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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Roadtrip along the west coast of Turkey

A shortcut through one week of road trip around Turkeys best kite spots.

Driving along endless Eucalyptus tree alleys, olive trees all over the mountains, adventures roads, fresh figs from the garden, endless empty beaches, windy spots, flat water, kicker waves, cozy hotels and enjoying and experiencing the Turkish cuisine...

KTA Turkey
First of all i wanna start with a special thx to all the organizers and helpers of the KTA Turkey tourstop, u guys did a great job. I think I speak out of most people's mind if i say we had a blast. We had some great onshore winds the first days and some hardcore offshore to finish off the comp. At the end we got it all done with a full double elimination and 8 races, not bad for the first stop of the 2010/11 season.

read the full report here on our new website: www.kiteboardtour.asia







So after the competition we pampered ourselves for two more days in the 7800Cesme Hotel before i moved up to Izmir together with Rebecka and the whole KTA crew. Most of em went straight for the airport to disappear to different parts of the world, while Rebecka and myself stayed two more nights in Izmir with Basak at her parents place. We got spoilt again with a great hospitality and more Turkish food experiences... donno if there is an end of it, but u definitely need a lot of workout if u stay here for long time.
Rebecka got her eye surgery done over here in the Izmir Eye Hospital, called "Kaskaloglo Göz hastanesi" no more contacts needed.
Here like to thank Basak and her parents again for the great hospitality.

So after our time in Izmir it was time to split up again, Rebecka went back home to Oslo and i started my way down to Gökova. Gotta say, the busses here are very comfy, looks like 5star airline, screens in every seat.. playing only Turkish movies (-;

My trip went from Izmir - Gökova - Bodrum - Didim - Bodrum - Didim - Bodrum - Istanbul

ok, we spent a few too many hours in the car, but hey, that's what happens if ur chasing new spots and the wind.
We had wind at nearly every spot we went to, i kited every day.
Gökova, is a wide Beach in a Nature reserve area in between mountains, where the wind funnels through. The water is flat to choppy and knee deep for the first 100meters. Little school and Bistro is setup on the beach. The wind is mostly onshore.

Bodrum, is not really a special spot, but still a nice change for a visit, the beach is a bit narrow and water is mostly choppy, a kiteschool is just around the corner.
Didim, lots of spots around here, all within 30min from Didim. I will not tell u about the exact locations, but this area definitely has some great potential. Most likely the big lagoon with random sandbars which goes along the coast for 17Kilometers!!! It can be very shallow in some spots and knee to waist deep in others. The best spot is a bit smelly, caused by the fermented mud, but who cares if u got a perfect flat water spot... think positive, u got a free mud pack (-;

There is another small spot called "flip flop beach" with some nice little kickers, this spot is not for beginners, there are sharp rocks on both sides and the space is limited. The name is not official, it's called like that because the first to experience this beach found it covered wt hundreds of flip flops... sound like Koh Phangan after full moon party.

One last spot is at the Harbour, we did not had too much wind there but it is also a flat water spot within the harbour. Setup on the pier and ride in front of it, there are windweehls all along the top of the surrounding mountains, so there is a lot of wind around this area.




We spent one night in a friends place close to Didim, this restaurant is mostly visited by Yacht charters and it's placed within a stunning bay. Some trollers coming back from a night out at sea in the morning unloading their catch of the day. Special thx for his hospitality and the lovely, rich breakfast the Kaptan Restaurant.You got a very picturesque place there.

I arrived at the Istanbul bus terminal and went straight to the airport wt the Metro. The 12h bus ride was not that much of a sleeper as i thought, so my butt hearts already... could someone please go ahead and push the science of beaming. Well at least the bus was cheap only 35Euro, no luggage limit... not bad.

Now i'm sitting in the Airport in Istanbul wt another 15h journey ahead... think i cannot sit for a while after this (-; At least i found time to update my Blog and i know my winterseason in Boracay will be a blast again!!

Cheeers from Istanbul and teşekkürler to all my friends in this Country
xoxo Read Full...

KTA Boracay

We had another great kite event in Boracay. The wind was playing with us for the whole event, but we managed to get it all done. 3 races and a full freestyle double elimination. Not to forget the great party venues and dinners each night.

Boracay is about to get empty slowly, all the kiteboarding instructors are about to leave the island and heading back to europe for the summer season to start over there.
We got one more event in Thailand to go... our final tour stop, with the anouncement of the KTA tour winner in freestyle and race.

Check out our KTA page to stay tuned!!

I will be in Thailand from the 16th of March to the 5th of April. I'm really looking forward to some great thai food and i heard songkran is also these days... ohohhhhhh
The food here Boracay is still far from exciting, so i'm cooking my own dinners most of the nights.
How can it be so close to all those countrys like china, vietnam, thailand which are among the best food experieces, and the Philippines in the middle of it just don't have it.


so long and have fun in the snow...
wont be back before May June... (-: Read Full...