A Weekend in Florida

Bob and Daphne recently made a trip down to Florida to interview two key players in the story of our documentary. Our first stop was in West Palm beach to meet with well known windsurfing guru, filmmaker and international instructor Charles Dasher, known as simply DASHER. Dasher spent many years filming the Bonaire kids in the late 90s and early millenium, including monumental events such as King of the Caribbean, Aruba Hi-Winds and Calema Midwinters. Dasher’s experiences filming alongside the Bonaire kids paired with his wonderful sense of humor made for a fantastic interview. It was great to finally meet the man who taught us how to master the planing jibe.

The next stop was Tinho in Merritt Island. Tinho Dornellas and his wife Susie have ran the Calema Midwinters Windsurfing Championship since 1985 in Merritt Island, Florida. It was at the Midwinters competition in 2001 that the Bonaire kids first competed internationally, bringing home 20 awards. Long time friends of Elvis and Patun, Tinho had wonderful stories about visiting them in Bonaire and watching the local kids grow into champions. It was Tinho’s kids’ camps that inspired Elvis to start similar programs with the Bonaire children.

The other huge reward of the trip was the treasure trove of archival footage that Tinho and Dasher lent us from over the years. We brought back to New York over 110 DV tapes, which include footage of Tonky beating Matt Pritchard (then world freestyle champion), and Ricardo Campello (future world freestyle champion) to win the King of the Caribbean – an event that Tonky said changed his life. We also have priceless footage of the kids sailing on Donald Duck sails back when they were first learning, riding in the van with Elvis, returning from Calema Midwinters in 2001 to over 800 people cheering in the airport – and much more! Huge thanks to Tinho and Dasher for lending us these tapes. There is no doubt this old footage will be very important in the documentary.

Here are some photos from the trip…

Interview with Dasher, filmed in his home with his new stand-up paddle boards in the background.

Interview with Tinho, filmed just off the beach at Calema Windsurfing. The Tiki Man in the background was carved by Tinho himself!

While at Calema, we had the pleasure of meeting young Puerto Rican windsurfer Alejandro. At 16 years old, Alejandro competed for the first time at the 2010 Calema Midwinters. His results blew everyone away, and he was nominated as the Puerto Rican representative for the upcoming Junior Olympics. Tinho was so impressed by this boy’s talent that he is now coaching him full-time. ABOVE (left to right): Alejandro, Daphne, Tinho, and Bob

Outside the office at Calema. Unfortunately there was hardly any wind while we were there, otherwise we would have been very tempted to go for a sail. The site is fantastic!