Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

CAi Wind Experience

Club de kitesurf y wind-surf de la UC

What is the CAi Wind Experience?

CAi Wind is the kitesurf and windsurf university club, sponsored by the En-gineering Alumni Center and managed by faculty students, which was created to share the weekend at the lake or at sea to practice wind sports. The plan is to go every weekend when wind con-ditions are optimal, from Friday after-noon until Sunday night to places like Pupuya, Santo Domingo and Pichidan-gui.

The club has got a school for those in-terested to learn kitesurfing executed by the members, which meets all the safety standards and that has got all the equipment needed to get into the sport properly. For those who are interested in this sport may choose to be active members of the group, what grants ac-cess to repair services, networking and discounts on RRD equipment.

The mission of the club is divided into three main points:

Given that Chile has got excellent condi-tions for practising wind sports, our goal is to spread them more. The advantage of entering these sports with the CAi Wind Experience is that you can learn at a fraction of the price charged in the market today and it is an excellent opportu-nity to interact with people with similar interests and make new friends in an environment with values marked by environmental sustainability.

We also aim to consolidate a stable and fun group of people who are motivated to spend weekends at the beach during the year. The ex-perience so far is that this group does not refer only to the sports, but also to meet friends to tra-vel with, share dreams and business ventures.

Finally, we will put great emphasis on promoting the sustainable development of the country along with generating social and en-vironmental awareness through sports, tea-mwork and respect. The above are values sha-red by the worldwide kitesurfer community and we intend to promote them within our homeland.

Why was CAi Wind founded for?

One of the advantages of learning with CAi Wind is that instead of taking two-hour group lessons which usually cost about $50.000 chilean pesos, our classes begin when the wind rise until the sun lays on the horizon over the whole weekend.

It is important to notice that kitesur-fing is a sport that requires a lot of perseve-rance during the first two or three days and that it is more likely that few succeed in do-minating the board (the kite is easy to han-dle). Classes with CAi Wind Experience are introductory, but if anybody wants to keep kitesurfing -which most likely will-, you can come any of the following weekends (which is the idea) to practice and improve. Usua-lly one gets the third day to “stand”, and the technical progress and improve from that point is easy. “Pure enjoyment”.

The schedule of outputs (which ex-plains the classes and activities) are in a separate document, because the idea is to constantly refine it.

What is CAi Wind Experience about?

Accommodation.

It depends on the place we go, which in turn depends on where the best wind forecast for that weekend is. It will be in booths or a house to ensure a place to sleep and rest where there will be common meeting spaces to favor communication between people. The location will be in mainly two places: In front of Santo Domingo in the Maipo River mouth or in Pupuya, south of Matanzas.

If we go to Pupuya we will stay in huts facing the sea. They have several rooms, nice bathrooms, large terrace with barbecue and very spacious common places. The view is great.

If the wind is blowing in Santo Domingo, we will stay in a house in front of the river mouth, which is huge, very comfortable and has about 40 beds. The picture from this page is the backyard of that house.

What does CAi Wind offer to members?

Transportation.

Previous years we have used the service of Ski Total, a very good carrier for exactly this type of activity. Ex-perience has shown that despite being a good option, buses are quite narrow and in the end it is more con-venient and economically expedient to organize cars between us. It is more versatile, can carry more lugga-ge per person and it is faster. That’s why on the regis-tration survey we ask who has got a vehicle to offer and also where should they be left on Sunday night. The mo-ney used in gas / diesel and tolls will be fully refunded.

What does CAi Wind offer to members?

Equipment.

The school has kites of different sizes to get into the water, boards for when the time co-mes, “foil trainer kites” in land available all day to practice movements and correct errors, and all the safety equipment necessary. What is needed is to bring a personal wetsuit (for convenience and hygiene issues). There is always the “surfer friend” that might lend one.

Since November, the CAi Wind club will have 2013 season DRR kitesurfing equipment, an Italian water sports brand which we are proud to be the sole representative in Chi-le. Those who are motivated and decide to join the exclusive team will have access to the latest and safest equipment available on the market with the option of ordering from a catalog at the lowest price with respect to all the competition, thanks to the efforts that the club has made for future members.

What does CAi Wind offer to members?

www.caiuc.cl

Pontificia Universidad Católica de ChileAv. Vicuña Mackena N°4860, Edificio José Luis del Río RondanelliMacul, Santiago de Chile

José Tomás Corthorn+5698 5012730jtcortho@uc.cl

http://www.facebook.com/groups/caiwind/

Fono fax: 354 4731 | email: cai@caiuc.cl

Centro de Alumnos de Ingeniería UC

Person of contact