Arrival at Aruba with some problems with our luggage at Curacao where we landed for a short stop. DAE (Dutch Antilles Airlines) messed up with our luggage-tags and it was offloaded at Curacao. We saw it leaving for the arrivalhall and could inform the staff to bring it back to our aircraft, but with this action we had a 30 minute delay. Finally on Aruba, we picked up our rental car and could check-in at our hotel to enjoy the rest of the day.
Day 2 (July 1st)
The container with the gear of team Bonaire should arrive at the beach at 10 a.m. Most of the team members were there on time, the wind was howling and we only could look at the windsurfers on the water because the container arrived after a long day waiting at 3.30 p.m. but.............................no customs to open it. Lukely the customs came an hour later so everybody could rig his gear and could go out on the water to test, train etc before the sun went down. Registration was from 3 till 5 pm. Everybody recieved a nice goodybag, lycra, event-sticker and party-wrist-band.
Day 3 (July 2nd)
Action-day !!! Skippermeeting at 10 a.m., first start at 11.30 a.m. This year I race in the BIG KIDS (up till 14). 7 kids will race in my division and there is good competition. Nick van de Eerenbeemt is on my heels all the time, and I like that. We raced this first day 8 heats. The wind was in between 20-25 knots , so perfect conditions. I won 5 heats, in the other 3 I finished two times second and one time fourth. I made a huge crash at one of the 3 buyons. We had a nice organised lunch on the beach and in the evening we had dinner @ Divi Hotel.
Day 4 (July 3rd)
Races should start at 10 am, but unfortunately the wind was very light. Poseponement until 11.30 am. After lunch the wind did not pick-up and according to the event program we all went on the bus to Palm Island to enjoy a great afternoon with all the competitors on the small island with water-slides, beaches, sport-activities and a good buffet for dinner. During dinner-times a tropical-wave started to pass over Aruba. Strong wind-gusts and lots of rain we had. Later in the evening the power went off all over Aruba and we had some thunder and lightning with more rain. Forecast was bad. Without the airconditioning running in our room it was hard to get a good night-sleep.
Day 5 (July 4th)
No wind, no rain but a heavy overcast. The organisation set up some beach-sports and me and my friends had a good time on the event-site. Unfortunately for my grand-mother who came over from Bonaire today especially to see me racing . Today slalom-races were planned for the morning and the preliminaries for the Freestyle-competition in the afternoon. It all will be skipped for tomorrow.......... when there is wind. WE KEEP OUR FINGERS CROSSED !!!!!!
Although this event is not over yet, I would like to inform you all that the organisation of this event is terrific!!
Day 6 (July 5th)
NO WIND AT ALL !!! We did some sports on the beach, like beach-tennis, volleyball and rope-pulling !! It was fun but we are looking forward for some wind. Hopefully tomorrow, the last day we have some. According to windguru we should have 20 - 24 knots of wind. We will see.
Day 7 (July 6th)
Final day, and the wind came back !!!! Before lunch we raced 4 heats downwind-slalom and I became 3 times first and 1 time third. Also Junior, Masters, Women, Sports etc raced their last heats before noon. All competitors were very happy when the organisation of Aruba Hi-winds announced the Freestyle-competition was on for the afternoon. I registered for the "Kid of the Huts" (kids under 14 years) and raced 3 heats before arriving in the final against Steven Lagerveen. All went very smooth, I could complete a lot of tricks I have trained for in the past month. (chaka, puneta, e-slider, kono etc.) The result of the final would be announced at the award-ceremony the same evening. When the kids were finished with the freestyle the older competitors raced for the title "Prince -" and " King of the Huts ".
The event is over, it was great and we had to pack everything to be ready for the container and the customs. I hope the container will arrive on time on Bonaire for the IFCA Slalom and Prokids on Bonaire. (starting July 12)
THE AWARD CEREMONY
The award ceremony was held on a very beautiful plaza with small arena. Big screen video's were showed, the sponsors were announced and everybody was having a good time.
Results:
Slalom: (BIG KIDS)
I used Starboard 87 and Hot Sails Maui G.P.S. 6.0
1st Amado Vrieswijk (Bonaire)
2nd Nik vd Eerenbeemt ( Aruba )
3rd Rens Grijpsma (Aruba)
From Bonaire, Monique Meijer got 3rd in women, Constantino Saragoza first in Masters and Bjorn Saragoza first in Juniors.
Freestyle:
I used Starboard Flare 72 and Hot Sails Maui Spyclone 4.2
1st Amado Vrieswijk (Bonaire) - "Kid of the Huts"
1st Bjorn Saragoza (Bonaire) - "Prince of the Huts"
1st Choko Frans ( Bonaire) - "King of the Huts"
Team Bonaire again did a good job at Aruba and we all look back at a great week of fun and windsurfing.
Team Bonaire and Team Venezuela
Thanks , organisation, event-sponsors , volunteers and all the competitors !!!
Thanks to my sponsors Starboard and Hot Sails Maui !!!
See you all on Bonaire, next week ???!!!!???!!!!
For more results, please check the event-website at : http://www.aruba hi-winds.com
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