Report: Bonaire

Here’s an update on the PWA event in Bonaire. It was a great 4 days here n Bonaire with probably the best wind this event has experienced. The competition was on non-stop everysingle day.
Bonaire is one of my favourite windsurfing spots in the world.
It’s really special to me as this is where I really got hooked to windsurfing and also competed in my first PWA event back in 2003. So I was really looking forward to coming back there after the last PWA worldcup back in 2011.

I arrived about a week early so I could get used to the conditions. It’s really easy to sail here because the wind is very constant and for some reason you don’t always feel the power in your sail so that is something you need to get used to.
It was great to be on the water with the best of the world those days and I think I even made progress in that last week before the event.
I was actually (I always am) really nervous for the event. Just because it is a competition and you need to perform well during the heats.
But like always.. as soon as the green flag goes up you have to give a 100% and the nerves just go away.

The first single elimination I sailed against Maeli, Oda and finally Arrianne.
I got better as my heats progressed. To the point that in the final I sailed almost a dream heat landing e.g. double spock, shove it spock, shaka flaka, double flaka, bob, culo and a burner giving me the win of the first single.
In the double I had to wait a really long time. The wind was quite nice so I just decided to go sailing.. couldn’t let all of that good wind go to waste! In the mean time Maaike Huvermann was working her way all the way up to the finals with some impressive sailing! I was able to sail a solid final again and got the win of the first double.
After seeing some of Maaike’s video’s of the past winter I was actually quite sure that she could come far. She sailed really consistent in every heat and I’m sure that she’s gonna be up on that podium for the next years.

My best day was on the third day during the 2nd single elimination. I sailed fully powered up on my 4,8 and 91 L Flare all day. The first two heats were better than my final.
I felt really confident during these heats. I landed kono’s both sides and culo’s both sides, air funnels and burners in these heats.
The final was against arrianne as well it wasn’t my best heat of the day but I did land some good moves so I was happy about that.
The wind was amazing this day so I still went out and sailed another 1,5 hour after the contest.

The last day I was quite nervous! I mean.. it’s not over until it’s over. I just needed to sail one more solid heat to get the event win. After 3 days of nerves and waiting I woke up quite tired but determined for one more good heat.
It was a long day again of waiting. And again Maaike was on a roll and made it into the final. I had my 4.8 and 91L flare ready for a while but the moment I sailed upwind for my heat I realized the wind was dropping quickly.. so with 4 minutes to go I made my way back to the beach ran to grab my 5.2 and made it right in time to sail my heat. I wasn’t fully powerd up but sailed better as my heat progressed. By the end of it I had landed funnels on both sides, bob both sides, gozadda, switch chacho, double flaka, shaka flaka, and a big culo. And that was it. No re-sail so that meant I had one the 2nd double elimination and the event.

I’m really happy with my performance here in Bonaire. I haven’t felt this confident in the water for a while. Having been home and sailing for 6 weeks really made a big difference! The atmosphere on the beach was great as always and the level of especially the guy’s sailing has really gone through the roof.
And as always, after every competition I’m even more motivated to get on the water and improve.
It has been such a pleasure to be in Bonaire again, because of all the people that make me feel right at home. To the Jibe city Crew, The place crew and all the locals. Thank you so much! I can’t wait to come back there.
I wanted to thank my sponsors: Starboard, Chris Benz and Mystic for their ongoing support.
I’m back home in Aruba to attend my all time favourite contest: The ARUBA HI WINDS from the 1st till the 7th of July. And then I’m off to Gran Canaria for the wave event. Looking forward to this new challenge!

SQ