KTE Sylt/Westerland

Yeah what a sensational event...
After my time wt the Kiteboardtour in Asia i joined the KTE, the European tour now as well.
My first event to judge was the KTE Sylt at the Westerland beach. The judge team is a great mix from all over Europe, we had judges from Sweden, Germany, France, Poland and Switzerland.
66 competitors joined the event from 13different nations, that is a great success for the first European tour.

The longest travel had Aya Oshima from Japan and Alex Neto from Brasil, these two will join in on the rest of the European tour and some PKRA tourstopps as well. Good luck for u two.

Usually Sylt is blessed wt good winds and choppy wave conditions, but not this time. We could only run the course racing (15races) and some SUP board competition which was a lot of fun and sooo seriouse ;-)
To get a full result update check the KTE page

The course racing is getting to a very seriouse stage here in Europe, everything is perfectly timed like a sailing event, exept if a buoy gets lost or some riders gotta ask for the way at 3rd race around the same course. Maybe GPS anvigation would be an option for those riders... but watch out... maybe one of our lost GPS trackers is still sending from the bottom of the bay... exactly underneath the boat!!! ;-)

To sum it up, we had a very good time there and everyone got enough sun and party.
no time to chill now, the next event in Switzerland was up a week later, so most riders went straight from Sylt to Switzerland. Read Full...

the circle is complete

Back in Switzerland... another journey comes to an end... or should i say stoppover?
A few month have passed by and a 30'000miles journey across asia lays behind me... and i'm up for more (-:

I'm home for a week and off to Oslo on Sunday to see my babe and her new home.. exciting.
Hopefully i will find some work after that, to make some money. Then off to a new horizon..

My next trip will take me to Turkey in September, hopefully for the start of the next KTA season. It looks like we will get much more busier then in our first season, with the first and only professional kiteboarding tour in Asia ;-)
Another season in fantasy island Boracay is waiting for me too. Mostly sunny, sometimes raining, can be quiet and also crowded, lots of fun a a hell lot of party... always having a good time for sure.

If you wanna have an unforgettable holyday in paradise, come and join me on my island. You want be dissapointed... and extending your Visa and Airline ticket is never a problem. (ask Rudy)

Catch me if you can....
xoxo Read Full...

Korea nightlife

Koreans have their very own culture when it comes to nightlife. During the competition in Busan we made a visit to a nightclub that looks more like a theatre then a discotheque. Not much of a dance floor space but all covered up wt Sofa chairs and tables.
The music is kind of a mix between Pet Shop Boys on ecstasy, Dj Bobo on speed. It's not just a simple Dj, it's a whole performance team. Mostly they do those really annoying "put ur hand up…" every few second, so u don't really get a beat. All of a sudden the Dj starts to strip and dance around the whole stage. So when he's standing there in a G-string, the stage setup changes and the music goes to slow-pop. Everyone that was dancing is sitting down again. It won't last more then 5min till the next performance is coming, this time a band is descending from the roof of the club on a platform. Actually a very good performance, after ten minutes they are leaving the stage and miracle sound s coming up.. what's happening… surprise, surprise the roof of the club is opening like apple slices and u can see the stars on heaven, nice one… So after another slow Mo session there are some girls performing, singing, dancing.. and well start to strip as well, but hold on.. it's ladyboys! So the night keeps on goin like that, dancing, slow Mo, dancing… and yeah drinking a lot of C1 schnapps and Hite beer (-:

Thx to all the very good guys in Korea, they paid all our bills the whole week… even the ones for the party.

We had a blast and will come back for sure…
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Korea, Kite, Cold, Kimchee

Welcome to Korea

what can i say about Korea... first of all, nothing because i don't understand a single word and i can't read the signs, all i can say is kimchee... and that is one of the best dishes u can get in Korea, it comes with every meal..

So after my journey from Boracay 35°C to Busan 5°C i was lost at the airport. The pickup didn't work outand i had no contact nr, but lucky i had the Hotel adress... which is actually a Motel... that's the ones with dildos and porn movies in the corrido ((-: but hey it's clean and close to the Kitebeach.

So my first taxi driver had no clue where i wanted to go, even if i showed him the adress of my Motel, so he drove me around for half an hour till i told em to stopp and changed the taxi. The next taxi told me that i'm in comletly the wrong place, so i drove another half hour wt this taxi till i finally arrived. Was a bit strange to check into the Motel, but i was tired and fell asleep very quick.

So next morning first thing was get some food, which can be a very funny part if all menu cards are written in Korean, but lucky as i am there were 3pictures on the wall, so i just pointet out one of them and got lucky wt a noodle soupe and kimchee... So next step was to find an internet connection to tell Mr. Kim that i arrived last night and he missed to pick me up, so by midday he found me in the hotel.

I made a visit to the kitebeach, which is pretty large and shallow. perfect for freestyle - don't bring a race board, it' not deep enough (-: My first contact wt the water was shooockinggg cold... it's maybe 10-15°C so i will only judge this competition but for sure not touching the water.
So a the day passed by the we went for another Korean dinner wt at least 15 dishes on the table and to digest all of that healty food we went for some screen golf. It's a very funny way of playing indoor golf, the big difference is that u hit the ball towards a screen and not the open field.
After a short visit to a bar it was already bedtime, oh by the way.. i got a round bed...

So this morning also Yo arrived here, in shorts... first thing Korean breakfast.. kimchee and lot's of other stuff.. yummmie
and the story will continue hopefully wt some wind and a successful event.
pics will follow soon

over and out.... Read Full...

KTA final and Korea

it's done... we got our first season very successfully done. With all the results in the box.

Thailand was another big event to go throu but we made it all the way, with some minor compications... little mosoon storm on the second day.

check out the lastest reports here
The lastest viedo teaser is on the upload status and the full video should be up within the next week... or two (-:

Now that this season is finished we're already lookin into the next one, and for that reason i will travel to Korea end of the month, to Busan or Pusan to judge a local competition wt some invitational international kiters. I will also check out the location for a possible tourstop next season.
Hopefully after that we can also attend the kitejambouree in El Gouna, Egypt and then head home to see some extended family.

happy easter everyone
xoxo
Stephan Read Full...