THEKITEMAG ISSUE #48

“Stig and Louka told the boys for example that you can be the best rider in the world, but if you walk to the beach with your headphones on, get on the water, do your tricks and go home, you will not be interesting for a brand…”

Linda van Lakwijk reveals some of the sage advice that was dished out to the latest recruits of Naish Team Europe as they spent a week in the company of Stig Hoefnagel and Louka Pitot.

“We had to make our way back to the little port earlier than expected, due to the tide change being so dramatic – there was a channel we had to get through before it dried up leaving us in the Emerald sea until the tide turned again. As we approached the channel we knew we were cutting it fine, as you could hear the rocks starting to scrape across the bottom of the boat…”

As a judge at Madagascar’s ‘Festikite’ competition, Joshua Emanuel made the most of his time in-country, scoring plenty of sessions and taking in a lot of flora and fauna in the process. Occasional sketchy moments just added to the adventure.

“After an epic freestyle session, my left knee was feeling very unstable. At that moment I should have decided to take it easy… but I was too eager to ride, so I headed out for another session, during which my left knee buckled as I came down from a heavy landing… I instantly felt a sharp pain run through my leg; I knew it was over for me.”

And it all started so well… Carl Ferreira’s trip to Italy to meet up with the RRD team and enjoy some good European living was the perfect opportunity to escape the Cape Town winter.

“I think competition is a good life lesson – you learn so much while competing. You can learn a lot from the other riders; you learn how to fail and get back on your feet, but you also learn a lot about yourself. When I’m competing the best and worst parts of me come out.”

Kitesurfing nomad Capucine Delannoy, along with her brother Camille, discuss the upsides and downsides of a life spent chasing the wind, and how competitions feed into their drifting lifestyle…

“At one point Youri did try to escape my vicinity by ‘Swimming to the safety of Saudi’ but we were soon on top of that, rounding him up using a fleet of middle-aged women doing SUP yoga who were more than obliging to chase after him. Shout out to them.”

You can watch Colin Colin Carroll’s three-part blank kite test series with Youri Zoon on YouTube now… but we got the exclusive full inside scoop from Colin himself on how the test played out. Helpfully, he even provides answers to the anticipated FAQs.

“We rushed to the beach to check out the conditions and what we could expect over the next few days. I was genuinely surprised by the beauty and scenery of the spot. I had expected something like the Netherlands, but the scenery got me going wild. Unfortunately, the tide was too high and the wind was light, but we could see some insane potential for the coming days.”

Despite a huge kiteboarding scene, the UK rarely makes it onto a kite brand’s wish list of alluring places to shoot their new kit. But – for those who take a closer look, such as Roderick Pijls on a recent FLYSURFER shoot – there’s an awful lot of promise to be found on its southwestern shores…

“Had any previous tour sponsors shown this level of commitment to the sport: flying 10 pro riders, plus media, plus GKA crew to showcase their spot and their commitment to the sport? They hadn’t. The signs were favorable.”

Our very own Editor, Alex Hapgood, got a special invite out to Qatar to witness the official start of the partnership between Qatar Airways and the GKA. It started with Business Class seating on the flight out… and just got better and better.