Life is good on the Azores

Just arrived on Terceira, Azores a few day ago and felt well from the beginning on. We stay a really relaxed hotel with a beautiful on the sunrise and the spot. It’s a spot located in a big harbour, which got built a few years ago and destroyed the natural beaches, but gives the village of Praia da Vitoria and the whole island, to grow economically. Praia de Vitoria is a little village with an historic part and a few modern houses. It’ s the home of Nuno Bettencourt, who published the famous song “More than words” back in 1990.

At the moment I am here at Praia da Vitoria to compete in the IFCA Slalom Worlds. It’s the fourth time for me competing at IFCA Worlds. And it’s great to be on the Azores for the first time.

The spot is special. A big harbour with unsteady winds, but so far not too bad for testing my biggest gear set 9,0 and 117 liters. And if you catch a gust it’ s cool to have a glide through the bay. Many great Slalom racers are here on the island to prepare for the season and fight for the world title. Last year’s winner Gunnar Asmussen, Ben van der Steen, Gonzalo Costa Hoevel, Arnon Dagan, Steve Allen, Ludo Jossin, Cyril Moussilmani, Antoine Questel, Pierre Mortefon, Maciek Rutkowski and many more. 52 men and 5 ladies are competing. So far the wind was not suitable to run any races. Two more days are to go. Let’s hope for abit more wind.

The wind limit to run a race is at 11 knots. During the last two days we had wind in between 7 and 14 knots, but quite unsteady. The life here on Terceira is very relaxed despite the not ideal wind conditions. It’s not an extremely touristic place, what gives the village and the spot a special charm. It’s definitely worth to visit this island located in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. And there a few more island just around, which are all worth to visit.

 

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