No better way to spend the winter than on a Caribbean beach!
I’m back in El Yaque for some winter training, and the season is on fire! Generally speaking January is not peak season, but the wind has been on and strong nearly every day.
I’m windsurfing out from the Club Nathalie Simon center, the best equipped and friendliest rental center on the beach here. We got a nice crew of riders including Loick Spicher from Switzerland, his girlfriend Jazzy Zwerus, Piotr Majcher from Poland, Omar, Alex and a few other European riders. Joining us are some talented locals like Deivis Paternina and Cheo Diaz. Everybody is totally ripping on the water, so it’s a great scene!
So far we sailed a few different spots besides the main beach. La Punta this year is like a mini sand-bottom lagoon, perfect for flat water freestyling. Further downwind from there is Manglillo, which is a flat spot that just can’t possibly get any better. Venture another 500m downwind and you get to Punta Carnero, more of a wave jumping spot. It’s so nice to have this variety of conditions here, every day is different.
My annual trips to El Yaque are not complete without borrowing a mountain bike from Casa Nora and joining the crew for some early morning rides a couple times a week. The trails are new and improved; we cover around 22km in 2.5 hours in the early mornings before the sun rises too high. It’s a great way to stay in shape and to add some variety to the windsurfing days.
I’m hanging out here until the end of March, so if you’re planning a windsurfing trip before then, come on down and visit me, and in the meantime stay tuned for the next update from here as I plan to explore a few other spots in the area.
