For the first time, the competition, which combines the 3 disciplines of surf, kitesurf and windsurf, included Stand-up-Paddleboarding (commonly known as SUP).

This competition is hard at the best of times and Luciano put in months of tough training to achieve his goal of being untouchable in this competition. Congratulations to him; he richly deserves the title.

You can see Luciano in action here

My photo of a local rider was featured in the Hurricane shoot-out shots of Magic Seaweed;

There were better photos taken by more professional photographers than I, but it’s fun all the same.

Calmer waters seem strange after raging seas for so long and the bay of Cabarete is wide and expansive after the huge hurricane swell coincided with a full moon, making the waters rise even further. My boys, Drew and Euan are very dissapointed to see the big shore break down to what can only be described as a small ripple now – lovely for swimming, but not body-board or surf friendly.

Encuentro still has a friendly wave for beginner and intermediate riders and our guests at Swell have been enjoying themselves on them this week.

In doing so, we have been targeted in various ways from our ‘competitors’, those people who feel most threatened by the apparent success of our business. Frustrated as they are with a lack of customers, they choose solely to lay blame on others, not looking to their own failings or lack of re-investment over the years. They have written false reviews on our place, tried to get us kicked out of our surf school, tried to make trouble with the taxi drivers for us, whined and moaned on the forums – all to no avail. Even though we were well aware of their tricks, we carried on, kept our heads down and did what we do best – hospitality for our guests.

Today though, when one person, who after trying to get work with us recently and being helped financially by both Jim and myself in the past, professing always to be a ‘friend’ and peace and love, etc…………then schemed and slithered like a sad, greasy little snake for his ‘boss’ whilst he tried everything he could to cause problems for us, smiled his two-faced grin at me in the Orange store, my resolve disappeared and despite my normal ‘English’ politeness, I gave to to him with both barrels; I won’t repeat what came out, but my God it felt so good to let it go

I did not even feel the two tremors that were widely reported as being felt by most people in the town but I knew something was odd when China, one of the maids at Swell reported feeling the earth shaking.  I checked the pool at the hotel and saw that the water was swilling from side to side and overspilling into the garden.

It all seemed like nothing really – no damage – so it was all the more difficult to see the devastation in neighbouring Haiti.  Today has just been a sad day all round.

The rain however is welcome for the surf hostel’s newly planted garden – Jim and I are getting a break from the evening and morning watering chores.

Some evenings after watering, we sit and watch the sunset from the balcony at the top of the stairs……….

Jim took some shots around the bay – a typical windy Sunday in Cabarete. Euan is showing off his new nose and Jim is walking back from his windsurf session.

The kiter doing the board off transition in two of the photos is one of the world’s top riders; Jan Marco Riveras is from Cabarete and one of the nicest people living in the town, modest and kind.

The extraordinary puppy was with someone staying in Ocean One.

Have a great weekend (and thanks to Sven for being such a sport) oh, and Dill the King Maltese (aka Little F..k.r)

Disclaimer; no dogs were hurt in the makings of these photos

We had an idea to start a new company aimed at young people taking a time out after Uni.  The idea is that they come to the Dominican Republic to learn Spanish and combine it with a sport like kite boarding or surfing to name just two examples.  We had an Ace team of people to teach the sports – that was the easy part.  The hard part was finding the accommodation.  The answer seemed obvious to us; there was a local surf camp which had OK accommodation and a good vibe so we went to the owner to ask him if he wanted our business.  He was not interested.

Surprised, we thought about it and then looked for an alternative.  You see Cabarete is full of condos and hotels, but to get accommodation with a ‘happening’ vibe and the type of communal atmosphere we were after is not so easy – especially when you want some real quality thrown in.  In the end, we came to the conclusion that building our own accommodation was the answer.  That way, we control every aspect of our clients experience.  Ours will be a purpose built camp with good spacious rooms and a nice vibe, around a courtyard with everything you could want on your vacation.  

Now we have a lot of work to do to prepare for our opening later this year.  I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

See the Go Gap Sports website here for learning Spanish with Surfing, Kitesurfing, horse riding or mountain biking