I'm a Canadian Guy who started this windsurfing blog during our sabbatical year in France. I have since added decade of fun windsurfing posts from our other adventures including freestyle, wavesailing, the International Windsurfing Tour and now wind foiling.
A work conference in Mexico turned into a wonderful kiting adventure when I got to the hotel and spied Naish kitesurfing banners blowing in the wind.
Just a few hundred steps upwind of the resort was a great kite school with friendly instructors.
I quickly arranged a supervised kite rental for 4pm - I prefer late in the day so I'm not staring into a blazing sun! After getting the 14m kite set up we headed upwind to launch away from the crowd.
Post kite session smile photo! (Next time I'll ask for a photo with my eyes open.)
It has been a year and a half since I kited last so some tips on staying upwind were welcomed. My transitions needed work too. So the supervised rental quickly transformed to a lesson with nice KiteMex instructor Alex.
I did OK and Alex did one nice upwind run with the kite and board for me to start again back upwind and have a second part to my session away from the crowd at the kiteschool beach. I then went for and hour and a half in total eventually being able to keep myself (mostly) upwind.
First session - S/E wind nicely side / onshore but a struggle to stay upwind
The next day it was super windy. I used my trainer kite to give work colleague Andrew a beginner on-land training session. That was fun but we were both a bit freaked out by a novice kiter getting pulled up into a palm tree when he got dragged over the beach and landed his kite in the trees. He was ok but still - kitemares!
I rebuilt my nerve and my 4pm lesson was on a brand new 12m Naish kite. I had an even easier time staying upwind but was fully tired out after an hour and 15 minutes. By the time I got off the water I could barely walk my thighs were so sore. I covered almost 13 km with a max speed of 30 km/h.
Second session - 12m kite more wind and staying upwind better.
On the last day the wind was dropping so I had my lesson at 11am. I could get going on the 16m kite but as the wind started dying eventually I couldn't quite relaunch it. The other Alex came out on a SUP and sailed the kite and board back while I had a fun SUP session. There is a soft wave that breaks on the sandy bottom so I had a few SUP surf wave runs.
Last session, some ok runs but then the struggle to relaunch and lost ground downwind.
Fun SUPing close to shore. Nice waves out beyond the reef. Next time!
All in all what a great surprise to find an awesome kite school with great Naish gear. And how nice to have a bit more time to work on my kiteboarding skills.
Here is a quick summary of our 2019 Bonaire windsurfing trip. So many highlights:
All smiles in the warm, clear waist deep water!
My 8th ABK windsurfing camp where I did my 1st planing duck tack. 3 more then next day and several more the next week. See the duck tack blog post.
I mostly completed and sailed away from my fifth Vulcan on March 29th. (Tips: remember to twist hips to the front, sail leaned back, hop out of the pool with shoulders pushing down on boom.) That means I’ve done vulcans in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016 and now sort of one in 2019!
Each night we did video analysis. This was some nice video of a downwind 360.
I really enjoyed sailing my own gear every day. It was well worth the $100 Sunwing baggage charge which I only had to pay one way!
Arrived and it is windy!
And it wasn’t too much hassle going through the airport. Jen even enjoyed sailing on my gear - the 10 year old Skate 108 and the super light 1 year old Idol 5.6. I used that sail 13 days straight. Jibe City hooked Jen up with nice gear each day and rented me a great spot to store my board and sail.
All our gear arrived!
The ABK Foil lecture was fun. I look forward to using some of those tips this summer.
ABK foil lecture
ABK Jibe BBQ night
I was glad to have brought a weed fin, but didn't really need it most days. The sargassum sea grass was much less than last year.
Another highlight was meeting another of Len’s grateful students.
One of Len's nice students
We enjoyed watching the King of Bonaire contest.
King of Bonaire contest - warm up for the PWA
And it was cool to be in the same place where Balz Muller was showing off his insane foil skills.
The Sunday photo shoot went well. A different shot of the one run that we managed to get on the way into lunch together was selected for the Jibe City ‘Couple of the week’. Thanks to Marc Van Swoll - MVS Photography.
Selected as couple of the week - Thanks Marc
One handed carve 360
Blasting
Couple photo enjoying the waist deep water
We were excited to find that the Bonaire Landsailing Blokarts were open for business again. 30 minutes is the perfect amount of time to enjoy the view of the ocean and also see just how fast you can get going. (38 km/h) What a blast.
Blokarting was fun!
I re-enacted my daughter's joy from a decade ago!
Katie at age 7 enjoying the Blokarts on Bonaire
Too bad we couldn’t stay for the PWA championship.
The PWA is coming to town
I wound up getting planing 14/14 days. Some days I windsurfed over 40 km between morning and afternoon sessions.
Typical session in the waist deep water (map looking east)
Session with some longer runs out to the deeper water
I only topped 40 km/h on the last day, hitting 44 km/h using the rental gear for my last hour of sailing. My new GPS watch shows my heart rate hitting 159 which is much higher than I expected!
Pretty high max heart rate while windsurfing!
Food and overall hospitality on the island was wonderful. Here are a few shots.
Canadian content - Oma's plate!
Fancy dinner
Ceviche
Fun with the KLM crew waiting for the plane from Amsterdam
Cruise ship in town
Dinner on our last night
Looking forward to future visits to Bonaire.
(For my own reference in the future, here is my Bonaire List: Own board, Weed fins, Ankle wrap, Harness, Gloves, Gopro, GPS)
During my 4th ABK clinic in 2010 I asked windsurf instruction guru Andy Brandt to show me the planing short board duck tack. Here is my GoPro video of him doing a demonstration on my Skate 108 back then.
It looked so cool that I added it to my bucket list of moves to try and complete - someday. Today was the 3rd day of my 8th ABK clinic and I actually got one! I am pretty sure that it is because this year I brought my own favourite board down, that very same Skate 108 I’ve been enjoying sailing for 10 years now!
For fun and to track my progress (I have learned a couple of other moves since then) I note all my completed moves the first time I do them in the Tricktionary windsurfing bible.
Finally got to mark this one completed!
Planing duck tack from the Tricktionary windsurfing bible
I’m super excited to have done this one which the Tricktionary app gives a difficulty rating of 38/100.
So far this is the highlight of my trip to Bonaire, but everything else has been great so far: flights, food, wind, rental car, hotel, ABK clinic, people, etc.
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Postscript - here is a nice photo taken by MVS photography of me moving to switchstance getting ready for a duck tack - I completed one or two duck tacks most days the following week!
Wow, what a way to end my windsurfing for 2018. After a torrential rainstorm overnight we were back to northeasterly winds in Hatteras. It was still warm though, so after some work emails I headed down to Frisco again with the crew.
This time the water level was higher and the waves were bigger. This was due to the very strong (30 knots?) NE wind. Luckily the wind was warm so I was comfy in just a 3/2 short armed wetsuit. The car's ambient temperature was reading 67f - that's 19.5c.
Nice carve jibe
Lots of little jumps!
I rigged the 4.8 Idol and went out on the Skate 108. I had the GoPro on the boom and sailed for 25 minutes. It was so rough I could barely make a duck jibe and my ribs were starting to hurt a bit with the waist harness.
The video still of my duck jibe
Then I rigged the 8 year old 4.2 Ice and put it on the 25 year old Tiga 257. I used my seat harness for the first time this year and had some pretty comfortable rides for the next 35 minutes. After an hour I was spent and headed back to the house to pack up.
Not a huge difference in speed between the Skate 108 and the old Tiga
I'm writing this in the car on the 14 hour drive home. I also found a photo from the one day when I didn't windsurf; here is my sail in the Big Blue Van as the boys were heading out for a possible SUP sailing session.
The BBV can actually store a rigged 5.4m sail!
Overall an amazing trip with enough wind to sail 5.6m or smaller sails 5 of the 6 days I was there. And great warm weather considering it was the first half of November! Someday I hope to post some video I shot on that last day!
In the car on the way down to Hatteras on Friday I was telling Jennifer that the best day to windsurf this week would likely be Tuesday. And indeed what a great day it was.
As the day started the very warm SW wind slowly built as predicted. Once the whitecaps were visible people started heading out. Our house full of kiters is sandwiched between two houses full of windsurfers and they all started heading out around 11am.
I had a morning conference call and so Jen and I finally headed out onto the water around noon.
I was nicely powered on the Skate 108 and Idol 5.6. My first Vulcan attempt went extremely well resulting in a good slide backwards and the glory photo below just as my hands were moving to the boom on the other side. Thanks for that shot Jamie! I did get both hands on the boom after the shutter clicked and once again I fell when my skeg hit bottom. But it was SO close to being my first Vulcan since 2016.
So close to being my first Vulcan since 2016!
Blasting on Nov 6th without a shirt on! It was so warm!
After getting her some shorter harness lines Jen started having some good runs on the Freewave 116 and the Duke 5.4 on an old 30% carbon mast. I finally put a shirt on and it was a real joy to be out on the water with her and then to stand together in the warm shallow water between runs.
Jen heading out
Husband and wife heading out together the day before
the 32nd anniversary of our first date!
Jibing in to catch up with Jen!
Chasing Jen!
Here is some video of one of Jen's runs.
Thanks again Jamie for the camerawork!
The weather was amazingly warm at 26.1c with many of us out in boardshorts! I was trying carving 360s, switch stance jibes, duck tacks and whatever else I could think of. After 90 minutes I stopped for lunch with Jen who had gone to Bros for some sandwiches.
Morning session with Jen! Wow, 26.1c - I was in shorts.
Then Bob, my 73 year old friend from Rodanthe, came down to sail with me again. He rigged up and headed out. I followed and despite a few low wind runs, the wind built again and we had a great 90 minute session right to sunset. We also got to watch local legend Mike Burns throwing down tricks in the shallow water. There was a bit of drama when Brett's kite launch went badly and he shredded his foot on the rocks.
Chuck and Steve and Carl in the afternoon!
A satisfying session for sure!
Afternoon session details. I had fun sailing with Bob!
We had a great dinner of Nachos and banana boats. Brett's foot looks like it should be ok after being checked out by some doctor friends and now the question is whether after 4 straight days of windsurfing is there a session or two for me still in the forecast for the next two days?
The wind was up and down - super windy during a few rain showers and then calm and then windy and warm again 15 minutes later.
I headed out after doing a round of morning work emails. The quick session included 30 mins on the Skate 108 with the 5.6 Idol, and I got a planing tuck tack which may be a first. Then I did 20 mins on the Tiga 257. While the 25 year old heavy Tiga was mocked on the beach, and sunk whenever I slowed down, on the 4 runs I did get I was keeping up with most of the other sailors on the water.
The boys were all out kiting in the afternoon in the dropping wind, having great foil runs back and forth.
A view from the deck in the dying wind after my session.
The old heavy Tiga sitting on shore with the new super light Idol sail.
Session details - check out the 23.9c temperature for Nov 5th!
Some nice beach houses nearby in Hatteras!
When my afternoon conference calls were done Jen and I went for a 45 minute walk and then the crew headed to Oceanis Bistro for the surprisingly good $12.99 prime rib special and then banana split ice cream for dessert back at the house. A great day even if I didn't get as much time on the water as I wanted.
