Puerto Rico Trip

[mnpaslay]

In January 2008 I went on a great kiteboarding trip to Puerto Rico with a local school here from MI, Great Lakes Kiteboarding (http://www.greatlakeskiteboarding.com). If you have not done a kiting destination trip, I highly recommend it. Here is my write up of the trip...pretty long actually...

I'll start with my experiance with my Best gear, since that is what most people are probably interested in here...

I had the 2007 Best Golf bag, 2007 Waroo 13m (55 bar), and 2007 Waroo 9m (45 bar). The golf bag worked very well, I paid nothing extra. The only thing they seemed to check was the weight. On the way down I took my 13m as carryon incase my luggage got lost for a couple days; the Golf bag had my 9m Waroo, proof 151 board, Dakine harness with vest, 2 best pumps, wind meter, and couple other small things. This put it around 45-49 lbs. On the way back I added the 13m kite back into the bag with the plan of taking it out as carryon if I was over the weight. They took it no problem, but I think it was over 50 lbs.

I was extremely happy with both my kites and used my 13m 3 days and my 9m 2 days. Going between kites was very easy, the 9m was a litte faster of course, but the adjustment time was very short. In our group of travelers most did not have Best kites, though the local riders did. The 4 line system seemed a lot simpler than the other kites there, less tangles, less lines to run and hook up, easier depower system. Since there was no land to rig or launch from, having less lines was a good bonus. I found myself wondering why the other kiters did not choose Best...

Now, on to the trip...


Before going to Puerto Rico, I considered myself a self sufficient kiteboarder. I was finally going upwind, could body drag back to my board, and spent very little time walking; however, after each jump attempt I would have to make 3 tacks (passes) to get back to where I was. I still was afraid of losing my board every time I felt it come off my feet. I just came back from a trip to Fort Lauderdale, my first time kiteboarding in the ocean since my first lesson in Hawaii (usually kiting the larger lakes in MI, mostly Lake St. Clair). Being in deep water the whole time was intimidating at first, but by the end of my trip to Florida I felt more comfortable body dragging back to my board, but still nervous about trying anything that had a good chance of me losing the board.

Upon arrival in Puerto Rico all the arrangements were taking care of for us. We spent our time in Puerto Rico in Lajas staying at the Posada Porlamar hotel. Every morning we had a great breakfast at a local restaurant called El Manglar, and then we headed back to the hotel to load up our gear onto boats from a local school. We then took a short boat ride to the nearby Mangrove Islands where we setup our kites and rode. The spot was ideal, the reef and mangroves blocked the wind and waves, creating flat water on one side with medium sized waves on the other side where they could get by the reef. There was no kite pumping with this setup, we used scuba tanks to fill up our kites quickly.

To improve my jumping I did 1 lesson during the trip. I knew what I was supposed to do, but having an instructor ride behind and watch me to tell me what I was and was not doing is what I needed. Before this lesson, either nothing happened or I got ripped out of my bindings and spun around. After the lesson and with more practice, I could consistently land small jumps; I hope to use the techniques I learned to get more height in the near future. My upwind abilities also dramatically increased. I went from spending most of my time working on going upwind to spending it jumping and getting back to my starting point after 1 tack (1 pass) even after falling and body dragging to get my board. I was getting back to my board faster than ever, giving me the confidence needed to try more jumps.

On the trip you could just ride, do lessons, or do a full camp. When I first learned I did a 1 day lesson in Hawaii, after seeing the camp I would highly recommend it for beginners. I wish I had gone that route...it may seem expensive, but it is worth it!

The rest of the days were filled with near perfect riding conditions, I rode 5/6 days, 2 days on my 2007 Best Waroo 9m and 3 days on my 2007 Best Waroo 13m. The improvement in all the kiteboarders on the trip was obvious. I went from not even knowing if I would get in the air or be able to get my board back when I fell to consistently getting air (still need more height) and having no fear of getting back to my board. That is the best part of a kiteboarding trip like this, the improvement you will see in your riding.

After a long day of kiteboarding, we returned back to that great restaurant, El Mangler, for a delicious dinner.

What a great trip that was! I plan on going again next year.[url][/url]

[Hbgkitare]

Hello!
I spent a month in a place called La Parguera, proberly the same place as you visit. I just love it! Will go there again!

[prwinds]

Glad you enjoyed your stay!
Im a local from san juan and have just begun making trips to parguera on a regular basis just to kite there with a couple riders from san juan. The truth is its a super seet place to kite and well worth the 1 1/2 hour drive from san juan! Super clean clear water, extremely flat and about 1-3 feet deep on some spots. Perfect for cruising around and boosting big! or wakestyle. And for the true hardcores binders theres a 22' slider in process!!

Feel free to hit me up and let me know when anyone is making the trip down here. Chances are we have space in a boat for you to catch a ride! Or you can hook up with Luisjo, he a super cool local, that runs a school there. Super chill and a great guy, you can also catch a ride with him to the kite spots.

good winds!