Ellen Golden

Editor’s Note: Ellen Zoe Golden, the author of this 2015 review, was Billy Idol’s publicist for a quarter-century. She also represented Hall & Oates and many other high-profile artists before leaving the music business in the early 2000s. Prior to becoming involved with music publicity, Golden was a music journalist, and she occasionally returned to her passion for writing in her later years. Golden died of cancer on March 9, 2022, in her adopted home of Costa Rica.

Top-tier professional surfing returns to Costa Rica this week when the World Surfing League (WSL)’s latest Qualifying Series contest takes place in Jacó. The Essential Costa Rica Surf Pro, scheduled for Oct. 4-7, is the latest men and women’s Qualifying Series (QS) offering a big opportunity for national surfers to vie for ranking points they might not otherwise have access to due to the high cost of international travel. Winners in Jacó will split 1,500 points.

For the 11th time in as many years, Costa Rica’s national surf team bested Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama in the Central American Surfing Championships. The games, which took place last Friday through Sunday in the Central Pacific beach town of Jacó, included a full contingent of Tico surfers who battled it out for medals in the manner of the ISA World Surfing Games. Organizers estimated that about 2,000 people were on hand to watch the tournament in front of Best Western Jacó.