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January Travel Advice Required

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slayerofsouls
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January Travel Advice Required

Postby slayerofsouls » Wed Dec 25, 2013 6:55 pm

Background: January 1-13 is the only time I can take off in June due to my career, and I want to make the most of it. I am an beginner/intermediate kite boarder living in Toronto. In this trip I plan to take 2 hours of lessons/day and practice the rest. I need to get my toeside riding, carving turns and jumps solid. Might be a hard objective but lets see. I will be bringing my 12m kite and 160 board and a shit load of cameras.

Budget Was looking to spend 600 (flight) + 1,000 (accommodation) + 400 (food and travel) so approximately 2,000 plus the cost of lessons. Price isnt the limiting factor, I rather spend a bit more and go to place for consistent wind. Im going on my own so other then kiting I may go scuba diving but the focus is really all about kiting. Obviously I dont want to take a $3,000 flight trip to Cape Town. So it has to be within reason. I went to cabarete last dec and spend about 2-3 days twiddling my thumbs waiting for the wind, ever since then scared shitless about travelling for wind.

Destination:
[*]Aruba:
Pro: Consistent wind in January. Two points to practice flat water at Fishermans Hut (Offshore wind) and Boca Grande. Easy to get around, may require a car rental if I kite at Boca Grande since Fishermans hut isnt optimal to kite in . Cool sounding dives - plane wreck etc

Con: Not the cheapest of trips, no kiting directly opposite my location other than fishermans hut which is probably going to be filled with new riders. Risk of offshore wind. Very touristy and a party place. Not really my thing.

[*]Playa Del Carmen: Mexico
Pro: Kiteboarding just footsteps away. have the option to explore other kite spots like isla blanca, tulum. Whaleshark diving etc

Cons: Not aruba wind

Other options?
Cuba - Varadero - Not sure about wind consistency
Mexico - La Ventana - Trickey to get to
Antigua - Too expensive accommodation
Last edited by slayerofsouls on Wed Dec 25, 2013 8:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Laughingman
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Re: January Travel Advise Required

Postby Laughingman » Wed Dec 25, 2013 7:13 pm

If you want to kite as much as possible I would consider a larger and smaller kite to travel with. Your going to find yourself either under powered or worse making a poor choice going out in too much wind.
If you stick with kiting, you are eventually going to buy them anyways... May as well get them now.

slayerofsouls
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Re: January Travel Advise Required

Postby slayerofsouls » Wed Dec 25, 2013 7:19 pm

Laughingman wrote:If you want to kite as much as possible I would consider a larger and smaller kite to travel with. Your going to find yourself either under powered or worse making a poor choice going out in too much wind.
If you stick with kiting, you are eventually going to buy them anyways... May as well get them now.
I was just going to rent if required. So a 9/12/16 ?

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Laughingman
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Re: January Travel Advise Required

Postby Laughingman » Wed Dec 25, 2013 7:50 pm

slayerofsouls wrote:
Laughingman wrote:If you want to kite as much as possible I would consider a larger and smaller kite to travel with. Your going to find yourself either under powered or worse making a poor choice going out in too much wind.
If you stick with kiting, you are eventually going to buy them anyways... May as well get them now.
I was just going to rent if required. So a 9/12/16 ?
Yep that should work but why rent of you are eventually going to spend the money anyhow?, and your 160 board was good to learn water starts and will likely work well in light wind but where you are at now you need something smaller unless you're on the heavy side of 250 lbs.

Also have you considered SPI ?

http://airpadrekiteboarding.com/weather ... peeds.html

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Re: January Travel Advise Required

Postby slayerofsouls » Wed Dec 25, 2013 8:16 pm

For the past season the 12m has always been ideal for Toronto kiteboarding. There were times a 17m would have been good. I only went out once over powered.

Given I plan to do lessons as well, was hoping the store could also give me a deal which includes rental while I am there.

SPI is around a 10 hour flight, and lessons there seem mad expensive.

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Re: January Travel Advise Required

Postby slayerofsouls » Wed Dec 25, 2013 8:21 pm

Prices for kites etc are cheap, if I kite there I can always purchase my gear there too

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Re: January Travel Advice Required

Postby irwe » Wed Dec 25, 2013 10:51 pm

www.stluciakiteboarding.com

WestJet and AC fly direct from Toronto

3 minutes from airport

Stay in the Hut's if you have a tight budget and you are 20 steps from the kite beach.


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