It’s not good to get used to eat everyday some fresh Tuna at the delicious buffet from the hotel… After a 10 days trip in Cabo Verde staying in the great hotel of Morabeza (Thanks to Fun&Fly for this one) I just got back home and now will have to come back to real life… cooking, studying, training… But just for some days as I’m soon off to Boracay in the Philippines for my freestyle camp!

Cabo Verde is a “must go” destination for kiters and surfers… Insane spots, the most perfect waves I’ve ever surfed, great flat water and kickers spots for freestyle and cool lifestyle… I appreciated a lot the staying there with Jeremie Tronet, the professional photographer Manu Morel for our report and local rider Mitu Monteiro who took us to all his best spots. In a matter of 2 or 3 days we had done so much that we could keep relaxed as the job was done… We had some great pictures and cool filming. I join some pics (thanks to the guys and specially Marie and Alex Caizergues for taking them)

Mitu impressed me a lot with his riding style in Ponta Preta, he knows the wave perfectly and just destroys it… We learned quite a lot from him in wave riding. There was also some local young kids who are very friendly and future rippers.

After 5 days kiting the wind left and we flew to another island of the archipelago to shoot some lifestyle and discover a bit more from the country. Sao Vicente is even nicer with some different backgrounds and we still had some nice waves to surf. No sharks tho… really wanted to see one. After while we got back to Sal and surfed again as the wind didn’t show up, but it was just insane and perfect. I really love that place and next year I’ll surely come back for longer in order to improve my surfing as well as my wave riding.

My next stop will be Boracay as I previously said. I’ll be doing a Freestyle Camp together with North kiteboarding distributor (Normeth Preglo) and will then take advantage to make a trip and take part of the KTA competition together with my teammate Tom Court. So if you want to join the freestyle camp don’t hesitate to contact me.

Cheers!

Freestyle Camp in Boracay!!! with me…

I will be going to Boracay for a 2 weeks trip in order to train, make the camp, a travel story and take part of the KTA competition stop held in Boracay! Quite a lot I think but everything at the sun and in 30ºC conditions, so it’s ok for me.

Well it’s time for my first freestyle camp together with North Kiteboarding importer from the Philippines!!  It will be held in Boracay, one of the best kitespot where I’ve always wanted to go, from the 15th until the 19th of February.

I will be going to Boracay for a 2 weeks trip in order to train, make the camp, a travel story and take part of the KTA competition stop held in Boracay! Quite a lot I think but everything at the sun and in 30ºC conditions, so it’s ok for me.

Concerning the Freestyle Camp I will be there to enjoy the riding with the people that will take part, I’ll be working on their riding by giving advices and showing how tricks can be learned or improved. Everything in a chilled atmosphere but of course learning the most we can. Normeth, the North dealer, invites in her website everyone who is interested in taking part of our camp, some places are still available so if you want to take part follow the link here and you will find all the information (Days will be changed). She proposes rooms at her hotel, and she also has a kite school for some rentals… So whether if you are somewhere else in the world or if you are on holidays around, you are welcome to join us, enjoy the riding and learn some new tricks.

See you soon.

Tarifa was cool, we had some good fun, hard core sessions between monster waves and some really strong winds and rain. I could even feel the lightening in my bar a couple of times… that’s the funny moment when you ride with your kite the lowest possible. We also surfed in perfect waves a couple of times.

Then I got back to my second home in France to do some exams and this weekend I came to GAP to snowboard a little. Hopefully I can snowkite for first time if the wind shows up!

I’ve also organized another little trip for soon, this time I’m happy that I’ll be traveling with Jeremie Tronet to Cabo Verde for a 10 days cool trip. If we get the right conditions I’m quite sure we’ll come

out with great footage. Jeremie is definitely one of the most active kiters and we’ve been talking about doing a trip together for a long time, and we finally decided it in a matter of seconds when I told him I wanted to go and ride Ponta Preta in Cape Verde… So we’ll come back soon with cool things. We’ll also meet local rider Mitu Monteiro and travel around the islands to discover a bit. I really hope I can surf the Ponta Preta right handed wave, even if the wind is a bit too off shore, it will surely be great!

Freestyle Camp in Boracay!!! with me…

Well it’s time for my first freestyle camp together with North Kiteboarding importer from the Philippines!!  It will be held in Boracay, one of the best kitespot i’ve always wanted to go, from the xxth until the xxth of February.

I will be going to Boracay for a 2 weeks trip in order to train, make the camp, a travel story and take part of the KTA competition stop held in Boracay! Quite a lot I think but everything at the sun and in 30ºC conditions, so it’s ok for me.

Concerning the Freestyle Camp I will be there to enjoy the riding with the people that will take part, I’ll be working on your riding by giving you advices and showing how tricks can be learned or improved. Everything in a chilled atmosphere but of course learning the most we can.

Normeth, the North dealer, invites in her website everyone who is interested in taking part of our camp, some places are still available so if you want to take part follow the link here and you will find all the information. Whether if you are somewhere else in the world or if you are on holidays around, you are welcome to join us and enjoy the riding with us and learn some new tricks.

Despite the lack of wind, because we actually went a bit too early in the wind season, we really managed to make a nice trip and check the huge potential of the island for kiting. After a long flight we got picked up by frenchman Mathias Oriani who took care of us for the whole week (thanks for hospitality) and showed us the whole island, he landed in peacefull Zanzibar 2 years ago to start his Haraka Kite school, located in the best lagoon spot in Paje beach.

The first day we got there we went crazy to find how intense the colors were, the sand looks like snow, the sea is crazily turquoise blue and the light is so strong. Victor and I were hallucinating to be there when it was 5ºc at home.
We travelled all over the island to ride different spots, we sailed in a stylish local boat to an islet, just sand surrounded by the ocean and us… (On the pics you can check how perfectly perfect this spot was). Plus we kited with dolphins, saw funny monkeys, spent several nights with no electricity while being attacked by malaria moskitos (I like that), saw how scary it is to drive by night in Africa (in general it is), ate nice fruit and delicious lobsters and played football with very friendly Maasai warriors coming from the deep Tanzania where all their tribu are still living, we also had the chance to see their traditional dance. These guys were really nice, they explained us that to become adults and warriors they all had to spend some time on their own in the wild savanna, eating anything they could find, and even more crazy, they had kill one Lion. Well, the one on my right on the pictures killed a lion and two leopards. Respect!!

The pics here are from Loic de Collasson, he’s a semipro photographer and captured some really nice stuff, if you want to check more just follow this link where you’ll find more cool pics from the trip. And for the full magazine report we had french Kitesurf Mag photographer and redactor who joined, but this will come out in 2010. We also tried the new 7D Canon photo camera which is amazing as you can also film in full HD, footage looks insane as it uses photo objectives… we haven’t got much video footage but a small clip should come out soon.

It was also the first time I travelled with a kite travel agency, it is nice as everything is settled before you get there: transport, hotel, flight… Loic also works for them (Fun&Fly.com) and if you want to escape from the cold and discover Zanzibar or other spots just go and check their site. They’ll do everything for you!

Well, now I’m leaving to Tarifa for 2 weeks, 18h driving… the forecast looks absolutely insane, big waves, wind and some rain, but who cares… I hope to catch a nice surf session tomorrow night. This time I’ll really shoot with the video camera as we couldn’t do so in Zanzibar because of the wind.

Enjoy the holidays!!!

Ok, I’ve done my exams here and I’m off again but this time somewhere where I’ll just need my boardshort and nothing else!! well, maybe my gear…

Tomorrow I’ll pick up my friend  Victor Hays and we’ll catch the flight to Zanzibar. where we’ll meet the photographer and crew. We’re flying Lufthansa which is not funny for lugage excess but hopefully we manage to seduce the girls at the front desk.

Forecast is looking quite light, but I hope there is a thermical wind picking up in the afternoons, otherwise we’ll enjoy the good weather and visit, and maybe swim with shark, cause it looks like there are some: “For those looking for sharks, Zanzibar is nirvana, as the coral reefs offer numerous spots for many species including reef sharks, tiger and lemon sharks, white sharks hammerheads and the elusive whale shark.” Hopefully I find a big whale shark and nothing else.

I’ll try to make a nice video…

Cheers