only at kiteacademytr.com

I made it back onto the water again, after a few days break due to the rib issue i’m back on the water. I could not use my waist harness yet, as this would push exactly into the bruised ribs, so I went out wt a seat harness and a Cabrinha 183 Raceboard. It’s good fun to discover the bay in no time with such a board.
Tuesday afternoon we had a customer comin in with a water plane for an hour kiting, he was comin in dangerously low over the umbrellas at the swimmers zone and in the middle of lot’s of kiters.

We made a little photo shooting session wt the plane in the bay, and the guys tried to make it look like they would jump the plane. Afterwards we got the chance to have a little sightseeing flight around the bay. For the start we all had to move as much forward as possible in the plane, it was funny not to have a flat runway instead we had a bumpy choppy water start. Right after the start we took a hard turn and headed back for the beach… which we passed just a few meters above ground, which did not make all beach users very happy but we got a lot of fun and some good shots (-: From here on we went down to Marmaris and back to the Gökova bay in about 30min. The pilot said he can actually do some rolls wt this plane, but one of the passengers did not like the idea, so all went pretty smooth until we landed again on the water… which is as bumpy as the start.
The pilot was actually one of Turkey’s best; he’s got his own airline for private charters. So here I want to thank to Bonair for this special flight and experience.

Now I got two days left then I’m back in Swizzy land for a few weeks before I will leave to Asia again… starting in Taiwan this year.

Find more pictures in my Gallery!!! Read Full...

Gökova, Didim and some bruised ribs

I’m still in Turkey, enjoying the good steady wind every day. Only too bad I can’t ride at the moment…

Last Thursday we went to Didim, the flat water lagoon spot I visited last year already… and it still is one of the best lagoon spots in Europe. The Forecast was strong, as we arrived we found about 25-30knots steady winds with only little gusts. So we pumped everything we had in between 5m and 9m kites. I first tested the new 5m Vector kite from Cabrinha, actually the SE edition for schools. I haven’t been using such a small kite in a while and was surprised how fast it was turning. After the first turn I could not resist to loop it.. and booom it really pulled me of the water.. I like…

We took a lot of turns on all different kites, we had some beginners wt us that were enjoying the shallowness of the spot, as every time u crash u can get back on the board in an instant. Very easy to learn ur first backrolls or unhooked trick.. well maybe the wind was a bit strong for unhooked (-;

So during my 3^rd session in decided to take the 5m out again for an extended ride and some more loops… as the tide went lower the water was maybe about 30cm deep by that time. On one of the loops I went high and looped it just before reaching the zenith, the kite went for a big loop and stopped on the way back up… lot of things going thru ur mind in this moment… specially how high I am and how shallow the water is down below. So the kite pulled me straight forward instead of supporting my landing and BANG... it hit the water hard, Sedat told me later that I actually bounced of the water twice before I stock. Back on the board I figured that my rib was actually hurting a bit so I decided better goin back to the beach… and I figured the my rib was either cracked or broken… but I think it was not enough pain to be broken.
Now a few days later it’s getting better from day to day and I’m hopefully back on the water tomorrow… wt a seat harness and raceboard, heading out to discover the Gökova bay…
I also had a chance to test the new Switchblades, the 10 and 12m kites are lighter on the bar this year but yet powerfull kites. I would say the 12m is still like most others 14m kites, so a 75kg rider u doesn’t really need anything bigger than 12mSB. It’s fast, very stable and perfect for wakestyle.
Looking forward to get my hands on the new Nomads as well.

The bay here was very busy during the weekend, on and off the water, haven’t seen so many kite on this beach before. The kiteacademytr.com is doing a great job here wt the Cabrinha kites, as last year I haven’t seen much Cabrinhas and this season they are already all over the place. The guests are mostly Turkish kiters from bigger cities around here, but I’ve already seen the first Germans here as well... so u better be quick or they will be all over the place haha.
We had some good nights out wt all the guys, the party is usually in the small KA Bar where all the kitesurfers meet up for drinks on weekends. Since I life wt Mert and Yalgiz we have some after parties at our home… nice pool outside and it is now also filled wt water again.
We had some break in this weekend while we were all asleep… but the did not take anything as none of the guys had any money in their wallets. We found the bags and cloth outside the house on the veranda in the morning, all wallets searched.. but they left all the credit cards, laptops, phones… guess they were only looking for money, but since I’m on the top floor they did not come up to my room… lucky me. First we thought that someone might have been sleepwalking or was looking for cigarettes as nothing was missing... but we figured out the following day that five houses around were robbed.

I really like all the delicious food here like Köfte, Kebap, Iskender and soo much bred and I get used to drink the Ayran, the Turkish salty milk kinda thing that they drink wt all the meat dishes.

so long…

Stephan

Read Full...

Kite, Kebap, Kanka

Kite, Kebap, Kanka...

Abflug 6:20... wer hat denn sowas erfunden, da fährt ja noch nicht mal ein Zug zum Airport.
Aber was soll man sage bei dem Schnäppchen, 200Euro für nen Retourflug, Zürich - Dalaman.
An Borde des Flugzeugs kommt zuerst mal eine viel versprechende durchsage der Stewardess.. meine Damen und Herren.... falls sie sich wundern warum auf den Monitoren Antalya als Flugziel angegeben ist, keine Sorge, aber wir können im System Dalaman nicht eingeben... ok das ist dann wohl ein nicht ganz so modernes Flugzeug. Aber hoffentlich findet der Pilot die richtige Einstellung im Autopiloten.

Kurz nach dem Start wird auch schon das Frühstück aufgefahren was man heute ja nicht mehr von jedem Charterflug gewöhnt ist.. aber die Swiss lässt sich  da nicht lumpen. Schon kommt die nächste erfreuliche Durchsage, diesmal vom Piloten selber. Das übliche guten morgen blabalabla... wir begrüssen sie auf unserem Flug nach... lange pause... sehr lange pause... dann doch noch ne Idee wo es hingehen könnte "Mugla".. naja fast getroffen. Aber zumindest hat er ein paar lachende und ein paar verwunderte Gesichter auf sicher.
Ach ja bei der Landung hat er dann doch noch rausgefunden wie der Flughafen Ort heisst..

Vor Ort wurde ich von Sedat und Skippy abgeholt und es ging natürlich gleich zum Kitebeach von Gökova, denn inzwischen fast 12Uhr setzt gerade der Wind ein. Nach einem herzlichen willkomen in Sedat und Erci's kiteschule (www.kiteacademy.tr) und vielen weiteren bekannten Gesichtern, gings and auspacken. Perfektes timing... also kite aufbauen und raus.. ahhhh warmes Wasser, konstante 15-18kt Wind und Sonnenschein bei 35Grad, was will man mehr?

Das kite Revier hier ist perfekt für Anfänger bis zum Pro, Hadlow war auch grad wieder mal hierletzte Woche.
 Das Wasser ist stehtief bis ca. 150m weit raus, sandiger Untergrund und auch sehr flach, also keinen störenden Wellen. Die rechte Seite der Bucht ist für Anfänger und Aufsteiger und durch eine Mole vom Pro Bereich getrennt. Somit kommt man sich nicht in die Quere. Letztes Jahr gabs hier noch 2 Schulen, dieses Jahr sind es bereits 5 Schulen, was natürlich für die Qualität des Spots spricht für Anfänger.
Thermischer, konstanter Wind, ziemlich gerade Auflandig und weil er thermischer Natur ist muss man auch nicht früh aufstehen. Man sollte sich aber auf keinen Fall das türkische Frühstück verpassen mit exzellenter, frischer Konfitüre und diversen Sorten von Oliven und Brot yummmie...
Das
Die Türkei hat definitiv noch einiges zu bieten in sachen Kitespots, im Moment sind die Spots aber noch nicht sehr populär.. was natürlich auch seine Vorteile hat. Ich habe hier letztes Jahr schon mal nen kleinen Roadtrip gemacht und dabei diverse Spots angefahren die perfekt sind zum kiten.

In der Nähe von Cesme gibt es einen bekannten Windsurf spot Alacati, dieser eignet sich natürlich auch bestens zum kiten, und gleich daneben gibt es noch Pirlanta. Von diesem Spot sieht man übrigens gleich nach Chios, Griechenland. Die Meerenge ist nur ca. 5km breit. Etwas weiter südlich davon findet man diverse Spots rund um  Didim, unter anderem eine sehr grosszügige Lagune mit absolutem Flachwasser.
Die Türkische Westküste bietet noch viel mehr Spots in herrlicher Kulisse, bestens geeignet für einen roadtrip. Die besten spots liegen zwischen Izmir und Antalya... die Flüge sind definitiv spot billig und mit 3h ist der Flug auch sehr kurz. Eine sehr gute Alternative zu den Spots in Ägypten und Griechenland. Read Full...

Hailstorm in Switzerland

I haven't seen anything like it, it's a weapon of mass destruction...
so what happend?
First of all it was the warmest day this year so far, up to 34°C in some parts of Swizzy land. I had a great day and spent the evening at my brothers wifes b-day party, which was out in the garden with some bbq and beers and lot's of old friends.
When i went home around 11ish i was actually wondering, because i could ride my Vespa with shorts and t-shirt without feeling cold... well guys this is Switzerland not Asia ;-)

It started with a loud BANG, at around 1.30AM on the 13.Juli 2011, i was watching a movie in bed, ready to fall asleep when i heard this loud bang and my venetian blinds started to shake loud. So i thought the big bang usually comes from one of the big pots falling to the ground tilted by the wind.
So i went up and walked towards the living room. Here in the living room we have a big 3x4m glass roof and just as i arrived the hammering started out loud (that's the sound you hear on the video). I saw the whole terrace getting covered in white ice crystals, looked a bit like winter. But the hail was not as small as usual it was up to gold ball size, so better not go outside and try to put that fallen pot back up.
So what should i do... takin video and pics was all i could do, and after max. 5min the storm was over.
I went outside and so did all the neighbors, everyone was up and looking at some pretty bad damage.
As u can see on the pics, everything that was on the stormy side of the terrace house and build with metal was covered with hail impacts. We will have to replace most of our venetian blinds, the whole roof cover and chimney. I guess most of the plants will actually recover from the big loss of leaves, it just takes time and doesn't look real nice at the moment.
Our grass in the back yard looks like a football field after a match. i measured craters up to 3cm!! in the grass.
Now, 3 days after, some streets are still green and we can see construction workers all around town fixing roofs, blinds and broken windows. A car seller nearby has around 200cars outside the building... i would say he can call it an inferno. All cars completely damaged.
And the moral of the whole story??

Sometimes it's good to have insurance for everything... Read Full...

West Cove Resort is goin DOWN!!

Finally justice will take em down...

There are still a few people not to corrupt in the Philippine Government to take a rich man construction down.

Town orders Boracay resort closed

By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Inquirer Visayas

11:44 pm | Saturday, June 11th, 2011

 2 share93

ILOILO CITY—The municipal government of Malay in Aklan on Friday ordered closed a resort in Boracay that has become controversial due to rumors that boxing champion Manny Pacquiao partly owns it and protests over its location in what authorities said was a no-build zone.
Malay Mayor John Yap, town officials and members of the Boracay Special Tourist Police Office ordered the Boracay West Cove resort to immediately stop its operations for lack of business, building and occupancy permits.

The mayor directed the resort management not to accept new guests after those billeted at the resort have checked out. The officials also warned the resort management that the structures will be padlocked if the closure order is defied.
West Cove owner businessman Crisostomo Aquino said the closure order violated the Forest Land Use Agreement for Tourism Purposes (FLAgT) issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to his resort.
A FLAgT, under the DENR Administrative Order No. 2004-59, allows the temporary use, occupation and development of any forest land for tourism purposes for a period of 25 years renewable for another 25 years.
FLAgT agreement covers forest lands to be used for bathing, campsites, ecotourism destinations, hotel sites and other tourism purposes.
The resort has villas, hugs a cliff and sits on a rock formation at Diniwid Beach in Barangay Yapak, an isolated area on the northern tip of the 1,032-hectare island. It is not visible from tourists and residents at the white beach, whose main entry point is the Cagban port at the opposite end of the island.
“They did not have a court order to close it down. I have instructed my staff not to accept new guests but we will contest the mayor’s order before the appropriate venues,” Aquino told the Inquirer in a telephone interview on Friday.
He said resort owners applied for permits at the municipal government but these have not been acted upon.
The DENR, then led by Joselito Atienza, issued a FLAgT to the resort late in 2009 despite calls from business groups Boracay Foundation Inc. and Boracay Chamber of Commerce and Industries (BCCI) to stop the operation of the resort for alleged violations including building of structures on rock formations.
The resort is widely rumored to be partly or fully owned by Pacquiao who stays at the resort when he is in Boracay. Aquino, Pacquiao and Atienza, a close friend of the boxing champion, have repeatedly denied these allegations. Read Full...