear the wheels screeching across the concrete in a parking lot, under a bridge, through a garage, in a drainage ditch, or just on the plain old sidewalk…  Softer landing here, but when the wind comes onshore and the size drops, rolling on wheels becomes the next best option.

photo provided by Surfing Nosara

Aug 15, 2014 | Categories: Costa Rica, Creative Culture, Harmony Hotel, Nosara, Surfing | Comments Off on Guinoes Surf Photo of the Week

Hoja Santa

With a name like Holy Leaf, one would naturally expect this plant to bring a few special qualities to the table.  In Costa Rica, it is more often known as anisillo, and its large velvety leaves are commonly applied directly to the forehead to treat headaches.  Further north in Mexico, these leaves are instead applied directly to soups and eggs.  They also serve as wrappers for tamales, and are an essential ingredient in traditional Mole Verde.  Even further north in Texas, cheese maker Paula Lambert creates Hoja Santa cheese, a goat cheese wrapped in the plant’s heart-shaped leaves, which she says flavors the cheese with a hint of mint and sassafras.  Anyone who went to summer camp in the Eastern US knows all about sassafras, the tree with 3 distinctly shaped leaves and roots that could be boiled to create a weak and often gritty tea that tasted vaguely like flat root beer…not exactly a religious experience.  The essential oil safrole gives both of these plants this distinctive flavor profile, which has also been compared to anise, licorice and tarragon.  All of these tasty qualities should potentially be enjoyed in moderation, as safrole is known to be carcinogenic in animals.  No sense in knocking on the Pearly Gates any sooner than necessary.

Aug 14, 2014 | Categories: Costa Rica, Nature | Comments Off on Hoja Santa

SURFING IS… WITH RICCARDO GHILARDI

Rome-based photographer Riccardo Ghilardi forayed into the world of surfing at a young age, starting in the gentle, relatively flat Mediterranean Sea before venturing far and wide to renowned surf breaks across Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Africa and South America.

A former fireman in Italy, Ghilardi says he discovered his love of photography through surfing: “I was shooting landscapes and taking portraits of the people I was meeting through my travels. It’s because of surfing that I was published in major Italian and international publications.” He now shoots for Contour by Getty Images, one of the top photo agencies in the world, where he specializes in celebrity portraits.

As for his favorite surfing escape: it’s western Australia. “There’s a lonely, wild bay up in the northwest named “Red Bluff” where you can ride waves with dolphins,” he says. In Italy, his preferred spot is Sant’Antioco, the fourth largest Italian island, located off the southwest coast of Sardinia. Ghilardi says that traveling has taught him that it doesn’t matter where you are from. “I’m happy, and whenever I can, I’m going to thank the sea.”

Name: Riccardo Ghilardi

Age: 42

Where do you live: Rome, Italy

Years surfing: 25

Surfing is: “The dream of a world without social barriers. Different people from different places who strip off their “clothes,” becoming equal through their common passion because the wave is democratic.”

Aug 12, 2014 | Categories: Random | Tags: | Comments Off on SURFING IS… WITH RICCARDO GHILARDI