Direct flights can make a difference to a windsurfing vacation. From Toronto, there are a lot of charter companies flying direct to Puerto Plata in the Domincan Republic. After visiting wonderful Bonaire but with long overnight connecting flights it was a pleasure to leave home at 11am and be on the beach in Cabarete at 6pm!Unlike our experiences in Bonaire though, we didn't luck out with the wind! For the first 3 days of no wind my wife and were just recovering from colds we had back in Toronto. There was one thunderstorm that got me a 43 minute session. Then on the 2nd last day the wind returned but with some above average swells that made getting in and out really difficult. You can see the concern on the nice french Vela staff member as he helps me out of the water after my first attempt to get through the shore break.
I put together a video that paints a pretty good picture of the session. Working on it now, two months after the fact, I really do want to get back on those waves. The highlights of the video are the walk of shame at 0:40, the good jump in slow-mo at 2:55, the duck jibe at 3:33 the jibes on the wave faces eg. 3:55 and the wave riding at 4:25.
My failure and success in the waves in Cabarete from Canadian Guy on Vimeo.
After that one hour, I was pretty beat and just watched as a small fraction of the Vela guests dared to venture out through the shorebreak later in the day. The kiters farther down the beach certainly had an easier time launching and getting going.
I want to thank the staff at Vela and all the nice people we met in Cabarete. We'll be back!
