For the past 8 days I’ve been given the awesome opportunity of kiting a couple of beautiful beaches in Antigua. Kevin Steen, Greg Norman Jr., Alvaro Onieva and Andre Phillip had been shooting for two weeks already when I arrived and apparently had ridden in sick conditions during that time. Alvaro’s 5 stitch cut on the handrail (resulting in an 8 day kite pause) and their slider footage are both good proof for the quality of this island’s kite spots.

The last week of the trip, the one that my stay was limited to, do to other things on my schedule, was super light wind though. We barely got to ride obstacles at the famous Autofocus spot, the wind there was just to weak. But do to light winds and an unusual wind direction,  we rode at an alternative spot most of the time, that Dre had last kited ages ago (when he still took his board of his feet during jumps). There we got some very Tahiti-like looking footage, Antigua’s little rainforest decorated the background of most of the pictures and we had the choice between dead flat water and little kickers. I was very motivated to ride and learned some new stuff so even if the trip could have turned out better, it was a rememberable experience and I’m definitely looking forward to come back. Thanks a lot to St. James Club who accommodated us in one of their spacious villas close to all the major kite spots that Antigua has to offer, thanks to Adam and thanks to the crew for the good time we had together. A complete trip story will follow soon in selected magazines worldwide.

The last days in Cape Town have rounded the trip up very well, we got some big waves and nuking winds so we did a downwinder from Dolphin Beach to Big Bay, had a Big Kiteloop Session in Big Bay and some nice wind at Langebaan.
Right now Im sitting at the airport in Dubai, waiting for departure to Perth. I’ll be staying there for 6 weeks, will share an appartment with Pile and Mathias Wichmann there. Im looking forward to get some flat water and medium-light wind for learning some new PKRA tricks, because in between nuking winds, my new obsession for bindings and uncountless photoshootings with Henning I havent really had the opportunity to do so.

Day 13: Awesome! First Mike and I arrived late at Big Bay, Aaron, Lewis Crathern and Neil Hilder were having fun on the water, but by the time we rigged up, the wind dropped totally. We went to eat something in the Rossini and then came back one hour later and the wind was perfect. I went out on my 9m and bindings and had the best session since Im here, really made use of the kickers. The others also rigged up again and Ruben went out too so there was quite something going on out there! The wind kept going up until I was totally overpowered and did one hell of a high jump.

I also uploaded some pictures of the first days to the gallery, more to come! Thanks to Enno, who shot those pics.