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...

time to say goodbye again

es ist schon wieder soweit... time to say goodbye - für die einen - welcome back - für die anderen.

Die Zeit ist Reif, der Drang ist gross... 
Mit viel Vorfreude schaue ich auf die neue KTA Saison in Asien, dieses Jahr in der Türkei-Cesme, China-Hainan, Vietnam-Mui Ne, Philippinen-Boracay, Thailand-Pranburi und Korea-Busan, soweit die Offiziellen Tourstops. Dazu noch ein paar weiter Trips zu weiteren Events in ganz Asien. Natürlich werde ich euch hier in meinem Blog wie immer auf dem laufenden halten mit Bildern von den schönsten Stränden dieser Welt. Wenn möglich natürlich am Montag morgen online stellen, damit ihr nen guten Wochenstart habt.

Ich werde auch weiterhin in Boracay stationiert sein wenn ich nicht unterwegs bin.
Für alle die es noch nicht kennen sollten sich dringen mal dorthin begeben.. es lohnt sich. Wie lange noch ist allerdings fraglich, denn die Insel wird ziemlich zugebaut.. als schaut euch mein kleines Paradies noch an, bevor die Insel absäuft unter dem Gewicht der grossen Hotelketten Bunker.

Morgen werde ich losfliegen in Richtung Cesme, Türkei... in der Nähe von Izmir, für den ersten Tourstop der neuen Saison. Der Stopp wird von meinen Türkischen Freunden organisiert, die alle samt auch den Winter auf Boracay verbringen. Gypsys united... zudem werden sich wieder viele alte Gesichter der letztjährigen Kiteboard Tour zeigen. Hab grad gehört Mallory und Luke werden auch vor Ort sein sowie Julian Hosp als Judge. Man darf also auf ein hohes Niveau hoffen.

Für alle Kiter die ihren Winter auch in Asien verbringen sollten sich unbedingt ende Nov. nach Hainan begeben für den 2. Stopp. Gratis *****-Hotel für alle Teilnehmer!!!

Das Highlight dieses Sommer war natürlich die Taufe meines Göttibuebs Timo. Ich werd dann wohl gleich mal die Weihnachts Geschenke losschicken wenn ich in Boracay angekommen bin.. in drei Wochen. Der Kleine gedeiht wunderprächtig und wird wohl schon laufen wenn ich wieder mal in die Schweiz komme.

So nun wünsche ich euch allen einen schönen Winter mit viel Schnee... geniest die Zeit und bis irgendwann im nächsten Jahr dann wieder.

...ich bin dann mal weg!
xoxo
Stephan Read Full...

Timo's baptism

What a great day at the baptism of my brothers baby boy. I became godfather of Timo, he took the ceremonial with pride and didn't cry too much. The church ceremony was followed by a yummie lunch in the "Guggibad" Restaurant. A wonderful sunny day...

Here are some of the pics.

Read Full...

Oslo by bike

How to get around in Oslo?
Best and cheapest way is definitely wt one of the Oslo Bysykkels. U can rent a bike for a whole year for only 80Kroner.

There are several stations around Oslo to pick em up and bring em back. Some of the stations rarely have any bicycles, but u will find it out very quick. A very good option to find the next available bike is to scan ur card at the closest station and it will tell u how many bikes are available in the nearest stations.
The bikes are not always in good shape but mostly u can ride em... some gear shifts are broken or there is not much air in the tires, but hey, u can get from A to B.






As we know, Oslo or should i say Norway is one of the more expensive country's. So it is useful to know the cheap places to eat, otherwise u will pay 10$ for a simple kebab or burger. A good advise would be to go to the Lebanese, Iranian and all of those mid-eastern restaurants. Usually u can get something to eat for 5-8$.

Chill and grill in the parks is famous for Norwegians. The one way BBQ-grills are still aloud here, even though they create a lot of waste and ur sausage will have a weird burning paste taste on it. The city is full of parks, so u want have a hard time to find one that u like.
Bring a sheet to sit on and make sure u take away ur trash when u leave.

Here is a useful link to get the Bicycle card for Oslo.
http://www.oslobysykkel.no/ Read Full...

Silvaplana... the 4th KTE tourstopp

we do it again... just 3days had past since we ended the last event in Sylt. The forecast looked very promissing for the next 4days.

I went up to silvaplana wt the train, as the mountains were a bit steep for my vespa... The train ride is one of the most scenic rides in Europe, along the Swiss mountains. The railroad climbs up the mountains smooth like a snake.

What a blast, the first day skippers meeting was early as usuall...10AM, we had set up a freestyle square and a course for the racing already by that time.


It was a great meet n greet again, as most competitiors came straight from Sylt. I gotta say it feels like a big family on the KTE, u know everyone and u can have a good day at the lake and a hard night in the bars.



The judge team was very international again and we got a good bond all together.









Silvaplana lake has some special conditions for the riders, u gotta use a 2meter bigger kite then usual, caused by the thin air up here on 1700m.
The wind should start if there is a slight breez from north east and the sun is out.
On Friday we got blessed wt winds all afternoon till the rain came around 5PM, we got the full single elimination ladder done, races were postponed to the next day after the wind did not come back till 6PM. So we went for dinner around 7PM and all of a sudden all kite were back out in the water till after 8PM.
The next day promissed some good winds all afternoon... but we got 0... so we did some SUP board racing and slack line. We called it a day again around 6PM... 6.15PM the wind kicked in again.. we could have done some races till 8PM but when u call it a day u can't get back. So we had to hope for Sunday... pricegiving ceremony was scheduled for 3PM...

Most rider didn't show up till late, cause they know that winds here do not blow before noon. It looked like we didnt get wind for the racing.. think that would have been the first event wt FS done but no racing... last announcement 2.30PM... and again by surprise the wind came back. Light but enough for a race.
So we got it all done again... everyone was happy that we did it.

I had a good ride back wt Bruno Sroka from France. He lifes at the north west tip of France and had a long (12h) way home after dropping me off in Zurich.
We had a good laugh when we drove throu Zurich behind Joharas colorful, graffity van. She was on tour wt Maike and Nicky and they had a good party in the van... lucky they did not cause a accident wt some drivers on the opposite lanes that could not stop staring at the van. (-:

So another successful event is done... Poland to come in August. Read Full...