2008 Fiat Italy KiteProWorld Tour Competition

I really wanted to try and get to a world tour competition last year but didn’t get the chance so this year it finally happened. I booked my flight and accommodation for the Italian leg of the KPWT and headed off for Como lake. It was going to be something a little different location wise as I have never kited on a lake before.

I turned up a little early for the event to practise and headed down to the local beach of ‘Colico’. It was quite busy as I happened to arrive on a weekend but I was looking forward to trying out a new spot. There is a launching area which is specifically for kitesurfers and then over the small bridge is the windsurfing area.

The water did have a bit of chop when the wind blew so it wasn’t as flat as I was expecting and there were also a few wind shadows on the lake where it was quite difficult to get any power from my kite. Apart from that though the water was very warm and it was great to get out and practise before the competition started.

The first part of the week we unfortunately had a lack of wind due to the large storms that were passing over in the night. As the wind works on thermals on the Italian lakes if the land is very wet from large amounts of rain it doesn’t heat up properly so there is no thermal effect.

The heats were drawn up for both the girls and guys and names were picked out of hat to go against the top five girls and top 15 men. I was drawn to go against Sophie Matthews and if I won my heat would then face Kristen Boese PKRA and KPWT champion.

I was in heat 3 so I had a bit of time to see what the other girls were doing. I had been out of the competition scene for well over a year so I was quite nervous about remembering how the flag systems work and also a competition routine.

It was time for my heat and because of the wind shadows I decided to body drag out towards the competition area to make sure I could do all my tricks within the box. I think I got a few sniggers from people for body dragging but I ended up exactly within the box ready for my heat. It started and we were off I pulled out all my standard tricks surface 360’s, downloops etc and even a jump transition for the old school moves, I went for my blind moves but unfortunately crashed. I kept going and landed as much as I could. The heat wasn’t red flagged to stop so I continued to complete my heat and land as much as I could. Unfortunately although the rules stated that as long as one person can complete their tricks in the competition area that was sufficient for them to win they decided to rerun my heat. I was a little annoyned as they could have stopped the heat rather than let me carry on but decisions don’t always go your way and you have to accept the judges final word.

I had to wait until the next day for the rerun of my heat. I was still a bit gutted from not getting through the day before but I wanted the Competition experience and I was definitely getting that.

I tried to focus in my head exactly what I had done trick wise the day before and with a few kind words from Kristen I went out for my heat. I threw all the same tricks as the day before but I landed my railey to blind with power. This gave me the edge and I won my heat through to the quater finals! I was really pleased because of the decision from the day before but I completely forgot I had to compete against Kristen Boese who was PKRA and KPWT world Champion.

Kristen was really nice and friendly so I was more excited about competing against her than nervous. We went out for our heat and I again went for my rountine tricks. The wind was really starting to drop but I managed to land them all including my blind move, I stuck in something that I had been practising for luck but I crashed it. I think Kristen was casually doing some s-bends to blind in the background but I was starting to drift outside the competition box and only had a minute left. I couldn’t pull anything back it was to light and the heat ended.  Kristen won the heat but I wasn’t too disappointed as it was really good experience for me to go against a very good kiter.

As well as Freestyle heats something that I hadn’t tried before was Coarse racing. The first race we did there was a bit of a mix up with the flags so some girls had started before others. We completed the Coarse but there was a decision to rerun it. I had a better start but I found it hard to go upwind as quickly as the girls with bigger boards so I got overtaken. I went as fast as I could on the downwind straight and finished the coarse.  I’m definitely going to sort out a bigger board for the upwind stretch of the coarse racing in the future but it was good fun and I am looking forward to having another go! http://www.kiteboardpro.com/

‘CUSHE’ is an independent British footwear label, with Cushe for him and Cusher for her, launched in the Summer of 2005.

 Cushe shoes are anatmically designed to fit the natural form of the foot and functional features are turned into design statements!   www.cushe.com

Cushe have created footwear to live in, kick back in and stand out in and be inspired in!

I am very pleased to be riding for ‘ Chiemsee‘ this year and I would like to thank James (UK importer) for his kind help and support!

I shall be wearing their gorgeous sexy range of clothing so check out their website www.chiemsee.com