Josh, great to meet you and welcome to Aruba. Congratulations on your 9th place finish in PWA Slalom on Angulo boards, your move to Point-7 sails, and especially making it through your first Boston winter. At least we made it an easy one for you!

What brings you back to Aruba?

I basically came down for some training in an environment that I knew would lend to being able to get some hours on the water and some repitition. Although we can sail in Boston right now it's not quite as user friendly as Boston ;)

What factors made you choose Aruba?  

My friends Phil, Jennifer, Max, Jake and Zee have a lovely home that they hosted me at and they are all full-on water people so they are completley tuned into what I was trying to accomplish and assisted me greatly in creating a comfortable, relaxed and supportive envornment. I also knew that there's a high level of local talent in Aruba namely in Mack and Ryan, but including plenty others that allowed for some great sparring and motivaional sessions.

How have the conditions been so far?

Cranked the whoke time I was there. Smallest sail I took was a 7.2 and I got beat up pretty bad two of the days. I really wasn't expecting that much wind. But It made me work that much harder around the buoys.

How has Vela support been so far?

Mike from Vela's super cool and laid back , but has his act together. The location is perfect and the whole team just made the whole experience and easy and fun. The boys helped set up some buoys and do some mock races. The whole vibe was full-speed and supportive. Definitely can't wait to go back and next time I'll definitely get Noah out there and I Know it's one of those spots that my wife Claudia will want to windsurf again, so it's perfrect for the whole family

What changes have you made to your slalom line for 2012?

My boards are the same as 2011. I couldn't find anything I wanted to change. I'm feeling some things that I will test for 2013, but won't make any changes until I can really figure out if it's better or not.

They look great, but what are your impressions of the Point-7 sails based on testing?

Psyched... the acceleration is exciting. I've never had that before. That's probaby the greatest confident booster for me and also the sails are locked in and don't feel like thay are maxing out on the top end. I think you can just give em more and more speed.

How is it going with the US distribution of Angulo?  Point-7 plans?  

My  windsurf distribution pretty much sucks. Probably because I've been doing it and I'm a pretty poor distributor. But I've just rethought the whole thing and just not gonna worry about numbers or volume at all. I'll work with people that are cool and have a good vibe and actively seek clients one at a time and just do my best to make them excited. I've turned my focus to the product and want to reinstill what my dad founded the business on, way back when.... quality and top designs and graphics. Now that I've pretty much stopped worrying about distribution, I am more excited than ever about just making a top-notch product and being excited about windsurfing and having fun doing it. I was missing the basic motivation for a while and glad that it's back. As far as Point 7 , I'm sure I can give them some tips based on my learning experience, but currently  2 Rad in Montreal has Point 7 sails and can send all over North America so I will just try and be a good support for them .

What would be your main suggestions for ‘Joe Average’ windsurfers to improve on slalom sailing? (other than Angulo boards and Point-7 sails!)

Gotta tune..... Easier said then done. You really need to weed out your quiver of "collected" gear and just try and whittle it down to less stuff, but good stuff that can be reasonably tuned..... and bend your knees in the jibes.... in an exagerated manner!

Josh, great to meet you, thanks for bringing a little extra excitement down here to Vela Aruba, and best of luck on the upcoming PWA season.

Wind report for the last 2 weeks, medium (15– 20 knots). Our regular guests from Canad-eh, Massachusetts and Minnesota returned for their annual 2-week vacation and were happy to have planed every day, using sail sizes from 5.7 up to 8.7 (Henry, aka Mister Big, was always on one meter bigger than the rest of the crew),  and enjoying our new gear. The new smaller Futuras as well as the carbon boards were being put to use out on the blue highway. 

On one lighter wind day we supplemented the morning planing with an afternoon of fun race for all interested guests. Everyone had to use a Hi Fly Primo board around our windward/leeward course. Mac shared upwind/downwind sailing and starting ‘strategies’ with the group and went through the starting sequence and then coached all around the course. Once again Henry was allowed to use the bigger sail but was mainly helped by intimidating all with his mean-looking, low drag, speed enhancing flaming dew-rag. After 3 races the winners were:

- Dave from Maryland

- Henry (from  ‘Wild Hogs’?) from Massachusetts

- Judd from Minnesota.

On one of the lighter wind days Doug and Viola from Ottawa, Canada tried their hand(s) at our new Starboard Gemini tandem board. After a few attempts at ‘dual water starting’, moving into uphauling, finally getting coordinated and into the harness and foot straps they were planing across the water and tacking with ease. While getting back to the beach was a big success, coming back smiling and still married was their biggest accomplishment.  The new tandem is quite a beast – 399 centimeters long, 100.5 centimeters wide, with 384 liters of volume!!!

Quincy Offringa (see photo below) was home visiting family (aka going to Carnival) and Kiri Thode was visiting Aruba to sail (aka also for Carnival) and put on a great show for guests and the locals as well. It’s good to see the new generations of local kids starting to take over the water performing Spocks and Flakas up through Konos, Burners, and more. The Wind Racers Club Aruba is now holding freestyle competitions at Barcadera as well as at Palm Beach.

Guest Board Feedback of the week:

Henry was absolutely thrilled with the planing, speed, and all-around fun he had on the JP All Rice 116 Carbon.  It was fun to see the big guy blasting around on it with sails up to our H2 8.7. I think his wife was getting jealous and we had to keep an eye on his last day as everyone thought he was going to take it home with him. While it is not as fast as the iSonics we have, I did see Henry pass a couple on the water!

Tom’s pick has to be the 113/103 carbon Starboard Kodes. While the Starboard iSonics are definitely faster, I have been having an absolute blast on the Kodes. While REALLY fun to sail, the carbon versions have the extra liveliness, acceleration, and planing that add to the fun of turning, jibing, jumping and blasting.

Vela Aruba GPS Challenge – Thanks to a friend of mine, I have a Locosys GT-31 GPS unit in Aruba for our guests and Vela team to try. I have setup the unit to record the max speed and max 10 second average speed for the sailor. Anyone who comes to Vela can see me and sign up for a 2 hour interval to use the GPS.  At the end of the session I will record the top speed for the guest and the equipment used, and will report the top speeds in my bi-monthly blogs.

While setting up and testing the GPS and process, one of our instructors recorded the best time:

• Max Speed        36.88 MPH
• Max 10 Sec       34.98 MPH

    (Using a Starboard iSonic 107 and Neil Pryde RS Slalom 7.8)

Come see me at Vela Aruba to give it a try!

The winds here in Aruba have been pretty good the last 2 weeks, seeing many returning guests but also some first timers. A really fun group was 6 friends, first time in Aruba, who all had some windsurfing experience and were of various levels through working on planing jibe. It was fun to seeing  them get comfortable on our gear, sailing multiple sessions a day, seeing them gain confidence and improve their skills –but mostly coming back in at the end of each day with big smiles on their faces and lots of tales to have over beers. It was especially rewarding to get the following note of feedback:

“Basically, we all had the time of our lives down there at Vela. We all grew up together windsurfing at a place that is usually cold, and has a day like it was every day of our trip, once a summer maybe. I can't think of a better location than Vela Aruba for any beginning windsurfer to really take their sailing to the next level. I learned a lot at Vela, and am going to make it more of a point to windsurf as much as possible because of my experiences in Aruba. We hope to all come back next year.”

Hope to see you all again!

Yoga on the Vela RRD Wassup SUPs has been getting more and more popular. Rachal Brathen, who was born in Sweden, has been teaching yoga for 2 years and paddle board yoga for one. She has been settled on Aruba for two years now, and is the yoga director at Manchebo Beach Resort and Spa where she leads yoga retreats and hosts large yoga groups from all over the world. In her job she teaches 15 – 20 regular classes a week, mostly Vinyasa Flow, and 2 – 5 SUP yoga classes a week, more in high season.

Rachal describes the classes as:

“Right now we go out seven people at a time. I do a quick run-down with the group on the beach; giving some tips and techniques on how to paddle, how to turn, how to find balance standing up on the board. Then we paddle a little bit up the coast - it's a great warm up, and gives the students a feel for how the paddle board works on the water.

No previous experience is needed at all! I get complete beginners every week. Of course, it helps if you have done some yoga before; but the poses we do are very basic (to start), and it's more about the balance than going "perfectly" into every pose. Same goes with paddle boarding, if they have some previous experience that's great, but it is in no way necessary. I get all kinds of people in class; and everybody seems to absolutely love it! There is no way to predict who is going to be "good" or more "advanced" on the board; I've had very experienced yoga teachers on the board that had a hard time even standing up, and I've had complete novices to amazing; inversions, arm balances, you name it. It's more about your core sense of balance than anything else. The good part is: falling off is fun! You just get wet, which is pretty nice since we're in the Caribbean...

It's SO much fun! We always laugh a ton in class, I like how it takes some of the seriousness out of yoga, but how it's still so meditative.”

If you want to give SUP Yoga a try when you come to Aruba contact Rachel at rachel.yoga@manchebo.com. Follow Rachel on Facebook at Rachel Brathen Yoga Lifestyle.

Tom's Windsurfing Update:

Personally I’ve been having a ton of fun sailing in Aruba this year, already having logged over 30 days on the water since Jan 1st. Not focused on any one thing, I’ve run the gamut including:

• slalom sailing on race gear
• old school freestyle on freestyle/wave boards
• cruising on long boards
• fun sailing testing our varied gear
• wave sailing on SUPs
• light wind sailing on  large, small, and SUP boards
• still working on Vulcans on our Flares
• bump and jump on the blue highway
• SUP surfing
• SUP paddling for morning exercise.

I have to admit I’m becoming a carbon board snob, loving the liveliness and performance of the new Vela gear. Maybe one of these days I’ll get back to improving my windsurfing skills, but for now it’s hard to beat just having fun!!!

-----     The Next blog – GPS speed sailing comes to Vela Aruba   -----

Great News for guests of Vela Aruba... they are expanding their Carbon footprint (in terms of windsurfing, NOT the enviroment).

For the first time, Vela Aruba has received special edition carbon boards designed for improved performance for our advanced windsurfers, and matched well to speed sailing, and bump and jump sailing on the Aruba Blue Highway. Carbon boards are lighter, stiffer, and livelier than their heavier constructed but more durable versions. Included in the new carbon range are:

• Starboard iSonic: full blown racing editions used by top PWA pros. Vela has a range of 5 models from 90 liters to 127 liters. For 2012 the Isonics have been improved with more refined tail cut-outs, reduced nose thickness, slightly thinner tail, and the center of volume moved back slightly for better control at speed.
• Starboard Kode: four new models of freestyle wave boards from 113 to 84 liters. The larger models focus around a maneuverable freeride while the smaller boards have more emphasis on maneuverable freestyle/wave performance.  For 2012 the 86, 94, and 103 are shorter with a sharper edge at the tail for improved control and acceleration. We also brought in 2012 models in the same range in wood construction.

Also, for the performance oriented sailor, the 2012 JP All Ride boards are a new addition for Vela Aruba this year.  In the pro edition Vela guests will get a higher level of performance, the 116 being an easy riding, smooth jibing speedster, migrating towards more freestyle/wave performance as we go through the 106 into the 96.

To supplement the existing 2011 Futura 141, 133, 122 models we have added 2012 Futura  111 and 101  models for the higher wind days and lighter sailors. For the big guys we brought in 2 Carve 171 boards for earlier planing performance.

Ready to double up? We have a new 2012 Starboard Gemini Mark II tandem board. For our newbies we have 4 new Starboard Large boards.

We are keeping the rest of last year’s gear as it is in good shape.

Our easiest all around board is still the JP Excite Ride in sizes from 158 down to 100 liters. This is a great board for progressing, learning harness, foot straps, planing and jibing having a slightly more traditional shape.  Moving up in performance we have Starboards more advanced all arounder, the free race Starboard Futura, in sizes from 141 to 122 liters. These boards have a shorter, wider, thinner shape, plane earlier, go upwind a little better, and are faster.

Our JP Super Sports offer an easier to use slalom ride with good speed and jibing, with sizes from 136 to 100 liters. For best speed we are keeping our 2011 Starboard Isonics to supplement the new carbon 2012’s. The 127 is an amazing early planer matched with our 2012 8.7 H2s.

For higher winds/lighter sailors we have our freestyle wave Starboard Kodes in 113 to 84 and for the aspiring freestylers the Flare in 106, 98, and 86.

Don’t forget, for beginners we have a selection of Retros, Starts, and Excite Rides to make learning easy, quick, and fun.

As an alternative we still have 12 RRD SUPs for paddling, surfing, and windsurfing!

This year Vela Aruba has its best range of great boards, so unless you’re allergic to sunny days, warm water and good wind to come visit us and give our gear a try!

Aruba came early this year as we arrived the first week in December. Early weather was rainy but since Christmas the sun and clear blue skies have been back along with hot temperatures and the warm clear Caribbean! We have not had any ‘no wind’ days, typical early season winds have ranged from light to medium. Some days have had us planing on 5’s, lighter wind days needing 7’s and some big guys on 8’s! Yes, there have even been a few non-planing days.

It’s great to see that the windsurfing staff at Vela has not changed, including instructors Mac, Enry, and Darwin. New 2012 Neil Pryde sails have arrived and are being slowly introduced, the main focus being on the larger, racier models. I feel a big improvement this year is new H2 2-cam models. Many speed oriented guests like the stability, power, and top-end of these sails which match up well with our racier Starboard Isonic and Super Sport models as well as our Futuras. Others prefer the slightly more maneuverable no-cam Hellcats. 2012 boards are expected in within a couple of weeks.

The holiday season was really busy, with guests packing the beaches and water, and having many full beginner classes. Racing out on the ‘Blue Highway’ is as popular as ever and I hope to organize some fun slalom races again this year for our guests at Vela. New this year at Vela is on the water Yoga classes on our RRD Wassup SUPs.

Also new this year, Geert van den Berg , long time Aruba board shaper, in conjunction with Wim Eelens of Aruba Active Vacations, has moved the FiberworX retail shop from the Boardwalk, into a larger, newly remodeled space in Aruba Beach Villas (formerly Sailboard Vacations). While still gearing up, the shop looks great and already has a good selection of new windsurfing boards and accessories. See http://www.arubasurfshop.com/ for details or come to Aruba and visit!

It was great to have Sara-Quita and Quincy Offringa home from college for the holidays and on the water. Both are looking forward to the 2012 PWA season. It was funny to hear several guests ask how they can plane with such small gear! In the words of Mel Brooks ‘It’s good to be efficient’ – or something like that. Besides doing freestyle, Quincy was seen going really fast on slalom gear – look out PWA???? Both are thrilled with the 2012 Starboard Flares new design and looking forward to 2012 PWA Freestyle events.

Highlights of the week for me include teaching the young daughter, Lulu, of guests. She started out only having sailed a few times to using the harness by the end of the week. Jacque and Louise are also back. Jacque going fast as ever on really small gear, but was seen talking with Sata Quita on the water hoping to pick up a few speed tips from last year’s slalom champ!

Personally I’ve been having a great time here helping the guests, giving lessons, and doing all kinds of sailing. It seems like too many options, already this year enjoying slalom gear, working on freestyle, sailing small waves at the wreck, cruising on SUPs, paddling SUPs for exercise, light wind freestyle and just ‘plane’ having fun windsurfing. It’s hard to beat the great weather and sailing options here. I suppose I should focus on getting better at one thing, but what the heck – in the words of Andy Brandt, ‘Any Day of Sailing Is A Great Day of Sailing’.