SBC Kiteboard - 2009 Kite Reviews

Kiteboarding on NBC

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:36:00 -0400

View more news videos at: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/video.

Kite Dudes

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:54:00 -0400

Learning to race at Squamish

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 09:39:00 -0400

Here I am in Squamish, British Columbia site of the 2010 West Coast Regatta/Canadian Nations for Racing. When I first decided, a few months ago, to try my hand at racing I thought "how hard can it be"? Well I think I'm about to find out that answer, very hard! After a few weeks of trying to figure out my raceboard I have scrapes, bruises and two very sore legs. BUT the time has come to compete my first race so I packed my bags and boarded a plane to Vancouver.

Having done a fair bit of traveling to kite I thought I had developed a pretty good system of packing and sneaking all my gear onto the flight without extra fees or dirty looks from the check-in desk.
Lesson 1: no amount of smiling or pleading can sneak a 6' raceboard past the check-in lady.
Lesson 2: no one who works for an airline knows what kiteboarding is or where to find the rules in the baggage policy. Say "surfboard", hand them your credit card and keep moving.

With those two lessons under my belt I arrived in Vancouver only to learn one more very important lesson.
Lesson 3: the rental car is TOO SMALL. A bigger rental car is too expensive. What would have held kite gear minus the raceboard does not want to hold kite gear plus the raceboard, better make it fit!
Thank goodness for high school geometry and some creative packing. You don't really need to see out the back window anyway, especially when confronted with the view on the Sea to Sky highway from Vancouver to Squamish.

After an amazing drive along the coast and through the mountains I arrived at the spit in Squamish. Squamish has to be one of the most breathtaking spots in the world to kite. The spit is a little piece of land that juts out into the river estuary where the Squamish River meets the Pacific Ocean. Imagine a little slice of rock and gravel in the middle of a river valley with snow capped mountains as a back drop. I even saw a baby seal come up for a breath a few metres from the beach. By the time I arrived it was getting a little bit late to head out on the water, but there was plenty of time to catch up with some good friends and chat about the weekend's racing.

I'm crossing my fingers for some wind tomorrow and little bit of time to warm up before Saturday's first race.

2011 Liquid Force Website Launched

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:56:00 -0400

The new 2011 Liquid Force website launched today. Tight video action from Cape Hatteras on the homepage and some solid riding shots in the team profile section. Check out the site! It's well worth a visit.

http://liquidforcekites.com

Flysurfer Speed3 21m Deluxe - first impression

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 09:43:00 -0400

Flysurfer head designer Armin Harich goes out on his first session with the first serial Flysurfer Speed3 21m Deluxe that arrived the same morning with UPS.
Armin takes us to his home spot near Frankfurt (Germany).

Watch a stoked out Armin playing around and enjoying his new toy;-)

The session was filmed with an Apple Iphone4 and Armin was able to edit and cut the video the same day and put it online immediately.

Flysurfer Speed3 21m Deluxe - First Impression from Flysurfer Kiteboarding on Vimeo.

Race and wave tour schedules get adjusted

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 08:51:00 -0400

The 2010 PKRA Freestyle World Tour continues to have a busy season with the Tenerife Kiteboarding World Tour 2010 starting tomorrow. Due to organizational and logistic problems at the country level the racing and wave tour stops will have some adjustments. The first change is for the racing tour, the Brazil stop scheduled September 15 – 19 , 2010 at Barra do Cunhaú, Brazil has been canceled and secondly, the scheduled wave tour event in New Caledonia from November 23 – 28, 2010 at Tenia Island, New Caledonia has been canceled. This leaves the final PKRA racing event of the 2010 season to be in Bariloche, Argentina from November 2 – 6, 2010, and the final PKRA wave event of the 2010 season to be in the Gold Coast, Australia December 5-12, 2010.

Note the Freestyle event in New Caledonia remains as scheduled in Noumea, November 24 -28, 2010.

Video: Race & Price Ceremony - Kiteboarding World Tour PKRA 2010 Germany

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:43:00 -0400

THE RESPONSABLE WATER SPORT CAMP

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 07:46:00 -0400

What’s that ? Simply the opportunity to live a unique experience with the ocean in practicing and sharing intense water sports in responsable way ! The idea comes from our beloved ’70s when communities wishing to reconnect with the elements and the best of human beings to live their passion for the Ocean ! In this spirit, the comfort is less important than the natural environment and atmosphere of sharing, personal and collective joy. It is the antithesis of mass tourism.

Today, the concept has evolved, a real enthousiasm for water sports stay is born with classics surf, kite or dive destinations, Hawai, Morocco, spanish islands, South and ouest Africa, Portugal, Indonesia and the Caribbean. Tropical Surf Camp, for its part, attempts to refine the concept by opening it to still other water sports like scuba diving and kite surfing and meet them in the same place.

The original idea, as evidenced by its creator, Idris 35 years old, is to enjoy the pure spirit of the 70’s in democratizing these activitées by raising awareness of eco-system of the seashore and respect for nature.

Besides the largest global association for the protection of the seashore SURFRIDER FOUNDATION has been joined in this adventure by being the first partner of TROPICAL SURF CAMP wish reverse a part of his earnings and offers a concrete info/training on the eco-system of the seashore and allows everyone to become “a coast guard” or active member of the association. Every participant join in a “cleaning beach party ! ” at the end of his stay.

Does regular surfers or Kite surfers realy need this kind of organisation ?

Idris 35 years old, Organizer :

Of course no, but everybody realy appreciate the beach house accomodation, transportation to the best and secret spots, meals and the ambiance with girls and boys froom every where of the world ! And if you realy want to progress and evolve, there’s nothing like a pro coach and video analyze, we guarantee a real progress in a week whatever your level. In a lot of time, regular surfers or kitesurfers would like, but don’t take time to dive, learn the brother ’s complementary sport and apreciate their own marine environnement. So we create a unique ocasion to surf, dive and kite surfing in the same fantastic place !

But these activities can sometimes looks not accessible to beginners or non spotive people ?

Everyone has begin one day l It’s always better to begin in the best way. Today the technology and coaching allow anyone to surf, dive with bottles or takes off the air in Kite surfing !

So what about the island, the beach house and ambiance ?

We chose the Caribbean and Guadeloupe French island for its location, its many good surfing and diving spots . The economic impact is positive, we buy fish, fruits and vegetables directly to the fisher men and farmers. Our house is set on a beautiful wild beach surrounded by a huge preserved reef .The ambiance in Caribbeans is totaly cool and fun ! ”

See you there !

You will find all the information and booking possibilities on the web site tropicalsurfcamp.com

DAY 6 Palmolive Kitesurf World Cup 2010

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:57:00 -0400

Freestyle single elimination finals take place in St. Peter-Ording, Germany

The wind began to pick up in strength early this morning making it possible to finish the freestyle single elimination discipline. The weather has not been cooperating 100% in the wind department, however sunny blue skies and record-breaking temperatures have been the setting throughout most of the competition.

The men’s semi final got underway at 10:30am this morning. Dominican rider, Ariel Corniel (Ozone, DOM) was in the lead of the first heat of the day when he accidentally tangled lines with his opponent Andy Yates (Slingshot, AUS) causing him to be disqualified. Yates moved on to the men’s single elimination final against Spanish rider Alex Pastor (Airush, ESP) who eliminated the 2009 world champion Kevin Langeree (Naish, NED) in the semi final.

Kevin Langeree (Naish, NED) dominated the losers final in a 3/2 judges decision against Ariel Corniel (Ozone, DOM) with an overall better execution and difficulty of tricks such as a back mobe to wrapped and one handed 315 with a grab to name a few versus Corniel’s kite loop slim, front side 3, and blind judge 3. In the men’s final, Alex Pastor (Airush, ESP) defeated Australian rider Andy Yates (Slingshot, AUS) in a 4-1 judges decision. Pastor’s non inverted slim, front mobe to blind, kgb to blind and switch tricks were better executed with more power then Yates’ switch slim, switch kgb and switch blind judge.

In the women’s final, Spanish rider Gisela Pulido (Airush, ESP) defeated Brazilian rider Bruna Kajiya (Flexifoil, BRA) in a 5-0 judges decision due to an overall better execution of tricks such as kite loop 3 and kite loop slim chance. Kajiya executed most of the same tricks but her blind judge 3 and 313 were not enough to gain the win over Pulido. In the women’s losers final, Polish rider Karolina Winkowska (Slingshot, POL) defeated Spanish rider Angela Peral (North, ESP) in a 5-0 judges decision due to her variety of tricks such as a blind judge 3, slim chance and s-bend to blind.

At 3:00pm, the red flag went up marking the start of the racing discipline. Racers rushed out on the water for the 8th as well as 9th race of the competition. French racer Bruno Sroka (Cabrinha, FRA) finished first in both races today. Julien Kerneur (Takoon, FRA) placed second in the first race of the day while Spanish rider Abel Lago (RRD, ESP) takes third. In the second and final race of the day, Bruno Sroka (Cabrinha, FRA) finished yet again in first place followed by Olivier Dansin (North, FRA) in second and Julien Kerneur (Takoon, FRA) in third.

It was a challenging day for the women racers due to the stronger wind conditions. Katja Roose (Airush, NED) injured her foot during the race. The ambulance drove on the beach to care for her minor injury. In a short interview with Norwegian rider, Kari Schibevaag (Ozone, NOR) she mentioned that she only had a light wind board amongst her material and due to her extremely petite size, it was impossible for her to finish the race. Steph Bridge (North, GBR) finished in first place in both races today followed by Caroline Adrien (Cabrinha, FRA) who finished second in both races and German rider Kristin Boese (Best, GER) who finished third on both races.

Tomorrow’s mandatory skippers meeting is scheduled for 10:00am

For all main live results please visit:

http://www.extremeelements.tv/live_results/results.php?TNID02=59&TYPE04=SINGLE&SEX01=M http://www.extremeelements.tv/live_results/results.php?TNID02=59&TYPE04=SINGLE&SEX01=F http://www.extremeelements.tv/live_results/results.php?TNID02=59&TYPE04=DOUBLE&SEX01=M

The St. Peter-Ording Kitesurf World Cup is supported in part by: Palmolive, Prosieben, tv14, St. Peter-Ording-Nordsee, Jever, Quicksilver, Lufthansa, Naish, Havaianas, Pentax, N-Joy, Coke, Moebel-Kraft, Yamaha, Sport1, Kitelife, x-h2o, Splocs, PKRA, International Kiteboarding Association.

FREESTYLE SINGLE ELIMINATION RESULTS

MEN

1.   Alex Pastor (Airush, ESP)

2.   Andy Yates (Slingshot, AUS)

3.   Kevin Langeree (Naish, NED)

4.   Ariel Corniel (Ozone, DOM)

WOMEN

1.   Gisela Pulido (Airush, ESP)

2.   Bruna Kajiya (Flexifoil, BRA)

3.   Karolina Winkowska (Slingshot, POL)

4.   Angela Peral (North, ESP)

RACING RESULTS

MEN

RACE #1

1.   Bruno Sroka (Cabrinha, FRA)

2.   Julien Kerneur (Takoon, FRA)

3.   Abel Lago (RRD, ESP)

RACE #2

1.   Bruno Sroka (Cabrinha, FRA)

2.   Olivier Dansin (North, FRA)

3.   Julien Kerneur (Takoon, FRA)

WOMEN

RACE # 1

1.   Steph Bridge (North, GBR)

2.   Caroline Adrien (Cabrinha, FRA)

3.   Kristin Boese (Best, GER)

RACE #2

1.   Steph Bridge (North, GBR)

2.   Caroline Adrien (Cabrinha, FRA)

3.   Kristin Boese (Best, GER)

SEE COMPLETE RACING RESULTS

Secret Spot Oregon

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:59:00 -0400

What an amazing day riding at a secret spot in Oregon yesterday afternoon with LF Team and Friends. Wakestyle in windy against current condition is simply amazing. Everybody got their share of sick riding while enjoying the beauty of Oregon Columbia scene.

What a memorable session, I’ve even heard Brandon Scheid saying it was simply the best session of his life!

http://julienfillion.com/secret-spot-oregon/

DAY 3 Palmolive Kitesurf World Cup 2010

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:23:00 -0400

Two races complete the third day of competition

Unfortunately the wind was not favorable for the freestylers today therefore race director Olaf Van Tol announced that he would run races for as long as the wind cooperates.

The weather here in St Peter-Ording today was simply outstanding. Clear, sunny blue skies and record warm temperatures hovered the beach while vacationers, locals as well as crew enjoyed the sunshine. A total of two races were completed today before the wind completely diminished.

It was a winning day for French rider Bruno Sroka (Cabrinha, FRA) who won the first as well as the second race today. Rolf Van Der Vlugt (Airush, NED) finished second both races followed by Julien Kerneur (Takoon, FRA) who finished third in both races today.

In the women’s racing division, Steph Bridge (North, GBR) finished first in the first race of the day, followed by Caroline Adrien (Cabrinha, FRA) in second and Kristen Boese (Best, GER) in third. In the second race of the day, Katja Roose (Airush, NED) finished first while Caroline Adrien (Cabrinha, FRA) remains in the second position and Kristen Boese (Best, GER) takes third place. Steph Bridge (North, GBR) crossed the start line too soon which enables her any points for the second race of the day.

At 3:00pm Van Tol dismissed all the riders for the day due to the non-existent wind. A meeting between the riders and PKRA judging crew was held this afternoon to discuss judging criteria. Riders had the perfect opportunity to challenge questions of concern as well as debate over previous issues in regards to the judging aspect of competitions.

Organizers made it possible for riders to have a little fun wakeboarding.

Tomorrow’s mandatory skippers’ meeting is scheduled for 11:00am.

For all main event live results please visit: http://www.extremeelements.tv/live_results/results.php

Check out the new official PKRA Facebook page for added information: PKRA World Tour Riders as well as administrative crew will post the latest information, open discussions, live updates, photos and much more.

The St. Peter-Ording Kitesurf World Cup is supported in part by: Palmolive, Prosieben, tv14, St. Peter-Ording-Nordsee, Jever, Quicksilver, Lufthansa, Naish, Havaianas, Pentax, N-Joy, Coke, Moebel-Kraft, Yamaha, Sport1, Kitelife, x-h2o, Splocs, PKRA, International Kiteboarding Association

RACING RESULTS

MEN RACE #1
1.   Bruno Sroka (Cabrinha, FRA)
2.   Rolf Van Der Vlugt (Airush, NED)
3.   Julien Kerneur (Takoon, FRA)

MEN RACE #2
1.   Bruno Sroka (Cabrinha, FRA)
2.   Rolf Van Der Vlugt (Airush, NED)
3.   Julien Kerneur (Takoon, FRA)

WOMEN RACE #1
1.   Steph Bridge (North, GBR)
2.   Caroline Adrien (Cabrinha, FRA)
3.   Kristen Boese (Best, GER)

WOMEN RACE #2
1.   Katja Roose (Airush, NED)
2.   Caroline Adrien (Cabrinha, FRA)
3.   Kristen Boese (Best, GER)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kitesurfworldcup/sets/72157624412659659/

The Fantastic NA Blend Crew

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:36:00 -0400

Great new video from Europe's Stance checking out the North American riders: Eric Rienstra, Brandon Scheid, Billy Parker, Sam Medysky and Jon Van Malsen. Sick edit work by Benoit Paillard.

the fantastic NA blend crew from Benoit Paillard on Vimeo.

XtremeBigAir's Kinsley Wong accident

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:23:00 -0400

Pismo Beach businessman injured while kiteboarding

Kinsley Thomas Wong was severely injured at San Simeon; he is the man behind XtremeBigAir

Latest Update from The Kiteboarder magazine's Marina Chang.

http://www.thekiteboarder.com/wordpress/2010/07/kinsley-wong-update-7182010/

Ro-Sham-Throw Down PreFunk

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:52:00 -0400

Ro-Sham-Throw Down PreFunk from Nate Appel on Vimeo.

2010 IKA Caribbean Kite Racing Championship

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:50:00 -0400

With two events in one, Puerto Rico celebrated its first international multidiscipline Windsurfing/Kitesurfing event, last weekend July 9th to 11th. Both events attracted sailors from countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Turkey, France, and United States. The kitesurfing portion was an IKA sanctioned event, titled the Caribbean Kite Racing Championship, which awarded $10,000 USD in prize money and 410 IKA ranking points. This event is the first kite racing event of its class in the island of Puerto Rico.

One week before competition, locals started to see some familiar faces from top professionals that started to arrive for training. Among these, Damien Leroy (2nd place in the 2010 World Championships) and girlfriend Melissa Gil (ranked 1st in Offshore speed). Also, later in the week current World Champion Adam Koch, his brother Andrew Koch, top French rider Julien Kerneur and two time Olympic medalist Michael Gebhardt showed up to test the conditions.

The conditions for racing were outstanding, with warm flat water and daily winds constantly blowing above 20 MPH sometimes gusting up to 29 MPH. IKA representative and Race Director Bruno De Wannemaeker set a course that was short and close to shore, bringing exciting racing to the spectators lining the sea wall. The short course, multiple lap format was fast and furious, and was an exciting departure from long leg races typically seen at course racing events.

Puerto Rico’s Day 1 of racing featured some of the best course racers in the world going head to head against each other and also against some very talented local foil boarders. Six three-lap races later, Damien Leroy and Adam Koch proved that they would be the ones to beat. At the end of the day Damien Leroy from Cabrinha was on close lead, followed by Adam Koch. Also, the surprise of the day was local Phil Morstad from KitesurfPR, which even though this was his first kite racing event, proved to be a strong competitor by placing fourth place after Julien Kerneur.

On Day 2 of the event, a new fun category composed of 26 local kiters called Weekend Warriors was invited for racing. For most it was their first time racing, thus after the skippers meeting, they all gathered to learn some of the basics of kite racing from Puerto Rican Olympic Windsurfer, KitesurfPR owner and co-organizer of the event, Karla Barrera.
On day 3, the conditions proved to be trickier by having a few dramatic changes in wind strength. This posed the additional challenge for competitors of having to be quick thinkers and select the right equipment. After a total, of 13 races Damien Leroy had a strong point advantage over the other competitors securing his lead and giving him the title of new Caribbean Kite Racing Champion. Adam Koch followed in second place, and Julien Kerneur in third place. In the weekend warrior class the positioning was a follows: 1st Xavier Lay, 2nd Bruno Giuntoli and 3rd place Orlando de Jesus.

To learn more about future kitesurfing events in Puerto Rico please check The Puerto Rico Windsurfing & Kitesurfing Association website: http://www.prwindkite.org and local kitesurfing school and shop KitesurfPR’s website http://www.kitesurfpr.com

Results
Pro Men
1st Damien Leroy
2nd Adam Koch
3rd Julien Kerneur

Weekend warrior class
1st Xavier Lay
2nd Bruno Giuntoli
3rd Orlando de Jesus.

2010 Canadian Kiteboard Course Racing Championships

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:17:00 -0400

This is an announcement for a Kiteboard Course Racing Event:

2010 West Coast Open
held concurrently with the 2010 Canadian National Championships

Squamish, BC, Canada
Aug 20-22

Info & Registration online:
http://www.squamishwindsports.com/regatta2010/

Regards,
Kyle Touhey
SWS Race Director
kyle@touhey.net

No wind marks the first day of competition

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:08:00 -0400

No wind marks the first day of competition

It was a beautiful, hot and sunny day in Essaouira, Morocco. Hundreds of vacationers and locals were out and about enjoying the Moroccan climate.

The wind forecast predicated that the wind would be non-existent today, however organizers managed to gather a large number of competitors as well as some members of the PKRA crew to partake in a fun afternoon of golf.

An over anxious Kevin Langeree (Naish, NED) has obviously been training super hard for this competition. He swung his golf club with excessive force, breaking the club in two. French rider Forrest Bakker (Flexifoil, FRA) also managed to swing and break a club in two pieces. These boys are desperately in need of some wind to take their frustrations out on the water, and not on golf clubs. The next thing you know they will be swinging clubs at each other.

A large group of Brazilian wave riders such as the amazing world-class rider Guilly Brandao (Mormaii, BRA) made their way out on the water today to take advantage of some small surf.

The wind forecast for tomorrow looks very promising.

The mandatory riders’ meeting is scheduled for 10:00am tomorrow morning with a first possible start at 10:30am.

Race director, Olaf Van Tol will set the stage for a spectacular freestyle show.

For information on live results please click on the attached link below: http://www.extremeelements.tv/live_results/results.php

Wake the Line

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:36:00 -0400

This is one of those random videos that we really like. Inspiration for some kite features.

Wake the Line 2010 from Martin Altenkamp on Vimeo.

Sauble Beach Kite Jam

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 08:35:00 -0400

Official dates have been announced for the 2010 Sauble Beach kite Jam. The Sauble Beach Kite Jam is scheduled for September 10-12th. Events will include Freestyle, Course Racing, Strapless Session, Sliders, SUP races, 2011 Gear Demos, Exibitors' Booths and a Saturday night beach party. For more info visit kiterider.ca.

Swiss kiteboarding rules – at least the womens fleet.

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 10:20:00 -0400

In time like a swiss clock the Maloja winds at noon began to blow from southerly directions with sufficient 12 to 15 knots wich is the usual force to ride the highest kiteboarding location for an event in the world. 1800 meters above sea level the Silvaplana is the scenery for a highly deserved feestyle session of the Kitesurf Tour Europe. “It is apleasure to host riders from Brasil, Japan or Poland in our location and having wind, sun and professional organization” Menduri Kasper in charge of tourism marketing Silvaplana told.

The first freestyle heats of the men sadly prooved that Switzerland on international competition level in kiteboarding is more focussed on racing. No participating Swiss rider survived the pre-elimination rounds.

Despite the performance of the male competitors the swiss amazones are the favourites for the fourth stopp of the Kitesurf Tour Europe 2010. After five stopps the European Champion in Freestyle will be eliminated.

In the Single Elimination Alberto Rondina was riding against acting German champion Mario Rodwald; The second pair was German Stefan Permien versus Belgian Christophe Tack. The Result of the Final will be communicated on Sunday with the price giving ceremony at 3 p.m.

In the women freestyle the third place was decided between German Kathrin Borgwardt and Nicky Rudd from UK. Nicky was judged to be winner of that heat. A powerful final was seen in winds powering their 10 to 13 meter kites between local Silvaplana rider Celine Collaud (26 year old) who already succeeded in Podersdorf and is leading the womens Freestyle fleet against Polish Anja Grzelinska. On her first international competition Swiss Manuela Jungo (26 year old; Düdlingen/Fribourg) was kicked out by Celine Collaud in the elimination ladder. We might see an interesting revenche in the double elimination sheduled for the upcoming days. Manuela started kiteboarding in 2005 while a stay on the Hawaiian islands. Manuela will take a break from work inSeptember for two years to train even harder and thus be a future for Swiss Freestyle kiteboarding.

The wind died after a rain shower drifting over the lake and ended the successful day for the rider of the kitesurf Tour Europe in Silvaplana.

For more informations please contact (www.kitsurftour.eu);

Jérémie Eloy's new website

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:47:00 -0400

Hello

After four months of work, I'm happy to tell you that i just upload my new site http://jeremieeloykiteboarding.com/en/

I wanted to offer a true travel book with great visuals, stories of trips since 2002, great videos, a selection of fascinating photos, with a text explaining the picture, videos, a blog, and of course most of the coverage

Take 5 minutes to get fresh air.. especially in the travel chronicles http://www.jeremieeloykiteboarding.com/en/chronicles/ <http://www.jeremieeloykiteboarding.com/fr/chroniques/>

Hope you will enjoy it!

Thank you

Jérémie Eloy

Professional Kiteboarder

Jeremieeloy.com

Live GPS Tracking at SEAT Kiteboarding European Championships 2010

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:47:00 -0400

From 22nd until 27th of June 2010, the SEAT Kitesurf World Cup will host the Kitesurf Tour Europe as well as the European Kite Racing Championships and offer live GPS tracking to follow the action live on the beach and in the internet.

“It is a pleasure to support the professional racings of the SEAT Kitesurf World Cup with our profession to geotarget and track people”, Heiko Thoelmann CEO of Presentec GmbH explains.

About this sensational approach in kiteboarding: The buoys and top 10 rider in the racing fleet will be tracked via Sunsim water-proof mobile phones and displayed to a giant LCD screen at the beach. Vodafone SIM cards will ensure that also speed and other interesting infromations will be available on www.kitesurf-worldcup.com <http://www.kitesurf-worldcup.com/> for the spectator.

The IKA (International Kiteboarding Association) will feature the broadcast. Rider and kiteboarding addicteds can follow the “fourious four” in the racings:

Leading Danish Bjoern Rune Jensen (42 years), Dutch Rolf Van der Vlugt (29 years and Dutch speed record holder with over 47 knots) and German Dirk Hanel (35 years) are giving current World Ranking Leader Bruno Sroka from France a hard time to win the European Championship in kite racing while this Kitesurf Tour Europe stop.

The Kitesurf Tour Europe will determine the best European Kiteboarder in the thrilling discipline of freestyle. Each individual event will also offer kiteboard racing with ranking points counting towards the International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) world ranking.

For 2010 the series is hosted by the famous Surf Cup Podersdorf (Austria), the KBO (Netehrlands), SEAT Kitesurf World Cup (Germany), Engardin Wind in Switzerland and a final event Poland while the famous FAMA festival. The KTE will distribute a total Price Money of more than 60.000€. For more informations please visit www.kitesurftour.eu <http://www.kitesurftour.eu/>

The sanctioning body IKA (International Kiteboarding Association) is an International Class Association of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF), the world governing body for any kind of sailing activities including kitebording. Its responsibility, amongst others, is to manage the global administration of the sport and combining world events into one united ranking

Brand Guides is an agency based in Hamburg/Germany and is specialized in lifestyle and extreme sports. In 2002 Brand Guides esteblished the German Championship series, the Kitesurf Trophy (www.kitesurf-trophy.de <http://www.kitesurf-trophy.de/> ) which is held with 39 events since 2002. The Kitesurf WorldCup Westerland 2009 was the first ever IKA sanctioned WorldCup event.

High res pictures will be available on our database www.brandguides.net <http://www.brandguides.net/> .For rough cuts and footage please contact us.

KITEBOARDING – THE “WHITE KNIGHT” FOR OLYMPIC SAILING ?

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:36:00 -0400

The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) has recently mandated their “Olympic Commission” to examine the strengths and weaknesses of Sailing in the Olympic Games; to compare with other sports and to make recommendations for the future of Olympic Sailing.

The report, presented to the ISAF mid-year conference, has been a wake up call for many, although the contents did not come as a surprise.
The key issues identified by the Olympic Commission are:

Increase Universality: in other words, make the sport more popular, to get more nations and especially young people involved. While Sailing is particularly strong in Europe and North America, there is a significant lack of interest in the emerging nations
Expanding Qualification Opportunities: athletes and nations should be able to qualify at more than one opportunity (not just the world championships)
Building Popularity: How can Sailing become more attractive for the live audience as well as the media
Improving Event Structure: Create a clear pathway from bottom to top, finally leading to the Olympics
Enhancing the Olympic Games: The Olympics as the pinnacle event every four years should demonstrate the diversity and skills of the leading young athletes from all nations, and provide entertaining coverage

While Kiteboarding is not yet an Olympic Sailing Class, it seems that many of the requirements and changes that the Olympic Commission suggests are already in place in the world of international Kiteboarding, and as a result, Kiteboarding could become Sailings “White Knight” - gaining back attraction and attention for the Olympic Sailing Programme.

In detail:

Increasing Universality: Kiteboarding is especially strong in emerging regions, due to the ease of administration (no rigid one design class), the low costs of equipment (Kiteboarding would be by far the cheapest Olympic Sailing Equipment), ease of transportation (Kiteboarding equipment fits in the back of every standard car and can be taken on every plane as standard luggage), ease of water access (no expensive marinas are needed), and world wide availability.
Kiteboarding also attracts the youth of the world, as it is considered a “fun orientated extreme-sport” and has only little to do with “old fashioned sailing” as it is seen by many young people.
Expanding Qualification Opportunities: Kiteboarding comes with a world wide series of events, well structured into national, continental and world class competitions. Every discipline has its own world ranking which gives an accurate picture of every athletes and nations performance at every time of the year.
Continental Tours and Championships are in place, providing enough possibilities to cover the requirements of Olympic Qualification Systems
Building Popularity: Kiteboarding is colorful, fast, thrilling and full of action. Kiteboarding events in all disciplines can be held close to the beach, as competition can take place in knee deep water. Through the long lines of the kites wind cover is not an issue. This brings the action close to the spectators and the media, while reducing television production costs.
Tracking systems with live coverage to the spectators on the beach and the internet have been extensively and successfully tested.
Kiteboarding competitions are short: elimination series competitions (using a K.O. format) can be completed easily in one or two days, races in fleet racing are short and thrilling, allowing for up to eight races per day. This makes for events that cost less, and create more tension from the start to finish.
Improving Event Structure: Kiteboarding has a clear structure from bottom to top, with a clear pathway for young sailors up to the pro’s. Youth competitions take place with exactly the same equipment as world championship competitions. With a free choice of equipment, every competitor has a fair chance to pick the equipment that fits him best, allowing for true fair competition on equal opportunities.
Enhancing the Olympic Games: Sailing Competitions need to become spectacular for media and live audience. Kiteboarding Competitions already include “Events” around the competition, in average attracting several ten thousands of visitors per event. Sporting action on the highest level teams up with a festival for the visitors, entertaining them even when there is no wind and giving the media something to talk about. Major kiteboarding events usually produce app. 400 hours of TV coverage per event, and countless hits on the internet including internet TV, as well as articles in newspapers and magazines.

There is something more to note on the Olympic Commissions report.

The Olympic Commission suggests longer planning cycles for the chosen equipment, with 8 core events and 2 specialty events for “new and exciting sailing disciplines”. Whilst we appreciate this honor (as we interpret Kiteboarding as one of these “new and exciting sailing disciplines”) – there have not been so many other exciting developments in the past – and even look forward to Kiteboarding's participation in the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio de Janeiro under the strategy of the ISAF Olympic Commissions report, we do not believe that the conclusions of the ISAF Olympic Commission go far enough to preserve Sailing a place in the Olympic Games in the long term.

For this reason, the IKAs own Olympic Commission will present Kiteboardings own ideas, for a radical new approach, in the next days.

Kiteboards invited to NOOD Regatta!

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 06:44:00 -0400

For the first time ever, a kiteboard course racing division has been added to the Sperry Topsider NOOD (National Offshore One Design) Regatta. It will be held at St. Francis Yacht Club June 26-27, 2010.

The Sperry Topsider NOOD is held at 10 locations nationwide each year. This year will mark the series' return to the Bay area after a six-year absence. We will be running three different race courses and there are currently 147 boats signed up in 19 different classes.

Registration will take place at the St. Francis Yacht Club on Friday, June 25th from 1700-1900 and 0800-1000 on Saturday, June 26th. Racing will be Saturday and Sunday with the first Warning Signal scheduled for 1500 and 1300 respectively.

Attached is the schedule of events and the entry form. The entry form needs to be turned in at one of the registration time slots listed above. You may use your usual season jersey if you have one, if you need one email raceoffice@stfyc.com <mailto:raceoffice@stfyc.com> .

If you would like more information on the NOOD, visit http://www.sailingworld.com/article/NOOD-San-Francisco-Info-Center <http://www.sailingworld.com/article/NOOD-San-Francisco-Info-Center> . As the kite class is a very recent addition to the lineup, don’t be alarmed about not being listed in the NOR or online registration.

We are pleased to welcome kiters to join the fun and hope you can make it!

---

Race Office

St. Francis Yacht Club

On The Marina

San Francisco, CA 94123

t. 415.655.7756

f. 415.563.8670

raceoffice@stfyc.com <mailto:raceoffice@stfyc.com>

www.stfyc.com <http://www.stfyc.com>

Cabarete Kiteboarding World Cup 2010

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 06:35:00 -0400

Registration commenced with a world breaking record of 20 nationalities. Riders from Australia, Aruba, Lebanon, Brazil, France, Germany and Canada to name a few made their way to Cabarete, Dominican Republic yesterday for the third stop of the PKRA World Cup 2010.

The sun was shinning and the wind was howling as spectators hovered to watch the Dominican freestyle championship. Four wildcards were given at this competition enabling them a spot to compete against the best in the world at the PKRA main event, which will kick off today. Alex Soto (F-One, D.R.) proved that he’s amongst the best winning the Dominican Republic freestyle competition while fellow teammate Robinson Hilario (F-One, D.R.) came in second place. These two competitors as well as Ariel Corniel (Ozone, D.R) and Jose Miguel Corniel (EH, D.R.) will earn themselves each a wildcard into the main PKRA World Cup freestyle event.

Registration was a complete success. It is the first time this year that more than 39 male competitors signed up which means that trials will be held this morning in order to eliminate 7 men. 14 female competitors rushed their way to the registration line proving that they are here to test the waters of Cabarete in hopes of earning a world cup event title.

The Cabarete Kiteboarding World Cup opening ceremony kicked off at LAX Lounge & Bar with live bands and highly energetic music playing as many competitors, organizers and locals danced around on the sandy beach. Kiteboarding legend Laurel Eastman hosted the evening and announced the official opening of the Cabarete 2010 World Cup event.

Without the help of many supporters this event would not have been possible. A huge thanks goes out to all of those who made this event possible and bringing back the world cup to Cabarete.

Skipper's meeting will be held on the beach today at 11:00am.

The Cabarete Kiteboarding World Cup in sponsored in part by Presidente.

2010 Squamish Race Series – Day 1 Report

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 11:58:00 -0400

Squamish has had a late and cloudy start to the season, but everything changed just in time for June 12, the first day of four in the 2010 SWS Squamish Kite Racing Summer Series. Blue skies shone through early in the morning, foreshadowing the trademark 20knot smooth breeze that was to fill the bay for the whole day. Extreme low tides exposed the normally-hidden sandbar; a rare sight, making for a far more dynamic racing course filled with devil chop, swirling currents, other casual kiteboarders and boats from the local kite schools.
The first start was delayed until 1pm so that riders would not need to change kite sizes during the day. Competitors showed up for the first race of the season. Most were well powered on 9m to 11m kites, with boards and other gear tested and tuned from a long off-season.

With two separate divisions, the Long Course Div was definitely the more competitive of the two with 11 race-board equipped riders. Local knowledge kept Kyle Touhey & Stefano Rista (2009 series winner) trading first and second place finishes, with some very tight racing on their new Rista Design tri fins. It wasn’t uncommon that they would swap leads at each mark rounding over the two-lap windward-leeward course. This went until the fifth race when Rista met with bad luck on a botched tack for a lay line, which resulted in a broken line and a DNF result. He was able to get back to the course in time for the sixth and final race of the day, but will have to rely on a discard for the fifth race. In the end it was Touhey who came out ahead as the Day 1 winner, and who becomes the current Series points leader for the Long Course Division, followed closely by Rista.

The battle for third place was also just as heated, between veteran competitor from Seattle, Adam Vance and local kiteschool owner Colin Ernst. Vance was right on the tails of the leaders on his modified NJS quad fin board, and showing his experience, managed to recover with a respectable finish in the third race despite a tangle with another competitor. He managed to keep good consistent scores throughout with some solid speed and pointing, along with good racing tactics. But Ernst started to get the feel of things and in the fifth race managed to pull ahead at the last minute for an exciting high speed photo-finish over Vance, earning him his best score of a second place. Although in the end Vance safely held his third place ranking for the day.

The rest of the fleet showed some really great racing, with lots of position changes and even a few other close finishes, such as Don Campbell and Chris Glazier who once crossed the line within 1m of each other! The Squamish fleet is becoming fairly enthusiastic as a whole, with more and more riders switching to proper racing boards to become more competitive.
In the Short Course Division, despite not having perhaps the same performance equipment, riders were still just as eager to best each other, and just have a little fun. Worth noting is the dominating winning streak of Paul Sabiston who, after missing the first start, went on to take first place in every other race. Perhaps it was a psychological strategy. The rest of this fleet showed great enthusiasm and good racing and sportsmanship, exemplified by a few of the competitors returning to the race course even after disastrously tangling kites.
In the end, the first day of the series was a big success with great weather, ideal winds and a positive competitive spirit; the whole event went off without a hitch. The Race Committee and support boat did an excellent job of keeping all the riders safe, informed and on track, managing to complete the maximum of six daily races with time to spare. The success so far of this series, along with the natural setup, shows the potential of Squamish as an excellent venue for larger Kiteboard course racing events in the future.
Remaining SWS Summer Series 2010 dates: July 10, August 28, and Sept 11.

Scores and Series Rankings available online: www.SquamishWindsports.com/events/events.php

VIDEO: Grant Mounce, a rider from the Short Division filmed a start from the Long Division: http://vimeo.com/12555941

Long Course Start from Grant Mounce on Vimeo.

Flysurfer Speed3 wins hangtime-comp with ease

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 07:15:00 -0400

A part of the Swedish Flysurfer-team attended Öland Kitejam, which is one of the stages of the Swedish Kitesurfing Tour, last weekend. The wind conditions during the heats and finals where 10-15 knots.

The team proved again that the Flysurfer Speed3 is a real hang-time monster!

The final results (from www.kitetour.se):

Hangtime: times during final (best hangtime during all heats)

Peter Vikmo 5.4sec (6.2sec) - FLYSURFER
Mike TK Blomvall 4.1sec (4.1sec) - NOBILE
Henrik Hagdorn 3.6sec (3.8sec) - CABRINHA
Kaj Kjellgren 3.4sec (3.6sec) - FLYSURFER

Peter was riding his Flysurfer Speed3 19 Deluxe. Mike Blomvall took second place.

Kaj Kjellgren (The Swedish Flysurfer importer) was riding his Speed3 15 Deluxe and took a respectful 4th place concidering he crashed hard and battled to get his board back during the heat. A big congrats to Peter for winning this hangtime competition!

http://www.flysurfer.com

Kitesurf Instructor needs bone marrow transplant

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 11:03:00 -0400

Donation for Kerly L`Intelligent
Team Member Club Mistral Mauritius
Kitesurfing Instructor & Service
Age 22 years

Kerly needs to get a bone marrow transplant as he is suffering from a real rare disease called:
APLASTIC ANEMIA
(Disease is a condition where bone marrow does not produce sufficient new cells to replenish blood cells. Typically, anemia refers to low blood cell counts of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets termed Pancytopenia.)

Kerly´s stage is considered as very severe.
He is a young enthusiastic sportsman, a very talented kitesurfer, a through and through positive person who loves nature and sports.

We need to do our maximum for him - if not it could be fatal for him.

Only a bone marrow transplant can help him survive but this life-saving operation is not possible on Mauritius. As the situation is very critical, already on Monday June 14th, Kerly, his father and sister (donator) need to go to India for the operation.
We need to collect quiet a big amount of money as quickly as possible as the operation together with hospital and trip to India will cost around Euro 51,000.

Every amount will help Kerly a lot!

Bank Details for donations:
Mr Alain L´Intelligent (Father of Kerly)
Bank: The Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd.
Acct No: 152507434
Reference: KERLY
IBan: MU79MCBL0915000002507434000MUR
SWIFT: MCBLMUMU

For more information please contact ninja.bichler@club-mistral.com or yola.bichler@club-mistral.com.

Thanks in advance for your help and participation.

Kiteboarding the new Golf

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 10:46:00 -0400

15 Girls, 15 Blocks

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 10:14:00 -0400

15 girls. 15 Blocks. June 13th

Come support the first annual Air Club for Girls
Downy 4 Dollairs beach fundraiser.

Sunny and clear skies forecasted this weekend with Southerly winds AOB
15kts. While a few of us girls are pretty solid kiters, many of us are very
new and are just now riding. And, we need your support!

Hadlow cuncussion at 2010 Triple-S

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:10:00 -0400

5-Time World Champion Aaron Hadlow reports from the 2010 Triple-S in Cape Hatteras.

We have had an epic first few days over here in Cape Hatteras, the Triple-S held here at Real kiteboarding is one of my favorite events, the conditions and rails are so good.
I left from London along with Will Milne(Boom Ting Production) who is filming out TV series On The Loose. We met Ruben in Chicago and then took our connection all together to Norfolk.
On the first day we had a little warm up in the slick and later in the day sliders. That evening was the opening party, which soon turned into an after party at out house.

Yesterday was the first main day and we had some great conditions for it. After a late start we went for a down winder through the slick. I was lit on a 7 with 20m lines and boots, we stopped half way down to film at this one super flat spot, we went for some big Mega loops, which was pretty sketch in boots, but then also some good freestyle in the butter flat water.
Later that evening during the sunset we had a slider session, it was set up right foot forward so I was happy to try some stuff that I had been practicing up at Thorp Park Cable whilst I was back home. I got some good hits at first and was having such a good time, I started to get a bit of confidence up so tried some gap 3’s (handle pass over the middle) unfortunately I got one a bit wrong and ended up concussed, at first I couldn’t remember the whole day but now my memory is back and I’m ready for the rest of the week! Can’t wait to see what’s in store.

Reposted from http://www.aaronhadlow.com/2010/06/07/sss-4/ with permission from Aaron Hadlow.

Triple-S Session Report: Day 2

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:08:00 -0400

Triple-S Session Report: Day 2

Triple-S Day 1 Update

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:05:00 -0400

http://www.realkiteboarding.com/index.cfm?page=newsitem&id=1712

Liquid Force Green Slider Build

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:32:00 -0400

In the weeks leading up to the 2010 Triple S Invitational, LF Kiteboarding and REAL Watersports teamed up to create a set of sliders built entirely of reused materials. Dubbed the Liquid Force Recycled Wallride and Kicker, this short segment covers the concept, building and first session with these unique park style features. Shot by Nate Appel and Bryan Elkus Edited By Nate Appel

Liquid Force Green Slider Build from Nate Appel on Vimeo.

Cabarete World Cup due to kick off in 10 days

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:19:00 -0400

For those of you who are unaware, Cabarete is a small, laid-back Caribbean beach village located only 20 minutes away from the Puerto Plata International Airport on the northern shore of the Dominican Republic.

Kiteboarding is the hottest, most sought after water sport on the planet and Cabarete matches with it perfectly. This charming Caribbean town has the reputation of having the most fantastic kitesurfing conditions in the world. Some of the world’s greatest professional riders such as the stunning, Susi Mai, Ariel Corniel, and Alex Soto have commenced their kiting careers here. This comes at no surprise due to the very high concentration of talented local freestyle riders that Cabarete has.

Professional riders often chose Cabarete as their number one training destination because of the year round perfect weather conditions.

Cabarete, the Caribbean kitesurfing capital has hosted the largest kiteboarding events in the world since the year 2000. This year as a 5 stars IKA base factor 7 event. The event will be held at Bozo beach from June 17th – 20th, with registration on June 16th.

Most of the worlds best riders such as the 2009 World Freestyle Champions Kevin Langeree (Naish, NED) and Bruna Kajiya (Flexifoil, BRA) will be amongst those competing.

The Professional Kiteboard Riders Association (PKRA), as well as local organizers are in the process of working out the final details to make sure that this event as well as all future events rank amongst the top promoted events in the world. Organizers are providing free accommodations for all official international media personnel to help us out with this task.

Stay tuned for live results, up to the minute Twitter feeds as well as daily press information live from the 2010 Cabarete World Cup!

Youri Zoon RECORDED: Episode 8 - Raw Material

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:17:00 -0400

In episode 8 a cover of clouds pull into South Africa, but that doesn't stop Youri from ripping hard at the Plettenberg Bay lagoon. As he heads to Struisbay the sky clears and with the help of some inside intel he takes a trip in search of some wave action.

Sky-Masters to debut in Fuerteventura 2010

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 08:17:00 -0400

The 2010 PKRA Fuerteventura Kiteboarding Super Grand Slam will be without a doubt a memorable event.

This year Fuerteventura will be celebrating 25 years of hosting World Cup events, which dates back to 1986 with the PBA Windsurfing World Cup.

In addition to the Speed, Freestyle and Race disciplines being held in Fuerteventura, the Professional Kiteboard Riders Association will be testing a new high-tech discipline called the Sky-Masters.

With the help of a modern device called the Shadowbox, it will enable our crew to record and accurately measure high altitudes jumps performed by competitors during this new unique discipline.

The PKRA has established a growing partnership with Shadowbox Inc., the only manufacturer of a tough, fully waterproof data-recording device capable of recording speed, location, acceleration, jump height, jump distance, hang time, G-forces, rotation degrees, spin rates and much more.

Throughout the remainder of the year we will work closely with Shadowbox Inc. to develop a user-friendly wireless device capable of displaying real time jump heights to spectators on the beach and live webcast to online viewers at home.

Once the testing is successfully complete, we will incorporate the Sky- Masters as an official PKRA competition discipline.

Due to the legendary Fuerteventura strong winds it will be the perfect location for the Sky-Masters to be tested and developed, allowing for a new competition format to our lineup.

To find out more about Shadowbox Inc. visit: http://www.shadowboxlive.com/

To find out more about the Fuerteventura Super Grand Slam 2010 visit: http://www.prokitetour.com/event.php?id=91 <../../event.php?id=91>

Video - Ian Alldredge 2010 California

Mon, 31 May 2010 12:08:00 -0400

Broken Water Teaser

Mon, 31 May 2010 11:29:00 -0400

Broken Water- Teaser from chase burns on Vimeo.

Tenerife Island all set to host PKRA 2010 World Cup event

Mon, 31 May 2010 09:20:00 -0400

For the first time in the history of the PKRA there will be two World Cup events in the Canary Islands. Starting with the world famous and oldest PKRA event, the Fuerteventura Kiteboarding PKRA Super Grand Slam (Aug 3-7), who is celebrating its 25 year of World Cup competitions. Immediately following Fuerteventura, the island of Tenerife will host the brand new Tenerife kiteboarding World Cup (Aug 10 -15). Tenerife will have the much anticipate wave riding world cup discipline as well as a freestyle qualifier event.

Between this two events the Canary Islands will have official competitions in all the IKA recognized world cup disciplines, including Freestyle, Speed, Race and Wave.

A third PKRA event in the island of Lanzarote, had some major economic problems affecting the region and has been officially canceled. However the Fuerteventura and Tenerife events promise to be two great competitions and will pave the way, so more event in the Canary Island can be incorporated into the PKRA World Tour for 2011.

For more information on the PKRA Canary Islands events check:

http://www.prokitetour.com/event.php?id=91
and

http://www.prokitetour.com/event.php?id=94

New Jersey and Pennsylvania Kite Forum

Mon, 17 May 2010 14:35:00 -0400

A new forum has been launched to serve riders in the North East.

http://www.njpakiteforum.com

Youri Zoon RECORDED: Episode 5 - Another day at the office

Mon, 17 May 2010 09:37:00 -0400

http://www.vimeo.com/11688982

Ultra Slow Motion

Fri, 14 May 2010 12:01:00 -0400

Below you can find the first episode of some new ultra-slomo videos Flysurfer created.

See Flyboards <http://www.flyboards.info> shaper Eddy Lansink and teamrider Gunnar Biniasch <http://www.arc-kite.com> in super slomotion, performing various tricks, from old-school to new-school.

Enjoy!
Ultra Slomo - Table Top 360 with grab <http://vimeo.com/11615501>
Ultra Slomo - Front Roll into Blind with grab <http://vimeo.com/11615562>
Ultra Slomo - 720 Off Axis Transition <http://vimeo.com/11615652>
Ultra Slomo - Air Walk (board-off) <http://vimeo.com/11616245>

New F-One USA Website

Tue, 11 May 2010 19:19:00 -0400

F-One has a new dedicated website for its American market where you can check on latest news, reviews, tutorials, events, products information, find a dealer, register a product, watch videos and pictures and exchange information via Forum. Check it out at http://f-onekites.us

Kitemasters officially opened a new kitesurfing school in Belmont Shore, Long Beach, California

Fri, 07 May 2010 14:40:00 -0400

Kitemasters officially opened a new kiteschool in Belmont Shore, Long Beach, California. After years of operating the highly reputable Kitemasters Kiteschool in La Ventana, Baja California Sur, Mexico, "we are thrilled to bring back to Los Angeles the highest standards of teaching that we have been developping and fine tuning in La Ventana" said Kitemaster's founder Arnaud Vuillermet.

Kitemasters is the only school certified by the International Kiteboarding Organization (IKO) in California and has been granted a permit by the City of Long Beach to operate a kite surfing concession in Belmont Shore.

Belmont Shore is the safest kitesurfing location in all Southern California : steady side-onshore winds, no shore break, nice flat water, a wide sandy beach and a safe kite designated area.

Kitemasters' friendly instructors give lessons in English, Spanish or French. Their main goal is to train students to be SAFE and INDEPENDENT kiteboarder.
For more info, go to http://www.kitemasters.com/losangeles/

German Kitesurf Trophy Tour

Fri, 07 May 2010 07:31:00 -0400

The first tour stop of the 2010 German Kitesurf-Trophy took place last weekend in Dahme. With changing wind conditions, bright sunshine and a starting field of more than 60 people, the Flysurfer team was able to snag the top positions!

Below is a small report by Flysurfer & Flyboards teamrider Gunnar Biniasch:

It's been 4 years since I last competed in the German Kitesurf Trophy Tour, so it was great to be back and see a few of the old faces again, along with many new ones. It's really great that the competitive scene is still growing and that there are still new young riders coming through the ranks.

I arrived on Friday morning and met up with the rest of the team. Armin, Andy and Emmanuel had driven up the day before. Also joining us where Femi Collins and new junior Team rider Tom.

The conditions where anything but optimal. Straight offshore winds gusting from 0 to 18 knots. We started with the Freestyle Competitions 1st. My 1st opponent was Christian Winkenjohan. There were a ton of breaks as the conditions were changing so rapidly. In the break before my heat I made the big mistake of taking my helmet off. When my heat started, I went out and completely forgot to put it back on. I had a great heat. I managed a really powered Blind Judge, Switch S-Bend and S-bend to Blind. The others where really battling with the shifty winds, but my 12 Speed3 handled it beautifully. I was pretty sure I had made it through the 1st round without any problem. WRONG!. After I came in I saw everyone with disappointed looks on their faces. Then it dawned on me. DOH! I forgot my helmet. So I was disqualified.. Very lucky for Christian as he spent most of the heat relaunching his kite and landed only one trick. I was very disappointed, but it was my own fault, I should have remembered the helmet.

Well after the organisation finished the Single Elimination for the Men and Women, they set up the Course for a Race. The wind was still pretty strong and gusting so I put up my Speed3 Deluxe 12m2 and mounted my high wind fins on my raceboard. Armin took out his Standard Speed3 12m2 and his prototype Racing Twin Tip.

We both rode out to the Starting line and started lining up for the start. There was still about 10 minutes before start. After about 5 minutes I could no longer feel my toes. Man, the water is still so cold here in northern Europe. The Start went well for both me and Armin, we were both on the upwind side of the fleet, and ahead. Then, all of a sudden I completely stopped. I first thought it was a big lull, but Armin was still charging ahead and the rest of the fleet overtook me. When I turned over my board to check what was up, I discovered a thick plastic bag caught on my fins. It actually took me a quite a while to get it off as it was jammed pretty thoroughly. By the time I was back on speed the wind had shifted and Armin was almost at the leeward mark. I decided to tack and follow the opposite direction to the rest of the fleet, which turned out to be the perfect thing to do, as the wind was now coming cross off from the left. Armin was still way ahead now, but I was gaining quite fast. I was about half a lap behind him after the 1st round. At the end I managed to get within 200 meters of him. So race number one goes to the "Boss".

Day two started out with Freestyle for the Juniors, but the wind was worse then the day before and so it was cancelled in favor of Racing after an hour.

The wind was much lighter than the day before so Armin, Andi, Emmanuel and me all had the Speed3 Deluxe out in 19m2. I also had my lightwind setup on my board with the big fins. By the time we got to the starting line, the wind went up and a small storm front was settling in. I was worried if I could hold down the power. There were gusts of 15-18 knots in there, and I was having trouble holding the board down. I think this was the 1st time in any race where I was wishing that the wind would back off a bit. Luckily right after the start the wind did drop back down as I had hoped and I had no more problems. However Armin managed to collide with another rider at the start, and was now way back in the field.

I managed to reach the upwind mark in 2 tacks and by the time I rounded the leeward mark I was almost a whole lap ahead of the field. My board was working superbly now.
I took it really easy on the 2nd and 3rd lap as I was so far ahead. Armin was now charging through the field, and in the end was only beaten by Roy Rodwald, ending up in 3rd place.

Day 3 brought almost a complete lack of wind with it. So the organizers did a SUP race for the crowd. Armin and me both made it to the finals. Armin managed a great second place, and I managed to fall into the water doing the 360 and only came in 4th. It was mega fun though and I think the crowd got into it.

So in the end I achieved my 1st step towards becoming German Racing Champion and got 1st place in Racing at this German Kitesurf Trophy stop.

Final results for Racing were:

Gunnar Biniasch
Armin Harich
Roy Rodwald
Andi Handrieder

Video: Triple-S video of the week

Thu, 06 May 2010 16:04:00 -0400

The 2010 Triple-S Invitational in Cape Hatteras, NC is from the 5-11 of June. Check back next Wednesday May 12, 2010 for the release of the next video
For more information please check out: realkiteboarding.com/index.cfm?page=newsitem&id=1510

Triple-S Rider Interviews, Andre Phillip, Susi Mai & Jake Kelsick from Real Watersports on Vimeo.

Kiteforum Newsletter

Thu, 06 May 2010 10:27:00 -0400

Hi everyone!

Just a short newsletter asking for your help and pointing out two
bigger testivals:

- Help to save the Hatteras locations (until May 10th)

- South Padre Island KiteRoundUp (until May 9th)

- KiteJamboree in El Gouna, Egypt (May 16-23)

Please help, Hatteras locations need you!

All these locations are in danger...and known for its great
conditions!

Outer Banks locations
http://www.kitebeaches.com/kitesurf/region/Area_Outer_Banks.html

Be sure to submit a comment here.
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentForm.cfm?parkID=358&projectID=10641&documentId=32596

Comments must be submitted by May 10th:

You can copy and paste this text into the form.

Big thanks to "robg" for the write up.

Mr. Murray,

It has been brought to the attention of the kiteboarding community
that a variety of plans are being considered in response to proposed
environmental and ecological concerns. The Outer Banks of North
Carolina is a sanctuary for many beach goers, sports enthusiasts,
wildlife observers and most importantly, the natural environment. We,
as a community, feel that it is important for the environment to be
protected and thus understand certain steps may be needed to achieve
this goal. Thank you for evaluating the options to improve the
environmental conditions at one of the greatest destinations in the
United States of America.

However, with the aforementioned said, please consider the responses
you choose carefully. Minimalist environmental management approaches
have worked well throughout the United Statesâ•˙ National Parks.
Closing extensive sections of beaches, the sound, and water ways will
strip away the very nature and reason for why we appreciate the land
in its current state. It can be said with great certainty that all
frequent and casual users of this place intend to preserve its natural
beauty and respect its wildlife.

We strongly feel that the Historical, Cultural, and Economic
ramifications of the proposed plans have not been adequately addressed
by the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) as is required.

Should the environmental changes impact our communitiesâ•˙ sport (as
it would in Plans D, E, & F) we would be forced to reconsider our
frequent and environmentally friendly utilization of the Outer Banks.
Other user groups such as surfers, fishermen, beachcombers, and
virtually all other forms of tourism will also be discouraged from
visiting Cape Hatteras if beach closures are greatly expanded. This
will have a severely negative impact on the local economy and way of
life that the residents of Hatteras Island have enjoyed for many
generations. It will also take away something that is important to the
lives of thousands of people throughout the United States and around
the world.

If people, and especially children, can not experience the environment
how are they going to learn to help you protect the environment?

Kind Regards,

South Padre Island KiteRoundUp:

Demos, competition, people, fun etc until May 9th on South Padre
Island, Texas!

http://www.spikiteroundup.com

El Gouna KiteJamboree

Big testival, parties, clinics, competitions etc from may 16-23 in El
Goun, Egpyt

http://www.kitejamboree.com

Video: Skate - Ghetto Edit

Tue, 04 May 2010 11:43:00 -0400

Skate - Ghetto Edit from Jason Stone on Vimeo.

Video: Felix Pivec on New Firewire boards in hawaii

Mon, 03 May 2010 09:17:00 -0400