Blowing in the wind

      If you’re a windsurfer or a kitesurfer, or even a sailor, there’s only one place to be in Vietnam and that’s Mui Ne.
There is a very good reason why kitesurfers come to Mui Ne. Along this stretch of the southern coast the wind speed reaches over 12 knots, which is an equivalent of more than 22kmph, for at least 200 days a year. According to Pascal Lefebvre, the founder and owner of Jibe’s, a local windsurfing and kitesurfing centre, Mui Ne has the strongest and most consistent cross-onshore winds of all the beach towns in Vietnam.
Lefebvre first came to Mui Ne after taking a job with Novotel Ocean Dunes Resort in 1995. As a keen windsurfer and kitesurfer, it didn’t take him long to see the breeze was strong enough for his favourite pursuits. He shipped some equipment to town and, with a few other foreigners living in the vacation town, started riding waves.
It was just a hobby at first but when tourists started asking if they could rent equipment off him or inquire about possible tuition, he saw a business opportunity present itself. The first kitesurfing and windsurfing centre in Vietnam, Jibe’s, was established by Lefebvre in 2001 at 90 Nguyen Dinh Chieu street. Since then tourism in Mui Ne has grown rapidly and the town is now famous for kitesurfing (there are around 20 kitesurfing centres today).
“Students should be good swimmers, comfortable in ocean conditions, and in healthy shape,” says Matt Kwantes, the chief instructor at Jibe’s, who recommends learners “take it slowly” as it’s “better to take a bit longer and learn in a proper way than try to learn as fast as you can.” The wind in the morning in Mui Ne is usually less strong than in the afternoon, so that’s the perfect time for new learners to get out there.
“Our [kitesurfing] students start off with small kites, which give just enough power to pull them a little bit. The bigger the kite is, the more powerful it gets,” says Kwantes. According to Lucy Odillo-Maher, another instructor from Jibe’s, after around 15 hours of tuition, most windsurfers or kitesurfers can rent or buy gear to practice on their own. Pretty soon some people are completely addicted.
“Flying in the air is like flying into my own world, my own space; odd to hear but it’s like some sort of meditation,” says Odillo Maher, who has just come back to Vietnam for her second season as an instructor with Jibe’s. Although kitesurfing looks very physical and quite dangerous, Odillo-Maher says there is no barrier for women. In fact, she thinks women can often be better than guys as they follow instructions more carefully and are more patient. It seems men just can’t resist trying to show off at the earliest opportunity.
It’s not a cheap sport ($240 - $250 per five hours session for beginners), but Lefebvre is doing his best to promote the sport with the local Vietnamese population as well. Every year he sponsors from 10 to 15 local kids to take surfing lessons. If kids show enough enthusiasm, they can continue to come and practice at Jibe’s. Some of the young Vietnamese he has trained are now superb kite surfers and windsurfers in their own right.
Plain sailing Rick Crandall, who hails from New Zealand, started building and sailing yachts at the age of 16. Now based in Mui Ne, through Shades Resort he offers sailing packages for $95 per person on a state-of-the-art 7.5m-long-Corsair 750 trimaran he recently brought over to Mui Ne. This ‘beauty’ is the most popular trimaran in the US and Australia.
The advantage of signing up for a sailing trip is you don’t have to have any prior experience or take a day-long course! You just have to enjoy being out on the water on a typically sunny Mui Ne day. The tour starts at 8am when passengers are picked up from their hotels and driven to a local fishing village where Crandall’s trimaran is docked. After the crew launches the boat into water, you will sail to the other side of Mui Ne, which is completely different to the über-popular Ham Tien beach, which is now home to dozens upon dozens of resorts and hotels.
Away from the crowd, the engine is turned off. You will only hear the sound of the wind or the trimaran bobbing in the sea. There’s nothing like that feeling of total peace and quiet while out on the ocean. Following the captain’s instructions, passengers tactfully keep the thin boat balanced. With additional net wings on both sides of the Corsair 750, you can also sit just above the water as the trimaran glides effortlessly along the coast.
Crandall is also thankful for the reliable local wind, which is perfect for sailing, and the diversity of sea and mountain activities. After the sailing trip, Crandall and his team will provide a BBQ-seafood feast. Then you can swim around the boat or if you fancy really blowing the cobwebs off you can jump into an inflatible chariot and get dragged around by a speed boat ($20 for 15 minutes)! After lunch, the tour continues with an option for either rock fishing, bowl-boat riding or an easy trek into the nearby natural park to explore the local flora and fauna.
“I want to see yachting become popular and commonplace here, and I believe the local authorities would welcome this,” says Crandall. “The sea is a healthy, uncluttered environment, relatively safe if treated with respect, full of wonders and changing its personality continuously. “Tourists come here to embrace the sea, learn its attraction, enjoy its restful nature and take home memories of tropical blue seas. What’s the sea anyway without a boat in it?”
I think the answer to that is already blowing in the wind.