Kitesoul Magazine #7 English Edition

EVENTS Tarifa Strapless Kitesurfing Pro 2015 ITW Pete Cabrinha

CAMP

Keros For All The first camp for disabled riders

DAR E T O DIVERS IFY THE NEW DI C E

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FR E E STY L E/WAV E

RE LAT E D P R O D U C TS

JA I ME

WAM

PROGRESSION Q

S I Z E S 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13

Quality commitment in every detail.

WWW.NORTHKITEBOARDING.COM

Editor Roberta Pala roberta.pala@kitesoul.com Wave Thecnique Editor Mitu Monteiro Freestyle Thecnique Editor Alberto Rondina Thecnical Expert Renato Casati Photo & Video Maurizio Cinti Design Giuseppe Esposito

AUGUST 2015 - SEPTEMBER 2015 TWO-MONTHLY

Texts Philipp Becker, Alex Caizerques, Colleen Carroll, Airton Cozzolino, Jaime Herraiz, Nicolas Lanquetin, Matchu Lopes Almeida, Makis Kalaras, Ian MacKinnon, Christophe Martin, Sam Medysky, Mitu Monteiro, Alberto Rondina, Sean Rose, Michael Stevens, Reo Stevens, Christopher Stewart, Matt Thola, Annabel van Westerop Photos Billy Ackerman, Toby Bromwich, Owen Buggy, Alex Caizerques, Oscar Carrascosa, Giuseppe Esposito, Craig Kolesky/Red Bull Media House, Quincy Dein, Nicolas Economou, Evi Fragolia, Mark Harpur, Daniel Kajavala, Bas Koole, Lance Koudele, Rick Jensen, Clark Merritt, photofiore.com, Axel Reese/ Reemedia, Svetlana Romantsova, Nate Scheu, Jarno Schurgers,/Red Bull Media House, Charlie Smith, Reinout Smit, Ydwer van der Heide / Red Bull Media House Cover: Rider: Sam Medysky Photo: Toby Bromwich Publisher and advertising VISU Media Via Cavour, 20 24030 Ambivere (BG)

FEDERICO SUGONI Publisher

ROBERTA PALA Editor

He’s a manager and a businessman.

He fell in love with kiteboarding almost 10 years ago in the wild and amazing North Shore of Oahu (Hawaii). Aside from kiteboarding there is only one other important thing in his life: his baby daughter.

He’s responsible for the 2014 launching of KiteSoul Magazine.

Sports photographer since 1997, kiteboarder since 2001, she has worked for the most exponential kite magazines for the last 15 years.

A free and wild soul, she has left the luxuries of town living for a life in contact with nature: a sea and wave lover.

Nowadays you can find her on the shores of Capo Mannu, Sardinia, one of the most beautiful spots of the Mediterranean Sea.

MAURIZIO CINTI Film-maker

GIUSEPPE ESPOSITO Art director

Amministratore Unico Federico Sugoni fs@kitesoul.com Registration Tribunale di Bergamo n°10/2014 del 15/04/2014.

Periodicità bimestrale Copyright Kitesoul Magazine All content is copyright of Kitesoul Magazine / Visu Media Srl.

Movie buff and keen photographer. He’s a skater, snowboarder and wakeboarder, but he actually burns with passion for kiteboarding. He started off with freestyle a few years ago, but nowadays he’s more into chasing big and powerful waves. This is what he loves the most.

Kiter since he was in the baby pram, he is a rider for RRD Italia and he have a Bachelor in Comunciation Design at Politecnico di Milano.

With this assignment, he finally has been able to put together his two passions: kite and design.

KITESOUL MAGAZINE Feel The Flow

MITU MONTEIRO Technical Editor-Wave Riding

ALBERTO RONDINA Technical Editor-Freestyle

RENATO “DR. KITE” CASATI Technical Expert

He comes from Sal. Official F-one and Manera rider.

2008 KPWT World Champion and three-time Vice World Champion. He started to surf and windsurf as a kid and but he definitively fell in love with kitesurf as soon as he discovered it.

He’s the best Italian rider of the competitive kiting world.

Cabrinha, Neil Pryde and GoPro official team rider and four-time Italian Champion. Alberto has won the 2001 edition of the European Championship and third place in the 2012 PKRA World Championship.

RRD Wave team rider. Kiteboarder since 2000, he has been PKRA athlete and judge.

He’s a professional sportswriter for several technical magazines. He lives between Como Lake and Sardinia, but he spends every winter in the waves of Cabo-Verde.

ELENA FOICO Professional translator Professional translator and Kiteboarder since 2001.

In 2004 she decided to leave her career in the UK to teach kitesurfing full time. Throughout the years she has translated several kitesurfing manuals, teaching aids and articles. Born in the mountains but passionate about the sea, she has found the perfect tool to have fun pretty much everywhere!

EDITORIAL T

his is a hot burning summer with a large

behind technology, blades who slides quitely and

number of worldwide events, whitch ca-

high speeds...

mes one after each other; this means a

Last but not least cames the newcomer Tarifa

lot of material for the medias, and, most of all, a

Strapless Kitesurfing Pro, a real strapless unma-

huge interest on our amazing sport.

tchable party, who takes place in the most cho-

This interest’s peak comes through a bunch of

sed home spot from the world’s best freestylers.

amazing competitions, who makes the audience

A huge worldwide success, maybe beyond orga-

stoked in front of an incredible numbers of al-

nizer’s expectations, an event who takes his pla-

most impossible moves, performed at high he-

ce in the small group of the world’s best compe-

ghts from the world’s best athletes.

titions; a date to remeber in your 2016 schedule!

We gave a lot of space to this event on this issue,

But in the deepest corner of my hearth there’s a

someone who mades the histoty of this sport,

special event: the Keros for All.

some other who will make it in the next years.

It takes place on the nice Greek island of Limnos

The Triple-S remains the world’s most important

and hosts 11 partecipants, 7 of them with a phi-

freestyle event, a very technical competition, for

sical disability. For a week we have learned a lot

skilled riders focused on park style.

one from each other, trying to understand how

Our friend Sam Medysky, at his best on our cover,

apply teaching of kitesurfing on every kind of di-

has wrote for us an amazing event report from

sabilityes. Having fun trought kite, cat, snorkling,

the inside.

kajak and SUP.

During our interview, the 20yo Lasse Walker, win-

During this amazing reading, maybe on your

ner of the Dutch stormy Red Bull Megaloop Chal-

tablet, tanks to our new App, we’re still working

lenge, talked us about his secrets to win this kind

for you on a unseen 20 kites big air comparative

of extreme competition, a mix of crezyness and

test, together with our friends from WOOsports.

tecniquhe in the wildness North Sea conditions.

Because everybody of us need to focus on a tar-

Gizzeria, in Italy, has hosted two extraordinary

get, but we should never forget that the most im-

events: the Formula Kite World Championship, an

portant one is to reach the happiness we feel

exciting race with epic battles and thight nervs,

inside when our souls merges with a kite…..

and the Foil Gold Cup, a new hope, the future Roberta Pala | Federico Sugoni

Rider & Photo: Reo Stevens

SUMMARY

Portfolio

Events & Itw:

Red Bull Megaloop Challenge Lasse Walker

Events:

Handikite:

10 YEARS! Venyu Triple S Invitatinal

Keros For All Limnos Greece the first camp for disabled riders

Events:

Trips & Photoshoot:

Formula Kite World Championships & KiteFoil GoldCup - Italy – Hang Loose Beach – Gizzeria

Events:

Airton Cozzolino wins Tarifa Strapless Pro 2015

Venezuela

Camp:

Baja California F-One America Clinic

SUMMARY

Itw:

Pete Cabrinha

Strapless moves: Jibe and Tack

Strapless:

Strapless Flat 3

Trips:

Saba Rock - BVI

Tips:

How to wrap up 4-lines bar

Itw:

Areil Corniel in Maui

Freestyle moves:

Indy grab Back to Blind Indy grab Kgb

12 PORTFOLIO

Abel Lago

RIDER:Abel Lago PHOTO: Svetlana Romantsova

14 PORTFOLIO

Craig Cunningham

RIDER: Caig Cunningham PHOTO: Rick Jensen

16 PORTFOLIO

Marc Jacobs

RIDER: Marc Jacobs PHOTO: Daniel Kajavala

18 PORTFOLIO

Noè Font

RIDER: Noè Font PHOTO: Reinout Smit

20 PORTFOLIO

Niccolò Porcella

RIDER: Niccolò Porcella PHOTO: Quincy Dein

22 NEWS

VKWC events 2015 Fuerteventura, Spain: 02. – 08.08.2015 St. Peter-Ording, Germany: 21. – 30.08.2015 TBC Brazil Kitesurf World Championships 2015 *Planned in September, Brazil, 1 to 30 set TBC Argentina Kitesurf World Championships 2015 *Planned in October, Argentina, 1 to 31 ott, TBC Hainan Kitesurf World Championships 2015 *Planned in November, China, 1 to 30 nov TBC Cape Town Kitesurf World Championships 2015, *Planned in December, South Africa, 1 to 31 dic

24

EVENTS 10 years! Venyu Triple S Invitational

VENYU TRIPLE S INVITATIONAL

10 YEARS!

Organized by REAL Watersports, the Triple-S Invitational has been around for 10 years and has grown to be one of the largest kiteboarding events in the world. It’s one of the only events featuring park style riding. Our sport of kiteboarding is so diverse and park riding with rails and kickers is just one of the growing aspects in kiteboarding. The REAL Slider Park in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, USA, has always been the epicenter of progressive wake style and park riding. Since the beginning, REAL and their team have been building features and been making noise in the kiteboarding world. In the early 2000’s, REAL started an unofficial event — the Glass Masters, which later turned into the Triple-S Invitational in 2006.

Triple S stands for “Surf, Slicks and Sliders” — basically all the best aspects of Cape Hatteras and what the location has to offer for the kiteboarding enthusiast. The event started out small with just a few friends getting together, building features together and having a jam on the water. The event has grown organically as REAL Watersports and the sport of kiteboarding has evolved. The Venyu Triple-S Invitational has now become the pinnacle of wakestyle, and attracts attention worldwide.

text Sam Medysky | Photo Toby Bromwich, Lance Koudele

B R A N D ON SCHE I D

EVENTS 10 years! Venyu Triple S Invitational

BILLY PARKER

26

An Epic Setup It takes a few key elements in order to pull off an event such as the Venyu Triple-S: location, organization and people.

The Outer Banks (Cape Hatteras) is basically a sandbar in the middle of the ocean. It’s a small sand peninsula off the coast of North Carolina spanning 200 miles. Hatteras receives wind nearly everyday and can work on pretty well every wind direction. Hatteras being an island attached by bridges is easy to get to and also provides some ideal kiteboarding conditions. On the ocean side you have world class waves and on the sound side you have amazing flat water slicks.

The small grass islands on the sound side provide the protection from the wind and chop leaving the water buttery smooth.

Kiteboarding in Hatteras wouldn’t be the same without REAL Watersports. REAL was founded in 2001 by co-founders Matt Nuzzo and Trip Forman.

It started out as a small operation with two spots, one located in village of “Waves” and the other

EVENTS 10 years! Venyu Triple S Invitational

MA N U E LA JU N GO

28

E R I K R E I N E STA located in Buxton. After a few years the partners decided to focus their efforts on one location. They choose Waves, which is located slightly further north on the island and offers one of the best flatwater spots on the island. The REAL Slick is located in the backyard of REAL Watersports and is the ideal spot for a park setup.

The event wouldn’t happen without REAL. Over the years, they have grown the event to what it is today. What started out as a jam with friends in their backyard is now a world-class event with $40,000 on the line. REAL is also the world’s largest kite school and shop with all the amenities to go with it. There is a massive two-story store, lesson center, condominiums, 20 Seadoos for lessons, and Waterman’s Bar & Grill. With these resources it makes for the best spot to run an event. Over the years they have sunk tens of

30

EVENTS 10 years! Venyu Triple S Invitational

"WHAT STARTED OUT AS A JAM WITH FRIENDS IN THEIR BACK YARD IS NOW A WORLD CLASS EVENT WITH $40 000 ON THE LINE”

and can now safely say they have the best kite park in the world.

The event wouldn’t happen without all the people involved. From the ground up you have all the staff at REAL to take care of the logistics and organization: Brian Wheeler and the Worrall brothers for judging, and the riders, the veterans and legends that pioneered the event like Jason Sleazak, Andre Philip, Joby Cook and Davey Blair.

Now the rest of the riders come from around the world to showcase their style of riding on the world’s best features.

A 10-Year Celebration The 2015 Triple S was bigger than ever. It was the event’s 10th anniversary and they decided to bring the event back to its roots for this year and have just a slider event. $40,000 was getting divided up over the top 5 men and top 3 women.

There was more money on the line than ever before. Like every year, the event took place the first week of June at REAL Watersports on Cape Hatteras island. There were 35 men and 12 women invited to the event with room for one Video Wildcard Winner in the men’s and 1 in the women’s. The wild card format is a video submission. Riders put

SA M LI GHT

thousands of dollars into the REAL Slider Park,

32

EVENTS 10 years! Venyu Triple S Invitational

together a showcase of their best park riding and submitted their two-minute video for a panel of judges to vote on. This year it was Oliver Panni for the men and Manual Jungo for the women who earned the spot in the event through the Video Wildcard submission program.

There was also the last-chance qualifier event, The Venyu Triple-S Open, the day before the Invitational, which would guarantee one last male and female a spot into the event. It’s a judged event which takes 1 male and 1 female into the main event. This year the Venyu Open was more stacked than ever with riders from all around the world as far away as Australia and Spain to compete in an attempt to make it into the Venyu Triple-S main event.

Unfortunately, mother nature didn’t cooperate

SA M ME DYSKY "iT WAS 1 WEEK LONG OF PARK RIDER WITH SOME GOOD FRIENDS AND THE WORLD’S BEST IN WAKE STYLE AND PARK RIDING”

34

EVENTS 10 years! Venyu Triple S Invitational

SE N SI GR AV E S

COLLE E N CA R R OL

for this year’s Open and over the course of the 2 days there was no wind to run with kites. Instead the Open was held behind Seadoos. Riders had the opportunity to showcase their stuff on the 3 rails and 2 kickers behind the Seadoos. It was a tight final with young gun Noe Font putting in a solid performance and America’s Brandon Bowe stopping some 5’s off the kicker. It wasn’t until the opening night that we found out which riders made it into the main event from the Venyu Triple-S Open. For the men it was Brandon Bowe and for the women it was Katie Potter all the way from Australia. With the opening night and the announcement of the Open winners, the 2015 Venyu Triple-S was ready to set sail.

The Main Event It was one week long of park riding, with some good friends and the world’s best in wake style and park riding. You can normally count on wind in Hatteras. It’s like clockwork most of the time. This year though there was a disturbance with the Bermuda high which caused a lot of light winds over the island. It wasn’t until the final day that the wind finally came. It was the Friday and the winds kicked in from the North enough that we were able to run the event on the back

36

EVENTS 10 years! Venyu Triple S Invitational

side of the REAL Slick. The winds were fairly light with most of the riders on everything from 12 to 15m kites. They divided the riders in half creating two heats. Then they divided the park into three sections. The first section consisted of the North Rooftop Rail and the KOA Kicker. The second section consisted of the Best Super Kicker and the Liquid Force Reverse Rainbow Rail. Last but not least, the third section, stood the John Wayne Cancer Foundation A-frame Rail.

As we cycled through the first section, there were some hammers coming off the KOA kicker. Tack hit a heelside frontside 720, Sam with a grabbed back 540 and Aaron and Brandon with some clean Moby dicks. It was on to the second section of the course and again the Best kicker was a sight

E WA N JASPA N

38

EVENTS 10 years! Venyu Triple S Invitational

for the spectator. Again some hammers went off the kicker with Rich Sabo landing his first-ever heelside frontside 720, Sam with a toeside backside 720 and several others. I managed a tootsie roll [toeside front roll, backside 180], which I was pretty amped on. Last but not least it was the John Wayne: An A-frame, one of the tougher features to hit because of its shear size and len-

CH RIS BOBRYK

gth. With the wind shifting around, some riders

"SAM LIGHT TH AGED TO HIT A G TH

SA M LI GHT

HE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND MANGAP BACK 3 AND GAP BACK 450 OVER HE FLAT OF THE A FRAME”

weren’t able to get full pulls, and were coming off

much wind that week we were still able to pull off

early. Some riders used this to their advantage

the event and get some solid results. Once again

and busted the up portion of the rail like a kicker

taking the Venyu Triple-S Invitational by storm

and did some passes off. Sam Light the man, the

were the UK’s Sam Light, winning for the third

myth, the legend managed to hit a gap backside

year straight, and America’s Colleen Carroll, who

360 and gap backside 450 over the flat of the A

won for the fourth year straight — more than any

frame, waxing the entire rail. No doubt, Sam Light

other rider in Triple-S’s 10-year history.

had the highest score on that feature.

The riding was done for the week and after wai-

Every year the Triple S gets bigger and better. I

ting seven days for wind everyone was ready to

couldn’t tell you what’s next for the event but I

kick back and enjoy some drinks together. It just

know all the riders, myself included, always look

so happened that the closing day/night of the

forward to heading back to that sandbar in the

event fell on my 25th birthday so I was especial-

middle of the ocean for some action at REAL Wa-

ly excited to have some drinks with friends from

tersports and the best kite park in the world.

around the world. We headed to REAL that night for the closing ceremony and party. The “Dub Plates” played that night and everyone was in an ire mood I would say. Even though we didn’t have

40 EVENTS 10 years! Venyu Triple S Invitational

CONGRATULATIONS TO MEN’S CH WOMEN’S CHAMPION COLLEEN C

HAMPION SAM LIGHT AND CARROLL!

42

EVENTS 10 years! Venyu Triple S Invitational

"EVERY YEAR THE TRIPLE S GETS BIGGER AND BETTER. I COULDN’T TELL YOU WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE EVENT BUT I KNOW ALL THE RIDERS MYSELF INCLUDED ALWAYS LOOK FORWARD TO HEADING BACK TO THAT SANDBAR”

CHR I STOPHE TACK

RESULTS FOR THE 2015 VENYU TRIPLE-S INVITATIONAL: Men’s 1 - ($12,000) – Sam Light UK 2 - ($7,500) – Billy Parker USA 3 - ($5,000) – Brandon Scheid USA 4 - ($3,000) – James Boulding UK 5 - ($2,000) – Christophe Tack BEL Women’s 1 - ($4,000) – Colleen Carrolll USA 2 - ($2,500) – Sensi Graves USA 3 - ($1,000) – Victoria Soloveykina RUS Masters’s 1 - ($1,000) – Andre Phillip ATG 2 - Jason Slezak USA 3 - Davey Blair USA Rookie of the year Award ($1,000) – Christophe Tack BEL Best Session Award ($1,000) – Billy Parker USA Slickstyle Attitude Award (Prize Pack) – Artem Garashchenko RUS Best Wipeout Award (Prize Pack) – Craig Cunningham CAN

44 EVENTS Formula Kite World Championships & KiteFoil GoldCup - Italy – Hang Loose Beach – Gizzeria

text Ian MacKinnon | photo Giuseppe Esposito

FORMULA KITE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS & KITEFOIL GOLDCUP Italy – Hang Loose Beach – Gizzeria

If it is possible to sum up two world-class competitions spanning nine days, almost 100 competitors battling for supremacy over 96 races at the KiteFoil GoldCup Italy and the 2015 kite race worlds in a word, then it would be “drama”. Not just any drama though, but high drama.

46 EVENTS Formula Kite World Championships & KiteFoil GoldCup - Italy – Hang Loose Beach – Gizzeria

In the water there was sheer blistering pace — both of the course boards in the International Kiteboarding Association’s (IKA) Formula Kite World Championships and the “open” developmental kite hydrofoil class — where the sprinkling of raw, youthful talent pushed the sport’s exhilarating boundaries. Game changing tangles brought emotions to the boil. But the thinnest of margins also ensured racers produced a hatful of edge-of-the-seat photo-finishes.

Off the water things were no less charged on Hang Loose Beach, framed by southern Italy’s stunning Calabrian hills. There were tantrums, meltdowns and the inevitable protests that kept the jury busy long into the evenings, sometimes throwing up rulings that changed the face of the scoreboard and the competition.

When all was said and done, though, one rider stood head and shoulders above the rest. Monaco’s Maxime Nocher had been virtually unbeatable on the hydrofoil and scored an overall victory in the KiteFoil GoldCup, trailed only slightly the French duo of Axel Mazella, 17, and Julien Kerneur, who occupied the second and third podium spots. If anything the battle for the crown at the following

48 EVENTS Formula Kite World Championships & KiteFoil GoldCup - Italy – Hang Loose Beach – Gizzeria

Formula Kite World Championships was even tighter with a handful of riders capable of snatching the title in the final day’s medal races shootout. But Nocher held his nerve to see off the challenge of Britain’s Olly Bridge, also just 17, and Poland’s Blazej Ozog, to seize back-to-back Formula world championship titles.

In the small women’s fleet Steph Bridge’s, Olly’s mother, got the better of specialist foiler France’s Alexia Fancelli, and the young Russian Elena Kalinina. But in the Formula kite worlds Bridge couldn’t repeat Nocher’s feat of taking successive titles. A day ahead of her eighteenth birthday Kalinina prised the crown from Bridge’s grasp in astonishingly tight racing that saw both riders continually trade first and second spots as they scorched around the windward-leeward track just off Hang Loose Beach over five days of competition.

For Kalinina, as she prepares to begin her university studies, gaining the upper hand on her old rival rival was quietly satisfying, as much for the manner of the contest as for the victory itself. “I’m happy it’s over because I so tired,” she said as she came off the water for the final time. “It was very interesting for me to race against Steph [Bridge] because she is such a good racer, both tactically and sailing. We were always close and she pushed me always. But I feel happy with the competition. We had no protests, we just raced hard on the water.”

The water, and the conditions, played their part in the unfolding dramas almost perfectly. Nearly without fail, the freakishly regular thermal cross-onshore breeze would begin to build in the late morning. The winds, accelerated by a Venturi effect, would invariably

50 EVENTS Formula Kite World Championships & KiteFoil GoldCup - Italy – Hang Loose Beach – Gizzeria

hit 15kts to 17kts by mid-afternoon. They are peculiar to this small stretch of coastline, making it a kiters’ paradise of blue skies and warm waters. For the racers it served as a near-flawless backcloth to their endeavours.

The 48 kitefoilers from 18 nations were first on stage. But even before the first “go” signal there was a tinge of disappointment that some of the world’s leading foilers had not made the trip. Nico Parlier ruled himself out and stayed home in France after picking up a cut on his foot that required stitches. The US riders — including Joey Pasquali, Johnny Heineken and sister Erika — also stayed home apparently because the late switch to designate the Italy event a stop on the KiteFoil GoldCup tour was too close to the US stop in San Francisco. With one score for the four-event tour counted as a discard, some felt they could skip Italy without penalty.

Yet if there was any fleeting concern that the Italy stop might suffer from lack of star power, it was misplaced. The racers were divided into two 24-strong “blue” and “yellow” fleets for the first two days of qualifying races to decide the seeding for the finals series’ “gold” and “silver” fleets of the closing two days. Up and down the order the racing was intense as the riders scythed through the smooth waters at mind-boggling speeds, cutting incredible angles upwind and downwind on their state-of-the-art foil kites and hydrofoils permitted in the class where innovation is prized.

Since the opening round of the KiteFoil GoldCup at La Ventana,

52 EVENTS Formula Kite World Championships & KiteFoil GoldCup - Italy – Hang Loose Beach – Gizzeria

Mexico, in March, the leading manufacturers had been hard at work tweaking existing hydrofoils and foil kites to wring out maximum performance in what some believe has already become a equipment “arms’ race”. Taaroa with its Sword2 presented Nocher and Mazella with new experimental high-aspect front and rear wings developed only in the last two months. Crafted from a G10like material, rather than carbon-fibre, profiles can be rapidly turned around and trialled. Nocher teamed the Sword2 with an F-one Diablo foil and Mazella with an Elf Joker kite to devastating effect.

“All the riders are excited about the new set-up,” said Martin Turdil, Taaroa’s manager. “The wings are really flat and high-aspect.

They’re purely for race. These shapes are different from the other brands’ philosophies. The profile helps when you make mistakes; and it’s good upwind and downwind. After we designed the Sword2 the appearance of foil kites changed everything. We had to adapt the wings. But that’s what’s great about hydrofoil. With the foil wing we notice something interesting and push in that direction.”

Levitaz is the new kid on the block out to disrupt the old order dominated by Taaroa and Spotz2. The ingenue stamped its mark on the proceedings in Italy with German team-riders Benni Boelli and Peter Mueller, both using Flysurfer Sonic FR foil kites, placing fourth and sixth overall after posting a raft of high-placed race finishes. The hydrofoil with its long fuselage for stability and tiny rear winglet surprised even the Austrian makers with its performance.

Team rider Adrian Geislinger, whose family engineering company launched Levitaz only in April, saw a dramatic jump in his performances over those in Mexico after switching to the Levitaz Aspect Bionic hydrofoil and Flysurfer Sonic FR kite. “In Mexico I could do no better than place in the middle of the fleet,” said the Austrian rider. “But with this new foil set-up and the Flysurfer Sonic FR I’ve been getting second and thirds. I even scored a bullet for the first time in a world championship, which is s first for me.”

Nevertheless, Nocher’s pace and technical mastery, were enough to earn him a string of bullets in the 10 races of the finals series that ensured him top spot on the podium in Italy and a lead in the standings in the KiteFoil GoldCup ahead of San Francisco.

54 EVENTS Formula Kite World Championships & KiteFoil GoldCup - Italy – Hang Loose Beach – Gizzeria

But for Nocher, victory in the KiteFoil GoldCup, was a job only half done. As reigning Formula kite world champion the Monegasque was anxious to stamp his authority on the contest of 73 riders, including 11 women. In his way was Olly Bridge. A year earlier in at the Formula worlds in Turkey he saw the title slip from his grasp when he failed to compete in the final race while in contention for gold because of a confusion over kites, which he was sharing with his mother.

Bridge came to Italy looking to lay that ghost to rest. After the first days of the qualifying series Bridge seemed well placed in second heading into the finals series, just behind the consistently quick Spaniard Florian Trittel, but ahead of Nocher. But Ozog, former world champion Germany’s Florian Gruber and Spain’s Alejandro Climent Hernandez and Bulgaria’s Alexander Bachev were all chasing hard and in close contention.

The fast and furious races of the men’s “gold” and “silver” fleets of days three and four saw a shake-up in the order, particularly after some crucial decisions in the jury room. The 10kts to 13kts breeze prompted riders to put up their biggest 18m foil kites, but also encouraged many to start on a riskier port tack to take advantage of the lift on the right side of the track near the beach. Inevitably there some start line tangles and protests, one of which earned Nocher a disqualification and pushed him down the order to ninth

56 EVENTS Formula Kite World Championships & KiteFoil GoldCup - Italy – Hang Loose Beach – Gizzeria

"Monaco’s Maxime Nocher had been virtually unbeatable”

overall after three days. But an appeal saw him reinstated in the light of fresh photographic evidence and secured him pole position for the medal races of the final day five.

Bridge trailed Nocher in second by just a few points. But his challenge was a fraught one of highs and lows that characterised his whole campaign. On the penultimate day four he scored three bullets from four that marked him out as the fastest rider in the pack.

But on other occasions tiny errors on the track were costing him valuable points and he was unable to contain his frustration, at one point remarkably jettisoning his bar and safety as he hit the beach, allowing his 18m foil kite to fly off in the breeze.

The medal races of the final day, for the men’s “platinum” fleet would prove no different. Bridge was again sizzlingly quick around the shortened track, with races lasting barely eight minutes, and allowing him to score three bullets. But a disastrous third race of four in which Bridge tacked while leading and tangled with Ozog, earning the British teenager a costly disqualification. With no discards available on the final day he vainly protested Ozog. Leaving the jury platform when the decision went against him Bridge screamed at his mother, “Every year!” He was abject and inconsolable

58 EVENTS Formula Kite World Championships & KiteFoil GoldCup - Italy – Hang Loose Beach – Gizzeria

as he lay facedown in the sand at the water’s edge ruing his mistakes. The decision was enough for Nocher to squeak home and snatch his second successive victory and a fittingly dramatic climax.

FINAL RESULTS Formula Kite World Championships – women: 1. Helena Kalinina 2. Steph Bridge 3. Anastasia Akopova Formula Kite World Championships – men: 1. Maxime Nocher 2. Olly Bridge 3. Florian Gruber Kitefoil Gold Cup 2015 in Gizzeria, Italy – women: 1. Steph Bridge 2. Alexia Fancelli 3. Elena Kalinina Kitefoil Gold Cup 2015 in Gizzeria, Italy – men: 1. Maxime Nocher 2. Alex Mazella 3. Julien Kerneur

60 EVENTS Airton Cozzolino wins Tarifa Strapless Kitesurf Pro 2015

Airton Cozzolino wins

TARIFA STRAPLESS KIT Text Philipp Becker | Itw Roberta Pala | Photo Toby Bromwich, Oscar Carrascosa

TESURFING PRO 2015!

62 EVENTS Airton Cozzolino wins Tarifa Strapless Kitesurf Pro 2015

Known for his show stopping ‘wow’ factor and snappy style, he was the one to beat for the rest of the competitors. Tarifa, Spain has been known as a watersports Mecca for many years, churning out world class riders by the dozen. Home to the likes of Jaime Herraiz, Angela Peral and now Aaron Hadlow, its consistent and varied conditions deliver magnificent riding for all disciplines, so it’s really no surprise that Valdevaqueros – the famous beach – was the show ground for such a great competition.

Crowds flocked to see what was recalled by one spectator as ‘ the best strapless riding i’ve ever seen.’ The vibe on the beach was pulsing as riders took their moment to put on a display of individual flair and technical skills.

The freestyle heats culminated in an epic final between Airton Cozzolino and Keahi de Aboitiz, both champion shredders in their own way. Spectators were so engrossed in the action, cheers and applause followed every spectacularly executed trick both riders delivered. Following his win, Airton went on to put in mind blowing performances in both Best Trick and Big Air, soundly securing King of the competition status.

Matchu Lopes, another one of North young riders, put in exceptional performances with skill and panache. Another leader in the Strapless movement, his unique bag of tricks impressed the respected panel of judges to secure him 3rd place. Patri McLaughlin was on fire for the first two rounds, however hot competition from Keahi in round 3 saw him get knocked out of the competition.

64 EVENTS Airton Cozzolino wins Tarifa Strapless Kitesurf Pro 2015

The interesting thing about this event is the merging of what originally were two very different avenues of riding. Freestyle used to be associated with big airs and flat tricks, whilst wave riding revolved about deep carves, snappy cut backs and ultimately getting shacked in the barrel. The Tarifa Strapless PRO truly displayed how over the last few years, wave riding has taken huge inspiration from the traditional freestyle riding, and with creativity flowing from the ‘young blood’ there’s an inspiring and fresh style being added to the advancement of the sport.

There to spectate and show their support to the event were today’s true wakestyle hero’s, Aaron Hadlow, Alex Pastor and current VKWC number one Liam Whaley; we wonder what influences they’ll take from Strapless freestyle to invent new tricks for their own style of riding.

This event was a historic moment in the growth of Kiteboarding as a whole. Riders from across the globe – Australia, France, Hawaii, Portugal, Cape Verde, North Carolina and Italy to name a few – all came together bringing fresh perspectives and new ways to ride, encouraging and taking inspiration from each other along the way. Events like these are what Kiteboarding is all about; progression, vision, creativity and motivation, showing that competition goes much deeper than just becoming The Champion.

Congratulations to all the riders and the organisation. This event was filled with passion and spirit, a true milestone for the sport that we nurture and love so much.

66 EVENTS Airton Cozzolino wins Tarifa Strapless Kitesurf Pro 2015

Philipp Becker (North Kiteboarding) The whole idea of an strapless freestyle event

Even random people at the beach, joggers, fa-

was created after seeing a whole new direction of

milies, people walking their dogs, out of sudden

the sport developing for some years now and not

stopped and realized - hey, this kitesurfing is re-

having a proper platform to show this amazing

ally cool! Low tricks, high tricks, slow tricks, fast

sport to the world and to give riders the oppor-

tricks, very technical tricks to massive mega lo-

tunity to show the world what is possible with a

ops.

kite and a surfboard. The idea directly caught my

All the variety why we all love our sport so much

attention.

combined in one contest concept. To have two

As there is no wave tour at the moment we´ve

North Kiteboarding riders on 1st and 3rd at the

been really unsatisfied that our athletes did not

first event made us of course super happy and

have the chance to really show their skills and to

made us feel all the efforts we put in the team

compete against each other.

finally have paid off.

When Jaime came up with the vision to have a

In the end everybody was exhausted but happy,

strapless event in Tarifa, the melting pot of kite-

without voice from cheering for the riders. I hope

surfing since the beginning of kitesurfing, I was

a concept like this will be carried to the future and

super excited from the very beginning.

some more spots can be combined to a little tour

To see the starter field with the very best guys

of 3-4 stops at exciting kitesurfing locations like

from all over the world, from Italy and Spain to

e.g. Capetown. For sure this event was a specta-

Cape Verde and Hawaii and all other far away pla-

cular start for this direction of kitesurfing and will

ces was just awesome.

bring even more people to this amazing sport.

Arriving in Tarifa finally to the event, my expectations of the level of the riders where even topped.

All were at the top of their game - although Matchu and Airton played in a league of their own.

So my personal final was already in the heat of the semi finals, when Matchu and Airton were competing against each other.

The crowd was going mental…

What was additionally great to see for me was the whole attitude of the event, the organizers, the riders, the public, the fans, interacting with each other, firing each other up, enjoying the whole event from the beginning to the end as a big family. Of course there´s results in the end, but the show of every single rider was always worth to watch it.

68 EVENTS Airton Cozzolino wins Tarifa Strapless Kitesurf Pro 2015

Jaime Herraiz KS_Tell us about the idea of the Tarifa Strapless Kitesurfing Pro. JH_Well, the idea has been on our heads for quiet some time now. More and more we feel like the discipline is growing with a very direct impact on our sport, mind blowing athletes and we all felt it was really underrepresented.

KS_Which was the athletes and judges choice criteria before the event?

JH_We choose a panel of 8 guest based on media and brand exposure. Then we had this first riders nominate the rest of the 24 riders among their favorite riders. The goal for everyone was to portrait on this event the potential of this discipline, to put up a show that will open up new opportunities for the discipline.

It was a very “magical chemistry� from day one, Airton, Keahi and the rest of the invitees were extremely helpful from day one, helping us contacting the rest of the riders and coordinating the logistics on it.

KS_Could you tell us something about competition format and judging criteria?

JH_Like I said, the goal was to show the world the potential of the discipline and to have the biggest show on strapless kiteboarding in a place like Tarifa.

With this in mind we did it like on our old days of PKRA, we sat down had some beers with the riders and defined a judging criteria with them.

KS_A massive goal. A lot of people on the beach, which was the reason behind this huge success?

JH_I think the rest of the contest on other kite disciplines have developed huge athletes that are pushing their sport to the next level but unfortunately they have also stepped away from what the general public. The weekend warrior is far from those sick moves we see on the mags or here on the beach, it’s not a part of their motivation to try those impossible moves.

But the simplicity of strapless kiteboarding, the tridimensional factor of not being attached to a board plus the “surf” factor, makes the discipline extremely exciting for that kind of rider and the fact that they came down on hordes to watch the event tells us that in fact they where “starving” for something like this.

KS_Why Tarifa?

JH_Well, to show the true potential of this discipline we wanted to portrait how little demanding strapless kiteboarding is on wind/wave conditions. Tarifa is probably the epicenter of our sport during this time of the year and it gives the organizers, the sponsors and the riders the change to have the crowds we had the opportunity to see

70 EVENTS Airton Cozzolino wins Tarifa Strapless Kitesurf Pro 2015

during the event.

It also has a lot of our own “kite culture” and it was really important for us to have the riders enjoy the town and to mix with the crowds and to do what they are best at, being ambassadors of our sport. We had parties every night and we decided to start the contest at 2 P.M everyday so the riders were able to njoy the night life.

KS_Which was the most impressive athlete and the best move that you’ve seen during this event?

JH_It would be hard to stay with only a few. Of course this time Airton was on another level but he also came down to Tarifa a few weeks earlier and rode the event site almost every day. He was seriously focus to take the event.

But Keahi (with a recent injury), Matchu, Paulino Pereira, Matt, Evan… also put up a great show and it’s really hard to narrow it down, the level was off the roof and I think their level of motivation to push the limit during the next months is super high.

To me the most impressive move was Airton’s powered flat 3 on the first day, although Evan had a pretty sick one too on the best trick contest.

KS_What about the sponsors’s interest and support for the event?

JH_Is huge, looking at the numbers on the ratio of investment/media exposure. The mainstream sponsors we had told us that it was their best event ever. We have secured the funds for the next 3 years.

KS_After this success, which is your plan for the next year?

JH_Same same but louder and better! We are going to try to post this event on everyones agenda for 2016. So make sure you’re in Tarifa for the 2016 event!

72

EVENTS Airton Cozzolino wins Tarifa Strapless Kitesurf Pro 2015

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74 EVENTS/ITW

Red Bull Megaloop Challenge

text Courtesy Red Bull Media House | ITW Roberta Pala Photo Jarno Schurgers,/Red Bull Media House, Ydwer van der Heide / Š Red Bull Media House, Craig Kolesky/Red Bull Media House, Reinout Smit and TheBank (Bas Koole)

76 EVENTS/ITW

Red Bull Megaloop Challenge

KITEBOARDERS HAPPY TO WEATHER THE STORM Severe weather warnings are usually enough to have most people running for cover and stay indoors, but for some athletes it’s just what gets the pulse racing. Not least the kiteboarders who ripped across the dunes in Zandvoort, Holland on Tuesday amid gale-force winds which made for ideal conditions at the Red Bull Megaloop Challenge 2015.

A home favourite, 21-year-old Lasse Walker, was crowned the winner after convincing the four-man jury that his performance was the standout. Judge Ruben Lenten said: “The judges were unanimous that Lasse was the best one today. He went more vertical, horizontal and radical. On all criteria Lasse was the best one.”

Kiteboarders from France, South-Africa, Germany, UK and the Netherlands took part in the event in which organisers wait and wait until scheduling it when the weather conditions are extreme enough. That is just what the thrill-chasing kiteboarders need to produce their eye-watering stunts as gusts of upto 90kmh helped propel the world’s top riders. The four riders in the final were Walker, Willem van der Meij, Kevin de Smidt and the German rider Linus Erdman. de Smidt finished second with Van der Meij third, making it a cleam sweep of the podium for the Dutch riders.

78 EVENTS/ITW

Red Bull Megaloop Challenge

LASSE

WALKER

KS_Tell us something about you…

KS_Why kiteboarding? And why megaloops?

LW_My name is Lasse Walker, I grew up in a co-

LW_Sports like football didn’t keep my attention

astal village called Noordwijk. Sports like football

for long enough. I grew up in the same village of

didn’t keep my attention for long enough, and

Ruben Lenten, so starting to kiteboard was not

growing up in the same village as Ruben Lenten

such an improbable thing for me. After that I star-

and Kevin Langeree, it was quite clear for me…

ted to get the best feeling with Megaloops.

Haha KS_What matters most when wanting to win a KS_With only 20 years of age you managed to

megaloop challenge? Being technical, or just a

win the Red Bull Megaloop Challenge, when did

little crazy?

you feel that you could have won?

LW_Both! During heats it’s about smart riding.

LW_In 2013 I managed to get a 5th place at the

Show what you’ve got and set out a plan on how

Red Bull Megaloop Challenge. I didn’t really set

you’re going to do that.

out a goal but obviously I wanted to do better.

After training a lot and really getting a feeling for

KS_What do you think about events like the Red

the gear I ride I knew I could do well. I only needed

Bull Megaloop Challenge and KOTA, so different

a lot of wind and some control over my nerves.

from other classical events such as the VKWC? LW_Red Bull is a brand that has always been

KS_ How was the competition? The wind condi-

pioneering in extreme sports, and now they are

tions, organization, and the spot?

also pushing it with extreme kiteboarding which

LW_The Red Bull Megaloop Challenge is a great

is great! People that aren’t in to kiteboarding (yet)

way to see which rider has the most control in

don’t understand the technical tricks performed

extreme condtions during a classic Dutch storm.

in the VKWC, but are truly amazed by the radi-

Last year there was a national event with 16 ri-

cal extreme jumps that are performed during the

ders, but since this year they invited 16 riders

Red Bull KOTA and the Red Bull Megaloop Chal-

from various countries, the level was a lot higher.

lenge.

The whole organisation of the competition had been great. With a 48 hour call It’s amazing to see how much they managed to set up.

80 EVENTS/ITW

Red Bull Megaloop Challenge

KS_Tell us about the relationship with your sponsor... when did it begin and what does it mean to be a North rider for you?

LW_Since last year I’ve been riding with North and ION and I’m super-happy with the gear and everything that comes with it. Riding with, in my opinion, the best gear, helps me to push my level higher. Plus the North Vegas is really a freestyle/ wakestyle machine, nevertheless on the standard setting, it’s much like the Vegas it used to be, a kite perfect for jumping and free-riding.

KS_Have you ever been scared when pulling a megaloop at 50 knots?

LW_Haha, I used to be scared with the first loop, but not anymore! These days I’ve created enough control to handle most situations, such as strong gusty pull or a late rotation. Nevertheless in some of my go-pro video’s I sometimes scream just before a landing.. haha

KS_Best session for you and best gear.

LW_The best session I had was last winter in Cape Town in front of the Endless Summer Beach House. About 40 knots from the left, 3 meter waves and riding with my 8 meter North Vegas on 22 meter lines. Besides the conditions I would have liked no waveriders around. ;-)

Name: Lasse Walker D.O.B.: 15-02-1995 Home Spot: Noordwijk, The Nederlands Sponsor: North Kiteboarding and ION Years kiting: Since 2007 Best Spot: Dolphin Beach, Cape Town Others sport: Wakeboarding and the gym to stay in shape

82 EVENTS/ITW

Red Bull Megaloop Challenge

KS_Your family and other Dutch friends/riders… and kiteboarding.

LW_My father used to windsurf in the early days, so he had something with watersports. In The Netherlands I’ve got quite a lot of friends that are into kiteboarding, also on a competitive freestyle level. They push the technical side of the sport whilst I always prefer to ‘’Fly high and go big’’!

KS_Your life outside kiteboarding, what does Lasse love to do when he is not kiteboarding?

LW_When I’m not kiteboarding I’m probably studying to become an architect and working at the Beachclub Bries in Noordwijk. Beside work, I like to be out doing other things like wakeboarding, golf and beach-volleyball.

I also work at a Beach club and I’m an IKO certified instructor. By doing some work I can earn some money to go to destinations like Cape Town during my winter holidays.

KS_Your dream in the career…

LW_My dream has always been to compete in an international extreme kiteboarding competition.

After winning one competition, now I am probably on to the next one already.. ;-) KS_Our magazine is called Kitesoul, because we are sure that our soul has been somewhat filled up by this sport. What do you feel when you are in the ocean, during a competition or during a sunset free ride session?

LW_Kiteboarding to me is so special because of the freedom. Whether you want to go out for freestyle, wave, freeride or have a lay-day is all up to yourself. To me a session with friends at the end of the day at 30 knots of wind is great. Everybody is jumping and we can all have a laugh together with a beer afterwards.

84 HANDIKITE Keros For All – Limnos - Greece - The first camp for disabled riders

KEROS FOR ALL LIMNOS - GREECE The first camp for disabled riders

Limnos is a Greek island just off the Turkish coast. Expanses of Mediterranean scrub, just a few inhabitants and a magnificent bay, Keros Bay, where the Surf Club Keros, which hosted the first ever world camp for people with disabilities (a.k.a. handiriders), is situated. <Keros for all> was the name chosen for this kite camp. The message is quite clear: all the clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activities including kitesurfing, catamaran, surfing, SUP and land kiting are accessible, not only to people with full motor skills, but also people with reduced mobility who nevertheless want to experience the emotions of water sports.

Text Christophe Martin, Matt Thola, Sean Rose, Nicolas Lanquetin, Makis Kalaras, Christopher Stewart, Michael Stevens, Roberta Pala Photo Evi Fragolia, Nicolas Economou, Roberta Pala e Courtesy Surf Club Keros

86 HANDIKITE Keros For All â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Limnos - Greece - The first camp for disabled riders

I

had been in contact with Takoon rider and

Surf Camp (with the help of Ioannis, who spoke

“handirider” pioneer, Christophe Martin, for

perfect Italian). I wanted to know what motivated

a while now; so when he told me about the

them to organise a camp for people with disabil-

“Keros for all” camp in Lemnos I didn’t hesitate.

ities: “I was interested in niche markets related

I checked the dates and off I went, with childlike

with water sports, and my thought immediately

enthusiasm.

went to people with all sorts of disabilities” Gi-

It was such an experience… I met Chris and his

annis told me.

wife Kati almost immediately as we were on the

“In 2014 I came across Makis’ FB profile, a Greek

same taxi transfer; I shared almost every activ-

Paralympian skiing champion, so I decided to write

ity on the island with them, from snorkelling to

to him immediately. I thought he would ignore my

a tour of Lemnos. I have laughed a lot thanks to

request but actually he replied straight away and

Niki’s sense of humour and I observed Sean tak-

was enthusiast about the whole project. He came

ing great care of his gear whilst waiting his turn

to visit the spot and his help was essential to ad-

with very “British patience”; a patience which he

just the camp for people on a wheelchair. We then

lost immediately during his first jibe with an in-

worked throughout the winter to make the nec-

voluntary jump :-D. I admired Michael and Matt’s

essary modifications and adapt our club to host

eagerness to learn and Makis’ (Greek Paralympic

our new clients. Was then the turn of Christophe

athlete) will power. I won’t certainly forget this

Martin who came to visit us, in order to teach our

week; I have learned a lot about all kinds of dis-

kitesurf instructors how to handle this new type

abilities which is an essential step for everyone

of situation: he taught them how to assemble a

who wants to teach kitesurfing to people with

wheelchair, how to correctly lift a person and of

limited mobility, even if they are already athletes

course how to teach kitesurf to them. We also

like Christophe or Niki.

contacted and were visited by several disabled

I have also tried to put myself in the shoes of a

associations, which helped us to practically ap-

“handirider”: I wanted to try out the kite-chair but

proach all the different kinds of disabilities.

unfortunately Christophe’s seat only fits a size 38

This is basically how the “Keros for all”, the first

;) so in the end I tried out his wheelchair and I

ever kite camp for disabled sports people, was

have to say that going around the camp, despite

born. We have learnt a lot from this first expe-

avoiding the steepest parts, was hard enough. I

rience and we are now receiving constant feed-

can now imagine how hard it would be to move

back to try and improve our camp under every

on a sandy terrain.

aspect, especially adapting our teaching method

Before leaving the camp I had a nice chat with

to host clients with disparate disabilities. We are

Giannis, one of the three directors from the Keros

now working in trying to develop a teaching

88 HANDIKITE Keros For All – Limnos - Greece - The first camp for disabled riders

method which can be applied to everyone but is flexible enough to be adapted to the individual, this is our goal. We have realised that we need to increase our staff and we are certainly open to receiving help and feedback to improve and develop. It’s certainly a huge task which needs to be approached step by step. Nevertheless we can confidently say that the camp was a great success, and the guys are already planning to come back, so I am sure that with their help, the Keros for All camp will constantly improve.

During this great week we have discovered a lot about each other, disabled and not. We have explored and confronted our different teaching methods and learnt to adapt them to the different pathologies. There are a lot of things we completely ignored: I mean, usually we take our gear from our garage and we just go to the beach riding. A “handirider”, on the other hand, spends hours projecting and adapting his kitechair; every detail is very carefully taken care of, nothing left to chance”.

Well what can I say: we barely got back and the guys were already exchanging messages on FB to arrange new dates and meet again at the Keros for All… As we were all sat on the beach waiting for the Meltemi wind to arrive, Christophe kept repeating: “well we haven’t surf a lot so far but we are certainly having fun”. Now the Meltemi wind has finally arrived and the Keros surf club, with its full staff of instructors, is working hard to host the new “handiriders” camp…

90 HANDIKITE Keros For All – Limnos - Greece - The first camp for disabled riders

Christophe Martin Waterman since the age of 7, after my mountain

was already full, with 11 people, of which 8 were

bike accident in 2002, which put me in the world

disabled. During this kitesurf camp, I met lots of

of disabled people, I decided to develop and im-

people, handy-riders, kite instructors, pro pho-

prove the activities of the not so popular extre-

tographers and volunteers, all with a big will to

me sports. I’ve spent 12 years, with the support of

practice and/or to help all kind of people kitesur-

the French Kitesurfing Federation (FFVL), develo-

fing. It has certainly been one of the most beau-

ping a sport which did not exist: “kitesurfing for

tiful handikite camp of the last 10 years! The Ke-

disabled people”. Since that day we have develo-

ros club did a fabulous job, the atmosphere was

ped a lot of “handikite” prototypes and my dream

magical, I met beautiful people, and we were all

was to be able to make kite chair navigation even

able to make handy-riding a big success. We have

more accessible for solo riding.

also been able to promote and try other beautiful

In 2010 there were only 4 disabled riders in the

activities such as the use of the catakite, kitesurf

world who could actually ride solo because this

paddle, sand kitesurf, kayak, paddle, water-skiing,

sort of navigation requires a lot of water sports

snorkelling, discovering the island with quads and

experience.

4x4s, and of course solo kitesurfing with the kite

Then in January, 2015, Giannis, one of the 3 directors of the “Keros surf club”, from the Limnos Island in Greece, contacted me to know if his club could sponsor kitesurf for disabled people. We exchanged only a few e-mails in the beginning, but he was very keen to set up a special training for his kitesurf instructors and organise a kitesurf camp in June. After 4 months, 300 e-mails, and several hours skyping, we finally founded the first kitesurf “Keros” camp. We decided to set up the training in May and the kitesurf camp in June.

All the staff and the team of kite instructors, were very motivated during the whole training and we were very satisfied with the result. We were very confident about the following kitesurf camp but we decided to be cautious about solo practice, because it could have been more risky. We decided to target this 1st Handikite camp for disabled people with a pre-existing experience of extreme sports, nautical, alpine skiing, etc. some at Olympic level. At the beginning of May, the kite camp

92 HANDIKITE Keros For All â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Limnos - Greece - The first camp for disabled riders

chair. Everybody, disabled and not, was left with a single desire “go back riding and party”. This handikite camp has definitely been a great success: one the most beautiful moments I shared was riding together with the second handy-rider on a kitechair, Niki! We had been planning to meet for the last 10 years and there we were, riding side by side. The “Keros for all” concept and the handikite group will certainly share more nice days in the future, so stay tuned!

94 HANDIKITE Keros For All â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Limnos - Greece - The first camp for disabled riders

Christopher Stewart My wife Kati and I were not sure what to expect from the proposal to join this international group of top athletes and pioneers in the world of disabled extreme sport and adventure travel. It seemed unreal that only three and half years after a near fatal accident that I would be back in the water, challenging myself and learning a new radical sport like kiting. As a life long wave rider, this was a dream come true. The uber professionalism, attention to safety and an unwavering stoke and enthusiasm from the team and fellow kiters turned a fantasy into a reality. The positive energy and inspiration that comes from the likes of Christophe Martin, Nikao Laos, Makis Kalaras and Sean Rose was infectious. Thanks to the Keros surf camp and our super amped instructor Tom fuller, I am back enjoying the ocean, the waves and the wind doing things I never imagined possible. Ride on!

96 HANDIKITE Keros For All â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Limnos - Greece - The first camp for disabled riders

Matt Thola My name is Matt Thola and I’m from Whistler Canada and I’ve always been interested in action sports. I was injured in a car accident 9years ago and left me paralyzed. I was introduced to sit skiing and have been doing it for 4 years. I was invited to keros surf camp to try out Kite surfing.

I’ve played with Kites back home in Canada and wanted to try it out. Keros surf camp offered great hospitality and great training and lessons.

They started me of it a SUP refreshing my memory with Kite control. After I showed them that I had good control I got in the Kite chair the team showed me all the safety and quick release system. When I first start in the water I lay on my side and felt the Kite where the power zone was and the safe zone. When I powered up the Kite one the the crew would body drag behind me to keep me stable one I felt I had control I powered up the Kite the first few time I drank some sea water. By the end of my lessons I felt I was getting my Kite control better and I was able to ride for a few meters. With more time with Kites and being in the water I’ll join keros surf club as a Kite surfer. In all I had a great experience and the people are awesome. Keros surf club is for everyone! :-D

98 HANDIKITE Keros For All – Limnos - Greece - The first camp for disabled riders

Michael Stevens Keros for All: I traveled from South Africa to learn from people who are pioneering disabled kite surfing. There are a few people around the world really getting into the sport and learning what it involves for different disabilities. Some of them would be in Keros for the camp. I wanted to share that knowledge and gain some of their handi-kiting wisdom. I also wanted to do it in a safe and manageable environment. I experimented in Cape Town, but to learn in Cape Town is intimidating. The water is cold, the sharks are big and the wind is heavy. It’s my goal to kite there and rip waves with my friends, but I’m building up to it. Keros gave me a great step up towards Cape Town. My kite control improved and my understanding of boards and what I would want evolved. I was the only amputee, so my some of my considerations are different to the spinal injury riders. I now have a good idea of my board and chair designs - one more like the traditional type Christophe rides, but another more customised to my body and disability. As for the Surf Club Keros staff and accommodation I can only say great things. I’m trying to get back in September. So I guess it’s so nice you have to go twice. It was an amazing trip, I met great people who like the adventures I do and aren’t letting their disability stop them from having them. Let’s do it all again. #KerosForAll2015

100 HANDIKITE Keros For All â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Limnos - Greece - The first camp for disabled riders

Nicolas Lanquetin I had a really great time at the keros-for-all kiteboarding camp. The place itself is amazing: Accessible safari-tents in the middle of a beautiful landsacpe; The kiteschool located in an incredible big but but still well protected bay - just perfect!

But what really made the difference for me were the people I met. The whole crew of the camp and the school was so incredibly friendly and helpful they made me feel like home. And the group of participants was just amazing - people from all over the world met to ride with each other, learn from each other and make new friends. I would not want to miss this experienc

102 HANDIKITE Keros For All â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Limnos - Greece - The first camp for disabled riders

Sean Rose To be part of the first Disabled Kitesurfing event, learning from others, talking about some of the equipment issues we face and moving the sport forward was a real honour. Watching Christophe and Nikao outside of youtube was also a real treat, and to then be able to ride different equipment and kites in the safety of Keros bay with boat support made for real quick progressions.

Popping my first air on Zeus (18m) still has me grinning ear to ear. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s do it again soon! Many thanks to Surf Club Keros who were amazing and made this all possible. www.seanrose.co.uk

104 HANDIKITE Keros For All â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Limnos - Greece - The first camp for disabled riders

Makis Kalaras Hello from me and from Greece!

I am very happy because, something really god happened in Greece this year! Keros For All was a great Greek event where I had the possibility to meet lot of fun guys, including me ahahah. The Keros bay in Limnos had been the place where lot of disable people could dream and have a lots of fun toghether. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m looking forward to repeat this event in September. C u there, I know we can do it friends! Sean knowsâ&#x20AC;Ś

Info: Surf Club Keros / Keros For All www.surfclubkeros.com http://surfclubkeros.com/kerosforall/ FB: Surf Club Keros Keros Beach Limnos Island, Limnos 814 01, Grecia, Tel:+30 694 415 6679

106 TRIP AND PHOTOSHOOT

Venezuela

Trip and Photoshoot

VENEZUELA Text: Colleen Carroll | Photo: Toby Bromwich/Courtesy North Kiteboarding

108 TRIP AND PHOTOSHOOT

Venezuela

This is it.

This is the point in the trip where our luck would turn around, I could feel it. So far things hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t exactly gone as planned but we were changing locations and were hopeful for a fresh start.

110 TRIP AND PHOTOSHOOT

Venezuela

R

ewind to just 10 days earlier and Craig

we would construct.

Cunningham, Aaron Hadlow and I were

The three of us had made our way to Isla de Coche

stepping off our respective flights hun-

our kiteboarding paradise for the next week and

gry for flatwater sessions and full of ambition to

a half. The legendary flatwater spot was situat-

build a few features for our upcoming team shoot.

ed only an hourâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flight and short boat ride away

We would have just one week to assess the scene

from the nations capitol, Caracas, which is located

at the kitespot and get to work. Having built his

on the coastal mainland of Venezuela. We were

share of sliders in the past, Craig would be taking

in and out of the capitol city in the blink of an eye,

the lead on the project and had big plans for what

just as we had planned it. Currently regarded as

one of the world’s most dangerous cities, Caracas

der to attain the necessary visas. Was this a sign

currently faces political instability and heavy drug

that maybe I shouldn’t visit this country my gov-

trafficking. To make matters even more interest-

ernment deems so dangerous? It was a strange

ing, recent policy changes now advised US citi-

feeling to wonder if I should head this warning,

zens from traveling to the country and required

accustomed to traveling where I want to when

special permission to be allowed in.

I want to without reserve, but my intuition was

While the boys wouldn’t have any issues here,

telling me to go so I went with it.

And all had

hailing from Canada and the United Kingdom, I

gone well getting into the country.

Only a few

had had to jump through a few extra hoops in or-

extra questions at customs miraculously de

112 TRIP AND PHOTOSHOOT

Venezuela

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We rode until the sun sank to the horizon, transforming the sky into a gorgeous palette of deep orange and pink hues before slipping away completelyâ&#x20AC;?

ciphered through my broken Spanish and I was bouncing my boardbag down the uneven dock on Isla de Coche alongside my North Kiteboarding teammates. It was going to be a good trip.

The next few days, the three of us slipped into an easy routine. Wake up to a simple breakfast, wander down the beach to the kite spot, check on the progress of the builders hired to help with construction of the features and kite until exhaustion set in. Things were off to a great start.

The spot was just as good as we expected and we couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait to have the rest of our crew here and to have the sliders finished.

About 3 days in we ran into our first setback.

Not a big deal but delayed the next step in our slider build until the following day. Then one by one things started to come up. The town started facing frequent power outages, which meant businesses were more often than not closed, and we would be unable to get needed materials. But we expected things like this to come up at some point so we pressed on and did what we could.

Minor delays started to stack up bringing our progress almost to a standstill. Our time in Coche was nearing its end and the rest of our crew had arrived ready to start shooting for our next big episode.

We had already scrapped a few ideas, moving forward with our plan B. We were now focusing on just two features, a kicker and a unique up-flatup tube that Craig had thought up in an attempt to build off of an existing structure being kept at the local kite school. Although it had quickly turned into a much more difficult project than we expected, it was looking as though we would get the features in the water just in time to have two

114 TRIP AND PHOTOSHOOT

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“ Day after day, we sailed, forecasted and chased our best-guessed predictions...”

full days of shooting. Not what we had hoped for but it would have to be good enough.

Our group, now 9 people in total having added riders Reno Romeu and Stefan Speissberger as well as our team manager, photographer and 2 videographers, sat down to a late dinner to discuss how we were going to pull this off. The next day would start early and everyone would have to rally hard all day to get what we needed to done. Then out of nowhere, Craig wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feeling so good. We had worried a bit about food poisoning with the frequent power outages and Reno having already succumbed to an unknown foodborne illness. But so far everyone else had been okay so it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t given much thought. First it was Craig then shortly behind followed our photographer Toby Bromwich.

Now with half our group severely ill, our task was even more daunting. We recruited friendly local kiters to help carry everything to the water and pressed on. Craig and Reno managed to drag themselves out of bed to get a few clips for our video project and Toby pushed through his discomfort to keep his camera firing. Our features

116 TRIP AND PHOTOSHOOT

Venezuela

were finally in the water. 8 days later, we were

tion. And we were attempting to pull this off in

able to give them a go to find out it wasn’t quite

Venezuela, a beautiful country for kiting yet one

working.

that at the time was making this mission next to

More anchors for the kicker were needed to keep

impossible.

it in place while the weekend boat traffic buzzed

It was all we could do that last day in Coche to

by, more floats for the flatbar were necessary to

pull something off. A little ingenuity derived from

keep it level and we needed to figure out a meth-

Craig and our local guide Christiano and we had a

od for digging deeper into the sand for the up

floating flatbar. We jammed the pole out the end

tube that would attach to the end of the flatbar.

and jerry rigged a fitting using mainly kite leash-

Not one piece worked like it was supposed to. In

es to keep it in place. The kicker was working as

hindsight, we should have anticipated this. Doing

well. We had our park. It wasn’t what we had

a slider build always takes more time, energy and

initially dreamed of but with the unforeseen chal-

often money, than ever expected. This is one of

lenges that loomed we were incredibly relieved

the reasons why it’s so special to get a good park

and excited.

session and also why there are still so few places

We rode until the sun sank to the horizon, trans-

that have sliders at all. The countless hours of

forming the sky into a gorgeous palette of deep

building and troubleshooting that go into build-

orange and pink hues before slipping away com-

ing any feature for kiteboarding take determina-

pletely. We were exhausted, sunburnt and some

â&#x20AC;&#x153;...constantly in awe of its raw and unaltered beautyâ&#x20AC;?

118 TRIP AND PHOTOSHOOT

Venezuela

of us still sick. We had ridden our park but it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t time to claim victory yet. We had merely just begun our trip and were headed off first thing the next morning for the remote archipelago of Los Roques National Park.

We all needed a change; our group had struggled to maintain the enthusiasm needed to accomplish a shooting of this magnitude. While it may seem like the teamshoots produced by the big kiteboarding brands are a vacation for everyone involved, and yes they certainly are incredible, they also take hard work and motivation. So when we repacked our 20 or so boardbags to continue our shooting at the next locale, we were excited to get a fresh start for a new segment in our adventure.

Rejuvenated by the prospect of greener pastures, we eagerly loaded up the excessive amount of gear we had into two wooden boats that would take us back across the channel to Isla de Margarita. It would be a long day of travel to get from our quaint island home of Coche to our next stop in Los Roques despite the relatively short distance between the two but that comes with

120 TRIP AND PHOTOSHOOT

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the territory of traveling to remote island destinations and for sure would be worth it. fter the boats, it was off to the airport. We arrived with plenty of time before departure despite security choosing to unpack and search every boardbag we had. The rapid fire questioning of camera equipment, drones and what seemed like a completely unreason amount of ‘stuff’ was staved off with a simple airport act commonly referred to as ‘the stupid tourist’. Lucky for us the performance work and we were waved off with a mere headshake of annoyance. Yet at checkin we ran into another problem. Our small-chartered plane wouldn’t be able to safely carry all of our oversized gear and us. Without our carry-ons we had almost 800 kilos of equipment. Luckily, our smooth talking Brazil teammate Reno Romeu negotiated a deal to pack our equipment on a second plane that would arrive the next day. It wasn’t an ideal situation but it would have to do.

This had to be the last hurdle. So far the shooting had been trudging on despite the frequent setbacks. We had claimed a few gems along the way but still had so much work to do we couldn’t afford to sustain this slow rate.

The flight to Los Roques was incredible. It was a comfortable 14-person plane and only shortly after takeoff was approaching the most beautiful chain of islands I’ve ever seen. The contrast in colors was spectacular. Tiny white irregular shaped dots outlined by brilliant turquoise with layers of deep ocean blue speckled the area below. Hardly a palm tree, hill or building were in sight. It looked like we had just discovered kiteboarding heaven.

It was a flatwater utopia for as far as the eye could see; Island after island with hardly any-

“we couldn’t help but feel fortunate for the opportunity to simply experience a place so serene”

one or anything in sight. We couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait for the

isfied with the conditions. Local knowledge told

next day to arrive and hopefully with it, the con-

us it would be windy somewhere around the is-

sistent trade winds known to frequent the area.

lands everyday, so we sailed on. The next spot

Our bags arrived not a minute too soon yet we

providing yet again the picture perfect waters we

were relieved that they came at all. The dreaded

desired but the wind was merely a tease, luring

thought looming in the back of all of our minds,

us to the water only to feel itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s power lacking that

what if they never showed? But they did and we

last extra few knots to give it what we needed.

were back in business.

What quickly ensued seemed to be a game of cat

We were already comfortably settled in to our 43ft

and mouse. We sailed around the islands in a

luxury catamaran setting sail from Gran Roque,

steady 12kt breeze. The perfect amount of wind

the second largest island in Los Roques Nation-

for a leisurely and quite speedy sail but just be-

al Park and the only populated island. We were

low that coveted amount of wind for the hardcore

loaded with everything we needed for our 10 days

freestyle action we were looking to see from our

aboard in the event we decided not to return to

freestyle riders Aaron, Reno and Stefan.

port for the entirety of the trip. A likely option

Day after day, we sailed, forecasted and chased

since there were endless islands to explore.

our best-guessed predictions. We covered count-

Our first stop offered the perfect glassy waters

less miles of pristine marine territory, constantly

we were after, yet a meager breeze left us unsat-

in awe of its raw and unaltered beauty. Despite

122 TRIP AND PHOTOSHOOT

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Trip and Photoshoot

the uncooperative wind conditions, we couldn’t help but feel fortunate for the opportunity to simply experience a place so serene. And we did get on the water here and there. The name of the game was ‘be ready’. At all times, our gear would be rigged ready to go at the slightest bump in wind speeds. Glued to the anemometer, any spike over 15kts meant all riders and cameras were out making the most of every minute.

In a way, it made the time spent kiting even more special because you never knew how long it would last. There wasn’t time to hold anything back so each session was full on with 100% commitment into every trick. You could see the energy in each athletes riding and in reality I think we saw the best come out in everyone.

Although it felt as though the universe had been working against us at almost every step of the way, finishing off our two-week trip, we had hard drives full of footage to use for North’s campaigns over the next year. We had ventured out to a place lesser known in the kiteboarding world despite the warnings and were returning having experienced kindness and generosity from the locals as well as a rare opportunity to live amongst the remote islands of Los Roques.

www.ranchodopeixe.com.br

124 CAMP

Baja California F-One America Clinic

Baja California

F-One America Clinic

Text Mitu Monteiro | Photo Clark Merritt e Mark Harpur

126 CAMP

Baja California F-One America Clinic

For the second year i’ve beed invited to the Solosports / F-ONE America clinic at Baja California. I did no hesitate one second before saying yes, I’ll come again! That paradise lost worth a second visit (and now i guess also a third…)

Cape Verde, Lisbon, San Francisco San Diego and finally Baja. A long way that lead me for the second time in a rude land with amazing conditions. In San Diego we went to a secondary airport where three small airplanes were ready to bring us beyond the borders.

The flight is quick, one hour in total, but at half way you are obliged to land and do all the burocracy with the border policy. The view from the side window is just amazing, you scrape through dezens of spots along the coast, you can clearly see dolphins swimming and pelicans fishing… it’s a place full of life!

Then you recognize you got into Baja when you see the ba... the waves and the camp! We got there in the afternoon. No wind att all, so we took advange for some SUP and surf in my case. What’s better to recover from two days of flights around the world and differents jat lags?!?!?

The dinners at the camp are typical mexicaly, fajitas, tacos, crabs,

128 CAMP

Baja California F-One America Clinic

meat and fish adapted to every taste and obviously it can’t miss some original tequila and margarita!

The following day the clinic was officially on. We did a meeting together with the Solosport Boss Kevin Trejo, explaining my guys the spot, the conditions and the main goals of the clinic, which is obviously improving a lot!

We spent all days in the sea, no matter which conditions we were founding. If the wind was light we were paddling and surfing even the beginners! In the windy days we were riding hard! The swell we got was not too big, and that was a perfect aspect. The waves were consistent but not high, so everybody were able to catch the wave more suitable to his level. The spot in fact is apt to all kind of riders thanks to its different peak.

A thing that impressed me was the fauna of that place! Sea lions were riding with us every day, dolphins, dozens of pelicans… you could almost touch them as they were so near to you !!! Kiting in these conditions make you feel so part of the nature… it’s a magic feeling that I wish to everybody who is sharing my passion.

Thanks to the staff of Solosports who was shooting all day long our movements, every sunset we were sitting down and analyze all the picture, discussing all together about mistakes, doubts, tips, ecc…

The sunset meeting were a moment to share all our thoughts and feelings of the day, a precious opportunity also to me, that i’m always learning from my clients! I was used to do also a morning meeting focused on theory of several positions and manouvers.

Some guys at the end of the trip were able to close few tricks and this is a success for me as well! Baja is able also to offer super windy days , like 2 years ago in which we had 40 knots and I decided to go for a windsurf session with a 2mt. square sail, just to jump a bit and have some fun alone in the water!

On the other hand, its position make it an aimed destination to biking passionate as well. On a no wind day we were for a biking till a fisherman village. They were just back from the fishing and even if they said the fishing that day was not prosperous I can remember I was impressed by the numbers of fish they had cought! I’m so glad to have joined the biking as I could appreciate the landscape

130 CAMP

Baja California F-One America Clinic

from another point of view...

I guess I have to come back next year as there is already a group willing me there... And I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say no!

http://bayareakitesurf.com

KITE BEACH SCHOOL

LOUNGE BAR & RESTAUTANT A paradise for kitesurfers , an oasi in the desert Services available at the center : lessons for all levels | rental & storage | kids area | sunbeds area professional potographer | lounge bar & restaurant More info at: www.mitudjokiteschoolcaboverde.com - kiteschoolcaboverde@gmail.com

132 ITW

Pete Cabrinha

ITW Roberta Pala, Alberto Rondina | Photo photofiore.com and Courtesy Cabrinha Kites

PETE CA BR

RINH A

134 ITW

Pete Cabrinha

KS_Hi Pete, can you tell us how your kiteboarding’s project started?

PC_I started making kite boards in Maui soon after I learned how to kitesurf. It was a necessity at the time since there was very little product available to buy in 1995. There were no shops selling kite boards so we made our own.

KS_What were the major difficulty you encountered throughout the years?

PC_The world is a large place with many different styles and cultures. Sometimes its difficult to make a product which will cross all cultures and appeal to all people. However, when you do get this right…thats when the success happens.

kite we introduced a type of security that worked together with the bow kite called IDS. Our latest

KS_Cabrinha’s exclusives patents, what can you

innovation is in our Quickloop reconnection. Per-

tell us about the innovation brought by Cabrinha

haps the easiest reconnection in the industry.

during the years?

PC_Cabrinha has contributed quite a bit of in-

KS_Pete manager and Pete rider, how this two

novation to the sport of kitesurfing. At the very

figure mix together? what influence does Pete

heart of our design language is our attention to

Cabrinha has in the R&D of the brand?

ergonomics. I am proud of the way that we look at

PC_I have maintained a special position with Cab-

how the body functions when kitesurfing and we

rinha since we started this company. I believed

design our control systems to work seamlessly

that it was important to have a person driving the

with the body’s movements. Early innovations to

brand from a position directly in the center of the

the control system were things like our patented

company. This means that I work with our product

Powerlock and ergonomic floating EVA bar ends.

development team and our marketing team daily

When it comes to security we have taken this

to design and build products which are innovative

very seriously as kite safety was the only way to

and relevant to what is happening in our sport.

help the sport grow during the early phase of the

This Brand Manager’s position needs someone

sport. We first developed a system called Recon

who is an active athlete with a keen understand-

which was very innovative at the time and still

ing of the business and the sport. I would say that

has some elements to it that are unique. Then

when I started this company, I had more to offer

we introduced the Bow kite and this brought the

from a design and athletic standpoint. Now I be-

sport a new type of performance combined with

lieve I have much more to offer from a business

a increased sense of security. Following the bow

standpoint in addition to my role as an athlete.

136 ITW

Pete Cabrinha

KS_How is the position of Cabrinha in the wor-

KS_On which aspect of the global market is Ca-

ldwide market? What has changed in these ye-

brinha focusing on at the moment? What is the

ars?

trend of the market according to Pete?

PC_Cabrinha is the leader in the sport in terms

PC_The sport of kitesurfing or kiteboarding (I

of the number of products being sold. I think this

prefer kitesurfing) is going in many different di-

is a clear reflection of the hard work that my en-

rections. However, there are some clear trends at

tire team puts into their job. We started the busi-

the moment. Foil boarding is very hot right now

ness when there were a few strong brands and

because it offers an entirely new way to enjoy the

we have had to prove ourselves by making great

sport. Foil boarding also opens up the light wind

product.

arena by making it possible to kite in very light wind conditions. The other clear trends are Freestyle and Kite Surfing. I also see big air coming back in many different forms. I think people are interested in going big. Not just big air for hangtime but big air with critical tricks. The King of the Air competition is partially responsible for this trend coming back.

138 ITW

Pete Cabrinha

KS_What are the features that you look for in a rider, what does a Cabrinha international rider must have to get into the big family?

PC_There are a few things that make a good rider for us. 1st) Kitesurfing skills. 2nd) Style. 3rd) Great attitude. 4th) The ability to interact with other people, customers, media. 5th) They must learn how the business of kiteboarding works. Its no longer only important to be a good rider. If a rider receives a paycheck from us, they must understand how they can contribute to the goal of building the Cabrinha brand. This is probably the most important part of being sponsored. Being a pro rider is a really fun job. Probably the best job in the world if you ask me.

KS_How have Hawaii changed in relationship to our sport, from the beginning up to today?

PC_In the late 90’s and early 2000’s Hawaii was a very good showcase for the sport. A lot of the big names in kitesurfing were living in Hawaii and many were traveling to Hawaii. Now there are many excellent locations in the world which offer great kitesurfing and lifestyle. Maui is still one of the key spots in the world. Maui is the headquarters of the Cabrinha and Naish brands, and North and others have bases here where they test their products.

KS_A typical day of Pete. What do you do when you are out of the water and not working?

PC_There is no shortage of things to do for me. I spend most of my time working for the Cabrinha brand so there is very little time for other things.

However, whenever I’m not working I’m either spending time with my family (at the beach or in the mountains) or I am playing music with my band or creating art. The art and music scene is really a big part of my life.

KS_How are Cabrinha’s materials tests structured and where do they take place?

PC_We do much of the product development between Maui and Asia. In Maui we do most of the water testing for function and durability. While in

140 ITW

Pete Cabrinha

Asia we do most of the lab testing. In Asia we have all of the machines to do cycle testing and breakage testing. Everything we make goes through a massive set of tests in the lab and each product must have 100 hours of water testing before its passed.

KS_How did your Italian trip go? Did the italians take good care of you? :D PC_Yes. Yes. Yes! Italy is awesome. I have been to Italy many times and each time their is a new surprise. But the one thing that is consistent in Italy is the people and the culture. Italy fits perfectly with my idea of lifestyle. Its relaxed and people put a lot of emphasis on getting together, eating good food, and enjoying life. I love how many of the kite surf locations have beach restaurants / bars right on the beach. You can kitesurf, and then come up have a pasta and a beer. This is life!

And now I finding out that there is good surfing in Italy. This is going to be the new spot for me in Europe.

KS_When did you meet Alby and how do you guys get along?

PC_Alby has always been a rock star in my mind.

He is the ultimate ambassador for the sport and for our company. We met in Maui many years ago when he would come with his family for a vacation and training. He has always been a solid rider and this is what first got us interested in him. However, since I have got to know him I have seen how humble he is for how much he has accomplished.

He has a great network of friends and fans and he will do a great job for Cabrinha.

Alby also has some hidden talents. You should get him to play the guitar or the piano for you.

Like I saidâ&#x20AC;Ś.heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a rock star.

THANKS PETE FOR YOUR TIME. I HOPE WE CAN SEE YOU IN ITALY AGAIN SOON!

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142 STRAPLESS MOVES Jibe

J IBE

BY REO STEVENS

So you’ve mastered the art of the twin tip and have decided to take the next step towards expanding your board riding abilities by taking on the directional surfboard. You find yourself up and riding without a problem until you realize that you’re no longer on a double-ender and you are going to need to turn around by switching your feet. One of the easiest ways to do this is to Jibe. A Jibe is a downwind turn.

Text and Photo Courtesy Reo Stevens

144 STRAPLESS MOVES Jibe

JIBE BY REO STEVENS

1. Release your edge and start riding flat on the board. Begin to bring your kite up towards the 12 o’clock position.

2. As you begin moving your kite to 12 o’clock start turning your board downwind and shifting your weight forward onto your front foot.

3. As your kite approaches the 12 o’clock position and you feel yourself becoming lighter on your board from the lift of the kite, you switch your feet. The lift of the kite making you lighter on your board is a key part to smoothly transition your feet.

4. You should be able to swap your feet in two steps: your front foot should be at a 45degree angle to your board so when you feel yourself light on the board, take your back foot’s big toe and place it as close to your font foots big toe. This will be your most unstable point so be sure to spend the least amount of time in this position.

Feel free to use the pull of the kite and the bar to help keep you steady.

5. The moment you feel your back foot steady on the board, take your front foot and put it where your back foot was. At this time your kite should be passing 12 o’clock and heading to 1.

6. Your feet are switched so continue to bring the kite down towards the water to keep your forward momentum going and head back the direction you came from.

TIPS: 1. You can switch your feet before, after or during the turn; the choice is up to you as whatever feels the most natural will be easiest, but the steps to changing your foot placement will be the same.

2. Keeping your weight centered on the board is key, by doing so you will keep the board stable. Stepping wildly around and off centered on the board will increase the difficulty of staying on the board and completing the Jibe.

3. Switching your feet by jumping is not ideal, it can be done, but unless your feet land perfectly in place, you will fall off of the board.

4. Remember, you feet are simply switching positions, not creating new ones… Your back foot becomes your front and your front becomes your back. You went into the turn with your feet in the ideal spot on the board so it only makes sense that that is where they need to be when you finish the turn.

5. Taking your back hand off the bar allows you to twist your upper body and counterbalance yourself throughout the turn.

146 STRAPLESS MOVES Tack

TACK

BY REO STEVENS

You’ve mastered “The Jibe” and now you’re ready to change it up a bit and start “tacking”. A tack is performed by turning your board into the wind to turn around. It can be very useful as you can gain added ground when performing this move quickly and correctly.

Text and photo Courtesy Reo Stevens

148 STRAPLESS MOVES Tack

TACK BY REO STEVENS

1. As you turn your kite towards the 12 oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;clock position, turn the nose of your board into the wind.

2. Keep turning the nose of the board into the wind until it is pointing directly into the wind. As the nose of the board approaches pointing directly into the wind, you will loose your forward momentum. You need to time switching your feet so that your feet are switched by the time the board looses all forward momentum.

3. You should be able to swap your feet in two steps: as you turn into the wind, bring your back foot up to your front foot. When you feel your foot firmly planted on the board place your front foot where your back foot originally was.

4. Your feet are switched, and you are most likely standing still so continue to bring the kite down towards the water for a power stroke to start your forward momentum and head back the direction you came from.

TIPS: 1. Keeping your weight centered on the board is key, by doing so you will keep the board stable. Stepping wildly around and off centered on the board will increase the difficulty of staying on the board and completing the Tack.

2. Taking your front hand off the bar allows you to twist your upper body and point your chest into the wind to help you turn the nose of your board into the wind.

3. Remember, you feet are simply switching positions, not creating new onesâ&#x20AC;Ś Your back foot becomes your front and your front becomes your back. You went into the turn with your feet in the ideal spot on the board so it only makes sense that that is where they need to be when you finish the turn.

4. As you bring your back foot forward to meet your front foot, you can use your front foot (only foot on the board at this time) to pull the nose of the board through the wind window.

text Airton Cozzolino | photo Axel Reese/Reemedia.de

150 STRAPLESS

Strapless Flat 3

Airton's

STRAPLESS FLAT3 Strapless Flat3 is one of the most difficult tricks I did last year.

I was training in Australia during the Merimbula Classic and there were a few guys freestyle training. One of those guys competed in the PKRA and one of them was trying to do a flat3 with a TwinTip and I said to myself: “I wanna try this on my SurfBoard :p”. I swear that I landed the trick on my first try, and no one could believe at what they saw it, I wasn’t believing it either because it was just sick for a first try. From that day I kept trying it every single day because I want to get bigger and bigger; it has become one of my favourite tricks as well as the hardest because I am working on a double strapless Flat3 at the moment ;) and I can say that I almost landed it. I recommend you always try… as nothing is impossible… ;-)

152 TRIP

Saba Rock - BVI

SABA ROCK - BVI

Text Annabel van Westerop | Photo Owen Buggy Photography, Charlie Smith

ABOUT THREE YEARS AGO, I MET SOMEONE WHO CLAIMED TO OWN AN ISLAND IN THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS. OWN AN ISLAND? WHO OWNS AN ISLAND? BVI? I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHERE THAT IS! I WAS ALMOST AT THE POINT OF THINKING HE MADE IT UP UNTIL I DID A LITTLE RESEARCH. A FEW SHORT MONTHS LATER, THIS PERSON BECAME MY SPONSOR. FROM THAT DAY ON I WAS OFFICIALLY REPRESENTING A SMALL ISLAND LOCATED IN THE HEART OF THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS, SABA ROCK.

154 TRIP

Saba Rock - BVI

The Caribbean seems like a small area and you

based on our weight. Yes, they also asked my

could pop over from one island to the next. The

weight at the check-in. I already wondered why,

contrary is true. Until someone comes up with

but at least it was a woman behind the desk…

the idea to create some kind of underwater sub-

As I was the smallest aboard, I was chosen to sit

way or bus system, (lets not because the fish

next to the pilot, all the way in the front. As we

wouldn’t like it), it is quite a hassle to go from one

headed toward Virgin Gorda, I had the most gor-

place to another. Anyway, one day I finally made

geous view of all the little islands that slowly ap-

it down to this mystical land that consists of over

peared all around us. By that moment I was sold.

fifty islands and cays and is very well known for

And a little less so when we landed on the airstrip

it’s sailing. Simply said, I was blown away, and I

which was simply a dirt road.

don’t mean by the wind in this case.

Saba Rock is located in the North Sound, right in

It all starts with the trip to get there. You most

between Virgin Gorda, Eustatia, and Prickly Pear.

likely fly into Puerto Rico, although there are other

Sheltered by the other islands, it creates the per-

options like St. Martin. In my case I got to Puerto

fect harbor area with calm water where sailboats

Rico and was guided to the smallest plane ever.

and yachts can stay for the night. And Saba?

My first thought was how my board bag was never going to fit in there. I was told that it would go with a bigger plane of a different airline to Tortola, the main island, and then take the boat to the island where I was staying, Virgin Gorda. Makes sense right? Well, this was not even an issue because in this wonderful case my gear already got stuck all the way back in Casablanca, but that’s another story. So when we arrived at the plane, I saw the pilot look at each of the seven guests very carefully and decided where we would sit,

156 TRIP

Saba Rock - BVI

That’s where you go for happy hour! Everyone from the sound comes and moors their dinghy to the dock and joins in for a good painkiller or bushwacker! They also serve some of the best food in the BVI, so it’s never a problem to stay until dinnertime.

One of my favorite things of the BVI is that all transportation is by boat. You can take a ferry, or make sure you have a boat of your own for the week to get around from one hidden beach to the other, or from one bar to the other. Take your kites on the boat and you can discover some pristine and deserted kite locations. My favorite kite spot in the BVI is Anegada. This is the only coral island in the area, it’s eleven miles by three, and incredibly flat. Also when you enter the water, it stays shallow for at least another two miles, creating the most epic kite playground ever.

As if my stay was not feeling fancy enough yet, we took a helicopter to Anegada for a fun kitetrip.

Local Cabrinha rider and kiteschool owner Charlie Smith joined us and my friend and amazing photographer Owen Buggy was in charge of catching the moment on camera. As we were preparing to leave, it was explained to me that to get good shots, we must absolutely fly without doors. Oh… well then. No problem, I suppose? So as soon as we launched from the teeny tiny helipad on Saba Rock the adrenaline definitely got going, as did the wind around our heads!

Kiting around Anegada is an incredible experience. On a few different places there are suddenly mounts in the water consisting solely of empty conch shells. The fishermen throw all the shells there whenever they catch conch so that the empty ones are all in one place together. It is incredible to see so many of those gorgeous large shells together in one big mount, taller than myself! The BVI is also very well known for its sea life and especially the sharky side. Anegada is definitely a favorite for these creatures, and it is the first place I ever saw one. Nurse sharks, lemon sharks, tiger sharks, they are all there. It’s definitely a bit scary at first, but as it won’t stop you from going kiting, you start to accept and even

158 TRIP

Saba Rock - BVI

tually respect them.

The wind was absolutely amazing that day, and luckily I could borrow some gear from Charlie as I still didn’t receive my luggage at that point. We did a down winder on the rough side of the island, where we mostly kited inside the beautiful reef and took a few waves here and there. I have not often enjoyed cruising around as much as that day, as I was just admiring all the beauty around me. We ended the session with a great lunch in a nice and simple restaurant as there is not that much tourism on Anegada. Then it was time to take the helicopter back to Saba Rock and on the way we flew over Necker- and Eustatia Island with Virgin Gorda just in front of us.

About Necker Island… Let’s not forget this incredible island of Sir Richard Branson. I mean, Anegada is nice, but this takes it to a whole other level.

I have been very lucky to visit Necker a few times, especially during the MaiTai events that are held there by my friend Susi Mai and Bill Tai. Sir Richard has done an incredible job of running this island almost completely eco-friendly and with luxury that makes you feel comfortable while at the same time it makes you feel like you’re living in some kind of dream. As you can see, it’s very hard to describe. Upon arrival you are greeted by the

160 TRIP

Saba Rock - BVI

lemurs, which are monkey-like creatures that are from Madagascar and very endangered. However, on Necker they are happy and they make lots of noise to let you know. The kiting right in front of the island is amazing as well with a flat spot inside the reef and waves on the other side of the island whenever swell hits. So Sir Richard bought it way before he started kiting? Luck to the next level I’d say!

So after a full week it was time to head back home. The little plane was waiting for me again, and being the only passenger this time, I closed my eyes and imagined I’d end the week by flying home on this private jet. Ok well, almost, but it was quite nice for sure! And like every time when I get back from the BVI, a few days later I wonder if I’m making stuff up because… did that really all happen?

162 TIPS

How to wrap up 4-lines bar

HOW TO WRAP UP 4-LINES BAR In summer 2012 I was spending some months in Sardinia, what a lovely island!

In that time I’ve been hanging around with a local young gun and teammate, Sandro Pisu.

As our friendship got tighter he showed me his secret way to close his bar. Since that moment I’ve always done my bar that way, because the time I save through it, allows me to be the last man pumping, but the first one entering the water... smart, uh!?

At first, you need to wrap up your bar until you come at the height of kite’s wing tips (WITHOUT disconnecting the lines!).

Then you start opening the front lines and you put their loops around your thumb.

Pick up each backline putting them through the loops.

Mind the colours while entering, left backline enters from left frontline and goes through the right one.

Now, tighten the knots.

All you need to do now is wrap the last part of the lines around the bar and stop them.

While you are doing it, it’s very important to avoid that the lines roll or turn around (this would spoil the whole procedure).

My tip is: after tightening the knots, just put them in your mouth and hold them with your teeth while wrapping the lines around the bar (this pic is missing for the sake of photographer’s decency).

Text Matchu Lopes Almeida | Photo Axel Reese/reemedia

TIPS BY MATCHU LOPES ALMEIDA

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164 ITW

Ariel Corniel on Maui

ARIEL CORNIEL ON MAUI Text Courtesy Naish Kiteboarding Photo Quincy Dein

166 ITW

Ariel Corniel on Maui

Q: Ariel, this is your first time riding in Maui. How

Q: Did you notice if specific riding styles and/or

different are the conditions between here and

tricks were more popular here on Maui as com-

your hometown? (Where is your home town?)

pared to the rest of the world?

A: My home town is Cabarete, Dominican Repu-

A: I did not notice any specific tricks, but as for

blic. Compared to Cabarete, which has very calm

riding style wave riding was more popular here

water conditions, Maui had a lot more waves. In

than what I have seen in other places.

addition, the wind was also very strong.

Q: Why did you start kiting?

Q: What do you like best about kiting in Maui?

A: I grew up near the beach and seeing people

A: The great community. It felt a lot like home.

kiting got me interested in the sport. I really wanted to experience having a kite drag me across

Q: Where do you most like to kite in the world

the water. When some of my friends started, so

and why?

did I.

A: My favorite place is my home town, Cabarete.

My family and so many close friends are here and

Q: After you started kiting, what made you want

I always enjoy coming home. I get to ride together

to start doing contests and go pro?

with friends at the spots where I first started ye-

A: At a young age, I got inspired by pro kite sur-

ars ago, and that is always a great feeling. In ad-

fers and wanted to reach their level. I had support

dition, the conditions in Cabarete are great and

from people who saw my talent and I was encou-

consistent, with good wind and calm blue sea.

raged to keep practicing. My first competitions were local ones in Cabarete, and after attending

Q: Do you notice a difference about the kiting

these I gained more experience and more moti-

culture out here? How do you think the Maui kite

vation to become a pro.

scene most differs from your hometown?

A: Just like Cabarete, Maui had beautiful beaches,

Q: Do you have a training regimen to keep you in

warm weather, and a great kite community. I

shape for kiting?

think the biggest difference is more wave riding

A: Yes I do, I have a personal trainer and I train

in Maui compared to freestyle riding in Cabarete.

everyday.

Hawaii has a strong surfing culture so I do think a lot of it has to do with the people and the strong

Q: Is it hard to stay in shape and train while on

connection they have for surfing. Of course, the

the road?

conditions are great too.

A: Yes, it is definitely challenging to stay in shape while travelling, but I always find time for my daily workout. I either go for a run or find a gym.

“IT FELT A LOT LIKE HOME”

168 ITW

Ariel Corniel on Maui

“MAUI HAD BEAUTIFUL BEACHES, WARM WEATHER, AND A GREAT KITE COMMUNITY”

Q: How have you seen the sport change since you started?

Has your riding style changed?

A: Yes for sure. More people all around the world are kiting and the sport is so much bigger now.

The gear has improved tremendously and so has the level. This has allowed me to push even harder and advance my riding.

Q: Where do you think the sport will go in the next few years? How would you like to see the sport evolve?

A: The sport will keep progressing and the level will continue to increase. The new generations of riders are on their way and it will be harder to maintain top positions.

Q: How was your experience during this trip when riding or bonding with your team?

A: Naish take such good care of their riders and Maui was an amazing experience. It was great to spend time together with the team, and we had so much fun together.

Q: Anything else you’d like to add about your Maui experience, your personal riding style…?

A: It was an amazing trip and a great experience for me to be able to visit Maui. It is such a beautiful island. The conditions were great during our stay and we had an amazing time.

Q: Do you have a favorite quote, book or movie that sums up your attitude on life and/or kiting?

My favorite book is called “The limit”

170 FREESTYLE MOVES Tail Grab Back to Blind

FR

T

The Back to Blind with airpass has long been one of the basic maneuvers in the freestyle , then a back to blind, or backroll with backside 180, but with the passage of the bar in the air! Here I show you a variation with a great detail, but the basic of the maneuver is always the same!

Text Alberto Rondina | Photo Roberta Pala

REESTYLE MOVES

TAIL GRAB BACK TO BLIND ALBERTO RONDINA

172 FREESTYLE MOVES Tail Grab Back to Blind

TAIL GRAB BACK TO BLIND

Compared to the classic back to

I put my head back, while trying

bar and I go looking for the tail

blind, where the back rotation is

to pull my legs as higher and re-

of the board. To do this, I bend

more horizontal or flat, in order

versed more

my back leg to easily reach and grab the board.

to get a nice grab I try to be the more reversed as possible, so:Â

When I feel I`m good inversed and the pull of the kite starts to

While grabbing, I begin a backsi-

I detach decided, pop strong

release (it reaches a dead point)

de 180, so I turn my head in the

and I immediately begin the

then I rip the hand behind the

opposite direction and I start to

back rotation

rotate the whole body and brin-

I’m ready to amortize the lan-

ging the bar firstly on my side

ding, so I bend both legs and

and then behind my back.

land loose!

When I fell that the bar gets in the right position, then I release the grab and I take the bar with the other hand!

CIAO! ALBY

174 FREESTYLE MOVES Tail Grab KGB

FREESTYLE MOVES

TAIL GRAB Il KGB, as you know, is a backroll with backside 360, has just got a 180’ more rotation at the end compared to the Back to Blind. In order to add these extras 180’, you’ll have to go slightly higher or rotate faster or both!

Text Alberto Rondina | Photo Roberta Pala

B KGB

ALBERTO RONDINA

176 FREESTYLE MOVES Tail Grab KGB

TAIL GRAB KGB

Detach decided in back, bring

Bend the back leg and leave

opposite direction and then let

the nose of your board toward

your back hand to go and grab

the whole body rotate.

the wind

the tail of the board.

Bring the bar to the side and strongly

Turn your head in the opposite

then behind your back.

backward to get more reversed

direction of the rotation, help

-Leave the grab and go take the

and so youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll easily be able to

yourself also with the hand that

bar behing the back, while thin-

gran the board.

grabs to turn the board in the

king of not getting stuck but to

Push

your

head

continue the rotation.

Add the last 180’ to land heel-

a slower lap, perhaps with the

maneuver will get and will sco-

side. Help yourself by putting

arm outstretched.

re more points… so stay strong

both hands on the bar

Then you will begin to touch

and courage!! Go and try it out

the board, but please, if you

and let me know how it goes!;)

Tips:

don’t reach it, you only have to

Don’t go and grab necessa-

bend the more posterior leg.

rily initially, begin by making

After that, the longer time you

to the arm that leaves the bar,

manage to grab the cooler the

CIAO! ALBY

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