Kitesurfing in the Caribbean

Sabine’s infection jumps over to me. The wind blows laminar side onshore at a perfect 15-20 knots for four days in a row. If I was a true German, I’d have to grumble about the seaweed in the water. But otherwise I wouldn’t be able to think of anything else. Everything is perfect, the sun is shining, the wind is blowing and Cuba is getting a good clearing every evening.

Every lunchtime we take the shuttle from Ali’s camp to the kite club. Sabine always has an uneasy stomach beforehand, with all the joyful anticipation mixed with a little anxiety. This mixture is hellishly energising. Some days I stand on the beach and wonder whether I can still master the wind. But the XBow simply flattens out every gust.

After three days on the course, Sabine gets on the board for the first time. Not that far. But that’s a good thing. If she had managed more than 10 metres, the post-kite grin would probably have torn her ears apart. So at least there was one more stop. On day four, she makes a small line for the first time, and this time the grin afterwards is worryingly wide.

The cabaret children jump like fools. The students learn, and the teachers use every free minute to do exactly what they believe in: flying. Sabine is bitten by her board during a clean rocket launch. Bruises are medals of courage.

I’m slowly making friends with the power of the XBow, trusting it more and more. Some of the jumps go badly wrong with big impacts. But even after those you still have to shout Yippie. I’m sure I’ve cracked the third metre, probably the fourth too, and Sabine will capture the fifth in a photo stamped “hero” this week.

The weather in October should actually be much less windy and much rainier. But it isn’t. Fortunately, it’s crazy all over the world. If the wind blows so reliably in the rainy season, then I want to be crazy too, please. Or become one. I’m working on it.

I think of the people at home. And how wonderful it is to be a web designer. Three days ago, we moved into the new Tarzan house. Three palm trees grow through our hut, the sun terrace faces the beach and I have WiFi in my bed. Well, if it works.

Sometimes the job of web designer is a dream. The last few days it’s been a nightmare. A client didn’t receive any emails for days. I received 150 emails in five days because of this. As so often: probably not my fault, but swimming in it is still less fun than in the Caribbean Sea.