Have you ever considered taking a  windsurfing vacation in St. Martin?  I didn't until a couple of months ago when my parents planned a family vacation there.  As I discovered, Orient Bay on the French side of the island is an incredible place to sail.

I reserved a Bic Techno 273 and a Neil Pryde sail for a week from Club Nathalie Simon (CNS) windsurfing center about ¼ mile from where we were staying.  I packed my harness, aqua-socks, a new lycra rash guard (shirt to
keep the sun off my back), water-skiing gloves from Overton's (for a nasty blister from sailing at Radio Island), and my 15spf sunscreen in a bag and headed to the airport with my wife.  Naturally, I had these grand visions of sailing all day, every day, while making jibe after jibe and jump after jump.  Boy was I wrong. Flying into St. Martin was like descending into another world - - one that's hard to imagine when landlocked in Raleigh.  From my window seat I
could see the whitecapped swells on the ocean rolling from the east as we descended - - that meant trade winds.  Rolling down the runway, I could see the airport flags vigorously flapping in unison.  It was blowing!

We drove to the French side of the island that afternoon and from our hillside villa I could watch people sailing on Orient Bay.  The layout of Orient Bay is such that there are 3 types of conditions across its 1-1/2 mile width.  The bay faces to the northeast and the tradewinds blow primarily from the east or ESE.  So the conditions are great for launching and sailing up and down the beach at a slight offshore angle.  The southern portion of the bay is protected by a shallow reef and a small Island (which also makes the wind fluky in some places).  This provides relatively smooth
water for speed and nice jibes.  It also provides a good resting area right in front of the "clothing optional" Club Orient (but I didn't look). Slightly behind the island and more to the north you'll find moderate chop as you approach the Atlantic swell entering the bay.  When beyond the protection of the little island, the swells get much bigger, complete with breaking tops in places.  That was very intimidating to this flat-water Bogue Sound sailor!  It also half-drowned me on my first two days.  The entire bay is too deep to stand up, probably 10 feet or more.  So resting requires you to either return to a sandy beach (any one will do just fine) or stop where you are and sit on your board. Day one was nice (as were days 2 - 7, yup).  However, the wind coming off the Atlantic is a bit deceiving and wasn't actually very strong. The CNS employee Mark recommended a 7.4 Supersonic and I headed out full of confidence.  Carefully timing my beachstart in between the slight swell and shore break, I stepped up on the board and to my humiliation was pitched forward into the water.  Egads, I looked just like a beginner again.  Due to the wind direction being side on-shore, you have to first sail towards the north and the big swells to get away from the beach… ugh.  I HIHO'd
(hooked-in and hung-on) across the bay with eyes as big as Ping-Pong balls as I weeble-wobbled on the rolling Atlantic swell.  There was absolutely nothing I could do to stop swimming each and every time I tried jibing.  My
forearms felt like they had been stretched by a truck and I feebly made my way back to the beach after 1 ½  hours of floundering.  Laying on the beach under an umbrella relaxing for the rest of the day (not a bad thing to do I must admit), I enviously watched the locals tame the bay.  These guys are good.  I have a forward loop on video to prove it. Day two, Monday June 26.  Better wind, sore arms, but a go-for-it attitude that just won't go away!  After a relaxing morning breakfast of French bread and French coffee on the terrace of the villa (ahhhh, life is good), I hopped in the car for the short drive down the hill to the beach.  Mark hooked me up with a Neil Pryde Diablo 6.2.  That is a nice sail.  I was smart enough that day to stay to the south in the protected lagoon.  I was then able to make a few jibes finally.  The lagoon portion is a bit short, so jibing is frequent, but if you jibe in the right place you can stand up in those areas to rest (once you fall).  Even though I sailed much better, my arms felt even worse.  So I took day 3 off and rested on the beach under the umbrella enviously watching the locals again. Day 4, Wednesday June 28.  Good wind again, so Mark gave me the 6.2 Diablo again.  This was a repeat of day 2, but this time I actually made a jibe in the big swell on my way back to the beach!  Finally I was improving. Believe it or not, the wind puttered out on day 5, so there was nothing but jet skis to watch… and the occasional nudist strolling on the beach (but I didn't look). Day 6, Friday June 30.  Pretty good wind.  Better than day 1 but not as good as the other days.  I used a Neil Pryde 6.6 Soul which just didn't feel right.  It looked like it had been rigged for max power, but the battens wouldn't rotate around the mast without being pushed, so I stopped twice to increase the downhaul and outhaul.  That made an improvement in the handling, but not the power. Day 7, Saturday July 1.  My last day in St. Martin.  The wind was great! Unfortunately I only had until about 11am before I had to pack up and leave, and to make matters worse, the shop opened a bit late.  Mark gave me a Neil Pryde 6.2 NR.  Not a bad sail, but nowhere near as good as the Diablo (my favorite).  To make the most of the short time I had remaining, I went immediately to the lagoon and hit jibe after jibe… hero jibes in front of the nude beach.  This is what I had imagined I'd be doing all week, only it took 5 days of practice to get there.  I must have been on some kind of adrenaline rush or something.  Oh, by the way, the rental center had taken some boards and sails to the HIHO in the Virgin Islands that day, so Mark hooked me up with an AHD carbon board.  That was a nice board.

Where to Sail
Orient Bay and Galion Bay are the places to go.  They have something for everyone.  Orient Bay is rather challenging though, so you'd have the most fun if you can make at least 50% of your jibes.  Otherwise you'll be
drowning the other half of the time like me.  The bay is deep everywhere except at the edges (duh).  The beaches are beautiful white sand and there isn't much of anything to cut your feet on.  No shells, no oysters, etc… However, there are a couple of areas with a "reef" sort of area (probably just rocks) where you need to be careful if you fall there.  Fortunately you can see these few areas through the clear water before you get to them.  So, if you don't like booties you don't have to wear them.

For those who like excellent wave sailing, Galion Bay (adjacent to Orient Bay) is the place to go.  That's where I saw someone do a loop.  There's a rental center there too, but I don't know the name of it.  Surprisingly, Galion Bay would be a great place for an absolute beginner to sail.  There is a totally flat water area where people can learn uphauling and
waterstarting without any problems. Kite boarding is also popular from what I could see.  There were usually one or two people out each day, usually on Galion Bay.  CNS gives lessons if you're interested.

Where to Rent
The local rental center on Orient Bay is an agent of Club Nathalie Simon, Wind Adventures (www.wind-adventures.com).
I didn't count, but they appeared to have about 15-20 shortboards.  Mostly AHD carbon boards and Bic Technos.  All of the fins were in excellent condition with no chips, dings, or scratches.  The center had sails ranging from about 4.0's to 9.0's, but again I didn't count.  They were all recent Neil Prydes.  Most were non-cambered sails which was just fine with me.  A one week reservation cost me $230 plus the optional $25 breakage insurance.  This allows you to sail anytime.  Much better than renting by the hour and worrying about the wind etc…  I simply sailed when I felt like it, worry free.  I also bought a cool CNS t-shirt for $15.  Watch for me wearing it all the time. There are two rental centers on Galion Bay that looked pretty good.  One is Pat "The Big Kahuna" Turners Le Galion Watersports and the other is called Windy Reef.  Galion Bay always seemed to have more people sailing on it, so it's worth investigating if you plan on going.  The sailing looked good over there.

Where to Stay
We stayed in a top notch villa at the Green Cay Village Hotel on Orient Bay.  This is not a hotel at all.  They have about 20 hillside homes which are absolutely spectacular.  They are about ¼ mile back from the beach, so you can walk or drive to the beach.  The villas have open air halls connecting the living areas (yes, hard to imagine when you're sitting here in Raleigh) which allow the trade winds to blow straight through the villa.  Of course the living areas are enclosed and are air conditioned.  The villa we stayed in had a private pool, deck with an awesome view, hot tub, 3 bedrooms, 4 baths, full kitchen, living room, covered terrace, outdoor dining area, and a mini bar.  WOW!  The off season prices are not bad at all either.  The villa can
sleep 8 comfortably and privately.  Two in each bedroom and two more in the living room.  The living room is just as private as any of the bedrooms because of the open air halls and self-contained living areas.  Hard to imagine, but you're in Raleigh.  Go there and you'll understand.  In the off season, 8 people can stay there for a week for about $300 each!  Can you believe that??  Peak season is about double that rate… still a good deal really.  Airfare, food, and everything else are extra. There are plenty of other villas and resorts there too, but I don't know anything about them.  The web sites at the end of this article should help you.

Where to Eat
Eating is not a problem on the French side of the island (buuurrrrrrp). The restaurants will blow your mind.  They are expensive though.  The best ones were in the town of Grand Case, about a 15 minute drive from Orient Bay.  We ate at La Plantation, La Cottage, La Alabama, and some other La places.  There were a couple of beach front restaurant/bars, the best of which was Kakoa.  You will eat like you've never eaten before.  An excellent alternative is to order from Fabulous Feasts.  This is very good
food delivered straight to your villa.  I highly recommend this.  The dinners for 6 could probably feed 10.  It was delicious and didn't cost all that much either. For the do-it-yourselfers, you can shop at the "Match" grocery store in
Marigot.  There we found a very good selection and totally reasonable prices.

Car Rental
We rented two Toyota Corollas from Best Deal Car Rentals at the airport. The cars were a bit aged, but were clean and got us where we wanted to go. The A/C worked very well too.  It's odd not having heater controls on the dash!  Everything went very well with the rental, so I can recommend you use them.

What to do other than sail
This is the Caribbean mon, don't worry about it.  Do whatever you want. Jog, swim, snorkel, skinny-dip, eat, throw a Frisbee, play beach volleyball, jet ski (NOOOOOO!!), parasail, work on your tan, or sit under an umbrella and enjoy a cool drink (my personal  favorite).

Weather
 From what I understand, the trade winds are strongest from December through April, so I missed the peak winds.  However, the wind was pretty good and consistent.  So off-peak sailing can be good, but go as soon as possible after the peak rates drop.  Later in the summer the rain increases and hurricanes threaten. The temperature was great.  The trade winds felt like outdoor air-conditioning.  Not at all like a summer here in NC.  It actually felt good to be outside.

Overall
The vacation was fantastic in all respects and I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone in the club that wants good sailing and good fun in the Caribbean.  There is a good variety of places to stay, places to eat, and places to sail.  A combination that's hard to beat.  I can't wait to go again, so if anyone wants to make plans for next year, count me in!

More Information
Try these web sites to learn more…
www.wind-adventures.com
www.greencayvillage.com
www.sxm-info.com (St. Martin info)
www.st-martin.org (French side)
www.st-maarten.com (Dutch side)
 
 

At 04:58 PM 08/14/2000 -0400, you wrote:
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