Sunday, July 18, 2010

Update from Cabarete.....

....well, not from Becky or I, but from Daniel Stoner, a fellow Seattlite kiter who booked his trip there to overlap for 7 days with ours.............................................................................. and he brought his whole family.  He left a message on my "Facebook" ....and if anything, I am so much more excited to get there and get out on the H2O!!!!

Here is Daniel's message:

Daniel Stoner: "Get yer asses down here! It's been blowing sunrise to sundown here in Cabarete. See u in a few days!!! "

Yes, yes, yes.... and tomorrow it is time to get packed and ready.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

I'm getting hungry...

...for action on the water, but also for eating lots of yummy food in Cabarete. 

Here is a list of the places I want to try out that came highly recommended by Hooked Cabarete:

Hooked Cabarete picks:

El Tigre: Local restaurant in Dominican area. Good fish and goat, super friendly people. Try as a starter the yuca cookies.

Onno's: lot's of food on the menu and very affordable. Until 7 PM all the tapa's and local drinks are half priced.

Casanova: Excellent food but a bit overpriced. Between 5 and 6 all the pasta and pizza half price. Nice decoration and set up.

•In between Cabarete and Sabaneta, you can find the best fish place in the area. El Gusto is definitely worth the drive and very affordable.

El Chino doesn’t have the nicest ambiance, but the Chinese food is fresh and very good. Lots of veggies! Also handy for take away.

•or lunch at the EzE behind the Carib center is recommendable. Great wraps and very nice view over Cabarete bay.

•for a good start of the day go to Friends. Best breakfast in town.

•Streetchicken: Florians favorit take away place. Tasty Caribien chicken grilled on a huge BBQ. You will find this place in front of the Ocean Dream.

Bayerischer Hof: This is a typical german place in the DR. Long tables and big white beers. If you are looking for meat? This is the place to go to. Not suited for vegetarians.

•The best Sushi place you can find a little bit before town on your left hand at the Ocean Dream square, in front of the entrance of the Callegon de la Loma.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Update: Raley and not so stoked....

Ok.  So I rode Friday, Saturday, and Sunday....three days in a row rawks. 

What didn't rock is that I wore my new Bobster Trident sunglasses out during the hot sunny part of the day Saturday.  As the sun started to set I put my glasses in the case they come with before heading out again for another session. 
After walking back to the car, when I opened my case to take out my new glasses...there is a buff on the lens from being in its case.    Super lame....and hella glad I purchased them from Amazon.com....because now I can send them back if they will not send me new lenses at no charge.  Sucks....not sure what I will do for eye protection in Cabarete next week.

Now for better news, I pulled off and landed my first Raley.  Ok, the raley was hooked in...so not quite the full shebang...but it is coming, trust me.

Here is what a Raley should look like unhooked:  (from the Progression kiteboarding series)




Here is what I did....Raley hooked in:



Although I can guarantee you that I was way more laid out superman style than this guy. And I threw my legs up high behind me too, well over my head. I got alot of pop and had my kite catch a small gust so I had more hang time...so maybe that is why.

Anyways, I will keep you posted on my progression.   5 days left until Cabarete...so I plan to come back a pimp on the H2O after two full weeks there!

Friday, July 9, 2010

Packed and ready to go...

Well, almost. And we actually don't leave for quite a few days, but I am feeling pretty ready.  Especially after seeing all the kites in the air the last few days on the webcam in my previous post.

Why do I feel so packed and ready you ask?   Good question.

Well yesterday my new sunglasses arrived and I really like them.   They are a waterproof coated and polarized version of the Bobster eyewear sunglasses / goggle combo.

They are the ones to the left found on Amazon.com... they are polarized too, which I highly recommend if you plan to use them on the water.  Polarized lenses get rid of glare off the water.

The glasses themselves have removable foam splash guards, and the arms are removable and can be replaced with the goggle strap to hold them on even in the most active sports.

The second thing I am stoked on is that I got a few new t-shirts and two new rash guards from Transcend apparel.  http://www.transcendapparel.com/  I got the gray and a green one, which if you have been following along, you know will both match my kites.

Besides all that, I have a new outdoor stereo system that I will be taking and helping install at my buddy's Kiteboarding club and hotel.  F10 kiteboarding.  Check out his place here:  http://www.force10kiteboarding.com/

Anyways, keep posted for more updates as we get closer to leaving....as well as daily reports from Cabarete when I get there.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Check out Cabarete.....

So I found a live webcom of Cabarete....and right now there are hella kites in the sky. Yay! That makes me stoked, especially since it did not look like a great forecast....but hey, if kites are in the air, the weather is just fine.

I know the webcam loads weird...but maybe take a screen shot.









webcam

 



Or you can check out the real thing here...which may work a bit better.

http://www.cabaretecool.com:8080/

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Yes, the wind and sun has arrived!!!

I can't be more happy than today when I woke up to perfectly blue skies. It got windy at Jetty as expected at around 2pm.... tomorrow should be sweet too. So yeah, I am pumped.

Oh, and here is a quick video I made at the NW Cabrinha Race Series. It shows all the racers hanging and waiting for the wind to pick up.