A few weeks ago I was invited by Flexifoil to go and check out the factory in China where all the kites are made, it was a pretty crazy experience and is a country that really differs to anywhere else in the world I have ever been.
The Hong Hong streets were busy and crazy at night and over in China at the factory it’s was mad to see so many workers in one place and just how quick things can be made, seeing how the kites are assembled and all the processes they have to go through was well interesting.
I carried on my trip by heading on around the world to New Zealand. I got to Snowboard, Surf and Kite in some well nice locations, we saw a lot of the country in such a small time and I have to say I was pretty impressed. Although I only got to kite twice it still was a real fun trip, the potential is good and the people are really hospitable and welcoming.
On my last day I got a good session before heading to the airport, there were loads of people out on the water and watching so it was cool to put on a bit of a show along side a few of the local riders. People claimed they had never seen so many kites on the beach. Here is a short News Clip
Now I am back home planning of my next trip. Lets see where I end up.
A lot of people ask me what I think of double handle passes and how freestyle has progressed in the last years.
Looking back through some old footage I saw a small video I put together 3 years ago in Brazil in Sept/Oct 2006.
It was never released at the time because of footage rights but here it is now to ask the question if competition riding has developed over the last few years.
I know my own free-riding has changed quite a lot but I find that the vibe on tour is still ‘double handle passes to win’. In some cases I can agree, they can be harder, but the kite has to be at a decent angle.
For instance is a Low Mobe 5 with the kite next to the water harder than a Mobe 7 with the kite above your head? Yes, I think it is.
In my eyes a lot to do with double handle passes is strength when you are talking about these kite angles, almost a pull up, is this good for our sport?
Once the kite comes down and people use body movement and speed opposed to dangling and time, then we are talking about the next level of difficulty, until then I don’t agree.
I know I helped bring these to the table a few years back, but for me they fizzled out and I tried something different, I didn’t see them progressing much further at the time and that lead to a change in my riding, adding technical difficulty in different ways. Lower kite, different grabs and movements, etc.
These days I don’t do doubles so much, I’m sure it shows, when I see one I generally think they portray a bad image for kiteboarding but despite not seeing them develop much in the last years I do think there is room for improvement, it just takes someone to do it. Sometimes I think maybe I should give them one last chance, but is it worth it?
I don’t think that people or judges notice kite angles that much, it is hard to tell the difference.
The thing is kite angles always rise in comp, the chances of landing gets better and better the higher you put your kite, I have seen kites at ridiculous angles, but I think it is still viewed as the same trick and difficulty anywhere in the region from 40 degrease – 70 degrease, only when one rider has it at 30 and another at 80 do people really notice.
For me I want my riding to look as good as possible thats why sometimes I’d rather not do them or I will pull a Front Mobe Blind instead of a higher kite and an air-pass.
I know I have done a lot of competitions with doubles, even in the recent few years and I will continue doing what I have to do to win events but it just shows me that tricks in a heat have not moved on that much and more needs to be done to progress the competitions scene.
Here’s a short video from a session in the Dominican Republic.
Double Handle passes aren’t so much my thing these days like they used to be but they’re in here, there are also some cool other moves that I’m enjoying a lot at the moment, so hope you like it!
This week I am out in the DR, I just came out to spend some time with my family but hopefully there will be some good wind too.
It will be nice to free-ride a bit after the comps and I’m sure I’ll get some good footage as well.
For the next few days I will be doing a small demo for Flexifoil and my Hadlow Pro, I will be in Belgium today, Holland tomorrow and then France Thursday. So if your in the area come and check it out.
Germany turned out to have some good conditions, there was not so many days of wind but when it came it was pretty good.
The single elimination was run in stupid winds, it was great, lit on a 5.5 Hadlow. I came up against Lewis in the second round, who advanced his previous heat totally unhooked because both me and Ruben failed to realize he had lost his chicken loop within the first 30 seconds. In that heat Ruben also came out to join us and we put on a bit of a show with some big loops and some slammed kite angled tricks.
I carried on through to the final where I came up against Kevin, by this time the wind was dropping, I took a 7 and had a pretty good heat, started with a Front Mobe Blind and had a Double S Blind amongst a bunch of other stuff, I thought it could be enough but the decision went the other way.
In the double elimination I came up against Yuri to keep 2nd place, I had a well good heat and came off the water pretty stoked, I thought I would probably make it to have a chance against Kevin again but I ended up getting a 4-1 the other way.
Usually I would figure thats just how it is but this time I found it a bit annoying because when I asked the judges why they made their decisions, to me it seemed for the wrong reasons, kite angles and a better double handle pass. But you learn more from each event and now I have a big gap until the next event so I can get ready for that one.
