Little Country, Big Dreams

Now, more than ever, surfing truly is an international sport. In years past, competitive surfing was primarily dominated by surfers from places such as Australia, The United States, and Hawaii. In the past decade however, Brazilian surfers have clawed their way up the global competitive surfing hierarchy, heralding a new era of professional surfing, where title threats can emerge from any country that has an effective system in place for nurturing their talent.

Brazil, despite having fierce competitive threats over the years, didn’t have a world champ until 2014. That year, it was Gabriel Medina who took the title, sparking a blaze of Brazilian dominance that came to be known as, “The Brazilian Storm”. The following year, Adriano De Souza kept the storm alive with his own title over Australia’s Mick Fanning. More Brazilian world titles would ensue with Medina (2018, 2021), Italo Ferreira (2019) and Felipe Toledo (2022, 2023), all taking top honors.

Now, more countries than ever are establishing competitive surfing programs to foster the kind of talent that Brazil has. One crucial piece in this puzzle has been The International Surfing Association, or ISA, who have been working tirelessly for decades to elevate surfing on a global level. They were instrumental in bringing surfing into the Olympics for the first time at the Tokyo Games in 2020, This years games, held at the world-class, yet terrifying break known as Teahupo’o, in Tahiti, had twenty-one nations represented, from Italy to Germany.

Having missed out on the Tokyo Games, the Central American surf paradise of Nicaragua had their very first Olympic surfer representing their nation this year in Tahiti, Candelaria Resano. Despite her disappointing equal 17th performance, this was a huge event for a country who’s lacked any real high-profile competitive surfers despite their deep talent pool and ripping surfers.

While on vacation this Summer in Nicaragua, I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Gianni Landolfi who’s been working tirelessly with the Nicaraguan Surfing Federation to develop the relatively small country’s competitive surfing scene. In doing so, he hopes to bring more surfers like Resano the global recognition they deserve.

Here’s what the Nicaraguan Surfing Federation Secretary had to say.

How long have you been in Nicaragua? How did you fall in love with this beautiful country?

First of all I want to say a good day to everyone.

I have been in Nicaragua for 16 years. I arrived here in 2008, initially living in San Juan del Sur for a couple of years, then moving to Playa Guasacate, which is just a few minutes walk from the Popoyo Reef. Nicaragua had so much to fall in love with. Spectacular places to visit, such as the Island of Ometepe, Granada, and Leon. The beauty of the volcanoes, the lakes, and the people, with all of their uniqueness.  Also, of course, the waves…perfect reef or beach breaks waves and the blessing of off-shore winds over 300 days a year. There was nothing more I could ask for.

Tell me about how you got involved in elevating Nicaraguan surfing? What were the initial challenges you faced?

When I lived in San Juan del Sur, my neighbors were the Calderon’s, a historic family of Nicaraguan surfers, including Roque and Rex. Roque’s brother and Rex’s uncle, Sergio, has been crucial in the development of surfing in Nicaragua, being the first to take Pinolero (Nicargaun) surfing outside the borders of the country. Thanks to them, suddenly, I found myself involved with Nicaraguan surfing, working with the athletes, and organizing the Championships.

Considering all the epic surf in Nicaragua, why haven’t we seen any high profile pro’s emerge from it’s soil, like Carlos Munoz, from neighboring Costa Rica?

In Nicaragua there is a lot of talent. It is incredible to see the level that these kids can reach, especially without having the means of traveling and being able to see how surfing is growing in countries like the USA, Brazil, Australia or Hawaii. The majority of local children here can only see videos and some professional surfers who come to visit the country. Even so, just by watching and trying to copy, they’ve managed to reach a very high level of surfing. This means that the talent here is natural, you just have to work on it, like any other place in the world. 

On a competitive level, culturally, we still do not see surfers who take up the sport in a professional way and train to be high-performance athletes. I don’t believe that this is a failure on the part of the surfers. In this sense, what’s to blame, above all, is the lack, in recent years, of a serious institution, or a Federation that really supports and motivates the athletes to improve themselves and believe in their talent. Thank God, now, together with a new Board of Directors, we are working on this.

What challenges does the Nicaraguan Surfing Federation face in finding support for competitive surfing?

The biggest challenge is the legalization and registration of the new Federation.

The national institutions have all the intention and will to support surfing as a sport, however, this is quite complicated until we are able to definitively register the Federation. Unfortunately, previous bad management has left a bad image of surfing and also debts. This is delaying this process even more, but once this bureaucratic part is resolved, we will have support from the National Sports Institutions. I’m pretty sure of this— our relationships in recent months have been better than ever. So what I’m trying to explain is that the failure has been due to the poor organization of the previous Federation, and for this reason we still don’t have the support we deserve.

Tell me a little about Candelaria Resano. How long have you known her and what makes her such an impressive competitor?

I have known Candelaria since she was very little. She grew up a couple of kilometers from where I live and she learned to surf at the same wave that I surf daily. I honestly can’t talk about her successes without mentioning her incredible family. That’s where all her achievements come from. Her parents Manny and Berri, have always supported her and took her to compete everywhere, from all over Nicaragua, all the way to Japan. Her sisters Valen and Maxi, both great surfers in their own right, have always pushed her to improve as well. Candelaria also naturally possesses incredible talent, a strong and competitive character, with this rebellious spirit that all the great ones have.

Does she have the backing needed from sponsors in order to make the costly journey to the Olympics in Tahiti? If not, how did she achieve this?

The National Olympic Committee provides support with all the necessary expenses to attend the Olympic Games. Also, together with Suyen Vargas, the President of our Federation, we managed to get some private sponsors so that Candelaria could arrive in Tahiti a month early so she could have plenty of time to train at Teahupo’o

What are your hopes for the continued growth of competitive surfing in Nicaragua. Anything else that you would like to add?

As I told you before, I will keep dreaming together with the little surfers of Nicaragua and doing what I can to bring them all the success and opportunity that they deserve. Even though our country is small, we still dream big for it!

I would like to thank, first of all, my wife and my children for supporting me in my dreams. Along with them, so much gratitude towards the entire surfing community of Nicaragua for always showing me the appreciation that makes me feel like one of their own, Manny Resano, Suyen Vargas, all the members of the Federation and the Staff of Judges for believing in my work and supporting me unconditionally, and all those who know me and appreciate me.