World Surfing Championship 2012 in Nicaragua
Faustino Salcedo | Mar 30, 2012
The best surfers from around the world will attend, and it will be an international celebration of surfing for 10 days.
The Southern Pacific Region of Nicaragua is going to be headquarters for 10 days of the Surf World Championship 2012, that will be held in the second half of July at the beaches of Rivas. The event was announced in a press conference today, and is being organized by the Nicaraguan Tourism Board (INTUR), the Tour Operator Gray Line Tours and the International Surfing Association (ISA).
The beaches of Nicaragua were chosen for this competition for being among the top ten beaches worldwide, due to the type of waves and the speed of the wind. According to Karim Sierralta, ISA vice-president, other advantage of Nicaraguan Pacific waters is that perfectly it is possible to practice the surfing in any season thanks to the tropical climate.
The competition will be attended by professional surfers from 18 to 20 countries of the five continents. In total, will be approximately 300 visitors of the retinue, including competitors, doctors, 7 judges and AIS members. The competition lasts 7 days, but delegations will be in the country for 10 days, said Mario Salinas, Executive President of INTUR.
There will be different categories competing, including: Professional category (participate surfers under 35 years old), the Master Category (participate under the ages of 35 to 40 years old), the Grand Master Category (aged 40 to 45), and category Kahunas (45 years forward). Is necessary to stand out that these major categories are participating former world champions, like Tom Curre, 7 times Surf World Champion; In addition, according to Sierralta, Curre is the best surfer of all time.
The competition scenarios will be the Rivas beaches, however is still unknown which specific beach will be used for the championship. The pre- selected beaches are Popoyo, Playa Hermosa and Playa Colorado. According Sierralta, probably on Tuesday April 3 will be informing to the media the selected beach.
The participants of the Championship will have a tour around Nicaragua, before and after the competition. Mario Salinas assured that they will be at Greytown, Río San Juan. Also stated that they will have an inauguration ceremony in which will be the sand parade, and consists in that each country will bring a small amount of sand for mix it as a symbol of union. At the end of the competition will be another ceremony where the winners will be award and Nicaragua will be promoted as a worldwide attractive for surfing.
Translated by Olga Ortiz Kurashvili