Alef Arendsen

A while ago I blogged about Wouter and me going to Cabo Verde for a week’s worth of kiteboarding. Well, actually last week, and I can tell you: it was awesome.

We took the train to Schiphol airport late in the afternoon. Our flight was leaving at about 7pm. On the way to Cabo Verde we didn’t have any problems with the almost 50kg of luggage we had. I also had hand luggage that amounted to about 15kg, but before we checked it, we’d stashed our hand luggage in a locker first so that they check-in lady wouldn’t see it. This worked. We arrived Friday late at night at the international airport of Sal, one of the islands in the region a
and quickly took a taxi to hotel Odjo d’Agua.

We quickly went to bed, because the day after, the fun would start. Wind predictions were good and we didn’t want to waste any minute on the water. What followed were 7 very boring days if you first look at it, but to us it was total paradise. Pretty much every day (starting Saturday) we got up about about 8am, had a big breakfast (consisting of eggs, bread yoghurt, lots of fruits, lots of tea and juice and more bread). Next, we got a taxi at about 10am to arrive at kite beach usually at 10.10am. We kited every day until about 5.30 and went home to take a shower. Afterwards, we’d go out for dinner followed by bed at about 9.30pm.

Obviously the fun of the day was between 10.10am and 5.30pm. Every minute on the water was great. Saturday we started with about 15 – 18 knots of wind, which was quite okay. Sunday and Monday were a bit stronger with about 17 – 20 knots of wind. Usually in the afternoon the winds would die down a knot or two, but that wasn’t a big deal, because both Wouter and me had brought big kites as well. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were awesome. The winds were constantly between 25 and 30 knots these days and the swell was awesome (although kite beach is basically on the wrong part of the island to get really big swells). We pretty much kited like maniacs in these winds; to such an extent that on Wednesday night I actually felt pretty sick. Feeling sick or not, it didn’t really matter, because the next morning, it was the same routine: breakfast, taxi, rigging up and heading out… Adrenaline would start flowing as soon as we hit the water and then all pain would be gone again.

A few random thoughts about Sal and this trip:

• Never forget to put on sun screen if you’re that close to the equator. I forgot to do it the first day and it almost ruined my entire holiday
• Don’t forget to bring sun screen. We bought one bottle (because we ran out) and it cost us €40,=!
• Don’t expect anything of the island except for wind, sand and sun. There’s simply nothing else!
• Don’t rent a car, you don’t need it, taking a taxi to and from kite beach is quick enough

More pictures from this trip on Picasa.

In winter, kite boarding in the Netherlands is not a lot of fun. That’s why a lot of people in addition to for example a skiing holiday, also go on a kite boarding holiday to some kind of a windy location with nice white sandy beaches and warm water. A while ago, I came across the Best Offshort Odysseys, an expedition around the world by catamaran sponsored by Best Kiteboarding. An awesome initiative I definitely wanted to join.

Because in the end I didn’t get enough time to do this, I had to find a replacement trip and when Wouter told me he also wanted to go on a kite boarding trip, we quickly set a date (end of Feb, beginning of March) and started looking for a location.

Kiteforum.com has this forum thread (scroll about half-way down) where all the kite boarding locations are categorized by month. This provided a good number of candidates. Cumbuco (Brazil), one of the ABC islands, or Vietnam proved to be too far of a flight (we didn’t want to spend 36 hours of a one-week holiday on a plane or otherwise being transported to our holiday destination), so in the end we settled for Sal, which is a small island (it’s a rock really) part of the Cabo Verde group of islands.

A ticket was quickly settled upon; we’re flying out on February 27th with Air Portugal (TAP) with a short transfer in Lisbon. Hopefully we’ll get there by midnight.

When going out kiteboarding, luggage is a totally different thing. Air Portugal makes you put all your kite gear in one (kite) bag with a maximum weight of only 23kg. The thing is with kiteboarding: if something breaks, there’s usually no shop nearby to get it repaired easily, so that’s why you have to take some spares of some important things.

Here’s the list of things I’m taking:

• 2 boards (Naish Haze 133 and North Jaime Pro 132)
• 3 kites (8sqm and 10sqm Gaastra Jekyll and 12sqm Cabrinha Switchblade)
• Three handle bars (two for the Gaastras, one for the Cabrinha)
• Harnass
• Shorty (the water is warm enough for only a shorty) + shoes
• Spare fins and screws
• Tube repair kit

I’m splitting the luggage over two bags, one to take with me on the plane. This bag is probably a little bit bigger than what’s allowed on the plane, but then again, I’m good enough at fooling the airline people lately to get it on board. The other bag is a big kiteboarding bag. The hand luggage contains one kite, my clothes, shoes, flipflops and a few other necessities. The kiteboarding bag contains the rest.

Like I said, Sal really is only a rock. The tour guide on Sal says the following:

The arrival at Sal on an international flight is one of the most deliciously depressing descents. For hours the traveller has scanned the Atlanctic from the aeroplane window, searching for the lost islands of Cape Verde with an increasing sense of their isolation. Then Sal appears: relentlessly brown and featureless, etched with dry cracks through which rain occasionally flows. As the descent begins one feels like the Mars Pathfinder as it fell towards the Red Planet – except that Mars is believed by some to be capable of sustaining life.

Disembarking from the aircraft to cross the heat of the runway you will gaze at the rocky plains in puzzlement, trying to remember why you decided to come. There are two possible reasons: either you are going to the white sands and windy waters that lie on the island’s south coast – be assure that they are there and they are beautiful or you are passing through to other islands of much greater interest

Nope, we’re not going to pass through to islands of much greater interest, we’ll be staying there, on the little featureless rock. There is going to wind though! For now, the forecasts look pretty good with 17 to 19 knots on Saturday and 20 – 22 on Sunday through to Tuesday. Enough for me to either put my 10 or my 8 on and have some great fun!

Well, enough for now; I’m going to prepare my luggage a little bit more. We’re flying out on Friday (the day after tomorrow) with an evening flight and will be flying back on the 8th of March, arriving back in Holland on Sunday morning. I’ll keep you posted!

Last Sunday I had my first session of the year (well, if you don’t count that silly ice kiting experiment early January–don’t ever try that, it’s uncontrollable).

The winds were supposed to very good (around 20 knots), but in the end the predictions were way off and we only had about 10 – 14 knots. I only brought my 12sqm unfortunately, so things weren’t all that good.

Well, at least, the season got started. Let’s hope many good session will follow. Next Friday evening, I’m actually heading out to Cabo Verde to spend a week kiteboarding in the warm seas of the island called Sal. Pray with me for some good winds please !!