Life lesson
In this brilliant 6 min talk Angela Lee Duckworth talks about the success in education and in life. And she has observed it is about the GRIT. How do you build grit? She is not sure yet, but a growth mindset is very helpful. When you stick with your future, life will progress in this direction.
Live life as it is a marathon
This video reminds me very well of my learning experiences on my around the world trip, especially surfing. In the beginning I was more falling then surfing. I was more paddling then anything else, I was so exhausted from all that, especially because my body and my technics were weak.
But then you have one second on the board and you feel the adrenaline rush in your body and you know all this falling and being exhausted is part of it. And I knew that over time I will get better in surfing. And I did! Not that I’m a great surfer yet, but I see the progress and this is very rewarding indeed and helps me to stick to the goal in learning how to surf 🙂 Life lesson learned!
Surf Nicaragua
Beside the humbled experience in helping to build a high school in a remote coastal region in Nicaragua with Surf For Life and Waves of Hope, I had time in the early morning to do some surfing.
- First day of surfing in Nicaragua and the waves are great!
- Yeah this is fun
- De, James and I are exhausted after the surf
- Let’s get some footage from the board
- Pop up
- Yeah some more surfing 🙂
- Oh almost caught this wave 🙂
- Morning surf is the best!!!
- It feels amazing being on the board early in the morning
- Yeah 🙂
- Surf the wave
- This is how I feel after surfing: Exhausted but happy 🙂 Here: James
- Surfing the volcano 😉
- Volcano Surfing! Yeah this will be fun 🙂
Surf Costa Rica
In Costa Rica I finally got the chance to surf on a regular base actually it was 5 weeks of surfing in Montezuma. 4 weeks surfing lessons and one week surf safari.
On 20th of April 2013 I join Surf For Life to help to build a high school in Nicaragua. Please support me with a small donation for the “Surf for Life” project. Every amount makes a difference for the kids in Nicaragua. The donation page with background information can be found here: https://www.surfforlife.org/give/Sven-Koble/
Every day I felt improvements and every day I was muscle sore from the paddeling, standing up on the board. Amazing. The feeling was awesome mostly on beaches without a lot of people, awesome waves, amazing nature and wildlife. My favorite beside riding the waves: watching pelicans passing by only a couple of meters from where I was waiting for the next wave to catch. Or watching monkeys in the tree eating mangos next to where we waxed the boards. Here some impressions:
- Surfing with Paul, Marc and Petra and our surf instructor Pablo
- Yeah catching a wave
- Let’s get into the water
- Wildlife on the way to the surfspot
- That’s exactly how I feel like after surfing
- Playa Grande the surf beach near Montezuma, Costa Rica
- Garden to pick up the boards
- Mmmhhh some delicious smoothies after the surfing
- Great times 🙂
- Surf safari with Pablo
- Watching out for some waves
- Enjoy the water
- Playa Carmen
- Thumb up for the awesome surf weeks
- Almost went in bed with my surfboard
- That’s the beach to be to learn surfing in Montezuma
- Surf board impression at Santa Theresa
- Do Sport often to stay physical and mentally fit (here Surfing in Costa Rica)
- Affirming others for positive things (here Surf lesson in Costa Rica)
- Ready to surf!
- Let’s get out to the waves
- Playa Grande Beach setting
- Yeah riding a wave
- Paddle Paddle Paddle
- Yeah thumb up for the great surfing at Playa Grande
- Great waves, awesome weather, warm water, great times 🙂
- Thumb up 🙂
- Wow what is this animal? A flying giraffe?
- Impressions on the way to the surf beach
- time to do some waxing before we ride the waves
- my surfboard
- Time for surf safari 🙂
- Our surf safari to Santa Theresa
- Surfing at Santa Theresa
- Warm up
- Surf instructor
- Pablo is our man to learn us surfing and about life
- Ok let’s try this pop-up on the beach …
- And pop-up 🙂
- Surf instructor explains us the beach
- Yeah this is fun!
- Lauren, Kat and Diane concert the waves
- Surf instructor with Lauren, Kat, Diane
- Time for a rest together with Joe and Diane
- Surf safari with Pablo
- On our way into the waves
- Let’s go surfing
- Surf time 🙂
- Enjoying the scenery
- Awesome beach near Santa Theresa
- Awesome beach near Santa Theresa
Spanish and Surfing in Montezuma

Wow what a great setting to learn spanish and surfing. In a paradise like village called Montezuma on the Peninsula de Nicoya in Costa Rica. In the school “La Escuela del Sol” I take spanish and surfing classes.
A very well treat for body and mind and an awesome surf instructor who has a lot of great analogies ready to not only teach you about surfing but also about life. All this is accompanied with 30+°C and sunshine. After 2 hours surfing and 4+ hours of spanish (with two great energetic spanish teachers Wendy and Andrea) it is time to get some food.
The food in the tiny town is so delicious. They even have a restaurant where you have dinner and then they show a cinema film at 7:30pm. Here some impressions from my time in Montezuma:
- La Escuela del Sol in Montezuma
- Montezuma Waterfall
- Zip-Lining in Montezuma
- Surfing at Playa Grande, Montezuma, Costa Rica
- Surf instructor with Lauren, Kat, Diane
- Surfing in Santa Theresa, Costa Rica
- Road conditons are good
- Surf instructor explains us the beach
- Pablo is our man to learn us surfing and about life
- Yeah this is fun!
- Hello dude!
- Dinner Time in Montezuma
- With our spnaish class we are waiting for the fisher man to make …
- Cervici, “cooked” in Limon juice
- Dinner time
- After 4+ hourse of spanish it is time for surfing in the afternoon
- Surfing in the morning
- Our surf safari to Santa Theresa
- This was part of our way to the surf beach
- Movie night at the restaurant
- Be emphatic towards others
- my surfboard
- time to do some waxing before we ride the waves
- On our way to Playa Grande
- Ready to surf!
- Yeah thumb up for the great surfing at Playa Grande
- Mmmhhh delicious pizza in Montezuma
- Ok another fellow in Central Park
- Sushi night
- Sushi is sooo delicious
Surfing in Hawaii
After surfing in Finland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia, I got the chance to surf with Ambrose, a surf guru here in Kaua’i, Hawaii. And what a great surf lesson. After arranging the surf lesson the day before we met at 7am at the beach to check out the weather and he was already starting the surf lesson there, explaining me the weather conditions and a lot of other great life lessons.
Then it was time to find a suitable beach for our surf lesson. And what great waves we found, for my surf abilities: awesome!!! Check out the video and some pictures.
Please support me with a donation for the “Surf for Life” project where I help to build a high school in April 2013 in Nicaragua. Thank you very much for your contribution to this project! More background information can be found here: https://www.surfforlife.org/give/Sven-Koble/
- Surfboards packed time to hit the beach
- Interesting garden fence
- Wow big waves at the North Shore
- Surf beach on the North Shore
- Surfing at Waikiki Beach
- Surfing at Diamand Head
Thank you for your Birthday wishes

Thank you so much for your birthday wishes from around the world. I had a great day, starting with sounds of wave from the ocean and a great run on the beach. Then some healthy breakfast (at least the carot cake sounded healthy :P), talking and messaging to friends and family, enjoying the day in a spa and talking to a surf guru here in Hawaii who will take me surfing tomorrow.
If you haven’t figured out a birthday present yet 😉 Here is an idea and the awesome part of that present: You become a part of my trip. How good is that! As you might know I’m traveling to Nicaragua in April to help building a school in a coastal area. With your support now, we will have sufficient material to build the school. How awesome is that!
- Thumb up for the sunrise here in Kaua’i
- Running on the beach
- Yeah, running on the beach is awesome!
- Birthday breakfast with view to the ocean. No, I’m not in a prison 😛
Surf Australia
Surfing is an amazing sport for me and so in the past weeks I spend some days surfing on the beach. Most of the time I was surfing in the morning, which was amazing. Wake up just before sunrise and then see how the day starts in the city and on the beach. One day I arrived at 6:20am at Bondi Beach and the whole beach was already packed with people: Swimmers, Runners, Surfers, Exercise Groups, Boxing Groups, Walkers, Kayakers. It was amazing to see how many people are enjoying this amazing beach life and I had the honor to be part of it. Check out the video and support me …
Surf for Life
Today I would like to introduce you to Surf for Life, an non profit organization sponsoring educational and community driven development projects in coastal communities mainly in Central America. But here is first the story how I found this organization …
Back in November 2012 in Germany I was about to get ready for my 6 month around the world trip and at the workplace they were setting up a table soccer tournament. Together with my friend we wanted to participate and eventually came up with our team name: “Surf for Life”. We thought that was a perfect name for our team as she is passionate about Kite-Surfing and I love surfing.
So in the evening I thought: Let’s do a google search for this name and there it was “Surf For Life” an non profit organization sponsoring educational and community driven development projects in coastal communities mainly in Central America. Check out there video:
And in Spring 2013, they have a new volunteer project in Nicaragua and what a coincidence I’m in Central America by this time and thus I was very happy to contribute to the project by volunteering one week at the End of April 2013 to this project to help to give hope to many kids to get a high school education and thus help there communities to thrive and develop in the future.
All costs for the volunteer week are already covered by me and Now I need your support. I’m fundraising to help with the costs of the construction and materials and wanted to know if you would like to help me with a donation? The goal is to raise at least 2000US$. If you can spare some money to help to build a school in Manzanillo, Nicaragua and help that kids get a possibility for a basic education then please donate via the following site.
Thank you in advance for your support! I will keep you updated about this project.
Surf Taiwan
Or more precise: Surf in Daxi, Taiwan at Honeymoon Bay
After Finland and Hong Kong now the third try to do some real surfing. This time on the north east coast of Taiwan in the little village of Daxi. 1,5h trip from Taipei by train (train fee: 2,5€) I arrived and went to the Spider Surf Club and met Quake my surf couch for the next 2 days.
We immediately scheduled in a 2 hour private surf lesson for the afternoon. And yes this was a very demanding 2 hours for me. First one hour and 30min some practicing on the floor and his specially designed surf board. Then already being quite exhausted another 30min in the water.
One day later another 2 hour lesson this time at an other beach with smaller waves but better for me as a beginner and I caught some nice waves, yeah 🙂
- Temple in Daxi
- Ok they waves are there at Honeymoon Bay 🙂
- First some practice on the very individual surf board
- … and stand up
- Quake my surf coach in Taiwan
- Here we go with my beginner surf board 🙂
Please support me with a donation for the “Surf for Life” eduction project in April 2013 in Nicaragua. 345US$ of the goal of 2000US$ are already donated. Thank you very much for your contribution to this project! Keep it up, 17% of the donation goal are already reached. Your support means a lot to me! More background information on this project can be found here: https://www.surfforlife.org/give/Sven-Koble/
Surf Hong Kong
Hong Kong next place to try some surfing. After Finland where surfing was quit hard (see post here) especially with no ocean and a lot of snow.
Hong Kong is temperature wise already getting better for surfing and they have nice beaches all around the island. Small challenges here as well: no waves … So off again for some practicing without getting on a real surf board.
- Rebulse Bay in Hong Kong
- Yeah finally it is beach time
- Yeah some surf practicing on the beach
Please support me with a donation for the “Surf for Life” eduction project in April 2013 in Nicaragua. 175US$ of the goal of 2000US$ are already donated. Thank you for your support! More background information on this project can be found here: https://www.surfforlife.org/give/Sven-Koble/