PKRA Update 2 Comments Off

Day 4
Becouse the heats would be continued from the aborted heat, I was in the 2nd heat of the day. I went out on the water on my 8m, and tried it out a bit. I wanted to test the pull, so I decided to make some unhooked kiteloop, but the power felt so good I made it an KL blind judge and landed it clean! I was super stoked, because this was the first time I landed it, so I tried another one which I also landed. I was pretty confident when the heat started, I knew Petr would kick my ass, but hey, whats the fun without some challenge? My heat did not go as well as I hoped, I crashed almost everything. I opened with a big kiteloop tailgrab, and than I tried all sorts of powered tricks, like Hasselhoff, KGB, Mobe5 and Slim to toeside, but I butt-checked and crashed. It kind of stressed me out, becouse I knew I could do better. I butt checked a L3 (kiteloop latemobe) and then I went for the KL blind judge which I crashed almost on the beach. So when I came off the water I was sure Petr won, becouse I saw him land his tricks. I was right, I was out of the competition and Petr advanced to round 2. I had some food and drinks, and then I went out to ride some more. The wind dropped in the end of the day, and it was not so much fun to ride anymore. We watched the mens and ladys final, and then we went back to the appartment. Better luck next time!

Day 5
The forecast looked good for today, so everyone was pumping their kites  as soon as they got to the beach. I decided to only pump my 8, becouse the wind was stronger than yesterday (when I was well powered). I had some food, and watched some heats. I was up for heat 4, so when heat 3 started I went out for some practising. The wind was really nice, more power than yesterday and also more stable. I was up against Nils Wesch, a little ripper from Germany. When the heat started, I tried to build up my heat more than the day before. I did a blind judge right in front of the judges tower, and then I went for the mobe 5. I crashed it again, and I was really pissed off with myself. I tried to calm down, and pick up the tricks again. I did a hasselhoff which I landed and then I fell off my board because I ran out off water. I went back out to do a slim, but I was not powered enough. I did some high kiteloops, and some of them I crashed on the beach (the crowd loves it) so I tried to land at least some things. I went for the easyer stuff, like sbends and grabs. I also did a funny 1 foot transition, but again I ran out of water. In the final minute I went for the KL Blind Judge, but I was way too powered and I did not pass the bar. When I got of the water, I was not too sure about my heat. Nils did some high handle passes, but he also crashed a lot. When I went to the noticeboard I heared the jury s decision: 1,2,1,2. I was super happy, becouse my name was at place 1.
I advanced to the next round, and I was up against Stefan Permien, also a German rider. I saw him ride yesterday, and he also rocks like crazy. I knew I had to land all of my tricks to get a chance to beat him. The only problem was that my knee was aching a bit, and that means in my case that I am on the edge. When I went out for my heat, I thought of it a lot, but I did not wanted to hold back so I went for it. It was kind of the same heat as before, only I landed a bit more/better. I went for a slim chance, but when I passed the bar I had a lot of air left, so I landed toeside. I was super happy and then a wave tackled my board and I crashed, so I dont think the jury counted it haha. I did also a powered grabbed KGB, but I bounced off the board at the landing.  Permien was doing all sorts of mobes and passes, including a frontmobe pass, so I did not stand a chance.. When the green flag went down, I did 1 high kiteloop backroll, and then I went for the KL Blind Judge again. I passed the bar easy, and landed on my board. Sadly there was not so much water underneath it, so I crashed and had some extra pain in my knee. I went off the water, and my knee hurted like crazy. I congratulated Permien, and then I got out of my suit. I could barely stand on my right leg, so I was a bit scared that I messed up my knee! I could move it though, so I dont think anything ripped or broke. The rest of the day I watched some heats, and after eating some we decided to check out a lagoon some km’s south. We packed the car and checked it out, but the first lagoon we found was too shallow, so we drove a bit further to check out another lagoon. We drove on the beach, but another car told us to leave the beach, it was not allowed. We drove back to the PKRA site, and there Annie, Bas and Steve went for a session. I stayed on the beach, however my knee was not hurting as much as before. I hope that if I have some rest I can go out again tomorrow. After an hour or so we drove back to the appartment, for some dinner! Tonight it is party time, because all kiters are done freestyling (so you dont have to worry about the hang-over ;-)).
So my PKRA adventure is over for this year, I think the 17th place is okay in this big competition field, and it is better than my 25th place last year on Fuerteventura. Maybe we do some filming tomorrow, when it is not raining! I will do some updates with photos later.

PKRA Update 1 Comments Off

Day 1:
Our camper is still broken, so we decided to buy a cheap car to drive to St. Peter Ording. We looked on a 2nd hand website and there we found a nice ceap VW Polo Coupe from 1990. Annie and I packed it to the roof and drove off at about 12.00, together with Bas Koole (NL) and Steve Verelst (BE). The little thing got even up to 165km/h on the Autobahn, so we were pretty pleased with the buy :-). After some heavy rain, huge trafficjams and some Long Chickens we arrived on the beach at about 19.00. We registered and dropped our kites, got our appartment key and looked around on the event site. After some time we drove to our appartment and we setteled down with a nice movie. Time for some sleep to be fit tomorrow.

Day 2:
The first day of the event! The list with riders seems kind of long, so there has to be a qualification for the main event. The weather was bad; cold and rainy. After some time the weather got better, and the wind picked up. The qualifiers started and I was in heat 5. We had to ride with 4 in a heat, and the best 2 would go directly to the main event. If you became 3rd or 4th, 4 riders would have a 2nd chance in the “doubles”.
My heat started off pretty good, I was riding my 10 and it was my first time back on the water since 3 weeks. I was not too powered, but it was okay. I landed a backmobe clean and a slim chance on the leash. But then the wind started to drop, I could barely go upwind. I managed to do a 2nd backmobe, some airpassed back to blinds which I crashed and a blind judge on a wave. I was not happy with the heat, so I thought I had to try again in the doubles. Luckily the announcer said I advanced to the main event directly, I became 2nd in the heat! Steve Verelst was also in my heat, and he became 1st. Bas and my Advance teammate Stefano Masselli also advanced to the main event, as well as some other Dutchies and Belgians. We were pretty pleased, and after a short session we went back to the appartment. We also bought boots, so we could walk around on the submerged eventsite!
We had some beers and food and after a nice movie we all crashed and fell asleep.

Day 3:
We got up at about 8.00, and went to the event site for the skippersmeeting. We were way too early, the skippersmeeting was at 10. We had some food and waited for the skippersmeeting. The weather was better, and there was even some wind. We waited, the first possible start would be 11.45 for course racing. The draw for the first heats was made, and I will be in heat 7, up against Petr Tyushkevich. At about 12.00 we got into our wetsuits and had a short (underpowered) session in the shallow water on the beach. There was a big crowd standing by it, making photos and videos. After half an hour the wind dropped completely and I got my clothes back on. We walked around on the crowded event site and looked around a bit. This is really a big event, with a lot of things to do. There is also a halfpipe, but I havent been on it yet. Maybe if I’m finished competing, so it wont matter if I break my arm dropping in hehe… We waited untill 17.00 and then we left. No freestyle today, maybe tomorrow. We packed up and drove back “home”. So now we are waiting for our pizza’s in the appartment, and I will post this text in some hours when we drive to our free wireless spot. More updates tomorrow, I will bring my laptop to the beach so I can update on the event. 

So now we are in front of some hotel, packed together in a car with 4 laptops hehe.

Article Kitesurf Magazine no.5 2007 Comments Off

This article was written because of a mega kiteloop movie that got on the internet. The articlewriter gave me the nickname Turbo Tijn because of the power Click for big!

New site; updates on their way! Comments Off

Welcome on the brand new international TijnvanEsch.com website! I am currently working on layout and content, so the site will form in the following weeks. In time this new site will contain new movies and photos, reports and all sorts of news on my kiteboarding carreer, for starters the upcoming PKRA Germany event which takes place from Saturday the 23rd untill the 31th of August in St. Peter Ording, Germany!

Stay tuned, and Ride Different