Een nieuw record met de WOO en in lichte wind zoals het lijkt met 25-30 knopen......

The wind lined up perfectly for Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico on July 4th, 2015 – home of Goodwinds Kitesurf School and Watersports Center. Phil Morstad, owner of Goodwinds, set out with his WOO to boost, and boost he did – all the way to the top of the WOO global leaderboard.

Goodwinds facility

Morstad can be summed up as a dare-devil, free-spirit, adventurous and responsible husband and father. While growing up in Colorado, Morstad was always pushing his limits as an athlete. He could be found snowboarding, wakeboarding, riding motocross, mountain biking and taking on any sport that stirred his adrenaline. As he got older, his career path lead him to beautiful Puerto Rico in 2004 to become an airline pilot. It didn’t take long to learn how great the conditions were for kiteboarding, so, without hesitation, Morstad bought some gear and signed up for his first kitesurfing lesson. He was naturally drawn to the sport, having flown a 2-line stunt kite in the past.

Phil Morstad

Morstad is always willing and ready to share his passion for sports and the outdoors with his friends. So, when friend Royce Reid offered his kitesurfing school to Morstad, he jumped at the opportunity with haste – and the rest was history.

Alongside his wife, Morstad owns and operates the Goodwinds Watersports Facility at the picturesque Dorado Beach Resort and Ritz Carlton Reserve. A typical day includes a cruise to the beach in a golf cart and doing what he loves – sharing his passion with others. Morstad and his wife are a lucky couple living the dream in a place that can offer wind and wave conditions comparable to anywhere in the world. July 4th was no exception.

Morstad had been eagerly waiting for a day like this to get some real power behind his 2015 North Rebel 9m kite. The local wind meter read between 22-25 knots; the jump spot is typically a few knots higher, putting the actual wind speed around 25-30 knots.

Ready with his ’15 Rebel 9m kite on 24m lines and 2015 North Jaime Pro board with straps, Morstad took off to the ideal spot for his massive jump. 50 yards from the beach is a shallow reef that creates buttery flat water to gain speed on. Half meter waves form on the reef and line up perfectly for jumping. Although the boosting spot was ideal, the landing zone was an area of caution – 30cm of water over the reef. This pushed Morstad to not only dial in his take-offs, but time his heli-loop at the downfall of his jumps to grease the landing like a champ – and save his knees for future records!

Dorado Beach and jump spot 45 meters offshore.

Morstad was blown away after the first session, reaching a massive 21.2m! He smashed his previous jumps by over 9m! Looking back into the jump log in the WOO Kite App, Morstad affirmed his height when he saw he was consistently reaching 15, 16, and 18m jumps. Although he believed he had jumped that high, he needed to prove to himself he could do it again. So, Morstad took to the waters again for a second session, topping the previous record with 21.4m!

Friend and instructor at Goodwinds, Andy Hurdman, wanted to challenge Morstad’s jump and went out for a session with the WOO himself! Unfortunately for Hurdman, he was only able to reach just over 11m. Hurdman was not convinced of Morstad’s 21.4m jump, at which point Hurdman gave Morstad his kite and board to go prove himself once again. On this third session, he reached another huge 18m jump which was synced through Hurdman’s phone and later deleted. This helped prove to nonbelievers that the jump was valid and egos could be at ease. Check out the graph below to see how Worsted’s jumps compares to the top 3 other rider on the WOO leaderboards: Gilion Gouveia, Joshua Emanuel, and Aaron Hadlow.

The session was proof that it’s not all about storm winds and hucking the kite, but that technique can go far (maybe a deadman for that extra meter or two?!?) Check out the jump log for Morstad and see how high he was consistently getting and how soft some of his landings were – 16.2m with 1.3G landings!

Keep pushing yourself to dial in your jumps with skill – timing is everything! Follow your own jumps and see how you progress over time. Log everything so you have the sessions to look back on and the accumulated stats to prove the time and height you put in!

There is often a sweet spot at each kite beach that can get you an extra bit higher. Go find it, and step up the leaderboards at every spot you go to! Add Goodwinds to your vacation list, their location looks incredible! Maybe you can top the leaderboards there ;).