Corona Extra Pro Surf tournament

The Corona Pro Circuit made a stop in Isabela at Middles September 27 and 28. There was a lot great local, island and international surfing talent on the beach for the weekend.

There are more photos - surfers taken from the beach and KAP photos - from the weekend both on PuertoRicoSurfPhoto.com and on Flickr.

It was interesting going to another kind of festival here. I went to check out their setup, layout, how they run things, all that kind of stuff. This event was just down the beach from where we're planning Chiringa Fest for next March so we're really interested in how other people do things.

While the surfers were all good and some of the individual rides were interesting/exciting, over-all it was pretty boring. No wonder surfing tournaments on TV are edited on tape.

I can't help comparing other competitions and festivals to kite competitions and kite festivals. So, for our kite-flying friends, here goes: it was a lot like a sport kite "tricks party" must be to the uninitiated - lots of tricks I didn't understand on a short ride. A lot of the tricks looked similar but seemed have different names - to change metaphors to ice skating, was that triple soucow or a triple lutz? This was followed by a lot of sitting around waiting for somebody to catch another wave. The announcer's stand was way down the beach from where most of the waves break, and thus far from where most of the on-the-water action was. (This is not a big surprise: I take pictures at Middles Beach a lot and the waves always break at the same end. In fairness, the beach does get narrow at that end and it might have been harder to place the tower there.) Any background music and whatever commentary there was got lost in the sound of the waves.

I guess it's like most competitions to the uninitiated - I just didn't get it. (Ever tried to explain American football to someone seeing for the first time? Or cricket to anybody?) But I like the color and the festival atmosphere (although most kite festivals do that much better). And I love taking pictures of surfers. Besides, the sun was shining, it was warm, I was hanging out on the beach...life is good.