Kite Spots | Kite 2012

Aitutaki, Cook Islands – Kitesurfing in the heart of Polynesia

Posted by kite2012 On June - 4 - 2012

Aitutaki, Cook Islands – Kitesurfing in the heart of Polynesia

Kia Orana, welcome to the Cook Islands, the best-kept secret of the South Pacific. The 15 islands of the Cooks are located halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii, widely scattered across the ocean. The jewel of the Cook Islands is Aitutaki. The magnificent and remote island is the stuff of which dreams are made and lies in the most beautiful lagoon in the world. Aitutaki is 220 kilometres north of Rarotonga and less than an hour’s flight away. Here you will find the perfect place for your kitesurfing-holidays, no matter if you’re a rookie or an old stager. The breath-taking sight of crystal clear turquoise waters and sparkling white beaches in combination with steady trade winds – what more could one want?

Our Aitutaki Kite Centre lies on Honeymoon Island, one of the small and charming uninhabited motus (little islands) around the main island. It’s beside a 1 km long sandbar with butter flat water and a shallow learner’s area which stretches for miles. It just doesn’t get crowded! An amazing spot to improve and perfect your kiteboarding, get cover page photos and relax. We have highly experienced IKO certified instructors and our goal is fun, safety and teaching at a pace to suit your abilities. We offer kite control and board intro sessions, up-and-riding lessons, supervised sessions and accelerator classes. We are equipped with a full time safety boat and secure gear storage. Of course we care for your creature comforts as well, we have BBQ facilities, refreshments and fresh coconuts without end! Set your watches on island-time, bring sun protection for your face, body and eyes and let us take care of the rest!

Further informations you find on our website www.southpacifickiteboarding.com.
Ask us any question: info@southpacifickiteboarding.com or follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/AitutakiKiteCentre

Kia manuia – May good fortune shine on you!
Mike Lee, Aitutaki Kite Centre

A Perfect Darkslide

Posted by kite2012 On June - 4 - 2012

Here is a nice clip from South Africa. Forward the video to 05:45 and you´ll see that these guys have found a kite spot that looks amazing! The darkslide at 06:30 is probably the smoothest darkslide I ever seen on a video, that’s what you can call riding with style!

All, South Africa, Tricks, Videos

Perhaps the stupiest thing I’ve ever done…

Posted by kite2012 On June - 2 - 2012

You know the feeling when you havn’t been kiting for a while and then suddenly a day come when there is sun and wind… lots of wind! You can’t wait to get your ass to the water and have an awesome session! That day came to me yesterday. The forecast looked very promising in the morning, perfect conditions! The forecast for the afternoon showed that you could expect some serious strong wind coming in… Unfortunately I had to be in the school from morning to 1 pm. So when I finally was home after school, I grabbed my gear and rushed to the bus. To get to my local kite spot from the town where I live you have to change bus in another small town. So I jumped off the bus in the other small town and waited for the second bus, that didn’t come! I waited for 20 minutes, then I called the bus company. I was told that the bus already had left. Impossible, since I was at the bus stop at least 3 minutes before the time that the bus were suppose to leave. I got pissed off! the buses from the second bus stop only go once per hour, so I had two options. Either wait for 40 minutes or start walking to the kitespot, a walk that would have taken at least one hour… Then I got this “brilliant” idea. Why not walk to water and simply ride with my kite to the kitespot.

I started to walk. I reached the water about 15 minutes later, after crossing the highway and a field with fences and stinging nettles.
My plan was to perform a self launch with the kite, put my clothes and shoes in the kitebag and simply ride to the kitespot. So I rigged the kite and packed my bag. Everything was set! Only problem was that the wind was picking up and I could see some rain frontals out in the sea… I had to wait to a little bit. The front pasted and I saw my chance. I walked out in the water with the kite in my hand and my bag on my back. The self launch went well and I was up on the board, yeehaaa!

What I did not really take into account, or rather denied, was that I could get in trouble if the wind picked up a little… it was in my head of course, but it was a little too late to avert the insanity project… The problem was not only that the waves were pretty high and that the wind was strong and gusty. I could under no circumstances fall into the water since I had all my clothes in the bag on my back, including my iphone, keys, money, etc… The wind was so strong that the kite, a 9m Airush Varial X got bended and deformed due to the high wind pressure, though it was pumped to about 7.5 bar. When that happened, I had to bring down the kite to the surface and wait for the frontal to pass. I was on shallow water when this happened, so my bag was still quite dry.
Anyway, I continued my ride and everything went ok, until I reached a bay where I was forced to ride out several hundred metres to be able to pass a pier and a small lighthouse. I struggled to ride upwind in 3 metres high waves and was finally far out enough to be able to try to pass the lighthouse. However, a big fucking rain cloud was coming in and I thought to myself that this is a very bad idea, but this has to make or break!
Then it happened… The frontal was right over me and the wind was so strong that the kite got deformed again. I tried my best to ride downwind through the huge waves in high speed, but I had no chance to stay up on the board with the deformed and fully depowered above my head. I crashed into a wave and lost my board in the waves behind me. Trying to bodydrag upwind to reach the board would have been pointless in my situation, so I bodydragged downwind a few hundred meters until I reach the shallow water near the beach. I pulled the quick release and managed to reach my kite. I walked up on the beach and secured the kite with tons of sand. My board was lost in the ocean, but I figured that it would get washed ashore sooner or later. I was more worried about my bag, or rather all the stuff such as my iphone inside the bag, but it should be ok considering that I had put my iphone inside my jacket and the jacket inside a plastic bag. It is in this moment that it dawns on me, the bag is not on my back!!! I gaze out over the angry sea, but see nothing but water and waves… I also realize that one of my contact lenses is gone.
What to do now? Well, I got back in the water to search for my bag and my board. My worst fear was that the bag would have sunk to the bottom and I prayed to god that the pump still would be attached to the bag providing it with some buoyancy.

About an hour later I sight something black and round floating in the water, not to far from the beach, my bag!! Totally exhausted I waded through the water, up to the bag and lifted it up, what a feeling! I carried it back on land, like I was carrying a drowned person, the bag was safe! It turned out that one of the carrying straps had been ripped off when I crashed in the water and somehow it apperantly had slipped out from the other arm when I was tumbling around there for some seconds. Everything inside the bag was soaked, everything but a small piece of bread that was wrapped in a small plastic bag.

About 2 hours later I jump on a bus again, this time soaking wet and with an iphone that is completely dead!
I shake my head over my stupidity and I know that I only have myself to blame, but nothing bad without anything good. Now I have a good story to tell and the ground rule that you shouldn’t kite alone got another dimension for me. And hopefully some of you out there will learn something from a moron like me :)

Kitesurfing video with Kent VinterNoll2!

Posted by kite2012 On May - 31 - 2012

The guy that made this video is from Germany. The location where it is filmed is at the Kite Beach in Sal, Cabo Verde. I might be wrong, but I´m pretty sure that the guy in the beginning of the video that brings the wave board is Mitu Monteiro, the wave world champion 2008 and F-One’s best teamrider! And the music is KENT – probably the best swedish band ever! I don’t know if this guy realize that he has made a really great video!

And here is the song with Kent – VinterNoll 2

All, Cape Verde, Mitu Monteiro, Videos

Alex Pastor – Follow Your Passion

Posted by kite2012 On May - 29 - 2012

Alex Pastor, team rider for Airush and also one of the best riders in the world. Videos with Alex are usually of good quality and the last two are not an exception. Here is “Follow Your Passion” Part 1 and 2, shot in Uruau, Ceara, Brazil. Enjoy!

Kitesurfing in Bali

Posted by kite2012 On May - 25 - 2012

Kitesurfing, also known as” Kiteboarding “started at the end of the 90’ and become one of the most popular extreme water sports gaining followers all over the world.
Kitesurfing is a unique and exciting sport that is the combination of many other watersports: The speed of water skiing, the acrobatic moves of wakeboarding, the precise curves on the waves like surfers and the amazing jumps that makes you literally flying!

Hearing all of this makes you feel like you want to run to the beach, get a kite a board and launch yourself into this incredible adventure.

But like all extreme sports is not as easy as it seems and could be very dangerous! Numerous deaths happened around the world…

Watching experience riders flying effortless on their boards and shredding havoc on the waves or jump as high as a bird really looks like it’s nothing and anyone can do it…

Kitesurfing is a sport to be taken with extreme respect! The kites are extremely powerful and can easily become a danger to yourself and to others. Like a wild horse can drag you on the beach or thrown you in the air like a twig.

So try to follow the few tips that are listed below trying to avoid those mistakes and mishaps that all of us pioneers of this sport have happened sooner or later during our first steps:

1 – It’s always best, at least at the beginning, to use the services of a professional school, this will help you to learn more quickly and way more safely than if you try on your own.
Not only that but you will save money! Because crashing and destroying a brand new kite can seriously hurt your bank account.

2 – Get informed! There are hundreds of sites on the web where to find information’s about kitesurfing, how to learn, types of kiteboarding equipment, where to do it and all the dangers related.

Here are few very good:
– Kitesurfing School, pretty much the bible for those who want to learn the sport,
https://kitesurfingschool.org
– Kite Forum, a forum where thousand of fans enjoy discussing their favorite sport, www.kiteforum.com
– Bali Kitesurfing, the original and most informative guide about Kitesurfing in Bali and all of Indonesia www.bali-kitesurfing.org

– Bali Kitesurfing on Facebook, get all the latest news and find a daily wind report of the conditions in Sanur at Kite Beach

3 – If there are no schools in your area, try to learn on your own but step by step.

Start by flying a small trainer kite specially designed for learning safely also call “stunt kite” normally about 2 square meters.

Then read everything possible in the web sites mentioned above and get an instructional Kitesurfing DVD professional made like the one from Progression.

Learn to Wakeboard behind a boat to help with your board riding skill.

In Bali the best place to start is at kite Beach in Sanur “Pantai Pura Mertasari” where there is huge lagoon with calm water that is perfect for practice.

The wind intensity in Bali is never too strong so is very rare that it reach a force such that kiteboarding become really dangerous.

Rather there are more days when we wander from one beach to another desperately looking for that gust of air that allows us to glide over the water and dream.

To learn kitesurfing in Bali there are already few schools and they are all located in Sanur:

Bali Kitesurfing School, is owned and run by the Balinese kite team, they are very patient and very good in teaching.
They only use the latest and best equipment on the market.

Water Lessons are all One on One and the instructors follow you at all time in the water in a motorized boat.

Rip Curl School of Surf, is an international Kitesurfing school that is associated to IKO.

In Bali and all of Indonesia at the moment there is only ONE shop where to find all you need.

KITE & SURF BALI – THE PRO SHOP located in Sanur very close to Kite Beach.
Prices are really convenient compare to any other place in the world and they sell equipment from the best brands like: Cabrinha, Ozone, Underground, Flying Object and more.

Kitesurfing in Cape Verde

Posted by kite2012 On May - 24 - 2012

Cape Verde is quickly becoming synonymous with the term Kite Surfing. It is a hidden jewel in the middle of a vast ocean. Having lived on the island of Sal for 6 years I can confidently attest to its greatness as a kite destination. Where else in the world can you arrive at an airport and travel only 20 min to your hotel and then only another 10 min to one of 4 kite spots. Not many by my reckoning. I learned to kite surf here and will freely admit that it was challenging. There is no lagoon, no shallow water and nowhere that is always completely flat. However, by the time I was up and riding I felt confident that I could kite surf anywhere in the world. Once I was up, I worried that I would soon become bored and have to find a new challenge. However 6 years down the road, the opportunities for challenge are boundless.
Sal has 4 main kite locations all within a 10-20 min range. Each spot offers something completely different.

There is the Bay Santa Maria. Here the wind is often side off (though it can change to off, on, or side) and fairly flat. It is a great place for long runs. There are no rocks, no reefs, but you may bump into a turtle, some dolphins and on occasion even a whale. Further up the Bay is Lembje beach. To enter here is a little difficult as there are some rocks. However once you are out, it is great sailing. The inside of the Bay is flat, whereas the outside often offers a lovely swell. When the waves do come in here, they are some of the nicest on the island.

On the west coast there is the beach in front of the Riu hotel. Here the wind is more off shore and is brilliant for speed sailing and free style. It is also 500 meters from the world famous wave spot Punta Preta. Punta Preta, when it is working, offers an orchestra of both large and powerful waves. The wave can reach up to 6 meters high, with a beach break to match. Across the island from this spot on the east coast is Kite Beach. Kite beach has a reef, on shore winds, and waves for those yearning to jump and play in waves without fear. To top it all off, we have yet to reach the point of saturation. There is space to play, space to ride, space to jump. When you are not on the water, the Island is governed by the local motto of NO STRESS. Cape Verdians are friendly and easy to spend time with. There is little to no rain and there is more than enough sun to satisfy those accompanying the obsessed kiter.
There are no major tourist sites, which makes for a stress-guilt free holiday of either lying in the sun or being out on the water.
There are a number of schools on the island offering lessons and rentals for both kite and windsurfing. I would recommend Surf Zone, which has a school in the Bay of Santa Maria and on the west coast in front of the Riu hotel. It is the only school that offers only private and semi private lessons to ensure both safety and quality lessons. For more information on the island, kite spots etc, visit their site www.surfcaboverde.com , which offers a large amount of information. For me, having traveled and lived in a number of countries, this is as good as it gets.

/ Sheena

When is it time to leave the water?

Posted by kite2012 On May - 23 - 2012

Under your kiteboarding lesson you probably learned that it´s important to keep an eye on the sky to see if there are any weird cloud formations going on such as dark clouds or cumulonimbus clouds. Rain fronts are usually easy to spot in time to manage to go back on land and bring down your kite before the front is over you. Or you can of course stay in the water and get prepared for an insane jumping session, just don’t lose your board since it can be difficult to recover it in very strong wind. Sometimes rain fronts come and go frequently and you can often see if it´s a big front or a smaller front. The size of the front determines how long you can expect the temporary strong wind to last. Landing a kite in strong gusty wind can be very dangerous, so it´s better to stay in the water and let the front pass than landing the kite while the wind is at its peak. If the whole horizont is dark and cloudy, then you might consider to get back on land after all even if you’re a skilled kiter, since you cannot estimate for how long the bad weather will last. There are however some occasions where you really shouldn’t stay in the water to prolong your kite session. One of these occasions is if the sky looks like this:

What you see here is a Shelf cloud which is a type of an Arcus cloud. This cloud could be seen in Hatteras yesterday the 22nd of May and I doubt that any kiteboarders decided to take a session during the time.

A shelf cloud is a horizontal wedge shaped cloud that rush forward along the ground. The shelf cloud is in turn connected to the base of a parent cloud, usually a thunderstorm i.e. a big cumulonimbus cloud, but it can be attached to other convective cloud types as well. The leading edge of the shelf cloud gets its characteristic shape due to the cold sinking air coming from the storm cloud behind it. This downdraft spreads out across the land as the leading edge is heading towards you. With this leading edge comes a strong gust front.

The storm cloud behind the shelf cloud might be very high (1,5 miles up to 14 miles) with strong upwinds. These upwinds are caused when the warm air in the middle of the cloud rushes upwards through the cloud. The cumulonimbus cloud often show up with its characteristic appearance of an anvil. The anvil consists of a veil of ice crystals in the upper part of the cloud, just at the bottom of the tropopause. The upwinds that reach this level is relatively colder than the tropopause, hence the moist air is diffusing laterally. This cold air in turn creates downdraft on the outside of the cloud. The rain and hail in these downdraft bring a lot of air that smashes towards the ground where it is being pushed forward in front of the cloud. This is the strong cold gust that we feel just before a bad weather cloud is coming in. The upwinds in the cumulonimbus clouds can be as strong as 20-30 m/s. They are therefore extremely dangerous to kiteboarders. In other words it´s not a good idea to be out kiteboarding either if you see a shelf cloud or a cumulonimbus cloud. There is a high risk that you get lofted, which happened to the guy from the unbelievable “Top Hat video”.

Massive cumulonimbus clouds can, if the conditions are right, transform into supercells. Supercells can be described as cumulonimbus clouds with strong rotating updrafts. The rotation occurs when the updrafts are combined with wind shear. The wind shear make the air turn into a huge vertical spiral inside the cloud that is being bended upwards thanks to the updrafts.

If you face a supercell when kiteboarding then you better not just head toward the beach asap, but packing down your stuff and get the hell out of there!

All, Cape Hatteras, News, Pictures

Kiteboarding in Cabarete

Posted by kite2012 On May - 22 - 2012

Discover Cabarete

If warm and sunny beaches are the perfect holiday destination for you then Cabarete would be a great place to visit! Cabarete is a wonderful town located in Puerto Plata a province of the Dominican Republic. The city was founded in 1835 by Zephaniah Kingsley along with his family and 53 slaves he brought from Florida. It is now famous for its sunny beaches and also for being the location of professional kitesurfing contests such as the World Cup and the “Master of the Ocean” competition.
Most of the people are going to the tropics simply to relax and lay on the beach all day long. But Cabarete is offering much more than this and it is a great place for all kind of interesting sports and outdoor activities. For example you can windsurf and Cabarete is among the top ten places in the world for this activity. You can also perform the classic surfing and the waters here are perfect for this! They are safe, warm, not crowded with people and they deliver perfect waves for surfing. Here you can also do Boogie-Boarding, Paddle Boarding, Canyoning or Wakeboarding. If you like exploring then you can choose to scuba dive and discover the wonderful marine life of this place. You can also choose to explore the caves found at the edge of the Cabarete or see the surroundings of the city by riding a mountain bike. If you prefer riding a motor bike instead then you can take motorcross lessons do enduro tours or dirt biking. The mountainous terrain from this area is just perfect for that. In case you are not a fan of such extreme sports then you can simply play some golf or take sightseeing expeditions around the city.
But the most interesting activity you can try here is definitely kitesurfing in Cabarete. (also known as kiteboarding). It is one of the newest and craziest water sports of the world and it can be done perfectly on the waters of Cabarete. The city is famous for the great conditions offered for kiteboarding and there is no wonder that it was the host of the Kiteboarding World Cup as well as the “Master of the Ocean” competition for many years.

It doesn’t matter if you are a total beginner or a pro that knows plenty of kitesurfing techniques because Cabarete is great for everyone! The entire industry of the city relies on tourism and water sports and there are lots and lots of stores that are offering all the tools you need for surfing kiteboarding and all the sports mentioned before. Besides that there are also plenty of Kiteboarding schools and clubs that are ready to prepare any newbie for his first kitesurfing experience.
If we made you curious then don’t hesitate to make Cabarete your next holiday destination. We are sure you will enjoy it and we are waiting you to tell us all about your experience. Have fun!
Related External Links

Information about Cabarete in French, Cabarete dr

News about Cabarete www.cabaretenews.org

Finally, here is a nice video from Cabarete

KTA China Pingtan 2012

Posted by kite2012 On May - 19 - 2012

They finally got some wind in Pingtan! Here is a bit of freestyle action from the mens and female single competition as well as some racing competition. As you can see they ride a lot of Ozone kites, I guess Ozone has done some serious marketing in Asia :)

The guy standing to the right in this picture is Ken from Boracay. He runs a kite center on bulabong beach, “Kite Academics” or something like that. Anyway, he is a friendly guy that you usually find on the beach or in one of bars in the evenings.
Don’t know his place in this KTA tournament… he doesn’t seem to look to enthusiastic some reason…

Cape Hatteras Kiteboarding

Posted by kite2012 On May - 19 - 2012

Ever been thinking of doing a roadtrip through the states? then you might wanna stop by Cape Hatteras in North Carolina. Here is NY kitecenter located (nykitecenter.com) who organize trips to the best kiteboarding spots in the area.

Are you thinking of travelling to Brasil this year to kiteboard?

Posted by kite2012 On May - 16 - 2012

Are you thinking of travelling to Brasil this year to kiteboard? Do you want an adventure and endless wind? Then here is the kite trip you don’t want to miss.

Kiteboarders travelling to Brasils’ North East coast of Ceara can now go where few have kited before, on a Private kiteboard trip that explores beyond the “regular tourist” spots. Previously, most have stayed pretty close to Fortaleza because of its’ international airport, but, over the last 5 years Brasil has grown and improved in many areas. The most important improvements have been to the roads, safety, transportation and hospitality industry which has opened up the North to fantastic kite adventure trips.

Kiters looking for a trip to remember are now leaving the known spots in search of more wind and incredible kiting spots just a few hours further. As a result more and more people are booking kite trips that showcase various spots with a wide variety of conditions and sights. The trip locations will highlight sliding down giant sand dunes to jumping over small sand bars, from kiting big waves to flying across flat water. The trip organizers at Windy Addiction will help you to avoid the common tourist trap mistakes and navigate quickly from city to kite town to the beach with ease maximizing your fun and time on the water.

The best kite trip now available in Brasil is with Windy Addiction. Their office, kiteschool and Pousada (bed and breakfast), is centrally located in Ilha do Guajiru, approximately 2 hours North of Fortaleza. This spot is fantastic for beginners are pro-kiters since it has a wide shallow flat water river lagoon, each kite trip will start and finish here. Your trip includes; breakfast, accommodations, transport, a one hour free kite clinic
to all group members and of course more wind than you’ve ever seen! The trip is divided to take you to some famous spots as well as some hidden treasures and secret spots that only the locals and your guide know about.

Your personal guide, and kite instructor, will speak Portuguese and English and organize 7-10 day trips specific for your groups kiting abilities. Imagine…waking up along the beach with the wind already blowing, kiting some epic flat water and then doing a downwinder into waves! At the end of the day you will be welcomed back by
friends, treated like family and share great stories while enjoying some world reknown Brasilian Caiparinhas.

The trips do need to be booked in advance and have a minimum booking requirement of 3 persons. For more details and pricing please see “7-10 Day Kite Adventure trip” there you may see an example trip itinerary.

For any other questions or help regarding kiteboarding accommodations, lessons or trips in Brasil, please contact David at kiteboarding@windyaddiction.com.

Hooked 2012

Posted by kite2012 On May - 13 - 2012

HOOKED is the largest adventure sports event of Friesland and takes place the weekend of 12 and 13 May 2012 on the beach of Workum. Kitesurfing and windsurfing are the main elements in which visitors can participate in lessons and professional surfers can watch, but that’s not all. HOOKED distinguished by the different popular extreme sports by visitors are polite and experienced. Wind or no wind, HOOKED is always a success!

The activities of 2011 included Kitesurfing and windsurfing lessons, BMX demos and lessons, Loangboarden, SUP (stand up padle) and as a great spectacle the BigAirBAG. This is a big cushion where PRO BMX’ers from a ramp in flies. For 2012, the organization began to fully achieve the superlative.