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

 Yesterday we had superb kiting conditons; 25 knots and big waves (as you can see from the photo)  

We kited at kite beach and in the next hour ro so, we’ll be back for more.  I need to get back into kiting practice; it’s not like you forget everything, but if you have not been for a while, you sometimes just cannot find the right rhthym; Jim said he felt the same yesterday.  The waves were big and I found myself ‘chicken-jibing’ a lot – that means turning back right in front of a wave instead of taking it on.   I was also cold which did  not help so this morning, I was at the Bic Centre (good surf/equipment store) to buy a neoprene rash guard.  I was sweating beautifully in the store as I tried it on, so I guess it will do the trick in the water for me today.

I have to thank Richie in my Blog; he’s a young kite dude from England who is an instructor on his last month here in Cabarete.  He’s not teaching right now as he wanted his last month to be free; but yesterday, he shadowed my 11 year old son in the water, teaching him back loops and all sorts of other cool tricks.  They kited for about 3 hours together, Richie constantly monitoring/mentoring (he’s a great kiter) and Drew had a blast.  Richie, thanks.

So, back to kite beach now to take on some swell.  Ciao

I am off to collect my children from Sosua Ocean Village Water Park where they seem to live these days………