- Radar Tom's Blog - Radar Tom

A New Young Gun, Local Slalom and the NeilPryde Wizard

I hate to jinx things, but it’s been sunny and the wind has been unbelievably consistent day-to-day these last couple weeks at about 17 to 20 knots each day. New guests seem to be making great strides. Young Noah (pictured below) came here having sailed very few times before and started on a big Starboard Start but progressed quickly down through the new JP-Australia Explorers and into the JP-Australia Young Gun... and after a few days he was into the harness and planing with feet next to, but not quite in, the footstraps.

Two couples from North and South Dakota (do they have water there?) started out paddle boarding but after one windsurfing lesson were hooked on the sport, sailing back and forth, tacking and staying both upwind and dry – and with big smiles! My last discussion with them was on buying windsurf-capable SUPs to use on their local waters. Many tourists have been using the new paddleboards to explore the shoreline.

The local windsurfing club held slalom racing this weekend out at the Blue Highway. It was great to see the participation and high level of slalom skills. Daan, a windsurfer/instructor from Holland who is helping part time at Vela for a few months actually finished first in the ‘Big Boys’ division after Wouter (could have been first?) had a sail downhaul break loose and had to miss a couple of heats.

In January, Sarah Quita Offringa was finally added to the local ‘Wall of Fame’ recognizing some of Aruba’s most accomplished athletes. Of note were her 5 consecutive PWA Freestyle championships, slalom titles, and being the youngest woman world champion.

I’ve been having fun sailing most every day and trying different gear. The carbon Starboard Kode has been great fun for a lively ride, jibing and old school freestyle. The carbon JP-Australia All Ride 116 is surprisingly fast with easy jibing. The new Starboard Carves are making a great addition to the Vela fleet as an easy, progressive freeride as a slightly wider option to the more traditional JP Excite Rides.

Last week we rigged a new NeilPryde Wizard 5.7. I was pretty excited to try this sail as for 2013 the Wizard replaces the Firefly in a lighter 4-batten (up to 5.7) design. Both Daan and I sailed the Wizard on Kode and Freestyle Wave boards and enjoyed the sail. It is a different approach, the four batten Wizard actually having a longer luff and boom lengths than last year’s 5 batten Firefly 5.7. We rigged the new Wizard on X65 SDM and sailed in medium winds. We first noticed a light, easy to use sail with smooth power, more than last year’s Firefly with a little higher draft. The bottom batten was hard to rotate (tried changing downhaul and uphaul) so the next step is to rig it on a RDM. The 5.1 Wizard, rigged on an RDM, rotated fine.

Come visit Aruba today! Go to velawindsurf.com for more info.

Mini Tests, Jet Packs and Movin' Down the Highway

The Christmas and New Year holiday season were very busy, but activity, as usual, has tapered off for a couple of weeks. The Vela staff has taken advantage of the time by better organizing boards, putting on new foot straps, rigging additional 2013 sails, cleaning up the beach and huts, and generally getting ready for things to pick up by the end of the month. We just received a shipment of more 2013 sails! Guests have been blessed by good winds up until the last couple days when either big sail/board (7.2 to 8.2) were needed for consistent planing… or we just went out to work on light wind tricks. The 10-foot SUPs have been working great with a 5.0-meter range sail for light wind fun or for some small wave sailing.

Setup of the new location has started. Last Saturday we hired a tow truck and moved the Vela container from the current site up to the new spot north of the Ritz Hotel.

Planning and material acquisition is being finalized for a roof/sun structure extending from the container toward the beach, and hangers for sails to be stored there. This location will initially be used as an easy-access location with better winds near the beach for leaving gear during lunch or a break and a spot for switching sails. The great sailing mural done by Brian McCann on our container looks really cool at the new site.

I’ve taken advantage of some sailing time to check out the new 2013 Neil Pryde H2 7.2 paired with the Starboard iSonic 117 carbon. The H2 has definitely been upgraded this year with a medium depth race-like luff sleeve with a fairly deep profile near the boom in a user-friendly 2-cam configuration. Sure, it’s heavier than a no-cam freeride sail, but offers good acceleration and a very good top end. Control through gusts is really smooth with little backhand pressure, and jibing is again easy for a performance sail, and has easy cam rotation. The sail matches really well with the performance characteristics of our carbon iSonics speeding out on the blue highway. Pierre, one of our regular guests and speed sailors from Canada, reached a top speed of 37.5 mph on the H2/iSonic combo.

One of the most fun days I’ve had so far this year was blasting fully powered on the new JP FreestyleWave 111 with a NP Atlas 5.8. The board was fast and really smooth through the chop, with a very comfortable stance, but to me the best feeling was its ‘knife through butter’ jibing ability. It was really cool to look for and accelerate into a gust and immediately roll into a jibe, oversheet the sail and feel the board rip through the chop and plane out! Changing the arc mid-turn was very easy. Come down and try all the new gear out!

Looking for a change of pace? New on Aruba this year is Red Sail Sports’ Jet Lev. A jet-ski type, no rider water craft directs water under pressure through a large hose-like tube into a ‘jet pack’-style back pack (remember James Bond???). The rider straps on the back pack and controllable pressure nozzles on the back lift you out of the water and provide steering. Jet Lev advertises the ability to fly ‘up to 30 feet in the air or hover and walk on water. Our friend Walt from Delaware gave it a try and had a blast. The staff (Ozzy) was very professional, and did a great job of explaining and controlling the entire process.

CLICK HERE for more information on all Vela Windsurfing Resorts!

The Great...the Bad...and the Ugly

Willy Nelson got it right when he sang ‘You Are Always On My Mind’… and I like to believe that he was thinking about Aruba – boy, is it good to be back. Yes things change, the Ritz Carlton Hotel is up and the windsurfing area has moved, but it’s still great to be out speeding along the blue highway with its clear water and smooth flat jibing. The wind has been really good since we arrived in December and we’ve had Vela guests planing every day but a couple (after all, every once in a while it’s good to work on light wind freestyle). Over the holiday season the center was busy with old friends Mac and Enry out doing lessons and helping the guests.

Once again at Vela, Christmas came early with new sails and boards. Some 2013 sails are already rigged so most of our quiver is 2012 & 2013 Neil Pryde sails. The new sails look great and are built really well, and the ones I’ve used so far have been sweet on the water. I’m especially excited about the new Neil Pryde H2 Racing 7.2 sail I rigged the other day. This year Neil Pryde dropped the RS:Slalom and upgraded the H2 with more performance in a user-friendly package. Feedback from the guests has been real positive, especially when matched up with our freerace carbon boards.

Around 40 new 2013, JP and Starboard boards arrived and are all setup and ready for rental. All the old JP X-Cite Rides (158 to 122) have been replaced, most in lighter Full Wood construction. We now have a new line of Starboard Carves (111 – 151), that seem to fit well between the X-Cite Rides and racier Futura/Super Sport lines and have expanded the Futura line with some new 2013 boards. I can’t wait to try the new JP FreetsyleWave Pro edition boards we have in sizes 111 to 84. Finally, for the really light days or really big guys we have a new Starboard Carbon iSonic 127 and a new JP Super Lightwind Pro 90. Our 12 new JP paddleboards have been getting lots of use from both Vela guests and tourists. The new boards are lighter and livelier than our old ones and feedback has been really good.

As I get more sailing in, I’ll give more feedback on the new gear.

I ran into Sarah-Quita Offringa and her brother Quincy out sailing together, nice to see their ‘family activities’ includes sailing together. Congratulations to SQ on her 5^th straight freestyle title.

Now the less-than-stellar news: Yes, a Ritz Carlton is being built and it has created a big wind shadow close to the beach. We now have to walk out a little way (to near where the Oasis used to be moored) to start sailing. The other option is sail straight out at where the wind funnels between the Mariott and Ritz and then head towards the red flag to start sailing. We have moved the Oasis (our on-water refreshment cooler) over to the reef, near where the red flag was, for better access and sailing. Again, sailing at the ‘Red Flag’ and ‘Blue Highway’ are still as good as ever.

The good news: Vela just got written approval from the government to move just North of the Ritz, near the Fisherman’s Huts. This will give us cleaner wind and better launch access. Stay tuned as we finalize details as lots of other plans are in discussion. Or even better come join us for an amazing Vela Windsurfing vacation here in Aruba. —Tom Lepak

Josh Angulo comes to Aruba

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.

Doing it all in Aruba!

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!

New Aruba Windsurfers, New Aruba Activity

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 -----

Aruba's Carbon Footprint

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 is Alive and Well!

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’.

Busy Season in Aruba

As we get further into the busy season work is settling down into customer service mode, fun and excitement coming from seeing old guests return and meeting new guests. Routine tasks such as checking straps, fins, retuning sails etc. fill any spare time. Unlike other years, the wind seems to be cycling between light and medium days. In talking with guests who have visited other islands we’re all experiencing similar conditions.

One of the neatest parts of being here several years in a row is watching families return each year and seeing the kids grow up and their sailing skills progress. While mom and dad (Jackie and Jeff (hope I get this right)) have always sailed well, young Ben is getting into the harness, footstraps and planing this year. The JP Young Guns and Neil Pryde One sails are really good for progressing kids. It seemed like an island view of ‘The Brady Bunch’ watching dad, mom, and Ben, with Amy sailing on the back of dad’s board, taking a family cruise to the wreck and back, Ben actually taking the lead.

The SUPs are continuing to get more use. Even on somewhat windy days we are getting a lot of guests and walk-ups taking the SUPs out for a paddle. The new boards are easy to use and everyone has fun on them. As proven by Peter and daughter Georgia, the kids’ SUPs have been great for a family to use to ‘teach’ (or at least to give them a fun time) their young kids to windsurf. The boards are really light and have a comfortable, forgiving deck and the 1.0 kids sails fit perfectly. Some are using the big SUPs for cruising, while others are having fun paddling, sailing, or surfing in the small waves.

ABK was in town for their annual camp. On their off days, Andy and I took advantage of the new SUPs and Firefly sails to do some wave sailing up by the wreck. I’m admittedly am not a wave sailor but Andy gave me the basics and I caught a few waves and managed to tack and jibe out after some fun rides.

We had another evening sail for some of our guests this week. It was really fun and relaxing without a lot a people around and sailing until the sun set. Some margaritas and cold beer capped off the evening.

Congratulations to Arubian star Sarah-Quita Offringa on her PWA Woman’s Slalom victory in Vietnam. In Aruba we’re all used to her winning Freestyle events, but it seems like she is focused on winning two disciplines this year. The local windsurfing community is now getting more excited for the PWA’s return to Aruba this June. Quincy Offringa (Sarah-Quita’s brother and 10^th overall in last year’s PWA Men’s Freestyle) is around during college breaks (studying mechanical engineering!) and is also sailing really well, getting ready for Bonaire and Aruba. Hopefully he is able to pick up additional sponsors and travel to more of this year’s events.

On the down side, we got a note from Maarten Van Ochten, H73, who fractured his leg and is out of sailing for at least 3 months. After Maarten finished 9^th in PWA in 2010, and has been doing a lot of training for this year, we all wish him the best luck and a speedy recovery. Maarten is HOPING to be back for the Bonaire and Aruba PWA events.

On the non-windsurfing side, we finally had a night out with some old friends/guests. Dinner was at The Old Fisherman, a restaurant downtown. Everyone selected fresh seafood and we downed it all with some wine and other goodies. The meal was great and I’d recommend it to all. We finished the evening listening to one of the Vela desk worker’s singing at a downtown open-air restaurant/bar.

A busy President's Week!

President’s Week has been especially busy this year; I counted well over 50 windsurfers on the water this afternoon (compared to 4 kiters). The winds have been good for a while and I had some great slalom sessions on an ISonic 107/Hellcat 6.5 followed by a fun freestyle day on a JP 98 and Firefly 5.3. Our quiver of 5.x sails was empty so we rigged additional sails. I finally got through testing all the JP boards. The new Excite Rides have been improved this year, slightly wider in the footstrap area and improved bottom shaping provides earlier planing, a slightly looser ride with a more comfortable sailing position. All boards in the line have a similar ride so switching up or down makes for an easy transition. The Super Sports have similar improvements, still with good speed but they seem to have a much smoother ride and more controllable jibing than previous years. Planing through jibes has never been easier! Next week on to the Starboards.

Well known East Coast racer Miles Borash (winner of the Grand Masters in last year’s Aruba Hi Winds) was visiting for the week testing a quiver of Maui Sails TR 6’s with our ISonics, training and preparing for a Curacao event. Rumor has it Miles has a quiver of new TR7s waiting when he gets home next week.

How do we know the wind finally dropped???

- Miles was finally seen slogging on a 10 meter sail

- Big Marty finally started slowing down [Marty was famous this week for breaking two harness lines (hence – Big Marty!) and was ecstatic when our carton of new lines arrived (4 weeks late)]

- ABK is coming to town (fortunately the wind kicked back in on ABKs starting day! I guess Andy still has an in with the wind gods.)

Wassup?? Just in time for the 3 light wind days, new goodies arrived this week. Our container of 8 new SUPs arrived and they were setup and put into quick service, Vela now having a great selection of new 11, 10, 8.5 SUPs as well as two kids SUPs. They were quickly setup and immediately were all on the water for paddling as well as light wind sailing fun. Big Marty said he had tons of light wind fun cruising the 11 footer with a 6.9 Firefly, while I played light wind freestyle on the 8 ft 6 in SUP with a 5.3 Firefly. The soft rails, slight rocker and smaller fins gave the board a really fun ride forward, backward and in transition, while Leo took it to the wreck and had fun catching the waves.

Our local friends Robert & Carina took us for an Aruban fish dinner at a local ‘restaurant’ called Zeerover (Dutch for Pirate). Nothing fancy, Zeerover is basically a Caribbean rum shop, on water by the fishing docks, down in Savaneta. At some point they added a ‘kitchen’ – outdoor sink, fryer, cooking counter. Fresh fish comes in daily and is cooked up that evening. You’re never sure what you are getting as ‘catch of the day’ is truly that. We had a great meal of Wahoo, shrimps, fries, and plantains. Liter bottles of cold Presidente beer from the Dominican Republic rounded out the meal.

Look who's in Aruba?

I thought life was great in Aruba, but after seeing a picture of our lake fully frozen, covered with snow, and reading the temperature of -2F, it feels even better down here. Good winds, warm and sunny weather started out the week. Today brought light wind and a little rain, but by afternoon the sun returned and the wind again picked up. I had a great slalom session last night sailing with several of the Vela staff and some local hot shots! The iSonic 107 and Hellcat 6.7 worked great but it was tough (impossible??) keeping up with the guys on carbon slalom boards and full on 7.8 race sails who were tuning for this year’s Hi Winds.

Guests have really started to pick up this week as we are in peak months. Our regular gang from Canad-eh, with their ‘adapted’ (and proud of it) Mass. contingent, arrived this past weekend and have gotten right back into taking the fast gear, speeding the blue highway all day, then having a great ‘after sailing’ session discussing the day’s events and planning the evening. It looks like cold Balashi beer helps relieve the pains from the day and loosen up the planning process. They came with special shirts this year to help tell each other apart! Gary had a close encounter today, sailing along on the blue highway he was suddenly surrounded by around ten dolphins. They stayed with him for a while, one coming up and grazing the side of his board, another surfacing near the front of his board and lifting the bow a little out of the water.

Last year’s (2010) video – another great job documenting their vacation and showing the great conditions, gear, and fun waiting in Aruba. Check it out at

John Chao, President and Designer of Windwing in Hood River, was in town for a few days this week and brought along some of his kites for friends and a Windwing Hammer RDM 6.9 for himself. The Hammer is unique in that it is a cam sail designed around a skinny mast, with 2 tack straps to better control draft Check out the Windsport 2010 sail test - we found it to be very stable and fast, with smooth rotation in the jibes. John’s black sail really stood out as he and the Vela iSonic raced with guys on the Neil Pryde sails.

With great fan fare (at least the Vela staff was excited) we finally got the new Oasis on the water and guests immediately lined up for a refreshing cool drink of water. This year’s edition does not have a flag pole and Vela flag. Seems like the kiters were having a problem running into the pole last year! So much for control and steering!

For anyone who MIGHT need an afternoon from windsurfing or more likely something to do in the evening, a new ride just opened at Palm Beach Plaza called the FlowRider. Body boarding or stand up surfing on a single wave is simulated by a large pump pushing water up a curved incline. Dennis, a friend of Vela who runs a surfing school, is working part time there as an instructor (video below is not Dennis!) helping out people who give it a try.

A new Oasis!

After a few days of mediocre (for Aruba) winds and people on 7.2s, it’s good to see the weather getting back to normal with clear skies and stronger winds. It was good to hear actual guest “complaints” of:

“I need to trade to a smaller sail”
“Can I get a smaller board”
“I’m exhausted - man that was fun”
“I haven’t gone that fast before”
“I was getting nervous going into jibes that fast”
“I really need some vitamin A (alcohol) or vitamin B (beer—cans work well for the sore hands!).”

Finally some people are working on freestyle aerial moves on 5.0s and speedsters taking 5.2/5.7/6.2 NeilPryde Hellcats. Quincy Offirnga is home for a week from university in Curacao (pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering), and it’s good to see him making huge shakas, burners, etc. out at the red flag. I love watching his efficient and controlled sailing style. Dr. Steve from Holland has been ripping it up with Spocks, Loops and great starboard side Flakas plus a bag of old school tricks. This week was also cool as several of our guests were ABK alumni that I haven’t see for a while.

Our new SUPs have arrived on the island and should be through customs this week. There are 3 new sizes and we will probably keep a couple of our older SUPs to supplement. I am looking forward to a giving them a try for paddling, windsurfing and wave riding, and to get some feedback from our guests.

After the busy holidays, the number of guests is a little down but starting to increase as we move toward the busy months. We at Vela have been taking advantage by building a new Oasis (pictured right), cleaning up the grass around our palapas (pictured above left), trimming trees, ordering new goods for the retail shop, repairing the rescue boat (pictured above right), etc. For those of you new to Aruba, the Vela Oasis is a platform built from two old boards, placed out in the sailing area each day, with a cooler of cold water (we tried to get a beer cooler but got turned down) on it. It makes a great spot to stop and refresh, chat with new sailors, and to use as a reference site while sailing. Last year’s Oasis went to the great Oasis burial ground, somewhere off Columbia, in the middle of the night!

Everyone who has been to Vela Aruba knows Enry—one of our best instructors, cool tatoos, and always with some helpful comments or at least a good joke! In his off time, he loves music and plays guitar and sings in a band. In addition to singing while at work and doing beach-style gigs, lately his group has been playing at the Radisson and Marriott. We checked him out last night, and (going upscale) we were shocked to see him in a suit (at least no collar, tie or wing tips). I thought he was too young, but the Miami Vice style outfit, while in black, ‘suited’ him well, the sneakers and big smile still showed through.

On a final note, walking to work last week we noticed a Caribbean approach to reusing beer bottles while saving the trees. A building lot was being cleared, and a marker/stake was an upside down, orange painted beer bottle! I checked, at least it was empty – but now I have another excuse to drink a beer after work!

Speed Rules!

Things seem different this year but I'm not sure why. We usually have a pretty good mix of beginners, intermediates, cruisers, and speedsters with a spattering of freestylers. This year the mix is tending toward the usual beginners taking introductory 101/102 classes, and speedsters taking the faster gear (Hellcat sails with Starboard iSonics or JP Super Sport boards). Activity on the Blue Highway is heavier than ever before. This year more people are working on increasing their speed and planing through jibes. Drag races are more and more common.

Both guests and locals are getting in on the action. The regular Sunday racing seems more popular than ever. Last Sunday there were around 30 people taking to the slalom course, followed by long distance racing this week. Maybe people are getting excited for the PWA slalom event coming to town this June?

I hate to admit it but I’ve also become addicted to speed (sailing) this year. Lunch hours and days off have been spent tweaking gear and technique, chasing people, talking through improvement ideas with Mac, and working on faster jibes. One of these days back to freestyle, but for now I’m really having fun. Aruba is a great slalom location! I just hope my freestyle friends will forgive my ‘digression’ to speed! It just makes me realize how diversified Windsurfing is, and that all areas of the sport are fun and challenging.

Our friends Jacque and Louise from Quebec are back at Vela again this year. Jacque (see very top photo in this post) is one of the faster sailors here (sails iSonics at home) and is amazingly efficient. He has a really smooth technique, has clean jibes, and while a small person is usually on sails one meter smaller than everyone else. Louise does not windsurf but has become a great sketch artist, capturing with great humor all the activity on the beach.

After the Christmas and New Year holidays, activity has dropped off a little, giving us a chance to catch up on things. On top of the list is building a new Oasis (‘on the water water-cooler’) and going through all the new gear, checking out foot straps, fins, sail tuning etc. We’ve also been discussing holding weekly fun slalom races to help keep out speed hungry guests satisfied and get some new people realizing how fun it can be.

This week’s blog is a little short, so please forgive me. I guess I’ve been too busy sailing to spend as much time on the blog as I should have! Next week I hope will be longer, but – the wind is still blowing here and it’s hard to argue with Mother Nature.

A great reason to stop whining!

This year’s Vela T-shirt has the motto ‘Navigo Ergo Sum’ – Latin (sort of) for ‘I Sail, Therefore I Am’. To various degrees we all love windsurfing. There’s nothing like being out on the water feeling free and enjoying our favorite sport, and many of us identify ourselves with windsurfing. HOWEVER, most of us have those days where…..

We’ve heard it all before – not enough wind, too much wind; too rough, too calm; water’s too cold, wrong gear, too tired, maybe later – blah, blah, blah. I’ve been there myself, probably too many times, but hopefully no more. This week I met windsurfer Barry Honig here at Vela Aruba. Barry is totally blind, but I’ve met very few people who love going windsurfing as much as he does.

Barry and his family usually come to Aruba each August, but I was lucky enough to meet him and his son this past week. Despite being blind from birth, Barry has been windsurfing for around 25 years now. A typical session lasts 2 to 3 hours. An instructor rigs up two sets of gear, then sails with Barry (or sometimes I think it is the other way around). I’ve seen him out sailing in light and strong winds, calm water to light waves, upwind and down, but always with a smile on his face (unless a motor boat comes flying by too close). One of Barry’s favorite cruises is in early afternoon, heading a couple miles on the Blue Highway to where the snorkeling boats moor. All the captains know him by now as he stops and chats with some of their guests and manages to get one or two(?) rum punches for ‘energy and hydration’ in order to get back home safely. His current goal is to learn waterstarting, he says, "so that I can sail in bigger waves."

Always with a funny story, I asked Barry how he learned to windsurf.

"I wanted to learn because it seemed like something I could do as a blind person. I downhill ski as well, and I figured this would be a bit easier, as I wouldn't have to worry about falling off of a cliff or crashing into a tree.

It also seemed like a real challenge, and I like a good challenge.

I initially learned in Puerto Rico, with my friend Chris Cummings— may he rest in peace.

We just got a couple of boards and hung out in the lagoon at the Condado Plaza. I would try to get up, and then fall and then try again until I could do it. Chris and I had a game we'd play. We count the number of times each of us fell, take the difference, and who ever had more, would have to buy the guy with the fewest, that number of pina coladas that night.

I really started to learn how to sail much better out in Cutchogue and South Hampton, Long Island, NY at a windsurfing school. The instructors were actually pretty willing to teach me.

I made the most progress in my ability at Vela, when I started coming about 12 years ago. The guys were all great and very willing to work with me. My kids and I have developed great friendships with all the instructors down there."

Next time we’re down at the beach and procrastinating or complaining that things aren’t perfect, let’s all realize how great we have it! Be inspired by Barry’s success and enthusiasm for the sport and get out on the water and just have fun. Let’s sum it up with a few thoughts from Barry.

"There are fewer things I like to do more than windsurf. It is the one time in my life where I can operate a vehicle and feel totally free moving around. Once we are out on the blue highway, I generally sail without one of the instructors even talking to me. They just whistle a song or I sing. It is an incredibly liberating and peaceful feeling.

I would highly recommend to any person with a visual disability that they learn the sport. It is great exercise, very liberating, and lots of fun. The people who are involved in the sport are terrific and happy to help."

Note from Radar Tom – It’s not as important that we’re really good or have the latest gear, but it is important to go out and enjoy ourselves, having fun windsurfing!

Happy New GEAR!

The container with 104 new JP and Starboard boards has arrived at customs in Aruba, but this is like waiting on Christmas morning for mom and dad to give the OK to open gifts. The Christmas/New Years week seems like a full holiday for customs (and most of the island) so we will have to wait for our boards to get cleared and delivered.

The big surprise was two days later our container of goodies actually arrived at Vela. I thought rigging the sails was a lot of work, after the first day only around 20 boards were setup. Amazing how long it takes to unload the container, log boards/serial numbers, install vent plugs, foot straps, fins, and glue on the rental-mandatory nose protectors etc. Good thing we have helping the guests, lessons, and keeping watch on the windsurfers to offer diversions (not to mention a few after work beers)!

After 3 days we’ve finally completed setting all the boards up, and the new gear looks great. Feedback from our guests of all levels has been real positive. We have new JP Funsters and Starboard Starts for beginners. JP X-cite Rides and Starboard Futuras fit the bill for intermediates/blasters – great for learning planing, footstraps, harness, jibes and all around fun sailing. For our speedsters we have new JP Super Sports and the always fast Starboard iSonics (90 through 127). Those working on aerial freestyle can choose from our Starboard Flares, and those who like to play in the waves or just love fast and ‘turny’ boards can have fun on our new Starboard Kodes. We even got a new Young Guy for our up-and-coming superstars.

Speaking of waves, Vela Aruba is known more as a learning, cruising, and speed location, but this year we have had many days of good wave sailing. Guests and instructors have been often seen heading just a little north toward the shipwreck and having some great wave sessions. Greg, one of our guests from Canada spent much of his time working on Spocks and Flakas, but was really psyched today after another great wave session!

Head instructor Mac is getting ready to defend his division slalom victory in Aruba’s annual High Winds competition. In the container were his two new carbon iSonics that look super fast. He’s already been seen out tuning up his new gear. Come to Aruba and work with Mac if you want to learn to be really fast! Stay tuned, there is rumor of the PWA returning to Aruba this year, I’ll snoop around here and see what I can find out. We’re all excited to again showcase the great slalom and freestyle conditions here. 2011 dates are not set, but check out http://aruba-hiwinds.org/ for last year’s event details.

It was Dec 27^th that fireworks started, unbelievably peaked at midnight Jan 1, and (it’s now Jan 4) can still be heard going off. Local stands popped up all over the island, and the pops, crackles, and bangs are in the air. It was reported (but not confirmed) that 8 full containers of fireworks were brought into Aruba, up from last year. Midnight New Years was unbelievably spectacular, we went outside and everywhere you looked fireworks filled the air, going full bore for several hours. The next day there were empty crates everywhere and many of the streets were covered with red fireworks casings.

We’ve been really busy over the holidays with guests of all skills and from many countries. It’s great to see so many of our guests coming back to Aruba and Vela and we’ve been meeting many new friends. Lessons and rentals have been strong and everyone seems to be having a great time here. The winds have been up and down, with a little rain but in general great sailing with warm weather and plenty of sunshine. While some of us are always complaining about the wind, waves, gear etc, next week I’ve got a story to make us all realize (as the ABK motto goes) - Every Day of Sailing Is a Great Day of Sailing!

Christmas in Aruba

We arrived in Aruba today late but missing one piece of luggage. At least no ‘Tragedy on Flight 662’ (see Windsurfing Gypsy), my gear is already here! Stepped off the plane - HOT and SUNNY were the first thoughts in my mind, but where was the wind? Arriving at Vela I realized the wind was light but there was big swell coming in! All the SUPs were all out on the water with everyone having fun learning to surf. The big decision was surfing with or without paddles! Guess life is full of tough decisions even in Aruba, but at least we didn’t have to worry about the water being warm or snow in the forecast.

Christmas arrived early the next day with a truckload full of new 2011 gear arriving from Neil Pryde. In the container was almost the full line of sail models and sizes – 150 new sails. The next few days were spent between working with guests and rigging. We now have a full range of each of the 7 models we received, with at least 2 of each size rigged. Smaller sizes are rigged on skinny masts and feel great. The guests have been blasting and learning on them with positive feedback. The speedsters/slalom gang has loved the speed of the new Hellcats (Heliums for the big guys!), blasting and drag racing out on the blue highway. Tricksters like the Firefly and new Atlas (replaced the Alpha). While designed as a wave sail, the smaller people and beginners have enjoyed the lightness and easy power of the The Fly 2.

Yesterday I had a nice session with a new 6.2 Atlas and a Starboard Kode 112. Getting back to cruising the clear, flat waters and gentle swell of Aruba is a sure cure for the dull, snowy weather blues of WAAAY up North. I’m happy to report that the new Atlas felt great (nicely powered conditions), lots of power with good speed and upwind ability, but it felt stable in the gusts. The sweet spot was big enough to make finding and controlling power easy without it being too large. The Atlas had decent maneuverability and handling in jibes and for old school freestyle. While a year old (wow, and already being replaced!) the Kode112 had a real nice top end, smooth acceleration, and matched up well with the 6.2, but most of all was really fun to sail. GREAT TO BE BACK!

We’re hoping the new boards arrive next week. More guests have been showing up for the Christmas and New Years break. The sun and wind have also been returning, and with our new boards and sails life will be complete – what stress? Come and visit for a chance to try all the best 2011 gear.

It’s a little quieter on the water this year; Sarah-Quite (congratulations on your 3^rd straight World Freestyle championship) is in Holland for University. Hopefully she can come back for the holidays and add some Flare to the sailing; we all miss the cool moves and screams of joy in the water. Check out the new video the Arabian government has put out, promoting her accomplishments and great windsurfing here in Aruba.

10 Reasons to go to...

Once again it’s time for me to head to Aruba for the winter. The summer in upstate NY was hot and sunny but without much wind. And while we had a good fall on the ABK tour, I always look forward to the warm, sunny weather in the Caribbean and sailing on Aruba's Blue Highway. Oh yeah, still no snow in the forecast there!

Stay tuned here as once again I'll be bringing you news and pictures from the Vela Resort and the island of Aruba... and hopefully getting everyone excited about visiting us for a great time sailing. Come and try out the new 2011 JP and Starboard boards with Neil Pryde sails, and maybe even a little partying!

As the weather up in NY turns somewhat windurfing-unfriendly, I thought I’d start out with my Top 10 reasons to go to Aruba this winter:

1. A successful 2010 ABK US tour is over
2. The temperature hasn’t gone above 32 deg F for 6 days in a row
3. Newspaper headlines read: "Syracuse Area Sets Daily Snow Record for Second Day"... follow-up headline reads: "90+ Hours of Continual Snow"
4. I shoveled the driveway for the 3^rd time in one day
5. The annual Ice Fishing Show is now at the New Yor State Fair Grounds (bummer I’ll miss it again)
6. Aruba weather report – 85 deg, sunny, and winds East @ 20-knots!
7. The Vela new 2011 JP and Starboard boards and Neil Pryde sails are scheduled to arrive (although I’d like to miss all the rigging)
8. Unlike the lake here in upstate NY, the pool in Aruba is not covered by a layer of ice
9. Our friends/landlords in Aruba have the beer in the fridge... the only place you'll find any ice!
10. The snow is a lot higher than my flips when I carry my Fanatic Skate to the beach

Stay tuned for news and pics of the sailing, guests, and maybe even some fun we’re having this winter at Vela Aruba.

PS. I really didn't need the top 10 reasons to want to head Aruba, but hope they help get you thinking…