Newsround

Andre: Another Brazil season comes to an end. As always it’s been an awesome one, but a bit of a different one for me because now I have a number of jobs shooting other sports that end up being around the same time. So I definitely didn’t get to stay in Brazil for as long as I would have liked. I still managed to see some old friends and shoot at my favorite spots with some incredible riders that have also become great friends throughout the years. I didn’t get to many places, I mainly spent my time in Taiba shooting freestyle and park. It’s crazy to see where freestyle is right now – the level is so high. There are so many good riders and so many different styles.

It’s also been wild to see the transformation of Taiba. A few years ago we would come here and be almost by ourselves in the lagoon. It would be only pros training. Now there are so many people riding everywhere and new restaurants popping up. During Covid the municipality of Caucaia, where Cumbuco is, decided to dig Cauipe Lagoon and make it bigger. I feel like the change made a lot of people happy but it definitely meant the lagoon is not as good for high-performance freestyle.

That’s definitely contributed to this shift to Taiba. As a photographer I have to admit I’m a little bummed. The old small Cauipe Lagoon worked so well for photos. Of course I still look forward to coming to Brazil and shooting my favorite subject. Hopefully next season I will have time to explore more and shoot different spots.

Rami: My Brazil trip started straight after AWSI. Brazil is the most classic trip of the year. It’s always awesome to meet up with all the riders from around the world. Brazil is the meeting point, with the best wind in the world, so I love to be there. I got a house for two months in Taiba and at the beginning I spent more time with my family and friends. It was awesome because a full year later my knee is finally feeling 100% after my injury, so it was cool to push freestyle again and feel confident about my riding. After that I did a coaching camp in Moitas and then went back to Taiba for the KPL event. Seeing the park in the lagoon was a dream come true, it’s so much fun riding that setup. It was awesome to mix it up with some park after training freestyle for a month straight. I had another coaching camp after that but had enough time to go back to Cumbuco and watch the GKA event which was really fun. It was a great season once again.

Erick: The windy season is always incredible. It’s always an amazing opportunity to compete at home with my friends watching. I’m happy with my performance at the GKA event. My goal was to get to the semifinals but I ended up losing in the quarters – I know I can do better. Hopefully I will be able to go to more events next year. This season was a bit different for me. I did a lot of coaching and worked a lot. But it’s always good to see my friends from all over the world and to see the other pro riders training. That gives me a lot of motivation to keep on riding and pushing myself.

Mika: This season has been a little rocky. I had a small injury and I thought I was able to get away without using a knee brace because of all the rehab I’ve been doing, but in the first few sessions I didn’t feel super confident and ended up not riding for 10 or 12 days. I got the knee brace and now I’m feeling a bit better and more like myself. I’m still not 100% – lots of up and downs but nevertheless a very exciting season.

Carlos: My season was quite unique to be honest. I got involved in a TV project with a Brazilian production company and I got to travel around all the kite spots and also some of the most touristy places in Ceará. It was cool to see so many different places and meet a lot of people along the way. It also gave me the opportunity to ride in many different spots and conditions. I think overall it was a great season. It’s definitely incredible to see how many people are coming here because of kiting.

Noè: Well, I just got back from catching a gnarly front edge this morning so the season has been exhausting! No really. The season was very productive; we stayed busy. We ran a comp, built the park, got some clips, got some shots. But there are always things you wish you did. But that’s alright because that’s why we will come back next season.

Cocco: This year I came really early and stayed in Taiba the whole time. Every year the lagoon shapes a little differently. The main fresh water lagoon is smaller but as it happened last year there is now a salt water lagoon right next to it that this year shaped even bigger. So we had a lot of space to train. This year was also special because we had the park setup in the lagoon. It’s also my first time here with my son which has been an epic experience. Before, I would just go home and chill between sessions – quite boring to be honest – but now with the kid I do so many things. Time flies. Also for my mood and soul it’s such a good energy. I see my son smiling at me and it’s amazing. My mom is also here for the first time, and it’s her first time flying over the ocean and first time watching a world tour stop, so it’s been a great experience for the whole family.