Gabriele Steindl: Professional Kitesurfer & Freelance Writer - Action, Lifestyle & Travels

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Deleau, Steindl fly high in Red Bull kitesurfing

During winter between my first and my second season on the PKRA World Tour, I spent two training months in Egypt. When I found out about the Red Bull King of the Air-Qualifier in Dubai, United Emirates of Arabia, my mind was set: I gotta go!

Flights were expensive and routes pretty complicated. Nevertheless I booked myself a ticket, however, from Cairo (cheaper), a whole night by bus away. Yeah, it was quite a mission to get from a small town just outside Hurghada with about 70kg equipment to Cairo but I did it. Arriving early morning at the central bus stop in the city centre and still with quite a couple of hours to kill before my plane departed, I decided to do a bit of sightseeing! I spoke to a few cab drivers and chose the one that seemed most reliable and trustworthy and off we went. First stop: downtown for some ‘real Egyptian food’ at a busy local joint. Next stop: the Pyramids, yeah, amazing. I rented a horse and galloped around the sphinx and pyramids before jumping back into the taxi and boarding the plane to Dubai.

Also Dubai was an unforgettable experience. What a unique city! The event was incredibly well organised and consisted of freestyle and a race from one of the ‘leaves’ to the bottom of the famous ‘palm construction’ (that still was in baby-shoes back then, simply sand islands in form of a palm tree, no constructions, no buildings’). The wind-Gods were not really with us during the days of the event so that I had to ride my North Rhino 16m2 in the freestyle, however, still kicked a$$ and won! In the race, I fought so hard for a long time, whilst many riders gave up along the way (allegedly or because their kites dropped and were unable to relaunch), me, I fought kitelooping kneedeep in the water from the start to the end .. and WON! One of the most exhausting experiences e v e r but what a beautiful memory. The trophy was huge plus there was a reasonable amount of $$ for the qualifier-winner’s ticket to the final in Hawaii a few months later. Unfortunately I injured my shoulder shortly before the big event on Maui and thus was unable to go…which still breaks my heart.