Hanglos meets Karolina Winkowska


On the 3th place of the women competition we have a powerful Polish girl. Karolina Winkowska showed the other girls how to kite with power!

Hi Karolina, It was a really close battle between Bruna and you. The last stop was deciding. Again it was a good season for the girls!

Yes, it’s much more motivating when I have to fight with somebody for a place in the competition. But still there are not so many good girls in the tour to fight with. I know that there are many good kitesurfing girls around the world, but they are scared or I don’t know why don’t want compete. I hope next year Asia will come back so we will have more action going on.

How do you look back over this season? What will be the best memory of this season?

For sure my first place in New Cal. However, that was a far destination so I went there by myself and didn’t enjoy it in a proper way with my friends and family that are supporting me. Nevertheless, winning the pkra competition it was the most enjoyable moment of 2010 pkra tour for me.

Who is for you the biggest concurrent, and why?

For me Gisela is the hardest to beat because she is a very good competitor. Moreover, she is improving a lot in here style and tricks because she is training a lot. Plus she is very young so it is easier for her to stay fit and to improve faster.

I can imagine that a rider has a lot of stress during competition, on what moment is stress really hitting you, and what do you do about it?

I am getting stress when something is wrong with my equipment, I get paranoid but I always get it fixed before my heats. However, in Australia I didn’t fixed my board on time and when I entered the water and my board didn’t work, suddenly I forgot how to do all my tricks… So I lost.

Are you superstitious?

I don’t believe in this. For me a good preparation and good warm up is the most important to have good results.

As we all know, 2010 was a nice busy year with 10 tour stops, what was your favorite and your most challenging tour stop this season?

My favorite stop is every year the pkra in Germany, st.Peter-Ording. There are most spectators and it is the biggest event of the year. The beach is super nice and kite conditions are super good.
The most challenging stop for me is Fuerteventura. The weather is normally crazy there, but sometimes conditions are good for freestyle. So every time before the event I am little bit nervous about what’s going to happen this time. This year it was amazing. Perfect wind for my 6m kite.

Do you ever get tired of competition?

It is coming on the end of the year. I can’t train anymore and there are more competitions to do. Every time after competition I need a small brake to recover.

Most of the time there aren't a lot of girls competing, any idea why, and how would you motivate other girls to compete?

Most of the girls around the world are scared of the challenges. Girls prefer to look nice and say nice things. Firstly they are scared to kite, but if somehow they aren’t and they are doing well in freestyle then they are scared to improve their skills. But some of them break this limit and then they say: ’I have no chance to beat you, Gisela or Bruna because I am not good enough’ so they simply don’t give a try.
In my opinion it also is very important to know how to compete, because on the competition there are many factors and the freestyle skills are not the most important one.

Of all the PKRA guys, who's style do you like the most?

Youri, that is an easy question. Super powerful and super big moves.

The holiday of a pro kiteboarder, how does it look like? Is there a 'not kite' holiday for you?

Definitely, I love to do it especially after the competitions when we have a long brake. This year I start to surf so every no kiting minute I try to sacrifice for surfing. I also go back home to Poland where weather and environment is totally different. I watch tv and spend all day long in my own bed with my mum and dad.

Being a pro kiteboarder looks really nice, but every coin has another side.. You probably had to give up a lot of things, what is the thing you regret the most that you had to give up?

Nothing, there is nothing I had to give up to do the pkra tour.
I sometimes miss being in one place, but I don’t know which place it would be. So now I have to travel around the world to find this perfect place that one day in the future I'll stop and don’t move my butt anymore.

On Hanglos there came a question about how a pro kiteboarder lives financially. Is it possible to live from it, or does all the money goes to traveling?

In my situation yes. My sponsors are not the richest one, but right now it is all what I need. I don’t rent a flat and I don’t have to feed my family. I spend all my money to the sport I love to do and that is pretty much what I need now.

About the future, what do you see yourself doing in 10 years? Do you follow any studies and is it possible to do both kiteboarding and studying?

I follow an online University and I am super happy with it. But I don’t see myself totally different in 10 years. I will be 30 years old so I will still be able to kite and that is what I am going to do. I don’t want to be rich, all what I want to do is kite and surf. I hope that my body will be able to work with me, maybe not freestyle competitions but free ride and wave riding for sure.

Is there something you want to say to young talents that are heading for a pro career?

Bring it on. And NEVER give up. Hard work always pays back. But sometimes we have to wait for a long time. I was waiting to win the PKRA competition for 3 years and I am still waiting to be the world champion (4 years on tour).

As you probably know the sport is having a hard time in some countries due to kite accidents. For example in Belgium they want to make a kite certificate with an exam, what is your opinion on that?

I never heard about it. However, I think everybody should begin kitesurfing in the kite schools where teachers are well qualified and give good knowledge about all safety systems. All accidents that I heard about were mostly caused by the stupidity and ignorance of the safety systems or no knowledge because they learned kitiesurfing from the book.

Next to that there is also the discussion to become Olympic, do you see that happen, and if yes, will you do course racing if that will be Olympic?

There are some gossips since 4 years already. Nothing is decided yet. I am young and I am doing freestyle discipline right now and no plans for a race.

How do you see the sport in 5 years?

Me as a competitor, I wish that we will get more profits of being on tour. Which I think might be very likely because kitesurfing world is growing very quick.

Answer in a few words what comes in your head when you read:

Wave: straps or strapless: strapless
Single or girl/boyfriend: single
Most expensive ticket: New Caledonia
Megaloops: Only if I get a picture of it
Sliders and kickers: Yes I like
Best spot ever: Muizenberg, SA
Favorite music: All good music


Karolina is sponsored by Slingshot, Roxy, Ford.
If you want to know more about Karolina, check it out on karolinawinkowska.wordpress.com


Read the other Hanglos Meets again:
Andy Yates
Gisela Pulido
Bruna Kajiya
Alex Pastor
Youri Zoon