The timing couldn’t be better: after a period of light breezes, the steady eastern winds welcomed us from the second day (Feb 22nd) of our yearly visit to freestyle heaven. The main windsurf spot is on the windward side of this Caribbean islands. In the winter, spring and fall,

Bonaire is blessed with steady trade winds. The small reef between the ocean an the bay, keeps the water inside the bay nice and flat. This together with warm, clear, waist deep water with ‘sandy bottom’ makes it the perfect place for freeride, race and freestyle. Taty (2nd Overall PWA Worldtour 2006), Kiri (4th) and Tonky (5th) are showing you daily what happens when you are able to sail daily in these conditions. And that’s why we are there! Escaping the cold winter in Holland and Belgium and working on our bone-braking-freestyle-trix!

As the wind built up from 5.6 sails to powered-up 4.7 conditions, gear was thoroughly tested. Without any commercial interests, Paul & Niek were super enthusiastic about the 2007 stuff including the freestyle Loco sails (sizes 5.6, 5.2) and Legend 5.0. Not to forget the superior Carbon Wave booms. Capable of turning an old sail into dynamic, responsive tissue: real magic!

"The new Loco’s 5.2 & 5.6 are the best freestyle sail I’ve ever sailed", speaks Paul really excited as it comes to after-surf talking. Making a sail that gives you the power to get into planning really early (still keeping a lot of outhaul tension) and accelerates in no-time to max speed must have been hard work. Top job Barry & Taty! Even without maximum downhauls (I took one setting less on my 5.6!) the sails de-power whenever they need to thanks to a lot of twist in the leech and the flat battens.

During our stay, we were amazed by the sailing skills of Taty Frans and the local sailors. In February on Kiri’s birthday they organised a freestyle contest for the kids, juniors and men. The kids were making spocks and huge Gecko’s, the juniors were kicking ass and showing ALL the latest moves  and than you haven’t even seen Tonky and Taty... A world class final won by Taty. In march there was a wave contest on the windward side of the reef, Lac Cai.

The timing of this event was a bit unlucky, cause it was the first day in a row of 8, that we had to use bigger sails than 5.0. But still plenty of action in the onshore wind and 1-2 meter waves! There were also some guy’s from Curacao and the smallest ‘Frans-brother’ (Choco) even came over from Aruba for this event. Of course there was a very friendly atmosphere and no stress at all! Halfway the afternoon it was time for the final: Tonky vs Taty. Both guys were underpowered, but with a lot of pumping they were still able to make some traditional front- and back loops, but also ponches, air-chachoos and shaka’s. In the end it was another clear victory for Taty.

Thumbs up for 'Taty-dog', putting lot’s of time and efforts in organizing freestyle battles and downwind-slalom races for the kids and young talents. And of course Taty won all races in the men’s group! Combined with a never ending smile on his face, he and his brother Tonky are real ambassadors for the sport and the little Caribbean island. If we can copy their friendly style for only one percent in our lowlands, our mission is yet completed.

After one month of sleeping, eating and windsurfing with very good winds, it was time to go back home. Back to work, back to traffic jam’s, back to 5mm wetsuits. But it seems the winter is over in Europe and temperatures are only getting better!

We’d like to thank Maui Sails and importer for the Benelux Herman van den Berg in particular for the fantastic gear and the beautiful island of Bonaire for giving us a freestyle windsurfing trip of a lifetime!

Cheers,
Paul & Niek (windsurfing team The Bunch)
www.teamthebunch.com