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1)
Aruba# 2) Bonaire#
3) Cabarete
Other common destinations include 4) Maui in Hawaii, 5) Margarita in
Venezuela, 6)
Lake Arenal in Costa Rica.
Within the 48 states, there also is 7) South Padre Island in
Texas, and 8) the Columbia River Gorge along the Oregon/Washington State border.
4-6 and 8 are for advanced sailors only.
Going to a
foreign country can be exciting, adventurous, and exhilarating. You can
travel to
a destination where it is warm,
windy, and where you can get a lot of
time in on in the
vivid and clear blue water. However, keep the following in mind:
1. Outside of Bonaire and Aruba, most vacation
destinations are very challenging
windsurf venues best suited for highly skilled and well conditioned windsurfers
(compared to local standards).
2. Prices are much higher in the
Caribbean than at home, for everything
from a motel room to a pizza
3. Crime is high, and it is my
experience that if you are the
victim,
the police may not be of much help
4. I have found that my body is stressed
significantly because of the daily
extreme
physical exertion and the exposure to sun that I am not ordinarily used to
A few tips:
1) Ascertain whether the windsurf venue at your travel
destination is suitable for your
skill level and level of physical
conditioning
before making plans and putting money
down. Most travel destinations are
very challenging as compared to the mid-Atlantic
launches, and often involve
little to no shallow water where you can stand up in, have
a lot of sailors on
the water at one time, have waves and turbulence and rent only
boards with
limited floatation (i.e., below 140 liters).
If you can not water start
comfortably, or you need to uphaul your sail etc, it may be best to stay near
home or
limit
yourself to Aruba or Bonaire.
2) Do not bring a large sum of cash with you,
bring travelers checks instead or use
your ATM card and credit cards for getting
cash and making purchases
3) Exchange your money overseas, via your ATM
card or some other exchange service.
Foreign exchange services
in the US charge
8-10% fee for a single transaction.
4) Consider bringing your harness,
booties, a sun hat, gloves, PFD (many rental
facilities in the Caribbean do not provide PFDs or have a limited number thereof),
sunscreen, lip balm, passport, medications, travelers checks,
credit cards,
ATM cards, your driver's license, camera, sunglasses* etc.
*I have noticed the extreme brightness in the Caribbean, with
the sun overhead,
the white sand, the reflective water etc.
One may want
to consider buying and
bringing
Sea Specs. These are sunglasses (either prescription or
non-prescription)
meant for watersports. They wrap around and do not fog, so
that your eyes are not
shocked or overwhelmed by the extreme brightness way down
south.
Additional Considerations:
1) At most travel destinations outside of
Aruba/Bonaire, it is critical for a sailor to
have the skills and the
conditioning to be able to easily waterstart in deep water,
and to be able to
prepare your rig and board
for a waterstart (e.g., flip the sail etc)
in deep
water, without the comfort of being able to stand up on the
bottom or
uphauling
your sail. Not only must these be mastered in deep water, but it must be
done in
choppy conditions where swells and other sailors may be present.
If you are
not conditioned or you do
not have the skills to prepare for a waterstart in deep
water and to waterstart in deep water, you may
be very
limited as to what you can
do windsurfing-wise at your travel destination.
2) keep in mind that a "beginner" windsurfer at most travel destinations outside
of
Aruba/Bonaire is defined
differently than a beginner at home. For
example, if you
can use the footstraps at home, you may be considered
an
advanced windsurfer,
but at the travel destinations, you could still be
considered a beginner. This is
significant in that you need to be
intermediate or advanced under the more rigorous
destination standards to
really
benefit from and enjoy your windsurfing experience at
the destination.
3) Remember, the water at these destinations
is deep, the water may be crowded
with other sailors, there
may be waves and
turbulence in the water, and there
may be a limited supply of high floatation
boards for rental. Therefore, you do not
want to be in short supply
of skills or physical conditioning when traveling to windsurf.