Have Kite, Will Travel
At the Cabarete world cup event (June 21st), things went very well for me. I went two weeks before the PKRA world cup competition started and wanted to practice a little bit. Well, the wind was not the best and the weather was very strange for Cabarete at this time of the year. We had a lot of rain, not very good kiting conditions, but I had a lot of fun with my best friend from Germany who came to visit me.
Kristin competing in Cabarete. Click here to check out more photos from her summer.
For the competition we only got 2 days of wind in the end, but enough to finish freestyle and best trick and I won both of them (at least the handle pass part of the best trick). Again very happy and I went home for a couple of days to pack my things for a very long trip.
I left to go to Greece for the next and 4th PKRA of the year (July 4th) and knew I would go to Indonesia afterwards and than straight to Fuerteventura. When I got to Greece I was stoked! The little Island of Paros was beautiful and the Greek food was so delicious! And in the end I had plenty of time to enjoy Paro’s beauty because one more time we got unlucky with the wind…but this time even more unlucky… and we did not have any wind for the competition.
You would probably think that this must have been very boring – all the waiting for the wind – But no, it wasn’t! We had some meetings, discussing the next year’s tour, thinking about how to improve it and so on. And of course, for me as the PKRA secretary there were a lot of things to do. Anyway, I still had enough time to get to know Greece a little better and...empfehlen... it to you. And normally it is a very windy place as well and supposed to be great for kiting!
My flight schedule to Bali/Indonesia was very tight and I could only hope that I and even more important all my kite equipment would get there in time. My boyfriend and teammate Marc and our photographer Andreas Pastor were already waiting to get started with some picture-taking. I managed to somehow catch all the airplanes and arrived completely exhausted and jet lagged in Denpasar. But no excuses… wake up call next morning and we were on for our little shooting.
Kristin kiteboarding Indonesia. Click here to check out more photos from her summer.
As you probably all know, Indonesia one of the best wave spots in the world. So we went to find the best kiting spots with waves on Bali, not too easy in the end. We had heard about Sanur, but could not really find a spot for kiting. The waves were small and breaking far outside on the reef. Other spots had too offshore winds or the tide was too low. We found some spots for a little freestyle and actually had wind every day, but we did not find the killer waves to kite in. At least not yet...
A couple of days later we went to another island called Sumbawa, already known from some kite Magazines. And there we definitely found the biggest waves I have ever seen. We got very lucky, just 3 days after we got there a big swell came and with it some nice side shore wind. I was really scared when I was on top of my first 10 footer and if it had not been for Marc in front of it waving at me to get it, I would probably have never gone for it. Wow, after that I was just on it… full of adrenalin and full on addicted. Four days like this, even a little bigger waves in the end were what the swell had for us and we took every bit of it we could get. You can probably tell that I am still very stoked!
Kristin kiting 10-foot waves. Click here to check out more photos from her summer.
Now I have to tell you...the waves are great without any question, but the spot is not an easy one. As soon as the tide gets a little lower you have to walk over the reef with the kite up, outside and in the waves you always have the reef right in front of you and if you make a little mistake you will be washed on it. Also it gets quiet shallow and if you get tumbled it can hurt a lot. There are no rescue boats around and not even a proper hospital on the island. With this I don’t want to tell you that it was a bad trip for me, I just want to let you know: Sumbawa (and probably also all the other islands around) is a great spot for good wave riders, but if you want to go because you always wanted to ride some waves and try – just don’t go. There are better places to ride easy waves. I just had to let you know because a lot of people ask me for infos about Sumbawa, a lot of people I don’t think are good enough for the spot and I am just afraid that some day something very bad could happen there, and I don’t want this. All right?
Well, after this great swell was gone we had some relaxed days with no wind and waves and sometimes with just too offshore wind to kite at all. We rented some motorbikes from some locals and went to the town of Dompu an hour away to check e-mails (only possibility) and to check out the place. We enjoyed ourselves and had some more little sessions during the next week. Afterwards we went back to Bali where I had two more days to stay befor I had to hurry for the next world cup competition on Fuerteventura. Sad to leave too soon and sure to be back next year I said goodbye to all the beautiful rice fields, the friendly Indonesian people and the fried noodles.
No, no, no...this was not the best idea...Straight from Indonesia I flew to Fuerteventura and arrived just in time for registration. With a bad jetlag and weakened bladder due to infection I did not feel like competing the very next day, especially not in that always too strong and too gusty winds of Fuerte. Well, nothing else to do, so I told myself that I could be happy to become top 3 in this event and to end up at the podium in the end and did my best.
Kristin at Fuerteventura. Click here to check out more photos from her summer.
We all had a very difficult competition being always overpowered and it was not my one at all. I broke two kites (one not even mine) and had a hard time trying to do high handlepasses in the gusts, but in the end I got second and had reached my goal. I enjoyed my time off in my hotel room and finally got back to normal health and shape. Two days after the competition I went home for 2 days and than to Switzerland for a JN team meeting and a competition at lake Silvaplana. Sitting together with the whole team for a long weekend was very productive and very nice. So we were not even sad that we did not get any wind to compete... that’s quite normal for lake Silvaplana anyway. Now, after traveling from A to B to C and D and shooting and competing all the time I needed a break again! I took one week off and went to Tarifa/Spain to just kite for fun and relax a little bit… and that’s where I still am and enjoy myself!
Kristin competing in Cabarete. Click here to check out more photos from her summer.
For the competition we only got 2 days of wind in the end, but enough to finish freestyle and best trick and I won both of them (at least the handle pass part of the best trick). Again very happy and I went home for a couple of days to pack my things for a very long trip.
I left to go to Greece for the next and 4th PKRA of the year (July 4th) and knew I would go to Indonesia afterwards and than straight to Fuerteventura. When I got to Greece I was stoked! The little Island of Paros was beautiful and the Greek food was so delicious! And in the end I had plenty of time to enjoy Paro’s beauty because one more time we got unlucky with the wind…but this time even more unlucky… and we did not have any wind for the competition.
You would probably think that this must have been very boring – all the waiting for the wind – But no, it wasn’t! We had some meetings, discussing the next year’s tour, thinking about how to improve it and so on. And of course, for me as the PKRA secretary there were a lot of things to do. Anyway, I still had enough time to get to know Greece a little better and...empfehlen... it to you. And normally it is a very windy place as well and supposed to be great for kiting!
My flight schedule to Bali/Indonesia was very tight and I could only hope that I and even more important all my kite equipment would get there in time. My boyfriend and teammate Marc and our photographer Andreas Pastor were already waiting to get started with some picture-taking. I managed to somehow catch all the airplanes and arrived completely exhausted and jet lagged in Denpasar. But no excuses… wake up call next morning and we were on for our little shooting.
Kristin kiteboarding Indonesia. Click here to check out more photos from her summer.
As you probably all know, Indonesia one of the best wave spots in the world. So we went to find the best kiting spots with waves on Bali, not too easy in the end. We had heard about Sanur, but could not really find a spot for kiting. The waves were small and breaking far outside on the reef. Other spots had too offshore winds or the tide was too low. We found some spots for a little freestyle and actually had wind every day, but we did not find the killer waves to kite in. At least not yet...
A couple of days later we went to another island called Sumbawa, already known from some kite Magazines. And there we definitely found the biggest waves I have ever seen. We got very lucky, just 3 days after we got there a big swell came and with it some nice side shore wind. I was really scared when I was on top of my first 10 footer and if it had not been for Marc in front of it waving at me to get it, I would probably have never gone for it. Wow, after that I was just on it… full of adrenalin and full on addicted. Four days like this, even a little bigger waves in the end were what the swell had for us and we took every bit of it we could get. You can probably tell that I am still very stoked!
Kristin kiting 10-foot waves. Click here to check out more photos from her summer.
Now I have to tell you...the waves are great without any question, but the spot is not an easy one. As soon as the tide gets a little lower you have to walk over the reef with the kite up, outside and in the waves you always have the reef right in front of you and if you make a little mistake you will be washed on it. Also it gets quiet shallow and if you get tumbled it can hurt a lot. There are no rescue boats around and not even a proper hospital on the island. With this I don’t want to tell you that it was a bad trip for me, I just want to let you know: Sumbawa (and probably also all the other islands around) is a great spot for good wave riders, but if you want to go because you always wanted to ride some waves and try – just don’t go. There are better places to ride easy waves. I just had to let you know because a lot of people ask me for infos about Sumbawa, a lot of people I don’t think are good enough for the spot and I am just afraid that some day something very bad could happen there, and I don’t want this. All right?
Well, after this great swell was gone we had some relaxed days with no wind and waves and sometimes with just too offshore wind to kite at all. We rented some motorbikes from some locals and went to the town of Dompu an hour away to check e-mails (only possibility) and to check out the place. We enjoyed ourselves and had some more little sessions during the next week. Afterwards we went back to Bali where I had two more days to stay befor I had to hurry for the next world cup competition on Fuerteventura. Sad to leave too soon and sure to be back next year I said goodbye to all the beautiful rice fields, the friendly Indonesian people and the fried noodles.
No, no, no...this was not the best idea...Straight from Indonesia I flew to Fuerteventura and arrived just in time for registration. With a bad jetlag and weakened bladder due to infection I did not feel like competing the very next day, especially not in that always too strong and too gusty winds of Fuerte. Well, nothing else to do, so I told myself that I could be happy to become top 3 in this event and to end up at the podium in the end and did my best.
Kristin at Fuerteventura. Click here to check out more photos from her summer.
We all had a very difficult competition being always overpowered and it was not my one at all. I broke two kites (one not even mine) and had a hard time trying to do high handlepasses in the gusts, but in the end I got second and had reached my goal. I enjoyed my time off in my hotel room and finally got back to normal health and shape. Two days after the competition I went home for 2 days and than to Switzerland for a JN team meeting and a competition at lake Silvaplana. Sitting together with the whole team for a long weekend was very productive and very nice. So we were not even sad that we did not get any wind to compete... that’s quite normal for lake Silvaplana anyway. Now, after traveling from A to B to C and D and shooting and competing all the time I needed a break again! I took one week off and went to Tarifa/Spain to just kite for fun and relax a little bit… and that’s where I still am and enjoy myself!
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2 Comments:
ESTIMATED STAFF AND KRISTIN.
CONSIDER ECUADOR AS A FUTURE KITESRRF DESTINATION.
WIND BLOWS ALL YEAR LONG !!! ONCE WE ARE ON THE ECUADOR AND WE DON´T HAVE SEASONS.
THE BEACH IN MANTA HAS THE BEST CONDITIONS FOR THE SPORT EVER.(AND I´VE BEEN AROUND IN SEVERAL COUNTRIES SO FAR).
YOU ARE ALL SET WITH A 10 METER OR 12 METER KITE. THAT´S ALL YOU NEED.
if you want pictures or further info email me.
kitesurfecuador@yahoo.com
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