living the dream

My new kite school

2014-11-15T03:53:00.000+01:00

It's been a while... as usual.

I have finally made the step and opened up my own kite school together wt Kathrin.
After i have spend over 5 season on an island called Boracay i had to step away from it.
I had a very good time there, especially the first few years when the kite beach was not so crowded and Hey Jude was still running. I think the end of the most famous bar on the island "Hey Jude" marked the point where the island got lost to corruption, selfish business owners and way to many tourists.
During the last two season it just got too crowded, noisy and especially the Bulabog water got so much pollution that it is not really a kiters dream anymore. Infected wt salmonella / typhus and officially called "not fit for human activity" it's just gone over the top.

So now i have opened up my own school on a surfer's island called Siargao. It is surely an island on the way up. It is well known to surfers, as it has the most famous Filipino wave Cloud 9.
The kitecenter is called Kitesurf Siargao. We offer courses for all levels, from beginners to pro wave riding lesson. 1 on 1 tuition or advanced courses as well as trips to the neighbouring islands, downwinders, mangrove trips and many other thing to explore around the island.

Our center is equipped wt brand new Cabrinha and NP gear. We use the latest 2015 Cabrinha Radar kites for teaching.

Check it out!!!
www.kitesurf-siargao.com

We're also present on Facebook, Google+, Twitter.

The IKA Kite World Championships

2013-12-06T09:51:00.002+01:00

Here i am back on tour...

It has been a long summer back home in Switzerland wt a lot of work, good times wt friends and almost winter ;-) As usual i didn't kite much back home, except for a weekend on Lake Como, which was fantastic.

My travel started from Zurich to London for a long weekend followed by a short meeting at cabrinha in Hong Kong where i got my quiver filled again wt new toys. The 2014 Chaos looks fantastic, and it feels awesome to ride. This year i got the 138 XCaliber Signature Series which is a bit bigger than last year, it goes very well upwind, give me a good pop and is very light weight.

We had a great start into the season with our biggest event up to date. 160 competitors from all over the world came to China to the course racing world championships. It took almost 1.5years to organise and many meetings wt officials and local authorities to get it all together.
We ran 61 races in mostly great and sometimes challenging conditions, the sun came out only on rare occasions. Most of the competitors were very happy wt the outcome of the event, as we got a lot of positive feedback. A new mark has been set for upcoming worlds.

I was sitting on the pin boat for the whole event and making sure no one goes over the line too early, and if then pin em down and get em UFD... ;-) apart from getting the flag up n down at the right time and checking the line during the start sequence we also had a lot of spare time on the boat... but what else to do on a chines fishing boat than fishing...

My personal note out of the many nations and people i met at the worlds... chines and americans are very similar, both think they are the biggest and best, both have not much knowledge of the rest of the world, less than 40% of the population own a passport and they are pretty loud and rude.

The KTA starts again and i'm back for more. Biggest change for this year, i'm not staying in Boracay anymore. I had a good time in the last 5 years, but in the end, Boracay will not get me any further in life. I still got a lot of friends back there, which i most likely will see when we go back wt the KTA. It's a good kite spot, which got a bit too popular and way to crowded nowadays. There is also a serious health threatening water quality issue, which has just become worse over the last 5 years. The government will probably not fix the serious pollution problem in Bulabog as long as people keep comin.

Right now i'm over in Perth where the Oceania Championships are about to beginn. Looks like a lot easier to organise an event like this over here. The sailing clubs have all the boats u need and staff that is well trained and they speak a language which is understandable...

There is plenty of kitespots around. so far i've checked out the ones closer to perth... not really enough time to do the long trips to the great spots north and south of perth but the kiting here is fab as well. U can find a spot for every wind direction.

i'll be back for more... oceanics next then xmas race in phuket and NZ for xmas ;-)

peace out...

KTA Bintan Videos

2013-03-02T08:54:00.000+01:00

Die ganzen videos findet ihr auf Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/60462689
https://vimeo.com/60353953
https://vimeo.com/60306544
https://vimeo.com/60216756
https://vimeo.com/60133554

KTA Bintan

2013-03-02T08:43:00.001+01:00

It's been a while...

I have spent most of my time in Boracay till now wt some new and lots of old friends. I had some good trips for the KTA to Bintan to check out the first tour stop location and to Hainan Island where we are organising the Kite Race World Championships for Nov. 2013. It's gonna be a kick ass event there, where the riders will get pampered and spoilt and for sure not getting bored.

I moved into a new apartment which is way overpriced, like everything is here now. The cost of living doubled in the last 2-3years!!
I enjoy my time here as much as possible, as i think it might actually be my last full season on this island. It's getting too crowded, polluted and messed up by the grief of all the business owners who just wanna make bucks and don't think about the environment.
If the new airport is coming up.. and it really looks like it, since they have already started to take down the mountain at the end of the runway, then Boracay will go down very quickly. This island just can't take any more than 1million tourist/year, and they plan on up to 3million... but hey if they take down the mountain filipino style wt a plastic pipe and a nail.. it might at least take some years to build the runway ;-)

I'm looking for some new location to go for the next season, there is still plenty of locations around asia to be discovered. If anyone knows a interesting spot or locations wt a couple of month wind.. let me know. I'm pretty much up for anything that is not so crowded, has some steady wind and i'm actually really keen on some waves, maybe i'm getting to old for the freestyle ;-)

The KTA started late this season, but wt a big bang. 100rider registered for the first competition in the new kite spot of Bintan island, at the Agro beach resort.

Every one expected this spot to be light wind and not much chance of running much freestyle. We had to proof it all wrong, the kite spot if a pearl, flat water lagoon, steady wind and a massive area for course race boards. We had winds of 16-20knots every single day of the competition. We managed to run full double elimination and 11races for all fleets, that's over 50races in total.

This was the first time we had an IRO and IJ wt us to get the 50points for the ISAF world ranking. It was smooth sailing wt so many professional team members working behind the scene. I could actually concentrate on running the whole competition, which is much better then jumping from start boat to judge tower to jury room to scoring.

My next trips are already booked and seald, we have the next competition coming up in 10days in Thailand and a week after that i will be back in Boracay for the next competition. So pretty busy time right now, but it's good like that, keeps the mind focused.

U can find all the pictures of the competition on our FB event page
https://www.facebook.com/kiteboardtourasia

The full report of the event can be found here
http://www.kiteboardtour.asia/news/kta-indonesia-the-final-story/

so long, stay prosper and warm

Stephan

over and out.. i'm off again

2012-10-14T13:12:00.003+02:00

The last 3 weeks I spent in a Bus, a Mercedes Sprinter together wt Kathrin. She drove it all the way from Hamburg down to Bordeaux in France, where I met here at the airport.

We went to the “Dune du Pyla”, the biggest dune of Europe. This is an amazing spot for Paragliding. We met Alex down there, and climbed the dune. As soon as a light breeze kicks in all the paragliders come out to play. It’s the perfect spot for beginners to learn the ground handling and if the wind gets a bit stronger it’s amazing for soring.

Alex and Kathrin had both brand new gliders and they could test em here. The conditions were so good that I got a chance too. It was amazing, 2minute explanation and off u go… I was already flying on my second try... think the kitesurfing helps a bit here. Worst case u end up at the bottom of the dune in the sea… and it’s a pretty steep and deeps sandy way back up, the dune is about 110m high.

Since the main holiday season here was over, all the parkings on the beach were for free and even wt our big bus we could park right on the beach. All public parking’s here have showers and toilets on the beach. It’s cold water shower, but better than nothing… this is btw where all those Cabrinha solar shower would come in very handy…

Couple of days later we left for La Baule, the KTE tourstop and European championships for course racing. I met again many familiar faces from the KTA and from my last visit to the KTE. These events are very different to our events in Asia. The KTE takes on existing events and putts kitesurfing on as a side event, while in Asia we create events just for kiteboarding.

So it’s no wonders that here the scene on the beach was pretty boring, commentary only in French, so no rider would understand a word of what’s goin on out there. All the races were held far off the beach with almost 0 interest from the beach goers, and for freestyle it was just not enough wind, except for the first day where they decided to do course racing instead all day.

The KTE has the surname “the camping tour” and I’ve seen why, most riders come wt the vans and campers to the spots. The food and beverage at the event is very poor – except for the free beer for the riders all day, and the partys could not really keep up.

It was good for me to come here and see that we’re actually doin a damn good job in Asia, where the rider is the center of attention and not the stalls and attractions on the beach.

After the event was finished we had to rush down to Sardinia (Cagliari) for the course race world championships. I was going there to represent the KTA and check out the setup and take notes for the organization of the worlds 2013 J

A few other riders drove down as well and some other flew, since there was almost no time to get there. It was a long drive all the way through France, which btw is crazy on high way toll, and we ended up in Livorno, wt a short photo shoot at the leaning tower of Pisa.

After a overnight ferry we arrived in Sardinia where we had another 3h drive ahead of us to get to the spot.

We took a little detour to check out some other spots along the way. There are various spot on Sardinia, some should be amazing wave spots if the mistral is blowing. Well it was not blowing the day we drove passed but still amazing countryside, maybe next time.

The weather down here was still in the thirties during the day. We parked the bus right at the event site again. All the hotels and camping places were too far away, something that should have been thought of.

The event site looked good, few tents for registration, jury, race committee, storage and so on. It was just all way to small for 200riders, it would probably fit 50riders comfortably.

The registration and measuring took place in the first two days before the event. It was good to see the worlds best racers all out in the water practicing.

I guess the biggest no go out there was, that there were some rider who never had been competing before, that should not have happened at the worlds.

So for next year there will be a quota u have to fulfill to register.

There were a few new things for most riders. One was all the coach boats on the water, there were about 10 coaches out there measuring wind during the races and giving feedback to their riders on the beach wt radios. So all the riders which had no support boat out there never knew how much wind it was on the water, the race committee never announced the wind on the beach, and similar to the KTE in La Baule all info’s were given in Italian. So the riders had to figure it all out themselves as well as the start times of the races. If u see the first finisher coming back to the beach from the other fleet, it must be about time to get out there…

They were running 2 separate courses in the bay to get the four fleets out on the water as much as possible. This was sometimes a bit confusing for the riders but it turned out well.

Also new was the race format, which was a two day qualification race, one day final race, followed by a medal race series on the last day. This whole schedule is very risky since most tour stops have at least one day without wind, so medal races will mostly not be held. The whole race format was also a test and will be adjusted wt officials and riders feedback.

The races itself were pretty much run exactly the same way we did it for the last years in Asia, a new adjusted ISAF conform flag sequence and a few more people on the boats wt ISAF shirts on were the biggest change I think. The rest is still the same, flags come up, flags go down, airhorn tweets, wind gets measured and time taken and in the end… first one around the course wins the race ;-)

In the almost 200$ entrance fee was pretty much nothing included, no hotel, no food, no drinks.. oh no I forgot the pasta parties… two spoons of pasta per person.. and u had to buy a drink!! Also the opening ceremony was somewhere lost in space. So there is lots of space for improvement for the next worlds.

Most riders left early on Sunday, since it was only the top ten riders of men and women still competing and we had to catch the ferry at 8pm all the way back up north, which was another 3-4hour drive away.

After another night on a ferry we were heading up to Switzerland.. back home for 3days.

I’m now sitting on a plane, on the way back to my other home in Asia. So thanks and goodbye to all my friends and family in Switzerland, will see u next year I guess… and hello to all my friends in Asia.

Next on my schedule Bangkok and Hong Kong to meet up wt friends, dentist and meet the guys at the Cabrinha office, to get some more awesome gear for the new season.
Then it’s time for Boracay and some tour stops of the KTA in Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and China and hopefully I will make it back to the Cook Islands… love it there.

Switzerland for a month

2012-09-20T09:26:00.000+02:00

It’s been a while since my last post…

I’m on the way to France now to check out some new spots, have a look at the European kite course race championships and a little roadtrip down to Sardinia to the kite world championships.

So what happen since my last post…

Honestly not too much, after my last trip to Japan I went almost straight back to Switzerland, wt a little stopover in Bangkok. It was nice to se everyone back home again, the sun was out a lot and I’ve spent quality time wt friends at the river, cooking some Asian style meals and having fun in the sun.

The best thing that happened this summer was the 10days “Badenfahrt” which is a big city festival that’s comin up only every 5 years. When it happens, it happens big time ;-) This was the perfect spot to meet old friends and thousands of people buzzing the streets all night long every night, doesn’t matter what day of the week. Free concerts, theaters, musicals, installations, bars, food stalls and very good sound hubs.

I could not do all 10 nights, since I had a team meeting in London in the middle of the week. I just stayed one night up there and we did some pub hopping and having discussions about next season. On the second day I managed to see London the chines way… do it in 3hours J

Get to Victoria Station, walk to the Buckingham Palace, along the park alley to (fountain) further on passing by Downing street No.10, which btw is not very impressive, then take a left to Big Ben and have a stare at the London Eye… yes I did it all… the only thing I forgot to bring was a camera to take some shots.

So right now I’m here at the Bordeaux airport waiting for Kathrin wt her bus to arrive so we can head for our first stop, Dune du Pyla, the biggest sand dune in Europe.

After this trip it will be time to head back to Asia again for the new exciting season.

Indonesia - Bali - Gili Trawangan - Lombok

2012-08-07T03:33:00.000+02:00

A trip to Indonesia, Bali – Gili - Lombok

So here I am, first time in Indonesia. It is actually so close to Bangkok or Manila and I still haven’t made it to Bali till now.

First thing u encounter is the usual rip of prices the airport taxis want to charge u to get into town. Normal price to midtown Kuta would be 30’000RP but the usual taxi starts wt a price of 150’000RP. Welcome to Bali…

I made my way down to Kuta beach and was a bit shocked… I thought I was in Phuket or Koh Samui, the beach was very crowded and especially full of drinking Ozzys at 11AM. It took me no more than a couple of minutes to understand the bombings in 2002, specially when I discovered Legian street where the memorial is located. All along this street is one bar and club after each other busting the music as loud as possible.

So all I did in Kuta, was waiting for my chanchita Caro and then move somewhere else. If ur looking for Bali u want find it in Kuta or Legian, but if u wanna party, that’s the place to go.

The next day we decided to get some tickets to Gili Trawangan to find a more peaceful island wt nice beaches and as I found out, there were some Swiss friends on the way to that island too, Andreas and Fabienne.

A very early wake up, a bus transfer to the harbor and a bumpy 2h boat ride later we found ourselves on Gili Trawangan, a scenic little island north west of Lombok. I f u rent a bike u can ride around the island in about 1hour. There are 3 islands here side by side and the best thing about all of them, there is no traffic, 0 motorized vehicles. The only way to get from from ur hotel to the beach or a restaurant is by foot, bicycle or horse carriage.

Plenty of dive schools offer courses and fun dives, the good thing is u don’t have to worry about prices, they are all the same in all schools. So u can actually choose ur school by the people and the service and not by cheapest price. My fun dive was good, I’ve seen some ginormous turtles, the tiniest little shrimp a whole lot of very colorful fishes.. too many to know or list their names here.

We climbed the highest mountain on the island to enjoy the sunset… must have been at least 100m high ;-) The sun was shining when we walked up but never showed up for sunset…. But hey we had a good workout.

The restaurants on the island are pretty good but a bit more expensive then most other places. We spent dinner mostly together wt my Swiss friends and some good chats and laughs about our travels and journeys.

After a couple of days of laziness we decided to move on to Kuta Lombok, which is a famous surf destination. When we arrived in Kuta we figured out that there is actually no real good spot right here, the next best one is in Gerupuk, about 10minutes motorbike drive away. We headed straight there and found a nice little homestay for 10$/night. This was our base now for some days of surfing and exploring.

The first day of surfing was not so successful… haven’t been on one of those boards for a long time… more used to my small kiteboards. The second time I took a longer board and caught much more waves and had more fun after all. The wave (Don don) we surfed was just a 5minute boat ride outside of our homestay and it could have been named the Swiss wave… at least 80% of all people on this wave were Swiss… and I think the rest was French.

We made a country side trip wt our motor bikes, it’s amazing how many waves u can find in the area, every 15minutes u find a new beach and the further u go the more remote the spots. Time has gone fast and it was already time to say goodbye to Carolina, we had a good time and lots of fun in the sun. For me it was just two more days over here and some good waves later I took a plane back to Kuta. This is much faster and cheaper than taking a bus, boat, bus version.

Cheap flights

I headed straight for Sanur beach this time. I found a cheap place to stay right next to the local market... which I would visit various times for dinner within the next days. The food here is great, local and very cheap. I explored the beaches around here for a few days and tried to get some kiteboarding in… but the wind was not really wt me, as I don’t really like to kite wt a 14 or 16m kite. I would say it’s a very good spot for race boards.

I took my motorbike for a longer ride up to Ubud, which is in the middle of the island. Most of the local craftsmen live and work up in this area, on the way up there u can see countless shops for furniture, wood frames, sarongs, masks…

I took a two hour walk along the rice paddies and small canals. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere up here, perfect to enjoy nature for a while. I made up plans to return the very next day as there was a big cremation ceremony goin on.

The ceremony was amazing, no sign of sadness and grieve. It is a happy, crazy ceremony where the body got transported through the streets inside a big black cow. The body and soul gets into a better life reunited wt the 5 elements water, wind, earth, fire and universe. It takes hundreds of helpers to carry the up to 15tonnes structures along the road. If u have the chance to see any of these ceremonies, it’s a must do.

From here on I went down to Uluwatu, which is one of the most famous surf spots in Bali. Thx to my friend and surfer Samia I found a very good stay. 20$/night. There is a big Brasilian community over her, and especially in my hotel. They all come over to surf for a couple of month usually. The swell was not very big, so perfect for me to rent a board and have some more fun out there. I surfed Padang-Padang for a day and went to check out the other spots as well, but due to the full moon the tide was only high enough in the morning... if u don’t like to get washed over the reef.

So this was pretty much it… a very nice trip wt loads of good people, a lot of fun and stunning nature and amazing beaches all around.

Back to Bangkok now and off to Japan before I will head back to Switzerland for a couple of weeks.

Red Bull island hopping

2012-07-24T12:56:00.000+02:00

Red bull kitecomp in Sri Lanka

after the cook islands I had to fly straight back to Sri Lanka, so no time to see a bit of new Zealand, but it will be on my schedule next time ;-)

The guys from KSL, kitesurfing Lanka kiteschool in Kalpitiya, asked me if I have time to come and organize the red bull downwind race from Kappaladi lagoon via Kalpitiya lagoon to Dream spot, a 25km downwind race. It fit into my schedule so I said yes and booked flights to Sri Lanka. I went through a few time zones and back over the date line again. So I checked in just before midnight on the 2^nd of July, took a flight to Auckland 4.5h, had a layover of 5hours, a flight to Bangkok for almost 13h, another 3h layover and 3.5h flight to Sri Lanka… but not enough yet, there was a 3-4h drive up to Kalpitiya waiting as well… so finally I arrived at about 5AM on the 5^th July in the KSL camp. Just to have a good, cold beer and a bit of sleep.

I would feel the time zones for the next couple of days… waking up every morning around 5AM, not my normal schedule.

When I woke up, the wind was blowing, as it was every day for the last 7 weeks… that’s when I left here last time. The camp has improved it’s look, more hammocks, lazy chairs and chill out and it was still fully booked, since the day it opened. Dil and Leo are doin a great job here.

I had a couple of good kiting sessions and a few meetings and site check ups wt Dil during the next two days. The Red Bull crew has arrived as well and we had some meeting wt them as well.

The whole event should be fun and free for all. Our main thing to organize was to get the limited photo and video crews to the right spot at the right time and to guarantee the safety of the 45riders that were registered.

The competition day started off wt and early morning drive up to the starting area. The guys set up the red bull tent and we got the final registration done. I made a short briefing about the route that we will run, the flags used for the start and making sure everyone knew about the pack down and safety procedures.

So the 11AM start was set and ready to go. We set a downwind start line, which was the best we could to wt the resources we had. Surprisingly it was a clear start., except for one guy who didn’t listen to the flag instructions… but I’m used to that by now

As expected Fabio Ingrosso took an early lead and crossed the checkpoint on the sandbar at Kalpitiya lagoon in first place few hundred meters ahead of every one else. He managed to win the race one minute ahead of everyone else. The second part of the race was then a upwind leg back to the lagoon. which was attended only by a handful of crazy kiters. It was a straight 10km upwind along the mangrove channel back to the red bull tent. This time local hero Mowfil was o top of his game and made it back up in just a bit over 45minutes.

The price giving was held shortly after on the beach before everyone went home for shower and party nap, to get ready for the red bull after party. I had way to many vodka red bulls but the party was good fun for all.. till the next morning came and the hangovers kicked in.

I think there was a bit too much dancing during the night so that we did not have any energy left for a wind dance on the beach. Believe it or not it was the first day in Sri Lanka for almost 2month with no wind… so if u need a rest, just organize a competition and u will be blessed wt no wind… murphy’s law I guess.

The event was still a full success and hopefully will be continued next year wt a bit more difficulty added to it.

Thanx to Red Bull Sri Lanka, to Dil and Leo from KSL and to all the riders who made this event a great happening.

I’m off to Bali now… changed my plans a bit in the last minute but that’s coming up in the next blog.

Aitutaki, Manureva international kiteboarding competition

2012-07-05T13:33:00.000+02:00

So after ten days on the island it was time to head over to Aitutaki, to the spot where the competition was held.

I met a pilot on Rarotonga, his name was Ianis, and it happened that he was also flying the day I went over to Aitutaki. When I entered the plane he called me right up into the cockpit, so I could spend the start, the whole flight and the landing up front, it’s very different from the normal seats in the back.

My first project on Aitutaki was to build a kicker, which should last for a while, so the locals can use it till long time after the comp.

Our hotel was at Maina landing, it is run by Lawten and Aunty Marie the most amazing people around here. Both of them are really good at what they do and very helpful at any moment.

The boats leave from here to the honeymoon island (Motu Maina Iti), that’s where all the kitesurfer go to play. I have seen the spot already from the airplane, it looked like paradise.

The first morning I was able to grab a ride over to the motu and got to ride this paradise spot, the water is clean and all kind of blue and green, there is plenty of fish and corals but also some spots wt sandy bottom.

I have seen lot’s of kitespots around the world but this one is out of this world, flat turquoise water, warm weather, good winds, pregnant coconut trees, smiling people all around u and a lot of space to play.

After a couple of days here, the rest of the team arrived. They were overwhelmed by the picturesque of this place.

The wind forecast was a bit shaky for the week, but we managed to pick the best day out of it and held the whole comp during one day. We started of wt freestyle expression session followed by two around the island races. Then the wind dropped a bit and we changed the format to downwind slalom. This format was a lot of fun for all competitors. We started wt a reach start went around a couple of buoys along the south side of the island and finished underneath the island. The competitors could just walk back across the island after the finish to get back up for the next start. The races were short and a lot of fun for all competitors. We managed to get 3 races in the bag before the wind went further down and the day came to an end.

The next days was not too much wind and we did some no wind activities. We spent a morning at the local school and judged a recycle kite building competition. We had a about 60 to 100kidds running around the grass field wt their kites up in the air, amazingly some of them stayed up for almost and hour even though there was no wind on the ground.

It was amazing to see all the efforts the kids put into the building of the kites, it was probably the most difficult decision to find the best kites.

The afternoon of the same day was action filled wt local kanu paddling for all competitors. It was a big local fight goin on between Paka and Ijanis, both choose their teams and battle it out on the water… and I guess the result will bring up many more discussions… since these two guys were also responsible for the most crashed on the water during the kite races. So next year we will organize a one on one race between these two ;-)

Then we came to the final price giving night, which was held at the wharf wt a local night market. No one knew the results and so the tension was high. The winner of the kite comp was a combined scoring of freestyle and race and also the kids were waiting to know who build the best kite.

All the winners got local shell medals, which were the best medals I’ve seen in all the comps I’ve been to and the girls got some local black pearls.

We had a buffet dinner afterwards and a after party local style till the early morning hours as usual... the unusual thing came the next morning wt a 9AM flight back to Rarotonga, surprisingly everyone made it out of bed and onto the plane… hangover.

We all agree that we had the best time in the Cook islands and it was well worth the long travel. What a great end of the 2012 season. This spot has a lot of potential and we will be back for more. More competitions and kitesurfing education projects.

I like to send my special thanx to all the warm, welcoming, big hearted people of Rarotonga and Aitutaki. Specially Paka the main organizer, Conrad and Serena and kids and JT and his wife for the hospitality, as well as Lawten and aunty Marie for the help and hospitality, Ianis the pilot and MA MAN and all the local boys and girls, kitesurfers and dancers.

Keep up ur good spirits and u will go a long way.

We will do our best to send u all of our friends ur way and we will tell the world what a great peace of paradise u have out there.

So now I’m sitting in the plane to Sri Lanka and looking back at a very good time.

2012 was a hard start and a blast in the end; 2013 will be even bigger and as much fun for everyone.

Next stop Sri Lanka, Australia or Bali :-), Japan and finally Switzerland…

2012-07-05T12:48:00.001+02:00

Kia Orana…

I arrived in Rarotonga after a short journey from Sydney. It was my longest Saturday, I started on Saturday at 9PM in Sydney and landed in Rarotonga at 7AM… Saturday morning. That’s because the cook islands are just behind the date line.

The international airport is big for a small island but it still keeps it’s island living touch. From the big bustling city’s of Australia back into the island live time was a bit of a change but I really prefer it. Everything is goin at a slower pace, there is no stress and people are happy and very welcoming and after all it was warm again, jandals time. That’s how they call flip flops or thongs over here.

After a short nap I met up wt Paka, the main organizer for the competition and Paka Pearls shop owner. We went straight to the local market in town, it is a very colorful and busy one. They sell different kinds of local food, fruits and veggies here as well as the Polynesian style gifts to bring home like traditional wood masks, black pearls, sarongs...

It didn’t take me long to adjust to the island style again, and I met all the local kitesurfers down in Muri beach. Rarotonga is a round, volcanic island wt a reef all around it, at some spots it is very close to the beach and on other spots the reef is up to 800m outside the beach and inside are flat water lagoons some wt sandy bottoms and others wt coral heads spread out.

Muri beach is one of the places wt the lagoon inside the reef, two small islands are right in front of the beach which can create wind shadows. So the wind here is very dependent on the direction. I had a good session here, the visibility of the water is crystal clear, so u can enjoy just cruising around.

Another spot is just 10minute drive away, but the wind comes from the other direction since it is around the corner from Muri. This spot is close to the Rarotongan resort and it has a lot of coral heads inside the lagoon, so not really good for learning new tricks but nice to ride.

I spent the first nights in a hotel and then changed over to Conrads and Serena's place, which is Muri Hillside. It is located uphill of the kiteschool on Muri beach. From here u have a fantastic view over the bay. Conrad has a lovely family wt 4kidds, the family bond on the island is much bigger than I’ve seen it in any city or island before. The kids know how to behave and are very helpful in and around the house. Also check out his Koka lagoon cruise business down in Muri beach.

We had a lot of good dinners at his house and in all different kinds of restaurants on the island.

The best food I had here was at a place called island living. It’s not the usual restaurant place, it is more like a plantation wt a big family house where the cook only once a week for a group of max. 15-20people. I was lucky enough to get a invitation from the minister. The food is absolutely free of any kind of conservation crap. Everything is fresh out of the garden and the sea. The whole idea behind this plantation is to preserve the plants, fruits and vegetables that are growing in the Cook islands. There are many different kinds of limes and lemons, papayas, kaffir lime, mango trees and various types of local potatoes and roots.

The buffet meal is just the best that the island has to offer, a few food travel magazines just discovered it and gave em their highest notes.

I met wt a lot of people which are involved in the sailing federation of the Cook islands and in the OSF. It was actually very interesting to talk wt them and find out that the OSF and the Cook islands are far ahead of most other country's, the kitesurfing is included in the sailing federation and they will start a school project together wt New Zealand that will be held in Aitutaki. Students can study the history of transportation and sailing of the Polynesian islands, this will give em official points towards the final exams. The course will then also include kitesurfing.

This is definitely a step I the right direction, the ISAF is just to big, old and slow of an organization to keep up wt these kind of things, so it is very good to have people here that are actually taking action and not just talk about it.

The nightlife in Rarotonga is best on Wednesday and Friday night. Most nights everything shuts down at midnight, so start early or check out where the local style after partys are.

One of my best nights in Raro was wt the kite boys, we were just sitting on Muri beach and downing some beers when we've seen that there was a little party goin on over at the small island, so we took a couple of SUP boards out and paddled over wt some beers. The locals had set out a fish net in the evening, which we went to check at midnight wt a small boat and a torch and we picked about 20fish out of the net. The guys prepared right on the beach and put them fresh on the grill. That was probably the freshest midnight fish bbq i ever had. Surrounded by the stars a beer in hand and some music in the background... how could this get be any better? Maybe only wt the paddle back to the mainland without falling of our boards...

time to fly to Aitutaki...

Kia Manuia

helpful links for kiteboarding in the Cook Islands:

Cook Islands Kitesurfing Association

Kitesup, Kitesurfing school on Rarotonga, Muri Beach

Cook Islands - Rarotonga a paradise of Polynesia

2012-07-04T18:37:00.000+02:00

Kia Orana…

I arrived in rarotonga after a short journey from Sydeny. It was my longest Saturday, I started on Saturday at 9PM in Sydney and landed in Rarotonga at 7AM… Saturday morning. That’s because the cook islands are just behind the date line.

After a short nap I met up wt Paka, the main organizer for the competition. We went straight to the local market in town, it is a very colorful and busy one. They sell different kinds of local food, fruits and veggies here as well as the Polynesian style gifts to bring home like traditional wood masks, black pearls, sarongs...

It didin’t take me long to adjust to the island style again, and I met all the local kitesurfers down in Muri beach. Rarotonga is a round, volcanic island wt a reef all around it, at some spots it is very close to the beach and on other spots the reef is up to 800m outside the beach and inside are flatwater lagoons some wt sandy bottoms and others wt coral heads spread out.

Another spot is just 10minute drive away, but the wind comes from the other direction since it is around the corner from muri. This spot is close to the Rarotongan resort and it has a lot of coral heads inside the lagoon, so not really good for learning new tricks but nice to ride.

I spent the first nights in a hotel and then changed over to Conrads place, which is Muri Hillside. It is located uphill of the kiteschool on muri beach. From here u have a fantastic view over the bay. Conrad has a lovely family wt 4kidds, the family bond on the island is much bigger than I’ve seen it in any city or island before. The kids know how to behave, are very helpful in and around the house.

We had a lot of good dinner at his house and in all different kinds of restaurants on the islands.

The best food I had here was at a place called island living. It’s not the usual restaurant place, it is more like a plantation wt a big family house where the cook only once a week for a group of max. 15-20people. I was lucky enough to get a invitation from the minister. The food is absolutely free of any kind of conservation crap. Everything is fresh out of the garden and the sea. The whole idea behind this planation is to preserve the plants, fruits and vegetables that are growing in the Cook islands. There are many different kinds of limes and lemons, papayas, kaffir lime, mango trees and various types of local potatoes and roots.

The buffet meal is just the best that the island has to offer, a few food travel magazines just discovered it and gave em their highest notes.

I met wt a lot of people which are involved in the sailing federation of the Cook islands and in the OSF. It was actually very interesting to talk wt them and find out that the OSF and the Cook islands are far ahead of most other countrys, the kitesurfing is included in the sailing federation and they will start a school project together wt New Zealand that will be held in Aitutaki. Students can study the history of transportation and sailing of the Polynesian islands, this will give em official points towards the final exams. The course will then also include kitesurfing.

Australia - Brisbane

2012-06-18T11:34:00.000+02:00

Next one up after Sydney was Brisbane. The main reason to go there was to meet my good old friend Kate. Finally i made it to Australia, so i had to fulfill my promise and visit her over here.
She's living couple of minutes out of town in a suburb called Taringa, the roads out there are a bit like riding a roller coaster...up n down hill.

The main transport around town is either bus, train or boat, last one is very nice on a sunny day, to cruise along the river all the way through town. I did some cultural day wt a visit to an art exhibit in the old power station, they showed a selection of the price winning photos from 2011 awards.

I spent some good time wt Kate, we had some lunch at her Uni, the Queensland University which is a very big university where u can easily get lost.
The nightlife and bars of Brisbane are good and i think u can find something for every taste. We had a dinner at a Tibetan restaurant, which was delicious. Lots of new flavors that i haven't tasted before.
The nights out in OZ a not very cheap, a bottle of beer can easy cost 8$ in any kind of bar and in shops it is still 2-3$ for a bottle.. but hey they have good wine, which i like too :-)

So from here on i was supposed to head up to Townsville for an event, which was actually the whole reason why i came to OZ, but sadly the local organizer told us in the last minute that we have to pay now to run his event due to him not being able to secure a sponsor, so this would be kinda u come to work for me and then pay me to watch u working... This leaving us no other choice than to drop the comp ,which in the end had no wind anyways... karma...
So instead of that i took the chance and went over to the cook islands a bit earlier than planned
.. and that's gonna be my next blog :-)

big hug and thank u to Kate and her house mate Tim to let me occupy the couch for a while... next time we meet in Europe...

Australia - Sydney

2012-06-18T10:17:00.000+02:00

So after China i took a long flight over to the other hemisphere, to Sydney in Australia.
Just when we left China i found out that Alice lives in Sydney and she offered me to stay wt her. So after the early morning arrival i ended up in a suburb of Sydney, about 30minutes train ride outside of the center at a station called Como. The area looks a bit like Switzerland, except the the lake view is a sea view... and ur aloud to kite on it...

So as it also happend to be, there was another friend in town as well. So i met up wt Rikki in town and we had a couple of good walks... even though i think she didn't like the long walks in uncomfy shoes... hehee

We went to explore the Opera house and the Darling Harbour and over to Manly beach.. which we just reached after nightfall, so there was not too much to see anymore, but a nice place anyway.

I spent the next couple days bumming around town and at the kite beaches in the area, Kurnell and Cronulla beach just south of the airport. Alice showed me all those great spots wt her fun car, a very old model of a Holden car. The only thing stoped me from kiting around here was the cold... it's winter down under.

After exploring the Sydney nightlife and a short visit to Bondi beach (at night) i had one more thing to do, go see a kangaroo... since there is a small zoo in the middle of the Sydney that was our place to go. There is a bunch of small critters and scary big animals to see and the Koalas and Kangaroos.

The last thing i explored was Vivid Sydney, this is an amazing gathering of art and light installation around the Opera house. Plenty of interactive and very colorful installations make this exhibit a very unique kind.If u got the chance, it will be again in 2013...

KTA China

2012-06-18T08:52:00.000+02:00

It's been a while since my last post and also a few miles and hours of flight in between.

After my last kite adventure in Sri Lanka i went of to the KTA China tour stop. We set up camp in a new location there, called Pingtan Island, next bigger city is Fuzhou. The wind here is nuking, most of the houses around the city have big rocks on the roof to keep it in place, 50knots is nothing unusual here.

We were lucky and got some good winds, we did the full freestyle doubles and some TT and RB races.
The crowd was crazy, it was not the usual couple hundreds it was more like couple of thousands that spread along the beach. The whole city got a day of from the government to come to the beach and check out the competition. The KTA videos were running on a massive, Broadway size screen in the middle of the city for the last month, so everyone knew what was goin on on the beach that weekend.

We also had a record of participants in the TT class, which will hopefully be soon included in the official rankings of IKA and ISAF since this is the biggest fleet at every event.

It was a very good event, wt a ginormous beach setup and a very good hotel. A small spontaneous mid week balcony room party... which ended up wt some snow like feathers flying all over... ;-)
All the riders got free accommodation and free food every day. We had great food and some cute little chines students to translate for us, these angels are very helpful if u don't speak a word of chines.

The final party was not as crazy as others but still good.

Kitesurfing goes Olympic in Rio 2016

2012-05-24T06:36:00.000+02:00

This is my personal point of view about the decision to get kiteboarding into the olympics in 2016 in Rio.
What a chance for a fast growing spot like kiteboarding. Sailing till now has been pretty much boring to watch, since most of the races are held a few kilometers offshore and the spectators don't see it or understand it. So what the ISAF is looking for is a new class that can bring in more media coverage and more spectators to the beach. Kiteboarding is the perfect match for this problem.
The sport is very attractive for young people, it is colorful, loaded wt action, tactics and close up finishes and most of all it will be the most affordable olympic watersport ever. A full standard quiver will cost u no more that about 3000$ - 5000$ which is affordable to pretty much everyone, compared to a small dinghy or sailboat which cost 10times as much and more...
The sad part is that we kicked out windsurfing to get our spot, but on the other hand it is the chance for windsurfing to change the rules and reapply wt a new class, which should be more attractive, modern and bring in more spectators and young guns as well. The RSX class was just boring and the lack of big names did not make it more attractive. If i chat wt any real windsurfer who rides actually in the world tour or European tour, they all tell me the same story... RSX is boring and oldskool, and no one of them can tell u any names of a windsurf Olympic champion. There is just a handful of windsurfers who do nothing else than training on that board and sail, but most of them never really achieved anything in the real windsurfing classes.
That is the best reason for kiteboarding not to become as boring and oldskool, and the way to do this is wt the boxrule and never a one design class.
There is a lot of meetings goin on and every kiteboarder have to join his national organization, so we can have proper selections of the best races of each country to join the games.
I'm very positiv about it, we will be there and show all those pessimist that we can do it, and that we actually already have some very good kiteboarders out there... we don't really need any rsx racers that has no more job and thinks he will be the best kiteboarder in 4years time.
We will need a whole lot of trainers and coaches, this is the chance for everyone to get involved.

Kiteboarders unite and show the world that we can do it!

Kite trips and Kalpitiya Lagooon

2012-05-07T12:22:00.000+02:00

The wind has definitely started in Sri Lanka.
I'm kiting every day in the Kalpitiya lagoon, the spot is awesome and never crowded. The water is glassy flat and the most of the people are beginner which all stay upwind of the best wakestyle spots.

Few days ago the north team arrived wt Tom Court, Tom Hebert and Thomas Paris. The guysare rocking the lagoon wt all the new 2013 equipment, since it is all produced over here is the cheapest way to test... and i would say one of the spots that gives u all the opportunities to the all kites on one spot. Waves, flat water, choppy.. u name it Sri Lanka has it.

We did already to kitetrips wt boats to some smaller islands just a few km downwind of the lagoon. Kitesurfinglanka is offering those trips. U can't really do it alone because u need a license to go passed the military zone and only a few boats are aloud to cross this area.

The trips are awesome, kiters should be able to go toeside, so u can actually do a long trip. The beginners take much longer and can do a shorter version of the trip. They start to build some shelters for lunchtime, which is served on the beach, and some cover for the 2day trips.
I can highly recommend the trips, is all about flat water riding, enjoying the longest stretch of sandbars, beaches and small fisher villages wt kids running around and cheering u up to do some big airs in front of them.

The trip starts wt a 1h boatride down the Kalpitiya lagoon which connects wt the Puttalam lagoon. There are already plenty of spots on the way to the first island, but the best spots just start from there. Then it's about a 2h downwind trip all the way to the second island and ending up at a wavespot, the waves can be nice down here, depending on the swell.

Sri Lanka is the future of kiteboarding... this spot will grow very fast and big. So come and enjoy it as long as the local style will last, before the big player come in and destroy it all.

I can already say a very big thank u to Dilsiri and Leo and theire team for letting me stay in the newly opened kitesurfing Lanka camp. Recommended to everyone who is seeking some very relaxed kiteboarding holidays in a big family style atmosphere, food is great and the staff are really friendly... if u have a chance try to beat Tilak at Carome,

I only have a few days left now till i head to Bangkok for 2night and then off to China for the next KTA tourstop.

Sri Lanka Trip 2012

2012-04-27T16:05:00.001+02:00

A Trip to Sri Lanka

The trip started wt packing up all my stuff from my place in Boracay and put it in storage. Since the wind was only good in the mornings for the last few days, I had enough time to do it.

We took the 2GO night ferry from Caticlan direct to Batangas, which is 2h bus ride away from Manila. We got a nice upgrade on the ferry to a private cabin, which is actually just 300php more than the usual tourist class and well worth it. I donno why u cannot choose this cabins at the online booking, u just have to be quick when u enter the boat and ask at the front desk about an upgrade.

There are plenty of busses waiting in Batangas which go to all parts of Manila.

We left the luggage in the airport and spent the whole day in Manila around the Fort area killing time to get on the night flight to Kuala Lumpur.

At the check in we had a to do some luggage shufflin from one bag to another till it all fit in…80KG.

The KUL LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) is exactly what it says. Everything reduced to a minimum. We had to spend 5h in the terminal and found a corner somewhere on the floor beside hundreds of other travellers.

Finally we made it to Lanka, bit sleepy but happy that we made it. Mischi reserved a hotel for us in Negombo and we went to take some more sleep before heading out into the city. We met Mischi at the Dolce Vita café on the beach and made some plans for a homemade dinner at his house.

He prepared a very nice dinner for us and we had some yummie strawberries wt yoghurt for desert.

The next day we planned to take a train to the mountains towards the Cultural Triangle. Dilsiri and Leo came over to pick up our kite gear to bring it straight up to Kalpitiya, so we could travel a couple days over the mountains wt light backpacks.

So in the Negombo train station we bought a ticket to Anuradhapura, second class. When the train arrived it was already overflowing wt people, getting into the train was barely possible, but soaking hot. We decided to get back out and book the next train instead which had a more expensive but exclusive 1^st class wt aircon , WiFi and tv! It was too hot to wait in the station for the departure so we took a ride to the Hilton hotel in town for some AC and a cold beer.

The train ride was amazing and very comfy, well worth the extra cash. A 5h journey through rice fields, little towns, 50s style train stations, tropical forest and an amazing sunset.

The hotel in Anuradhapura was a French guesthouse wt very clean rooms and friendly owners. We rented some bikes and took a ride around town, since this is the best and cheapest option to go to all different kinds of sacred places, temples and ruins.

First stop was the sacred Bo Tree, the tree itself is not really an eye catcher or especially old or big. The most interesting part is actually all the praying pilgrims wandering around the tree in the middle of the temple area and the hundreds of flags waving in the wind.

The second stop was a temple close by the tree. After this we decided that it was too hot to go any further and to go back to the hotel pack up our stuff and leave for Dambulla wt a local bus.

Local busses are always and experience on it’s own, if ur lucky u get a seat, if ur too polite u will just stand the whole trip. Public transportation is always a fight for the seat, specially on long distance u don’t wanna stand all the way. There are some good AC once called intercity, they leave when full and don’t stop every 500m, the cost double the price of the local busses but still very cheap, 5h ride for 300rupiees.. 2.5$

Dambulla has also some great temples and ancient ruins to see. Everything is free for locals and it cost a fortune for foreigners. 30$ to climb a rock, 25$ to see a few temples. We found a hostel right beside the golden Buddha, is called Saman’s resto and guest house. The owner is a very lovely old man and he serves some relly good Srilankan curry. It is a big pot of rice in the middle and a lot of smaller things around it. We had some spicy chicken curry, lentil curry, banana flower, coconut rasp wt spring onion, baby jack fuit, water spinach, cabbage and some flower starch crackers.

We passed by the golden Buddha and climbed the stairs up to the cave temple to enjoy the view.

The next morning was the highlight of the cultural triangle, the Lions Rock in Sirirya. It’s only 30min ride away from Dambulla, and the bus stops right at the gate to the rock.

U have to buy the entrance ticket for 32$ at the tickets office and follow the path through the ruin park towards the big rock.

From here it’s around 800-1200stairs up to the top in 35+degrees and 80% humidity. If ur a little bit fit it’s no problem, but u can see people all along the way wt cramps and scared of heights.

The stairs are leading towards the rock first but then heading all along the steep walls, which is not for everyone since it can be up to a 100m drop beneath ur feet. In the middle of the wall u arrive at the mirror wall, some of the last remaining women paintings in the wall. Most of them were destroyed when the rock was turned into a monastery; it was too destructive for the monks.

Half way up is a big platform wt the Lions Paw gate, which marks the entrance to the last section of stairs. The iron stairs are not always in the best conditions, but definitely better and easier to go up then ancient steps build into the rock. Doesn’t look like an easy climb back then.

The view from the top pays for all the pain and muscle ache that will come the days after ;-) The ruins show some big temple like rooms and pools wt water drainage systems.

Our last stop up here in the mountains was Kandy, which is not really recommended by most books and guides, but I actually liked it. It’s a small city in the mountains, used as an entrance to the tea region. Lots of bakery’s and cafes and a few pubs and bars. We chose the “little chilled bar” on top of the lakeside wt a good view over the valley and the lake, they serve good food for a fair price and cold beers.

So from here on we went back down to the beach, since Becks had only a few days left before heading back to Norway and off to work. We took a bus from Kandy to Puttalam and from there to Kalpitiya.

Dilsiri gave me the instruction how to get to the Kitesurfinglanka.com site. It’s about an hour bus ride from Puttalam. The last bit from the main road is done wt a tuktuk. The resort and kiteschool is very idyllic in between coconut trees. The Kalpitiya lagoon is a 15minute drive away, which is arranged daily wt the Range Rover from the kite school or u can just take a 10minute down winder direct to the lagoon, the water is flat and the wind direction is offshore.

On the lagoon is plenty of space for at least 50kite surfers. The first half of the lagoon is a bit gusty, but a bit further down the wind is good and due to some sandbars the water still glassy flat. I think this season the spots here around the lagoons will kick in wt many Europeans to come.

We had some great first sessions already and waiting for the wind to come on steady and powerful.

More to come soon!!

KTA Thailand and Vigan

2012-04-27T14:59:00.001+02:00

We had a busy march this season wt the KTA. First we landed in Thailand for the Asian Championships in Course Racing and after that was the Philippine Nationals in Vigan on the schedule.

We chose Pranburi again in Thailand, since this is Willy’s homespot and better and less crowded than Hua Hin.

The competition here went very smooth after all the troubles we had again wt the sponsors. We managed to do around 20races for twin tip and raceboard class. With our IRO’s Andy Curnow from Australia and James from Thailand we had a very good crew for the racing. It makes the life of the competition director much easier when u don’t have to be on the water and off the water all time.

Thailand showed it’s windy side again, much better than Vietnam and so we managed to do the single and double elimination of the freestyle nearly to the end.

We crowned the Asian Freestyle champs already here but still one more stop for the Tour Champions to be announced.

The final party and awarding night was set at the end of the beach in front a rock face, very unique setup for a beach party and perfect for us.

Just a couple of days after the return to Boracay I had to move on to Vigan for the Filipino nationals. The spot up here is in Ilocos Sur is made for kiteboarding.

The half island wt a long stretch of sandbar makes a nice flat water spot on one side and some waves on the other side. And there are also some more wave spots just around the corner from here. The location is about 20Minute drive from town center.

The town itself is unique to the Philippines, lot’s of old colonial town houses building the core of the city, wt it’s pebble roads and horse carriages.

We had a small but good opening ceremony at the zoo, which has a lot of free running animals and some tigers in way to small cages.

The wind did not show it’s best side, but we could not expect too much since we went here very late in the season. We managed to do one race a bit of freestyle. There were not many competitors in the freestyle so it was a quick run to determine the winner.

The race was a twin tip class only wt a interesting course setup for the riders and especially for the spectators along the beach. We setup a course that had a upwind finish right in front of the judge tower.

So we pulled the maximum out of one day of wind, there was a little bit more wind on the last day, but never enough to do more competition.

We did a bit of sightseeing around town in the original horse cariages, wt the old bell tower as a highlight of the tour.

Then we finished the event wt the awarding ceremony and a good after party to close the event.

Thx to Dalan and Dani from Viganwatersports.com for being our local organizers and puling of the event in no time.

Hopefully we can get u on a full tour stop next season wt more wind, more competitors and more Empenadas ;-) We loved it up there!

Now were looking forward to our last stop in China mid of May on a new spot again, in Pingtan Island, between Xiamen and Taiwan. 30k$ up for grabs…

Videos are out.. check em out here
Thailand
http://vimeo.com/40142361
Vigan
http://vimeo.com/41071127

xoxo

KTA Vietnam 2012

2012-03-07T09:29:00.000+01:00

so we actually made it back to Vietnam again this season. Even though it is unbelievable that it is not possible to find a sponsor for an event there, when u have hundreds of new resorts and hotels popping out of the sand, so we had to pay it out of the pocket.
Before i went to Mui Ne i spent some days in Saigon or Ho Chi Minh... whatever u prefer to call it.
I had a typical tourist day, got a motorbike driver and told em to get me around town to see some nice places.

My tour started off wt the War museum which is really worth a visit, wt hundreds of original photographs taken during the war. U can actually see the other side than what u see from Hollywood.
After that i went to a chines temple and some Buddhist temple and i finished my day off wt a visit to a local market wt the most amazing food around town. After all it was good to see something else than only Mui Ne.

The event was freestyle and Oldskool mainly due to the low budget and Mui Ne wt is 2m shore break not really a good spot for course racing.
Ones again the wind was not playing game wt us... it looks like this spot doesn't like the KTA, only one day of wind during the whole competition again.
Since i called the skippers meeting an hour earlier than usual, we managed to get ready and start the freestyle at 10AM already, which is very unusual for Vietnam.
We had 4hours of freestyle ahead of us, and since the forecast didn't look promising we knew that is all or nothing for today. do as much as we can in one day. So after four long hours of watching the freestylers doin their tricks we changed over to the Oldskool, which is all about getting airtime and spin and do some funny things wt ur board up there.
We also managed to finish the singles of oldskool and decided to also try and squeeze the hangtime in. All the riders that were still on the beach went out on the water again to get their best times on the judges stopwatches.
That was a very exhausting day for the riders and the judges, but the cold beer after all tasted even better.

Vietnam is still a good spot for some good food, and usually strong wind kiting, but definitely not my preferred spot, too choppy to learn new tricks. All tho the best local restaurant has become a bit too touristic and the waiters are mostly children that run away as soon as they don't understand what u would like to order. The loosing face kinda thing that is very common in Asia.
The worst experience was when the waiter obviously had a cold.. and in the middle of take the orders he bowed forward and sneezed under our table, wiped his nose off with his hand and kept on taking orders.. and we new exactly that he will not wash his hands before he will start to serving the food... yummie.

We went to the red dunes for a sunset of a no wind day, which was good for a change of scenery and some fun in the sand.

Now i'm looking forward to some amazing traveling again. Next up in two days will be Thailand again, all the rest of my travel list is not confired yet... but it will soon.. i hope ;-) - Vigan up north here in the Philippines, Pingtan Island in China, Sri Lanka, Dubai, Oman, Australia and cook island.. in the south pacific... one of the bucket list for sure. The two last ones are confirmed... if lucky i might made it back to Switzerland in August this year.. but who knows...

keep on living the life!!
xoxo

Trip to Vigan

2012-02-16T07:32:00.000+01:00

Vigan.. a colonial town north of Manila
We are currently planning on a Filipino national event and as a possible location i went to check out Vigan. The Government invited me to come and check it out and so i flew up there for 3Days.
After a direct flight to Vigan.. wt probably the smallest airport, i check into the Vigan Plaza Hotel, very nice and cozy, old colonial house.

The whole trip was organized by Dalan and Dani who are currently opening a new kiteschool up there.
My first impression after 2month on the island was ahhhhh nice, lovely little town, horse carriages, street full of life at night and all very affordable.
Since i like good food i had to try the Empenadas, they are the real deal up there... wish we had just one like those back in Boracay.
The Kitesport... first of all we went to Puro Beach, a perfect flat water offshore spot located about 20min drive from Vigan city.
The new kiteschool called vigankitecenter.com will set up here.

The second spot was a 30minute drive further up north on the mainland side of Poro Island, this spot is perfect for everyone that like waves. There were some nice small waves rolling in when i was there, but the children of revolution from Stance kite mag had some sick waves just two days earlier.

So i really hope we will get all the funds and sponsors to get up there and do an amazing event wt them.

KTA Boracay 2012

2012-02-16T06:53:00.000+01:00

it's already a while back but i thought i should write a little wrap up of the KTA Boracay tour stop.

This year i had to start early to organize it, since i was local organizer and competition director. So not only dealing wt the daily schedule stuff, but also run around the island and get permissions done, wt a lot of help from Ken. The observing the whole setup, get everything printed on time and delivered. It was all on very short notice.. since the main sponsor signed the contract about 5weeks before the tour stop and we had a 2 week block off for xmas and new year.. where nobody really works.
I the end it was well worth it, first of all we had 80! competitors registered, reduced the partys to what is actually needed, and made every one feel comfortable on the spot and able to focus on kiteboarding.
The Beachfront of Aqua Boracay is definitely the best spot for the competition, the widest beach and once finished it will be a stunning background.
We started off wt the freestyle and went all the way to the single finals. Very successful first day of competition. Second day was as good as day one, races in the bag in both categories twin tip and race boards and freestyle doubles started.
We managed to make it all the way to the double finals on day3 and had the last day reserved for racing only. Lucky as we are, the wind dropped off on the last day and we could only do a few more races.
We had a nice opening party in Epic, a midweek party in Dos Mestizos and the final night was in Sands Bar and the after party in Jungle Bar... as u can guess.. we had a blast and i think no one went home sober :-)

All in all.. the best event we ever had on this island. thx to all the competitors, i hope i will see u all again next year again on my home spot and hopefully together wt Aqua Boracay again..

time for a change

2011-12-30T12:21:00.000+01:00

a year has gone, a new one s about to come.
So what can we do better in the next one? hmmm same question every year. I say let's do the same shit again because it was a good year!
Traveled the world, made new friends, lost some good friends, had a lot of time on the water, a blast on the island and a lot of good chats, beers and party's.
What else could i wish for... all i can say it's a damn good life!

So with this short notes i wish u all a very happy new year, make more love, more babies and make this world a better place wt every day of ur life, don't wast ur days u have only one life.

Photos by Alexander Baranescu

KTA goes Kings Cup Regatta

2011-12-13T09:10:00.000+01:00

For the first time in kiteboarding history, a kiteboard tour got invited to a big sailing event. We got invited to do a kiteboard exhibition during the regatta, which included the invite of 20 international riders.

First of all, we got blown away by the hotel rooms the reserved for us…. Centara Grand Phuket is a brand new hotel wt big pool area and located directly on Karon beach. I had the most comfy room since a long time, specially the big bed wt sea view.

The event started wt a nice sail pass in front of 3 big navy boats, sadly there was not enough wind for us to participate in there, but I think next time will hop on a long tail boat.
Since this was our first sailing event we didn’t fully know what will come and how it will look like. The spot on Karon beach is definitely not the ideal spot for a kite event, but at the end we did what we could and pulled off a great event.
First and second day was covered wt no wind activities such as sitting on a boat and waiting for wind and go karting for the competitors and a failed trial to start a race wt not enough wind, which ended up in a 14kite rescue action, but everyone came back to the beach.

On the 3rd day the wind started early and after setting up a windward leeward course we were able to get two races in the bag, the conditions were pretty taff but kite able and most of the riders made it out.
Since every race day was finished wt a dinner beach party and price giving of the days best, we didn’t get bored at night and had way too much delicious food and free flow wine, beer and… ahh water.
We made it a few times to Patong, the party mile of Phuket, and thx to our local guides Oh and Yo we always found our safe way home again afterwards. Just the way out of be in the morning was sometimes a bit hard, and I think I haven’t seen more than half the fleet at any skippers meeting.
The breakfast buffet in the hotel was just awesome, every day salmon, toast, thai dishes, omelets, pancake, fresh fruits, yoghurt and much more.

We got a lot of media coverage out of the first day of racing, and the interest from the sailors at the awarding dinners was good. Lot of these sailors really still had no idea what this kite boarding is all about. With this event the kite boarding and KTA made it into a lot of sailing magazines and TV broadcast. I actually just seen an add in the Air Asia inflight magazine.

For the no wind days we made up some program around the hotel, some wentto see the big buddha or go to markets and we did some amazing race in the hotel lazy river wtthe tubes.

The forecast looked very promising for the last day, so we set up early, placed the buoys and tried to Anker the start boat again… after the boat guys lost the Anker on the first day we were hoping for a better start line than motoring the whole day again. But hey, an Anker only works wt a chain on it… but we tried hard. After drifting away wt the start boat for a few times we decided to do the motoring again. Since there was only about half the fleet on the starting line, we had no problems wt the start, no tangles or protests.
So at the end of the day we had 3 more races in and called it a day to do the results and get ready for the royal awarding ceremony.
We had to go for a informal rehearsal first, before the actual ceremony started. They told all the sailors and kiteboarders how to behave when u go up to the kings representative to receive ur price and very important, no jeans, no tshirts no flip flops aloud… well well.. too late all kiters had jeans on ;-) But no one got shot or arrested for that. So all smooth sailing.

So what we’ve learned from this event is, that even on this level of sailing event, they still cook wt water, it’s not as stiff and strict wt the rules as some people think it is.
Welcome to Asia and have a nice day! ;-)

Results are online here

Sunset cruise wt the boys

2011-12-02T18:38:00.000+01:00

It has been an amazing weekend wt the boys. Good fun on the water, party hard at night and yummie dinners, spare ribs and US beef @Valhalla Resto, Bavarian night @Boracay Kiteresort and Alchemy.

To end the weekend we had a sunset cruise wt the SiriYa catamaran, beside the boys there were also most of the girls from the Susi Mai girls camp aboard, so it got pretty crowded, but we still enjoyed the sail along white beach.

Kiting wt the Pro's

2011-12-02T18:20:00.000+01:00

It looks like Boracay is climbing up on the to do list of many international riders. After we have seen a few pros last season, we started this year wt a big bang of stars.

Due to the Wind or no Wind event in CWC are a lot of big names in the Philipines, and a few used their chance to come and pay us a visit.

Aaron Hadlow, Tom Court and Sam Light chose our Boracay Kiteresort as the place to stay and I got the job to show them around.

After they came a day late due to some higher forces… they made it just in time for a good afternoon session on bulabog beach. Ones they were spotted on the water the crowed stood still and watched. It’s nice to see them in action and not only on video where they land all the tricks.

They were actually shooting some video as well the next day.. after a pretty hangover morning. They said they really like the island but would have to professional mode nexttime, otherwise the island takes it's toll.. as we all know, if u have ever visited Boracay.

Let's see when they will make it back again. Tom is coming already in 2weeks for the progression camp... so we will see some more amazing kiting on the island.