Travel Bliss

Day 2 the final day of freestyle was a light wind day. The wind was truly disappointing but the ABC freestyle posse took it in stride and made the best of it, in fact some of the sailors excel in light winds putting on quite the show.

The crowd favorites are clearly the baby kids. For the girls Koleta Abrahamsz placed first and Faye Larlo Scheper of Curacao placed 4^th. For the boys, Jursten Trinidad placed first, Nicolas Verploeg placed second, Terrence Anthony third and Harley David Jenkins 4^th.

In the boys 8-10 category Bonaire rider, Rover Dullart won the heats. This young kid has been training and hanging with the pros and it shows. He is a rider to see at future pro podiums. Aron Etmon of Curacao placed second, Serginho Finies of Bonaire placed third and Christopher Thuis of Curacao won 4^th. It was a fun heat to watch.

In the boys 10-11, Aruba’s Steven Lageveen won the title sailing his rainbow Hot Sail. He tossed a few Gecko Flakas, Vulcan’s and switch stance moves. Jurgen Saragoza of Aruba placed second. He performed a jump tack and other light wind moves. Mitchell de Palm of Curacao has been practicing at home as he placed third thanks to a few one handed tricks. Stepherd Gustowski placed 4^th sailing for Bonaire. He also performed well in incredibly light wind.

Team Aruba was neck and neck when Nick van den Erenbeemt and Mathias Ver Ploeg duked it out. Kaj van de Lubbe was pulling off his moves early on and as the day progressed pushed it to the limits in the boys 12-13 group. Nick’s Spock 540 was impressive and Mathias pulled off a clean gecko.  In the end, Nick’s smooth moves won him the title. Nick left early to attend Cabarete Race Week.

In the boys 14-15 Amado Vrieswijk maintained his title throwing some clean Grubby’s, E Sliders and Spock 540’s. Rich was showing the judges some impressive 1 handed Spocks and heli tacks while Dylan was a sail flip wiz.

In the girls, Nicole Van der Velden from team Aruba won with her sail finesse. Iris Jasperse from Bonaire was a wiz at light wind sail flipping making the crowd dizzy with her display. Andrea Simal from Bonaire came in third after a set of nice sail flips and tacks.

In the boys 17-18 there was a showdown of some fierce freestyle moves. The winner, Bjorn Saragoza of Bonaire won the title thanks to a dazzling set of freestyle. A crowd favorite was his Cana Brabu named after the local band of Bonaire. Endro Finies placed second showing off some smooth moves including a nice switch stance Chacho.  Victor Wederfoort from Curacao has clearly been training hard and placed third. Hendryck Balentien a team rider for RRD placed 4^th showing a nice display of freestyle in his heats.

In the boys 19+ Kiri Thode came away as the reigning champion. Despite hardly any wind, he wowed the crowd with some sick aerial freestyle including Ponch’s, Funnels and more. Caesar Finies, the star and creator of Flowstyle sent the crowd to their feet with his sail dynamics. He placed second. Jaeger Sint Jago from Bonaire placed third showing off some rail rides and other light wind techniques.  Aruba’s Sara Quita Offringa flew Sunday to Fuertaventure missing her second day of heats.

The awards ceremony was an incredible event. Recognition was given to Jopi Soleano who hand crafted the lovely trophies. All the sponsors were present to present awards including Hot Sails owner Jeff Henderson who flew in from Hawaii to see his team. Lt. Governor Thode, a windsurfer himself presented awards as well. The Bolas champions won prizes for their weekend competition. After, Rincon Boys serenaded the huge crowd into the night. It was a wonderful weekend of freestyle and beach culture on Bonaire.