The Story of Dale Dagger

Is it a journey into an unknown land were the whispers of danger carry in the wind, or the tilled path of a pioneer clearing the tangled chains before him that makes someone a legend? Or is it the simple perserverence to not give up and go home? A fortunate wrinkle in the Central American time line lead Dale Dagger into a virgin wide open Nicaragua, a decade before the word spread to the rest of the surfing world. A nonconformist need, a renegade instinct, and a thirst for exploration led Dale Dagger in the tumultuous late '70's to the wave fertile shores of Nicaragua. Dale will tell you he was just looking for a few waves to himself and a place to anchor his boat for free. In the seventies life in America was getting more restrictive, and the police state, while in it's infancy, was taking shape. He bailed to the South and warm water free anchorage's... where Jimmy says, "A man can be free".

Born Dale Gerald Kowach, he was raised in San Diego, California, where surfing was still in the Gidget era. Dale's uncle gave him is first fourteen foot row boat which Dale motorized, rebuilt and was soon surfing the waves off the end of Point Loma. Of wandering spirit and looking for adventure even then, Dale left his home at a tender eighteen years and set up camp on the North Shore of Oahu.... literally. A loner of simple means and only the desire to surf, Dale lived in a "lean-to", a dirt fort on the beach in front of what was later to be named FreddyLand. Those who know Freddy would also know that Dale gave the shack to Freddy two years later, thus coining the name. On only a steady diet of pineapples, rice, fish and avocados, Dale thrived in the extremely rural Hawaii with the idea of "Pro-Surfer" still a whisper in the mind of the youth.

The Australians "kicked down the door" his last year in Hawaii. Once respect and dues no longer equaled set waves, and agro was "where it was ", Dale flew to El Salvador during the North Shore's off season. It was the fall of '72 and he shared the point with explorers Bob Rotherham and Eric Penny. He thought the trip was for a few weeks and only took a few hundred dollars. When a few weeks turned into a few months and the money ran dry, he hitchhiked home toward California. Just outside of La Libertad he met two biker guys from San Francisco. Riding North in a Yellow Plymouth RoadRunner, they listening to Led Zeppelin and cruised to San Francisco in four days and four hours. Along the way the bikers lost their wallet so Dale sold his camera equipment to fund the rest of the ride home. Once arriving in the bay area, Dale's new friends sold the load ( what you think bikers drive to Panama and back for the fun of it?) and repaid Dale with enough to buy his first sail boat. It was a 24 foot Nugget built by legendary surfboard shaper Mike Eaton. Dale named her Sola and taught himself to sail.

The first sailing sessions were around the offshore islands of California, where he once again, lived off the abundant sea.... fish, rice lobster and abalone. After a few years of cruising the Channel Islands, warmer water began her serene call. .As with all explorers, there comes a time when our legs are kickin' to get out again, and Dale's time in California was no exception... he was bound for unknown territory. Upon the sailboat Tanga, Dale stumbled upon Nicaragua in route to Costa Rica from Mexico. Picking up people along the way and charging only what it took to feed themselves, they surfed, played music and passed the hat all along the coast searching for unknown waves. "We played in every dive and gin joint from Acapulco to La Libertad, surfed our arms off, and had a memory making time of it" remembers Dale. During this remarkable time, Dale's "Surf Tour" was born. Always on the tip of technology, Dale kept his Mac Plus with him and wrote his newsletters, the same ones you all read today. This being before e-mail, Dale would print up a master copy of the Tonga Times and xerox it in port towns all over Latin America. Some of those early readers are still on the list today and are regular, returning clients.

One very fateful day while surfing South of San Juan del Sur, a client tore the bottom of his foot on a rock reef and was bleeding profusely. He bled through a towel quickly, and knowing they were in trouble, Dale applied a tourniquet and headed North for help. It was obvious the client would bleed out or at least lose his foot by the time they got to San Juan del Sur. There was a Turtle refuge nearby and the Army there had a truck which could help get the guy to medical attention. Dale sped the boat onto the beach with no hesitation. All should have gone well, the rudders should have snapped off and Tonga should have been pushed up onto the beach were she could have been repaired in a few days. Instead she hit a sandbar, shoving the bow up and the stern down. A huge set swamped her and by morning the boat was in pieces. The client was able to jump off in time, and was walking within a few weeks. Dale stayed by his boat and was finally rescued from his Robinson Crusoe beach camp within a few days. He and his soggy boat gear,which was all that he owned, had no choice but to move to the sleepy fishing village of San Juan del Sur. With nothing left and forced to stay, Dale settled for the first time in his life.
Some say everything happens for a reason, others say your fate finds you.... an unfortunate twist of events brought Dale to the place he has always belonged and the place that will always be his home. He didn't choose Nicaragua ... Nicaragua chose him.

And then you ask, "What's with the name?" An obvious topic of interest for the young sailors and surfers in the seventies, a journalist was putting Dale’s story to paper. Dale, in spanish, is pronounced "Dolly", and at the time there was an extremely popular song by an infamous Jimi Hendrix called “Dolly Dagger”. Historically, the journalist wrote of "Dale Dagger, the prototypical soul surfer"..... and it stuck.

You will still see Dale out there on the waves in which he named. If your book a tour it's very certain Dale will stop by the lodge and share a couple Toñas with you. A loner by nature Dale is coming out of his comfort shell more and more now days and has a fun crew of young folk carrying on the adventure. His stories are all well told, although you may not understand his zany sense of humor, and as Dale likes to say with a grin, some of them are even true. A few of Dale's dreams from the early days have become a reality. The solar powered surf shack walking distance from Rio Colorado is one. Another is a community of like minded folks living a better life in Bahia Gigante. If you are lucky, you may get a chance to hear some of his stories, or get a little taste of his voyage yourself, but you will definitely see what he was here for and what he has tackled..... one wave at a time.

• Unlimited Surf Sessions • Seven Surf Breaks
• Three Custom Boats • Beachfront Surf Lodge
• Gigante Fishing Village • Best Surf in Nicaragua
• Surf Playa Colorado • Surf Popoyo • Surf Playgrounds
• Surf Panga Drops • Surf Outer Reef • Surf Manzanillo