In the latest issue of Kiteboarding.de you can find an interview with me. Henning Nockel made this interview during my trip to RSA this Winter. Lots of things have changed since this time, but I’m happy to get this coverage over 6 pages in one of the major German kitemags.
You can read more in kiteboarding.de, issue 5 / July 2008 - page 64
Back at home from the last competition and the wind was waiting for me…
I had an awsome day with two sick sessions with my friends. The wind was nice and strong. I could ride with 9 and 11, the sun was shining and it was pleasantly warm. I pulled out some nice tricks and also my friends were kicking it. So much fun…
My father took some pictures. You find them in the gallery.
Hey out there.
Sorry that I did not update my site for long time but I had some troubles here in Tarifa.
Let me give you an short review:
After my short stay at home in Austria my girlfriend and I took the flight to Malaga. We had a stop at Palma de Mallorca. After one hour delay we went to Malaga but our luggage stayed on Mallorca. Pretty bad because the competition startet on the next day. We drove to Tarifa without the stuff and tried to get informed about what’s happening next.
Next day I had registration and after that we waited the whole day for wind but it didn’t show up. After some phonecalls I managed some stuff to kite with. I got JN kites from the SpinOut-center and also a harness and wetsuit. I got a Balanceboard from Carlos and so I was equipped for the single.
On the second day of the comp the wind blew from the morning till sundown. I had to go against Tom Herbert from NewCaledonia. He is really ripping on the water with some crazy and powerfull tricks. I gave everything, made all my standard moves plus some nice tricks like 2ble S-bend pass and a huge kiteloopslim. At the end I had 12 tricks and he eight… I had a good heat and was confident but it was not enough. Carlos gave the win to me (ok - I was rode his board), Toby not (I think up to now I never wpon a heat where Toby was judging…) and there was a new guy from Spain, who asked Sammy (headjudge) what he should write on hei sheet as it was first event for him… I don’t know why I lost but that just happens… After the single was done I had to go again in the first round of the Double. I won this heat and tomorrow Double will be continued.
I hope I can find my luck somewhere out there because I think I lost it… If somebody find it please let me know or send it back to me. Thanks…
“next level” - our new video from Domenican Republic is ON!!!
Windows Media HDV file (.wmv - ca 90MB): click here
Quicktime HDV (.mov - ca 108MB): click here
Youtube (poor quality): click here
Had a nice time there - enjoy our short impression!!
The second day of the doubleelemination was not really good for my. I was in the first heat of the day against Reno Romeo from Brasil. I had a pretty good heat and I could land a lot of tricks. My tricks felt powered an good and so I thougt that it could be enough to win. But it came different and I lost. I had the same tricks like Reno but two more… Sometimes i dont understand the judging but its over and I have to look forward.
All in all I did not feel too comfortable on this eventspot and the 13th place here is a little bit disapointing but the training in La Boca was awsome and I learnd a lot there. I also went there after the event to get confident about my kiting.
Tomorrow we have our flights back to Munich and on Tuesday I take a plane to Tarifa/Spain for next tourstop.
The second day of the main event startet with lots of rain and no wind. After skippersmeeting at 11 o’clock we had to wait till 3 pm for the fisrt heat. 4 heats were left from yesterday and so I had about 45 minutes till my heat starts. I pumped up my kites and went out for a warmup session. I felt confortable on my 11 and the wind seemed to be good.
In my first heat of the doubleelemination I had to go against Julian Hosp. Unfortunately! Because I don’t like to go out and fight against a very good friend of mine. I knew that he will give everything to beat me but so did I and in the end the juges gave it to me. I heard that Julian had a really good heat but after some powerfull moves and a killing Kiteloop - Slim I could win.
My second heat was against Sam Light from the UK. The wind droped a little bit and so it got more difficult to stay upwind and make the tricks. I landed some nice moves but not so much like in my 1st heat. Back on the beach I heard that I won this heat as well. After second round of the Doubles was finished they quit for this day because the wind got too light.
Today I have to against Reno. He had some good heats… I hope I can do well…
Today we had the singleelemination.
The skippersmeeting was held at 11 o’clock and the start was called for 12.
I had to go against Madisson Van Huerck from the Virgin Islands. Due to the light wind I knew that this gonne be a taff heat because Madisson has aproximatly 20 kilo less than me. I tried my 13 but I didn’t really had pressure with it. The wind was too light and the current too strong. It was pretty hard for me to keep upwind in my heat. I managed to do some tricks but in the end it was not enough as I wasted to much time with struggeling to stay in the contest-area. In a 2 to 1 decision they gave it to Madisson. Grats to him.
The whole single the wind went up and down. They had to make breaks and cancelled heats because of the bad wind… The finals could not be finished today because of the poor conditions and so they have to do them tomorrow.
I’m pretty pissed today but that’s history. Know I have to look forward to the double elemination and next events. I think we gonna start with doubles tomorrow.
To the next event I will bring a 15 because this year it seems like most of the competitions are in light wind…
On the first day of the competition here in Cabarete the wind was really light and the shorebreak was pretty high. After skippersmeeting at 11 o’clock we had to wait for the wind to come. Over 40 men registred for this event and so they had to do trials. Due we had to wait until 01:30PM till the wind came, there were only trials held today. I watched some of the heats and went out with my 13 for a short session. I just wanted to see how the conditions are (really strange - less wind, strong current and massive chop!!)
Tomorrow we’ll have skippersmeeting at 11AM with first possible start at 11.30. I’m in the first heat… I don’t know who I’m against. The drawing will be done after skippersmeeting.
I’ll let you know everything as soon as possible.
Today we had to do the registration for the event here.
Everybody took a break from kiting because there was just no wind. It startet to rain in the morning and it rained a lot the rest of the day. I checked the internet and talked much today. Maby its good to rest one day before the event starts.
The windforecast is not very promising for tomorrow but nobody really knows. Let’s see what happens. I heard that there will be trials because lots of the lokals registered for the competition.
Please wish me good luck for tomorrow…
I’ll keep you updated about whats going on here.
Yesterday I rested a bit. This break was not planed but I had to do it because there was no wind. I chilled a bit in the room, talked to other riders and talked to my girlfriend for over one hour via skype. It felt good to reload the batteries but after this day I was pretty motivated for today.
The wind came before lunch today and so I had my first session at 12 am. It was a little bit better here at Bozo than the other days but still choppy. I managed to do some nice stuff so I’m looking forward to the event with a good feelin.
Tomorrow is the registration and on Wednesday the 4th tourstop of the Pkra will start.
Today (day 7) there was no wind at Bouo Beach so we had time to edit a small teaser from our new video “next level”
for YouTube (poor quality) click here
We reduced resolution for smaller filesize. Film will be in HDV as usual.
Enjoy
Again La Boca and again just perfect…
We had an awsome day there. Almost every trick worked today and my father got most of it on the camera. I think we can make a nice video…
Tomorrow I will kite on Bozo Beach. I hope I can do some of the better tricks here as well. I getmore and more into my new kites and I love them more and more. Incredibly stuff!!
