Saved the Day

You might assume that planning an event for the second time would be easier, but you never know when things could take an unexpected turn. Picture this: you’re the organizer, navigating a national economic crisis and a kite industry battered on the international front. Despite the odds, you manage to secure enough funding to proceed, leveraging favors and support from everyone you know. Yet, just when you’re on the brink of completion, ten days before the event, you receive the worst possible message from your associate at midnight. “Rami, I’ve just had a meeting with the owner of the features. He’s pulling out of the deal. He won’t provide the rails. I think we need to cancel the event.”

Faced with such a message, the choice between backing down or doubling down isn’t easy. With no funds left and a daunting problem to solve, most people would likely throw in the towel. But quitting wasn’t an option in my mind. I refused to let this setback ruin our event and leave everyone stranded. That very night, I reached out to everyone I thought could offer a solution. After a conversation with Simon Giovanelli, it became clear – I had no choice. I had to source the features from a plan B, I would do whatever I had to for the event to stay afloat.

The next morning, a miracle unfolded. I called Nico Karagozian, and he reassured me, “Rami, don’t worry. I understand the stress you’re under. You can use the features from my 2.0 for the event and return them whenever you can. Take it easy.” In that moment, everything fell into place. I had a path forward. Hours later, I was driving back to Buenos Aires to retrieve those features, arranging for a 20-meter truck and a crane to transport them 1700 kilometers to Villa La Angostura. I won’t bore you with the details of the logistics of actually taking those features to Patagonia, but just know, it wasn’t pretty or easy…

I am very proud to say that over the years, the KPL team has been able to create the most supportive and helpful family of riders from all over the world, so even though they are there to compete, they will always lend a helping hand in times of need and that is exactly what they did. The first day of the event, everyone worked together in moving the features to the island and setting them up for the days to come.

Conditions were hectic but I did manage to score some decent hits in both features, a 50/50 bs2 over the gap to fakie on the A-frame, and a classic bs5 on the kicker. As we went for the left features, the wind started to get weird which shifted the features making it less than an ideal angle to hit them. The handrail was way downwind but miraculously I did manage to get a nice hit. This got me back in the right mindset. I had a chance, a good one – just one last feature, the left kicker. Just as we were about to move forward, the wind died making us stop for a few minutes. That destroyed my mindset once again. The momentum was gone. At this point I knew I needed to perform, but my mind was playing tricks on me. We were back-to-back with Noè for the top spot and I needed a big one to take home the win. It was all or nothing. Either I threw the best possible hit and take it all, or fail miserably and completely mess up my score. Unfortunately for me, it was the latter. The pressure of performing at my best, while keeping it all together finally got to me. I ended up getting a butt check on my first attempt and a failed fs9 and bs7 on the following ones which landed me in third place, behind Noè in first place and Xander in second place.

With that the competition was finished, but the event was far from over. The following days were filled with amazing freeride sessions without the stress of having to compete, hikes up the mountains, plenty of Argentinian BBQs and lots of wine, followed by the awards ceremony and closing party by the Nahuel Huapi lake. From zero to one hundred in a week. This year’s Patagonia invitational was a whirlwind of emotions – from dealing with the trials and tribulations of organizing the first stop of a world tour, to competing against great riders while trying to maintain the event afloat, it showed me that where there’s a will, there’s always a way. With the incredible effort of our team – media crew (Oli Umpierre, Javi Sanchez and Guincho Pastene), judges (Christophe Tack and Maximiliano Gambedotti), community manager (Martina Marcet), and co-organizer Mario Sampaolesi – we pulled off one of the most visually striking and community-driven kite events in the world. My head may have been going through it, but the event came out on top and set a high standard for the following tour stops ahead.