The Danish windsurfer and saildesigner, who lives in Australia competes at all events on the PWA Slalom Tour. He is already in Aruba, where he arrived yesterday, unfortunately withouth equipment.  The event starts tomorrow on the  19th and lasts until the 26th of June. During this time Jesper will inform us about what is going on there with his insight.
 
Jesper Orth
Nationality: Denmark
Sailnumber: AUS-10
Sponsors: RRD, KA Sails, Vector Fins, Aeron booms and CTM masts
Sailrepair WA – Jesper Orth

 

 

First impressions from Aruba

“After a long journey from Denmark to Aruba with stops in London and New York I managed not only to miss one flight, but also loose all my windsurfing bags and clothing bag in the process. They  still are in the rainy/ foggy Heathrow airport somewhere,,

The idea was to come to Aruba a bit early (slalom starts the 22)  to sail and train a bit with my friend Kurosh Kiani. Neither my gear or Kurosh are here!! hehe. But should eventually make it,,

As a “virgin” on Aruba my image of the place was from pictures, videos etc. Crystal blue water and a nice steady trade wind. When the flight was near landing this was exactly what I saw out of the window. Yahhhh
 
When the “usual” airport hassle was done with the missing baggage report, some friendly staff members from the organizers of the event drove me to my hotel. Just 100m from the event side is the hotel Beach House Aruba where a nice charming looking hotel and a warm welcome from the owner made me relax on top of the long journey.
 
I went to the beach and the heat makes you quickly realize you need to slow down a bit. The organizers was organizing tents etc and looked busy and the only PWA windsurfers I saw was Micah Buzianis and Pieter Bijl. After a quick hello and classic surfer handshake, I could see they where testing some new super “secret” sails, so I left them alone and went onto my next mission that was FOOD. I finally found a a very small mini market, and got my supplies. US$37 for not much at all??? that was expensive, until the lady explained me laughing, that the price was the local currency, and it would only be US$20.
 
Another surprise was that the tap water is by the way very good,, and as good as buying water. I got told that Aruba has one of the largest saltwater desalinization plants in the world.
 
Cheers

C7 – Jesper

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