merry x-mas

Merry x-mas,

I wish u all a very peaceful x-mas time and lot's of good partys with your best friends.
We have a really windy week behind us and it looks like it will calm down a bit for the next few days. I'm on the water every day, practicing big air kiteloops and pumping the adrenaline.

The island is full for the next weeks, the space for each kiter gets a bit smaller... still enough, if you don't have to kite in front of the crowd all the time.
Every time i see all the crowd on white beach, i wonder how many people we need on one side of the island to flip it?
The preparation for the x-mas and new years party i s full on. We'll have our annual x-mas party in our Kiteresort tomorrow. All kite schools from Bulabog come together and celebrate with a big BBQ buffet. After that we will hit white beach for more boooze and party. 25. December and 1.january our school will be officially closed. Also instructors have a right to be hungover (-: The main reason i like x-mas over here much more then back in Europe is, that the people here are not about midnight and sunday shopping, spending as much money as possible on gifts because other people might give you more respect if the gift was very expensiv, that's all bulls*+"t,  this is about comin together and celebrate.
keep your life changing and look forward to another successful year...
life is a beach, Love
Stephan

Read Full...

wind s up and down

We're blessed with wind again. after the wind flop in Hong Kong i'm back in windy Boracay. The wind s bit up and down these days, so u ride a 9m in the morning and 12m in the afternoon, but hey... it's still very good conditions, guess we're all a bit spoilt here.
Gonna get some riding pics up soon, as there are a few cameras out every day. I tried that Hadlow pro today... uhhhaaaa don't loop that biotch too hard, pure C-kite. it's better when u got an extra 50m distance to the beach, as there is no depower after the landing.

I worked on the back to blinds and raily-downloops to blind today, gotta say some were pretty succesfull, but i guess it would have been a bit better wt a clear head (-: well it was friday night... Still the best hangover cure.

Should go get my mandala spa treatment soon as my body starts to hurt in every corner. guess these kiteloops wt 12m kites are not too good for my knees and back.

time for an afternoon nap, to get some more kiting and artwork done later.
Some pics of my home my veranda, beach view

 

my home

and not to forget my cute little flatmates...

so long and thx for all the wind
xoxo ;-)

ps: still waiting for the swiss choccolate arrival for x-mas Read Full...

final day...

again.. no wind, after teasing us for half of the day with 6-9kt it finally disapeared fully.
So all we got done is the course racing events. which is half of the rent... better then nothing.
we are goin to have the price giving ceremony right now.. so i will update u on all the results after that.

International Men

1. Mike Raper  (NZ) (Cabrinha)
2. Taner Kurt   (Turkey)
3. Yo              (Thailand) (Ozone)

International Women

1. Hill Siu                   (HK) (Naish)
2. Kathrin Borgwardt   (Germany) (F1)
3. Reiko kimura           (Japan) (JN)

China National

1. Dennis Wong       (Blade)
2. Davy Tang          (Star Kite)
3. Matthew Sprogg  (Slingshot)

cheeeeeeriooo Read Full...

KTA Honk Kong first 3days

Registration day was one flat day with not a single breeze of wind, so all we got ion was all the registration and some fun on the beach. I have to say is a very nice beach down here, just not the right place for the kitesurfing on north wind conditions.
The opening thing that evening was an amazing light/laser show in downtown HK.

So on Thursday we had some strong wind coming in from the north straight down the mountain, the problem is it's very gusty and not really stable. So we try to do some freestyle but we had to cancell the thing after the first heat, it was just tooo gusty. Kites were falling out of the sky, riders were not able to launch theire kites on the beach. So we all changed to racing, it was not much easier to make a course that actually lays inside of the windarea, but we got it finally done.
The offshore wind was new to most riders and it took a while to get all the riders out to the starting line due to starting problems on the beach. After the first heat got recalled, we managed to get a full race in s in mens race as well as for the womens. I have to say the womens behave much easier when it comes to starting sequence, i think they actually listen when i tell them something at the riders meeting, while the guys just do what they think is right.
So that night i fell asleep right after dinner, was pretty nakerd from sitting on the boat the whole day, left out with no food, no drinks...

So today again no wind on the forecast, but we did the best out of it till now...
a really funny SUP competition and a riders clinic with Alberto Rondinha (famouse since he beat hadlows ass in the last PKRA round) and Julien Hosp (PKRA Judge)

so more to come later...
xoxox Read Full...

HK arrival, KTA event

I came in last night, settled down in the Seaview Hotel down in the Silvermine Bay.
We had a great night out in HK downtown area, which is about a 30min ferry ride from out place. It's a very clean, fully bright light city and xmas is all over the place.. will post some pics soon, after shopping...
Riders start to flocking in today, gypsys are here already... and guess where they went first... yeah right, hospital. This time Erci after a little race session wt the trolly carts at the airport, another cut leg that needed some treatment wt a needle ((-:

so all good here
keep u up to date Read Full...

die Langeweile eines Airports

Warum sind Airports so langweilig gestaltet?

Im Zeitalter von Laptop und I-Phone gibts in den wenigsten Airports free Wi-Fi… warum? Das ist doch ein idealer Werbepartner für jeden Internet Anbieter.
Der einzige ‚moderne‘ Flughafen ist Singapur und Hong Kong, free Wi-Fi ist nur der Anfang, Kino, Ruheräume, Foodmall und das gute dabei fast alles umsonst. Da hat man doch gerne auch mal einen längeren Stopover.
Ich sitze gerade im Manila Airport Terminal 2, es gibt hier weder anständiges Essen noch Internet. Das einzige was es umsonst gibt sind die harten Metall Sitzbänke. Manila hat min 3Airports.. ich glaube es sind sogar noch mehr… NAIA terminal 1-3, den National Airport… Da wissen nicht mal die Taxifahrer welche Airline von welchem Airport fliegt, es kommt öfter mal vor das man am falschen Flughafen abgeladen wird. Das beste am ganzen, es gibt kein anständiges Transportmittel zwischen all den Airports, keine Subway, kein Skytrain.. nur überteuerte Taxis die mindestens das 3fache kosten von normalen Taxis. Also immer aus dem Flughafen Gelände rausgehen und einfach ein normales Taxi anhalten, auch die fahren mit „meter“.

Was übrigens so ziemlich bei jedem grösseren Airport auf dieser Kugel funktioniert ist ein ganz einfacher Trick. Nach der Ankunft einfach in den oberen Stock gehen, dahin wo alle Abflug Passagiere reinkommen mit den Taxis, das sind meistens keine Airport Taxis, und die sind noch so froh wenn sie auf dem Rückweg in die Stadt auch einen Fahrgast haben. Zudem gibt’s hier auch kein mühsames Schlange stehen.

Good News gibt’s auch von Philippine Airlines, die fliegen auch wieder nach Caticlan, ab Dezember, hoffentlich sind damit die überteuerten Seair Flüge vorbei. Ich habe mir heute die Start/Landebahn in Caticlan angeschaut, die Verlängerung um ca. 50m ist fast fertig gestellt. Damit sollten dann die anderen Airlines auch wieder zugelassen werden. Da gab es ja letztes Jahr ein Problem, das die Landebahn zu kurz war und das ein oder andere Flugzeug im Dreck landete.

Cheeers from boooring Manila NAIA Terminal 2 Read Full...

2nd KTA Tourstop in Hong Kong

time is come and i'm off to Hong Kong. Glad they don't have as many restrictions on the web as the rest of China. So i should be able to keep my blog up to date with daily results and new's from the beach and nightlife.

I just got told to bring shoes/socks and long pants, as it might be a bit cooler in HK ad they don't like flip flops in the Clubs. Hopefully i got some time to go shopping.. it's xmas soon!

So everyone pls prey for wind for the next weekend, for another great experience and succesful contest. Otherwise we have to go chase down Mickey Mouse in Disney world HK.

If u dont hear anything after tomorrow i might have gone lost in translation... hopefully the level of english speaking people is a bit better the Xiamen, where not even a taxi driver could read or understand a word of english. Otherwise we need some long hair diccionairys again, which is not abad thing ((-: Read Full...

visa extension...

a long time sad story in this world...
why do we still need visa for all those coutrys?
went to the immigration office this morning, and yes it's very easy in the Phillipines to get ur visa extension, but if u need only 5days extension cause ur leaving after that, u still gotta pay PHP3000 for a 31day extension hmmm...
i think extensions should just be more customized, u get what u want and u pay for what u need. PHP100 per day, no problem.
But as we all know from all the coutries in this world, goverments don't really work rationally, the work only and money income basis.
so let's keep on spending money for govermental x-mas presents instead of the real problems in this world ((-: Read Full...

live is hard.... maybe

so nun ist es soweit.. mein erster post in deutsch.. mal schaun ob ich das hinkrieg ((-:

Der Wind scheint nicht mehr enden zu wollen, wir haben jeden Tag 15-25kt Wind. Was natürlich nicht besser sein könnte, denn im Moment hat es noch mehr als genug Platz auf dem Wasser, wenns dann Richtung Weihnachten geht wirds wieder voll hier. Es scheint so als hätten wir dieses Jahr vorallem Estonier, Russen, Türken und viel Deutsche hier.

Ich versuche gerade meine beiden Jobs hier unter einen Hut zu bringen.. das heisst früh aufstehen, 9Uhr dann zuerst mal 1-2h Mails, Grafik und Organisatorische Sachen erledigen mit Kaffe und Cornflakes nebenbei und dann natürlich ab aufs Wasser für mindestens ein bis zwei Stunden. nacmittags steht dann socializing und Kundebetreuung auf dem Program und im Resort nach dem rechten schauen.
Nach der zweiten Kitesession ein Bierchen am Strand und ab nach hause was feines kochen oder wieder mal in eines der zahlreichen, überteuerten Restaurants. Ausser wenn grad ein BBQ ansteht im Windpia.
Nach einem ausgedehnten Partynap gehts dann so nach 22Uhr mal ab an die White Beach bis.... naja meist wirds schon zwischen 2 und 5Uhr morgens...

Gestern abend war mal wieder Foosball night im Hey Jude, immer lustig und gut besucht, als Preise winkt ne Flasche Vodka die es selten mal bis nach Hause schafft. Man kann hier in einer Woche soviele Leute kennen lernen wie in der Schweiz in einem Jahr, das macht das Leben auch so viel intressanter und abwechslungsreich.

Wie ihr auf dem Bild seht gibts doch immer was zu lachen...


Auch wenn sich dass jetzt alles sehr locker anhören mag, so ist es doch nicht jedermanns Job. man braucht eine unedliche Geduld. Wenn man eine Arbeit in auftrag gibt, muss man sie alle halbe Stunde mal kontrollieren, ansonsten schlagen sie die schrauben wieder mit dem Hammer in die Wand... Das Problem liegt vorallem darin, das man hier den Beruf nicht erlernen kann, sondern jeder macht einfach das was er am besten kann oder was ihm Kollegen gezeigt haben.
Was mich hingegen sehr beeindruckt ist was sie alles aus Bambus machen können, die bauen ein ganzes Haus ohne einen einzigen Nagel.

Der Hong Kong tourstop rückt immer näher und es ist nicht einfach mit den Chinesen zusammen zu arbeiten. Die haben eigentlich gar kein interesse an einem Internationalen Wettkampf, weil die Kiter aus China nicht besonders gut sind. Aber wir halten tapfer dagegen und ich bin überzeugt, dass auch dieser Tourstop ein voller Erfolg wird. Nächstes Jahr wird es wohl eine ganze Reihe von Nationalen events geben in China, von wo aus wir dann nur noch die gewinner bei uns aufnehmen, um das Kitelevel hoch zu halten.
Die nächsten Events werden auf alle Fälle viel einfacher zu Organisieren.

stay tuned and rock on
Stephan Read Full...

another windy day

After a day with no wind, it's back on. Honestly it was good to have a day off after that heavy 80's party on friday night. check out the pics on my FB site, was defnitly one of the better Hangin partys, we went throu 11cases of Beer and some bottles of hard stuff. It was a good laugh and i guess all the spectators on white beach were enjoying the change as well. Was good to have a night wt some different music...

I think i should go for a massage.. my body starts to respond to all those unhooked tricks and crashes... not 20 anymore ((-: maybe one day i will land that d*%+m Tantrum to Blind.

I've seen the first draft of the KTA video from Fatsand, nice high quality shooting. There will be a videos from all events and a summary video at the end of season after the Thailand event.
Looks like we're getting pretty busy with the whole KTA thing, after the five official events we got to go to New Zealand, Japan and Taiwan to organize some invitational- local events. love it...

 dinner time now.... yummmie Talipapa food s comin up wt some good company Read Full...

living in paradise

I'm living my dream on an island that's called Boracay.

I'll try to keep you posted on my life and travels that take me around Asia and the world.

Get my two jobs here done and travel for business and pleasure, my next few trips will get me to Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Thailand and it's called work.. as the KTA head judge.

Got my tickets for HK already, after the first tour stop was a full success we are looking forward to another great experience.
Dealing with asians is not always easy, specially China. We had a lot of issues but solved em all during the competition. Read Full...