The Curacao Challenge was held for the 5th consecutive time this year from May 10th to May 12th.  A competition was held starting from slalom and tow in freestyle to even a Stand up paddle challenge. On the first day seven races were completed in open sea with medium to strong winds of approximately 20 knots. The Slalom figure 8 was therefore the best option because The Sea bottom was too deep to set more Jibe Marks. On the first day I was on my 7.0 TR9xt and Isonic 107 with zfin 38. I won all seven races this day with Kiri lying in 2nd place.  Kiri was on his Vapor 7.1 and Isonic 107 with zfin 40. Bjorn Saragoza, on the other hand, had some problems with his gear but he managed to fight for the third place.

On the second day of the challenge we had the freestyle competition. The day started off with some lighter wind, but despite that, the freestyle director decided to put green flag up for the amateur and kid’s freestyle heats. Our 14 year old main man, Stepherd “Cheppi” Gustowski, from Bonaire managed to take the first single elimination with perfect clean moves like the double flaka, switch chacho and many more.

After the kids and amateurs heats, the organizers decided to organize a SUP competition. In this competition we had 5 heats with 9 people in every heat. I was in heat 5 and managed to win in my heat. After doing the first SUP heat I realized how tiring SUP really is, I was tired and had a fast heart beat, but it was fun.

After the SUP races we moved to the towing session. We had a bit of strong gust hitting in the sails during the tow-ins, but it sure was good fun and on the other hand still serious to do the tow-ins. Kiri Thode and Bjorn Saragoza made it to the finals in the tow-ins. They both sailed very well with a sick Skopu from Bjorn and a sick Burner Funnel from Kiri. I made it in the top four with a Double air funnel Diablo while Rafael de Windt with a nice burner once handed attempt.

On the last day of the curacao challenge four races were held, with back to back starts. I won 3 out of the 4 races, with in total left me with 10 races won, out of 11. Later on that day the final SUP competition was held and I won this. Not bad for someone that does not do any training for SUP racing. After the SUP competition we moved to the kids freestyle where our Bonaire wonder boy, Stepherd “Cheppi” Gustowski, kept his winning streak and won the double elimination with some great skills and clean moves. He will surely be the next Bonaire windsurf superstar.

At the end of the afternoon we had another tow in session. Kiri Thode won the tow in session with a sick fast burner funnel, while Bjorn Saragoza kept his second place with a fast rotation of a double funnel, I kept my third place with a punch and Rafael de Windt came in fourth place with a high burner attempt. Looking back on the challenge and on the results, we can be very proud. Our main man, Cheppi, was very proud with his results, 1st in amateur’s freestyle. This boy is a wonder and keeping up like this he will be winning many more competitions in the future. I am also very proud of my own results, 1st slalom, 1st SUP, 3rd tow in freestyle.

Events like this are not only for the competition and winning itself, but it helps more kids and their parents get to the beach and practice the sport of windsurfing. It sure was a great event and we will meet again next year.

Aloha,
Taty Frans