O que faz meu coração bater

Or: What makes my heart beat…

Jerí is not known as a kite spot per se — the wind is off-shore and the local windsurfers don’t like the kiters there.   But starting around July every year the wind blows so hard it turns the beach into a sand blaster and makes the palm trees bend toward the ground.  It’s hard to resist.

Most days, I kited at a beach called Praia Malhada.  It has a little bit of a funky launch with a rotor coming off a hill, and sharp rocks camouflaged as sand that claimed both considerable skin from my right big toe and rip-stop nylon from both my kites, but other than that, it’s a fantastic spot to kite.

My typical daily routine would be to hit the beach around three pm and kite for about three hours until sunset.  Then I would wonder on down the beach and grab an açaí on the Rua Principal, or a beer at Club Ventos.  The town is small enough to know everybody after a few weeks, so you always have a friend to talk to (and practice Portuguese!).

On many occasions I went for downwinders with my buddies Marko and Zé (and Rob earlier in the trip) either from Preá back to Jeri, or from Jeri to a river about 12km down.  Pedra Furada as seen from the ocean at sunset is quite spectacular.

Many thanks to Erik Almklov for this footage: