Curaçao Students Make Waves with First Freestyle Windsurfing Event

A year ago, two students from Peter Stuyvesant College (PSC) in Curaçao organized a sailing race as part of their final exams. This year, a team of three took it a step further! On February 9th, Tirza van der Straaten, Tara Blanken, and Thomas Ros—the “Three T’s”—organized the first big freestyle windsurfing event in Curaçao.

The Challenge of Organizing a Sports Event

In their final year, local PSC students face the ultimate challenge: organizing a sports event for the local community to demonstrate their ability to combine the skills learned in school. Tirza, an avid sailor since childhood, knew her final project would be related to sailing. When she learned that Windsurfing Curaçao wanted to organize a freestyle competition but hadn’t due to time constraints, she seized the opportunity. Along with two fellow students, she took on the challenge and began preparations.

Turning Carnival Week into Event Prep

While other students in Curaçao enjoyed a full week off for Carnival festivities, the Three T’s worked tirelessly to ensure they presented a perfect windsurfing event by the end of the week.

They quickly established contact with the owners of Windsurfing Curaçao, who were enthusiastic about the event and offered their full cooperation. The trio also secured sponsors for drinks, presents, and prizes for the participants, and appointed judges, including Chris Hellburg, one of last year’s organizing students. With stopwatches, DJ Paco for music, and a barbecue prepared with the help of supportive parents, everything was set.

A Successful Event with High Participation

The team was pleasantly surprised by the large number of participants. Fifty four-minute heats were necessary to give all 35 competitors in the beginners, intermediate, and advanced classes a chance to qualify for the finals in a double elimination. The Three T’s organized a tight schedule, aiming for a prize-giving ceremony at five p.m. sharp, leaving enough daylight for the barbecue.

A Well-Executed Event by the Three T’s

It was impressive to see how confidently and efficiently the teens managed their responsibilities. Tirza handled the stopwatch, Thomas managed the flags, and Tara filled in the results on the score board. Their coordination was so smooth that it appeared they had done it many times before.

The atmosphere on the beach, newly completed with white sand, was fantastic. Ingmar’s voice resonated between start and finish signals, naming all the moves, tricks, and jumps of the competitors while offering multilingual encouragement. It was a joy to see how much these young windsurfers have improved their freestyle skills in just two years of training at Windsurfing Curaçao.

A Competitive Spirit with a Bonairean Winner

Following in the footsteps of famous windsurfers from the neighboring island of Bonaire, Curaçao’s sailors are catching up and showing better results every time. However, it was Bonairean Choko Frans, the youngest of the renowned Frans brothers, who won the competition. Despite missing the first heat and being forced to compete in all heats in the double elimination, he consistently emerged victorious, even beating Windsurfing Curaçao’s Ingmar twice in the double finals.

Looking Forward: Future Events in Curaçao

At the prize-giving ceremony, Tirza handled the microphone like a pro, praising the winners and encouraging all participants. Everyone involved can look back on a well-organized and successful event that could become an annual tradition if the organizers remain on the island. However, with graduating students, one can never be sure—they might leave to study in Holland or America. Perhaps other students will take the helm next year? As long as Peter Stuyvesant College continues this final exam requirement, all possibilities remain open.

Els Kroon has written for ALL AT SEA since 2006.