Finally, after 3 months of working I had a session!

I went to Gruener Brink on the island Fehmarn, about 1.5 hours drive from my city Hamburg.

Conditions were as forecasted with 5-6 Bft (up to 20 knots). I took my 16 and a 128 board.

The weather was cloudy and we had about 15° air and water. I had a 4mm full wetsuit, no shoes etc. It was not cold at all and I felt very comfortable.

Everything was nice, but damn, it is unbelievable what a difference a wetsuit makes!

In Brazil I land most of my board-offs…but here not one single one! I had to laugh, since it amazed me what a difference the wetsuit makes. I’m sure many of you can confirm this.

Here a video of that day: CLICK

Anyway, back to work, since we are about to release the new kitebeaches.com Version 2.0!

And I’m still fighting the pain in the complete body…

I just got this mail from Rob.

Please read it and if you can help, please do so!

Hi there

For those who attended our last-second meeting the other day, it was extremely interesting to hear what was said.  I would also personally like to thank Elaine for making all of those calls to get you there.  Thanks also to the people behind the scenes who have been silently working on a very sound case against this preposterous development.  The more I hear about what is trying to be done and what IS being done, the better I feel in the long run.  Well done Johan et al.  For those of you who missed the meeting, the information shared is now available on www.savesharkbay.org

www.savesharkbay.org is online and you will find the basis of the objection against the development and more information about it all as and when news happens.  We will endeavour to keep the site updated and please feel free to pass on comments and questions within the Forum.  You do need to register with the site to interact on the Forum.

The site will be updated later tonight / tomorrow morning allowing online Objections with an email automatically being sent to the correct people and getting listed online.  This is taking a little more work than we originally thought, but in the meantime you can simply read the information and submit your objection through the post or via normal email.  A gallery for your favourite photos of the area is being added and other fun items to keep traffic and interest coming onto the site.

Please take time to read the documents and guidelines.  These should form the basis of you own personal objection, but you must use sound arguments against the Scoping Report process and try to stay away from emotional outbursts.  The first objection is exclusively for the “Scoping Report” of the proposed developer.

When time is right, we will be releasing press reports, contacting the correct ministers, officials and media, but currently the primary goal is to object, object and object to the scoping report by the 15th of May ‘07.  Please pass this email on to all of your contacts and let’s get as many individual objections going as possible.  The more objections with diversity and different subject matters will create a much larger problem for the Developer, yet the objections must stay focused and pertinent.

Thanks again for all of your help and please get in contact via email or the web if you have any questions.

A copy of the Guidelines will be available at the Library in Langebaan later today.

Regards

Rob

www.savesharkbay.org

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!

After almost 6 months I returned to Germany.

What a difference in life…unbelievable.

Brazil is so natural, easy, stress less. Back in Germany you have to do the paperwork, tax shit etc.

Back into the 10 hour working mode, with tons of work to accomplish, since great stuff is about to hit the web!

Pretty excited about it.

But it is nice to see family and friends again!

I’m far away of thinking to kite again soon, it is just too cold. After 6 months just shorts it will take at least 20°C air and 14°C water temp to go back and kite…this means many weeks without kiting!

As you can see, the conditions in Germany where awesome on Wednesday, a nice NE wind hit the Baltic Sea. Then nice waves form in the Luebecker Bucht, about 1 hour drive from Hamburg. This picture was taken in Scharbeutz.

Noticed the many white dots on the picture? That is SNOW!!! brrrrrrrrrr

Stay tuned for more blogs to come!

What a nice day!

After some rainy days with stormy winds, the sky was totally blue today. The wind picked up at around 1pm.

We did a trip to Paracuru with a buggy on the beach, passed the Cauipe lagoon with about 8 kiters, then passed the huge Taiba lagoon with about 3 kiters. Due to teh rain, the Taiba lagoon is now double its size, awesome!

Arrived in Paracuru, and only 5 kites where up! Nice waves rolled in and we had a great day!

I’m going back to Germany this week, then the nice time with some nice kiting is over for some months! But I will be back!

Yesterday I went to Taiba and it was a great Carnival!

The days starts with a big setup on the beach…from around 9 am on the party starts!

Then around 2 pm you move on to the main square of the village…music everywhere from cars, stages, huge speaker towers. Everyone is dancing and having a great time!

Make sure to wear sunglasses, otherwise you will get lots of Tapioca wheat into your face…and lots of spray! It is wild! And you WILL get dirty, no matter what!

Then from 7 pm on the party goes off on the main square without any wheat, so you can change clothes before and shower!

Great party, great atmosphere, great music and great people! For sure worth the visit!

You can almost party 24 hours for 4 days in a row…

Off to Taiba now!

Brazil is dancing!

The Carnival had its first day yesterday!

You will find good Carnival in these villages around Cumbuco:

Pecem

Taiba

Paracuru

Canoa Quebrada

Aracaji

You can dance all day and night, everyone is going crazy. And what energetic music…you gonna love it!

No pictures…no videos…you need to see it live

Well, no wind since some days, and it has been light before as well. Few days with wind which were just nice, since everything is empty…wave spots, lagoons etc.

The forecast looks good though from Wednesday on…if true, we are looking forward to a nice week!

An excellent swell is also fore casted. Now is the time of the surfers, who enjoy nice waves around Cumbuco.

End of the week we are trying to organize Cumbuco’s first buggy beach race!

We will be some guys who live in Cumbuco and own a buggy doing a timed race, each buggy starts, drives around two flags and back to the finish. Here Peter “the iceman” will stop the time and the fastest one will win.

I will do a video to show you the action and then you can see who is who in Cumbuco!

I am ready, so is my buggy!

What a beautiful day!

Wind with 5-6 Bft, which is about 15-20 knots.

A nice swell was coming in, creating nice waves for carving and perfect ramps.

I took out my 12.0, was ok powered, but could play with waves and do higher jumps with my old school style.

It was perfect…

Then I helped a guy to land his kite on the beach, and went back into the water. There was a guy coming in while I got out. Then I saw him doing a small jump or spin, therefore I started to watch his kite…that was the best thing I could have done today! I only saw the kite coming down on my at full speed, aiming perfectly at my head!

I hoped he will get it up again but no, so I protected my head with my arms and went down on the water…bumm, and it hit me! My kite started to spin, so I released.

And downwind was a small Jangada (small, local fisherboat)…but luckily the kite stopped to spin and went down on the 5th line.

My bar ripped his kite, now he has a big rip from the front tube to the back of the kite.

My kite only had 6 broken Cambattens, and my arm has a slight cut, but nothing serious.

We swam back to the beach, some guys came in and helped us out. The other rider was very sorry and apologized many times.

I cannot mention it enough, but ALWAYS keep and eye on the kite and rider if someone is upwind of you. Watch their action, if they do anything than just ride, but do tricks, just watch their kite until you are far enough away from it.

This anticipation and observing is needed on the various lagoons around Cumbuco to avoid getting injured. During the windy season, they get packed, but if you know the right-of-way rules, and keep watching what is going on, you will have an awesome time!

The cut healed and I’m back on the water since two days!

But the first day I put on one shoe on the foot with the cut…it really surprised me!

I did my usual boardoffs and didn’t land one! It was harder to reach and to get the board back on…just due to the shoe!

I couldn’t believe it!

So I just took a sock yesterday to have a bit of a cover to protect the cut a bit, and that worked really well!

Keep an eye on www.kiteforum.tv

since here I will upload a video from Chris, called “The Krauts”, which was filmed around Cumbuco and has nice action of various styles.

And I will upload my PKRA Germany 2006 video, which shows 35 minutes of a great event from August 2006.

I just found this info in the web. This is a good guide on how to stay safe during your visit in Brazil:

Although not in every large city, but one of the unfortunate sides of travel in Brazil is the epidemic of violent street crime. Brazil’s large cities, especially of the north, northeast and southeast states, are notorious for attacks (against foreigners and locals alike), but do not let that deter you. Taking extra precautions to keep yourself safe while travelling in Brazil will let you enjoy your stay like millions of visitors do every year.

Do not walk around big cities at night — take taxis. On no account ever try to enter a slum (favela) without a guide and do not walk down shadowy streets at night. If you cannot depend on a Brazilian friend or relative to be your guide, consult a travel book to learn which areas of the city to avoid and when, as well as other safety tips.

Use your hotel’s safe for any valuables, or, better yet, don’t bring to Brazil anything you don’t really need. Avoid carrying large amounts of cash, wearing expensive or expensive-looking jewelry, and carrying any unnecessary electronic gear, loose purses or bags. Try to stash some extra money in a hidden spot on your person — such as a shoe or money belt — to make sure you can get back to your hotel. Pay attention to the way the locals dress and buy similar clothes for yourself: looking like a foreigner (e.g. dark socks with bermudas) is not wise as thieves will be after you for your money if they instantly see you are a gringo.

Always carry a small amount of cash that you can hand over quickly in a case of a mugging. However, don’t keep it somewhere easily seen such as in a men’s shirt pocket, as that will greatly increase your risk. Under no circustances try to run away or resist. Do not carry “deterrence” weapons. Stay calm and comply with their demands, and you’re unlikely to be hurt. Muggers will almost certainly outnumber and outsmart you, and “trying to be a hero” will achieve nothing apart from injury or death.

You don’t need to carry your passport to walk in the city but if you like this, use a little pocket inside your clothes (you can buy in airport mall). But be sure to have a photocopy of your passport with you at all times as required by law (Brazilian police are entitled the right to request identification, i.e. documents, from anyone behaving suspiciously).