Roca Bruja – Witch’s Rock – juts abruptly from Costa Rica’s rugged Guanacaste coastline, a 130 million-year-old formation that surfers speak of with awe. Part of a national park ecosystem with mangroves and frequent crocodile cameos, it derives a rare cachet from its relative inaccessibility, its unpredictable temperament and its fabled wind. Local surf business owner Hanna Storrøsten Correll captures it succinctly: “The Witch has many moods.”

Marino Bairros carves a turn in West Papua
Marino Bairros carves a turn in West Papua © Damea Dorsey

On a temperate morning in April, the Witch appears generous: a powerful, long-period swell from a distant storm in the South Pacific has travelled thousands of miles. It has been sculpted by subtle barometric shifts and offshore winds to form smooth, “double overhead” hollow barrels. A second swell, estimated to have originated in Hawaii, adds to the anticipatory charge.

Felippe Dal Piero, owner of Mahalo Experience, stands quietly on the stern of a Boston Whaler boat surveying the scene. His expertise lies in anticipating these moments, orchestrating what he calls “strike missions” to organise last-minute surfing trips to catch the perfect wave. Pro – and non-pro – surfers have long dropped everything to enjoy these fleeting moments; world champion Kelly Slater reportedly pulled out of the lucrative Oi Rio Pro tournament in 2016 when he received a call about a pristine swell elsewhere. Dal Piero’s company combines last-minute timing, insider knowledge and adrenaline to create unique surf expeditions around the world. 

A quiet surf village in Costa Rica, adjacent to one of the longest left-handers in the world
A quiet surf village in Costa Rica, adjacent to one of the longest left-handers in the world © Aurore Greindl
Looking at route maps with a client on board the Kudanil Explorer
Looking at route maps with a client on board the Kudanil Explorer © Damea Dorsey

The strike missions require the right-place, right-time precision of a military operation. He regularly travels ahead, putting himself where forecasts look promising and conducting forward reconnaissance. When everything aligns, his clients get the call – sometimes with as little as 24 hours’ notice. Half-Brazilian, half-Italian, Dal Piero embodies the easygoing charm of a lifelong surfer; but beneath the “hey brah” exterior is a core of discipline. His methodology deploys high-tech meteorological forecasting and extensive project planning alongside intuitive ocean knowledge. “Surfing taught me patience,” he explains. “Strike missions taught me logistics.”

On the beach in southern Costa Rica
On the beach in southern Costa Rica © Aurore Greindl

Dal Piero’s expeditions demand specialised equipment, in particular boats designed for weeks-long off-grid exploration. He needs deep fuel reserves, desalination systems, jet skis for rescues and advanced sonar and satellite navigation. Comfort, hot showers and dry spaces are essential. Above all, a trusted crew matters most.

Equally crucial are the relationships he’s formed with local experts who enhance the collective intelligence. On this trip to Costa Rica, for instance, his clients stay at the Four Seasons Peninsula Papagayo, which partners with Hanna Storrøsten Correll’s company SurfX. The outfit provides boats and captains who understand the area and its safety protocols. “Surfing is inherently risky; the right guides make the difference,” she explains. “Our team knows intimately the currents, tides and shifting moods.”

A surfer on a Mahalo Experience in Costa Rica
A surfer on a Mahalo Experience in Costa Rica © Aurore Greindl

Dal Piero’s clientele are alpha types – venture capitalists, chief executives, IT founders and celebrities – accustomed to controlling every aspect of their lives. But with surfing, wealth and social status guarantee nothing: surrendering control and putting oneself at the mercy of the ocean’s caprices becomes the luxury commodity. 

Dal Piero recently chartered the Kudanil Explorer, a stalwart of Indonesian waters, for Brazilian financier Marco Kheirallah, who celebrated his 50th birthday with a surf-based island-hop for friends and family. Mid-voyage, Dal Piero spotted a pulse on the charts, a remote right-hander, about 15 hours away. “We’ll have it alone,” he told Kheirallah, “but we need to leave immediately.” Sunrise revealed an uninhabited island with a splitting peak and a wave that broke both left and right. It meant turquoise dives for the
non-surfers and long sessions for everyone else. First-timers and experts stayed in the line‑up until darkness swallowed the sets. 

Guest Laila Bairros rides a wave in West Papua on a trip with Maholo Experience
Guest Laila Bairros rides a wave in West Papua on a trip with Maholo Experience © Damea Dorsey

Kheirallah recalls the 48-hour-long “group flow” during which, he says, the guests fell totally into sync (Kheirallah asked the captain to turn off the internet for all but an hour each day). “Everyone began reading, talking – even breaking into happy tears while rinsing off on the deck after coming in from the waves,” he recalls. “My daughter said she loved not feeling the pull of somewhere else.”

“It isn’t always about scoring a wave,” agrees Ben K, a longtime client who first took surf lessons from Dal Piero in Portugal but has, with more experience, sought more adventurous waves. “You have to learn to love the other 99 per cent of the time. Patience makes the reward.” 

Morning yoga on deck before the day’s surfing
Morning yoga on deck before the day’s surfing © Damea Dorsey
Guests from Brazil prepare for a dive on a trip with the Kudanil Explorer in West Papua
Guests from Brazil prepare for a dive on a trip with the Kudanil Explorer in West Papua © Damea Dorsey

For others, kudos and adrenaline rushes are the main attraction. For one IT founder bent on surfing G-Land –also known as Plengkung Beach on Grajagan Bay, a renowned break in East Java, Indonesia – Dal Piero orchestrated an operation like something from a Bond film, deploying boards and equipment at 3am, then flying in his client by helicopter at dawn. When they touched down, the gear was waiting, already positioned in the line-up. Dal Piero guided his client to a right-hander on the island’s opposite side, allowing for waves more suited to his ability. “The aerial approach gives you this remarkable perspective,” Dal Piero explains. “Seeing the entire coastline unfold beneath you heightens the anticipation, deepens the connection and transforms the entire experience.”

At Portugal’s Nazaré, named by Forbes magazine as “The Greatest Show on Earth”, Dal Piero offers another rare experience. While professionals surf monster waves measuring some 90ft here, he has developed a programme for amateurs in conditions that are more manageable yet still intense. “We’re talking about 12ft-to-16ft swells with jet-ski tow-ins,” he explains. “The sensation of speed down a wave that size is extraordinary.” The operation runs from September through March, with safety briefings and careful day selection. It also brings with it the bragging rights of being able to add “Nazaré” in bold type to the surf CV. 

Sunset at a secret surf spot in Costa Rica
Sunset at a secret surf spot in Costa Rica © Aurore Greindl

Dal Piero’s missions venture into remote regions: West Papua; less-explored parts of Indonesia such as Sumbawa and East Sumba (“Everyone knows about Nihi, but the eastern part of the island is totally wild,” he says. “We spent 14 days here recently and didn’t see a single surfer.”); and far northern Norway. On one recent scouting mission to Lofoten, he received an urgent call from Tommy Olsen, a local guide from Unstad Arctic Surf who had tracked a promising North Atlantic swell: “Three-day window. Everything’s lining up: clean winds, solid swell. It’s on.” Dal Piero booked without a return ticket and arrived to a surreal Arctic scene: snow-covered beaches bracketed in by towering peaks, the water at 3°C. In full winter wetsuit, boots and balaclava, he and a small group of local surfers paddled into glassy, head-high barrels beneath grey skies.

Boards ready on the beach at dawn, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
Boards ready on the beach at dawn, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica © Aurore Greindl
Surfer Adam B on a wave at Roca Bruja, Costa Rica, one of Central America’s most famous breaks
Surfer Adam B on a wave at Roca Bruja, Costa Rica, one of Central America’s most famous breaks © Aurore Greindl

Dal Piero describes those final moments: dropping into a stomach-churning wave in the frozen air, snowflakes beginning to fall, a howling gale by the time they left the water. “That’s what strike missions are about,” he says. “Ones that nature makes you earn, ones that vanish if you hesitate.” Thirty-five years of experience have made him philosophical. “My idea of a perfect wave evolves constantly,” he says. “It depends on mood, the season of life. Sometimes it’s a heavy barrel, sometimes a gentle glide.”

Returning on the boat from Witch’s Rock, SurfX’s Storrøsten Correll notes that surfers are “inherently greedy”. The sport is individualistic: “everyone is trying to score”. But the time spent brokering new places and waves for clients, she notes, has had a softening effect on Dal Piero. He smiles: “These days, giving a wave feels better than surfing one.”  

mahalosurfexperience.com. Colin Nagy was a guest of Four Seasons Peninsula Papagayo, fourseasons.com/costarica, from $1,200

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