This weekend I participated in the 4th Euro Kite Tour event, on lake Silvaplana in Switzerland.
The spot is known for it’s beautiful surroundings, but low winds. The drive was very nice, I like driving in the mountains. When we arrived, the weather was not that good (if you compare it with the 30′ and sun down the mountain) with rain, but after an hour the rain disappeared and the temp was still ok.
We went out to ride the blasting river, which ran through the camping. It was freezing cold, but very cool to do.
The next day the event started off with nice sunny weather, and…. wind! We had to wait for it, but in the afternoon it kicked in, starting at 10 knots, increasing to about 18 knots. The competition started off in light wind, so some riders had difficulties to stay upwind. My heat started in the 1/8 finals, once again against Rowinski. I already met him in competition at the KBO, so I knew some of his tricks. I had a bad start, because I crashed my kite after the 3rd trick, but after some difficult relaunching off the rocks with help of Stefan Permien I got back on track and landed some switches and all regular tricks. I advanced into the 1/4 finals, unlucky against Rondina. I tried to ride my best, but it was not running really smooth, I tried a kiteloop slim to be more powered up but Rondina was riding super strong in all directions so I had no chance. Even though it was a short competition, I had fun and am happy with my 5th place. Rondina made it to #1 once again so no shame to lose 
Day 2 was mostly without wind, but after all riders were released the wind decided to kick in once again, giving all (not drunk soccer supporting) riders the oppurtunity to have a nice evening session. The wind even increased to above 20 knots, but with thunderstorms and gusts, so I went off to be safe.
Day 3 would be the day for racing, since there was no result so far in this tourstop. We decided to leave the event site and climb the mountain instead of waiting all day, there was not enough time to finish the double eliminations anyway. We had a super nice walk of 5 hours, but very heavy aswell. We made it to 2500m, where was still snow despite the high temperatures! We made nice photo’s and then walked down again, offroad shortcut offcourse hehe. We made it down safe, and just in time to be at the prizegiving ceremony! From the mountain peak we had seen the race kites on the lake, and it turned out there was a result, the Dutchies Rolf vd Vlught and Katja Roose made it to place 2 and 1! Congrats. Katja is now tour leader, and will be tour champion of 2010 because she is too far ahead at this moment!
We packed our stuff and got back in the car for the long and warm 1100km drive home, we arrived last night at 04.00 safe and tired. Next event will be the PKRA in St. Peter Ording, Germany in 2 weeks!
Results men:
1. Alberto Rondina
2. Mario Rodwald
3. Stefan Permien
4. Christophe Tack
5. Tijn van Esch
Victor Borsuk
Eric Volpe
Stefano Martinelli
Ladies:
1. Ania Grezlinska
2. Celine Collaud
3. Nicky Rudd
4. Kathrin Borgwardt
Update 3
Unfortunately, the wind did not come. I hope there will be wind on the next tourstop!
Update 2
Still no wind here at Sylt, a lot of racing going on but just not enough wind to start the freestyle elimination. I have participated in a SUP-race, where I became 4th. Still good weather so thats not bad at all. Tomorrow we will start the skippersmeeting at 07.00, I think because Sunday looks to be completely without wind. Forecast for tomorrow looks very light, but we will see.
Live updates on the elimination ladder here!
Update 1
Yesterday I arrived at the semi-island of Sylt, Germany, after 6 hours driving and half an hour by train (with the van on it). The event looked good, with a nice and big riderslounge. We registered and then we had a drink on the parking and went to bed. This morning we had the grand opening ceremony, which was fun. So many Dutchies on this event! We waited the day out, but there was no wind at all. My ribs are still bruced from Italy, so I can use the rest time. We had a nice barbeque, and now we will go to the casino for a poker night, 10 riders against 10 beach visitors.
Last weekend I was in Italy to compete in the Open Italian championships. We arrived on friday, and after some time in the Advance office, I took the van to lake Garda. The event was small, but with a lot of riders. we had a nice sleep together with our alarm which could not be switched off hehe.
The next day the event started off at 8, so we were there to look to the skippersmeeting. I had a nice day and some good food, and then at 12 the thermal wind picked up. I had a short session to pick the right kite, and then the organisation asked Youri Zoon and me to give a demo in front of the beach. I did some tricks, and tried to ride with a lot of power. Unfortunately I crashed a backmobe on the ribs, and then a second one on the same place on the same ribs. This was a bit too much for me, so I dropped the kite and got out of the water. After some time on the beach I decided to check with the medical people if anything was broken, they decided to transport me to the hospital for Xrays.
Luckily, nothing was broken and I just have to wait for 1 week to ride again. The rest of the weekend we took it easy, spending some time in the office and in the mountains.
This weekend I competed in the 2nd tourstop of the KTE, on our biggest event of the year, KiteBoardOpen!
The weather was a bit blocked by seafog, but in the afternoon the wind picked up a bit and the sun came out. I managed to win 2 heats, of Adema and Rowinski, in very light winds. Then the wind dropped out completely, and did not come back. At least the quarterfinals were finished, so we had some kind of result.
together with 7 others I was in 1st place
This weekend I competed in the local competition/event Friends of Friestyle. This was the 2nd edition of the event. Last year I was 2nd in the pro freestyle competition, so this year my goal was to ride top 3 again.
I took off on saturday morning, arrived at the event at about 11. The wind was not present, but the sun was out and I decided to pump all of my kites for show. After some time the wind picked up a little and I went out on a sup board with my 12m Kondor. Then a photographer of the Leeuwarder Courant (newspaper of the region) took some pictures with me on the beach, I tried to do a grab on my board while taking off from the beach. The wind started to increase slowly, and I went out a couple of times and it was possible to do tricks. This was enough for the organisation to start off the competition, in a xpression session heat of 20 minutes so everybody could do their tricks in the light wind. I was reasonably powered on my 12, and was able to perform all of my tricks including kiteloop combo’s like kiteloop hp and kiteloop 360 hp. After the heat the judges decided to rerun the heat for the top 4, I was one of them. This 2nd heat was only 7 minutes, so more like a real heat. Again I had a good heat, landing all my tricks again, only the wind dropped a bit so it was not possible to do kiteloop hp’s. I had a good feeling about my heat, and ater the heat ended I stayed on the water to do some freeriding with some friends. The wind picked up and I was real powered on my 12 and tried some kiteloop slimchance’s. I did not really land any (I sunk at the landing) but the pass was clean and of some it was real close to landing it. I did landed a nice late mobe and a back to late wrapped. I also tried a frontmobe pass but totally whiped out haha. At 20.00 we had a “barbeque” indoor, with some nice food and then a party. I slept in my campervan so I had a good rest, this morning I got up at 09.00 for breakfast. We waited the day out for wind, and did some FreeLining with a small trainerkite. Then Bas, Klaas, Jelle and I had a interview with the Leeuwarder Courant, wich will be puplished tomorrow. At 13.45 the organisation held the prizegiving, and it turned out I was in 1st place!
I am happy with my result and look forward to next years Friends of Friestyle!
Results:
Pro Men:
1. Tijn van Esch
2. Bas Koole
3. Jelle Hak
Women:
1. Lisette Blankestijn
2. Thamar Jurgens
3. Suzanne Kuiper
Amateurs:
1. Steyn Muller
2. Jasper Schol
3. Joost Wagter
Final Update
I made it back home, I drove 1400km almost non-stop in 13 hours.
My final result is 5th place at this first tourstop of the Kite Tour Europe!
Day 4 was mostly about waiting around the event, but we had a nice close of the day with wakeboarding behind a waterscooter!
I went for a flat 5 but crashed it, also crashed some flat 3’s. The 4th run was succesfull, I landed my flat 5 super clean, and then some grabs. After the wake session I had some dinner, and went to the appartment of Rolf and Katja for my 1st shower :p
The party later on the evening was ok, but I did not drink too much because the skippersmeeting would be at 07.00. The top 3 of freestyle and race were presented to the crowd, and Rolf, Katja, and Alberto made a nice croudsurf of the stageI went to bed at 01.00 because the party was getting overcrowded and I was not as much in the party mood like the night before.
I skipped the skippersmeeting the next morning, because I did not think it would be any wind for the day. At 9 Christophe Tack woke me up because the wind was increasing a bit. The racers got back on the water for another match, unfortunately the wind did not pick up enough for freestyle and the event got cancelled at 14.00. I packed the car and waited for the ceremony to make some photo’s for Rolf and Katja, but then they announced the top 5 would be on stage. Unfortunately there was no time to get my board from the car so I went on stage without. Directly after the ceremony I said bye to everyone and took off to get back home. I had a nice drive, and I wasnt even that tired when I got home so I did some photo rendering and then got into bed untill 15.00 Next competition will be saturday in Stavoren, the event is called Friends Of Friestyle and last year it was a really cool event where I got 2nd place. Next EKT will be in 2 weeks in Noordwijk.
Some pics of day 3,4,5:
Day 3
I had a really good day today! No kiting but still a very good atmosphere here on the event site.
First we went to the skippersmeeting at 9.00, but they announced the race would start first. The forecast didnt look to good, so I was expecting there would not be any wind left for freestyle. Instead of kiting I did all sorts of activities like rope walking, seg-way driving, paintball shooting and I had a massage. Then I took some nice pictures because there was nice light. When we were released for the day, at 16.00, we took the car to Bratislava, Slovenia. We wanted to see the city and because it is only a 50km drive from here it was a cool (euro)trip. We took pictures of crappy buildings and people and a oldtimer car museum, and bought some cheap liquor in the supermarket for souvenirs. Then we drove back to the event to have some food. When we got back, the event was already filling with people from around the area (for the party). We went to the party and had a really good time, we felt like rockstars standing on the stage and looking over the crowd (who were not allowed to go on stage haha). So now I am recovering in a chair on the beach (day 4) and waiting for the wind :-). But I will write about today and add pics later on.
Day 2
Today was the start of the event, and it was a lot better then I expected
When I woke up I was much fitter, I slept really good. The sun was out and the forecast predicted a nice 20 degrees. We had a skippersmeeting at 9.00, and started the competition at 11.00. I was in heat 2, against Imaz. I had an okay heat, not the best ever. But it was enough, so I advanced to the next round, where I met Martinelli. This heat I was riding pretty strong, landing allmost all of my tricks. I also won that heat, so then I was in the 1/8 finals. I was against Spiessberger, and I had a shit heat crashing really hard on a KGB and kiteloop hp. I landed some tricks, those were really powered though. It was not enough to win the heat, so I ended up shared 5th place for today.
The winner for today was Rondina, 2nd place for Schitzhofer, 3rd Rodwald.
The conditions were okay, but not ideal: gusty wind (15-22 knots or something) and super high chop (to me it allmost seemed like waves haha).
Anyway, now we have to wait for the wind, the forecast does not predicts a lot, but neither for today so we dont know what is going to happen. Here are the pictures from today and yesterday:
Day 1
I just arrived in Austria after a tough 1200km drive alone. I still was a bit sick from the event in Belgium, but now I just feel very tired. I am here for the upcoming event, from thursday to sunday, and will participate in the freestyle competition. I like the fact the tourstops are around the Netherlands (and even in the Netherlands) because there is a different kind of riders than on the PKRA. The level is supposed to be high, but I will try my best to ride for podium ofcourse I already made some pics, but will upload them tomorrow. I will get some dinner and some sleep first, because I only slept about 2,5 hours last night.
Last weekend I visited Oostende in Belgium, to compete in the open freestyle competition. I left from my home on friday, after skimming the open market since it was Queensday
I arrived friday evening around 8, after spending some time in the traffic jams around Antwerpen, and we had a good chillout at Ian’s place, who was directing the comp.
Saturday was mostly about waiting for wind, it was nice that the sun came in the afternoon. After they started the youth championships (and cancelled again for low wind) the day was finished and we went out to the pita bar for some nice dinner…. yeah that was the best choice of the day! I dont know if it was something else or the extra plus sandwich I ordered, but when we got back home I became real sick and puked all over the sidewalk. So the party was not the best option for me, I went to bed really early and puked some more.
Sunday started off with a nice raincloud which was hanging directly above the event, and did not go away untill end of the morning. After the cloud, the wind changed 180degrees against the forecast and was light. The event was cancelled and I already packed all my stuff in the car. I wasnt planning on riding anyway because I was still really ill. But then it happened! The dark clouds formed on the horizon, the swell kicked in and in about half an hour there was wind in the predicted direction, increasing! My adrenaline won over my illness and I decided to re-subscribe for the expression session. I got on the water pretty late, but still managed to land some nice tricks, also a butt checked (or just crashed, whatever) double handlepass and some overpowered manouvres 
. At least not too bad for a sick person who had 3/4 of a sandwich in the whole day, and I made it 4th place! I was pretty happy with the result, considering there were 23 competitors and some good ones above me
After the prizegiving I had to drive back home, and my friend Thijs helped me out by partially driving home because I was not in the best shape to drive 380kms.
Now I am home, still feeling a little sick but it is getting better. Tomorrow I will leave for the first tourstop of the Euro Kite Tour, in Austria! I will get some extra sleep this night because I will have to drive about 1200km alone, to subscribe on wednesday afternoon. I will update when I arrived and there is internet
Results Kites on Fire Open Freestyle:
1 Steve Verelst
2 Christophe Tack
3 Bas Koole
4 Tijn van Esch
5 Thomas Dehaene
6 Bram Bast
7 Sam van Olmen
8 Thomas Declerck
9 Flor Decloedt
10 Alex Maes
Final Update
Got home this afternoon at 14.00, had a nice and long trip. I finished 3rd in the SUP contest which was helt on the last day, was good fun! The double elimination Freestyle was not finished, so my final result is 17th place. Now I will be starting my training again, and more intensive to have a nice comeback in PKRA Germany
Day 8
So, this is the final day of the PKRA France. Still haven’t missed out on any action because there has been no wind at all. If the double elimination is not finished today, I will stay at a 17th place in this event. Yesterday we had some discussions about the way of judging, a lot of riders have difficulties with the low rating on execution of tricks. The riders committee has discussed about this and will try to find a way of better judging on those points. In my case, this would have made the difference for the win in my last heat, even though I think Mario’s win was okay because in general he is a better rider than me.
So now we are hanging around, waiting for the event to end. I will get my kites from the tent and put them back inside the bus. Ready for our 1400km drive home I have had 3 sessions in total in France, but I am super motivated to train at home. I think I can become a much better rider this season, since I can do all the important tricks. I just need to power them up a bit and maybe try to do some more switch moves. Anyway, when I am home I will test out my new Advance kites and see if they can help me progress a bit faster in upcoming season. The Kappa board 130×41 is performing outstanding in all conditions so far, giving hard pop and easy landings!
My next update (with photos) will be from home, the Netherlands
Day 6
Yesterday, we had a cold day with no wind, so we just hang around the camper and celebrate Youri’s mothers birthday. Today is a much better day with sun and probably also some wind later on. The competition is on and off, riders walking to the announcementboard all day and not much riding, so I am kind of glad that I can decide for myself weather I ride or not. I dont feel like sitting around the internet cafe all day, so I dont know when I will be uploading more photos. I will try to ride later on today and shoot some more pictures
Day 4
So, today has been a very buisy day.
We had a skippersmeeting at 8, with a first possible start on 08.30. It was almost zero wind, but when we loaded the gear onto a big tractor and walked to the competition area, the wind picked up. When I finished pumping my 12, it was enough for 10, when I finished pumping my 10 I had to take out my 8. Unfortunately I was in heat 1, so I had to test out the wind. I was up against Tomas Texeira, a rider from Brasil. He turned out to be a strong rider, I did not make it to the next round (however it was a very close 2-1 decision 
)
Then I had some time to rest and eat some sandwiches, watch the other competitors and prepare for the next round. We saw som nice action, however the wind was super gusty (like 20-35 knots). Youri Zoon was fighting for the 1st place, but was beaten by Andy Yates, who did a lot of switch tricks and double passes. Kevin Langeree was riding for 3rd place against Alex Pastor, but was beaten too. So when they announced the final results, we had some extra break time and then the double eleminations started. I was (again) in heat 1, against Mario Rodwald. I had a strong heat on my 8m, with wind between 16 and 25 knots. I landed almost all my tricks, including some super powered backmobes, some nice 313 and slim and kgb and some other tricks. Mario was not riding as well as he should, but unfortunately for me the judges decided that he won the heat because of some switch trick. 3-2 decision all super close, but that is not of much use to me.
So now I am out of the event, but super motivated to ride. I will go out every day if there is wind and try to improve my riding. I still need a lot of training because I havent had much sessions this year so far
Pictures will be added later.
Day 3
Today, we had the first skippersmeeting. They posponed to 12.00, so the next announcement starts now.
I am in heat 1b, against Texeira, first possible start at 12.30.
No wind so far, maybe later
Update: Next announcement 14.00
Day 2
So today we had another session, yesterday was quite okay, but today was better. A bit less wind and less gusty, and with much better temperatures. We will look for a camping place in a few minutes, so we can take a shower At 4 oclock is the registration, so then the event finally begins!
Here are the pics of yesterday and today:
Day 1
Hi y’all, I just arrived in Leucate. We had a nice trip of 1400 km, from Heerenveen to La Franqui. It is blowing over 35 knots right now, so I will try to go on in a few minutes. Tomorrow is registration, Saturday is the first possible start.
Here are a few pics from the trip:
Friday afternoon we drove in a formation of 4 campers to Scheveningen to participate in the NK Kite 2009. This was promised to be a super good championship, because of the massive wind forecast (over 30 knots) and big names like Kevin Langeree and Youri Zoon. After finding a nice camping place friday night, we went to bed. After a few hours I received a phonecall that the police was checking campers for wild camping, so we had to leave the parking really fast! We got away in time, but 1 of our friends got a 90 euro fine for wildcamping. We slept on a other spot, further from the sea but without police checks. The next morning we drove to the beach to find a good parking, and then registered. Annie was not able to compete because of her knee injury, so she was my supporter all weekend.
The top 10 of last year was pre-seated in the elimination ladder, so my 3rd place was good enough to take it easy in the morning. Kevin, Youri and Bas Koole were not pre-seated because they had not competed in last years championships. This made the trials a nice show to watch. Right after the trials, the ladies competition started. In the first heat, the wind got turned on! Changing from south to south west and increasing from a gusty 20 to a steady 30 knots, the ladies competition got cancelled for safety reasons. There were some girls who wanted to kite, but others had 8m for smallest size and were super overpowered. This was a great oppurtunity to start the men’s event, the forecast promised increasing winds all over the day.
I got in the competition in heat 4, against Govert Brinkman. I managed to land a super overpowered backmobe and some mega loops, finishing with a railey to blind just when the red flag went up. It was enough to pass, while the wind was still increasing. After one more heat, the organisation decided to ride 2men heats in stead of 4 men, I was very happy because you need all the space there is in these conditions. My next heat was against Sven Stijn, with windspeeds of 32-38 knots, measured on the beach! Sometimes the gusts were so hard I could not hold on to my 6, fully depowered and my ass in the water! I took it easy, doing some oldschool tricks and big airs, and finally I did some megaloops to win the heat. The crowd was loving it, and I enjoyed the heat so much I was even waving to the crowd from around 10m high. I had some time to chill, and I had a warm soup with my parents and sister who came to look at the competition. In the mean time, Kevin Langeree did some of the highest jumps I have ever seen, easily reaching line length heights! When he did a super high kiteloop, Ruben Lenten could not hold it any longer and pumped his kite too, to show the massive crowd (over 500 people I think) how a real Len10 loop looks like!
In heat 3, I was up against Youri Zoon.. Shit. I did my best to unhook (the only way I could ever win this heat) but it was too much and too gusty. The waves were building, some around 2m and this made it super difficult to do tricks. So instead I did some high loops and jumps and a railey, but Youri managed to land a blind judge, flat 3 and Sbend next to his kiteloops too. Really impressive, the wind was around 45-50 knots in the gusts! So when the heat was over, I knew I had lost so I went upwind outside of the competition area and did a megaloop 360 to please the crowd 
I packed my kites and we watched the finals, obviously it was Kevin vs Youri, both doing unhooked tricks in insane windspeeds! After the day winner announce, Kevin Langeree, we had free pizza in the riders tent. I went to bed early to be fit for the double eliminations!
The next day, the ladies comp started at 9.00, so I had to wait untill about 13.00 to start my heat. Jalou Langeree won the single eliminations easy, it was fun to watch my homespot kitefriends in the competition. I was curious who would end up in my heat, it turned out to be last years champion Klaas Adema! He is a local on my home spot too, so it was a nice heat. I was out on my 10, and did a blind judge, backmobe, kgb, 1 footer and 313-toeside and indy. It was enough to win the heat!
Next round I was up against Johan Spelt, who used to ride pkra, currently not active in competition. I did a slimchance, huge 313, frontmobe, indyglide, backmobe, 1 footer transition and blind judge and sbend-blind judge3 combo to win the heat. Next I was up against Jerrie vd Kop, who was 4th on last NK Kite and also several 1st places in the German Trophy in Juniors. We had a super technical heat, both riding to the max. I opened with a buttchecked backmobe, big 313 toeside with my kite going straight down, frontmobe, big kgb, s-bendpass, clean powered backmobe, high airpass, boardoff, indyglide, 1 footer, another frontmobe (supposed to be to blind but landed heelside) and blind judge 3. This was enough to win on variation and technical difficulty, but it was a close heat! Next I was up against also spot-friend Bas Koole, and I was super happy to ride against him for the 4th place! I opened with a backmobe, blind judge and powered slimchance, then I did a boardoff but lost my board. Then I did a 313 but I crashed. Then I did a 1footer 360, but I landed in a collapsing wave, which took me for a ride My leash got around my bar and my kite started looping like crazy. When it finally hit the water, I got tossed into my lines by another wave and got all tangled up. Lucky for me, some guys ran downwind and helped me restart and untangle my kite, and another guy gave me my board (which was really close somehow!) I got back upwind, and did a double sbend, which was supposed to be a frontmobe, then I tried to get out for a 313 but the time was up. I lost my heat, so I ended up 5th place.
Bas had to take on Rolf vd Vlught, who is actually not training for freestyle but speedkiting. Bas had a convincing win, and had to take on Youri Zoon. Bas put up a good fight doing regular and switch tricks, but Youri was much stronger, finishing it off with a kiteloop 7!
In the finals, Kevin showed to be the weekend ruler, winning the heat over Youri with more tricks and higher difficulty level including a mobe 7 and kiteloop NIS.
Overall, I am happy with the result and super happy about the event. I have never seen an national event with this super insane windspeeds, crowds, media and good riders!
My goal for next year is to end up top 3, I am super motivated to train for new tricks and more power!
Final results men:
1. Kevin Langeree
2. Youri Zoon
3. Bas Koole
4. Rolf vd Vlugt
5. Tijn van Esch
6. Jerrie vd Kop
Final results ladies:
1. Jalou Langeree
2. Esther Oud
3. Judith Roetman
4. Lisette Blankestijn
5. Marije den Breems
6. Jitske Hendriks
Monday
08.30
Advance Kites invited me to the E-Vento event on Sardinia, which takes place from 18 to 20 September. I found a nice cheap flight from Belgium directly to Sardinia, where I will stay with Gianluca Marcis until the event starts. Luca is an Advance Teamrider too, he won several waveriding and racing competitions. I hope to learn some waveriding from him, when there is wind and waves.
I am leaving from Amersfoort, the Netherlands to Charleroi, the small Airfield south of Brussels. My dad was so kind to offer me a lift to Belgium, an offer you can’t refuse! So we drove off at 08.30, planning to arrive at 11.30. My flight leaves at 13.45, gate closes at 13.15.
The thing is, Belgian people don’t know how to make road signs, so when we were about 20km from the airfield, we had no clue where to drive. It was kind of stressfull not to know where the airport is, with only a short amount of spare time. When we found the signs (they are so small you cant see them until you pass them) we found our way to the airport, luckily and arrived at 12.45. Perfect timing, my dad dropped me off at the gate and I checked in. No overweight (yeah) because I did not bring many things. I packed my 8 and 12, shorty and harness, some boardshorts and tshirts (it is supposed to be nice and warm there). I left my board at home, because I can take one of the Advance Crew I am going to meet on Sardinia!
14.30
Flying somewhere above Europe, I have a nice seat with loads of footspace. As always, I hope to find my bag with kites on the other end. No free food or beverages on this plane , so I plan on being hungry until I can have some real Italian pasta. I think I will watch a movie now, and then learn some Italian from my pocketbook.
15.30
Flying over Corsica right now, looks very nice. I can also see whites on the sea, so maybe there is wind at Sardinia too. I bought a Pepsi, 1,80 for 150ml… there goes my savings hehe.
18.00
I am now at Luca Marcis’ house, he is trying to fix the window blinds in a really dangerous way
No wind here at Sardinia, hopefully tomorrow. Will update later on!
Tuesday
11.00
Just went out for a nice cappuccino, Italian style. The weather has changed, it is now nice warm and sunny. We are expecting the thermic to kick in this afternoon, so probably some kite action today :-).
21.00
Just finished packing the van, we had a good session today. The water is nice and warm, and the wind was a bit gusty but okay for 8m. I rode the Kappa L, which is more wide and long than my own Omega Wake, it took me a while to get used to it. After I mastered the board, the landings were easy. It is great to see so many Advance Kites in one place! Now we go out to eat, I am kind of starving because we Dutchies are used to eating at 18.00 hehe. No pictures from today, while I have been on the water the whole time. Tomorrow morning we drive to San Teodoro in the north, to prepare for the event and make some photos of the new material.
Wednesday
19.00
This morning we drove to the event in San Teodoro, which was about 3 hours from Cagliari. Advance Kites boss Alessandro showed us our new home, a beautiful apartment right on the beach! We filled the apartment with kites and boards, all nicely displayed in the living room. Because there was no wind, we surfed instead. First I went out on a Advance wave board, but it was a bit too small for me to ride. Then I got out on the SUP board, and finally rode 1 wave yeah. We have a whole bunch of new 2010 Kaiman’s here, and it is told to be even better than the last version! If there is wind tomorrow, we will go out and give them a good test! Also the new Kappa board will arrive tomorrow, looking forward to riding it. More updates tomorrow!
Thursday
20.00
Today we started building the stand on the event site. A lot of other Advance related people joined, including Yuri from the Advance office and Arthur Catalani, Italian freestyle rider. After carrying about 20 new Kaimans to the stand, we went out for a kite session. The wind was offshore, and decreasing and gusty to about 15 knots. I was out on the new Kaiman 10m, which proved to be suitable for wakestyle tricks. We had a small photoshoot, and I was able to ride without a wetsuit :-).
When the wind dropped out completely, and we had a nice lunch. After lunch the wind turned to side-onshore, and increased to about 18 knots. I went out on the 10m Kondor3, and Arthur and I had again a photoshoot. This time with good result, we have some really nice pictures with stylish moves, blue sky and clear water. Heaven for a Dutch brown-water rider like myself! We were also testing the new Underwave Sultan harness, which will be in production soon. So far, the harness did good, we had no rash on the hips after a few hours of kiting. Underwave is becoming a very complete company with a diverse line of products, from dry/wetsuits and harnesses to t-shirts, bathrobes and footstraps.
Now we are about to go out to dinner, and then to the opening party of the event, which will take place somewhere in the city.
Friday
23.00
Wow, no wind today whatsoever… We spent the day brainstorming about possible improvements on the Kondor, tomorrow we will decide about it in a riders meeting. It was very interesting to talk to Carlo, who is the head of the Advance R&D.
In the afternoon, the new Kappa board arrived. I love it, the graphics are cool and it will be available in 3 super sizes: M- 131×40, L- 130×41 and XL- 132×42. I hope to ride the L very soon, what a perfect size! I have made some pictures of it, as seen below. Tomorrow hopefully some wind, but there will be no competition for me because there are too few international riders (only Mario Rodwald and I).
Monday
Saturday we had the ridersmeeting, which was very nice to whitness. I never seen a brand that works this close with the riders, because we discussed all possible improvements on the kite. I hope to be testing a prototype soon, because the goal will be to make the perfect freestyle kite. After the dinner we went to a party, which I really enjoyed. It was a super nice setting, with good food and a pool with colored lights. After we went to the local dancing, which was fun too.
Sunday we went out for some more kiting, and there was a guy from the organisation of the event filming. I think there is some nice footage! After a while the wind dropped out, so we stopped kiting and started to pack the stand. We left the nice beach house and drove to the harbour to go to Italy by ferry. I was a bit sad to leave because I have met a lot of super friendly people, which I will definitely want to visit again!
On the ferry we had a nice dinner, and then we went to “bed” in the cabin. (I slept on the floor because I was not planned to travel back on the boat hehehe.
I have left the island with an new sponsor, Arbeke. Arbeke is a clothing brand from Sardinia, which focusses on powerfull riders in all sorts of extreme sports. I hope that my bag is not overweight because of the new clothes For more info on Arbeke, visit the website!
Now I am in the headquarter, looking at all the new stuff, and I had a tour around the place too. Tomorrow morning I will fly home, so I won’t be making any other updates in the meantime. I will receive some photos of kite action, which I will put in here when I get them. I have had a great time visiting Italy and will definitely come back soon!
