The First Kitesurfing Competition Ever Held at Playa Buen Hombre, Dominican Republic
DR Open 2024 came to our beach. A 12-year-old won the juniors. A 10-year-old who had been kiting for four weeks took third. Nobody went home quietly.
For eleven years, Playa Buen Hombre has been the best-kept secret on the Dominican Republic's north coast: more wind than anywhere else in the country, flat water, and almost nobody on it.
In October 2024, that stopped being true for one day. The DR Open came to our beach — the first official kitesurfing competition ever held here.
What is the DR Open kitesurfing competition in Dominican Republic ?
The DR Open, kitesurfing competition Dominican Republic has been running for fourteen years. It's the country's main competitive kitesurfing series, sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism alongside local businesses, and it's where Dominican riders get seen — the step between riding well at your home beach and being known nationally.
The 2024 series moved through Cabarete, Puerto Plata and Las Terrenas before finishing here, then continued on to Samaná. Buen Hombre had never hosted anything like it.
The juniors stole it
The categories ran across Junior, Nuevo Talento, Professional, Big Air and Strapless. On paper, the Pro and Big Air heats were the main event. In practice, everyone spent the day talking about the kids.
The Junior category was won by Victoria Bramtot, a 12-year-old from Cabarete, who rode with a composure that made the adults on the beach go quiet.
Second went to Cesar Villanueva — a local Buen Hombre rider, competing for the very first time, on his own beach.
Third was Clark Stuhr, aged 10, from Florida. Clark had been kitesurfing for four weeks. Not four years. Four weeks, learned right here with Miky. He arrived a beginner and left on a podium.
Junior category competitors at the DR Open 2024, Playa Buen Hombre
Big Air
The Big Air heat was the one that emptied the shade and pulled everyone down to the water — riders going as high as the conditions would let them, which at Buen Hombre in October is very high indeed.
It was won by Angel David Bonilla Zayas. Originally from Cabarete, he had by then spent a year and a half training here, riding for Ventum and for us.
You may know him better as Davisito. Two years after this, he would take the Rey del Aire title at Salinas Fest in Colombia. This was one of the days on the way there.
The results
BIG AIR | JUNIORS |
1. Angel David Bonilla Zayas | 1. Victoria Bramtot |
2. Miguelange Rodriguez | 2. Cesar Villanueva |
3. Ezequiel Cristofo | 3. Clark Stuhr |
4. Yunior Bueno |
|
Why it mattered more than the results
Competitions at this level aren't really about who wins. They're about a 10-year-old finding out that four weeks of lessons can end with his name being read out, and a local rider standing on a podium on the beach he grew up on, in front of people who have known him his whole life.
Buen Hombre spent a decade as the place nobody had heard of. Watching an international field turn up and ride it — and watching two of our own finish on the podium — was the day it stopped feeling like a secret and started feeling like a destination.
Want to ride the beach they competed on? Plan your trip to Buen Hombre.
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