Welcome to the beautiful German seaside resort of St. Peter-Ording located in the district of Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. This magnificent setting in the North Sea coast will be the home of the PKRA competitors from August 18 to 26 for the Gard Kitesurf World Cup 2007 – the 7th stop of the PKRA 2007 World Tour. St. Peter-Ording is the most popular holiday destination with the highest number of tourists of all German seaside resorts, with a seemingly endless 2-kilometer beach, plenty of sun and excellent wind condition.


There were a total of 50 men and 12 women representing 18 countries who will be participating in three different disciplines (Freestyle, Course racing, Boardercross) and will be battling it out for over US$57,000 in prize money.
As expected, the German crowd will surely be betting on their local ace riders including Philipp Brueckmann (Carved), Silvester Ruckdaschel (F-One) and Mario Rodwald (Carved) and the much anticipated return of last year’s world champion Kristin Boese. Gracing the event also is Ken Winner, the kite designer for North kiteboarding who has signed up to compete in the course racing event along with the top racers from the last two stops.


The first day of competition of the Gard Kitesurf World Cup 2007 got off to a slow start. Today was a no-wind event. Overcast skies and a temperature of 16 degrees Celsius prevailed during most of the day. In the morning, there was little to no wind but gradually increased as the day wore on, peaking at around 1:00 pm before finally dying out completely. The race organizers were hopeful at first and thought of trying a course race but the wind diminished below PKRA standards before everyone could even set up.




Although the wind was a no-show, that didn’t stop some riders from going in the water including North kiteboarder Steph Bridge (UK), Sean Farley (Mexico) also a North-sponsored rider, and world-class German kiteboarders Toby Braeuer and Dirk Hanel who is also competing under the North brand.
Bruno Sroka (Takoon, France), who dominated the Portugal and Fuerteventura Course Racing events was also seen practicing along with Sami Gali (Best, Spain). The riders are already much excited to gear up and get going and fight for the top podium position in three disciplines – Freestyle, Course Racing and Boardercross, including 50,000 Euro of prize money. In the men’s division, current world number one Aaron Hadlow is the top favourite. Local favourites and promising German riders Mario Rodwald and Philip Bruckmann, who are both competing under the Carved banner along with Silvester Ruckdaschel (F-One) are also expected to give everyone a run for their money. Philip Bruckmann hails from Berlin while Ruckdaschel is a native of Munich. Rodwald comes from Rendsburg, not far from St.Peter-Ording and has an excellent advantage of knowing the local conditions.
In the women’s division, kiteboarding superstar and Germany’s pride Kristine Boese, who is a native of Potsdam and holds the current women’s world title is also a favoured candidate to bring home the championship trophy. But not without a good fight from Spanish top gun Gisela Pulido, who, like Robby Naish, have been winning world championship titles at the age of 13!


Since the wind forecast was dismal, the race organizers decided to release the Freestyle competitors during the morning’s skippers meeting instead of the usual order of business. Even though there was no wind, that did not stop the crowd from having some fun on the beach, especially with Randy Hereman (F-One, Netherlands) around, who proved some good amusement!


Tomorrow’s wind forecast looks promising than what was today but a chance of it dying off during the afternoon is also expected so the skippers meeting will be held at 8:30 am with first possible start at 9:00 am. To get yourself updated with the latest happenings, high-definition videos are available at www.extremeelements.tv and on Youtube at www.youtuble.com/extremeelementstv.