Movie Premier of ¨Present Tense¨ produced by Nathan Appel Hosted by Liquid Force and Playa Central

On Tuesday Jan 18th, Liquid Force was setting up for a movie premier, produced by one of their team riders and LF media contributor, Nate Appel, who happens to be in La Ventana right now to document this upcoming kite tournament. The video, ¨Present Tense¨is a collection of some of the biggest American kite events during 2010, as well as some free riding that Nate documented and edited.

The video was projected on a silver screan that is painted on Playa Central´s wall, which is great for events like this. People gathered all over the lawn, ordered pizzas, beer, margaritas, and wine as they watched the 30 min video (Good job Nate with the soundtrack :).

After Present Tense, we watched a Joe Cool raw footage of the Lord of the Wind Showdown (Jan 16-19th), which included course race starts (my favorite), bikini contests, skipper meetings, and parties. Thank you Joe. We also watched Jason Noorwick´s video of La Ventana winter kiteboarding, most filmed infront of Playa Central. Thank you Jason!

Here is a link to Jason´s video:

http://www.kiteforum.tv/video/La_Ventana_Kook_Out.html?Itemid=0

Jessica and Marcela go to Los Barriles for the Showdown

Since Marcela is a yoga instructor at Playa Central and I am the general manager here, sometimes it is hard to find 100% fun time. We took advantage of the Lord of the Wind Showdown in Los Barriles and excused it as a business trip, and headed South for a three day kite vacay.

The event a

ttracted pro riders from all over the US, Canada and some international destinations. We got to see many pro riders, like Damien Leroy, Sean Farley, Adam Koch, Jon Van Malsen, Adam Withington and finally a girl!! Claire Lutz, from Liquid Force was one of the only pro girls there, and she is a sweetheart.

Now we are all in La Ventana, getting ready for the La Ventana Classic. All of the pro riders are here now training, people are flying in, and we are looking forward to the next week of kite partying.

Cinnamon Rolls

It is pretty common for the yoga students to stretch back up and walk off the yoga matt into the bakery for some fresh cinnamon rolls after their 8:00 am class with Marcela. Playa Central's cinnamon rolls are pulled out of the wood burning oven at 9:15 am, just at the same time the Ashtanga yoga class ends! One of the students kidded and said the only reason she came to yoga class in the morning was to excuse the cinnamon roll after class.

Some campers sip on La Choya coffee or hot teas served at Playa Central while they wait for Vivien to glaze the cinnamon rolls. It is also common to have kiters come in just before they gear up for a session and fuel up with some baked goods.

Come by Playa Central and buy a cinnamon roll right off the pan.

Bakery hours: 7 am - 7 pm.

Whole Grain and White Baguettes

At our bakery we bake whole grain bread with flax, sunflower and pepita seed, oats and whole flour. Our white baguettes are made with no oil, and sprinkled with sesame seeds, perfect for subs, toast, and quick snacks.
Avilable daily @ 9 am at Playa Central.

This picture: Vivien and Jessica, sisters and baking partners at Playa Central.

Potato Salad

Playa Central sells potato salad in To-Go containers, ideal for hungry kiters and family lunches.

4 servings for 55 pesos.

Summer Kiteboarding in La Ventana

Most wind-sport people who come to La Ventana only visit during October through April for the thermal wind season. This is the second summer in a row that I have been in La Ventana and usually spend my days in the garden, running my AC 24/7, and kiteboarding on the other side of this L shaped bay.

In this image, the red circle on the left (West) is Playa Central, which is gets the side shore Nortes and thermal from Oct-April. During the summer months it is a little different. Playa Central recieves a light onshore wind created from the thermal that comes in about 1-2pm and dies off with the sunset.

So, about two days a week, when the thermal wind is blowing about 16 kn, we take our car and with out using our 4x4 we get to the "Bufadora", which is about a 13 min drive. We kite on our 7m, 9m, and 11m, depending. Sometimes we do downwinders to Playa Central, which is great because we get to roll out kites up on the grass and rinse our gear off.

If you ever do come down to La Ventana in the summer, bring your kites!

Want to learn how to kitesurf? It's simple, go to school.

As equipment continues to improve in kitesurfing, the number of people who pick up the sport increases. After years of kiteboarding being taught around the world, there have been several general methods developed by instructors on how to learn through a safe and successful process.

As a friend of beginner kiters and a kitboarding enthusiast, I recommend above all things for people to take lessons with a professional kiteschool or at least an experienced instructor.


3 simple tips on how to start kiteboarding:

1. If consistent wind and beginner kite friendly beaches are not available in your home town, plan a 7-30 day vacation to a windy kitespot to get through the learning curve quickly.

2. Find a kitespot with professional kiteschools and make sure to check the calendar to assure you are going during the right season.

3. Once you learn to kiteboard with the kiteschool gear, you will have a better idea of what equipment you will want to buy for yourself. For safety and efficiency purposes, we recommend buying new kites and boards for your new venture.

Now Supplying to Local Stores

Playa Central Bakery's french bread is now available at Mini-super Oscaritos. We deliver fresh bread Monday-Saturday, by 1 PM.

Pie Pan Pizza

Pie Pan PIZZA $60 pesos

This will be quick kite fuel for the kiteboarders to load up on when they kite from up and down the beach and land at Playa Central for lunch. Daily pizza along with chalkboard menu pasta and seafood- open seven days a week.

French Baguette

Playa Central's bakery has this recipe nailed down. We love French bread, in our house in Cozumel we always would eat it with sandwiches, soups, PB&J, anything really. We think it will be a favorite staple for the kiters and windsurfers in La Ventana, yum.

This is a picture of 10 baguettes just before I sold them to a very friendly family that came into he bakery today.

Halleluja, make a joyful noise!

Today the floor in the 4,000 sq foot Playa Central warehouse is finally out! After six weeks of hammering this well plastered swimming pool floor out of out kiteshop and sail shed, we can take a deep breath.

A special thanks to my brother, Adam, for having worn earplugs and goggles and dedicated many hours of hard work to Playa Central.