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ISSUE 9.1
issue nine 9.1 whats inside
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Alex Lewis Hughes Photographer: Toby Bromwich
wearing the new
TFM
the team
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ABEL TOMKINS ANDY COOKSEY ALEX LEWIS HUGHES Damian gough JAKE GORDON SIMON WICHTERMANN VICKTOR OTTERSKOG
Thomas Paris, Professional Kitesurfer wearing ST RIKE SEMI DRY 3,5 DL www.ion-products.com
COVER SHOT “Photo shoots. What can I say, turquoise water on islands created for postcards where everything comes together and runs smoothly. In and out, get the job done. Well, not always. Shoots are far from this most of the time. Some down time for Toby in Brisbane created a “see the sights” of the local rides mood. A crazy idea to try and hit a hand rail next to a sea wall in almost onshore winds got him frothing and a shoot was planned for the muddy, rocky beach (don’t try this at home kids!). The shot we were chasing, although was sketchy, was coming together. Wind was from the right direction, we were organized and had the up ramp and flashes set up. I managed to launch with out going into one of the many trees, everything seemed perfect, or not. The run up was too close to the sea wall and I couldn’t edge into the up ramp properly. The shoot was over, the smallest things screw you in this sport. So to plan B, make something out of nothing. Put in the extra effort and sometimes you get rewarded. We had a plan B and incase plan A didn’t go as expected we had a local picnic table and some shallow rock pools. It’s not what we originally had in mind and we were running out of time with the tide going out, it was only a few inches deep here but it all came together after a few attempts. You can dream of the shot but most times it’s not how it pans out, but that’s what keeps it interesting.“
RIDER: Cam Prest PHOTOGRAPHER: Toby Bromwich
“This shot was taken on the last day of a recent trip. I had been talking about the possibilities of trying this for a while after seeing it in a lot of surfing mags lately. Since then I had been frothing to try it with a kite as I haven’t seen anyone getting a shot from that angle before. I spoke to a few crew about this and they said it would be pretty much impossible to get a shot like that kiting which I guess made me want the shot even more. The problem was finding the right wave and being able to time everything to all come together. The wind was pretty cross shore with a bit of offshore this day. No photographers where shooting in the water as it was the first day of a new swell, it was a bit lumpy and breaking in different spots. It would have been hard to be in the right spot to shoot in the water so I took Toby’s camera out. After a few tacks up wind I realized that this may not be that easy as it was very awkward holding the camera, as it’s a 4kg camera in a housing. I also wanted the shots unhooked and unstrapped, which made things harder again. As I would drop into a wave I had to dunk the camera right under so as to give the port a film of water to keep as many drops off as possible. The first 3 waves I caught the lens was covered in drops and all the shots were useless, then this wave came. I could tell it was going to barrel and just tried to get myself in the right spot and not stuff it up. I dunked the camera, parked my kite, unhooked and starting firing the trigger. It was pretty hard to fly the kite with one hand and hold the camera with the other but I knew that once I set my kite that it would just sit there for me so that was one thing I didn’t have to worry about. As I bottom turned I thought this could go 2 ways, I could get smoked and smash myself up with this camera in the foam or it could be gold if it stays open and we get the shot. Half way through the barrel I could tell it was staying open and as I came out I just started yelling as I was stoked that I may have gotten it on camera. I went straight in on that wave to Toby on the beach and he was frothing as much as me as he saw it from land. We put the kite down and went straight up to the hotel to check on the laptop to see if we had gotten it. This is probably the best barrel I have gotten kiting and was stoked to be holding a camera and share my wave with others from my perspective.”
RIDER: Ryland Blakeney PHOTOGRAPHER: Ryland Blakeney CAMERA SET UP: Toby Bromwich
E D I T O R I A L GALLERY 1 Project camper Marc Rossiter backlip on the A frame. PHOTOGRAPHER: Toby Bromwich GALLERY 2 Kiwi Marc Jacobs with his signature back mobe in New Caledonia. PHOTOGRAPHER: Toby Bromwich GALLERY 3 Andre Phillip grabbing method. PHOTOGRAPHER: Tracy Kraft
Well first off, thanks for all the emails and comments of support for our first paper issue. Glad to hear so many people stoked on the mag. This issue, I had a little more time and have been on some amazing trips and scored some sick conditions along the way. My travels started with the Surf Expo in Orlando, Florida and whilst there I got an invite to a few cable parks and to check out The Projects, check out the roadtrip story. Over to LA, I took some time to catch up with Ian Alldredge and Bear Karry as they had just returned from their 3 month trip only riding lefts and were frothing to get back into riding rights again. A flight to Western Australia for a day and I was off to Indonesia for a 3 week wave trip. Far from the reaches of communication from the outside world! Epic surf and good times with the international crew. Back to Australia for some local trips around the West Coast and Indian Ocean with wave riders and freestylers alike. Then off to the East Coast to catch up with wake rider Cam Prest and freestyler Andy Yates before hitting New Caledonia for the last PKRA event of 2009. We also have a hand picked selection of personal favourites from our featured photographer, Christian Black. Christian is one of the most inspirational photographers in the sport, someone who really pushes the boundaries to make a shot special. I got to hang out with him in Indo and gained a quick insight into what makes him tick. So it’s been an action packed couple of months. Here are some of the best moments from my travels. I hope you enjoy the articles and flicking through the shots‌ Toby.
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t in paper irs f E R O C f o door issue to get eachelivered right to your and d R 4 ISSUES FROM $20 FO
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Kevin Langeree
What a season! It started off kind of bad. At the first stop in France, I missed a heat because of a miscommunication with the race director… So I got kicked out early in the singles and I had a hard time getting back to the podium in the doubles. I still managed to get a 3rd place. Then we had a pretty long break, so I went on a training trip to Tarifa for a week. We had great conditions and I learned a bunch of new tricks which I used for the next stop in Fuerte. I won the singles but in the doubles Aaron beat me twice with a 3-2 decision so it was really close, but he took first place. Right after Fuerte we went to Germany, which is the biggest event on tour. The conditions were the same as at home: rainy, cold, strong wind, light wind, so typical North Sea conditions. I’m really used to those kinds of conditions which gave me a bit of an advantage over the other riders. I won the event twice in a row and I managed to win it for a 3rd time this year. So I was super stoked! Then we had a pretty long break again, so I spent some time at home which was great! I trained a bunch at home for the last event in New Caledonia. That was going to be the most important competition of my life because there would be 3 guys fighting for that world title: Youri, Aaron and myself. So I went there 2 weeks before the event to get used to the conditions and train. That all worked out super well. I ended up 2nd in the comp and that gave me enough points to win the world title!!! Finally after 3 years ending up 2nd overall, I took home the world title. It’s a dream come true.
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With a somewhat truncated event schedule for 2009, riders would have to be riding at the best in every heat. After 5 years on top, many wondered whether Aaron Hadlow still had the motivation to compete. He won the first two events and it looked like it’d be a 6th year as world champ. However, top Dutch riders, Kevin Langeree and Youri Zoon had other ideas…
Photographer: Toby Bromwich
2 This is the first year where I actually finished the year! I came back from a 2 year knee injury. The season started off pretty good, I got a second place in France. I was nervous coming into the event as I didn’t know how all the guys were riding and if I would still have what it takes to be up at the top level. So it motivated me coming second and taking the win in the best trick discipline. France is always a pretty hard place to ride, strong winds, side offshore and gusty. I was just lit on my 6mtr the whole time, but it was a great experience, I love to ride in those conditions! The final came down to me and Aaron and we put on a good show, unfortunately I ended up in second, but a pretty good start to the season. When that event was over I started to train a lot. The next stop was Fuerteventura. I won this event in 2006 so I knew I could do well there again. It was the usual strong and gusty winds and I ended up with a 3rd place, which was alright, but not really good enough. Then on to Germany, where we had strong winds again. I won the event there in 2006 also, so I was pretty fired up to try and take the win, but I ended up just behind Kevin in second place which as alright. I had some pretty good heats in the double against Andy Yates who was riding really strong and then I went on to beat Aaron to advance into second place. Between Germany and New Caledonia we had a pretty big gap, so I had a lot of time to train. I went to Brazil for a month and learnt a lot of new tricks. And then it came to New Cal. For the title chase, it all came down to this competition. I knew it would be a hard competition as all the guys are riding really good and here the wind is steady and the water is flat so the level jumps up another notch. Even though the level was really high I managed to get a 3rd place and as only Kevin finished above me this gave me enough points to put me into second place over all for the season. I’m pretty happy with that. It’s actually the first year I’ve managed to complete a tour season so finishing 2nd behind Kevin and ahead of Aaron, yeah I’m pretty stoked with it. Now I’m getting ready for next year and hopefully to take the title!
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Youri Zoon
Photographer: Toby Bromwich
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Aaron Hadlow
3 This season has been pretty weird, to only have 4 tour stops and so much uncertainty with organizations, everything was a bit up in the air. It was well disappointing every time an event got canceled and with many event sponsorship issues it seemed the goal posts were constantly changing. This year I was unsure if I would be competing partly because these points above but it seemed to be a fairly solid tour at the beginning of the year, I felt I was still up to the challenge and that my riding was good enough to do it again this year. It worked out great at the start of the season; I went in relaxed and entered the event to have more fun this time around. Leucate was the first event, which I managed to win, by then I was committed to the year but that was also the time when we started to find some problems occurring with cancelations and governing organizations. For the last few years there has been a consensus of the way that riding was progressing, lately I saw more of a split in the format of riding. In my 8 years of professionally competing I have always strived to move forward, creating and showing new tricks is my main motivation. I have been through the progression of kiteboarding and I don’t want to go back in the other direction or stand still. In Fuerte I had another 1st and in Germany I got a 3rd, I felt this was a fairly good start to the season despite the new style possibly scoring less. It turns out that there would only be 1 more event this year, so everything ended up depending on that. Throughout a year you have good and bad events and the New Cal single elimination was not good for me. I admit that wasn’t my day. In the doubles I was back on track but being so far down in the ladder it is always a massive hill to climb back to the top. I ended up 4th in New Cal. My win in Fuerte ended up being 25% less points because of the points/prize money issue, so I ended up registering a 1st, 2nd and effectively the same amount of points as a 4th which only left me in 3rd place overall. Disappointing. I have not decided 100%, but this may be the time for me to take a step back and wait for the tour to settle down before I re-enter.
Photographer: Toby Bromwich
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Alex
Pastor
Photographer: Toby Bromwich
4 Last year’s off season was pretty bad for me. Unfortunately I crashed really hard and injured my right knee’s ACL, Meniscus and LLI. My injury wasn’t that bad as I didn’t need any surgery but I felt like I would say goodbye to this season. After 3-4 months of recovering and training my knee, everything went back to normal and I started competing 1 month later. With almost no kiting in the whole winter, the first event of the year was decent for me, getting 4th place in Leucate. Then I went back home (Tarifa) to hang out there and train but since I had my injury every attempt was harder and I felt like it was pretty hard to improve my riding until I would be more self-confident. Although I trained hard and felt almost perfect about my knee and improved my riding, I came in 7th at the next two competitions, Fuerte and Germany, which was a little disappointing. After that, in September, I forgot about kiting for competitions and went to Brazil to ride for almost 3 months. I was just kiting for myself and enjoying every day in and out of the water with my friends and my girlfriend. Motivated with my riding and my new kites (Torch 2010) I was riding with more power, style and technique than ever. Stoked with my riding, I went to the last stop of the tour in New Caledonia. I Wasn’t really expecting anything but I put all my effort in it and won the single and the double elimination to take the 1st place in that event, which gave me the 4th place Overall. I guess that what I learnt this year is that sometimes we forget about how we love kiteboarding and we start riding for competitions and we put pressure on ourselves, which holds us back and takes out the fun. I realized that I’m doing what I’m doing for the fun of it and because I love kiteboarding. The meaning of this lifestyle is having fun in the water every day. I can’t complain now, I’m leaving my dream and I’m doing what I want for living.
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Photographer: Toby Bromwich
Andy Yates After a successful introduction to the PKRA World Tour in 2008, this year I aimed for a top five result overall. Competing last year for me was just about seeing if I was capable of competing against the world’s best, but this year I wanted to be up there with the best, alongside riders the likes of Aaron and Kevin. Unlike last year where I only did half the events, this year I planned to do them all. After spending an awesome two months in Perth, I set out for the first event in Leucate, France. The conditions were so gnarly; definitely the craziest conditions I’d ever been out in. Lit on a 5 metre. I had a pretty good event nevertheless and finished 9th overall. I was relieved and happy with this as anything could have happened in the gnarly conditions we had for the heats. I was hoping to better my France result in my next event in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands. I had an epic event, making it the furthest I ever have in the Singles on my 7 metre and then passing through a few tough heats in the Doubles on my 9 metre and 11 metre to finish 6th overall. I was stoked to beat some high profile riders to get this result. At the time this was equal to my best result ever on tour. I then went straight from Fuerteventura to St. Peter-Ording in Germany. I advanced well in the Singles beating Dutch and German riders and making it to the 3rd round, which I was stoked about. The next day the Doubles ran to completion. This was an all time day for me. I passed four heats in a row against some awesome riders, finally getting eliminated by Youri Zoon to finish 4th overall for the event, my best result ever. Now, I have just returned home from the final PKRA event for the year in New Caledonia. I was looking forward to this event all year as it is so close to home for me, and not a total mission to get to. After again making it to the 3rd round in the Singles, I was hoping to pass more in the doubles. The conditions for the event were perfect for me; flat water and winds for my 11 and 13 metre kites. I advanced against Sebastien Garat and local Tom Hebert, getting eliminated by Aaron Hadlow in a 2-1 decision to finish 6th place. I’m so happy how everything panned out in the last three events in Fuerteventura, Germany and New Caledonia. In these events, I only lost against the top 3 guys: Kevin, Youri and Aaron. This makes me feel very confident going into next year’s tour and I definitely feel that I can beat them now. With my results for the year, this has placed me 5th overall in the PKRA World Tour standings. With this result I have achieved my goal I set at the start of the year. I couldn’t be happier and next year I am resetting my goal even higher!
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f r o t h i n‘ chad worrall
Not often you come across a rider as good as this kid. I first saw Chad Worrall at the Triple S 2009 sneaking hits on the rails where the photographers weren’t swarming. He asked trip Foreman if he could hit up some of the rails when they weren’t busy and he went about quietly slaying the rails in the distance and had me wondering ‘Who is that kid and why is he not busting in front of my lens?’ Since then he has been snapped up by Slingshot, Jet Pilot and Freestyle Watches. I caught up with Chad again on our whistle stop tour of Florida’s cable parks and I was seriously impressed with how good this kid is behind a cable and ski. He even had The Projects crew commenting on how much style he has. So keep your eyes peeled, there’s a lot more to come from Chad…
Yrs wakeboarding / cable: I got up when I was 8 but really started riding about 3 and a half years ago
Did you cable or kite first? I kited first and then started riding cable.
Who got you into kiting and where did you first see it? My Uncle Andy got me and my family into it, I first saw him trying to ride in Key West in 2002.
Was the wake style route a natural progression with such a wake influence in the Florida area? Definitely, there are so many good wake boarders here that when I kite that’s what I want it to look like.
Who do you ride with (cable and kite)? I normally kite with my brothers and dad, and I have a lot of friends I ride cable with.
Do you wakeboard /cable or kite more? I ride a lot more cable than anything else.
Which riders do you look up to for inspiration? For cable probably Diego Shaw because he goes huge and Julian Cohen because he has a super smooth style off the kickers. For kiting Andre Phillip and Greg Norman because they’re really pushing wakestyle and rail riding.
How did you get your first kite And what was your set up? I first started on my dad’s or uncle’s kites and they were Slingshot Fuels.
You’ve just got signed to Jet Pilot and Slingshot,
Photographer: Toby Bromwich
how’s that going and how stoked were you to score that support? I’m super stoked to be riding for such great companies, they both have the best gear out there and I couldn’t ask for anything better.
Do you get more girls now you’re sponsored? Just one, my girlfriend haha
Are you old enough to drive yet, and what ride do you have? I get my license in about a month and I have a Jeep Cherokee.
Any trophies? All I have from wakeboarding or kiting is a couple medals.
What’s your favorite place to ride? My favorite place to ride is Mc Cormicks cable in Tampa FL.
How was the projects? The Projects was so sick, it was one of the most fun times I’ve ever had wakeboarding.
Mac or PC? I like Mac’s for working with pictures and video but PC for everything else.
What’s your favorite board? I like the Slingshot Reflex or the Slingshot Response.
What rider has the best style, (kite or cable)? Kiting probably Andre Phillip and cable I think Nick Davies has the best all around style.
Any religious beliefs? Christian
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Photographer: Toby Bromwich
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f r o t h i n‘ Chad worrall
What scares you? Getting hurt bad enough that I will never be able to ride again.
Is Obama a good president? I don’t really follow politics.
Is the alcohol age limit to old in the USA? I don’t drink so it doesn’t matter to me.
ARE YOU AN INTERNET ADDICT? I like Facebook. It makes it easy to get pictures and videos from friends, but definitely not an addict. I don’t have a myspace, i think its pretty lame unless you’re a band.
What are your views on forums? Some are pretty cool but a lot of them end up being a bunch of little girls fighting haha
You’ve been to the Triple S a few times now. What’s your view on the level of kiting on sliders and kickers? I think a lot of the riders are really good and pushing the sport in the right direction. I’m stoked to see what’s going to happen this year.
How similar is riding on a cable to riding behind a kite for your tricks? It’s not exactly the same but it’s very similar.
Does it get boring doing laps on cable all day? Nope, there is always something fun to do or something new to try
Would you recommend wake and cable riders to try kiting? For sure, I tell everyone I know from the cable to try kiting, it’s so much fun.
you get to ride with the top level guys in the wake /cable scene, who’s your favorite riders? I’ve gotten to ride with a lot of the top cable riders in the world and it’s always cool to watch all the crazy tricks their throwing. My favorites are probably Nick Davies, Diego Shaw, Marc Shuster, and Tom Fooshee because they’re really pushing the level of cable riding.
What’s your view on kite mags? Most of them are pretty good.
What are your plans for the coming season? This season I want to keep having fun and hopefully do some more comps.
Shout outs. Photographer: Toby Bromwich
My Mom, Dad and Uncle for giving me rides to the beach and cable and being super supportive and all the guys like Matt Sexton who helped me get where I am today.
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B R U N A K A J I Y A inte rvie w
Seems like every issue we have been featuring Bruna in less and less clothes! In this in depth interview with the newly crowned freestyle world champ, we expose more to you about this talented Brazilian beauty. INTERVIEW AND PHOTOGRAPHS: TOBY BROMWICH
HEY BRUNA, So if you could introduce yourself. I’m Bruna Kajiya, I’m 22 years old. I live in the south of Brazil on a little Island. I love living there, it’s different to anywhere I have been and I’ve traveled a lot. I can surf, kite and do so many other things you can do outdoors which has everything to do with who I am. How did you get into kiting to begin with? I was actually a surfer before I was a kiter. I’ve been surfing since I was little. There was this day when I went out surfing and all my friends told me not to go as it was too big, but I’m really stubborn, so I was like ‘I’m going to go anyway.’ So while they were on the beach I sneaked to the next point around by myself. When I was out this huge set came and I ended up with my board going into my mouth and splitting my lips in two, I could see half and half and there was so much blood and was horrible. As I got to the beach I passed out and was pretty traumatized by this. I stopped surfing, but I’m really a water and beach person. I used to watch the kiters out of my classroom window and as I wasn’t surfing, a couple of friends said I should try kiting and they taught me and I switched sports. I’m quite faithful with surfing still but kiting is number one now. How fast was your learning curve, when did you move to Maui? I was kiting for a year already when I finished with high school, I was just turning 17. I wanted to travel and see the world a bit and kite and surf. So I decided to go to Maui as it’s perfect for that. I attended the community college there and kited and surfed. When I got there I was still this girl doing big jumps and board offs! These days I can’t even do it, but back then I was doing it. I arrived at kite beach to see the guys, Moe, Dre, Mauricio and the crew all doing powerful wakestyle and I knew immediately that that is what I wanted to do. So I learnt there with them, with the best I think, and since then that’s the direction I’ve taken.
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The
B R U N A K A J I Y A i n t e rv i e w
So when did you take the step into your first comp? Was there anything on Maui? No, actually my Mum decided for me! Its’ quite funny! Usually parents are against taking a path of a kiter and a lot of riders have to fight for it, but my mum pretty much sent me to my first comp. Was that a PKRA? Yeah it was a PKRA, I got back from Maui and I was going to start university, my dad was looking into apartments and everything and my mum said ‘you’re so young and you’re really good, I think you should go onto the tour.’ I told her their was no way I had the level to compete, but she convinced me otherwise and supported me and booked my trip to Venezuela for the first PKRA of the season. I finished 4th in the pro ladies and was so surprised to rank this high. My mum said I should compete on the whole tour, so I ended up attending every event and ending 3rd overall in my first season! I was super stoked. Did you get signed on with Naish that year? Yeah, that year I became a pro! It didn’t really feel like I was pro, at that time I didn’t really see all the responsibilities of being pro, with comp results and dealing with sponsors I was very new to the scene and just enjoying the experience and having a good time along the way. Have you competed in any other sports? Are you a competitive person? Yes, I have been competitive since a little kid, from drawing through to soccer at school. When I young I was one of those girls who looked like a little boy! I was tiny and fat and my mum used to cut my hair short, so I was always competing with the boys, which was really cool. I then started competing with swimming, I dedicated 6 years of my life to that, I was quite good at it and it was funny as I was fat and small and no one would think I’d actually be able to swim fast, but when I got into the pool I was like a little rocket! I stopped with swimming as it was getting too much with all the
training and you have to be really strict with your routine and I was only 15 so I gave up with that. So what mindset does it take do be a champion? Everyone on tour is friendly to one another, do you have to switch this off when it’s game time? This has been a major issue for me, I never really knew about this until the beginning of this season and I think that’s what made the difference this year. Before it was more like I was just having fun and was being friendly to everyone, so I would go into the water for my heat and would be like ‘hey girl! Good luck! Have a good heat!’ and I would feel bad when I would beat someone and they were upset for their loss. I never really thought about it as competing against someone more competing against myself in a heat. It was only after speaking with a close friend at the end of last season when I asked, ‘What am I missing, you know, I‘ve worked so hard and I have the tricks to win but when it comes to the competition I can’t do it and the title always seems to be within my grasp but then slips through my fingers’ and he replied ‘when you’re competing you have to actually compete against the other rider, you have to want to beat that person and say ‘I’m going to win this heat’. This was so out of my way of thinking but for this year I totally changed my mindset and now I go on the water thinking I’m going to beat this girl even though they’re my friend I have to change my mind for that little time. For that 7 minutes of the heat. Yeah, well for me it has to be the whole day, I have to be really quiet, try not to chat to much so not to get distracted. So Bruna’s mean and means business now? Yeah! Well only on days of competitions, I’m not mean, I’m just taking it seriously and I don’t talk too much as I used to do. I feel people have noticed this change, but you do whatever you have to do prepare yourself.
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inte rvie w
B R U N A K A J I Y A
The
You finished in 2nd and 3rd for quite a few years now. Was it hard to keep the motivation to continue for the title? Yeah that was quite hard for me. I was working so hard for it and I thought I had the level to win but I just couldn’t reach it and it was so close. I felt like I touched it a few times but it would slip away. But now I look back and see it was good for me and I learnt lessons, but I never lost motivation not at any time. Every time I would lose it just made me want it even more and that’s what has brought me to where I am today. This year too with some long breaks everyone has had time to improve their moves between stop. Also sometimes on a busy year, I have the impression some people start the season riding better than they finish as you compete and travel with no time to rest or train in between and by the end of the year your’re just tired and over it a bit. These are the effects of riding a lot. So this year was quite good to have some time off and a good amount of time to train too. A lot of the comps are in difficult conditions, not the idyllic setting many people seem to think. Yeah, this year for example had 3 events in strong, strong winds. People always comment on how it must be so cool to be a pro rider and getting to travel around and have a good time, but sometimes you’ll be in say Leucate, France, and it’s 1 degree C on the beach and your soaking wet and it’s freezing cold and it’s 50 knots out there and you have to go. This year I kited on my 5mtr for three of the competitions, it’s quite hard. But in the end it’s good, you see all the places that you went and all the challenges you managed to overcome. You’ve had an invite for a few years now, but this year you managed to fit in the Triple S comp in the USA. How was this event for you? It’s quite a different vibe from a PKRA. Is it something you are looking to do more of or is the PKRA your only focus? No, I definitely want to do more events like the Triple S. I always wanted to go and I had the invites before but the schedule never worked out. This year with less tour stops I managed to go. I had such a good time. It’s a very different atmosphere from the PKRA, a lot more relaxed, everyone having a good time, riding when you want to. We got to ride obstacles which I never get the chance to do, since on tour we don’t have them, so that’s something I want to do more of. For me this was my vacation time and time to relax.
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You’re not a total stranger to sliders though. You have ridden some in Hood River about 4 years ago right? I remember you throwing fs 3’s off the kicker there. Haha! Yeah, it was completely new for me. I completely loved it and had a good time. I had some good wipe outs, but I think for the Triple S I got the hang of it and can do better next year. Lets’ talk about the world title, what does it mean to you to finally get it? Wow, it means a lot to me. I worked super hard for it, so much work, dedication and love all mixed up, by the time you achieved all that it’s just a good satisfaction. Especially as I always had this way of riding, which in competitions can be hard you know, I ride with more risk, not going for the small easy tricks just to score points, so it feels good to win like this, I think its’ good for the sport and the progression. I’m really satisfied. Yeah, the tricks you perform are very well executed with a lot of power, even more so than some of the male competitors. So where / who do you look to for that inspiration and when you’re learning new moves or trying to perfect what you already have? I definitely see power as the number one. I think I wouldn’t feel right winning a comp with small little tricks that I’m not happy about. For me, execution and power are first on my list even though I may lose from crashing or dropping my kite on a move. For me it’s important to come out of the water and be happy and to know I’ve done something that looks good and is pushing the sport in the right direction. So yeah I look up to all the guys. Cesar rides with me all the time and I look at riders like Aaron too, I think he has great technique with all the tricks and in the beginning I used to look up to Dre and all the Maui crew so I think I’ve always had good role models. In one of the shots we have you grabbing with only two fingers. Haha yeah, it looks weird, but one of my fingers is broken. If you look close you might be able to see the swelling on it, its huge! I’m quite happy because I thought I wasn’t going to be able to compete as it was hurting so much but I went out and competed with it, I look back now and am really proud of myself for this.
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Not only competing and doing shoots, but you took the event win too! Yeah! It’s crazy, I always see in motocross the riders competing with broken bones or still healing. I always think they’re so strong and I have a low pain threshold so I’m stoked I could manage it all. Every handle pass was painful, I had some cream to numb the outside but I could feel it on the inside every time! When I grabbed the bar it would be ok but as it pulled it was painful, but I got used it, the first heats were bad and then the other heats felt better despite it getting more and more swollen!
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Brazil is your home spot, do get to spend much time at home? I do spend time in Brazil but a lot in the north in Cauipe. This is about a 3.5hr flight from my home and it feels like a different country up there. Everything is different so I don’t really think of there as home. I’m never really at home, this year I’ve had about a month and a half altogether. But your family come to events from time to time. Yeah, I’m lucky that my mum, sister and dad all have flexible schedules, so they always come and hang out with me which is nice it gives me a little bit more ‘gas to my engine’. I need to see me family, friends and people I love, I wouldn’t be able to do the whole year without seeing them. So what are you going to spend your prize money on? Haha! Um bills, no just kidding, I’m going to buy a new computer, I’m using mine a lot, but now I did win I’m not sure whether to buy it or to save the money! But I think it important to celebrate and to have something you like rather than money in a bank account. What are your plans for the next year? I will keep training hard and I want to push the sport for the girls, this is my biggest motivation. I love to be world champ but I want to push the power and execution side of the riding. I want to ride more sliders and kickers; I think it would be cool to have girls riding hard in those areas too. There are no girls right now that I can look up to for that. Only in wakeboarding. Yeah I’ve seen that, it’s amazing. Do you get much time to pursue any other passions outside kiting or does this take up all your time? That takes up pretty much all my time but whenever I have the chance I go surfing which I love, or snowboarding. In fact right now I’m heading home then off to Spain to snowboard in the Pyrenees. This year I was lucky, I got to snowboard twice! Where is on your list to go travel and see? I would love to go to Indonesia, that’s first on my list to go and see. First for surfing for but also to do some kiting. I would love to get to know that country, I hear it’s so beautiful and the culture is so different over there, so that’s for sure my next destination when I have the time to do it. Ok well thanks for your time, congratulations once again on the title, and lastly, any shout outs? Thanks, I want to thank everyone that helped me; my family, Cesar, my friends and my sponsors; Mystic and Flexifoil, they’re all a part of it.
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Jesse richman For Flights I have been traveling tons lately and I find myself waiting for flights all the time. Just another one of those hurry up and wait things. If I am rocking it at the Admirals Club then it’s all good. Free WiFi and a sick spot to chill. If I am at some inferior airport then it resorts to the iPhone games.
matter to me. I get so excited that I have a really hard time waiting. So I will just go ride small or crap waves and then when it actually gets good I will be so tired that I can barley move any more, but I can’t just watch good waves, I just end up staying out all day.
For Girls: For Comp Heats: I hate waiting for heats. I always hope that I am like the 3rd or 4th heat. That way you don’t need to be the first on the water but you don’t have to wait all day. I need to get super amped up to do good in comps. I will go for my amp up playlist and time it so when I launch my kite the music is still pumping in my head and I got about 4 minute till my heat starts.
For Wind: Sitting on the beach waiting for wind all day gets so old, so fast. I have a really hard time doing nothing so if there is no wind I have to do something. Go bomb some hills mountain biking, go surfing or just do something. Usually depends on where you are and what you can do.
When are you not waiting for girls? I have found nothing to do for this situation. Just got to wait, and hope that it pays off. For new gear: I check the Fedex tracking every 5 minutes and sit there thinking about how awesome it is going to be. Then usually you find out that it is stuck in customs somewhere and end up needing to pack all the old gear and get on a plane going somewhere without it.
For Food My instincts kick in and I start scoping out all the food around me. I try and steal as much of other people’s food as possible and then after getting stabbed at a lot, pretty much just have to sit there and wait for mine....
For Pay Checks: Let’s just say, I know people, and people know me, I am kind of a big deal. I make a few calls and make sure this gets done. 60% of the time, it works all the time!
For Waves I love riding waves, surfing or kiting, it doesn’t
Photographer: Toby Bromwich
In line: Long lines can be super frustrating and after a while I get super over it, so it all depends on what you get if you stand in the line. If I need to get on a flight and need to stand in some stupid line then there is not much to do. I think that is once again time for the holy iPhone!
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The Core Team headed to the Orlando Surf Expo last year to check out the scene.While there, Toby was invited to “The Projects.” For those who don’t know, Florida is basically a wakeboarders Mecca and The Projects is “the place” to ride rails. With this and countless cable parks within hours of each other, Toby and Greg Norman Jr. had a busy few days. I have been riding for over 10 years now, and I still get amped whenever I am gearing up to take a session. Whether it’s kite, boat, or cable, it doesn’t matter, it gets me frothing. But of course, some sessions bring it on more then others. The 3 days I traveled around Florida with Toby Bromwich hitting up all of the parks except one, left me sore as all hell but stoked. There hasn’t been a new cable built in Florida since OWC back 10 years ago and in the last few years it has been booming. Revolution Cable in Ft. Myers has to be the best air trick cable in the world, but lacking in rails. I think when the water table was down the cable was about 11m of the water. McCormicks, America’s first clockwise cable, is as good for regular footer air trick lovers as it is for jibbers. Besides the projects, it is the best rail park in Florida. Matt Sexton invited Toby and I to join a Slingshot shoot there. Typically they are closed Mondays and Tuesdays but they opened it up to us, exclusively, for a whole day. We pulled up at first light and the lake was buttery flat. A quick hello to the slingy crew and we head to the start dock. I had just broken my Ronix Viva the day earlier and I only had my Cab Custom for the first session. While I am normally more of an airtrick cable rider, kiteboards just aren’t as good for them, but I wasn’t complaining. The Slingshot crew is notorious for being insane on rails so it was an all jib session the entire morning and holy shit those boys can shred a rail. I just tried to keep up. The park for sure has the best rail setup out of any other park in the States. Perfect kicker on the outside of the dock; incline bar followed by a long flat bar opposite the kicker on the insane. Box with incline at end. Box with no incline, two small kickers, newly added rainbow rail and the favorites pyramid box. Alex Fox and Billy Parker were there showing that kiters can ride legit on cable, but wakeboarder Kaesen Suyderhoud, was on another planet. Pressing, poking and bonking damn nearly every hit. Pretty sick.
Greg Norman Photographer: Toby Bromwich
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Photographer: Toby Bromwich
Nate Perry Photographer: Toby Bromwich
Kaesen Suyderhoud Photographer: Toby Bromwich
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We rode it until the sun got too high for shooting and then bailed back to Otown. I picked up my new Viva, some Wendy’s, and little R&R at the hotel then turned around and headed back to McCormicks for the evening session. I had my wakeboard now was I was amped to get going on some airtricks. At first it tripped me out cause the cable was all backwards. But after some jackass moves I had it dialed all right. Groms Chad and Eric Worrel, from Slingshot, came out for the evening sesh and destroyed the corners and rails. Stoked equally on kiting and cable, keep two eyes on these kids over the years. I know they will be stars in both sports in no time. We woke up early the next morning with the weather shithouse, we canceled making the hour drive to McCormicks. Instead, we went to OWC and sessioned there for the day. OWC is choppy water and the cable runs really fast and low, it’s really made for wake skaters, but it’s still a blast. Big White, the kicker, and the rest of the obstacles let you play around all day. The 3rd morning was what I was waiting for. The Projects. The mythical rail park on the outskirts of Orlando, where the skeleton of the gigantic Red Bull Wake Lab lies in a thousand pieces resting until the next time its resurrected. A few months back, Dre and I stopped by there for a shoot, but we were restricted to only riding the S2 with no rails. We were pissed, yes, but thanks to CORE I got to redeem that, sorry Dre. Anyways, rolling up to the projects at dawn for a shoot, definitely gets the blood boiling. Needless to say I quickly forgot about how my back was as stiff as shit and I couldn’t get my arms above my head. I sessioned with 3 other guys that morning. The grom , Chad Worrel, and two of the local project’s crew Nate Perry and Marc Rossiter. First off the grom flippin killed it in his own right. At only 15, he was charging as hard, if not harder than anyone there. 270 gappin’ the A frame, pressing the box on top of the SS Rail. Solid riding out of the kid. He should have a spot in next year’s Triple S for sure. But when it was the Project’s locals turn to ride, Chad and I just sat back and watched the show. It was like discovering a new species of rail rider. Look at the photos in this mag or go online and search for videos because I can’t even start to talk about how good they are on the rails. I just won’t do it justice. Due to time constraints we all only got two sets each, but it was enough to know that the Project’s has the best rail park in the western hemisphere.
Greg Norman Photographer: Toby Bromwich
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Nate Perry Photographer: Toby Bromwich
Toby had a flight out of Miami that afternoon but we had enough time to swing through my home park in Deerfield, Ski Rixen. While it’s old and the rails aren’t the best, Rixen is by far one of the best parks. It breeds an insane amount of pro riders, by far the best airtrick riders in the world. Marc Shuster, Diego Shaw, Rob Mapp, Jimmy LeRiche and Donald Shelbrick all call this park their home. Go there after 5 on weekdays and you will see what I am talking about. The best thing about this park is the camaraderie between the riders and the crew working there. Everyone pushes each other to ride their hardest. Our session only lasted a quick 15 minutes but it was still a fun quarter hour. By this point, after hard riding, missioning to get the shoots in at 3 cable parks and the Projects in 3 days, I could barely move! Luckily I didn’t have anything to do for the next week. Along the way, Toby was handing out his first paper issue of CORE. It for sure had a good response. Every wakeboarder we showed it to was blown away on how kiting actually is. The common thought about it before was that we all danced over the water. Now they all want to give kiting a go. That is one of the missions we all need to have in kiting; showing the world that kite, boat, or cable, we all ride the same board and do the exact same thing. Hopefully this trip, while there was zero kiteboarding, will help show that.
Greg Norman Photographer: Toby Bromwich
Shannon Best Photographer: Toby Bromwich
GREG NORMAN JR.
Chad Worrall Photographer: Toby Bromwich
Greg Norman Photographer: Toby Bromwich
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I remember he used to shoot with film so he would always have to get the shot right first time. He was innovative. We used to tape and screw a water housing with fish eye to the end of my board and he would shoot by remote. I even remember taping it into the kite once. He was always trying to get the new best angle. I would laugh that he always takes his time to get ready but once he was shooting the end result was great. AARON HADLOW
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“My friend JP Challinor, 1st tracks in Tignes, France.”
“The largest sand dunes in the world, Sossusvlei, Namibia.”
“Waterfall on the Angolan boarder, Namibia.”
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“Morris wakeskating off a sand dune in Sardinia.�
“I looked in my rear view mirror to see the police car. As I heard the sirens flair up and saw that I was being pulled over.� 68
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The most accident prone person I know, it comes as no surprise that this would be a normal day in the life of Tom Court.
It was one of those days, you know, the sort where nothing has gone quite to plan. After spending about three hours at the beach at Woodman Point, Western Australia, with the hassle of re-rigging my kite three times after leashes snapping and bladders deflating and all the time watching my mates have the session of their lives, I packed up my lines with that sour taste of dissatisfaction. Getting home that evening, to a house full of eager kiters, the following hours before dinner were occupied by talk of the amazing session that everybody had just had (except me) and their latest tricks. Nothing frustrates me more! So, driven by the ravaging hunger that always seems to follow hours of kiteboarding, we all decided to go out for Pizza just up the road, only a short drive, something that may help to cheer up my day. With this in mind however, following the pattern of misfortune that I was having that day, I lost the ‘shotgun’ battle for who was going to drive and ended up having to take all six people to the pizzeria, stoked! When we got to the pizza restaurant we all ordered, being greedy and feeling like a treat, I ordered extra toppings just to make the others jealous because if there is one form of payback for the endless kiting talk, it would be food envy! Due to the extra toppings I had ordered, of course, it took longer to be made, so as I sat there watching everybody eat their amazing, steaming pizzas in front of me, I was wandering how this had happened. Food envy backfired! By the time my pizza was finally ready, everyone in our group had pretty much finished theirs, so instead of eating it there and then (which took a lot of will power), I thought I would wait, savour it and eat when I got home, so that I could gloat over my extra toppings. Heading outside to the car, everyone except me completely satisfied and full, I put my pizza on the roof to unlock the doors. In my rush to get home to start work on my super deluxe pizza, I pulled out of the car park and onto the fourlane highway towards our place. Suddenly I heard a noise on the roof. Then it hit me that I had left my pizza, with its extra toppings, on top of the car. F**k.
In my blind panic, fuelled by frustration and hunger, I pulled a fast and minimum visibility U-turn in the middle of the highway having already gone about two hundred meters from the pizza’s location and over a small hill. As I sped back towards it on the other side of the road, I came over the small hill too see that a truck had stopped next to my pizza, a man had got out and was sniffing the contents, in the middle of the road. Leaning on my horn and pulling another U-turn in the middle of the road, I was just in time to see my pizza get loaded into the passenger seat of this truck, and driven off. As I made my angry pursuit, with all six people in the back, I neglected to look in my rear view mirror to see the police car. As I heard the sirens flair up and saw that I was being pulled over, I couldn’t believe that my pizza was getting away. So after doubling back, I pulled back into the car park of the pizza restaurant with the police behind me, swinging into the only parking space available, that happened to be a disabled spot, too late! When the policeman came up to the car, I was so angry with the pizza thief that I had to insist that he had pulled over the wrong guy, which didn’t go down well! It turned out, that through this whole episode I had forgotten to turn on my lights to the car, so the policeman was convinced that I was drunk and no matter how many times I told them about the theft, they wouldn’t listen. All of this was made harder by the back seat full of laughing, jeering and worst of all full people. Just to add insult to injury though, as I was busy doing a breath test and walking along white lines, I could see the pizza shop, only ten metres away, swapping the welcoming OPEN sign, to a big CLOSED. I wasn’t quite sure how all of this had happened in such a short space of time. Just ten minutes ago I was full of optimism for getting a pizza, determined to end the day on a good note. Now I was being arrested in front of a car full of friends and a closed pizza restaurant, having had my pizza stolen by a passing truck, still unfed and really hungry. How does that happen? It was just one of those days!
Tom Court North, Animal, ION, Wight Link
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Simone Vannucci
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Photographer: Alberto Guglielm i/ MAZMA.com / NIKON coreonlinemagazine.com
Money. It definitely makes life easier but it’s by no means what rules mine. For me, making time to enjoy the things I love comes way before, and that’s what I would like to stay focused on. Marriage. My wife and I met doing those things we have a strong passion for. One year later we were married and several months later we were welcoming our daughter into the world. There are many changes but in reality nothing really has changed, we both live our lives like we did before, plus one. kids. I wasn’t even sure it would happen and I’m not one to make plans but when we found out that we were pregnant we knew it was the right thing to happen at the right time. Now we feel life is even better than before. Kite design is a great passion of mine and in 2003 the transition from competing in kiting to creating kite designs was a natural move and refreshed my competitive nature. As of today I have designed for 2 companies, 16 models of kites, approved over 80 kites for production in all sizes and designed over 500 prototypes of all kinds. Some of these kites are still in my garage as symbols of some really desired innovation, or as a tribute to the long hours spent designing and testing.
Photographer: Alberto Guglielm i/ MAZMA.com / NIKON
Freedom is what I choose to build my life around. Being able to make time for myself, the things or people I love is true freedom for me. I have strong roots to where I am from, but I want to continue to travel and would like to gift this to my own kids in the hope that they will grow up to be open-minded citizens of the world. Being a pro and being it when it was a really good time for it was a great experience in my life. It was a 5 year span that opened my mind towards many things and my heart to many friends.
Photographer: Alberto Guglielm i/ MAZMA.com / NIKON
Simone Vannucci
Being involved with Royal has been a natural process. The timing was ideal as after 7 years I felt mature and ready for new challenges and goals. Royal took me on board since day one and I think it’s a privilege to be part of the growth of a new project. Life is what you make it –it’s true, and passion is what moves us to make things happen the right way. By feeding my passions I feel I move in the right direction and it helps me to live more. Music. I love music that either inspires me or moves me emotionally. I suppose it’s how people connect with their soul. I like it all. Being Italian has not always helped. It’s most wanted for fun nights out or for cooking, but sometimes I have had a hard time being taken seriously.
Traveling expands your mind, so they say. It helped me discover places I will keep going back to. It’s also made it easier to decide where I want to base my family. Ultimately it helped me better understand myself through being in other cultures that I love. Home I’d like to feel that I am at home anywhere I am. Now, as I become responsible for a new life with my daughter, I am interested to see how that will change as she grows. For now we have been working to create our home anywhere we are; whether on the beaches in Australia, the hills in Tuscany, or on a boat in the middle of the South Pacific.
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Photographer: Shannon Askay
straight up
Bikes. I like to train on them, to work on them, to sweat and push myself with them and mostly to race them.
KONTACT 5'9" × 16" 7/8 6'0" × 17" 3/8 6'3" × 17" 7/8
WAM 5'8" × 17" 3/4 5'10" × 18" 6'0" × 18" 1/4
FREESTYLE FISH 5'2" × 19" 1/4
The directional range!
WAVE
RANGE OF USE:
RIDER Sky Solbach PHOTO Adam Koch SPOT Garage CHECK OUT
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COMING NEXT WEEK... CORE 9.2 Thanks for reading.
issue nine 9.2