When the stars align....

As the title suggests, sometimes in life, everything aligns itself in such a way that it seems almost as if fate itself is dictating the universe around you, almost like the conductor of the unseen orchestra of life is guiding your path. And while I don't believe in fate, it is a good feeling all the same, and certainly helps by reassuring me that Becky and I have made the right decisions with a feeling of "being on the right path at the right time".

Let me explain.

In September, I went to The Kiteboarder Magazine's website and purchased their Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer travel guides.  I recommend both of them for avid travelers looking for new shores and steady wind to sail.  they are $3.99 each, so extremely well priced and worth the minimal cost.
Click this link to check them out.  http://store.thekiteboarder.com/category-s/41.htm

On October 13th I received an email from Marina Chang, a publisher from TKB (The Kiteboarder Magazine) to inform that "your name was randomly chosen as the Tkb/Virgin Armada promotional winner of a :Virgin Armada/Nobile NHP kiteboard ( board give away promo for all Tkb orders in October)"

The Virgin Kitesurfing Armada is a event held in the UK and sponsored by Sir Richard Branson that includes among other things, a world record attempt for largest down-winder ever with over 500 GPS tracked riders.  Check out this link for more info:  http://kitesurfingarmada.org.uk/

Anyways, Nobile a kiteboarding brand, most famous for its slip travel boards, helped to create 10 custom, limited edition, Virgin Kitesurfing Armada Nobile NHP boards.  A few of them were prizes, a few were up for auction and charity, and at least one of them went to The Kiteboarder Magazine as a prize for their customers...and yeah, that ended up being me with a $8 purchase from their website.

What an awesome score!  Below is a picture of the top and bottom of the design.

Here is a picture I sent to TKB of myself and my daughter holding the board.

As you may imagine, winning this board right before we plan to leave on a life changing adventure to chase the wind felt like a sign that we are on the right track.  I never win anything...certainly not a kiteboard worth $800 (what the Nobile NHP sells for new).

I currently have a twin tip with boots and a surf board, so I really didn't have a good option for teaching an impromptu kiteboarding lesson.  This board is a perfect addition to my quiver for just that reason, and because have a twin tip with straps is simply a nice option to have around. 

A few days after that I was contact by a buddy of mine, John Ruffing, who two years ago quit his job and has been travelling ever since.  He spent 6 months in 2014 running Srilankite in Srilanka, after having visited quite a few other places, teaching lessons along the way.  He told me that he has much of the same plans as Becky and I, would be interested in traveling together, and potentially if things work out, partner up and build a business together.  John is a really fun and intelligent guy, and also a IKO intructor, so after chatting with Becky, we both thought this sounds like a great way to start our journey and see where things take us,

If you want to check out both of our IKO public profiles, you can find them here:

Ryan 

http://ikointl.com/member-public-detail?uid=14609

John 

http://ikointl.com/member-public-detail?uid=14920-8819

John suggested we take a look at what Colombia has to offer for kiteboarding, which after hours of surfing the web, looks pretty epic.  

I can say that just the mention of Colombia stirs up memories of the 1980's and the drug cartels, violence, and kidnappings. Because of that I was a little unsure about the decision to go there when John first approached me with the idea, but the more research I did, the more Colombia looked like a great place to check out.  While it is not a completely crime free country (certainly nowhere is) the crime levels are way down, especially in the last 4 years...and for the most part the Caribbean side of the country is quite safe.  

That is often the case anyways where kiteboarding is concerned.  Often times kiteboarding is prime in what are traditionally fishing villages, so once a good kiteboarding tourism industry is built up, the locals really value the people that come visit to kite and whom bring valued commerce into their local economy.  Plus, kiteboarders tend to be very conscientious guests to both the locals and the environment.

Anyways, literally the day after talking to John, I got an email from Native Instruments.  As you may know, I also produce music as a hobby and Native Instruments is a brand in which I had signed up for their online newsletter.  What was their email about?  It was promoting a new video of theirs that was covering the music scene in Colombia called Sobrosso.  And it covers the Caribbean coast of Colombia....check it out.

After a bit of searching, I also found a ton of other videos on Colombia.  One very interesting by the NY Times is called "36 hrs in Cartegena".  There is a fantastic video to watch as well.  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/travel/things-to-do-in-36-hours-in-cartagena-colombia.html?_r=0

Cartegena is one of the places we are planning to stay.  It is a lively city on the coast. Without having been there it reminds me of San Juan, Puerto Rico...rich in culture, history, art, food, music, and has steady wind and water conditions as well.

The other place we are planning to stay is Cabo de la Vela, a small fishing village on the northwest coast of Colombia and which probably has the best wind statistics and epic flat water in Colombia...which has recently made it a top destination for kiteboarders from all over the world.

And so, little by little, as we settle into the idea that the first stop on our travels will be Colombia (for 60-90 days) life keeps throwing little reassurances that we are on the right path and that Colombia is the place for us to be.

Becky and I each had a good time watching episodes of both Andrew Zimmer's Bizarre Foods America and Anthony Bourdian's Parts Unknown and it certainly makes me look forward to some of the culinary tastes that await us, because each of them visited CArtegena, Colombia as well as several other coastal or nearby cities.

We are also looking forward to speaking Spanish, and of course improving our grasp of the language. It will also certainly help that John is fluent. And what an awesome thing for Avy to be exposed to.

On this last Sunday, Becky, Avy, and I spent the evening with Colleen Caroll, a friend of ours and  a professional kiteboarder. (Check her out in the new "Where The Wind Blows" video series.)

Where The Wind Blows - Episode 1 from Red Tide Pictures on Vimeo.

When Colleen heard me say that we were planning to head to Colombia in February, she was pleasantly surprised and said "I was going to recommend you go check Colombia out.  I keep hearing really great things about it.".

So once again, another little push to see Colombia.

So that is where we are, and now you know, where we are planning to go first. And for the time being, hopefully where the universe continues to reassure us we are supposed to be. ;)