As I arrived to Dahkla on the middle of the night I wondered where that 4X4 was taking us since all I saw was darkness and the bit of desert the head lights would reach, I was unsettle until I got out of the car and got stroked by the beauty of the sky, there were so many starts that's hard to describe, there all my worries about being away from civilization suddenly disappeared and from that night thru all this 10day all I saw were the advantages of going back to a simple life style.
As I connected to the internet as soon as I arrived back to Spain I thought: " Internet! Finally! " but that was not really how I felt, it was more of an instinct then an actual relieve, truth is that it's been amazing this 10 days on the middle of the Sahara desert with no connection to the rest of the world.
The only negative thing about this lack of connection was that I couldn't update the blog and post that I won the event :) I wanted to upload the pics and spread the good news but I had to wait until the plane touched down in Spain.
The competition was amazing, the conditions were perfect for freestyle, flat water and 9m weather, we were actually pretty lucky with the wind since the days before and the day after the comp it was howling for an overpowered 5.5m session.
I'm pretty happy with my riding, it all came together and I had some pretty good heats. All the other girls were also riding really good so the competition was very tight, I think this stop really showed how the level of the girls went up, yesssssss!! We are getting somewhere with all this!
This time all my gear worked very well and I had no unluckiness on the comp, the only bump was that my leash snapped on the final against Gisela and I lost the kite remaining one minute to go, a minute never went slower, Gisela pulled two tricks on that time but I had done lots of tricks up to that point and that was enough to take the win.
Now I'm taking all this new motivation from this win in Marrocos to put into some training and get ready for Leucate!
a little bit of Thailand
With the forecast not looking too good we had to rush the double elimination and incredibly we finished the single and the double all in one day, we had an early start at 8:30 am and the wind stayed all the way until dark.
I stayed with my 3rd place after defending my position against Holly Kennedy then challenging Karolina Winkowska for the 2nd place, unfortunately on my heat I made a tactical error and tried a trick too close to the beach, since the wind was offshore I got stuck on a wind shadow and my kite stayed on the water for half of the heat, it's so frustrating to be on the water trying to relaunch while there's a heat foxing on!
Since the competition finished quite early on the week we had a lot of time to get to know the place and do some tourism, it was amazing and the culture here is beautiful, here are some pics that show a little bit of it :)
I stayed with my 3rd place after defending my position against Holly Kennedy then challenging Karolina Winkowska for the 2nd place, unfortunately on my heat I made a tactical error and tried a trick too close to the beach, since the wind was offshore I got stuck on a wind shadow and my kite stayed on the water for half of the heat, it's so frustrating to be on the water trying to relaunch while there's a heat foxing on!
Since the competition finished quite early on the week we had a lot of time to get to know the place and do some tourism, it was amazing and the culture here is beautiful, here are some pics that show a little bit of it :)
Thailand
So, the first stop of the tour here in Thailand hasn't been going as plan, but there's no need to loose the good humor, as writing this I realized that there's a lot of positive thing to take from it.
I got here all exited for the competition and boom! I got an Asian flu instead of a smile as as welcome gift, I managed to have a full on cold in Thailand and better yet, fever! Now imagine having fever where it's 39 degrees….hmmm.
The spot also showed us it's dark side, from beautiful sunny and warm Thailand we went to beautiful rainy and cold Thailand, there is wind so we'll compete anyway, we can't afford to way for the nice sun to come back :) So on the first trick of my first heat my board snaps, luckily I managed to land some tricks and Karo Winkowska was good to me and landed me her spare board for the rest of the competition.
Then on my next heat I found out the judges weren't taking in consideration the competition area, I saw one of the tricks from the other competitor considerably far out of the box and went to talk with the head judge, this is what he tells me: " haaa, yeah, we area not taking in consideration the down wind booyes" Geee! thanks for letting me know NOW, after I spent precious time of my heat trying to stay within the competition box!!
I haven't been here that long but I already got to take a lot of lessons from this trip:
- Thailand can get pretty cold, so I might want to back a little bit more then bikinis next time I come.
- Always travel with a spare board even thou all of them broke, just find any other one.
-Make sure to remind the head judge that he should warn the riders when he decides to disconsider the competition are, because mistakes such as those on events such as this one, where the wind is rare, can compromise a result for the whole stop.
Looking forward for the rest of the trip here, I'll have my fingers crosse for more wind to finish the double! Luckily the amazing yummy Thai food remains the same and the massages are as good as ever!
I got here all exited for the competition and boom! I got an Asian flu instead of a smile as as welcome gift, I managed to have a full on cold in Thailand and better yet, fever! Now imagine having fever where it's 39 degrees….hmmm.
The spot also showed us it's dark side, from beautiful sunny and warm Thailand we went to beautiful rainy and cold Thailand, there is wind so we'll compete anyway, we can't afford to way for the nice sun to come back :) So on the first trick of my first heat my board snaps, luckily I managed to land some tricks and Karo Winkowska was good to me and landed me her spare board for the rest of the competition.
Then on my next heat I found out the judges weren't taking in consideration the competition area, I saw one of the tricks from the other competitor considerably far out of the box and went to talk with the head judge, this is what he tells me: " haaa, yeah, we area not taking in consideration the down wind booyes" Geee! thanks for letting me know NOW, after I spent precious time of my heat trying to stay within the competition box!!
I haven't been here that long but I already got to take a lot of lessons from this trip:
- Thailand can get pretty cold, so I might want to back a little bit more then bikinis next time I come.
- Always travel with a spare board even thou all of them broke, just find any other one.
-Make sure to remind the head judge that he should warn the riders when he decides to disconsider the competition are, because mistakes such as those on events such as this one, where the wind is rare, can compromise a result for the whole stop.
Looking forward for the rest of the trip here, I'll have my fingers crosse for more wind to finish the double! Luckily the amazing yummy Thai food remains the same and the massages are as good as ever!
Red Bull Mobile launch
In between my training down here in Cape Town I took a little break and joined the Red Bull crew for the Red Bull Mobile launch party in Johannesburg, they flew in most of SA's athletes and our kiteboarding crew formed by Ruben lenten, aaron Hadlow and myself.
The venue was amazing, it was the Turbine Hall, this huge stylish warehouse that got turned into a massive dance floor, a vip area and some private lounges to sit and drink with your friends. As for the night's attraction we had the boys from BC One and Street Style pulling out cool moves, as for the music we had The Beat Bangaz, Black Coffee, Goldfish and to end the night in style, Faithless, which was my personal favorite.
For those who are wondering hat Red Bull Mobile is here is a quick explanation: Red Bull in association with Cell C developed a customized Red Bull smartphone that has free access to all the Red Bull content and can be bought as a contract mobile phone from the 25th of Feburary, my birthday :)
No need to say we had a great time at the party, after that I had a quick night of sleep caught the flight back to Cape Town and managed to have a very fun session with my 9m Hadlow Pro when I arrived. After the session I went straight to dinner and from there to bed for a good night of sleep at last!
Here you can watch a quick video from the party:
http://www.redbull.co.za/cs/Satellite/en_ZA/REDBULL/001242760617920
The venue was amazing, it was the Turbine Hall, this huge stylish warehouse that got turned into a massive dance floor, a vip area and some private lounges to sit and drink with your friends. As for the night's attraction we had the boys from BC One and Street Style pulling out cool moves, as for the music we had The Beat Bangaz, Black Coffee, Goldfish and to end the night in style, Faithless, which was my personal favorite.
For those who are wondering hat Red Bull Mobile is here is a quick explanation: Red Bull in association with Cell C developed a customized Red Bull smartphone that has free access to all the Red Bull content and can be bought as a contract mobile phone from the 25th of Feburary, my birthday :)
No need to say we had a great time at the party, after that I had a quick night of sleep caught the flight back to Cape Town and managed to have a very fun session with my 9m Hadlow Pro when I arrived. After the session I went straight to dinner and from there to bed for a good night of sleep at last!
Here you can watch a quick video from the party:
http://www.redbull.co.za/cs/Satellite/en_ZA/REDBULL/001242760617920
Cape Town for the Winter
Cape Town
This winter I decided to come back to Cape Town to get some training done, it's been 2 yearssince I last came and everything is quite different, for my surprise so I am, the last winters I spent here I always had a hard time with the wind, never managed to learn anything new and ended up being frustrated, but this year has been different, I'm much more comfortable with the crazy Cape Town winds and my training is going much better. It's been really fun in general to be here, there's a bunch of riders around, good old days friends, and girls to ride with! Not any girls too, they are Jalou Langaree and Jo Wilson, rippers that unfortunately don't come to the competitions anymore but are still on the top of their game.
The other day we had a good session in Lagabeen with Aaron Hadlow and Rui Meira, the spot was nice and flat for a change and I managed to ride with my 7m before the wind got to strong and sand was blowing everywhere. Rob and Fiona Claisse from Progression were filming loads and taking shots, here are some of them.
Today is one of my rest days, it's been windy pretty much everyday and the days there was no wind I ended up either going to the cable park, surfing or running chores, so today will be a full day of doing absolutely nothing :)
For now the forecast doesn't look too good for the next days so hopefully the swell will pick up and there will be some epic South African surf to entertain us.
This winter I decided to come back to Cape Town to get some training done, it's been 2 yearssince I last came and everything is quite different, for my surprise so I am, the last winters I spent here I always had a hard time with the wind, never managed to learn anything new and ended up being frustrated, but this year has been different, I'm much more comfortable with the crazy Cape Town winds and my training is going much better. It's been really fun in general to be here, there's a bunch of riders around, good old days friends, and girls to ride with! Not any girls too, they are Jalou Langaree and Jo Wilson, rippers that unfortunately don't come to the competitions anymore but are still on the top of their game.
The other day we had a good session in Lagabeen with Aaron Hadlow and Rui Meira, the spot was nice and flat for a change and I managed to ride with my 7m before the wind got to strong and sand was blowing everywhere. Rob and Fiona Claisse from Progression were filming loads and taking shots, here are some of them.
Today is one of my rest days, it's been windy pretty much everyday and the days there was no wind I ended up either going to the cable park, surfing or running chores, so today will be a full day of doing absolutely nothing :)
For now the forecast doesn't look too good for the next days so hopefully the swell will pick up and there will be some epic South African surf to entertain us.
Results and Gala dinner
This is it!! the end of the PKRA Tour has arrived, we all live thru so much together, from moments of pure happiness to frustration and disappointment, the important thing is that we were a strong crew all the way, pursuing personal goals and at the same time working together to promote our sport and have a brighter future for it.
To celebrate such an important journey we had a gala dinner to present the winners of the event and the overall ranking, it was a beautiful ceremony, everyone was looking sharp on our gala outfits and most importantly we're all smiling and having a good time.
For myself I'm very happy with how this competition year finished for me, I won the event here at Gold Coast and with that result finished in 2nd on the overall ranking. When I look back to how this year started for me I can't believe I actually managed to have such a good outcome, I've been thru all kinds of obstacles, you name it, it happened to me this year! On the process I've learned a lot and I wouldn't have done it any other way, I'm happy to have been able to turn things around and pick it up towards the end of the year to finish in 2nd.
For my partners on this crazy world tour, thanks everyone, it's been a pleasure to do all of that in your company and see you next year!!
To celebrate such an important journey we had a gala dinner to present the winners of the event and the overall ranking, it was a beautiful ceremony, everyone was looking sharp on our gala outfits and most importantly we're all smiling and having a good time.
For myself I'm very happy with how this competition year finished for me, I won the event here at Gold Coast and with that result finished in 2nd on the overall ranking. When I look back to how this year started for me I can't believe I actually managed to have such a good outcome, I've been thru all kinds of obstacles, you name it, it happened to me this year! On the process I've learned a lot and I wouldn't have done it any other way, I'm happy to have been able to turn things around and pick it up towards the end of the year to finish in 2nd.
For my partners on this crazy world tour, thanks everyone, it's been a pleasure to do all of that in your company and see you next year!!
1st at the singles on the Gold Coast
After a long wait for the wind we had a real taste of Goal Coast's sick conditions, the wind started off early and slowly built up during the day until it was perfect for a 9m session, just add the kickers and we were set! The sun came out strong and lots of people that were complaining about the rain regretted, we all fried on the beach, it's amazing how much the sun burns here, no wander in every competitor pack there was a bottle of sunscreen! Without it it would've been catastrophe.
My first heat was against my friend and team mate Johara Sykes-Davies, I love to start off like that because we always have fun in our heats, then I met Jalou Langeree on the semi-finals, it's good to have hair back after her absence on tour, and her come back was quite impressive, she pulled out some powerful moves such as blind judges and s-bend passes. After Jalou I met Gisela Pulido for the finals, I started off with a blind judge 3 that came out pretty good and it just felt right, so the rest of the heat fell on track and I took the win.
Now we'll wait to see if there will be any wind for the doubles, since the beginning of the event the wind hasn't shown up very often, instead we had quite a lot of rain, but I've been having a great time here, even the rain didn't bother me… I've been surfing everyday and even got some session in sick spots like Snapper Rocks and South Stradie :)
My first heat was against my friend and team mate Johara Sykes-Davies, I love to start off like that because we always have fun in our heats, then I met Jalou Langeree on the semi-finals, it's good to have hair back after her absence on tour, and her come back was quite impressive, she pulled out some powerful moves such as blind judges and s-bend passes. After Jalou I met Gisela Pulido for the finals, I started off with a blind judge 3 that came out pretty good and it just felt right, so the rest of the heat fell on track and I took the win.
Now we'll wait to see if there will be any wind for the doubles, since the beginning of the event the wind hasn't shown up very often, instead we had quite a lot of rain, but I've been having a great time here, even the rain didn't bother me… I've been surfing everyday and even got some session in sick spots like Snapper Rocks and South Stradie :)
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