I’m back in Cumbuco, Brazil for some months to enjoy the warm air and water, with almost daily wind.

The wind is excellent and it has been blowing since my arrival, with 15-30 knots.

Lots of things are going on in Cumbuco, since the KPWT held its Brazil stop in Cumbuco this year.

Many good riders from around the world came to compete in 4 disciplines:

freestyle, hangtime, wave and course race.

Find all press releases here: kiteblogs.com

I joined the Hangtime comp as well, but things didn’t really work out for me, so I ended up 10th … but next year I will join again and hopefully have a better result!

The competition was dominated in the freestyle section from the Dominican Riders, who came over from Cabarete:

Alex, Soto, Ariel Corniel, Jan Marcos Riveras and Manuel Rondon

Yesterday we had a video shooting at the Cauipe lagoon, and the guys made an awesome show.

Click here for some Pictures of the Day and here for a video teaser on kiteforum.TV .

More videos about the KPWT stop, the Dominicans and entertainment coming soon!

I’m racing the PKRA course race tour in Alvor, Portugal.

Great fun and lots to learn about gear, timing, tactics!

Read more on the KITERACER sub forum!

Yesterday the introduction meeting for the 1. Kiteival on Mauritius has been held at the Preskil Beach Resort, one of the main sponsors of this event.

Some international pro riders came to the event:

Gabi Steindl, Austria

Thomas Cocquelet, France (2005 KPWT world champion)
Greg Thijsse, South Africa

They will be facing the local riders in several races around the island of Mauritius and also do a freestyle competition.

The locals are hot on challenging the pros, since they know the currents and winds!

Currently we are waiting for the wind to pick up.

TV footage will follow soon on www.kiteforum.TV.

I’m joining the Pura Vida Fun Tour, which takes me to Las Terrenas, in the northeast of the Dominican Republic.

Jojo Caneiro and his partners Leif Leriche and Stan Mignon of Pura Vida invited some of world’s top riders to ride the beautiful beaches of Las Terenas.

A great trip with great people!

Here some names of who joined this tour and who came to say hi:

Alvaro Oneiva
Anja Grzelinska
Andre Phillip
Susi May
Elliot Leboe
Jose Louis
Luciano Gonzales
Sander Lenten
Bruno Leganoux
Dave Tyburski

The Pura Vida team organized quad and waterfall tours before noon, since the wind does not start beofre that. Once the wind is up, the team took us to the beautiful beach “Portillo”.

A full video of the event will soon be on www.kiteforum.tv and all beach info will be shown on www.kitebeaches.com

For sure the place rocks!

Check the website: www.puravidacaraibes.com

Thx to all sponsors:

Sun Valley  ( www.sun-valley.fr )

Bahia Tour Travel Agency   ( www.bahia-tour.com  )

Sectur ( tourisme office )

Starkites    (www.starkites.com )

LOU real state agency

Azul Inmo Caribe (www.azul-inmo-caribe.com )

Palapa Hotel  (www.palapabeach.com  )

Tortuga Catamaran

 Aerodomca   ( www.aerodonca.com )

Safari Quad   ( www.safari-quads.com )

Caballo Tour  ( www.elcaballotours.com )

Fortknox

Indiana cafe

I went to Brasilien, a spot close to Kiel, a city in North Germany, located at the Baltic Sea.

On Saturday and Sunday a come together event was held, the King of the Coast, where riders meet and companies offer gear for testing.
Many companies came and so did the riders!
See pictures of the day HERE.

The wind came as fore casted in the afternoon with around 16 knots.
Blue sky and lots of sun!
Only the temperatures kept me off the water…I was freezing too much!
Air about 13°C and the water had about 9°C.

Same conditions on Sunday, but with stronger wind in the morning until afternoon, dropping slowly from over 20 knots.

It looked like many guys had a great session! I will post a video soon!

Sebastien GARAT and Julie SIMSAR, winner of the Freestyle Noumea Kitesurf Pro 2006

Sebastien Garat (FR) is know KPWT 2006 World Champion and Gisela PULIDO (SP), Three times KPWT World Champion.
Today, with still great kiteboarding conditions on Meridian Beach, we completed the Freestyle men & women brackets …
On the men side, the ultimate confrontation turned into the advantage to Sebastien Garat on the local Tom Hebert but only after the second final. We may also notice the performance of Vincent Tiger who did a great second bracket; Indeed, he consecutively defeated Tuteraï Monteron, Antoine Auriol, Marc Jacobs, Guillaume Mariani and Thomas Cocquelet, 5 powerfull rounds, before his elimination, during the 3rd place final, by Tom Hebert. This last one prooved one more time his excellent shape and talent.

Here are the results of today :
FREESTYLE SECOND CHANCE BRACKET:
1/8 FINALS
Antoine AURIOL (FRA) def. Pierre ROMAIN (FRA)
Vincent TIGER (FRA) def. Tuteraï MONTARON (TAH)
1/4 FINALS
David JACOBS (NZ) def. Maxime LANDREAU (NC)
Vincent TIGER (FRA) def. Antoine AURIOL (FRA)
Vincent TIGER (FRA) def. David JACOBS (NZ)
Vincent TIGER (FRA) def. Guillaume MARIANI (FRA)
Vincent TIGER (FRA) def. Thomas COCQUELET (FRA)
FINALS
Tom HEBERT (NC) def. Vincent TIGER (FRA)
Tom HEBERT (NC) def. Sebastien GARAT (FRA)
Sebastien GARAT (FRA) def. Tom HEBERT (NC)

1st: Sebastien GARAT (FRA)
2nd: Tom HEBERT (NC)
3rd: Vincent TIGER (FRA)
4th: Thomas COCQUELET (FRA)
5th: Guillaume MARIANI (FRA)
6th: David JACOBS (NZ)

On the women side, Ainhoa Garcia created the daily surprise in Freestyle thanks to her good results and her various victories on experimented riders. She has only be stopped by Julie Simsar, who won by the way the first place of the second elimination freestyle bracket. Helene Barrière, because of her injury, couldn’t defend her first place, so she finished at the second place and Ainhoa Garcia completes the podium.

Moreover, thanks to her excellent results all the season long, Gisela Pulido is now assured to be TRIPLE KPWT junior and senior World Champion !!!

See the last results below :
FREESTYLE SECOND CHANCE BRACKET:
Noelia NUNEZ (SPA) def. Celine RODENAS (FRA) and Perrine SCELLAND (NC)
Paloma GUERRERO (SPA) def. Stéphanie AURIN (NC)
Ainhoa GARCIA (SPA) def. Su KAY (NZ)
Ainhoa GARCIA (SPA) def. Noelia NUNEZ (SPA) and Paloma GUERRERO (SPA)
Ainhoa GARCIA (SPA) def. Marine SUDRE (AUS)
Ainhoa GARCIA (SPA) def. Aurelia HERPIN (FRA)
Julie SIMSAR (TUR) def. Ainhoa GARCIA (SPA)

1st: Julie SIMSAR (TUR)
2nd: Helene BARRIERE (FRA)
3rd: Ainhoa GARCIA (SPA)
4th: Aurelia HERPIN (FRA)
5th: Marine SUDRE

Tomorrow, the famous speed crossing race from Amedee lighthouse to Meridian beach with 45 riders registered and among them, the record holder, Robert Teritheau, ready to break it again this year.

www.kiteboardpro.com

Only one day to the kick-off of the Vendee Kitesurf Pro, the only french stop of the 2006 KPWT ! After the 4th first legs of the tour in Italy, Turkey, Greece and Morocco, Portugal, the terrific course of action of the 2006 world cup season will indeed follow in the city of St-Gilles Croix-de-Vie in Vendee, well-known as one of the best water-sports centers of the french Atlantic coast, which has already held a kiteboarding stage last season.

During this event, the whole kitesurf world will be focusing on the World Cup Freestyle, Wave Masters, and Speed Crossing.

35 best Pro international male riders and 15 female competitors are expected on “La Grande Plage”, wave spot where the competition will take place : Freestyle, & Wave Masters will be the main events, with at stake a 30,000 $ prize money and points for the World Title. The Wave event will take place when the conditions will be optimum and this discipline will be completed in one day. A speed crossing and a hang time contest are also scheduled to satisfy the riders’ taste for speed, high jump and for the audience to enjoy a variety of action. We’ll also launch a Junior contest with the best youngest riders from all over the world. For sure the crowd will enjoy the show !

Aside the competition, the spectators will have the opportunity to enjoy various aside activities, like pipe and bungee sessions provided by the UCPA, attend some exhibitions or even try landsailing and surfing during initiations offered by the instructors of the Semvie Nautisme team.

KPWT Team

SA & Naish Africa rider, Sjoukje Bredenkamp
smashed the world speed 500m record by almost 2 knots. She managed an
amazing 37.26 kts on the latest 2007 Raven kites and a custom speed
board.

After beating the African and South African record the day before,
she went on to beat the old record 4 times until hitting her top run of
the day!

The event in Walvis Bay is known for high speeds, but now both
World Speed records for men & women are held by South Africans!

Yesterday the legendary best demo day, auction and party was held at the Blue Wind area in Cumbuco.

The day started with the demo of lots of 2007 Best gear.

Winds were at around 17 knots.

Click here for the pictures of the day.

The party started at around 9pm with the first round of the Best Bikini Girls. 13 beautiful girls danced and turned for the cheering crowd. The house was on da fire!

The Alex Shogren auctioned about 60 kites, used prototypes and demo gear within 1 hour. The prices made many people very happy

The election of the Best girls ended in a tie between 2 girls and Alex couldn’t get a clear audience response of which is the Best, so we had two winning girls!!!

Check www.bestkiteboarding.com for pictures and videos, coming soon!

Looks like the season is heating up quickly this year. Thanks to all that came and showed their support at the last Kite Nite at the Treasure Trove what a night that was!
Here is a list and update for what is instore for the next couple of months:

1. We are going to have another Kite Nite at Automatic Slims on Thursday 19th of October. We need to all make this the biggest ever as the club is making a reality TV show about there club specializing in the surf and skate world.
They have given me the go ahead to do, decorate whatever I want to for that night and the entire time will be filmed by a CA production company aimed at TV channels such as MTV and the E channel.
This is huge for all of us and our much loved sport and to show the nation who we are and what we do. Lets all come together and make this the all time biggest ever and if anyone has any ideas or suggestions on how to make it more fun than ever feel free to let me know.
All kite companies, kiters and friends are welcome. Call or e-mail me with any questions or ideas. LETS REPRESENT OUR SPORT!

2. Halloween Blast in St. Augustine.
The Extreme Kites Halloween Blast will be held October 28th and 29th, 2006. All proceeds will go to benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital:
http://www.stjude.org/
Here is the schedule of events:
Friday Night – local kiteboarder D.J. Raggamuffin spinning reggae, dance hall, and hip hop at the Dunes Cracker House in St. Augustine Beach. Free drinks from 10:30 to 11:00 p.m. Bars close at 1 p.m.
Saturday – brunch at Café 11 at 10 a.m. followed by free ride session in St. Augustine Beach. Downwind race check-in at noon at the pier parking lot, and then race starts at 1 p.m. from the pier to Matanzas Inlet, a distance of 10.5 miles. Free ride at Matanzas Inlet once the race is over, and then dinner and gear raffle at 8 p.m. at the Matanzas Innlet Café.
Sunday – brunch at Café 11 and downwinders all day.

3. Tampa Bay Kitemasters in November. This is going to be a blast and one of the events I will be riding in rather than organizing this year. A 25 mile downwind race. Last I heard they had about 80 riders entered This is going to be amazing, thanks to Jason/Julie Orkins and Chris Moore from Tampa. For more info go to www.tampabaykitemasters.com.

4. The X-treme X-rated Downwind Race. This is going to happen the following month and will be similar to the Tampa race but 3 times the distance with no cap on how many riders.
This race will take place in rough NE conditions from Jupiter Kiteboarding (the inlet) to the new Tiki Beach (Ft. Lauderdale). Anyone can enter if they feel they can handle the endurance, there will be a check point at Delray beach that has to be made within a certain time of the start.
The website and registration form is being built right now and should be up in about 1 week. Lets see if we can not only have the worlds longest kite race but the largest also. My goal is 100+. This will also act as one as the qualifying events for the next Bahamas Race.

5. BVI X-rated Trip.
This is set for the 29th of January for one week. We will fly into St. Thomas and join our private 47′ catamaran and traveling the entire BVI’s for a week. The cost will be $1,300 p.p. and will include breakfast, lunch, soft drinks and rum. On the boat 3 of the cabins do have double beds and one with a single so it may well help if you know and do not mind sharing a cabin with another person, deck space is also available. If this boat sells out we have another 50′ cat on stand by.
This is only for the serious kiters and surfers among us. We will require a 50% deposit before your spot is confirmed. Space is limited so get on it, if you want in, e-mail me directly.
X-rated will also be running numerous Boarder X contests though out the state this year on short term notice in relation to this wind, so stay tuned to the x-rated site.

Hope to see you at Slims a week from this Thursday and all other events this season.
Cheers Neil