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From scodger.pdev.sco.com!tehama.pdev.sco.com!sco.sco.com!hplabs.hpl.hp.com!jr.hpl.hp.com!listserv Mon Feb 27 08:34:47 1995
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Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 16:39:48 -0800
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From: Len Brown <lenb@ssd.intel.com-DeleteThis>
To: Multiple recipients of list <wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis>
Subject: trip report: Aruba/Vela
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Summary:
Sailed at the Fisherman's Huts 8/9 days on 5.5 - 6.5.
Could have sailed the 9th, but Ruthanne and I needed a rest.
Of the places to rent equipment, Vela is probably only the 4th
best on Palm Beach (fisherman's huts). Sailboard Vacations
seemed to have the best spot.
Conditions:
The wind blew every day till 5pm when they force you to get
off the water. A couple people with their own rigs would often
stay out till 6:30 or so when it died off.
Some days it was blowing at 9am, some days we had to wait till
after lunch before it was sailable.
Palm Beach is off-shore, and this time of year the wind is
steady but not heavy. So we're talking about cruizing on flat
water with big sails and big fins. I weigh 210lbs and my most
common rig was a 6.0 Pryde race sail on a 9' mistral Energy
with a 13+" true ames blade fin.
Probably if on my own stuff, I'd have generally sailed a 5.3 monoslalom.
So this is a mellow place -- learn to jibe, tune your harness/strap
use, figure out how to go fast... Pointing skills desired.
Vela:
Location sucks.
The Mariott (latest & hopefully last wind-blocking hotel)
is still not open, so Vela is still in next to the Holiday Inn.
To make matters worse, there is now a marina complete with
stone jeddy between the H.I. and the Huts.
So the launch from Vela is a chore, and getting back
is a real pain. (not a big deal at the end of the day, but
not easy to do if you're coming in to get a bigger sail...)
Others that stayed at the Holiday Inn thought it was a dump.
We paid a little extra for an Ocean Front room and we liked it.
I think we got the best room in the hotel -- top floor, front
overlooking the beach and vela.
Location to get better.
Mariott to open in March they claim, I'd believe May.
This would give Vela the 3rd best launch:
1. F2/North trailers (north end of Huts)
2. Sailboard Vacation's "Windsurf Village"
3. Vela @ Mariott (south end of Huts)
4. Roger's Windsurfing Place (north of Sailboard Vacations)
Mariott promises also to be much nicer than Holiday Inn.
Equipment Sucks.
last year's beat up mistral boards.
last year's beat up Pryde sails.
Some of the boards were full of water -- you gotta check
the weight when you pull 'em off the rack.
some of the sails were held together with packing tape --
no shit.
I must say that the fins were good (and i like those
Mistral fin-boxes) They had a True Ames 14.5" G-10 fin
that I may consider for those 7.2 Easterly days...
Equipment to get better.
The Vela folks claim that upon the move to Mariott,
they're getting all new F2 boards and new Pryde sails.
They currently had *one* current "VX" 5.5 Pryde race sail,
which sailed *much* better than last year's beat up crap
that I sailed most of the week.
Other Places to stay:
People who booked the "boardwalk appartments" liked them,
but i didn't get the chance to check 'em out.
But even after Vela moves to Mariott, I'd likely choose Sailboard
Vacations. They have a little shop that will sell you Dove Bars
for $1.50 -- and they accept wet money;-)
Sailboard Vacation's "Windsurf Village" is nice because there
is critical mass of windsurf people hanging around, and there
seemed to always be a video clinic or something going on, and a
bunch of instructors around. They have a pretty good launch
which is easy to get back to. They have a boardwalk bar with
cheap drinks and a lunchtime deli counter that makes a real
sandwich and doesn't charge you an arm and a leg for it.
They have current Mistral boards which looked new (though they're
stuck with Mistral sails also...)
Roger's Windsurfing Place was a few houses north of Sailboard Vacations.
This makes their launch very shallow. They seemed to have tons of
equipment, including the entire Fanatic line, in addition to a rack
of pristine high-end PT boards. There didn't seem to be many people
around. I think they place people in nearby houses.
I don't know about he F2/North concession, other than the fact
that they had 2 trailers directly in the windiest part -- next
to the north-most fisherman's hut.
It is possible to walk up and rent equipment from these places,
but i met people at Vela who were there b/c Sailboard Vacations
sent them away claiming to be too busy with their full-time guests.
Hints:
Be very conservative with the Sun.
I wore Bullfrog SPF 36 all week. It worked perfectly,
but I got fried wherever I missed a spot.
The choice garb seemed to be an "under wetsuit" shirt --
long sleeves preferred. Some sailed bare-foot, but I'd recommend
bringing you booties cause there is fun stuff to walk on in the reef.
If the wind picked up and you're out there for a while, you might
wish for a shorty to keep warm, cause even 80 degree air feels cool
when it is moving past your wet body for a few hours.
Of all the restaurants we went to, the one I'd go back to is called
"Que Pasa?" a Carribean style place downtown. The fresh Mulata fish
is out of this world.
The Island is Duch -- the Amstel is real, 'nuf said.
cheers,
-Len
lenb@acm.org-DeleteThis
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