Riviera Nayarit kicks off Mexico’s largest sailing competition this month

by Jessica Festa on

Every other year, Mexico hosts their Nautical Extravaganza, a month filled with classic sailing and water sport competitions that take you to different Mexican cities. This year, the event kicked off on March 2 with the 30th Biennial San Diego to Vallarta Yacht Club race, which consists of sailors navigating their boats over 1,000 miles from San Diego, California, to Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico.

If you weren’t at the kick-off, no need to be upset, as the month is still young. Because the London Olympics are coming up, the most anticipated contest of the event is the Regatta Mexico Cup 2012 Olympic Edition, which includes seven sailing divisions and features over 1,500 international athletes, many of whom are preparing for the official summer Olympics.

For those who aren’t into sailing, the event also includes windsurfing, kite surfing, stand-up paddle boarding, whale watching, and beach volleyball as part of the fun. If you’re competitive, the Punta Sayulita Longboard and Stand-Up Paddle Classic will kickoff on March 9 in the picturesque surf village of Sayulita. The event attracts visitors and professional athletes from all over the world who come to enjoy the talent and scenery, partake in beach events, and also raise money for charity.

For more information on the competitions and events still to come this month in the Nautical Extravaganza, click here.

Gadling gear review: Nikon CoolPix AW100 camera

by Kraig Becker on

Buying a digital camera is no easy task these days. As cameras have grown in popularity, the market has become flooded with dozens of models, all with a dizzying array of features and specs, and few ways to distinguish one from the next. Aside from minor variations in shape and color, most of them all look about the same, and it is difficult to know which one is the best fit for each of our individual needs. That simply isn’t the case for the new Nikon CoolPix AW100, which not only has a unique look, but an identity all of its own. This is a camera that is built for travel, and will have a great appeal to adventure travelers in particular.

After removing the AW100 from its box, the first thing you’ll notice is how solid it feels in your hands. The ruggedized body conveys the sense that this is a camera that can take a lot of punishment, which makes it a great option for those excursions that take us to the far flung corners of the planet. The AW100’s tough shell keeps it waterproof to 33-feet, while allowing it to withstand temperatures down to 14ºF and survive drops up to five feet in height. Those qualities alone help to set it apart from nearly any other digital camera on the market and make it an attractive option for scuba divers, climbers, skiers, and other outdoor enthusiasts who demand a high level of performance out of their gear.

Don’t let this camera’s rugged body fool you however, because under the hood, it has plenty of brains to go along with its brawny exterior. This CoolPix features a 16 megapixel CMOS sensor that not only takes fantastic photos, but also manages to capture video in full 1080p HD as well. It has a vibrant 3-inch screen, an easy to use (and understand!) interface and Nikon’s new Action Controls, which make the AW100 a snap to operate, even while wearing gloves.Perhaps my favorite bit of technology included in this camera is its GPS functionality, which allows you to geotag your photos automatically. This nifty little feature embeds a bit of locational data into your photo files, which when shared with friends and family allows them to see exactly where they were taken on a map. The camera’s GPS functionality extends beyond that however, as Nikon has included a built in world map, that includes thousands of points of interest, and an electronic compass. That means that you can use the AW100 to navigate just like any other handheld GPS device, which is definitely a handy feature to have in a pinch. Be warned however, as with all things GPS, using this feature does burn through the battery at a faster clip.

As you might expect from a camera built by Nikon, the image quality produced by the AW100 is very good. Photos were sharp and detailed, with excellent color reproduction, even on action shots. The fact that it has the ability to shoot as many as 3 photos per second ensures that you can always get the photo you’re looking for and helps to set this camera out from the pack as well. I would have liked to have seen better low light performance however, both in terms of photos and video, but that is one area in which nearly all point and shoot cameras struggle.

The Coolpix AW100 stands out in a lot of ways. It has a nice, smooth, autofocus with a variety of settings, it comes with 20 pre-set scene modes for quick and easy adjustment to your subject matter, and it even has a variety of built-in options for editing photos right on the camera. One area that it does lag behind a number of competitors however is in the optical zoom department. Nikon was only able to incorporate a 5x zoom into the AW100, although that is more likely a by-product of the ruggedized design rather than some technical issue. Longer zoom lens extend out from the body, which make them more susceptible to damage and would make it more difficult to keep the camera waterproof. It does have the option for an additional 4x digital zoom of course, but we all know you want to avoid using digital zoom as much as possible.

With a price tag of $380, the AW100 isn’t the cheapest option available in a point and shoot either. If you drop by your local big box electronics store, you’re likely to find numerous cameras on display at a lower price point. But that said, few are so well designed for travel, and adventure travel in particular. Because this camera is waterproof, shockproof, and freezeproof, it will quickly become a favorite for outdoor enthusiasts and extreme sports junkies alike. After all, this is a camera that you can take with you from the depths of the ocean to the top of a mountain, shooting great photos and video the entire way. This is a device that is versatile, tough, and fun to use and – as someone who owns several digital cameras – it feels great to not have to worry about breaking it while on an active outing.

If you’re in the market for a new point and shoot camera that takes great photos and can withstand the rigors of active travel, the Nikon CoolPix AW100 is an excellent choice. It is a compact, lightweight, option for travelers who expect a high level of performance out of their gear, even when they abuse it in the field. This camera can take everything you throw at it and still deliver the goods, and that brings a nice sense of confidence no matter where you go.

Vagabond Tales: Is sandboarding better than snowboarding?

by Kyle Ellison on

Contrary to what you may believe, the ocean in Peru is not very warm. In fact, it’s not warm at all. It’s freezing.

Other than desert outposts in the northern reaches of the country where it’s still possible to surf in boardshorts (Mancora, Vichayito, etc.), the Humboldt current–which swings northward from Antarctica–renders the water in Peru so cold that much of the coast is a seascape of lonely gray populated by neoprene-clad surfers suffering from ice cream headaches (surf slang for intense pain in the temples felt when diving beneath a frigid wave).

For this precise reason there was little part of me which wanted to surf in Peru.

But wait, Peru has some of the best waves in the world. Chicama, Pacasmayo, Cabo Blanco? These places are legendary. What’s wrong with you?

Standing on the rocky shores of Huanchaco, a beachfront suburb of the colonial city of Trujillo, the thought of removing my warm flannel and thrusting my ceviche-laden body into 51° water held remarkably little appeal. That, and the waves simply just weren’t that good. Admittedly, a fair weather surfer I will be.

Having already toured the ruins of Huaca de Sol and Chan Chan, ancient cities of the Moche and Chimu people who began inhabiting this coastline around 400 AD, my wife and I were simply going to have to find adventure elsewhere.

How about sand boarding?

For years I had seen photos of warm-weather renegades riding down sand dunes from Morocco to New Zealand to here on the coast of Peru. Still, I was skeptical. It’s sand. Not snow. Or water. How fun can it possibly be?Hiring out the services of a local guide named Jaime we hopped into a 1980’s era red van that appeared to contain half of the dune already embedded into the interior. For over an hour and a half the three of us bounced our way over dirt roads and past rural farming hamlets in search of a shimmering white dune which, ideally, would be protected from the stiff coastal breeze.

“This”, I initially reckoned, “is absurd.”

I could be lounging oceanfront back in Huanchaco sucking down a bucket of cold cervezas and watching tourists head into the surf on caballito de totoras, traditional boats made of thin reeds which many historians believe were potentially the world’s first surf craft.

Instead, I find myself 50km inland driving through scrub brush with a man named Jaime who’s keen on throwing me off of a sand dune on a board akin to a skateboard without wheels.

Absurd.

As I would find out after my first successful run down the dune, however, this is a sport that could grow on me, and it was growing on me fast.

The first notable difference between sandboarding and snowboarding is the exhausting lack of a ski lift. The absence of a lift of course leads to a lot more trekking uphill, which when performed in sand up to your ankles is harder than you might imagine.

This, it would seem, is a massive downside to sandboarding.

On the contrary, it only leads me to offer the first point for why sandboarding may be better than snowboarding:

With sandboarding you get an incredible workout.

Furthermore, when a titanic amount of effort is required to reach the top of a dune it only adds a sense of accomplishment to the ensuing ride down.

Unless, of course, you happen to fall on the ride down. Then the 20 minute walk to the top feels like a waste. While perhaps true, the idea of falling introduces the second reason why sandboarding may be better than snowboarding:

When you fall, it doesn’t hurt.

No ice patches, no bruised butt muscles, no broken vertebrae, just forgiving folds of sand waiting to absorb you and your miserable descent.

True, you may end up getting sand in your shorts, but this raises the third and final reason why sandboarding may be better than snowboarding:

Sandboarding is warmer than snowboarding.

Given the nature of the climates where massive sand dunes thrive, rarely will you need more clothing for sandboarding than your favorite bathing suit. There are no expensive gloves, pants, jackets, goggles, earmuffs, or shivering on top of a mountain. Swap them all out for a pair of boardshorts and call it a day.

Do I feel this reasoning will create any converts? Absolutely not. But I at least feel compelled to make the argument, invite you to try it, and let you make the decision for yourself.

Interested? Check out Sandboard magazine to find a dune location near you.

Read more of the Vagabond Tales here…

Kaikoura, New Zealand: Surfing, seals, and seafood

by Kyle Ellison on

“The chowder isn’t the type you have back in the States” I am warned.

The brunette woman working the oceanfront seafood cart has detected my accent and is concerned I won’t like her steaming bowl of mollusks.

“There isn’t much cream, just freshly made broth mixed with massive chunks of crayfish and mussels.”

Facing the kelp strewn waters of the Kaikoura Peninsula, a popular hamlet on the eastern coast of New Zealand’s South Island, this is exactly what I was hoping for: Massive chunks of crayfish and mussels. After all, it’s only appropriate for a place whose name literally translates to “meal of crayfish”.

Regardless, eating anything else in Kaikoura would just feel wrong, because Kaikoura is not a processed, pre-packaged type of town. It’s a place where the smell of sea salt wafts on the breeze and surfers recount that morning’s early dawn session. Storefronts advertise seal swimming, whale watching, and guided eco-walks, while local scuba shops display the current water temperature and visibility on outdoor chalkboards adorned in smiling blue dolphins.

This, I realize, is what separates Kaikoura from all of the other adventure destinations and photo opportunities which lay scattered around the South Island of New Zealand. Kaikoura is different from the gorges of Franz Josef glacier or walks such as the Routeburn Track in that it has been a long time since I have traveled through a place that refreshingly feels so alive.

Sure, there are pubs with drink specials and tacky New Zealand souvenir stores like any other tourist haunt in the world, but in Kaikoura there seems to be an intrinsic harmony the town has with nature that gives it an energy not felt in other parts of the country.

Nowhere is this more apparent than ambling over limpet covered rocks beneath the peninsula walkway on Kean Point. Aside from the sandy strands of kelp which give the walk a malodorous yet authentic aroma, the shoreline teems with nesting red billed seagulls and dozens of southern fur seals lounging contentedly on the warm rocks.

%Gallery-145599%These same seals were once hunted voraciously by the native Maori people, and given the abundance of sea life in the region Kaikoura was once home to one of the largest Maori populations on the South Island. According to Maori legend, the Kaikoura peninsula was the spot where the Polynesian demigod Maui placed his foot while fishing up the North Island of New Zealand with his great fish hook, and the peninsula extends so far off of the main coastline that Captain Cook on his original voyage in 1770 actually mistook it for a separate island.

With the full-time arrival of the pakeha–Europeans–Kaikoura was transformed into a hub of whaling and trade led by Captain Robert Fyfe in 1843. To this day it’s still possible to visit the Fyffe House, one of the lone remnants of the first European settlement and a structure which still rests on whale bones used to create the original foundation.

Though the whaling trade has long ceased in Kaikoura, throngs of ocean goers have traded their harpoons for camera lenses and have turned Kaikoura into one of the South Pacific’s premier whale watching destination for the sperm, blue, and southern right whales.

It’s not just the abundance of marine life which breathes life into Kaikoura, however, as it’s also found in the people themselves. A rural community of only 2,100 permanent residents, the active, outdoorsy community which populates the Kaikoura peninsula is fortunate enough to be sandwiched between the biking and hiking tracks of the seaside Kaikoura range, and the diving surfing opportunities found where the Southern Ocean meets the rugged coast.

Nowhere is this froth for life felt more potently than down at “Meatworks” a local surf spot set just north of town. Though the clock has yet to strike 7am, a cadre of die-hard surfers has already colonized the heaving beach break and opted to start their day with an active session on the water.

“It’s stunning isn’t it mate?” offers a thinly bearded surfer sitting next to me in the Meatworks lineup.

The summer sun has just risen in the east, and the crisp dawn colors of morning are reflected off the empty Kaikoura mountains.

“Best way to start your day right here I reckon.”

Then, with a quick smile and nod to say goodbye, the affable local strokes into a meaty, overhead set wave and disappears towards the kelp laden shoreline.

So begins another day in Kaikoura, the living, pulsing, breathing speck of New Zealand shoreline that can be found when given the freedom to roam…

For 2 months Gadling blogger Kyle Ellison will be embedded in a campervan touring the country of New Zealand. Follow the rest of the adventure by reading his series, Freedom to Roam: Touring New Zealand by Campervan.

Video: Oahu Island: Miracle Coast

by Elizabeth Seward on

Oahu Island: Miracle Coast on Nowness.com.

Would you like to spend a moment reviving your spirit with a beautiful video depicting Hawaii‘s Oahu Island? Oahu Island: Miracle Coast, is a gorgeous little video released on nowness.com. It’s a short by photographer and filmmaker Lyall Coburn. Through the video, he captures a summer spent idly on the island’s North Shore. The video is certainly enough to make me want to kick back in Oahu for a summer, watching locals take nerve-rattling jumps off of cliffs and maybe jumping myself. Life, for me, is much about variation and travel satiates this need I have, as well as so many others, for an ever-changing environment. Kudos to Coburn for changing his environment and spending a summer along these shimmering, lapping waves.