SANDBOARDING

Los Medanos and Sandboarding

Declared a national park in 1974 to protect the dunes isthmus connecting the Paraguaná Peninsula with the mainland, Los Medanos de Coro is an important reference of Venezuela attractions and are visited by thousands of people around the world. Its large dunes, scattered in about 6 km2 and with an average height of 50-100 meters offer an excellent "sand-park" to practice sandboarding: A growing extreme sport born in Brazil, which consits in surfing down sand dunes using a board specially made for this purpose.

Origin

The sandboarding was created by surfers on the island of Santa Catarina - Brazil as an alternative to surfing the days when the sea had little waves. Today has a lot of practitioners around the world, especially in the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Mexico and Namibia, to name a few, with a lot of annual events such as regional championships, national and even global, where enthusiasts "sandboarders" of many countries show their skills in both speed and driving and performing jumps and stunts.

In Venezuela and Coro

In Venezuela sandboarding is relatively recent, and in Araguato we consider ourselves pioneers in the introduction of the sport in Los Medanos de Coro. When and how? After being in contact with snowboard and practice it for several seasons in Europe, we asked ourselves if it could be possible to surf down a dune with a snowboard and drive it as such. and ... we tried!. The response was positive and then it was just enough to consult the Internet to discover how widespread and popular the sport was in other countries where there were dunes. We got some snowboards and we started practicing and taking travelers to the dunes to whom we presented the sport. The reactions from the outset were positive and demand grew. The activity was consolidated as one of the "to do things" when visiting Coro and the dunes after Brian Kluepfel, incharge of updating the famous travel guide "Lonely Planet" went with us to do a tour of sandboarding. Satisfied with the experience and the sport itself, decided to write an article in the guide and it was thus first time the activity was outlined in an international publication. Increased demand led to the rest of the posadas and travel agencies based in Coro to get involved and practice the activity and even raided successfully in making sand boards which has resulted in the consolidation of the city and their dunes as a destination for fun practice of this extreme sport.

In the year 2012 we had the visit of two important "Sandboard" people: Digiacomo Días from the very island of Santa Catarina - Brazil, three times world champion of "Big Air" sandboarding, and the first sandboarder to do a "double front flip" and Fabian Orsi  owner at "Sandwave" an Argentine brand, manufacturers of boards of excellent quality. Both really enjoyed our dunes and agreed that its level is optimal for the sport.