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

This trip only has just come up last week and in a ‘travel-agent-race’ over several time zones, I got my ticket confirmed saturday night to travel 24 hours later…

Perth – Nairobi – Moombasa, a journey that’s taken longer than going from Austria to Australia, though, after approximately 30 hours, I’ve finally arrived in Mombasa, the final destination.

I loved that sign in the baggage claim hall of the airport:  SMILE, you’re in Kenya and YES, for sure, I have all reasons to smile

I’ve never been here, so this is all very exciting, I  l o v e  going to ‘new’ places, and if they are hot & tropical like Kenya, I love it even more

So what is Gabi actually doing here?

I’m super stoked to represent North at the Prosurf Extreme Kitesurf Charity Event, that’s happening at the Nyali Beach Hotel in Mombasa from 11.02.-15.02

Organized by Prosurf Extreme Watersports, a dedicated North Kitecentre, the event’s schedule is action packed and will be boasting a downwind race, beach volley tournament, a North demo day with all the insane new 2010 products, boardies & bikini party, slider & big air, fire jumping… JOY, can’t wait !!

Stay tuned 4 more, I’m planning on bloging the event daily (if internet connection availability + time permits),

Yours Gabi

Yep, I’ve only just gotten hold of the photos, thus a slightly delayed post about this insane experience.

The Abrolhos islands  are an island group consisting of 122 islands, approximately 60kms off Geraldton on the Western Australian coast. Though the wave-hungry lot on the boat, didn’t decide to go for the incredible scenery, the snorkelling or really good fishing…  Nope the trip that was scheduled around the ‘Blue Moon’ -   which is the second full moon in one month, only happening very rarely  -   that should bring sick wave-conditions as the Abrolhos islands boast THE most exposed reefs on the whole of the west coast !!

Wow, rockin’ crazy outer reef swells, way out the Indian Ocean… in the water:  lots of big fish, yep, white pointers apparently everywhere, one really doesn’t want to get in trouble out here, the Abrolhos are truly in the middle of nowhere….

The boattrip was mainly for windsurfers, though, there was me and 3 more kiters on the boat. The ship we went on was so incredibly cool, a commercial fishing boat, looked a bit like a military ship, the trip could not have been any rougher  -  hihihihi, yep, pretty much everyone on the boat got seasick… not me, though, thankfully I’m immune to seasickness no matter how heavy the sea is rockin’    -  the sea was going crazy, yep, my personal ‘Full Moon Theory’ perfectly hit once again   You can read up on it in a previous post if u want here!

Launching and landing was an absolute nightmare, absolutely no space on the boat to put out lines or stuff… I had to walk the lines out in between all the windsurf gear, around the BBQ area, through the sleeping cabins…. then attach correctly to my kite, throw it in the water, jump after it, hoping that no white pointer would consider me as bait and waterlaunching it as quickly as possible, which was a true challenge given the strong current and swell. Yep, have to admit, this was the first time ever that I’ve actually been a bit jealous of the windsurfers, they had it way easier: just 2 throw in their gear and jump after it.

Thank God my brandnew North FUSE 5m2 is simply the greatest kite ever and the launch a piece-a-pi$$    …heheheehehehe, mind u,  at one point I got fairly scared, as I got caught in a current on launching just after having gotten quite a deep cut in my leg (slipping on the boat against some steel corner), i.e. I was bleeding and had to drag around for nearly 20 minutes before I could get hold of my Kontact waveboard again that was drifting around way upwind of me, having gotten caught in a current going the other way !?  aaaaaarg, scary stuff… though I survived and the white pointers decided to leave me alone !

The conditions we found out there on the Abrolhos that very Blue Moon Weekend were truly  e p i c …  an absolute dream that will stay in my heart forever !

Yeah, it was the first time in many, many years that I visited Austria in winter time and I have gotten really used to the snow, the cold, hot drinks, and stuff

It’s been soooooooo good to catch up with family friends again and even better to rock’n roll down the slopes of our breathtaking mountains instead of playing in the liquid ones in the sea   There has been so much snow here, amazing, yeah, even the flowers had an ‘icing cover’, too cute.

But it’s time… it’s time for new adventures and even better than snowboarding down frozen waves will it be to finally re-connect with my life force again: THE OCEAN !   I missed its feeling, its sound and energy sooo much these past 2 months !!

So, I said ‘Good Bye’ to the beautiful white yesterday and tomorrow I’m jumping onto a plane that’s gonna take me to the other side of the World, yeeeeeeeeeeeah, I’m heading to Western Australia!  Summer is in full force over there  -  in fact I was just on the phone with Perth, it’s 42 degrees there today !! -  and several decent swells have already rolled onto W.A.s coast without me rockin’em   High time 4 kitegabi to get there !

It will be quite a physical shock I reckon the temperature thing but hey can’t believe I can exchange my rabbit fear hat with a cap and my thick, warm wintery clothes for a bikini, JOY

Hopefully this is what I soon will be doing: check out the pics from my last session in W.A. before coming back home to Austria!

Heheheheehehe, yeaaaaaaaah, can’t wait, it goes without saying that I’ll be keeping u updated.

In the meantime enjoy the beautiful wintery images of Austria in the photogallery on the right, isn’t it amazing this white snowcover and hell-yeah, standing on top of a mountain on a perfect blue sky day, well yeah, that’s got something very special 4 sure.

Love Austria but gotto go… continue my quest for perfect waves & new spots and I can’t wait

Have fun!
Gabi

Yes yes yes, stoked, cause pretty decent swell rolled in with some sweet 20 knots, sunshine and I could go onto a wave Rock’n'Roll with my favourite kite and board, the 2010 Rebel 5m2 and Kontact 6′3 … mhhhhh, was so, soooooo good   !!

The brandnew 2010 North gear is truly S I C K and I will post detailed reviews and my personal opinion on the 2010 Rebel as well as NKB wave- and freestyle boards over the course of the coming week, thus stay tuned mates, ok !

Jamie Scott, one of W.A.’s top surf photographers came out on the jetski driven by a dear mate of mine Vincent, the founder & owner of Folklore Skateboards. The results of our united efforts can be found in the photogallery on the right hand side.

Have fun & catch u soon with my equipment reviews,
Gabi

3 planes, lots-of-rather disgusting plane food and a couple of tranquilizing glasses of vino, I have to admit, I’m pretty stoked arriving in Vienna in the afternoon of Friday the 13th.  yep, wasn’t too impressed with myself after I realized that I had booked myself onto this monster-journey on a Friday the 13th, especially after having been on a rather unlucky patch lately anyway…  and having just survived a rather heavy car crash, flying on friday the 13th was perhaps pushing it a bit… only if one is supersticious, though, right

My trip from Perth, Western Australia that took me via Singapore and Frankfurt back home to ‘lovely’, greeeeey Vienna… grrrr, November must be pretty much the worst time of the year to come here, mind you, I didn’t have an option, my Visa in Australia was expiring on Nov.12th and there was no way to extend it from within the country….  what a BUMMER !!! 

So now I’m in drizzly Vienna, staring outside the window, I do have to admit, it all feels rather weired…  

In any case, that’s also part of the job and I do have several important meetings and committments here over the next few weeks.   Luckily I got a last sick session in before departing W.A. that loaded me with energy to go through this grey city-obligation-stress of the weeks to come…   Yeah, sweet swell rolled onto the coats of W.A. and Margaret River went off.  I was lucky and had one of the top local surf photographers -  Jamie Scott, check out his website !! -   on a jet-ski coming out to one of the breaks, will post u pics over the next couple of days ! 

Stay tuned folks & have fun
urs gabi

I dont’ really know where 2 start this story, could write a novel here…. mh, I reckon best, where I left u off with a few weeks ago…

So, the past 6 weeks I spent on hardcore wave-training in the outback of W.A.  I had  THE best waves of my life, some serious swells brought cranking conditions and I had time to test my brandnew 2010 North gear extensively in very challenging conditions. the verdict is simple:  The North Rebel 2010 as well as the 2010 Kontact waveboard are  T H E  best pieces of kitegear that I’ve ever had the pleasure of riding in my 8 year career as kite-pro -  S I C K !!!   Detailed reports on the North 2010 kites + boards will be posted in my blog over the next week, thus: stay tuned !

After 6 weeks in paradise, I had to reload up my beloved car ‘Margaret’ and start the 2-day drive back to Perth, W.A.
Already shortly into my drive Margaret gave me some reason for concern, she suddenly made some serious noise and I pulled over at a garage, verdict:  the exhaust had broken, which we fixed provisorily and I could continue my drive.

Another few hundred kilometres down the track, I had to pull into another garage with a new problem:  Margaret wasn’t going any faster than 60kms/hour…  new verdict was:   the battery was about to die, so I bought a new one…

Another half hour later Margaret suddenly made another concerning sound (!!?), so I just managed to get to the next town along Western Australian’s deserted overland highways and luckily also found a garage there, next verdict:  some leads were touching the exhaust and were about to totally burn through, thus:  had to change leads & plugs… at that 3rd garage I started to take photos as already then I felt like in a bad movie after having to pull over to 4 garages in only a few hours…

Another 40kms down the track Margaret started to behave just like a few hours earlier:  she wouldn’t go any faster than 60kms/hour…  I just made it into the next town and once again:  lucky, cause the town had a garage…
This time it was the catalyst converter which was blocked.  the mechanic fixed it and said ‘now ur car will get u to Perth no worries and u will even be able to drive 100kms and faster i u want…”.

The speed limit on W.A.’s outback highway is 110kms/hour and once the catalyst converter got cleaned, I could indeed crank up the engine to 110kms/hour, sweet!

I had another 350kms to go before reaching Perth and was very optimistic making it without any more garage-stop… how wrong I was !!?

Only about 30 minutes after having left the last garage, driving along W.A.’s highway at a speed of 110km/hour, Margaret all of a sudden starts spinning, I do a full 360 turn and get catapulted off the road…  KAWUM BANG: glass everywhere, my window broke, my door totally crushed… I come to a standstill in the bush beside the highway  -  SHOCK !!?  No phone coverage and me all alone with a crashed car that had ‘my life’ in there (Margaret was chocker block full with kite gear, camping stuff, all my electronics, pretty much everything I owe really !!?) on a highway in the middle-of-nowhere, close to a cursed place in Aboriginal beliefs and a rather dodgy corner anyway…. grrrrrrrrrrr

Police arrived and and and…. dude, can u imagine that I truly felt like in a bad movie !!? 

A tow-truck was organized and my till then really loyal car Margaret got towed into the next town, from where I finally could make a couple of phone calls.

Thank God I have caring people around me and a special mate of mine immediately jumped into his car in Perth and came to rescue me :)  Obviously it took him a couple of hours which gave me time to empty out Margaret and to get all my $h&it together, ready for him to upload into his car  -  by the way,  t h e  coolest rescue car on planet Earth :)  a 1979 Kingswood !

The truck-guy from the tow-company couldn’t believe his eyes when I finally had everything out of the car, he was stunned “whaaaaat, u had all that in the car? no way !”.

So dusk approached and it got dark and cold…. gabi waiting… finally my mate arrived:  we loaded up the Kingswood and by 2am in the morning finally reached Perth.

My car has been declared as a total write-off (“Totalschaden” in german) which is truly sad, though, I can consider myself suuuuper lucky 2 be alive, no scratch, no bruise, it’s like a wonder!!! According to the police men and all the other people that stopped along the scene of accident, accidents like mine along W.A.’s highways normally end up fatal…   yep, I can be grateful that the car didn’t roll over and that no car or road-train came atme when I slid all over the highway !!  Also the story of the driver of the tow-truck that pulled Margaret into the next town gave me reason to actually be stoked rather than upset:  earlier in the year he pulled out the car of a girl from the UK who pretty much had the same happening to her (tire bursting), though, she wasn’t that lucky:   she’s still in hospital in Perth since over 6 months with a broken back…  I truly hope that luck will also be on her side again soon!

I’m in Perth now, recovering from the shock and looking into the future, stoked 2 be here on planet Earth healthy & although a bit shaken, really happy

I would already like to thank u in advance for ur understanding guys and promise I will make up for it.  Keep checking kiteboarding magazines in the meantime, I have some sick features about to be published that you surely will be loving

In this spirit, carpe diem guys & have fun,
Yours Gabi

YES, it’s true, Sydney city is truly amazingly beautiful.  I checked out the world-famous Sydney Harbour with Sydney’s stunning Opera House, cruised around in ‘The Rocks’, the oldest part of the city with super cool Cafes, Restaurants etc.  Later I walked over the Harbour Bridge  -  yeeeeah, that was soooo cool !!! -, strolled through the Botanical Gardens  and finished off the day with a harbour cruise… sweet

Tomorrow, it’s my last day here and I’m planning on renting a car to check out the Northern Beaches, which are supposed to be stunning with some of THE best surfspots in the area, stay tuned !
Yours Gabi

“Bondi” or “Boondi” is an Aboriginal word meaning water breaking over rocks or noise of water breaking over rocks, I guess you can do the maths: YES, Bondi is Sydney’s surf beach No.1 !

It’s a really cool place with loads of chilled-out cafes, restaurants, a sick skateboard-park overlooking the line up and stunning white sandy beach with sweet lines rollin’ in   Yeah, there’s always action @ Bondi !

While the northern end has been rated a gentle 4 (with 10 as the most hazardous), the southern side is rated as a 7 due to a famous rip current known as the “Backpackers’ Express” because of its proximity to the bus stop, and the unwillingness of tourists to walk the length of the beach to safer swimming. There is an underwater shark net shared, during the summer months…

Yeah, I’ve already been for a surf, sweet    … and in fact, I went to the Southern side, cause the sandbanks there simply looked better that day and had a joy surf, without being caught in the rip.

Find some impressions of Bondi to the right in the photo gallery.  I’m staying here at the Bondi Beachhouse, with lovely crew taking good care of all the guests and some surfboards at reception to grab any time.   For the ones who would like to follow what’s happening on Bondi every day of the year, a local surfer and talented photographer has established ‘Aquabumps’, a website that portrays Bondi with its surf, swimmers, joggers etc.  every day of the year.

For tomorrow, I’m planning on heading into Sydney’s City  -   stay tuned !
Yours Gabi