Aaron Hadlow - 5x Kitesurfing World Champion

The Crossing

aaronhadlow — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:52:02 +0000

Over the last few days we have been attempting to cross the English Channel.
The plan was for Richard Branson along with Family (Holly, Sam and Ivo Branson) and a group of friends including a few of us from Flexifoil would attempt to brake the record for Oldest and youngest kiteboarder, Biggest group and Fastest crossing on a kiteboard across the channel.
Unfortunately we did not make it this time, Monday was used for the guys to familiarize themselves with the gear, Tuesday was perfect for us kiteboarders but after 5 miles of batteling through the huge swell in 35 knots we were forced by the boats to come back to the UK as it was unsafe to support the riders in the massive seas.
Wednesday we ended up without wind so now we have rescheduled the crossing for sometime in the coming 2 weeks.

Also see our new Episode of On The Loose, Ep 7 fully of snowkiting action. www.ontheloose.tv

English Channel Crossing!

aaronhadlow — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:32:40 +0000

I have been in Mauritius for the last 10 days, we had some good conditions and we were able to capture some real nice footage for a new short action movie that will be released soon.
The guys working with Flexifoil at Kite@North hooked us up during our trip so we got to see all the epic spots.
Look out for the video coming soon.

I would have usually stayed longer but I had to fly back earlier as either Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday I will be doing a crossing from England to France.
Richard Branson is celebrating his 60th Birthday by doing this challenge.
Flexifoil are providing all the equipment and have especially made kites with Virgin Active logo’s for the hole crew to ride.
It’s going to be a massive event and maybe we will make it onto the news so look out for it over the next few days especially if you are in the UK.

Also check out my Facebook and Twitter pages for daily updates.

Don’t forget to see the new Episode of On The Loose too, Ep 6 full of Snowkiting action!

Gran Canaria and Ep 4 and 5

aaronhadlow — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 12:06:03 +0000

Last week I was in Gran Canaria shooting the last episode of our On The Loose TV show and Online Series.
It was a fun week with some really strong wind, massive Mega Loops and some good Freestyle too.
We met up with the Windsurfing Legend Bjorn Dunkerbeck who showed us the local spots and also our mate Gianni Aragno came out for a couple of days towards the end of the trip.
So keep following Ruben and I in On The Loose, then you can see if he makes his new Mega Loops stunt.
New episodes are out now. In the latest one you can see my trip to the Dom Rep where I was hitting some rails and also see how Ruben is recovering.
Coming up next is some snow kiting in Norway with some crazy footage.

Check back next week, www.ontheloose.tv

On The Loose Season 2 Episode 3

aaronhadlow — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:58:14 +0000

I have been at home in the UK for a few days now with good wind, I had 2 good sessions, 1 at Lancing and 1 at Goring with nice wind for a 7 and 9.

My next trip is on Sunday, I am off to Gran Canaria filming again for On The Loose, Ruben is attempting a new stunt in the strong winds, it should be fun as it’s a new place for me, I’m looking forward to some big loops.

Season 2 of On The Loose is fully running now, we are on Episode 3 so keep checking it out for weekly releases.

Home and Hood

aaronhadlow — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:17:42 +0000

After my trip to the states I had about 10 days back at home before I was heading back out there, this time to the West Coast in Hood River, Oregon.
Was nice to be home for a few days to see friends and relax, we had some great weather and wind which are the best days to be on the south coast.

A few days later I was out to Austria for meeting with RedBull, I was only there a couple of days but I got hooked up with a sick wakeboard session on the latest Master Craft, was sick but I really need to spend some more hours hitting the wake, I got some Tantrums and Railys down but for sure it’s time to spend sometime to get to the next level.

Arriving back home that evening I jumped in the van with a couple of mate and headed over to the East where the British Nationals were taking place. Was fun to see everybody, ride and hang out for the weekend.

Each year in Hood river there is a Slider Project going down, this year the Ro Sham Throw Down was the main cause of our trip.
This year we got to hire this sick house over looking the main spot at the sand bar, which is where the event was going down.
The set up was pretty sweet, loads of people turned out to watch us and the atmosphere was fun.
We had a few fun little obstacles and the format was really good. 3 heats of 8, top 3 advance from each for a 9 man final. Everyone has to bust there best wake style and slider hits and you win on overall impression.
I was just having fun riding with the crew, was cool to see everyone with a smile on their face doing what they love.
I managed to win the event which was pretty sick.
Cheers to everyone who made it happen, was really good job this year!

On The Loose Season 2

aaronhadlow — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:46:28 +0000

After months and months of filming On The LooseSeason 2 is now out.
It shows our travels over the last year and is more of an insight and story about what we get up to opposed to full action.
By working with RedBull Media house they have created 7 TV episodes for their RedBull TV station and RedBull.com. These 7 episodes have been cut up into small segments for web and will be released weekly on ontheloose.tv.
So check out OnTheLoose.TV now to see the first episode.

DOM REP & ROAD TRIP!

aaronhadlow — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 16:51:33 +0000

Since I was at the SSS I have spent a week in the DOM REP before coming back to the East Coast of the US for our RedBull Roadtrip.

Out in the Dominican it was pretty fun, I was there with Will Milne, our camera man, continuing to shoot for our TV series On The Loose.
During the trip I was shooting some pictures, practicing some new tricks and checking out the PKRA.
Being at the event and not entering was pretty weird, it was good to see it from a different perspective though.
I also managed to learn a couple of new moves, I landed a Moby Dick 5 and almost got the 3 Shifty Blind, thats a frontside 3 then reverse into blind, I have had it in my mind for a while so glad that I am close to that now.

For the last week I have been on the road along with Ruben and Susi again shooting for On The Loose and working with RedBull on promotion down the east coast.
We started up in Charlestone (CHUCKTOWN) where we met up with Davey Blair a friend of ours, we scored some great conditions, first day we had a sick wakeboard session, then we got some wind with good kickers and then the next day we hit this other spot with some flat water. We met some cool people and had a great time so cheers to the people at Air Kiteboarding, Trophy Lakes Wakeboarding and everyone else that hooked us up there.

Next stop was Tybee Island (Savannah) that was also good, the wind was a bit lighter but the conditions were still pretty good, it is a river mouth with a bunch of sand bars so you can pick your own flat water spot, also when the tides are right you have wind against the current so its hard to go downwind. Cheers to the guys at All Out Kiteboarding and again all that hooked us up.

Now we are In St. Augustine, unfortunately the wind has dropped but we are still having fun down the beach, yesterday we got to visit Ocean Extreme Sports and then headed down the beach where we did some Winching, SUP and played a bit of football.

We have another day here before our last stop up in Jacksonville then we are out of here and back home!

Triple-S

aaronhadlow — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:18:47 +0000

The last 2 days have not been so windy, we ended up chilling most of the day then hitting the slider behind the ski at sunset. I well enjoyed that, it is more like cable and nice to do something a little different.

For more pics and stories have a look at OnTheLoose.TV

Also here’s a little video from day 2

For more info check out RealKiteboarding.com

For videos and session reports check here

SSS

aaronhadlow — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:31:14 +0000

We have had an epic first few days over here in Cape Hatteras, the Triple-S held here at Real kiteboarding is one of my favorite events, the conditions and rails are so good.
I left from London along with Will Milne(Boom Ting Production) who is filming out TV series On The Loose. We met Ruben in Chicago and then took our connection all together to Norfolk.
On the first day we had a little warm up in the slick and later in the day sliders. That evening was the opening party, which soon turned into an after party at out house.
Yesterday was the first main day and we had some great conditions for it. After a late start we went for a down winder through the slick. I was lit on a 7 with 20m lines and boots, we stopped half way down to film at this one super flat spot, we went for some big Mega loops, which was pretty sketch in boots, but then also some good freestyle in the butter flat water.
Later that evening during the sunset we had a slider session, it was set up right foot forward so I was happy to try some stuff that I had been practicing up at Thorp Park Cable whilst I was back home. I got some good hits at first and was having such a good time, I started to get a bit of confidence up so tried some gap 3′s (handle pass over the middle) unfortunately I got one a bit wrong and ended up concussed, at first I couldn’t remember the whole day but now my memory is back and I’m ready for the rest of the week! Can’t wait to see what’s in store.

Last couple of weeks

aaronhadlow — Fri, 28 May 2010 21:40:17 +0000

Over the last couple of weeks I have been on the move around europe.
It started off with a trip to Lagos in Portugal, I had been there last year and thought it was the right spot to go for a few days of wind.
The forecast looked good but when we arrived there was no wind, we decided to go to Tarifa where there was bound to be some.
We had a good few days kiting in and around there, the conditions were not amazing but nice to pull a few mega loops again.
That weekend was the KBO in Holland at Ruben’s home spot. There was no wind for the event but its was a fun couple of days filming for On The Loose and seeing a few friends.
Now I’m back in the UK sorting out my gear and getting ready for the next trip. I had a good cable session today up at Thorp, there are some pictures below, and there should be some wind over the weekend.
I am off next week to Cape Hatteras in the States for the Triple-S where we will be hitting rails and filming again for On The Loose.