Aritz Aranburu Wins Open Copa Mango Playa Nosara
The fifth date of Costa Rica’s Circuito Nacional de Surf (CNS)—and the last of three Copa Mango contests—was completed this past weekend in nearly always excellent conditions that ranged from 3 to 7 feet in Playa Nosara.

In what proved to be the hardest-fought victories so far this year for the champions of these particular 11 categories, the surfers who eventually powered their way into the finals did so from a record number of 193 inscribed challengers.

Meanwhile, the level of Costa Rican surfing experience has continued to attract international attention. As a matter of fact, when all was said and done on Sunday afternoon, and the judges had tallied the final points, the Copa Mango Nosara Open winner was 20-year-old Association of Professional Surfing (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) ranked Quiksilver teamrider Aritz Aranburu, who flew to Costa Rica from his home in Zarautz, Spain between international contests to participate in the CNS.

"In my case, I came to Costa Rica because I had heard comments that there were very good waves here and I have been very impressed. I noticed that there is a great enthusiasm that exists in the surfers at this contest; they are really ambitious. And the contest is very well organized, and the judges apply good criteria. In the end, I felt relaxed enough, and happy, to take good opportunities in the sea."

Aranburu, whose skills bested Playa Hermosa's Ronald Reyes (2nd), Playa Limon's Luis Castro (3rd) , and Jaco's Jason Torres (4th), had based himself in Tamarindo for the past two weeks, surfing Guanacaste beaches such as Tamarindo, Grande, Langosta and other spots. He returned to Spain on Wednesday, March 8, and will resume his 2006 WQS schedule, where he is currently at #85.

Torres, who was able to take the Junior crown in Nosara as he did in Dominical, worked the same, confident strategy on land that he surfed in the water, by turning to Aranburu after receiving his 4th place medal on the Open winner’s stand and telling Aritz: “I’ll beat you next time.”

Meanwhile, Jaco's Jairo Perez stormed back to 1st place in the Boys category with his patented aggressive surfing in Nosara. His confidence in the water again 2nd place Anderson Tascon (Playa Herradura), 3rd place Carlos Muñoz (Playa Esterillos Oeste) and 4th place Derek Gutierres (Quepos) is exemplified between heats, where he was seen off by himself concentrating on the contest.

"I always practice a good repertoire of maneuvers in order for the judges to give me a greater amount of points,” Perez said. “In the last few weeks, I trained hard to come out ahead and I'm very happy to see that the strong training served me well.”

The Junior division was the best entertainment of the two-day event, prompted once again by the dogfight between Perez and his good friend Torres, still working off the adrenalin of Jason’s gold medal Junior win in Peru's Pan-American Surfing Games, and Jairo’s desire to beat him since then. (Now every heat with Perez is exciting—he’s on fire, and currently ranked #1 Boys, and #2 Juniors—the latter behind Jason, for now.)

Add to that the smooth, poetic carves of Tamarindo’s Giovanni Perini, and the stylish moves of Quepos’ David Herrera and it was quite the finals show.

Costa Rica’s five-time National Women’s Champion Lisbeth Vindas returned from months of international competition—currently #6 on the Asociacion Latinamericano de Surf LatinPro circuit; #29 on the WQS—to once again shake up the female categories. Yet, the winners of the Copa Mango Nosara date were first timers at the top…again: Kristian Wilson, a United States gal who has made the finals twice before, was the Women's leader, while 11-year-old Jordan Huntley, who moved to Jaco from Michigan and began surf training with Coach Mauricio Vinaño only 8 months ago, made her debut on the winner's stand with a solid, focused 1st place Junior Women's performance.

All 1st place winners in the 11 categories of this 4-star Copa Mango Nosara tournaments received 1,500 points for their ranking points.

The international sponsors for Copa Mango are Red Bull, Quiksilver, Roxy, Billabong, and Freestyle. Costa Rica’s sponsors are: Mango Surf & Skate, Tamarindo Vista Villas, Cala Luna Hotel & Villas, Hacienda Pinilla Beach Resort & Residential Community, The Backyard, Chuck’s W.O.W. Surf Shop, Shifi Surf Shots, Liquid Solutions, Bevy Media Corp, Fischer Bros Surfboard Designs, Banzaii, Carton, Teletica 7, 911 La Radio and Surfos Magazine.

The Copa Mango, a three-date contest-within-a-contest format sponsored by Mango Skate & Surf Shop, began in Playa Hermosa, was followed in Playa Dominical and finished with this date in Playa Nosara. Ranking points and prizes were awarded to the winner of these three dates, as well as added to the overall rankings of the CNS. The winners of the Copa Mango will be announced this week.

The Grand Finals of the CNS will be April 7 and 8 in Playa Hermosa.