Our retreat locations in Northern Nicaragua are situated just a short walk from a big sandy bay with peeling rights and lefts. It’s our favorite playground in the area for both longboarding and shortboarding! With waves for everyone, the bay provides the perfect layout for us to connect to the ocean and just have FUN.
One of our newest surf instructors, Florida grom Jazmine Dean, just spent her first season working retreats and adventuring with the Surf With Amigas crew down in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. She created this super rad little surf film and just released it last week! Enjoy the film and a note from Jaz below-
My life changed in the season I spent down here as a first time Surf With Amigas instructor just as much as Amigas often say their lives change during retreats. I’m currently still down in Southern Costa Rica and I’ve spent more consecutive months living here than I have spent living in any other foreign country before. I spend my free days in-between retreats almost the same as I spend my, “work”, days during retreats, and most of my closest friends down here were formed through the connections and roots that SWA has created here in the local community.
This film barely scratches the surface of how this life has reconnected me to my roots as a soul surfer and the good times had. I understand surfing and have for a long time, but these retreats are just as much about personal growth as they are about surfing a wave, and for that, I thank the guests, our Amigas, so much.
I’m most grateful of all for the women I’ve met through the retreats and I took a little from each person I spent time with. It’s possible that some of you reading this were on some of the retreats I worked at and maybe even appear in a scene or two! Anyways, please enjoy the film and thanks for watching.
Pura Vida,
-Jazmine
We are excited to host a retreat with Jen Smith appearing as guest instructor to inspire the longboarder ladies to longer slides with toes on the nose, cross-stepping, and timeless style.
I met Jen a few years ago on a surf/skate trip with Sector9 to Ecuador and the Galapagos. See below for video of us skating to surf in the Galapagos.
For another fun video where we skate to go play with baby seals click here.
Jen is awesome. She’s from San Diego, and a two-time winner of the World Longboard Championships, so she obviously knows how to surf. She’s also just a down-to-earth cool chick – a chef, passionate organic gardener, surf instructor and shop employee at her dad’s skate shop.
She’s excited to take a break from all that to come down to Nicaragua for a couple of weeks to help ladies improve their surfing and specifically their long boarding.
If you’d like to surf with Jen, join us Sept 30-Oct 7 or Oct 7-14 in Southern Nicaragua!
Email [email protected] for inquiries or to sign up!
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO1UHFrj5TQ]
If you surf a shortboard, you have the luxury of duckdiving to get under waves. If you ride a longboard, you want to turtle roll. We get a lot of Amigas who come down wanting to learn to ride a shorter board just so they can duckdive. Why sacrifice paddle power and glide just to duckdive? Learn how to Turtle Roll instead!
In this video, Jackie and Holly talk you through the best way to Turtle Roll and show a few ladies trying it out for themselves.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hk7UFksGLI]
Jee Mee Kim lives at Rockaway Beach in New York, runs triathlons, has a young son, and rides all types of boards. She and I agree that too many people think longboards aren’t cool, and fun shapes are for kooks. A good surfer should be able to ride anything and if you know how to turn a longboard, shredding on a shortboard is even easier. On top of that, it’s all about fun so whatever board allows you to have the most fun is the one you should ride!
Check out this video for some advice on healthy living. Eat Right, Get in Shape, Be Outside, and Ride Something Fun!
