One glance at  windguru was enough to bring a huge grin over my face. All orange/red for the next 6 days – meaning 20-24 knts winds . Super happy.

After some research I found this sweet ass lagoon with flat water to play in. And the guy working in the near by kite center was almost my fellow country man ( this cool Croatian dude … ). But once you are so far away from home, everyone speaking “your language” is your country man!

And so the fun started.

And yes water was warm enough to wear just shorts woo hoo … just what I needed after -25 degrees C.

Temperature from my wind meter shows -> Hot hot hot …. sweet!

On the day that wind went down a bit … and when one of my tubes decided to start leaking me and Daniel ( the cool Croating dude ) did a  Kiteboarding Assistant Instructor course in the best office in the world … Thanks again Daniel ( and for fixing my tube )

So to sum up … been riding 5 and a half  out of 6 days, all inclusive bar, 30-34 degrees C and amazing beaches and waters …. Will definitely return to Boa Vista ….

Popularity: 62% [?]

It’s been 2 weeks now since I got tired of this years super long Swedish winter and packed my stuff and was off to Boa Vista, Cape Verde. Coming from -10 degrees C in Stockholm to 32 degrees C in Boa Vista airport was awesome.

After 7 and a half hours of flight I was really eager to get to my all inclusive hotel and start with free beers, wine and coctails. And of course a well deserved rest in the amazing location.

All relaxed and feeling the effects of open bar and with wind report looking good for the next 8 days I just couldnt wait for the morning to go out to the water after 4 long months of winter.

The next morning was finally there and I could just skip breakfast and run straight to pumping my kite and get wet … It was 34 degrees C 20 knts wind and just perfect conditions. After a while I had to rent a 9 m2 kite (Wainman Hawaii Smoke), from the local center since I currently have a 1 kite quiver (Ocean Rodeo Rise 12m) and was getting overpowered a lot. Had lots of fun on a 9, until one the the bladders just exploded in mid air. But at least I know now what my next buy will be … yes a 8 or 9 m2 kite since they are so sweet to fly with and great turning and just so much nicer to fly with then a 12 m2 kite (which is not bad at all, but still …)

Finally I was ready to go into the water ….

Part 2 of Boa Vista trip ….

Popularity: 77% [?]

Reo Stevens and Ian Alldredge met up in Indonesia with Ben Wilson and  Bear Karry for some crazy barrel surfing ….

Shades of Green the movie

Popularity: 11% [?]

Popularity: 10% [?]

Finally my first kitesurfing session after the course. I met up with Björn to borrow the equipment around 17:15, and just when I got there the wind dropped and everyone was out of the water. I was super upset since I was really looking forward to the kitesurfing. But Björn told me to suit up and the wind will be back and he was right.

As soon as I got into my new Ascan Polar 5/4/3 wetsuit (which I was really satisfied with, super warm and water leaks) the wind was back. I rigged up the kite and was ready to ride. I was nervous in the beginning since there was like 15 other kitesurfers on the spot and this being my first solo attempt didn’t really help.

But as soon as i got the kite up in the air all the nervousness was gone. I had a couple of really nice runs. And with some feedback from Björn I was able to start riding upwind and almost returning to the spot I was starting from. And the feeling of riding with other kiters its amazing.

And mental note to myself….try not to fall hard on the 15 cm deep water, because your legs my hurt the next day

Popularity: 19% [?]

Last day

Eager to get into the water but the wind was going weaker and weaker by the minute. We were all so into spending as much time on the water nobody wanted to spent time by taking photos.

Well there are some of course.

Like this one … perfect summer cabin for a kitesurfer

Niiiice

I believe I can fly...

Certified IKO kitesurfers .... and proud of it

Last beers in Gotland

Popularity: 17% [?]

Suited up

Suited up nr.2

Preparations

Give me that kite!

Choo Choo..

See ya

Look mom I am out of the water...

And now he is back in...

And then the pro took over ( that would be me ). And all that snowboarding experience kicked in …. and I was riding it!

On my way out

Staying out and loving it !

Natural born kitesurfer ....

Beer and pizzas!

Pizzas in action

Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh :-*

Popularity: 18% [?]

K-Fat sleeping

Then carrying everything to the KiteSurfing spot ( good that  he had all that energy )

Preparations ....

After that we started with a 2 person gay train On some parts the wind was so stron that we had to do a Lucky Pierre……   Rock on!!

Training kite ...

Rock on!!!

Showing off

The sunset

and a couple of beers…. (no pictures of that though)

Popularity: 16% [?]

After months of waiting it finally happened. Me and my friend Dennis (a.k.a. K-Fat) decided to take KiteSurfing course in Gotland. Best 3 days ever spent.

Starting with a 2,5 m2 training kite in 30 knots wind and then moving on to 9 m2 Best kite with wind even picking up in strenght. For first time kiters we had problems holding on to a kite in the neutral zone, not even thinking of moving it to power zone since with such strong with there seemed there are only neutral and power zone and one big wind window. But stubborn as we are we actually managed to get some body dragging done.

Next morning waking up at 6 and being in water at 7 in the morning wasnt really the nicest thing that could hit hit us, but it was all worth it with nice 15-20 knots gusty wind, and semi sunny day. So we rigged the 12 m2 kite and off we were. After some more body dragging our instructor Björn from http://kiteboardcenter.se/ finally said the magic words lets get the boards. And with good instructions it didn’t take long to get out of the water and do first meters on the Chubby (that’s how the board was called). The runs became longer and longer and more and more fun.

After spending 11 hours in pretty cold Swedish waters dropped dead to beds.

Last day wasnt so hard on the waking up since we got up around 8, fixed some food for the day and left for last day of kiting. After checking a new spot where we were turned down by some bird watchers we finally picked a nice spot with nice shallow waters. The wind wasn’t as strong as the days before since it was around 10-15 knots. But we still managed to get some good runs. Learned to get out of the water and on to the board in both directions. Tried to do some turns. And really got the feeling of the kite.

Overall was really awesome and I will post the images as soon as I get them from my camera.

I know I am hooked and cant wait until the next time I get to the water, no matter how cold it is (being in Sweden and all)…

Locations: Gotland -> Klinthamn, Kovik,…

Equipment used :

Kites:  Training kite Ozone IMP 2,5 m2, BEST Guroo 12 m2, BEST Guroo 9m2
Board:  BEST Chubby 140 x 45 cm
Wetsuit:  Prolimit 4/3
Harness:  BEST

Popularity: 16% [?]