KTA Turkey, 1st place! Youpi! ;)
I’ve just been 5 days in Turkey to attend the first leg of the KTA (Kitesurf Tour Asia) where I’ve been invited. I w
ant to thank Sedat, the organizer, who has been inviting me to his country for some time now and it’s been great so far. I get to know the Turkish culture a little, meet again the whole KTA team and some cool riders such as the English crew with one of my teammates Luke Whiteside, James Boulding and Hannah Whiteley as well as many Turkish riders… As for the comp I luckily managed to end in first position, it was pretty hard to make good heats as the wind was very light in the single elimination and probably the most gusty conditions I’ve ever kited in for the double. But I made it and I am quite happy, always cool to win an event!! So it means I’m leading the Asian championship for now, a bit weird huh, a French caribbean in Asia!!? 
Here a few pics from the event as well as some of the videos that James Boulding have been editing every day of the comp. They’re more informative but he is doing some great edits! The event was happening on an amazing spot in Cesme, which basically looks like a huge natural swimming pool, and we were staying in probably the best hotel I’ve been in, what a luxury!! Now I’ve decided to postpone my flight back to France because I will be training and shooting at an amazing spot (Gökova) located in a huge valley where thermal winds apparently blow every single day… The English crew have been telling me about it for days and the locals friends invited me so I’ll have a look and ride it myself. Probably a future great kite destination for every kiter!!
photocredits: Anny Barlow and Stephan Hertig!
End of Summer…
Summer is over!!! it was good but too short to me, as usual.
I’ve spent part of August in Fuerteventura for some training and the rest in Tarifa, finally chilling at home for more than a week!!
While in Fuerte I’ve been shooting with Stance magazine together with a bunch of young Frenchies. A Trailer is soon going to be online, to show a little the group and the cool spirit! We’ll be doing episodes of our travels around the world and they’ll be featured in each DVD that Stance publishes.
We’ve also been filming with Carlos, the North Kiteboarding cameraman, for the upcoming videos of the year. The routine. He just finished the new video of the Vegas 2011 which is rocking! the kite is in the same line as 2010 and works very well as expected.
Together with Cesar Portas, my teammate, we were invited to an extreme sports event in Palma de Mallorca, the Mallorca Surf Action. It was nice to see several extreme sports being shown to the crowd… a good opportunity for the people to discover these sports. However we were not very lucky with this event and didn’t get that much wind… So instead of showing our sport, we watched the others throwing tricks… pfff, not funny. But the party was there to compensate!! I’m done for a while tho…
Then the Swiss importer from North invited me to Zurich for a dealer meeting. We again couldn’t ride but I enjoyed a lot the wake surfing as well as wake SUPing, behind a boat. It is hard to stay in the wave but once you get the technique it’s amazing… after 5 minutes surfing you must stop because your legs are in pain. Such a cool way to improve the style.
Now I finally made it back to my second home spot, Cannes, where I’ll be doing my second year of studies and training. The place is cool, I’m looking forward to ride in the perfect spot of l’Almanarre again, for some proper freestyle. I’ve had a couple of very good sessions with my friends here. We went by boat to a beautiful island near the coast in order to try a new spot right beside a Monastery. The place is stunning and it was funny to walk on the island with all our material and visitors would look at us like weird boys… We rode for 3 hours non stop, tried some new tricks, could film a bit, and I slept like a baby afterwhile.
I will start planning my winter time now, I don’t know where I’ll head for some training, maybe Brazil, Dakhla, Tarifa, Australia… don’t know really. Will consult with internet…
Orange Massilia Cup video!
Here is the video of a cool event I’ve attended in June together with Jeremie Tronet, Sam light, Flo daubos, Jalou Langeree and many other riders from different sports…Events such as this one should happen more often, I really appreciate showing our sport to the crowd and I enjoy riding with friends without focussing too much on the competition side. It’s relaxed and we all have fun doing the show for the public.
This year there was a skateboard world competition and the level was very high with guys coming from all around the world… high level and pretty bad crashes.
So here the vid’ and hopefully we can see some more events soon!