Yes! After some waiting my box-o-pleasure arrived. It is filled with new gear, including some of my new Underwave materials!
So, from now on I will be riding my new gear and accessoiries, and also my new Kondor 3’s.
Thanks Advance Kites and Underwave!
By the way, I have been riding with friends last sunday, and there was also videorecording, so I hope to announce a new movie very soon! Annie is also working on a video of me training, all new recorded materials! Stay Tuned!
I have been sponsored by Sola and Patlove for almost 2 years, but I decided to take the leap and try something new:
Underwave is a young brand in the sector to whom like water sports as a life philosophy. I am going to ride Underwave harnesses as well as wetsuits and accessoiries. Because Underwave is a new brand, I am going to promote it next to Advance Kites. The materials are made of high quality materials and the new harness is very comfortable.
I will place pictures of my new gear as soon as it arrives in the Netherlands!
Check www.underwave.info for more information about the products and company!
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
