So, a 220-degree swell in Costa Rica must come from a place that’s nearly due south on the map, right? Well, yes, if the map is the kind of projection that turns great circles into straight lines (Gnomonic).
Actually, a great circle from 22-degrees to a point on Costa Rica’s pacific coast will put you right near the southern tip of New Zealand, on your common Mercator projection. Check out this map from StormSurf.com – one of my new favorite sites for surf forecasting.