Bernold, not Vindas, is Costa Rican women’s surf champ

The wrong surf queen was crowned two weekends ago at the National Surf Circuit finals due to a math error.

The Costa Rican Surf Federation announced in a July 2 statement that seven-time national champion Lisbeth Vindas, 27, was mistakenly awarded the 2010 women’s title on June 27 due to an “error in the application of the ranking points table” in the women’s open category.

The statement explained that the circuit’s grand finals event, held June 25 to 27 at the Central Pacific’s Playa Hermosa (TT, July 2), was classified as a five-star competition, but the points were erroneously assigned in the women’s category using the point scale for a four-star contest. After the error was recognized and the math redone, Nataly Bernold came out on top with a cumulative total of 6,040 points to Vindas’ 6,000, belatedly earning the 17-year-old her third national women’s title.

The federation issued an apology in the statement to the surfers, the media and the competitors’ sponsors, and said it is taking precautions to ensure the error is not repeated.