PLAYA COLORADO—The NSR team is excited to be partnering with The Nicaragua Dispatch to provide biweekly surf reports.
Nicaragua Surf Report (NSR) is an online surfing and travel resource and we also operate two surf shops on the Pacific Coast, in Playa Colorado and San Juan del Sur. We’ve been living, surfing and traveling in Nicaragua for more than eight years and look forward to sharing some of the knowledge we’ve gathered on surfing Nicaragua.
Every other week we’ll provide a summary of conditions and highlights of the previous week. We’ll provide a detailed idea of what to expect for the coming week as well. We’ll also be keeping the Nicaragua Dispatch community up to date on surfing-related news in Nicaragua.
The past week saw the decline of our first combination of bigger swells of the surf season and a significant shift in the weather pattern. Last Thursday and Friday, the peak of a surprisingly big wsw pulse had the points and reefs firing. We were expecting head-high waves, but were greeted instead by double overhead-plus size at standout spots.
Of course the wind was still strong and the water was a chilly 69 degrees fahrenheit, making for an intense experience at all but the most protected breaks. As the swell backed off into the week, so did the wind, which is typical for the week around Easter.
In fact, on Thursday, we saw our first onshore day since October. Friday was back to normal with light offshore winds all day, and a mix of low period swell lighting up all the beach breaks. For a peek at some photos of THE standout day from last week go here.
Looking ahead, Monday morning April 9 should see a new long period SSW swell maturing. It will likely peak Monday or Tuesday, leaving behind some decent energy well through the week.
Behind that are a couple of smaller swells that should provide head high surf across the region well into Saturday and Sunday. As we mentioned above, the winds have lightened up and this means there may be an odd onshore swirl here or there in the afternoon.
Our resources are showing a southwest direction reading here or there, but for the most part we’ll be seeing 6-15 kts ene winds for the coming week.
The big news this week is that the ISA World Masters Surfing Championship will be held in Tola (specific break not yet determined) over the waiting period July 14-22. This contest will pit some of the best over 35 surfers from around the world and crown a World Master champ. Nicaragua has world-class conditions and the rest of the surfing world is beginning to take note. A full press release on the event can be seen here.
Carl Segerstrale is a reporter for Nicaragua Surf Report. He is based in Playa Colorado, Nicaragua.
I am trying to learn more about surfing and waves and stuff but found this a bit confusing to read. For example, that in the coming week, there will be big waves, and behind that, some more small waves. behind that, like, further in the future? what is THE? how does a WSW pulse affect the waves? what were the reefs firing? is that good or bad?
I realize that the article is aimed towards surfers, who would know this stuff, I guess… maybe you have a suggestion how for novices or fans can learn & understand more?
Congratulations NSR for teaming up with the Dispatch. The upside is that there will be lots more surfers coming to Rivas as a result. The downside, currying only to surfers will delay the needed cultural and community development efforts. Unless we additionally cater to families and non surfing tourists we won’t attract the restaurants, community centers, eco-activities, culture events and other desperately needed quality of life amenities especially scarce in the Tola area..