I was interviewed for the US WINDSURFING Magazine; issue Winter 2006/ issue 25 and asked for my personal take on living in Cabarete, a beach town in a third world country and why I choose to live there in the first place?

The Questions:

1)    What was it about _______that prompted your decision to move there? Please offer specifics regarding the conditions, people or surrounding scene.

I applied for a job with Buck Lyons from Vela Windsurf Resorts because after 4 years traveling the West Coast circus  Baja California (Los Barilles) in the winter and the Gorge (Hood River/ Bingen) in the summer and back again I was ready to see more.

I wanted to sail more in the waves and in warmer water. I got some epic sailing along the California coast north and south of the border, but the Pacific isn’t exactly tropical in both places.

Since I worked for the Baja Surf Club, later purchased by Vela, I knew  some of the Vela crew, instructors as neighbors in Los Barilles. Vela looked like a good outfit.

2)    Can you remember the precise moment, or moments that prompted your decision to pack up and move? Was it a leap of faith? Calculated choice? What was the final push to go for it?

It was summer and I was sailing in the Gorge. Some fellow instructors from the previous seasons in Baja had been asked if they would like to help Vela open a new center in Cabarete. All of them had already commitments for other winter jobs, and it sounded kinda far away, so they passed the news on to me. I think it took me about 5 minutes before I decided to call Vela and send in my resume.

In the five minutes I remembered Eric Hertsens, now the owner and designer of EH kites & boards and his comments. During my previous winter in Baja we met and he was raving about  the quality of the sailing in the Dominican Republic, more precisely Cabarete. He of course was a windsurfer then, that somehow trough his Canadian friends got side tracked to Baja for a season. He backed up his comments with his fearless top-notch sailing. He had learned most of it in Cabarete.

Initially I did not get the the word go from Vela, so I decided to see Buck Lyons at the San Francisco windsurf trade show. My persistence paid off I got hired there, although only for 3 months to start things up.

Well about a month into my contract I was asked if I wanted to manage the center, I agreed and that turned into 2 years. Next we had to move to a different location on Cabarete  beach and Vela reorganized some centers as franchises. I became a partner/ franchise owner then.

3)    Living in an area where vacationers come and go, is it tough to have a “normal” life? Any regrets, or downsides to living in paradise?

Back home in Switzerland  I went to Chef school. As a Chef you tend to work odd hours, your off during the week, work weekends and  you take vacations in the off  season. So I was in the right frame of mind already. Working in third world countries on a beach, teaching windsurfing or managing a resort was just taking things a little further… Besides who wouldn’t want to work on the beach? It used to take me tops 10 minutes from my office to the water!

In order to live on the beach or in a third world county you need to ask yourself what is important to you, what can you do without, because there will be a lot of that? On the bright side I can’t  remember the last time I was stuck in traffic on the way to work…

4)    For those who live in endless-summer locations, could you ever swallow a real winter? What about re-joining the “real-world” – is there any returning to it once you’ve made the plunge?

The last time I felt  real winter was in Whistler BC, I went there to visit my friend Hermann the German. His friend Peter was teaching me snowboarding and I promptly broke my leg (fibula at the base). Since then I stayed away from the cold and frozen form of water!

To come back to the real world, which one is that any way? It’s a bit of a stretch. If you are young and you do the tropical odyssey for a couple of years reintegration is not so hard , but once you join the over 40 club getting back becomes a bit more of a hurdle. As is right now I go through a bit of thinking, figuring where I may be 10 years from now.

I came to Cabarete for the windsurfing, it still is an important part of my life here. I sail often, but I prefer the days when waves and strong wind co-inside. Living for any amount of time longer than just a few years in a place like this you become also part of the community, that tends to get you more than just skin deep involved in the culture. 

5)    Many dream of living in paradise; few do. Any words of advice for those considering it?

If you plan to do business in a place like this live there first and learn as much about the people and the way to do business there. See if you are cut out for it! Learn about the culture, learn the language! Stay open minded.

Remember, you will have to adjust, they will not…