On September 15, Costa Rican pro logger Lía Díaz paddled out and took to the nose wearing traditional dress to celebrate the nation’s 205th Independence Day. Quite the streak for a nation with no army since the mid-19th century.
Díaz herself has been on something of a streak lately. A win at the 2025 Surfing For Hope Longboard Classic led to her becoming the first Costa Rican to make the QS tour this year, and she just took home a bronze medal from the ISA World Longboard Championship in El Sunzal, El Salvador—making her the first longboard from her country to win a world championship medal. That also qualified her for the Lima 2027 Pan American Games.
A latecomer to logging, Díaz committed to the longboard in 2023 and it has evidently served her well. “I try to spend as much time as possible surfing, in all kinds of conditions—when the waves are bad and when they’re good,” she told The Costa Rica News in July.
She’s also made a quick point of giving back: Alongside her mother, who bought her her first surfboard at age eight and coached her into her teens, she recently founded Living Pura Vida Surf, a surf school teaching technique to tourists and doubling as a “haven for empowerment” through surf retreats designed exclusively for women.
Chances are we’ll be delighted with much, much more from Díaz in years to come, and Costa Rica and the world will be all the better for it.
While nationalism may be rampant in this day and age, there’s still good old national pride about, too; Hermosa Díaz is a patriot brimming with the latter—and style for days.
Related: How To Make Your Next Surf Adventure More Fulfilling
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