Sport Today

Thought I would give a quick "Caberette" Trip report.

I stayed Aug 24rd through Sep 3rd.  I stayed at the "Palm Beach Condos"
which I booked via Vela.

The wind was hot great.
First 4 days 5.0 Infinity, 4.7 Zeta  Mistral Stinger, Energy
Remainder needed 5.5 to 6.0 North Prizma and Screamer or Energy.

All in all though it was a very enjoyable vacation. It is definitely a
Windsurfers Dream destination. All the sailing is done in one big bay. About
a mile offshore there is a dead c***reef that generates some really
nice waves. I had never sailed in the waves before but now I am hooked.
I intend adding some Wave sails to my Sail Collection. The waves make
perfect ramps for jumping and also make for perfect "Surfing Experiences".

Caberette itself is a small town. The picture in "WINDSURFING" is dead on
the money. Just one Big street!!!! The accommodations varied in quality from
bad to excellent.  It was fun swapping stories and sharing "Quality of
Accommodation" stories with the people that you meet. The biggest group of
tourists seemed to be German followed closely by the British. The British
sailors all seemed to stay at the WindSurf Apartments. For the record these
did not seem to be too nice. One of the rooms did not have running water in
the kitchen sink. Vela offered 2 choices, Casa Laguna and Palm Beach Condos.
Palm Beach is definitely nicer and worth the extra money. Apart from the
fact that it is right on the beach, the condos are really nice. All of the
women who came to visit us at Palm Beach gave their husbands/boyfriends the
"Why are we not staying here look?". (Please no sexist flames, it just seems
that women seem to appreciate some of the finer accommodations more than men).

The food was excellent and depending upon where U ate was moderately priced.
Eating at the better establishments ran about $18 a head including a couple
of beers. ( For lobster make it about $24 ). There were also some excellent
All U Can Eat buffets for 100 Pesos ( hope that is right). It was approx
12 pesos to 1 US Dollar so for $8 you could eat all U want. I would
recommend Luci Mar for seafood. The Pizzeria has excellent Italian food.

Other things to do included Horse Back riding $35 for the day. Mopeds cost
$20. Scuba Diving for beginners $35. I did not do these( too busy trying to
sail) but everybody who did had a lot of fun.

The only drawback to the whole trip was the "STOMACH SITUATION". There were
about 11 people there that I felt I could share this sensitive topic with.
Of the 11 people I talked too ( there were more that I know of) 8 of them
went through a patch of about 3 days where they did not want to be far from
a bathroom. ( I was lucky and did not have any trouble until I arrives home)
The english friends that I met had some pills called "Arrete" that really
seemed to work well. For any future travellers BE PREPARED, get some
heavy duty "STOMACH Medicine", ( Pepto-Bismol does not cut it).

I will go back to Caberette. I will stay again at the Palm Beach, (Casa Laguna
was okay too but the power kept on going out). Next time I will probably bring
my own equipment. The equipment at Vela was okay but a little worn out.

gerard

many thanks for advice I received before I left. U know who U are.

-jonathan hahn
--

..!ames!amelia!hahn                                     hm: (408) 736-7014

Does anyone know what is the best time of year for wind?  I was told mid May to
mid July.  When we went in late Feb. it was 5.5 about half the time, but the
wind didn't come up until after 1 in the afternoon.  In the summer is that the
pattern, wind only in the afternoon?

Rick

The wind is very predictable. In the morning you can go do other things
since the wind only picks up by early afternoon. This past summer I sailed
mostly on 4.5's. I had a few days on 4.0's. I weigh 165lbs and sail
wave/slalom boards while in cabarete.

BTW, it cranks year round but its more predictable during summer. Winter
has better (bigger) wave sailing. Although, you can get some pretty nice
waves (5ft+) during the summer on the outer reefs (mainly 4.0 days).

--

AT&T Bell Labs       {  att!mtgzfs3!felixc  }       a rad board, rad waves,
Middletown,NJ        {     (908)957-5081    }       and a company sickday!"

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|> Thought I would give a quick "Caberette" Trip report.
|>

I just got back from Caberete yesterday and would totally agree with most of
the comments made by Gerard.

We arrived on 1st Sept and got back in the UK on 16th Sept.

In common with many other British visitors, we stayed in the Windsurf
Appartments (see accurate comment in original posting). The facilities were
basic but on the whole clean. Had the winds been more reliable we would have
really only used the appartment as a place to sleep. Unfortunately we had 6
days without any wind, a couple of which were very overcast and as a result
we spent those days in the appartment - it would then have been nice to have
had a few more facilities available.

We rented gear through the Spin-Out F2 Centre. They operated a similar
rental policy to Vela. My girfriend is very much a beginner but the board
hire deal only allowed me to make use of the equipment. It would have been
very handy if my girfriend had been able to use the gear in the light
morning breeeze and later for me to go out - but sharing one equipment
rental cost.

The gear availale through Spin-Out was generally pretty good. The deck grip
was rather worn on several of the boards which forced the use of boots (I
hate not sailing barefoot). The way Spin-Out work is to allocate you a
particular board for the whole booking period but the unallocated board are
up for grabs. There were generally plenty of unallocated boards available.

The sails were almost all Neil Pryde and I found the V6 6.0 and 5.5 Street
Racers rather on the heavy side, though I guess that makes a lot of sense
for a rental setup where a light flimsy mono-film sail would only last a few
weeks.

In total it blew for 9 days out of the 2 week period, which is what we were
told to expect.

4.5     1 day
5.0     1 day
5.5     2 days
6.0     5 days (1 on 3m+ boards)

Most of the time I sailed an F2 Axxis 270.

Other people I spoke to said that the early part of August was the best time
to catch the winds.

The prices for food and drink were very reasonable though not quite as cheap
as I had been led to expect.

My favourite restaurants were -

Tuti Fruti - good for fish, lobster and pretty cheap
La Pizzeria
La Pescador

We generally payed between 250 and 400 pesos ($20 - $32) for a meal for 2
(drinks included). Tuti Fruti offered 5 baby lobsters (good sized ones) for
155 pesos (~$12). Many of the hotels had `specials' such as Barbecues,
Italian Buffets etc for about 100 pesos ($8) for two/three courses with one
drink included. Drinks were of the order of 20 pesos ($1.60) for a beer /
rum based***tail - half that price during any `Happy Hours' which several
bars offered. In the supermarkets beers were 10 pesos / bottle (9 if you
bought a 6 pack) and coke was 5 pesos per bottle.

During the six days when it didn't blow we took a few trips around the
island -

o Horseback riding - $36 for a full day including a buffet lunch. Well worth
doing.

o Half day visit to Sosua for snorkelling ($13 for a return taxi for 5)

o Half day (5 hour) visit to Puerto Plata and a trip up the cable car - $40
for the taxi for the whole day.

o Full (and very long) day trip to Santo Domingo. Not to be done again in a
hurry. 4.5 hours each way along mountain roads.

Other friends also tried Mountain Biking and a 2 day visit to the unspoilt
beaches at the north east end of the island ($40 / day for car rental).

I too would definately go back to Caberete but I'd make the trip earlier in
the season. I think I'd probably look into staying at one of the beach side
hotels / condos and consider taking my own gear (but the thought of my
precious custom board being handled by those guys at the airport sends
shivers up my spine.

The things I'd take next time would be -

o more T-shirts and short
o a pair of very old trainers for the mountain biking / horse riding
o a larger supply of Immodium tablets (similar to Arrett) for the tummy
o a pair of wetsuit shorts
o more factor 20 sun screen for the first few days

And I'd not take -

o any long trousers except a pair of tracksuit bottoms
o a 3mm shortie (boy did I boil in that thing)
o

Dave

PS To those folk who've been to Cabarete and enjoyed the sailing there I
could definately recommend Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. The sailing is
very similar (wind shaddow, flat water and big reef). The water is much
clearer and you can snorkel close to the main sailing area. In general the
place is far more developed/civilised than the Dominican Republic but prices
are still very resonable. The scenery is not so good (unless you are really
into lava). The best time for the wind is usually early-mid July.
Dave Lumby, Software Maintene[e]ance Group, Software Technology Division, BT
Research Labs, Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, IP5 7RE, UK
Phone:  +44 473 642613

"I don't mind valid criticism, as long as it doesn't come from other people"