Driving directions from Los Cabos to La Ventana? Airports, shuttles, car rentals, etc.

Flying into Los Cabos (SDJ) is usually cheaper than flying into La Paz (LAP) for your La Ventana vacation. Los Cabos is a two hour drive from La Ventana and La Paz is a short 40 minute drive. When you are booking your flight you might want to see what deals you can get on your car rental because some of the big airlines have 10-30 USD a day rentals if you pay for it when booking your flight. If you are not renting a car then you can reserve an airport shuttle through Playa Central. Prices are listed at the end of this blog post.

Driving directions to La Ventana from Los Cabos? 

As you take a right out of the airport to get on the highway (Mexico 1) follow signs to La Paz. All Baja roads are two lane roads and the only hazards are surprise por holes, cattle in the road and sharp curves, so keep an eye on the road especially at night.

Once you are out of the airport and on this road headed to La Paz you will only have to make 3 turns to get to La Ventana, and have 2 hours ahead of you:

• 1st Turn: Once on Mexico 1 you will drive about an hour and drive through Los Barriles, which is another windspot in the Baja. Keep straight, the next town you drive through is San Bartolo which is an oasis with lots of fruit trees and small shops on the road side that sell regional candy and fresh fruit. You will keep straight until you find yourself at a small town called San Antonio, another oasis, you will see a gas station (Pemex)to your left and see a sign to La Paz indicating to go straight, BUT this is where you will take your first right! (Toward Los Planes). 

• 2nd Turn: Now you will be driving through San Antonio, and you will wind through this small town and then be on a straight road that goes through some hills, please WATCH for pot holes as the summer rains will wash out part of the roads and there is not good signage. You will drive about 30 minutes and be surprised by a T section in the road, again, not good signage so keep your eyes open! Once you reach this T intersection you will take a left. 

• 3rd Turn: Drive for about 10 minutes until you reach another T intersection where you will take a right. The signs are marked toward "El Sargento", as soon as you trake this right you will see your first sign that says "La Ventana" (this is where you can pull over safely and take a photo of yourself under the La Ventana sign full of surf and kiteboarding stickers). Now you can cruise until you arrive to La Ventana. Playa Central will be on your right, we are the big yellow building on the beach with a sign that says "Playa Central". See you here!

Shuttle Prices from Los Cabos Airport:

One Way:

One Person: $95 usd

Two People: $ 150 usd

Three People: $ 180 usd

Four People: $ 220 usd

Five People: $ 250 usd

Six People: $ 280 usd

Seven- Nine People: $300 usd

Round Trip:

One Person: $170 usd

Two People: $ 280 usd

Three People: $ 300 usd

Four People: $ 220 usd

Five People: $ 250 usd

Six People: $ 280 usd

Seven- Nine People: $300 usd

To reserve your shuttle please e-mail jessica@playacentralkiteboarding.com and send us your flight information. Fore more visit www.playacentralkiteboarding.com

La Ventana SUP Series

As you guys might know, most people who live or visit La Ventana are kiters, windsurfers, mountain bikers, fishermen, and overall active people who love the outdoors. Stand Up Paddleboarding has grown as a sport in the past years and every day you see more and more SUPers enjoying the beautiful bay of La Ventana.

 Group shot of the SUP racers and Jessica, from Playa Central. 

Warren Bruce on the right, thank you for sharing the stoke and encouraging everyone to
participate in this 1st SUP race at Playa Central. Cheers! 

One of our friends from La Paz, Brian Harker, from Harker Boards Co., hosts SUP races in La Paz and invited Warren Bruce and everyone at Playa Central to participate a SUP relay race last October. We had so much fun doing it that we decided it had to be done in La Ventana too. Warren Bruce is an all around athlete who likes to share his passion for sports, and together Playa Central and Warren put on the 1st race of the La Ventana SUP Series 2012-2013.

As you can see some people used race boards and other used fun boards.
All boards and levels of paddlers are bienvenidos! 

A special thanks to the five participants who raced today, here are their names in the order they finished, fouth place tied:
1. Doug Hopkins, from White Salmon, WA.
2. Warren Bruce, from La Ventana, Mexico.
3. Pablo Martinez, from Colima, Colima, Mexico.
4. Norm Beddows, from Calgary, Canada.
4. D. Larkman, from White Salmon, WA.

We had a beach start, and racers headed North to go around Captain Kirk´s buoy and back down to Playa Central, making the race 2.1 Km, or 1.3 miles. 

Una, dos, dos y medio, y TRESSSS!

Tired boys! Good job guys! Hugs, Jessica. 

This was a great start for the series.  We are excited to see how much it grows and hope to see more women in the race too. As more people participate, we will have a fun board and a race board category, and get some cool prizes. Today the only prize we gave to all racers were little SUP cookies made in Playa Central´s wood oven.

SUP cookies for everyone! Made by the best bakery in Baja! AKA, Playa Central :) 

Thanks to all of the racers that came out today for the 1st race and congradulations to Doug Hopkins for his 1st place. Playa Central likes to bring the town together for some healthy fun and we hope this will encourage more people to try out the sport! For SUP lessons or rentals please e-mail jessica@playacentralkiteboarding.com 

When is the Best Time to Come to La Ventana?

The wind blows from Oct-April, the strongest months of wind being December, January and February. Home and business owners begin to arrive in September and most of the seasonal business open in October and you will see just a few kites and windsurfers on the water in October. Thanksgiving break is a great time to come since the wind is here, the water still warm, and people get time off school and work for the holidays.

For kite lessons, late Oct. and early Nov. are great times to come since there is lots of space 

on the beach and on the water (and in lesson bookings). 

If you want to stay for a long period of time and get through your learning curve over a few weeks or a month, November is when you want to come because lodging prices sometimes increase for December and January, so you are more likely to get a deal! November is also extra special because there are less kiters and windsurfers on the water than there are in the high season.

If you have been kiting for a while and have traveled a bit to other kitespots on the West Coast already, then December, January and February would be extra fun because there are lots of familiar faces in La Ventana you will see, fun networking, events and demos, and new friendships to be made. In December and early January La Ventana gets "Norte´s" which are cold fronts that create strong side shore winds for La Ventana, and often we get some swell right in front of Playa Central!

In the high season you can run into pros on the beach, take their kiteboarding clinics,

 network with kite companies, go to kite demos, and more! 

March is also very windy, there are less people in La Ventana and on the water and the weather warms up. Lots of people who come early season return in March for the same conditions. Spring break also allows people to get time off of work and school, so if you want to bring your kids this is a great time. In April and May the wind is lighter and consistent, most people on the water are home and business owners who are enjoying the peaceful and lightwind days of La Ventana, and some of the lodging prices drop.

Spring break is a good time to come with your family!

So, we can chart out the months like this:

October: Good for learning, cheaper lodging, bring 10 m, 12 m, 14m kites.
November: Great for learning, water is still warm, bring you 9m, 11m, and 13m kites.
December: Great wind and good for learning, lots of parties and Nortes; bring you 7m, 9m, and 11m kites.
January: Great wind and good for learning, lots of events and social parties, bring your 6m, 8m, and 10m kites.
February: Great wind and great for leaning, bring your 6m, 8m, and 10m kites.
March: Great wind, great for learning; bring your 7m, 9m, and 11m kites.
April: Good wind, good for learning, bring you 8m, 10m and 12m kites.
May: Good wind, good for learning, cheaper lodging, bring your 10m, 12m, and 14m kites.

If you want to learn to kiteboard, do it as soon as you can, but if you will have to plan your vacation ahead of time then go ahead and book your lessons for November or late Feb and March, since there will be less traffic on the water, less waiting for your food in restaurants, and possibly better lodging prices for you. To book your kiteboarding lessons please email jessica@playacentralkiteboarding.com for the best instruction in La Ventana. Looking forward to your visit!

You can also visit our website: www.playacentralkiteboarding.com 

All the Kiteboarding Instruction You Can Handle for Only $199 a Day.

You can take a full day of kite instruction and take as many hours of lessons as you would like. Have you shopped around for lessons yet? You´ll find almost everybody has prices by the hour, and usually about a dollar a minute. At Playa Central we offer our "All Day" for $199 dollars and are happy to do so.

We want our students to use up all the wind of each day they are on vacation in La Ventana, and that´s a lot of hours. During lessons, we want our students to repeat drills and nail down kite skills at their own pace, and for the student to be able to ask us questions without feeling pressed for time. We have found that this "All Day" kite package has made our instructors and our
customers very satisfied. As instructors, we work better with a comfortable student who can take their time, let us be a bit more thorough, and also, have time to catch their breath before we repeat exercizes. After you have had a few hours of lessons with us, you can take a break if you wish, order some coffee and a sandwich, and then head back out for your second round. It´s as good as it gets!

Most of our students take 2-4 "All Day" lessons, depending on their sports background. For people who are staying for a week, three days of our "All Day" make for a great kite trip because we go all day, and you log in lots of hours a short time. In La Ventana the wind picks up at 10-11 AM and blows until about 5 PM, which means that there are about 6-7 hours of wind most days. We have our students check in at 10:15 AM who fill out paper work, fit their wet suit and meet their instructor.

For your first day of lessons bring a hat, bathing suit, sunglasses, sunscreen and jacket. The first two hours will be on the beach where you learn the basic theory of kiteboarding, how to sear and power the kite, safety tips, and launching and landing. Once you are more familiar with the kite and have kite skills, we change into our wet suits and you will learn to body drag with the kite in the water. After you acquire body dragging skills, then we introduce the board and you begin water starting and riding on the board. We will correct your stance and kite positions once you can ride for seconds at a time.

Playa Central´s Kiteschool in La Ventana opens from October - April. For more questions about your kite lesson, please visit www.playacentralkiteboarding.com

Kiteboarding Clinic with Nuria Goma and Jessica, courtesy of Liquid Force.

Several months ago a mutual friend, Adam Koch, introduced Nuria Goma and me on Facebook on the basis that we both ride Liquid Force, we were both going to be in La Ventana in January and February, and we love to promote the sport. Online we started talking about hosting a free kite boarding clinic with Liquid Force here at Playa Central Kiteboarding and we were both very happy with the turn out.

Watch the 1:30 minute candid video clip of Jessica explaining how to water start on a strapless.

Nuria and I decided we would focus on encouraging intermediate riders on strapless boards. We covered water starting, difference between tacks and jives, how to jive, hot to switch to toe side while heading the same direction, turning into toe side, etc. We also covered twin tip technique and how to turn, jump, ride toe side, do jump transitions, etc.

Nuria and Jessica helping Rosalie, a Bay Area kiter who visits La Ventana every year.

At sign up we gave everybody a piece of paper and had them write down 1-3 key skills they wanted to work on and had them drop it into a Liquid Force helmet. We drew out the questions and together covered them all. After the lesson Liquid Force provided kites and boards for demo and the clinic. People loved the Fish, a great beginner surf board.

Nuria handled most of the twin tip and freestyle questions while I gave the strapless tips and pointers. Once on the beach we decided to divide the group in two, and each one of us work with our area. While rigging the gear, La Ventana just started nooking. It went from 18-48 mph in about 90 minutes from when the clinic started. Only the more advanced riders decided to go out on 5m, 6m and 7ms. We were all overpowered and decided to just free ride. Although we would have liked to get close to the students and give instruction, it was still pretty fun to just have a session with them.

For lessons and more kite camps in La Ventana, we recommend Playa Central Kiteboarding.

La Ventana Race Series at Playa Central Kiteboarding

From November to March Playa Central hosts the La Ventana Race Series the third Monday of every month. Sponsors and cohosts include Pro Windsurf Ventana, Air Rush Kites, Captain Kirk´s, the Flying High Resort, Diamante Real Estate and Liquid Force Kites. It is a slalom course designed by Tyson Poor and the race is directed by Dave Tyburski. Windsurfers and kiters race a five buoy slalom course and we run 5 races a day. Playa Central serves lunch and drink specials and spectators come to enjoy an exciting day of racing.

Tyson Poor designs the slalom course for the La Ventana Race Series

Dave Tybursky from Airush directing the La Ventana Series at Playa Central.

In November there were 10 skippers who participated and the results were 1. Tyson Poor (windsurf), 2. Adam Withington Sanchez (kiteboard), 3. Lyn Preuitt (windsurf). By the second race the enrollment doubled to 20 skippers, and the results were 1. Tyson Poor (windsurf), 2. Adam Withington Sanchez (kiteboard) 3. Dan Koff and Gabor Vagi. There were also kiters who were racing for their first time and afterward said it was the best time they have ever had on the water.

This is the 1st race ever held of the La Ventana Race Series at Playa Central.

Dan Koff and Gabor Vagi tied, this picture captures their experience in the race pretty well, photo from the December Race.

The official La Ventana Race Series T-Shirt has the seires´ logo on the front, which has the tip of the Cerralvo Island in the background with kite and windsurf sillhouettes lined up at a start line. The long sleeves say La Ventana on the left one, and Race Series on the right one, and the back of the shirt has our sponsors. You can buy them at Playa Central for 20 usd.

What inspired the La Ventana Race Series?

Vivien and I (Jessica) from Playa Central went on a 10 week roadtrip to CA and OR over this 2011 summer and the events we enjoyed the most were the three Thursday Night Races we got to race in at the St Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. While there we found out that Captain Kirk´s, a great hotel in La Ventana owned by our friends Kitty and Kirk, were one of the sponsors of the race. It also happened that Tyson Poor and Wyatt Miller form Pro Windsurf Ventana had mentioned the idea of running races out of Playa Central a year ealier. But it took us actually being in races, experiencing the sportsmanship of the whole deal, being at the startline when that cornette blows, and the best part, making friends with new people in new places to get us excited about the idea of hosting races in La Ventana.

Our brother, Adam Withington, has been racing for a couple of years and is on Liquid Force´s International team. For 2012, Liquid Force has their new NRG kites designed for racing, so lets just say that was another great reason to put on a race series.

Wyatt Miller (Pro Windsurf Ventana), Cynbad Brown (Baja Boardriders), and Adam Withington (Liquid Force) getting ready to head out to the start line.

The first week of Novomber Tyson, Dave Tibursky and I got together a few mornings over coffee and talked about some ideas and from there on everything has fallen into place. We now have volunteers who help with the finish line and buoy set up, a special thanks to Padre David and Johnnie. We are also getting great feedback from all the participants and have gotten requests to make this a weekly or every other week event. We think we will keep in monthly for this year, and maybe run the race trwice a month starting next November.

By the 2nd race enrollment doubled, and we had 20 skippers.

Padre David and Jessica Withington getting the heats ready before the race.

The slalom course makes it pretty equal for windsurfers and kiters since we can cut around buoys quickly, which is our advantage, but windsurfers usually gain speed quicker than kiters do from buoy to buoy. Kiters have a hard time power strocking their kite since we have to be careful with the tall masts of the windsurfers in front of us. If a windsurfer is behind and just downwind of a kiter, the kiter probably has their kite low and w

indsurfers simply cannot get by if they want to speed up while keeping their line. All in all, we all feel like the slalom course is very fair for windsurfers and kiters to race in the same class.

As a spectator, it is also really fun to watch these guys commin´at you as fast as they can.

Here we have Adam Withington cutting around a buoy, you can see how much space windsurfers need and how Adam can zip around it.

Photo taken during the skippers meeting in December.

Jessica Withington and Tyson Poor leading the skippers meeting at Playa Central during the December race.

Chas Walter and Jessica Withington, both trying to get across that finish line first.

Chas said this was the most fun he has ever had on the water, and it was his first time racing!

Walk ins are welcome, and don´t worry if you have never raced before, look at Vivien and me, we never had raced up until recently and now we are running them! Beleive us, you might not do well your first time, but every race makes you a better kiter and after two or three you feel great and comfortable at the start line. And the best part before and after the race, when you hang out with everybody for race talk, beer talk, and more fun talk.

For more information you can email me at Jessica@playacentralkiteboarding.com and you can see lots more Pictures of the race on our Facebook page.

Book your lodging and kite lessons in La Ventana with us www.playacentralkiteboarding.com