After a five hour road trip from Tarifa with roof loaded to the brim and some productive film editing, report writing and a little sleeping taking place inside the car, I arrived with the Extreme Elements crew in Portimao, Portugal for the PKRA Kitemaster's Invitational event. It's a PKRA event with a difference as the freestyle is not part of the rest of the World Tour and is invitational only.
zzzzz_jo_3.jpg [ 63.56 | Viewed 416 times ]
The freestyle heat formats are different from the other World Tour stops also. There are much fewer competitors, so it allows for everyone to have a heat against everyone else. Points are then scored in each heat which are added up, and then the competitors with the most points go through to the final. It is such a nice format as you are guaranteed to compete against everyone even if you lose heats. It makes for a super relaxed atmosphere. There are required elements within the freestyle heats too; the guys must land a board off and the girls must land a one footer. A kite loop and your other freestyle moves then get scored on top of that. The mix of old-school and new-school makes it excellent for the crowds on the beach and brings out some super fun individual riding styles!
The course racing side of the event is the third stop on the World Tour for this discipline. 2008 has been so exciting for all aspects of course racing. The fleets are getting bigger, the kit is getting super technical and the racing is getting so close between the top riders. Course racing is so good as it allows a whole different type of competitor to get a piece of action. Portimao gave races of super light wind, strong gusty wind, and even a race where the wind completely shut off at the windward buoy as half the fleet were rounding it so they all ended up swimming; the Red Bull jet ski had a busy half hour!
Big congratulations to those at the top of the racing ladder, it's really hard work on the legs and they put a lot into it! Charles Deleau won 8 out of the 12 races which was amazing and the UK's own Steph Bridge won in the womens and is well on her way to her second year as World Champ! Well done guys!
Men's Course Race Results
1. Charles Deleau
2. Sean Farley
3. Sami Gali
Women's Course Race Results
1. Steph Bridge
2. Gina Esteva
3. Fabiene Dortoli
Portimao is awesome for lots of other activities as well as the competition action. There is a surf spot nearby and awesome little bars and restaurants in the town. One morning before the wind kicked in around lunch time, the Tronolone film guys took Jalou, Kevin, Tom Herbert, Seb Garat and me on an awesome old Portugese cargo gaff rig sailing boat to check out the coast line and to jump off the rocks at the Cliffs of the Algarve and explore the amazing cave beaches. We had a wicked little adventure and you'll be able to check it out on their 2008 event video.
After new kid on the block, Forest Bakker, put on such a good performance at Tarifa PKRA, his home spot, he was then invited to join the Kitemasters Invitational. At the age of 13, this is an amazing achievement and Forest has learnt such a lot from the experience, being able to have a heat against each of the best riders in the world at this epic event. He found the elements required in these heats quite different from those in Tarifa, but his determination to do well is amazing to watch. He has proved a favourite with all the riders, being past around on top of the crowds at the closing ceremony party!
zzzzz_jo_4.jpg [ 71.49 | Viewed 416 times ]
We look forward to seeing him busting out some new school moves at the next PKRA in Fuerteventura on his 5m Atom08, and most probably his 3m Atom08!
If it's possible, I enjoyed the freestyle heats at this event even more than the other PKRA events. The opportunity to have a heat against all the girls and having to do a one footer and push to kite for the crowds as much as you can makes it so so fun. By the last day of the freestyle, I'd won all my heats except against Susi Mai who is queen of board off's. I was ranked equal first with Susi with my points placing me in second place at the beginning of the day. I just had a heat against Jalou Langeree to win to be in the final with Susi for first and second place. I was so stoked with the event and how much fun it was I went into the heat a bit too full on and came down with a super hard landing on my right leg. I body dragged in, got taken to hospital where they eventually concluded I had a broken foot (on getting home to the NHS it turns out it probably isn't broken, wahoo!!). After 5 hours Mauricio and Eric, the event organizers, looked sceptically at my position in the corridor, then Steph Bridge and Debbie Kennedy from Kiteworld Mag decided it was way better to look after my foot at the closing ceremony party, so I got carried out to the car and straight to the Sports Bar.
zzzzz_jo_2.jpg [ 57.99 | Viewed 416 times ]
It was by far the best decision, despite being without crutches and having to be carried everywhere, the foot got plenty of icing and attention and now has its own Facebook photo album!
Men's Freestyle Results
1. Kevin Langeree
2. Seb Garat
3. Rui Meira
Women's Freestyle Results
1. Susi Mai
2. Jalou Langeree
3. Laura Fernandez
4. Johara Skyes davies (Me!)
Soooo. apologies for the time this will take but I have a LOT of thanks to make for past days. To everyone at the beach for collecting my Ion3s, bars and boards together, I actually don't have a clue who did what so thank you, you know who you are! to Debbie for coming in the ambulance with me and putting up with my ëIím not gonna be able to kite next week tears to Steph for being a legend, discharging me, carrying me out of hospital and being the best mum to an invalid in every way to Dirk for bringing my precious harness back from the beach and carrying me from bar to bar along with Steph to Susi Mai for getting me an awesome Playboy Bunny tattoo to make my leg feel better and a bottle of the amazing "For Girls Only" fruity spirit to numb the pain Ã- to the Sports Bar and Bolan bar for taking good care of us all week! Thx to Denzil Williams for packing up my kit bag while I sat and ordered him around! Ã- to Adam from Turbulence for getting me from Gatwick to home! Ã- to our hotel Alvormar for donating me a pair of crutches Ã- big official thanks to the official voice of the PKRA Chris Tronolone for driving me to the airport at 6am and pumping out some epic punk tunes to keep us awake Thx and to EVERYONE else for all their help, concern and ice pack application, you all made an annoying situation as enjoyable as it could be!
zzzzz_jo_1.jpg [ 57.48 | Viewed 5049 times ]
So a big thanks to Portimao and the event organizers Eric and Eduardo for an amazing event, I will be pleading with PKRA main man Mauricio to invite me back next year I've had such a blast! Even when I couldn't go on the water I had the best office with a view of the course racing I could ever wish for!
Jo
x
Attachment:
zzzzz_jo_3.jpg [ 63.56 | Viewed 416 times ]
The freestyle heat formats are different from the other World Tour stops also. There are much fewer competitors, so it allows for everyone to have a heat against everyone else. Points are then scored in each heat which are added up, and then the competitors with the most points go through to the final. It is such a nice format as you are guaranteed to compete against everyone even if you lose heats. It makes for a super relaxed atmosphere. There are required elements within the freestyle heats too; the guys must land a board off and the girls must land a one footer. A kite loop and your other freestyle moves then get scored on top of that. The mix of old-school and new-school makes it excellent for the crowds on the beach and brings out some super fun individual riding styles!
The course racing side of the event is the third stop on the World Tour for this discipline. 2008 has been so exciting for all aspects of course racing. The fleets are getting bigger, the kit is getting super technical and the racing is getting so close between the top riders. Course racing is so good as it allows a whole different type of competitor to get a piece of action. Portimao gave races of super light wind, strong gusty wind, and even a race where the wind completely shut off at the windward buoy as half the fleet were rounding it so they all ended up swimming; the Red Bull jet ski had a busy half hour!
Big congratulations to those at the top of the racing ladder, it's really hard work on the legs and they put a lot into it! Charles Deleau won 8 out of the 12 races which was amazing and the UK's own Steph Bridge won in the womens and is well on her way to her second year as World Champ! Well done guys!
Men's Course Race Results
1. Charles Deleau
2. Sean Farley
3. Sami Gali
Women's Course Race Results
1. Steph Bridge
2. Gina Esteva
3. Fabiene Dortoli
Portimao is awesome for lots of other activities as well as the competition action. There is a surf spot nearby and awesome little bars and restaurants in the town. One morning before the wind kicked in around lunch time, the Tronolone film guys took Jalou, Kevin, Tom Herbert, Seb Garat and me on an awesome old Portugese cargo gaff rig sailing boat to check out the coast line and to jump off the rocks at the Cliffs of the Algarve and explore the amazing cave beaches. We had a wicked little adventure and you'll be able to check it out on their 2008 event video.
After new kid on the block, Forest Bakker, put on such a good performance at Tarifa PKRA, his home spot, he was then invited to join the Kitemasters Invitational. At the age of 13, this is an amazing achievement and Forest has learnt such a lot from the experience, being able to have a heat against each of the best riders in the world at this epic event. He found the elements required in these heats quite different from those in Tarifa, but his determination to do well is amazing to watch. He has proved a favourite with all the riders, being past around on top of the crowds at the closing ceremony party!
Attachment:
zzzzz_jo_4.jpg [ 71.49 | Viewed 416 times ]
We look forward to seeing him busting out some new school moves at the next PKRA in Fuerteventura on his 5m Atom08, and most probably his 3m Atom08!
If it's possible, I enjoyed the freestyle heats at this event even more than the other PKRA events. The opportunity to have a heat against all the girls and having to do a one footer and push to kite for the crowds as much as you can makes it so so fun. By the last day of the freestyle, I'd won all my heats except against Susi Mai who is queen of board off's. I was ranked equal first with Susi with my points placing me in second place at the beginning of the day. I just had a heat against Jalou Langeree to win to be in the final with Susi for first and second place. I was so stoked with the event and how much fun it was I went into the heat a bit too full on and came down with a super hard landing on my right leg. I body dragged in, got taken to hospital where they eventually concluded I had a broken foot (on getting home to the NHS it turns out it probably isn't broken, wahoo!!). After 5 hours Mauricio and Eric, the event organizers, looked sceptically at my position in the corridor, then Steph Bridge and Debbie Kennedy from Kiteworld Mag decided it was way better to look after my foot at the closing ceremony party, so I got carried out to the car and straight to the Sports Bar.
Attachment:
zzzzz_jo_2.jpg [ 57.99 | Viewed 416 times ]
It was by far the best decision, despite being without crutches and having to be carried everywhere, the foot got plenty of icing and attention and now has its own Facebook photo album!
Men's Freestyle Results
1. Kevin Langeree
2. Seb Garat
3. Rui Meira
Women's Freestyle Results
1. Susi Mai
2. Jalou Langeree
3. Laura Fernandez
4. Johara Skyes davies (Me!)
Soooo. apologies for the time this will take but I have a LOT of thanks to make for past days. To everyone at the beach for collecting my Ion3s, bars and boards together, I actually don't have a clue who did what so thank you, you know who you are! to Debbie for coming in the ambulance with me and putting up with my ëIím not gonna be able to kite next week tears to Steph for being a legend, discharging me, carrying me out of hospital and being the best mum to an invalid in every way to Dirk for bringing my precious harness back from the beach and carrying me from bar to bar along with Steph to Susi Mai for getting me an awesome Playboy Bunny tattoo to make my leg feel better and a bottle of the amazing "For Girls Only" fruity spirit to numb the pain Ã- to the Sports Bar and Bolan bar for taking good care of us all week! Thx to Denzil Williams for packing up my kit bag while I sat and ordered him around! Ã- to Adam from Turbulence for getting me from Gatwick to home! Ã- to our hotel Alvormar for donating me a pair of crutches Ã- big official thanks to the official voice of the PKRA Chris Tronolone for driving me to the airport at 6am and pumping out some epic punk tunes to keep us awake Thx and to EVERYONE else for all their help, concern and ice pack application, you all made an annoying situation as enjoyable as it could be!
Attachment:
zzzzz_jo_1.jpg [ 57.48 | Viewed 5049 times ]
So a big thanks to Portimao and the event organizers Eric and Eduardo for an amazing event, I will be pleading with PKRA main man Mauricio to invite me back next year I've had such a blast! Even when I couldn't go on the water I had the best office with a view of the course racing I could ever wish for!
Jo
x
