Read About The Competitions

Cabarete – the kitesurfing Mecka
Text and Photo: Anna Sparre, Christian Dittrich, Emma York, and Roberto Foresti (PKRA)
It all started with two jet-lagged people. Anna, who was laying knocked out on the hotel bed, and
Chrille on the way to the centre to arrange bolibompas, or pesos as they are called in the Dominican
Republic. Chrille managed to find a teller machine and got into the small air-conditioned
room. He entered his Visa and calculated the amount he needed to withdraw. He entered the
code, the amount and everything else that the machines told him to do. The money and the
receipt came and Chrille hurried back to the hotel, happy as he thought he had finished his business
in the hot city centre. But, oh no, in this country they make their best to complicate things,
so the card is not returned until you explicitly push a certain button that means “I would very
much like to get my Visa card returned”. This meant that the next person who came to the
machine was very happy to find that there was already a card in the machine from which he
could withdraw his money. The situation was saved by one of the day’s power failures (in the
Dominican Republic the power is cut at different places several times a day since the power isn’t
enough to supply the whole country at the same time), so most of the money stayed on the
account.
I think that almost every
kitesurfer knows Cabarete, an
almost unbeatable place if you
look for wind, beaches, and sun
in combination with descent
civilization. But Cabarete is
more than just Kite Beach. As
the home spot for Takoon rider
Lousiano Gonzales, Susy Mai,
José Louis and many of the
world’s upcoming stars, Cabarete
offers much more than it
might seem at the first glance.
When we returned to Cabarete
for the forth time it was mainly in
order to compete in the world
cup, but since the competition
was held in such a nice place as
the Dominican Republic, we
took the chance to spend some
weeks. We had previously only
been to Cabarete during winter
and spring, but it showed that
summer is unbeatable. Wind
during all the day and strong
enough to keep you going with
an eight or ten meter kite. The
swell is smaller, but due to the
strong wind there gets some
nice waves at the reef despite
the lack of swell.
Cabarete’s main spot for
kitesurfers, Kite Beach, is just a
few minutes to the west of the
city centre. The beach is full of
kite schools and the beginners
walk in a nice line on the beach.
This is a good spot with
relatively flat water close to the
beach and a reef with nice
waves a few hundreds of meters
out. Unfortunately it can get
quite crowded here, but we
found the summer much more
relaxed than winter and spring.
This is good also for the
economy as you could bargain
on everything with good results.
You could preferable live at Kite
Beach, which we tried this time.
It was really nice to be able to
get out immediately as you saw
the wind come up and in that
way escape some of the crowd.
It is usually a little bit more
expensive than to live inside the
town, especially if you’re there
for a longer time.
Another kite spot to try is La
Boca. The best way to get there
is with motoconcho. Motoconcho
is a motorcycle taxi, and
Cabarete is full of them. There
are standard prices, but as for
everything else it is better to
make up the price before. La
Boca is situated east of
Cabarete and it takes about ten
minutes to get there. “The
mouth”, which is the english
translation of La Boca is a river
18
mouth with perfect flat water.
Unfortunately it sometimes gets
low on water and the area
where you can kite gets very
small. It is also surrounded of
sharp mangroves, so you better
keep your kite in the air. If you’d
like to take a rest you can do it
in the shadow of the small
restaurant that serves the best
Piña Colada in the whole
Cabarete. Don’t bring more than
one kite as this allows you to
make a nice downwinder back
to Cabarete once you’re
finished.
If you want to do a really nice
downwinder you should take
one from Kite Beach to
Encuentro. If you want to make
it longer you can start further
upwind from Bozo Beach. The
road between Kite Beach and
Encuentro has nice waved on a
pretty deep reef and there are
usually no other kitesurfers in
your way, so just let go and
have fun. Once at Encuentro the
waves are usually very good,
but the reef is shallower and you
might encounter some surfers.
To get home you can take a
motoconcho, but order one
before you go to be sure to get
picked up.