After getting my first session on my homespot this season I went to France to participate at the 2nd Pkra tourstop of 2013.

We had crazy wind and taff conditions in Leucate but somehow I managed to make it through the trials and into the main event. In wind above 50 knots it was really difficult to land any tricks and it felt like a fight to survive. In the singleelemination I had to go against Aaron Hadlow who came back to the tour after a long break but hi didn’t loose any of his skills or his style. He kicked my ass and I had to try again in the doubles. There I had a bit more luck and some good heats which got me the 9th place after all. This top ten result makes me very happy and I hope I can keep this momentum.

LAst weekend we had a team-event at the Surfworldcup in Podersdorf. More a showevent but great fun. I was in a team with my dad and Helena Brochocka. It was every team against each other and the 4 teams with the most points made into the finals. We missed that by one point but still it was a nice competition and 5. place is not bad at all…

Yesterday I could score my first home-spot session of this season. It was pretty cold but it is always great and something special to ride at home. Lets hope the weather stays like that and that many sessions will follow soon.

Also I  finalized some traveling arrangements because it is almost time for the first Pkra Worldcup tourstop which will be held in Dakhla/Morocco. I will go there on the 16th of March with the comp starting on the 19th. Can’t wait for that!!!!

I also uploaded a little video of a Double Hinterberger Pass onto my facebook fan page. Just click on the link and you will get there. Its cool to watch and more than 16000 people did so already!!!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4936040796942

Little pic from yesterday…

After a short stay at home in winterly Austria it’s time to pack the stuff again to head back to Capetown/ Southafrica. Can’t wait to get there to have fun, to train and also to test some new gear. It’s time to get the next GP on its way and I also got some Pro Creator proto-types with me to make this sick board even better for next season.

To stay up to date you can follow me via www.facebook.com/mikeschitzhofer as I update my fanpage more often.

Here is a new video of Gisela Pulido and myself talking about traveling, life and competition. Shot in Portugal earlier this year.

Gisela and Michael: Family Ties from Best Kiteboarding on Vimeo.

The last competition of the season was the Pkra tour-stop in New Caledonia. After not making it to this event the last years I could not wait for this event to happen 2012. I flew to Noumea direct from China. After quite a journey the whole Pkra crew arrive and the event started just the next day. The spot, the island and the event have been just perfect! What an incredible place on this planet! I could stay here the whole year if I could afford it. The comp itself was pretty good for me and I got a 9th place in the end. Very happy with another top-ten result!

On the day after the competition some riders and Toby Bromwich, the Pkra photographer, made a boot-trip to an island a bit away from the main-island. It was a perfect place for a photo-shoot and to hang out and kite. Crystal-clear water, steady wind and nobody else there…

I’m in China a bit more than a week and it has been a crazy time here!!! The culture and the people are so different to Europe and everything I have experienced before. It’s hard to grasp what’s going on and who things work. Almost nobody speaks english and it’s incredible hard to communicate. But it’s great fun and for sure a lifetime experience!

The spot is quite difficult to ride and the wind during the comp wasn’t as good as we all would have hoped for. I had all my heats on my 15 meter TS and sometimes even that felt to small. In the end I could get a 9th place out of it and with that top 10 result I’m happy.

Tomorrow it is time to leave China and to go to New Caledonia. Can’t wait to get there and kite at this place at the end of the world if you are from Europe.

After quite some time, since the last Pkra tourstop happened on Fuerteventura, it’s now time for the next tourstop of the worldtour and it is going to happen on Hainan Island in China. Pretty crazy! The culture is so different and it feels very surreal to be here! I arrived at the spot last night after a hectic journey around the globe. Flying out from Vienna via Paris via Guangzou to Haikou. My luggage got lost in Paris and my last flight had 5 hours delay. But in the end I made it and now my bags arrived too. So I hope to get some wind tomorrow to be able to train on the water to get used to the conditions here. Registration is also going to happen tomorrow and the event starts on Tuesday

So here it is. The final version of Stefan Spiessberger’s and my movie from our trip to Turkey earlier this year. Watch and enjoy!!!!

getting air - kitesurfing in gökova - turkey! from daniel ausweger on Vimeo.

Last week I have been at the Kitetoureurope stop in La Baule/France. Its a nice place and a good spot but unfortunately the wind wasn’t that great. I had a session on the regestration day with my 15 TS and on the first day of the comp I have been on the water for about 3 hours. Still we didn’t run one single heat because the focus seemed to more on the racing at this event. Quite disappointing! Luckily there is a Cable about half a hour drive next to La Baule which I’ve been to for 2 days to get some time on the water.

And here is the new Best-Kiteboarding freestyle-team video with some great action and amazing shots. The video was taken at the Best team-meeting in Portugal earlier this year. Riding from Gisela Pulido, Sam Medysky, Rui Meira and myself. Recorded and edited by my teammate Miguel Willis.

Here is the teaser to my new video: Getting air in Turkey.
Together with Stefan Spiessberger I had a two week “training-camp” in Gökova/Turkey and for one week we had a cameraman with us to get some footage for a nice video. The video is coming out soon but now we have the teaser ready to get you some idea of what we did in Turkey. I think the images are just great and nice to watch!
Thanks for all my sponsors to make this possible. Big thanks to Best-Kiteboarding and to Dani Ausweger for the filming and editing!!!

Last week I received my new 2013 GP’s with the Monster-Energy branding on them at home in Austria. Normally when I get new stuff there isn’t any wind for weeks but this time there was wind for a whole week! Just perfect to test the kites, try the different sizes and work on some settings as you have many connection possibilities on those kites.
I really have to say I have been a bit scared to change something on the GP’s from last year because they felt so great and I loved to ride them. We decided to make no experiments with the GP and just improved last years model. They say never change a winning team so we only optimized it and the result is just awesome!!!!

Two main points we have changed:

We now only use the new Double Core RS Canopy Material which make our durable kites even stronger and almost unbreakable. I didn’t break any of my GP’s last year and I rode the same set of kite for more than one year and now they are even stronger!!!

We gave the kites a bit more wind range, specially a better high-end so you don’t have to change kites when it gets more windy. We did that by reducing the pressure, which the kite produces, a bit. It feels more easy now to ride and preform tricks with the kite.

All in all we made a really good kite even better.

Whats also really great is my new Board for 2013. It’s the all new Pro Creator. I have ben working on this board together with my dad for almost 2 years. And now we decided that it is time to release it for everybody. The goal was to build a freestyle-machine that makes no compromise! Massive Pop, easy landings great upwind abilities and I can ride straps and bindings on it. Compared to the Armada we added more rocker and made the tips wider. For me it’s the best board I ever stepped on!!!

Can’t be any happier with my 2013 gear!!!!

Hey guys. I’m in Turkey right now together with Stefan Spiessberger to shoot a sick freestyle video. We are kiting in the beautiful bay of Gökova with wind almost every day and perfect conditions. We are filming every day and work our buts off to get the action on tape. Video will come up soon!!!!