Go land sailing surrounded by sea on Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles

by on Sunday, May 16th, 2010 | No Comments

BONAIRE, Netherlands Antilles – I've sailed the British Virgin Islands. I've sailed off the coast of Tangiers. I've sailed off Martha's Vineyard.

So what am I doing sailing on dry land?

In a go-cartlike contraption attached to a sail, I'm whipping around a track really, really fast on the island of Bonaire, in the Caribbean. A silly grin is pasted to my face.

As a kid, I loved go-carts. When I heard Bonaire offered land sailing on the Caribbean's only official track for blokarts, (go-carts powered by wind), I eagerly signed up.

The downside: no brakes. The pluses: The freedom to sail at the speed and whim of the wind. A sport with no carbon emissions (there's no engine). No danger of toppling into the water. No need to duck when the sail turns.

"Land sailors can reach five times the wind speed, much faster than windsurfing," says Nelson Croft, owner of Landsailing Bonaire. "On a good day, you can do about 30 to 35 mph here. It's due to friction and momentum, and hardly any resistance."

Competitive land sailors can go much faster, he adds.

After being shown a map that suggests I tack (turn into the wind) at a certain point near the sea, and jibe (turn from the wind) at another point, I'm buckled into my seat by a long-haired, bleached-blond Briton.

The map tips are meaningless, I soon find. All of my previous sailing has been as a passenger, admiring the scenery, and when I enter the track, survival instinct takes over. I soon pick up speed faster than I ever imagined.

Yanking on a rope attached to the sail means I can lure the wind into starting my cart. Once sailing, I realize there is no way to stop, unless the wind dies down or I deliberately crash into the tires placed in the center. They're a painless but dusty substitute for brakes.

Gaining speed and skill as I careen around the track for my full hour, memories as a 10-year-old go-carter bubbling to the surface, I notice how many others are joining me in my new sport. The tally: absolutely nobody. Who goes to the Caribbean in August? The answer: those who know Bonaire has about the same temperature year-round, an average of 82 degrees. As I leave the track, I'm cheered to see a family with two children signing up for a sail.

Blokarts have very light, plastic sails and easy-to-handle carts. They were invented by a New Zealand-based company, Blokart International, in 1999.

Land sailing is practiced on flat, wide-open terrain, like the desert near Las Vegas and Reno, Nev., on European beaches in Holland, Belgium and Britain, and in Australia and New Zealand, Croft says.

He decided in midlife to trade corporate life for the Caribbean after meeting the Blokart people a few years ago.

"I wanted to be in a field that would make people smile," says the California native.

Bonaire, where pristine coastal waters are protected in the 30-year-old Bonaire National Marine Park, is best known as a diving and snorkeling destination. The island off the Venezuelan coast is itself flat, dry and covered in cactus and mesquite.

Almost 100 dive spots are sprinkled along its southern coast, and the varieties and colors of fish I spot while snorkeling are spectacular. About 170 bird species are found here, from flamingos (so many thousands of them that the airport is named in their honor) to hummingbirds to endangered yellow-shouldered Amazon parrots.

Steady trade winds year-round have made Bonaire's northern coast known for windsurfing and kiteboarding. Thus, land sailing seemed a good fit, and Croft opened his blokart center on the north coast, a 10-minute drive from Kralendijk, Bonaire's capital.

Considered the world's longest purposely built land-sail track (you can land sail on nearby Aruba, but not on a track), Croft's track is coated with a byproduct of salt production.

Salt was used to preserve fish and meat before refrigeration, and salt today is Bonaire's leading export. The salt flats on its southernmost tip offer one of the most extraordinary sights I've ever seen: pink water on my left, the blue Caribbean on my right and white pyramids of salt that resemble snow towering in the distance.

The shockingly pink color is caused by tiny sea creatures. They're also the reason for the pink color of flamingos, which eat them. The big birds can be spotted at Lake Gotomeer in the north and also inhabit a flamingo sanctuary near the salt flats in the south.

On the drive back to my hotel, I spy people sailing in, get this, boats.

Always thrilled to zag when others zig, I think, "How mundane."

Sharon McDonnell is a freelance writer in Louisiana.

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