The sixth annual Robert August Surf and Turf, once again hosted by Tamarindo Vista Villas, will take place April 6-10 on the northern Pacific coast.
The event, founded by Robert August, Costa Rica’s premier ambassador of longboard surfing, and fellow longboarder Robert “Wingnut” Weaver, will feature a golf and surf tournament at Hacienda Pinilla Beach Resort and Residential Community, south of Tamarindo.
Former U.S. longboard champion Mark Martinson will be in attendance at the welcome party and fish fry. Other scheduled events include various parties, a silent auction, autograph session, salsa-dancing contest, fashion show, raffle, Ollie’s Point surf trip and other opportunities for the approximately 100 registered competitors from the United States, Japan, Australia and Costa Rica to raise money for local charities.
New this year is a pre-game event to be hosted April 1 on Playa Tamarindo by Costa Rica’s Surfing Federation.
Organizers hope to raise well over $20,000 for earmarked local beneficiaries, including the Child Welfare Office (PANI) orphanage in Santa Cruz, the Villarreal grammar school and the Tamarindo lifeguards. Last year, $23,000 was collected.
The April 1 warm-up event will be a surf competition training session, led by August, followed by a practice heat contest featuring some of the kids who stayed with August at his Huntington Beach home last October during the 2005 International Surfing Association World Junior Surfing Championships in California. Part of the money raised at this activity will help fund the new Costa Rican Junior National Team’s visit to the 2006 championships in Maresias, Brazil, May 6-14.
For more info on the event, visit www.robertaugust.com or www.endlessfun. com, or call 653-0114.
