The Journals - Ocean Rodeo's Weekly Report

jeremie tronet & Linn Svendsen -Ocean Rodeo endless summer trip in the Caribbean -

union island

jeremie tronet Diablo+ mako surf in the grenadines

The Caribbean is full of of various spots, each island is completely different and has so many different spots to offer. After Barbados with its nice waves we came back to the Grenadines islands where we were for 10 days on the Ocean Rodeo catamaran. I wanted to go back there to be able to shoot my next video.

We flew from Barbados to St vincent in Kingston where we spent a night and then caught a ferry to Union. As soon as we came in the boat Linn mentioned that the boat looked familiar to her, and after few minutes she noticed that it was written all in Norwegian with the name of her city in Norway written on the life jackets. It was actually an old boat from Stavanger (where linn is from) which ended up in these small Caribbean islands. The contrast is really interesting.

Norwegian ferry in the grenadines

We arrived in Union where we already stayed 2 weeks. I found a really nice apartment right on the hill with an amazing view a few meters away from the spot. From our beds we can see Palm island and many other islans. Lorenzo and Elody found this place for me, they are a very nice french couple living on the island with their two kids.

It is blowing almost everyday here with beautiful crystal clear water everywhere.

Jeremie in the new apartment - nice view

Luckily there was an amazing north swell, the whole Caribbean got an incredible swell with over 20 feet in Puerto Rico. As soon as I saw that on internet I tried to get a plane or a ferry to go to Barbados where the waves would have been huge. Unfortunatly everything was full and the private planes a little to expensive.

Jeremie and the mako surf board 2008

Big set in the Caribbean

So we stayed down here and enjoyed the smaller waves. I had 2 nice days with very nice waves around 10 feet for the biggest one. But before to go in the water Linn scared me a bit when she told me that she saw 2 fins in the water, it might have been nurse sharks which are not dangerous, but when I lost my board a couple of times and took over 10 minutes trying to get it back, I was a bit scared. We got really nice pictures that will be in the next magazines.

The next days we had some great sessions in some other spots around Clifton and Ashton the 2 small villages on the island.

Jeremie and the 129x39 jeremie tronet signature model board

Full moon session

A few days ago we were taking some nice full moon pictures in the lagoon, I had the camera set correctly on a tripod in the water ( a few centimeters deep ) and we were shooting the kite with the moon, the pictures were good until Linn dropped the camera in the water.

We lost the 20D canon and the 10-22mm canon, the flash have been recovered. Ocean Rodeo is sending me a new 40D and a new lens for us to be able to do this trip, I am now waiting the gear coming with UPS.

This will give us the opportunity to get the video footage for the diablo movie, the C kite from Ocean Rodeo.

Linn Svendsen enjoying the flash and the full moon

stars in Union

We are here for 2 more weeks. Next we should be heading to Grenada and maybe directly to Venezuela in Coche to be there for the PKRA.

Have a look at www.jeremietronet.com !

See u

jeremie tronet

to be continued ...

Riveria Maya

After the chaos of the Cancun airport (mass influx of spring breakers) I was really stoked to have a beer in hand and be blasting southward through Playa del Carmen and on to the solace of Tulum. There I met up with Marco from www.extremecontrol.net and had a fantastic time. We had three great days of wind, and ran demos at his location on the beach beside the hotel and beach club El Paraiso. Good times were had by all - warm water, sun, wind, a killer DJ, drinks, food, spectacular scenery and topless women.....what else does one need to be happy?

On the first day I went upwind and rode in front of the ruins - I have a feeling I am likely in hundreds of vacationers photo albums.

I stayed at a really cool jungle hotel that Marco and his girlfriend Heather run called Uolis Nah. Located within walking/biking distance of the center of Tulum and a short drive to the beach made it the ideal choice and I highly recommend it. If you are looking for a destination that offers much more than just kiteboarding, contact Marco and head to Tulum!

Cheers,

Evan

jeremie tronet surf trip in Barbados

After leaving the island of ste Lucia we landed in Barbados 5 days ago.

This Caribbean island is really different than the other ones I have already been to. More flat, less vegetations, good Rum and some amazing waves are the ways to describe Barbados. I found a nice place right on the beach at Silver rock on the south east of the island, where the wind is stronger.

We are staying at "Bright's" place just in front of the "Silver rock". It is the perfect accommodation, really spacious and you can see the wave spot from your room.... perfect.

There is also a really nice hotel: Silver point. A bit more luxury.... you can choose depending on your budget. http://www.silverpointhotel.com. Barbados offer various good waves for surfing, this is why I chose this destination, to do a really nice trip in the waves and finaly try this nice surfboard board Mako from Ocean Rodeo.

Soon as we arrived we met Brian Talma, famous windsurfer living here. He runs the windsurf and kiteschool right on the surf of Silver rock. He is a really nice guy, giving us all the information we need to find the best spots on the island. We might go paddle surf in few days, he has a few really nice boards ... I hope the waves will be good enough.

A few days before coming in Barbados I sent an email to Jim from the kitesurf magazine Kiteworld about some publications we were working on. I got an answer from his co worker Seb telling me that he was on holliday ... A few days later, I meet him on the beach for the first time without even knowing he was in Barbados. It was a funny situation. I don't know if you read kiteworld, if not you really should have a look at their magazine, it is really interesting with beautiful pictures in each issue.

Yesterday we went to Bachiba with Jeff and Kurt, 2 very nice guys from the US we met down here. The spot is known for the big waves braking along the coast on the north but unfortunately the wind wasn't good enough to reach the big sets.... so we drove up to the north and found a really nice beach with nice waves but only 10 to 12 knots ... I decided to pump up my 12m diablo and tried to get some nice Aerial handle pass pictures off the lip with the surfboard ... we got some really great shots.

Today we drove back to Silver rock and went kiting on Long beach with Jeremy, an English dude who's running IKsurf: http://www.iksurfmag.com , the kite magazine on line, and Mathias, a guy from Austria.

The spot is amazing, white sandy beach and blue water, but unfortunately the swell went down and the wind to .. we had enough to do some good pictures with linn going kiting.

Unfortunately Mathias going back on the beach missed his edge and broke his foot on the beach ... I drove him to silver rock to find Kurt who could give him a ride to the nearest hospital where he is having surgery right now ... I hope he will be alright !

We are leaving Barbados on Friday, we will fly to the island of St Vincent and take a ferry boat to the Grenadine Islands where we will be staying for a month to shoot the new diablo video.

www.jeremietronet.com for more trips

jeremie tronet