All photos of Martin "Tigre" Laborde 

The first southern swell of 2021 hit the American Pacific coast with force and Playa Hermosa in Jacó, Costa Rica, was no exception.

Yesterday, Wednesday, the chocolates broke big at the National Stadium of Costa Rican Surfing and the grom Axel Castro took a couple of good ones with the help of a jet ski.

"The truth is that the waves today (yesterday) were super big and heavy, you had to know which one to choose and when to surf them because otherwise you would be left paying and the sets would fall on you and not everyone could get into the water. There were about four of us and that's who surfed, but it was too heavy," Axel told DUKE.

But it wasn't all about getting paid, you had to pay to play: "I paddled out for a wave and didn't notice that the set was coming and when I looked back there were like four waves coming that I ate all on top of me, they fell straight in front of me. I had to throw the board away and sink and I was seeing it ugly and that's it, one passed, I got over it, the next one came and again. The third one I couldn't take and then the last one... And luckily I survived but yes, today's session was really fun, really fun and very scary!"

One of those who was present in the water was one of the best in Latin America and the world, Carlos Muñoz.