The Dhow-Cruise was set on the Mombasa River and started right at sunset, absolutely beauuuutiful.

Obviously all the competitors, event organizers, and people involved in pulling this phantastic happening off were there…  we had a DJ and the party was pretty crazy    PLUS:  it was also time for the Prize Ceremony!

Liquid Force team-rider Chris Burke took the first place in the Male-Pro category and I’m stoked about the first in the Female-Pro division. Also with the trophies, the event organizers excelled in THE BEST ever    I got an absolutely stunning handcarved Ebony Elephant and Chris a super cool Giraffe   -   SICK, THANX !!!

The competition that has been running for 5 years, was a huge success. The highly innovative format made it to me the most fun comp that I’ve most probably ever been to. Bram Dierick, Manager of the Prosurf Extreme Watersports Centre   -  a fully equipped North Centre with all the latest toys and an extremely helpful, knowleagable team -   did a phantastic job by putting it all together:  a sick slider and a kicker were built, we jumped over fire-rafts at night, a downwind race, big air… oh man, sooo much fun!!

Top-photographer Christian Black was there to catch the action with his camera and I will keep u updated when and where the story will be published, thus stay tuned!

I would like to take this opportunity to THANK Bram Dierick, his incredible crew at the Prosurf Extreme and of course the Nyali International Beach Hotel, and of course North Kiteboarding a main sponsor of the comp for making it all happen, it’s been an honour and pleasure having been part of the event, even more so as it was for Charity and we managed to raise over 120.000 Kenya Shillings for a good cause, what could be nicer than doing that by the sport that we all love so much!

I’m already looking forward to next year’s event    and yourself, u should definitely consider checking out Kenya as kitesurf destination for ur next trip  -   this place  trulyROCKS !!!  -   just get in touch with the Prosurf Extreme and they will be happy to help.

Oh yeah, last but not least:   I had two more days in Kenya after the event was finished and took this opportunity of going on a SAFARI !!!  y e a h, this has been on my  ‘List of Things-2-do-in-Life’ for a long, long time… now I can tick it off and it was THE most exciting adventure folks.   In 2 days I took about 2500 photos and that’s no joke, so just give me a little time and I will select a nice portfolio of all the amazing animals that I spotted

In this spirit:  Stay tuned 4 more on kitegabi.com
Urs Gabi

Yeah, first day at the Nyali International Beach Hotel greeted me with no wind, though, I have to admit, this place is soooooo beautiful and pretty drained of my 35 hours travel from Australia anyway, I actually didn’t mind a little time to chill!  … and chilling out, relaxing, unwinding here is easy, the hotel is absolutely stunning: 2 pools, an insanely white, huge sand beach, great food, at the Aqua Beach Bar there’s THE most comfortable ‘chill out’ beds with cosy cushions, beathtaking palmtrees, huge frangipani trees… monkeys in the garden, camels on the beach -  JOY, too cool, I  l o v e   this place

Also the ‘Prosurf Extreme’ Watersports Centre, a dedicated North Kiteboarding school, boasting the latest gear of the best brand in the world, is amazing. The General Manager, Bram Dierick, a really awesome dude and passionate kitesurfer himself, is always concerned about delivering THE very best for the guests.  The Prosurf staff is so incredibly friendly, helpful and competent, I had a small hole in the leading edge of my Evo 10m2, they found & fixed it in an instant, stoked

The slider for the competition has been built with great enthusiasm under the instructions of Chris Burke, Liquid Force Team Rider from the UK who’s working as instructor at the school, and already been put in the water. Unfortunately up to know I haven’t had a chance to give it a go due to a lack of wind…

Today is the ‘North Demo Day’, where all the brandnew 2010 sick-o kites & boards will be presented and be available for testing to the public.  Thus, I’m needed today and should better make my way down to the beach now to give the guys a hand with the set-up and stuff.

Let’s hold fingers crossed for some wind later!!

Stay tuned, Gabi

9 days and a sick fun park made up of rails, sliders, and kickers, each one sponsored by a kite-brand attrackts quite a crowd and some really ‘big names’ in the kiteboarding professional scene made their way to ‘Woodies’ (as Woodmans Point is referred to by the locals) amongst them my North International team mates Tom Court (UK), Cesar Portas (ESP), also 5x Kiteboarding Worldchamp Aaron Hadlow, even Andre Phillip, Susie Mai, Bruna Kajija and many more…

Yesterday was the first day and the North slider was the one the riders were rippin’ into pieces, sweet

Although the Slider Jam is a freeride-fun-event, there will be a small competition on the weekend.  Me personally I won’t be able to make it…yep, as a wave-chick I have some other ‘obligations’ coming up:  the full moon on the weekend will bring some hell swell and I’m off on a crazy boat-trip to the Abrolhos islands, the most exposed reef in the whole of Western Australia. WOW, that’s gonna be  s i c k, check the 4cast folks !! …and that’s only the forcast for the headland, as the Abrolhos Islands are about 60 kms west of Geraldton in the wide open ocean, u might be able to imagine what size the watermountains might get up to there…. and perhaps also what cute big fish are swimming around out there…!?

In any case, today I’ll be back at the Slider Jam and will try 2 get more action shots for u!  Stay tuned for more guys & have fun   Gxx

Check out the shots that I managed to get after his semi-final heat, pretty rad, yeah

What was the funniest is the status Kelly has, yeah, he’s like a rock star, he has body guards who protect and guide him to the water and back to the ‘public safe’ riders zone. The crowd of fans can be spotted like a huge tail for miles down the beach.  Don’t ask me how I got that close to the king of surfing…

Have fun !

Gabi

Sky Solbach made it up onto the podium not only once at the price giving in St.Peter, no, Sky also secured the 2nd rank overall and consequently becomes the new Vice World Champion in the discipline Kitecross.  Sick, mate!

Mario Rodwald (GER) took home an impressive 5th place at the freestyle competition, which made him the best German rider in the freestyle event. Angela Peral had some very tough competition in the womens freestyle and got 7th in the end.

Obviously skill is one part of the equation to luck, experience, tactic others, another main ingredient is certainly the right gear. Thanx to North and their strong R&D, we’re setting trends and Norths brandnew race-boards definitely confirmed in St.Peter, there aint any better! Check out the North website for all infos on products and the team.

Congratulations to all North Kiteboarding teamriders, who did so well in St Peter.  Insane performance, I’m stoked, u guys rock !!!

Wakesurfing is gaining rapidly in popularity all around the globe. Here in landlocked Austria with the nearest surf some thousands of kilometres away it’s the only option for wave-addicted souls like me !   Yes, the thirst for waves during my visits back home in Vienna can get incredibly strong, after all it’s my lifeforce, the ocean and its sheerly supernatural powers and until I found out about wakesurfing, all I was left within Vienna was dreams about watermountains and the hope for the next trip coming up soon.

The Danube Pipemasters were held at the ‘Wakesharks‘ wakeboard-school and some big names in Austrian surfing showed up:  Freeski-legend Flo Edenberger came all the way from Innsbruck in Tirol, same accounts for Johnny Nesslinger, the president of Austrian Surfing -  check out their website  -  a huge bunch of locals and obviously Kitegabi, who could not have missed this fine tete-a-tete !

The format oft he event was as follows:  a judges panel consisting of 2 experts gave set points to participants that were posted and explained earlier in the riders meeting. Besides standard moves like 180‘s, 360’s, Grabs, Double D’s, One Footers, Cut Backs, Floaters, judges wanted to see innovation and style that could skyrocket the score of a classic conservative routine!  Surfing without handle counted 50% more. Competitors were taken out on the boat in pairs of 2. Each had a warm up of 5 minutes, then was SHOWTIME in 4 minute heats.

Wooooooooooooooow, hihihihhi, you would not believe all the stunts the judges could observe!  Striptease, juggling, drinking beers out oft he can, reading…  lots-and-lots-a crazy, funny stuff that’s for sure.

Me, I was up against the local super-chick julie, a true wakesurf expert. I was up first. I had not really thought about any tactics beforehand, just wanted to have fun, feel the wave, get into the flow and forget about everything else…  and YEAH, I did exactly that and more, darmn I totally got into the groove and felt one with the wave. In fact I managed to surf through the entire 4 minutes of my heat without even grabing the handle once, sick !!  I ripped the wake with a huge amount of cut backs, did grabs of all sorts, even kneed down and was on eye-level with the wave for a long time. Whilst enjoying the surf and the gangsta-tunes that came out oft he speakers of the mastercraft right in front of me, I thought to myself: mhhh, what else to do, how to impress the judges…mhhh…?

Hahahahaha, then ‘Bingo‘ I had an idea:  first I asked the judges to throw me over my 02alive bottle for some extra power kick and then…yes then I did a strip J   hihihihihihi, yes, I pulled my super tight lycra over my head and swirled it around. C’mon guys, YES, of course NOT, no, I did not surf naked, I had a shorty underneath. Mind u I have to tell u that another competitor also did a strip lateron just that he only was wearing boardshorts and nothing underneath…

Julie also went off and showed a truly mindblowing performance with some sick one-footers and highly technical moves, well done girl !

In the male division nobody could touch the local hero ‘Dudzi‘, who showed the sickest show of he event. Starting in one of the last heats Dudzi pulled off  pretty much everything that they judges had already seen in previous heats combined plus way more, and it was a joy to observe his technical stunts besides total nutcase-actions like sitting down and reading newspaper, gulping a whole can of beer in one go and more innovative-trick-orgasms.  It did not come as a surprise that Dudzi was awarded the title ‘One Foot Offshore Pipemaster‘ followed by Alex Kittl and Johnny Nesslinger.

And me…weeeeell, Kitegabi is thrilled and stoked about the female version of the title, YES, I came first with an impressive amount of points, in fact, the points would have even gotten me onto the 3rd spot on the mens podium… yes yes yes, u herewith u can call me One Foot Offshore PIPEMISTRESS 2008 !! 

Thanx to Stylehunters, the organisers of the contest, Wakesharks, all sponsors and of course all the lovely people involved on-site for 2 truly amazing days !

Yours Kitegabi

Nobody could keep up with the North team and the podium was ‘North Central’, yes yes yes, Charles Deleau first, right behind him Sky Solbach and Mexican Champ Sean Farley… and the other brands?? well, waaaaaay behind somewhere lost in the cold sea of St.Peter !!   

The board is 163 cm long, 45 cm wide and very ligth due to the Custom Epoxy Sandwich construction.. The board has 15 cm G10 fins and sharp edges to give you maximum upwind performance. Comparing the board to a 2008 North Phantom 145 Twintip a huge advantage is noticable going upwind which is very important in course racing or light wind.

Yet again:  North simply has confrimed its pole position in innovation and that it’s setting trends, not following.  I’m so proud to be working with the market leader in product R&D, congrats to my team-mates:  sick !!

Check out the North kiteboarding website for more info on truly the best products in the world of kiteboarding!

I wish all the North-team THE BEST OF LUCK, the odds are good with some of the strongest riders in all categories !!

Me as freerider with heart & soul, I’m off competition with the exception of wave-events.   I still feel strongly for my team-mates and the emotions that come with an event like the PKRA St. Peter Ording, a  huuuuuge spectactle !!

Here’s the report of DAY 1:

Day 1:  The day started with the men’s trials elimination under a rain-soaked kick-off day. The rain came in early in the morning at 6:00am and by 10:00am for the skippers meeting, the event site was flooded from the amount of rain that had dropped. The wind was marginal for the course racing while the mandatory skippers meeting was delayed by about an hour to allow for more competitors to make their way to the meeting. Finally at 11:00 am, the skippers meeting started but the wind had fallen off a little so the competition went into a series of postponements until 3:00pm when the wind picked up considerably. Event director Olav Van Tol decided to start with the Freestyle Trials instead of the originally planned Course Racing.

At exactly 3:30pm, the red flag for heat #1 was raised and the games went into a sequence for an eight-heat elimination series with the first round having six heats and a double elimination (round two) of two heats. It took a total of one and half hours to finish the eliminations under a 15° Celsius cold weather condition so the day wrapped up at 4:50pm. The wind speed ranged between 15 and 20 knots in the early heats but gradually dropped off in the later heats. It rained until the last heats were done so the competition was a total washout for the day.

Immediately following the final heats of the trials, mother nature decided to provide some brief sunshine and the skies started to clear so everyone is looking forward to some sunnier and warmer conditions for day 2.