This volcano and I are probably not going to be friends anymore!! I again lost a flight, so it took me 3 days to finally make it here to Cabarete! But it was cool as I spent a day visiting Barcelona and then a night in Miami with my team mate Reno Romeu and his friendly brazilian friends!

We’ve been shooting here with the team for the Vegas 2011 and boards which I already rode in Tarifa as we had a little testing time and as every year I’m excited to ride my brand new kites. Ralph, the North designer, made a great job and the kites is again working very good. Plus graphs are quite punk and stylish for newschool riding!

In Tarifa we had a couple of good days, a bit of waves came in and I took advantage to play with my freestyle fish for some strapless. Jan Marcos Rivera, the current world champ was there and we had a little session together, it was nice to see his strapless kiteloops… Kristina Bott took some cool pics once again!
Youri, Angela, Alex and Sam Light were also there, so it was nice to see everyone at home.

Now the shoot is over for me and I’m on my way to New york for a day to visit, and next day we’ll fly to Oahu. Forecast is looking very good and we’ll be traveling around the island to check how the spots look like. Hopefully we get some good swell.

Cheers,

Studies are done for this year, 4 months of full kiting is planned for me now!!
I got back to Tarifa for a couple of days and already had amazing sessions which reminds me why this place is so great for kiting and living. In fact May and June are definitely the best months of the year for kiting: summer is getting closer, conditions are often perfect, few people…

Before leaving France we had a little shoot with Kristina at Palmbeach, the local spot in Cannes surrounded by big buildings. Then we drove to Leucate where I joined the French North/ION dealers for the first leg of the french demo tour. We showed the material and people had the chance to test a bit the latest stuff from North kiteboarding.
I already knew how gusty and hard the riding in Leucate is, but it was actually not that bad… However sometimes you jump and you don’t know if you’ll make your biggest jump ever or fall down like a rock.. a bit of a lucky game.  We had some cool riding together with Benjamin Dupont, my french team mate who lives there.

So the plan is to stay here in Tarifa for a week and then I’ll head to Cabarete for a shooting before going to Hawaii for a little trip!! Oh yeah, really looking forward this one!

Here some pics from frenchie land. Thanks to Kristina Bott!

This Volcano eruption is not funny!! The team and I had to fly to Munich this weekend in order to attend the biggest Video Premiere Party for the presentation of the Behind The Scenes DVD from my sponsor North Kiteboarding… But it’s a pitty as no one is able to join now!!!

So I’ll stay here in Cannes for the weekend and study for my last exams… I’m very soon off to Tarifa and very very much looking forward to be there!! I’ll be able to train and enjoy the riding down there. I firstly was planning to stay there for about 3 weeks, but it happens to be 5 days now… I’ll come back later anyway and it’s going to be worth it as I’ll meet the whole team in Cabarete for a shoot and then will finally go to Hawaiiiiiiiii. Surely not the season with biggest waves but will have a look and train a bit there…. Then I’ll be back in Tarifa and afterward will start with my first PKRA of the year in Greece! Hopefully It goes well.

My last trip was a short one, just 9 days in the Caribbean… we landed in Guadeloupe and took the boat in direction to Antigua where I met a good friend who is working in one of these massive charter boats that you can rent, not so expensive, just about 60.000$ a night… So it was in my budget and we stayed about a week… not too bad. Thanks North! It was fun to visit that huge luxurious boat, for 10 min though…

We did not get a week filled with wind but had the chance to kite and even windsurf for hours during 3 days in the beautiful spot of Green island, surely the best of Antigua. But we the most crazy water we found it in my island, Guadeloupe!!! Just like a swimming pool, amazing!

Well, see you soon lovely Tarifa!

I’ve been here for 2 weeks now, exams are done and I had the opportunity to kite again in rideable conditions… I’m not used to kite in cold weather anymore and I must say it’s hard to enjoy when getting in the water and feeling that your hands, head and feet are freezing. Anyway the weather is getting better and we went to ride in l’Almanarre with a bunch of friends. The spot is as usual perfectly flat and we took advantage to shoot a little for Unit 6, a kite association from Cannes. Stéphane made a short teaser with Adrien Jaujou, one of the best french riders, and myself. I’m really looking forward to go back there soon as I love the spot for throwing some newschool tricks…

Kristina Bott was there to take some nice pictures and I’ll put them on as well as a link for some more. Thanks!

Now I just packed my kite “golfbag” as tomorrow I’ll be on my way to Guadeloupe where I’ll get on a boat and travel to Antigua for 10 days for some training and discovering the spots. I’ll post a picture of my office for next week.

I’ve spent a great weekend filled with action!!! My friend photographer Carlos Moncho came to visit and I showed him the variety of places and sports we can do here in my new home base, Nice.

I’ve been traveling pretty much the whole winter so couldn’t take advantage of the spots but I’m still surprised by the capacity of this place!! We’ve been kiting one day (a bit cold tho), next day we went snowboarding only 1h away from my house, which is on the beach, and the next one we went snowkiting at an amazing  spot surrounded by white mountains… I love this sport, first year I try it and the feeling is just great, you can fly for ever sometimes… so cool!

Then we visited a bit Monaco, Cannes and it’s luxury boats, we went climbing…

So here a bunch of pics for me to remember about this little weekend!!

Cheers

Pictures are from Carlos Moncho and Kristina Bott. Thanks!