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 Planet
Windsurfing offers an international flavor with English as
the primary language. The center is owned and operated by
Udo Peissert and his wife Geralda. Udo has worked as a manager
and instructor in Margarita for many years. Udo is the head
instructor. Jorg, a very articulate and friendly young Dutchman,
will be in charge of lessons and will give 3 free clinics
per week, in English, to Planet guests. The seminars will
last about an hour and cover a broad range of subjects like
beachstarts, waterstarts, tacks, jibing, speed and jumping.
Jorg will again be assisted by Leo, who is one of the hottest
local sailors on the beach. Carol will also assist in lessons
and is in charge of the entertainment program. Geralda is
in charge of the Planet bar.
 The
beach in front of Planet has plenty of space for gear on the
beach and shade to relax in by the center. The water is shallow
and the platform 250 yards out provides a good visual reference
for the transition to deeper water. The rescue boat is a few
meters away. Lockers are offered for security of personal
gear and 5 mountain bikes are available for guest's use. Rocky
can guide you or provide route direction. The bikes are Scotts,
with front shocks, and are in good shape and well maintained.
Planet offers a weekly surf outing to the northern and eastern
beaches of the island which have waves.
 Udo
has rebuilt and reorganized the club in a very innovative
way. Sails are stored in a rack a mere 10 meters from the
beach. All booms have adjustable harness lines and all sails
5.5 m2 and smaller have small diameter booms. The boards are stored on new racks which make it easy to
find your board and reduce potential board damage.  The
new board
storage allows boards to be stored with the mastfoot in place
so you don't have to deal with installing the mastfoot each
time you swap boards. Udo has a number of additional fins
in assorted shapes and sizes so you can tune the board the
way you like it. All booms have boom protectors and mastfeet
have protectors to minimize damage to yourself and your board.
 Planet
gives you a choice between two different rental systems. In
the "Fix" system you can reserve one board that will be yours
alone to use. You must reserve in advance and let us know
exactly what type and size board you want to reserve. There
are 30 boards in the Fixed board group. You can look at the
Fanatic web site, our wind statistics, and the board size
you are accustomed to and be assured that the board you are
most likely to use will be available for you. This means that
once you select footstrap placement and adjustment you don't
have to worry about someone changing it on you. If conditions
for the day are not what you expected you can give up your
fixed board for the day and use any of the "Mix" or pool system
boards. However, this means that your fix board automatically
moves into the pool system for the day and is not exclusively
yours until the following day. Any boards in the "Fix" group
which are not reserved will be part of the "Mix" pool. The
Mix system is the typical  pool
system where any board not in use by someone else is available
for your use. There are about 35 boards in the Mix group.
Additionally, any boards that are not prebooked under the
Fix system move over automatically to the Mix pool. Last year,
despite the Fix option, most people selected the pool system
and the majority of boards in the Fix system moved over and
were available in the pool. The system sounds sort of complicated
but the combined systems worked fine last year.
 Planet
has all new 2002 Fanatic boards. There are 70 boards in all.
The board range is displayed below. You can check out our
links and www.fanatic.com
for more information about the boards.
The boards are the following:
- Viper X Ray 170/150/130
- Bee 164/144/124/104
- Cross 120/110/100/90
- Skate 64/61/59
- Rip 52/56
- Goya 255/250/245
Planet will offer Arrows sails this year. Although not well
known to Americans the sails are very popular in Europe. If
you look at the World Cup photos you'll see some. Arrows have
received some great reviews in the windsurfing magazines.
The web site usually has some reviews. Check it out at www.arrows-sails.com.
The 100 Arrows sails at the club are all 2002 models rigged
on small diameter booms. All masts are carbon and the majority
of masts are 55% carbon.
The models are the Dragster, Burner, Impact, Trixx, and Graze.
The sizes run from 3.2 to 8.0 Beginners rigs in tiny sizes
are also available.
Jorg is a VDWS certified kitesurf instructor and will offer
lessons to Planet guests who want to try kitesurfing. The
club has 8 boards and 15 kites available. Planet intends to
purchase an additional 40 kites and 15 boards by mid February.
Jorg has 2 kite instructors assisting him and intends to add
at least one more when the new kites arrive. Jorg gives 2
free Introduction to Kitesurfing clinics per week to Planet
guests.
Windsurfing lesson packages offer excellent instruction at
great rates. Beginners can select a beginner package with
two lessons included to get them started on the right foot.
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|
asa
Viento offers several choices of rental equipment and beach
location. We can steer you to the package that best suits
your abilities, brand and ambiance preferences. All gear is
2002 product, rigged and ready, with adjustable harness lines,
minutes from your room. All the clubs have shade, chairs,
and snack bars. We can arrange kayak or surf trips as well.
Offers
the new 2002 F2 boards, including the Maui Project boards,
and North sails. The Happy Center is in the shallow, beginner
friendly area. This is the place to see and be seen. The platform
is right in front of the center about 250 yards away and provides
a great reference point for the transition from shallow water
to deeper water. Happy pays very close attention to their
guests' whereabouts. They also operate the rescue boat. You
can feel very safe sailing out of Happy. 
Happy
is very well organized and professionally run. Kai and Chrissy
own and manage the center. They have a friendly and highly
competent English speaking staff. Bettina and Mariah will
be back this year. Remko also returns to dazzle the crowds
with his freestyle skills as well as light up your day with
his infectious smile. New this year is an American, Derek
Rijff. Derek has been an ABK instructor for several years
as well as a tester for Windsurfing magazine. At least three
free seminars per week are offered to guests. The seminars
cover all techniques from beginner to expert levels. The instructors
put on a great synchronized freestyle show every Saturday.
Happy has great prices on lessons, the best on the beach.
Happy offers periodic excursions such as jungle hikes or shopping
trips and the instructors often join guests for dinner. Lockers
are provided free of charge to secure personal possessions
and 5 Scott mountain bikes with front shocks are available
to guests. 
Casa
Viento is pleased to offer 2 kite surf centers this year.
Planet Windsurfing has a new school as well as equipment rental
and WorldKiteboarding returns with more gear than last year.
