COSTA RICA AND THE WORLD SURF KAYAK ASSOCIATION WOULD LIKE TO FORMALLY INVITE YOU TO ATTEND AND PARTICIPATE IN THE “PURA VIDA” WORLDS OCTOBER 22-30, 2005 IN JACó , COSTA RICA , CENTRAL AMERICA . COSTA RICA'S WARM WATER, SURF, NATURAL ATTRIBUTES AND HER FRIENDLY PEOPLE WILL MAKE THIS THE EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME. NOT JUST FOR THE COMPETITORS, BUT FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS AS WELL. COME TO ENJOY THE “PURA VIDA” SPIRIT THAT MAKES COSTA RICA SUCH A SPECIAL PLACE .

Jacó, Costa Rica will be the home base for Pura Vida Worlds. Jacó is a small beach town but also Costa Rica 's number one beach tourist destination. Just 1.5 hours from the airport and you'll be dipping your toes in the warm sand behind the hotel and enjoying the surf. Jacó is centrally located surrounded by great surf spots. The central Pacific coast of Costa Rica is home to some of the most consistent surf in the world, and October is a good time for waves. Water temperatures are 80 degrees F (29 degrees C). Don't even think about bringing a wetsuit!

Lodging: Our host hotel, the Hotel Jacó Fiesta, is located right on the beach. We have reserved the entire 80-room hotel for the contest, and negotiated a great price for you: just US $46 a night for 2 people (two beds) and $23 per night for each additional person per room. All inclusive options (room, meals, and drinks) are available. The hotel is within walking distance of at least 60 restaurants and since its low season here you'll be super welcome everywhere you go.

Deposits for your rooms must be made as soon as possible to ensure that you will be at the host hotel. Neil Kahn of Kayak Jacó is handling hotel reservations. This is the only place you can book your rooms at the host hotel. We are asking a US $300 per room deposit to guarantee your hotel room. Please note that this is changed from what we previously advertised. If you have booked your room before this change and only sent $150 you need to send an additional deposit. See the news page for details of what to do. Rooms are suitable for 2 people sharing and cost $46 per night per room ($23 per person). As an incentive to send your money early, Neil will be filling up the best rooms first – rooms on the ground floor, closest to the beach. First paid, first reserved. All reservations after August 1st will jump to $56 per night per room, with a $400 per night per room deposit. That will be $28 per person per night for the room.

Get the money in early and get the deal. Rooms are going fast!

To reserve your hotel room, send a check, made out to Neil Kahn, to
Dept SJO 2353
Box 025216
Miami FL 33102-5216

Neil can also FAX you a form for you to fill out and pay with a credit card.

Please include your name, address, how many people will be coming, how many rooms you want, and your arrival and departure dates. Please be as specific as possible, regarding your dates. Contact for more information. See this web site.

TRAVEL

Costa Rica and the World Surf Kayak Association have been working with a travel agent in Florida, USA, to get special deals on plane fare and car rentals for the World Surf Kayak Championships in Costa Rica October 22-30, 2005. Please contact at Surf Express in Florida for information. Their phone number is:
+ 888.566.4147

Registration

A primary goal of the World Surf Kayak Association (WSKA) is to encourage people from different countries to get together to surf. Thus, we plan to allow any kayak surfer who is a member of his country’s kayak surf organization to surf in the Individual part of the Pura Vida World Kayak Surf contest. We have a limited number of spaces available in each category, however, so here is our plan to ensure all competitors surf:

We will fill spaces in each category based on the individual’s placement in the 2003 World Championships. After a category has been seeded by the 2003 results, it will be filled by people who did not surf in the 2003 Worlds. Those people will be seeded in a category based on their ranking in their country. If more people want to enter a category than there are spaces available, we will ask the lowest ranked person to move to another category he or she is eligible to enter. For example, if more than 64 people enter the Men’s IC category, we will ask the lowest ranked Grandmaster (person over 50 years old), Master (person over 40 years old), or Junior to move to a different category. We will continue to do this until all categories are filled and everyone gets a chance to surf. If we still have more people than places available, we will add heats to some of the categories in the contest.

You can enter up to 2 categories in the individual.

Categories are:

• Men's International
  Men's Open
  Women's International
  Women's Open
  Junior International (under 19 on 31/12/05)
  Junior Open (under 19 on 31/12/05)
  Master's International (40 or over on 1/1/05)
  Master's Open (40 or over on 1/1/05)
  Grand Master's International (50 or over on 1/1/05)
  Grand Master's Open (50 or over on 1/1/05)

Entry Costs
The costs are as follows:
US $110 for every slot filled in the team competition.
A country needs a minimum of four people to be considered a team.
US $110 for individuals for a person's first individual category and US $70 for individuals for a person's second individual category. These prices are for entries prior to Jul 31st. Late entries attract a $30 surcharge.
US $10 for a fee for an individual for the World Surf Kayak Association.
Registration for the individuals is through Active.com
It will close on September 23rd.
Active.com only accept credit card payments and charge a 6.5% handling fee for this.

NOTE: If you wish to enter 2 individual categories, the way to do it is as follows: Initially register for your first category. When you have completed all these stages, a second button will appear "Enter another Category". Click on this and it will allow you to enter the second category and gives you the discounted fee for a second entry.

Team Registration

Team registration should be done by team managers, for the entire team. Use the link below to print the Team Entry Form (right click then "save target as"). This needs then to be faxed through to Rick Starr (001) (831) 632-4441. We will then invoice you for payment, which can be made via PayPal. Your registration is not confirmed until full payment is made. Any queries to .

DOWNLOAD TEAM ENTRY FORM (in pdf format, needs the free Acrobat Reader to view and print)

Family Activities
Jacó is full of activities for the whole family, so no one needs to feel left out during your time here. Horseback riding, sea kayaking, quadracycling, whitewater rafting, bird watching, hiking, monkeys, scarlet macaws, toucans, canopy tours, Manuel Antonio National Park, Carrara Biological Preserve, deep sea fishing, giant waterfalls, viewing the monster crocodiles of the Tarcoles River, and most importantly it's friendly people, will make Jacó an excellent base of operations for the Pura Vida Worlds.Neil and Yasmin Kahn of Kayak Jacó can coordinate all your family fun. Many of you might remember Neil, Yasmin, and their excellent staff from the ‘95 Worlds. They will help make your stay in Jacó a trip to remember. Look at their web site for fun things to do.

Esterillos Oeste as the primary contest site. This site faces south and picks up good swell. There are 2-3 possible contest sites at Esterillos. It has a reef break that has mostly rights coming off a rocky point. It can handle large surf and will be a relatively soft long ride. It also has 2 areas with rocky reef/sand bottoms that provide good shape and fast waves. Esterillos Oeste is a 20 minute drive south of Jaco. When the camera is working, there is a web cam for Esterillos.


Playa Hermosa as a second site. Hermosa has waves that break hard and fast with lots of power. This will be a site we surf if everything is flat, as it is difficult to get outside when the surf is big. Hermosa is a 15 minute drive south of Jaco.

Jaco Beach as a third site. Right in front of the hotel is a good break, but it loses form at low tide.

Boca Barranca as a fourth site. You know this is a world-class wave with swell at low tide. However, at high tide and no swell it is a poor site for a contest. Also, it is a very popular surf spot. We will plan to go to Barranca during the week if the swell is up. Barranca is a 45 minute drive north of Jaco. The good news about not using Barranca for the primary site is that people can go free surf there if they aren't competing on a day.

IMPORTANT:
The WSKA committee decided to divide the Master's Team event into a Master IC and a Master Open (what used to be called HP). This is similar to the Junior category, so now for the team event, there will be 1 Master Open and 1 Master IC competitor.

Planned Events

Here is a brief description of the planned events:
Wednesday, October 19: Party in the afternoon
Thursday October 20: Boat Check in, Party at night in Jaco
Friday October 21: Boat Check in, Opening Ceremonies, Competitor meetings
Saturday October 22: Start of individual competition
Monday October 24: Start of individual competition of juniors
Tuesday October 25: Competition and party at night
Wednesday October 26 Free day
Thursday October 27 Start of team competition
Sunday October 30 Last day of competition (may be both team and individual finals)

CONTACTS:
Costa Rica contact :
Costa Rica Fun and travel: