After numerous problems during our roadtrip like a broken battery and a robbery, Alvaro, Alex and I arrived at the competition area way to late and almost too late to register. The french Tramontana blew strong and gusty from day 1 on so first I had to go through the trials, where I only didn’t miss my heat thanks to Pile (the machine) Brueckmann, who saved me by pumping up my kite. 4 of 5 people went through each heat, and 1 guy didn’t even show up in my heat, so I went through to the Single Eliminations, where I had to go against Cesar Portas in the first heat. I rode my Unions, did really well for the conditions but lost against the quantity (2 more tricks) of Cesar. Next day wasn’t windy enough for competition, so there was enough time to recover from Saturdays night. The wind came back stronger and gustier on Monday for the double elimination. I won my first heat against Ali Barrett from UK on bindings but with a really close decision. The conditions got worse and worse so after this heat I went for my straps board(hadn’t ridden on straps for the last 3 months) and shorter lines which turned out to be a good decision, because like this I won another 3 heats, against Paris, Phillip Brueckmann and Mikael Bloomvall and then lost against Seb Garat way overpowered on my 7m. I ended up 7th like Alvaro, Alex got 6th. So it was a good start into the new year of competitions. Thanks to Thomas Hasle for taking some pics of me.

A couple of days ago we moved to Toby Bromwichs house in Freemantle, which is closer to Woodman Point and way cheaper. I’ve been shooting some pics with him for Core Magazine, wasn’t too good for pictures because of the light, but we still got to kite every day. The pics I put online are either shot by one of us or Marion Landon (thanks a lot). Yesterday the wind direction turned to South East so the wind was kind of gusty again, but the water was really flat at Woodman Point. I was out there with Victor Borsuk who also lives with us and Dan Anderson and this day I did good with my bindings, landed a couple of KGB to blinds and even two Pete Rose to wrapped’s, but its old stuff… Riding bindings is good fun, but its sort of limiting, so I guess I’ll use Straps for the next couple of days and once I do some new tricks on them I’ll try to do it with Bindings. check the gallery for new pics.
Shanghai = Cool place to eat Asian Food in Freemantle, cheap and tasty!