Sport Today

Greetings,

I'm contemplating going to Aruba in June (again). This time, I'm considering taking my boards (I love my Seatrends), and renting rigs, if possible. Does anyone know if rig only rental is a possibility? I may be staying in private accomodation, also (as opposed to Vela, Sailboard, etc. accomodation). I realise that this is a factor in the equipment rental equation.

So far, I've checked Vela and Sailboard. Vela offers board and rig rental
for $300 for 7 days, but doesn't offer rig-only rental. Sailboard said
that they don't offer rental to non-guests (except for off of the beach
if they are short on guests).

Does anyone know the situation for Rogers? Are there any other choices now
(I was last there about 4 years ago). If there are other options, does
anyone have a phone number for the contacts.

Also, does anyone know if any companies offer board storage?

Thanks!

Paul Scrutton

--
Paul Scrutton - My views may not agree with those
                of employer.

While the won't guarantee it SBV, Vela and the F2 center on the Beach at
Fisherman's huts will generally rent equipemnt seperately. I think you
aregoing about it wrong however. Packing boards for air travel is a pain
and risky. You need to bouble wrap them and put styrofoam or card board
over the fronts and tails. You will probably need a high wind and light
wind board plus three fins. Taking it on the airplane may cost you $75
each way. So you won't be saving much money. The boards available in
aruba are BICs, Mistral and F2's as well as some Van Den Berg customs.
They are all plenty good.

You might want to bring some sails in stead of boards and then rent the
boards, masts, booms and mast extentions. I find the sails usage tends to
cluster. On high wind days there may be a shortage of small sails but
more importantly on light wind days the 6.5 and up tend to be in short
supply because they don't have many of these sails due to the general
high wind conditions. It is still nice sailing there on a bigger board
and 7.0 sail if the wind is light.

If you want more info on the windsurfing scene in Aruba, check out my web
page:   http://pages.prodigy.com/ArubaHouse/

I have a house there on the water about 1/2 mile up the beach from
Fisherman's Hut's. I used to bring equipment. Now it is there rigged for
me when I arrive. I launch from my house. If You see sail numbers 555.
I'm there. Otherwise I'm working in the States.

Feel free to email if you have any questions.
Hugh

I have to agree with Hugh.  If you are only going to bring boards OR
sails, bring sails.  I think that you will be very happy with almost any
board you rent, and traveling with sails is a lot easier than boards.
Also, they usually don't charge you for sails, unless you mention the word
windsurfing.  Just say it is sports equipment.  On the other hand,
traveling with boards, they will ding you for $75 each way, PLUS if you
change airlines, you will get charged by each airline.  And there is that
risk  of damage to your boards, so I can't see that it is worth saving a
few bucks on rental.  And the airlines usually make you sign an agreement
which allows them to send your board on a different flight than you are
on. (At  least this has been our experience when flying on American) Then
there is that problem of getting your boards into a taxi when you arrive!
Go to VELA, they have great gear and instructors.  You'll have a lot fewer
hassles.