The Inside Peak – Meet Our Instructors: Tinis!

tinis-inside-peak

Welcome back! This week we feature our favorite Surfer Girl!

Tinis Gomar heads up our very cool Womens Surf Adventures program as well being one of Safari Surfs illustrious surf instructors. I have always enjoyed talking to Tinis; she is super smart, super fit, super stoked, and a lot of fun to have around.

PL: Hi Tinis, well it’s your turn to be interviewed for the blog…

Tinis: Ok, let’s do it!

 

PL: About your name Tinis, it’s kind of unusual, does it have a meaning?

Tinis: It’s a nickname my sister called me as a kid, I think it had something to do with being a small kid, as in tiny!

 

PL: Where are you from?

Tinis: I was born in San Jose; I have been in Nosara for 7 years.

 

PL: How long have you been surfing?

Tinis: Seven years – I started the minute I got here, naturally!

PL: How long have you been teaching?

Tinis: Six years. It was a natural fit, I love helping people.

 

PL: Do you surf in contests?

Tinis: I did a couple of times but it’s not my thing, it felt too confining”

 

PL: Tell me about Womens Surf Adventures

Tinis: This is Safari Surfs customized surf adventure packages for women.

Safari sets up an all-inclusive experience which includes lodging, meals,

yoga, massage, a canopy tour zipline day in the rainforest, and lots of surfing.

 

PL: Do you feel there is an advantage for women students to work with a female instructor?

Tinis: Yes I do. Many women, especially Americans, are a little reserved coming here and they just feel more comfortable with a woman teacher/guide. It’s a psychological thing. I love it because it is very involved and intimate. I spend a lot of time with them and really get to know them, who they are inside. I miss them when they leave; we share a deep bond of friendship. 

 

PL: You also like teaching the kids do you?

Tinis: Oh Yes, I love the kids and especially our Kids Camps, so much fun.

  

PL: You always seem very healthy and fit, what is your secret?

Tinis: I eat well; do yoga, and lots of workouts. My boyfriend Ricardo is a well-known personal trainer here and he helped me become a certified TRX trainer. I teach three classes a week at Guiones Wellness Center.

 

PL: Ricardo is a great guy and you two just look like you belong together!

 

PL: Do you like big surf?

Tinis: Well yes, up to a point. I like waves in the 4-6 foot range, just overhead!

 

TINIS RIPS BOTH WAYS!

PL: You are always wearing the latest styles in swimwear.

Tinis; I had a bikini shop at Kaya Sol 2 years ago. I like designing surfwear for women. Maybe I can open a shop in the Olas Verdes Resort!

 

PL: Importing figures in your life?

Tinis: My mom all kids!

 

PL: Dream surf trip?

Tinis: Indonesia and Australia

 

PL: If you could own any car in the world what would it be?

Tinis: A monster truck!

 

PL: Thank Tinis, nice talkin’ to ya!

Tinis:     Ciao!

TINIS CAPTION CONTEST!

 

1) 2)

*Safari t-shirt to the winner!*

The Inside Peak – Meet Our Instructors: Kevin!

New Kid on the Block: Kevin Montiel

Safari is stoked to introduce our newest instructor Kevin Montiel. This kid is a fireball of dynamic energy in the water. He is in superb condition and devotedly surfs 4-6 hours each day. The first time I saw him surfing here really blew me away – I look up to see this guy just blazing across the blue face of a head high wave, subtly weighting and unweighting  his board and pumping for maximum speed and trim. It was the fasted I have ever seen anyone go on a wave in Guiones, or anywhere for that matter. Kevin is well known in the surfing ranks here and is a top-notch competitor on the National Pro Surf Circuit and the locally promoted Nosara Triple Crown of Suring. You never see him without a huge smile, he is polite and affable and a pleasure to talk to.

 

PL: Hey Kevin welcome to the Safari Team!
KEVIN: Thanks man, so stoked to be here

 

PL: So where are you from?

KEVIN: I was born in San Jose but have lived in Nosara all my life

 

PL: When did you start surfing?

KEVIN: I started when I was 10 years old. I’m 18 now so I’ve been surfing for 8 years

 

PL: You are very dialed into the contest circuit here, when did you start competing?

KEVIN: I started surfing in contests when I was 11 in the mini-grom division

 

PL: And now?

KEVIN: I surf in the Juniors division. I am #1 ranked in the Nosara Triple Crown Series

 

PL: Where have you traveled to compete?

KEVIN: All over Costa Rica. Last year I got to go to the East Coast Surfing Championships in Virginia Beach, it was a great experience.

PL: Wow dude I surfed in that contest in 1968, I feel old!

The Future

 

The Past – young Kevin                Me in 1968

PL: What are the “strong points: in your surfing?

KEVIN: Aerials and power carves!

Kevin in Flight!

Blazing Speed!

Power and Style!

PL: How did you become interested in becoming an instructor?

KEVIN: My brother Luigi started a small surf school here and I started there.

I liked teaching but it was hard to working with family, you know?

When Tyler called and asked if I wanted to work at Safari I was so stoked, a dream come true!

 

PL: What do you like about it?

KEVIN: Safari brings in guests who stay for a week, so you really get to

know them and can work with their strengths and weaknesses. It is very satisfying to see them improve over the week. I also love teaching the kids.

Hard at Work

Fun with the Kiddos

PL: I always see you with Nuria, is she your novia?

KEVIN: Oh yes, for sure!

Nuria & Kevin

 

PL: With you surfing 6 hours a day how do you have time to see her?

KEVIN: She is out there surfing with me!

Nuria Styling!

Thanks for reading!
Pura vida,
Peter

The Inside Peak – Meet Our Instructors: Owen!

Owen Stoneman – “The Internationalist”

Owen Stoneman is one my favorite characters down here.  He lives for surfing. Owen is one of the few who’ve contemplated surfing on a larger, historical scale. He has an innate appreciation for all styles and forms of wave riding, and even commented favorably on my old guy Skip Fry approach to riding a wave – 12 foot single fin, trimlining, California slouch, kind of just standing there feeling it all, like music. He’s a smart dude who could be living a number of different of human roles and profiles. Somehow his degree in environmental resource management seems appropriate to his chosen path. But Owen has chosen the path of what I call the ‘Bohemian Surf Nomad’, kind of like Nosara’s version of Dave Rastovich.  He rides all sizes and styles of surfboards expertly, and somehow is able to switch back and forth eloquently.  Owen embraces day to day life as a surfing metaphor: ‘whatever come s your way……ride it’.  He is a top-notch surfing teacher and coach and is very serious and focused on each individual lesson as if it has deep meaning and importance – which we all knows it does when we are in the student’s position. Owen has spent many years hoping the globe from surf school to surf school, riding the seasons, following the endless summer, and logging countless hours of water time.  I recently learned that the love of his life, lovely Belle and he, are going to have a son.  They are both over the moon about this and it makes me wonder how it will all play out for them in “surf metaphor” terms.  I’ve never seen the guy with dry hair – likely a trait that will be passed on to the little guy.

PL: Where are you originally from?

OWEN: The UK, guess you’d call me an ‘Englishmon’

 

PL: When did you discover surfing?

OWEN: I started in 1993 in Cornwall. People don’t realize that England is basically an island surrounded by the North Sea, English Channel, Celtic Sea, Irish Sea, and Atlantic Ocean. Cornwall is on the southern tip with some beautiful beaches, good swell exposure.

Geography Lesson – where’s England? Cornwall Coast [right photo]

PL: At what point did you discover this “knack” for teaching people how to surf?

OWEN: I had always lifeguarded in Cornwall; I was close to the sea. When surfing found me I became obsessed. At seventeen I became a full-on surf bum, I would hang out on the beaches of France all summer. This was before the global surf school boom. People would always ask me, “hey, can you teach me how to surf?” I gave it a go and really liked it; I was good at it and saw people renewed by the experience. It dawned on me that ‘surf instructor’ could be a valid career and keep me closely connected to the waves.

 

PL: And the rest is history as they say! Where have you taught surfing?

OWEN: Cornwall, Canary Islands, Australia, Portugal, Morocco, Ireland, Panama,

Costa Rica. When the season comes to a close here in Nosara I head off to somewhere where it is just getting started.

PL: I’ve heard that ski instructors and white water rafting guides do the same thing, kind of follow the sun, the old Endless Summer cliché!

 

PL: You have a huge following of students who return and request you for lessons. There is a wide range of ability levels that you work with, and you regard all with equal concentration and intensity. You seem to take your lessons very seriously. What is your approach to teaching?

OWEN: In my own surfing I look carefully at the waves and “mind surf” for a few minutes. I look for sections, rip tides, shoal areas, and channels. To me surfing is about tapping the energy from the source (the wave) and flowing with it. I try to instill this with my students, I want them to tune into the elements, be like water! I especially like coaching intermediate and advanced students

 

PL: Your almost “psychic” ability to read waves has earned you the moniker ‘Owen Almighty’.

OWEN: You’re a funny guy….

PL: Local legend says you are the ‘immaculate’ offspring of Coconut Harry and LuLu?

OWEN: That’s been going around for a long time! = ???

 

PL: You surf so many different boards, what’s your favorite?

Owen: Whatever one I’m riding at the moment……




Owen conducting his weekly video analysis class for Safari Surf School Students

PL: Your thoughts on next year?
OWEN: I am really excited about the opening of the Olas Verdes Resort. It will be an amazing base for Safari Surf School and I am looking forward to being a part of it.
tim-owen
Hamming it up with Safari Presidente Tim Marsh