living the dream: July 2012

Red Bull island hopping

Red bull kitecomp in Sri Lanka

after the cook islands I had to fly straight back to Sri Lanka, so no time to see a bit of new Zealand, but it will be on my schedule next time ;-)

The guys from KSL, kitesurfing Lanka kiteschool in Kalpitiya, asked me if I have time to come and organize the red bull downwind race from Kappaladi lagoon via Kalpitiya lagoon to Dream spot, a 25km downwind race. It fit into my schedule so I said yes and booked flights to Sri Lanka. I went through a few time zones and back over the date line again. So I checked in just before midnight on the 2^nd of July, took a flight to Auckland 4.5h, had a layover of 5hours, a flight to Bangkok for almost 13h, another 3h layover and 3.5h flight to Sri Lanka… but not enough yet, there was a 3-4h drive up to Kalpitiya waiting as well… so finally I arrived at about 5AM on the 5^th July in the KSL camp. Just to have a good, cold beer and a bit of sleep.

I would feel the time zones for the next couple of days… waking up every morning around 5AM, not my normal schedule.

When I woke up, the wind was blowing, as it was every day for the last 7 weeks… that’s when I left here last time. The camp has improved it’s look, more hammocks, lazy chairs and chill out and it was still fully booked, since the day it opened. Dil and Leo are doin a great job here.

I had a couple of good kiting sessions and a few meetings and site check ups wt Dil during the next two days. The Red Bull crew has arrived as well and we had some meeting wt them as well.

The whole event should be fun and free for all. Our main thing to organize was to get the limited photo and video crews to the right spot at the right time and to guarantee the safety of the 45riders that were registered.

The competition day started off wt and early morning drive up to the starting area. The guys set up the red bull tent and we got the final registration done. I made a short briefing about the route that we will run, the flags used for the start and making sure everyone knew about the pack down and safety procedures.

So the 11AM start was set and ready to go. We set a downwind start line, which was the best we could to wt the resources we had. Surprisingly it was a clear start., except for one guy who didn’t listen to the flag instructions… but I’m used to that by now

As expected Fabio Ingrosso took an early lead and crossed the checkpoint on the sandbar at Kalpitiya lagoon in first place few hundred meters ahead of every one else. He managed to win the race one minute ahead of everyone else. The second part of the race was then a upwind leg back to the lagoon. which was attended only by a handful of crazy kiters. It was a straight 10km upwind along the mangrove channel back to the red bull tent. This time local hero Mowfil was o top of his game and made it back up in just a bit over 45minutes.

The price giving was held shortly after on the beach before everyone went home for shower and party nap, to get ready for the red bull after party. I had way to many vodka red bulls but the party was good fun for all.. till the next morning came and the hangovers kicked in.

I think there was a bit too much dancing during the night so that we did not have any energy left for a wind dance on the beach. Believe it or not it was the first day in Sri Lanka for almost 2month with no wind… so if u need a rest, just organize a competition and u will be blessed wt no wind… murphy’s law I guess.

The event was still a full success and hopefully will be continued next year wt a bit more difficulty added to it.

Thanx to Red Bull Sri Lanka, to Dil and Leo from KSL and to all the riders who made this event a great happening.

I’m off to Bali now… changed my plans a bit in the last minute but that’s coming up in the next blog.

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Aitutaki, Manureva international kiteboarding competition

So after ten days on the island it was time to head over to Aitutaki, to the spot where the competition was held.

I met a pilot on Rarotonga, his name was Ianis, and it happened that he was also flying the day I went over to Aitutaki. When I entered the plane he called me right up into the cockpit, so I could spend the start, the whole flight and the landing up front, it’s very different from the normal seats in the back.

My first project on Aitutaki was to build a kicker, which should last for a while, so the locals can use it till long time after the comp.

Our hotel was at Maina landing, it is run by Lawten and Aunty Marie the most amazing people around here. Both of them are really good at what they do and very helpful at any moment.

The boats leave from here to the honeymoon island (Motu Maina Iti), that’s where all the kitesurfer go to play. I have seen the spot already from the airplane, it looked like paradise.

The first morning I was able to grab a ride over to the motu and got to ride this paradise spot, the water is clean and all kind of blue and green, there is plenty of fish and corals but also some spots wt sandy bottom.

I have seen lot’s of kitespots around the world but this one is out of this world, flat turquoise water, warm weather, good winds, pregnant coconut trees, smiling people all around u and a lot of space to play.

After a couple of days here, the rest of the team arrived. They were overwhelmed by the picturesque of this place.

The wind forecast was a bit shaky for the week, but we managed to pick the best day out of it and held the whole comp during one day. We started of wt freestyle expression session followed by two around the island races. Then the wind dropped a bit and we changed the format to downwind slalom. This format was a lot of fun for all competitors. We started wt a reach start went around a couple of buoys along the south side of the island and finished underneath the island. The competitors could just walk back across the island after the finish to get back up for the next start. The races were short and a lot of fun for all competitors. We managed to get 3 races in the bag before the wind went further down and the day came to an end.

The next days was not too much wind and we did some no wind activities. We spent a morning at the local school and judged a recycle kite building competition. We had a about 60 to 100kidds running around the grass field wt their kites up in the air, amazingly some of them stayed up for almost and hour even though there was no wind on the ground.

It was amazing to see all the efforts the kids put into the building of the kites, it was probably the most difficult decision to find the best kites.

The afternoon of the same day was action filled wt local kanu paddling for all competitors. It was a big local fight goin on between Paka and Ijanis, both choose their teams and battle it out on the water… and I guess the result will bring up many more discussions… since these two guys were also responsible for the most crashed on the water during the kite races. So next year we will organize a one on one race between these two ;-)

Then we came to the final price giving night, which was held at the wharf wt a local night market. No one knew the results and so the tension was high. The winner of the kite comp was a combined scoring of freestyle and race and also the kids were waiting to know who build the best kite.

All the winners got local shell medals, which were the best medals I’ve seen in all the comps I’ve been to and the girls got some local black pearls.

We had a buffet dinner afterwards and a after party local style till the early morning hours as usual... the unusual thing came the next morning wt a 9AM flight back to Rarotonga, surprisingly everyone made it out of bed and onto the plane… hangover.

We all agree that we had the best time in the Cook islands and it was well worth the long travel. What a great end of the 2012 season. This spot has a lot of potential and we will be back for more. More competitions and kitesurfing education projects.

I like to send my special thanx to all the warm, welcoming, big hearted people of Rarotonga and Aitutaki. Specially Paka the main organizer, Conrad and Serena and kids and JT and his wife for the hospitality, as well as Lawten and aunty Marie for the help and hospitality, Ianis the pilot and MA MAN and all the local boys and girls, kitesurfers and dancers.

Keep up ur good spirits and u will go a long way.

We will do our best to send u all of our friends ur way and we will tell the world what a great peace of paradise u have out there.

So now I’m sitting in the plane to Sri Lanka and looking back at a very good time.

2012 was a hard start and a blast in the end; 2013 will be even bigger and as much fun for everyone.

Next stop Sri Lanka, Australia or Bali :-), Japan and finally Switzerland…

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Kia Orana…

I arrived in Rarotonga after a short journey from Sydney. It was my longest Saturday, I started on Saturday at 9PM in Sydney and landed in Rarotonga at 7AM… Saturday morning. That’s because the cook islands are just behind the date line.

The international airport is big for a small island but it still keeps it’s island living touch. From the big bustling city’s of Australia back into the island live time was a bit of a change but I really prefer it. Everything is goin at a slower pace, there is no stress and people are happy and very welcoming and after all it was warm again, jandals time. That’s how they call flip flops or thongs over here.

After a short nap I met up wt Paka, the main organizer for the competition and Paka Pearls shop owner. We went straight to the local market in town, it is a very colorful and busy one. They sell different kinds of local food, fruits and veggies here as well as the Polynesian style gifts to bring home like traditional wood masks, black pearls, sarongs...

It didn’t take me long to adjust to the island style again, and I met all the local kitesurfers down in Muri beach. Rarotonga is a round, volcanic island wt a reef all around it, at some spots it is very close to the beach and on other spots the reef is up to 800m outside the beach and inside are flat water lagoons some wt sandy bottoms and others wt coral heads spread out.

Muri beach is one of the places wt the lagoon inside the reef, two small islands are right in front of the beach which can create wind shadows. So the wind here is very dependent on the direction. I had a good session here, the visibility of the water is crystal clear, so u can enjoy just cruising around.

Another spot is just 10minute drive away, but the wind comes from the other direction since it is around the corner from Muri. This spot is close to the Rarotongan resort and it has a lot of coral heads inside the lagoon, so not really good for learning new tricks but nice to ride.

I spent the first nights in a hotel and then changed over to Conrads and Serena's place, which is Muri Hillside. It is located uphill of the kiteschool on Muri beach. From here u have a fantastic view over the bay. Conrad has a lovely family wt 4kidds, the family bond on the island is much bigger than I’ve seen it in any city or island before. The kids know how to behave and are very helpful in and around the house. Also check out his Koka lagoon cruise business down in Muri beach.

We had a lot of good dinners at his house and in all different kinds of restaurants on the island.

The best food I had here was at a place called island living. It’s not the usual restaurant place, it is more like a plantation wt a big family house where the cook only once a week for a group of max. 15-20people. I was lucky enough to get a invitation from the minister. The food is absolutely free of any kind of conservation crap. Everything is fresh out of the garden and the sea. The whole idea behind this plantation is to preserve the plants, fruits and vegetables that are growing in the Cook islands. There are many different kinds of limes and lemons, papayas, kaffir lime, mango trees and various types of local potatoes and roots.

The buffet meal is just the best that the island has to offer, a few food travel magazines just discovered it and gave em their highest notes.

I met wt a lot of people which are involved in the sailing federation of the Cook islands and in the OSF. It was actually very interesting to talk wt them and find out that the OSF and the Cook islands are far ahead of most other country's, the kitesurfing is included in the sailing federation and they will start a school project together wt New Zealand that will be held in Aitutaki. Students can study the history of transportation and sailing of the Polynesian islands, this will give em official points towards the final exams. The course will then also include kitesurfing.

This is definitely a step I the right direction, the ISAF is just to big, old and slow of an organization to keep up wt these kind of things, so it is very good to have people here that are actually taking action and not just talk about it.

The nightlife in Rarotonga is best on Wednesday and Friday night. Most nights everything shuts down at midnight, so start early or check out where the local style after partys are.

One of my best nights in Raro was wt the kite boys, we were just sitting on Muri beach and downing some beers when we've seen that there was a little party goin on over at the small island, so we took a couple of SUP boards out and paddled over wt some beers. The locals had set out a fish net in the evening, which we went to check at midnight wt a small boat and a torch and we picked about 20fish out of the net. The guys prepared right on the beach and put them fresh on the grill. That was probably the freshest midnight fish bbq i ever had. Surrounded by the stars a beer in hand and some music in the background... how could this get be any better? Maybe only wt the paddle back to the mainland without falling of our boards...