.

A summer adventure…

2011-09-12T16:19:00.001-04:00

...sometimes a bit too much of an adventure, some would say!

Kite-Roadtrip and Bachelor thesis just goes hand in hand!
What a summer… Delivering my bachelor thesis beginning of June left me with 3 weeks of kitefun, before I had to defend my thesis at the end of June. Defending it meant 1 hour with a PowerPoint presentation of the work and explaining the main subjects of the thesis as well as ½ hour questions from both tutors. But first, 3 weeks kiting!!:) I went to Denmark to visit some of my best friends, and had some great days on the water at the different spots around Copenhagen. We even spent a whole Sunday at TIVOLI (!!), running around like the biggest kids, testing some of the world’s greatest rollercoasters. After this I joined the Kids Camp in Born, instructing a bunch of children and having fun. It is amazing to see how fast the kids get control of the kite and the board! Then one week in Saal at the Baltic sea, with amazing conditions and good friends. I couldn’t have done all this without the good prices and special offers at STARCAR rental cars (check it out, best prices in town!).

My tent ;) Lived through every storm and
bad weather in Germany this summer!

My rental car, packing the stuff for the night

And Sophie's car/sleeping place:)

Beloved Saal / Darßer Bodden, one of the best flatwater spots in Germany

Saturday the 25^th I went back to Bremen, to prepare my presentation, which was the 27^th at 10 a.m. in the morning. Working 24hours on it non-stop, I’ll never do that again!! But worked out fine, best notes, so perfect optimizing of time and effort!

Greece/Kos
Next up… My flight to Greece on the 29^th! I just had to get all the furniture out of the apartment in Bremen, pack all my stuff, and bring it to Cuxhaven for storage at some friends. Working 24hours non-stop one more time, I’ll never do that again!!!

Finally arriving at Kos/Greece and 6 weeks of training and working before the finals of the German Championship in Fehmarn. I had some great weeks, enjoying this summer without injuries and in this way also managed to push my kite skills to a new level. Kos is a perfect Island for kiteboarding, with Mastichari as a base. In this little idyllic town, you find everything you need, just a few km away from the island’s best Kitespots: Kochilaris (wavespot) and Salt Lake (Flat/chop). You need to know the island and where to go, as the wind will vary depending on the wind direction. Mastichari itself has low wind, and is great for beginners who want to use the facilities of the kite- and surfschool at the spot (http://water-proof.de/).

Some pics from a nice day at the Salt Lake:

1^st Place German Championship Fehmarn
After 6 weeks I went back to Germany to compete at the German Championship. I wasn’t too prepared, as I didn’t have a tent, no sleeping madras, no blanket, no shoes. I even needed a board, because unfortunately stupid enough my broke the day before leaving!! I had a small stone between the footpad and the board, which made a whole in my board after a couple of hard landings.
Thanks to Heike and Thomy, I had a shelter (tent – 15 years old, almost keeping all the water out) and everything else I needed. Thanks to Annika, I had a board as my first heat went off. Thanks to Jan, I had a ride from Hamburg to Fehmarn and back, and thanks to Mieke and Chrischi, I had a place to stay in Hamburg:). And so I won the whole competition, which I absolutely didn’t expect!

1st Anne Valvatne

2nd Sabrina Lutz
3rd Skadi Siegmeyer

PKRA World Cup St.Peter Ording
Somehow someone managed to convince me to join the PKRA stop in St.Peter Ording. I’ve never competed on this high level before, so I didn’t enter into the competition with too big expectations, which was good, because I really messed it up and didn’t manage to qualify. Well, winner one day, looser next day – still with a big smile and lesson learned. “Learning by doing” – next time I won’t do the same mistakes. At least almost all the other German riders qualified, so I was happy for them, and I got to go kiting myself. Unfortunately the wind wasn’t perfect at all time, so the competition “air time” didn’t take place. It would have been really interesting to see how my level is, when it comes to “air time”, as most of the girls train more freestyle, and I train both. Anyway, 10 days in a tent in this sandy desert was a hard time, but it was absolutely worth it! I met a lot of really nice and inspiring people and new friends. And it was astonishing to see some of the best kiters of the world ride the waves of St. Peter Ording!

Some pics from the days in St.Peter together with Sophie:)

I really want to thank my sponsors for this summer. Kitesurfing and a kitelife is really expensive, and without your support;

Kailua Sports with Naish/Pro Limit – kites, boards, wetsuits, harness
Two.ag – boards
Cool Shoes – my flip flops
Schwerelosigkite – my clothes!!

I wouldn’t have been where I am now and had this amazing summer!

cheerio,
Anne

4th in Büsum and summer holidays..

2011-06-08T08:27:00.001-04:00

After 3 months of hard work on my bachelor-thesis, being 3 weeks sick and not training much, the

weekend in Büsum ended more or less like expected, on the 4^th place. To the bad preparation comes that it wasn’t much wind. I did nice downwind heats (for those of you not kiting, this means bearing away from the wind, without power enough in the kite because of the light wind, to do any jumps), running back up, and going downwind again. The first heat against Meike Erichsen went pretty well, the wind was pretty ok, so I could actually do about 7-8 tricks in 7 minutes.. Then in the quarter final against Susanne Brill the wind dropped, and I think I did 3 tricks all in all, spending the rest of the time running back on the shore. Susanne did much better, jumping around, doing blinds and nice tricks! So she won, and went to the final against Sabrina Lutz, did the same thing, and won again. Congratulations to Susanne for nice kiting in those conditions!:) I had to go against Skadi Siegmeyer in the loosers final, Skadi did a lot more tricks than me, and I did 1 S-bend, 1 Raley and 1 Raley to blind (which even, I think, was outside the contest area..) and a lot of downwind and running on the shore! Skadi deservedly won the heat, congrats to your 3^rd place. After the heat the wind was completely gone, and the final was set on wait. I think it would have been fair to do both finals the next day, in this way we could have been showing off with a bit of better kiting… We all hope for more wind in Fehmarn, so we can actually show that we can kite!! The next day the thermic wind came around 3 o’clock, but unfortunately didn’t last long enough to obtain any results for the men or juniors. Never the less, outside on the ocean side (the competition took place in a little bay/lagoon behind the dike) the wind was perfectly blowing, constant, with flat water conditions, so me and a couple of the other competitors got 2-3 hours of riding the frustration away :) Great!!
All in all, the weekend was really nice, the Kitesurf Trophy Team did a great job offering all kind of alternative activities for people like me suffering from mild ADHD, organizing nice parties and a lot of fun. Thanks guys, for making a perfect weekend despite lack of wind.
And, thanks to Heike and Tomy for taking care of their “Gartenzwerg”:O) And of course Jan, without you I wouldn't have managed to get to Büsum and back with all my mess!!:)

(doing the winddance...and then the wind came!!)

No I’m off to Copenhagen, to see my best friend, and make the Kitespots on the Danish coast unsafe, nice - see you on the water

aloha

Anne

Back to kite :)

2011-05-31T11:51:00.000-04:00

HUHUUU the summer can come!!

I’ve been writing on my bachelor-thesis since the middle of February, and finally:
IT’S DONE!! ES IST FERTIG!! ACABOU!! FERDIG!

I was writing the work together with Stefan, so congratulations to us:)

Since we were doing an analysis of the German kite-travel-market, the work was very interesting and “easy going”. Among others, we made a consumer analysis using an online-survey and reached over 700 kiters. Here are some of the interesting aspects about us kiters:

More and more girls are joining the sport!! That’s great, isn’t it??:) The number of female kiters has risen with 7 % since 2006. A Kitesurfer has an average age of 27,4 years – which we just can’t really say fits to the picture which the different Kitespots in Germany presents. We reckon that the average age must be much higher, and that the average age of 27,4 years is due to that most answers came through Oase Forum and Facebook – in this way reaching mainly younger people. Almost half of the kitesurfers are in a relationship, where the partner also kites or at least would like to learn kitesurfing. They earn pretty good money and travel A LOT!

The answer to ‘how many boards and kites do you have?’ was quite surprising to us … On average the German kitesurfer has 4,2 Kites and 3,5 boards!! How come I only have one board??;)Further on, the kitesurfer prefers self supply during his holiday. When the Kitesurfer goes travelling, the most important is:
kitesurfing!
of course.

Almost none of the us pay any interest to cultural activities… How come this result doesn’t surprise me:)?

That was just a tiny excerpt of over results. All in all I’m very satisfied with the outcome of the thesis and look forward to the presentation on the 27^th of June.

Tomorrow I will head for Büsum and the second part of the Kitesurf Trophy here in Germany. Because of lack of wind at the first event in Dahme there are yet no results in the freestyle classes. The forecast this weekend doesn’t look to good, but cross your fingers and do the wind dance – then the wind will come! I haven’t been able to train too much this winter or spring, so I’m not going into the competition with too high expectations – which is good, I think! Just give me wind, and I’m happy:)

See you on the water,

loop it like Beckham.

aloha Anne

Easter time in Norway 15th-21th of April

2011-04-30T17:07:00.000-04:00

Ohh, what a great week back home in the mountains of Beitostölen!! Like every eastern me, my parents, my sister, my uncle and aunt and both my cousins as well as Maddie gathered in the cabin in Beitostölen. I love it there! The easterweek has been a tradition since I was 8 years of age:) This year the easter was really late, so there wasn’t too much snow for cross country or snowkiting. But all the way up on the Valdresflya, there was about 1-2 meters of snow left and luckily for me 4 out of 6 days with wind! Here are some pictures, thanks to my sister and Mariann for having some patience with both me and the wind this day.

Aloha and see you on the water

Anne

Starting the season with two new sponsors!!

2011-04-12T14:58:00.001-04:00

I’m so happy to announce that, for the upcoming season, I’ll be supported by:

Cool Shoe Corporation
&
Schwerelosigkite

I’m looking forward to the cooperation and I’m really proud of being a part of such innovative brands!

Cool shoe is a creative brand which appeals to surfers as well as beach fans. With their innovative use of colors, I’ll be an eye-catcher wherever I go, and next to being cool and colorful, the shoes and flip flops are really comfortable - in this way, simply a must have! I’m proud to be a rider of the cool shoe team and look forward to rock the world with new shoes.

Schwerelosigkite is an upcoming and innovative brand in Germany, which makes amazing clothes and accessories with a touch of surf style for girls and boys, for kiters as well as for “normal” people. After a long kite session, I just love putting on my Schwerelosigkite beanie and slip into the warm fleece pullover. Peter and Andi, thanks for giving me the possibility to represent your clothes and be a part of your team!Ohh, and here are some of my favourite shoots from Hurghada, from the photoshoot for Schwerelosigkite:

Photos by: Mirko Bennetz
THANK YOU!!!:)

See you on the water,

aloha
Anne

1 week Egypt, Hurghada!

2011-04-02T19:50:00.000-04:00

Colona Watersports – thanks for an amazing week!

Reportage by Anne Valvatne,
Teamrider: Naish, Two.AG, Pro Limit, Schwerelosigkite, Cool Shoes, Gibbon Slacklines
Hurghada: 19^th – 27^th of March, 2011
Photos: Mirko Bennetz

As the revolution in Egypt made the hotel and flight prices quite affordable, I spontaneously decided to go for a week to Egypt to train for the upcoming season. Even though I haven’t been a fan of Hurghada (until now), the price of 350 Euros for 5* hotel including breakfast and dinner as well as the tour/retour flight Hamburg/Hurghada convinced me.

I hadn’t heard or read any good about kiting in Hurghada, so I was somewhat suspicious and the expectations were set to a minimum – though the wind forecast was looking superb.

The Colona Watersports Centre is situated directly in front of the Magawish Swiss Inn Hotel. The beach is really one of the best beaches in this area of Egypt; it’s clean, looks nice, soft sand, no stones or things to hurt your feet on.

It’s a perfect and relaxed spot as the areas for beginners/instruction and advanced riders are, to a certain extent, separated. North of the centre there are great training conditions for beginners; a huge area with knee until chest deep flat water and side shore wind. Outside, 300 m upwind of the centre, you’ll find the sandbank. This is where the advanced kiters can tumble around, massive space and crystal clear water. It’s perfect for a photo shoot or filming and great for training new moves, as the wind is more constant than in front of the centre. There are some coral reefs, but they are easy to spot and avoid!

Absolutely unique about this centre is the amazing watersport team. I’ve never experienced that every single one of the team makes such an effort to create a good atmosphere, not only interacting with the guests but also giving tips and compliments on nice action on the water.

The beach boys are always awake and on the go, ready to launch and land your kite, help you with line trouble or rescue you. Always with a smile on their faces!

Instruction is given in every language and the groups do not exceed the size of 4 persons. The centre itself contains every facility a kiter needs; safe storage, possibilities for washing/drying kites, drying room for wet stuff, compressor for lazy people;), wifi, toilets and even a hot shower. The restaurant serves nice and variable food to affordable prices! And the most important, for the partner, there are tons of wind protected sun beds free of charge next to the centre.

Thanks to you guys for a perfect week,
I’ll be back!!:)

Go to: Colona Watersports

Season can start!!

2011-03-08T05:10:00.000-04:00

After almost 3 months without kiting, the temperatures here in Germany finally reached kiteable level; 3 degrees air temp., approx. 20-25 knots north west wind and a freezing cold North Sea – but fine sunny. Saturday morning I jumped in the train from Bremen to Hamburg, with all my kite gear, and then by car from Hamburg to St. Peter Ording.

Ok, I do admit, I was very suspicious going kiting in these temperatures, but seriously, it was SOO worth it!! I had my fun for 3 hours on the water, not even close at getting cold, which might have to do with my layer of 10 mm neoprene, 5mm Neoprene underneath and 5 mm dry neoprene over the first neoprene suit… And, YES, it’s still possible to move, and do tricks, but I got exhausted pretty fast!

Great day, great people – to be repeated!!

Thanks to MAREN for lending me her dry neoprene suit!
Thanks to GUNNAR for taking pics!
And thanks to MIRKO for convincing me to go kiting, and pushing me into the water!

Aloha,

Anne

Updates..

2011-03-03T11:13:00.003-04:00

Well, I went to the snowkite worldcup in Reschensee.. Didn't go to well, there was no snow and almost no wind, and I dropped my 14m2 kite and didn't manage to relaunch it.. (yeah, missed out on that lesson during my beginnercourse). Anyway, it was a great event, had a lot of fun and met a lot of new people :o)

Oh,HOOHO - here you can have a look at a nice Video from my trip to Reschensee:
Gleiten.Tv - Anne auf Reisen
Thanks to PBPProduktion for producing and Mirko Bennetz for filming/pictures!!

Season is coming closer, so Im trying to workout and somehow get fit, this is some of my more fun alternatives to kite:

(Weser Kurier, Bremen, 3rd March 2011)

With these kind of activities, it's just gonna have to be a success?!:)

In the upcomming season, I'm very happy to inform that, for GLEITEN.TV I'll be the person in charge testing all female equipment on the kitesurf market!! I really look forward to this task, which I think will be exciting as well as challenging.
In facebook you can see a short movie on the topic;)
click here

Last but not least, next week I'll update you on my sponsors!

See you all on the water, maybe saturday??

Alhoa,
ANNE

On the road again - EGYPT

2010-12-14T13:38:00.001-03:00

What a nice ending on the season…

It’s been more than 2 months since last time I was on the water, horrible, but true!! So I made my decision to leave snowy Germany and head it for Egypt for 1 week training (under the motto…broke, but you only live once...). On the 2nd of December, Me and Stefan met Heike at the Breakers Hotel in Soma Bay, ready for good times and lots of wind.

The first two days were more or less windless, though I was on the water, doing unwillingly a couple of downwinders, maybe one jump and then walking back on the beach for ages – being big amusement for the locals and workers on the 7Bft Kitevillage Centre in Soma bay… The rest of the day we spent on the slackline.

Finally, the 3rd day, the wind came back and stayed for the rest of the week. Some would call it a holiday – I wouldn’t. It hurts to be a kiter, getting up every morning at 7, kiting all day long. Pain, pain, pain! But oh my God, it’s the best pain ever!!

We didn’t see any sharks, just heard about them (numerous nervous sms’ from back home, telling us to take care) . I don’t think kiters are on the top of their menu, though.

It was a perfect week, with hard training, a great hotel, kitecentre and staff – and lots of good people.
Finished up a diashow with THE SONG NR 1 from our holiday, being the lasts ones leaving the kitecentre with the shuttle bus every night, persuading the driver to play it... – thanks to Stefan for great photos, just a shame that picasa messes them up.

Winner of SEAT Kitesurf Trophy 2010, ladies freestyle

2010-08-26T14:51:00.007-04:00

Since I’m on the kiting road for 14 days already, my blog updates are a bit late… Anyway here's a short sum up;

The weekend 13th – 15th August was the last competition of the Seat Kitesurf Trophy 2010, and my chances to become the number 1 for ladies freestyle were really good (winning the two first competitions). Unfortunately there was NOOO wind the whole weekend, which was very disappointing and frustrating. Though, in this way I won the whole Trophy, and my friend and teamrider from TWO.ag Heike Wycisk got the title German Champion and a Seat for half a year. Congratulations Heike:)!!

What to do when there's no wind?? Slackline of course!!:)

Directly after the price giving on Sunday, me, Stefan and Stefans parents went to Rügen and Rosengarten, a 3 hours drive away, as the forecast promised around 20 knots from north-east. Arriving at 19.30 in the evening we had about 1 ½ hour of perfect riding before the darkness came, and even 1 hour in pure darkness:) Great!! Stefan took some nice shots with his new Blitz:

Last weekend I joined the KB4Girls camp as a coach, hoping for wind, motivated girls and good time! And we had all of it. 50 girls highly motivated to learn new tricks and moves. We got some wind on Saturday and even more on Sunday and a great caipirinha party on Saturday evening. Thank you to Kristin and all the girls for a new experience and great weekend!!

Right now I’m on the camping in Großenbrude just beyond Fehmarn, washing 10 kg really dirty clothes, showering and just enjoying the civilized life on a 4 star camping place;)

Oh, by the way, on Monday we actually saw and filmed a tornado in Born… That was scary!! I’ll upload the movie as soon as I can.. And, for all of you kiters out there:
Get out of the water in good time before the black wall of clouds hits shore!!!

See you on the water,
aloha

GIBBON slacklines in Norway

2010-08-10T12:09:00.007-04:00

I brought my new GIBBON slackline to Norway, and Stefan made some nice shots. Using the slackline is perfect training for me as a kiter, strengthening every part of my body, improving my balance and concentration – and most important, it’s a lot of fun.

Norway: Family, fishing and slacklining (and one day kiting)

2010-08-10T11:17:00.013-04:00

On the 21^st of July we took the ferry from Hirtshals in Danmark to Kristiansand in Norway. The Fjordline (fjordline.no) has very cheap tickets, and uses less than 3 hours to get to Norway! On the way from Kristiansand to Sogndalsstrand (my dads’ birthplace), you’ll discover the most amazing nature along crazy roads.

Sogndalsstrand itself, 100km south of Stavanger, is a historic town preserved since the days of sail. It’s a beautiful and quite little place, which I’ve loved coming to ever since my childhood.

Ehm – but it’s not really much to do there, except fishing and hiking.

Though, already 40 minutes away, the beaches of Jæren are waiting for you, and a number of possibilities for kiting or surfing. We had one perfect day kiting and one day great surfing.

Stefan testing the Victory from TWO.ag

After one week of Sogndalsstrand, we drove to Oslo and continued up to Trondheim to my parents place and our cabin. I’ve had some perfect relaxing days back home with my family, together with Stefan, fishing, barbequing, celebrating birthdays and just having a great time.

That’s it for now, and tomorrow I’ll be heading to the coast for the last competition in the German championships. I’m really excited, hoping to do good again, though I haven’t been kiting a lot since the last competition. I know that a lot of my friends are coming to Fehmarn, which makes me sooo happy and certain that we’ll have a super weekend together, no matter how the result will be.

Pictures from Greece

2010-07-29T17:05:00.037-04:00

On the ferry from Italy to Greece, bored

First stop, Paros - waiting for the wind!

Finally reaching Rhodes, wind, flat water, everything's ok, we've calmed down

Next and last stop, Kos - Marmari beach and the best boss of Marmari Windsurfing - Beat (If it's not blowing anywhere else on Kos, Marmari always has wind!)

Kos - Malaka beach, 6-7 Bft., nice waves and flat water in between, finally using my 6 m kite.
(This spot is on the waz to kefalos, take to the right after the gas station just before you go down to Kefalos.)

Kos - Mastichari beach, last day, prox. 12-13 knots

Roadtrip Greece

2010-07-13T17:12:00.000-04:00

After the last weekend in Saal and a quick check up at my doctor Schulz, we decided in the very last moment to go to Greece. The plan exactly where to go, was still under construction as we arrived at the harbor in Ancona in Italy, 1 hour before the ferry was leaving. The ferry took about 22 hours, and Superfast Ferries offers Camping on Board, so this saves money and is a perfect solution! It’s space for about 20 campers’ cars, and there are clean showers and toilets only for the campers. I really recommend trying this!!

Arriving on the other side, in Patras, Greece, we had to speed up a bit to reach the ferry to the next island – Paros. ½ hour before departure, there we were – ready for the Greek island adventure!

Unfortunately Paros didn’t turn out to be as good as we hoped for. The kitespot Pounda only works with clean north wind, and as soon as it turns to north-west the neighbor island Anti-Paros blocks the wind. South-west or south wind was as well gusty and on/off all day long. We wanted to leave after 2 days, but found out that the ferry only leaves every second day. The next day there was a general strike, so as well no ferry leaving. GREAT! Finally we managed to get a ferry and go ahead to Rhodes:)

Rhodes and Prasonisi is one of the most amazing places I’ve ever kited. The wind is blowing every day, you can sleep in your van, use the shower and toilet of the supermarket (make friends with the owner first!) and save a lot of money this way. We were out every day for 5-6 hours, with kite sizes 6-10. Of course a place like Prasonisi is crowded, but just get up early and you’ll have the flat water side for yourself from 8-11 about, as well as in the evening from 17 until sundown. During the very crowded period there are still lots of space on the wave side with on shore winds. I strongly recommend Rhodes, as one of the most wind safe spots in Greece! The wind is blowing almost every day since beginning of June, meanwhile the rest of the “famous” windy islands (Paros, Naxos, Kos) still haven’t had the Meltemi (strong north wind blowing constantly from July-August) visiting. Some even mean that the Meltemi has got lost this summer – well it’s not lost, just stuck on Rhodes I would say;)

From Rhodes off we went to Kos, to visit friends and meat my sister. We’ve had wind almost every day, but mostly less than 15 knots. I’ve had to rent big 12-16 m2 kites, and thanks to the friendly team at Water-Proof surf center in Mastichari I could kite almost every day. If you ever plan on taking lessons, learning kiting or just need to rent equipment, go to this surf center! Professional teaching and equipment as well as a nice atmosphere make it worth a visit. 2 days in a row, Mr.Meltemi decided to visit, and we had perfect conditions with waves and flat water between at Malaka beach (secret spot, take off to the right just before you go down to Kefalos.). I could ride my 6m2 the whole day, and next day the 8m2. Next to kiting I've been practising slack-lining, so much fun!! Can't wait to come back and pick up my slack-lines from Gibbon, my new sponsor!!! It's perfect to train, when there's no wind:)

Tomorrow we leave with the Blue Star Ferry back to Athens, and will be in Germany the 16th of July. On the 21st we get back on the road heading for Norway!

Pictures will come later

Norway – Germany – Denmark – Germany - Greece

2010-06-15T08:28:00.024-04:00

After the last competition I went back to Norway to rest my hand and my ankle. It was super nice to be back home, to see my family and friends again, go to the cabin and to Trondheim to party and help my sister to clean up her new apartment (hehe). Even though the temperature barely was above 10 degrees, with a lot of rain, hail and even snow, it is always nice to be home. There are many funny strange things which I could mention about Norway, like;

Arriving at the airport in Oslo, longing for the Norwegian Peppes pizza, buying two pieces and a small coke, paying 20 Euros!!!

Going to the supermarket, buying a paper, a packet of chips, a coke and maybe milk, cheese and bread for 20 Euros!!!

That there’s a new law in Trondheim, so all the bars and discos closes already at 2 in the night!!

That somehow wherever I went (bars/discos), they asked me for my ID… Feeling quite flattered though, but hello?

After 10 days back home with my family and friends, I went back to Germany, for one night, then headed to Denmark and Ringköbing Fjord for my best friends’ 30th anniversary party, lasting from Thursday till Sunday.

Arriving in Denmark, Jaria finding a new way brushing teeth, me the first evening in Hvide Sande

Unfortunately we only got one day with wind, but enough for 3-4 hours nice flat water training. The 18 days of rest had done wonders for my hand, but somehow my ankle didn’t quite enjoy the kiting, and the next days I couldn’t walk at all. Though tried wakeboarding for the first time, figured out that riding with bindings couldn’t do my ankle any harm.

Wakeboarding is so much fun, but it takes some guts to even think about trying the raley… Stefan has tried it before, like you can see.

The weekend was perfect, with some of my best friends meeting in Denmark, ready for lots of fun and party.

Always in action, trampoline, slackline from Gibbon, water-canooing-ball-games, wakeboarding: Tom and Anreas giving it all, crashing bad:)

Driving back to Germany on Monday and visiting the doctor on Tuesday. This is the first time I have ever met a doctor, who actually knew what’s wrong with me!! It was just so fantastic, I’ve never met such a competent doctor before, telling me that some of the ligaments were slightly ripped and the capsule damaged, giving me a couple of injections in the ankle and some kind of electro treatment. Thanks to doctor Schulz, I’m your fan forever (hm..and probably your patient forever as well!) This weekend I could train again, not yet 100 %, but still pretty good. Bought a couple of wake bindings in order to prevent from more damage, and Uwe from TWO.AG lend me his new wakeboard for kiters. Which is just awesome!! You need a lot of power to be able to pop out, but when you have this power, you fly for ages and due to the shape of the board you’ll hardly feel the landing. I’m stoked! We had a lot of wind this weekend, and I could fly the brand new 6 m2 Torch from Naish, completely overpowered.

Tomorrow we will get in the T5 bus and drive to Greece for 3 weeks. The plans are:
Naxos, Paros, Kos and Rhodos. Hoping for good wind, no car breakdowns, no injuries, and catching up with old friends on Kos!

See you on the road or on the water

5th in Podersdorf, Austria - 1st in Büsum, Germany!!! ARRIIIBAAA

2010-05-18T11:26:00.010-04:00

It’s been three hectic weeks for me, after returning from Brazil. I took part in the first tourstop of the European Kitetour in Podersdorf, and ended up at 5th place. I’m not very happy with this result, but what can I expect when I do a crappy heat? We only had wind the first day, gusty and off-shore, and I was out with the 8m2 and should have used the 6m2. Unfortunately we had no more days with wind and no chance in the double elimination to work myself up to the top! Anyways, the event in Podersdorf was great, we had summer and 25 degrees, I met a lot of nice people and had a lot of fun!

Back from Podersdorf Monday evening, washing clothes and preparing to go to Büsum on Wednesday morning. The contest started on Thursday, but I was hoping for some wind on Wednesday in order to be able to kite and get used to cold water, icy temperature and neoprene. Well the wind didn’t show up, only the rain. So, again I had to start my heat on Thursday without really being prepared or ready at all. But it all went perfect, and I won all my heats, and even the final against the 3 or 4 times German champion, Sabrina Lutz. The wind wasn’t really enough for me and my 12m2, but somehow I managed to land the raleys to blind, do a couple of s-bends, back to switch – but it was definitely not enough wind to get the s-bend to blind, or double s-bend or anything with power. In return, the wind picked up over the next days and achieved an average of 26 knots (gusts 30 and more) on the day with double elimination. Heike Wycisk worked her way through the heats up to the top, but unfortunately she didn’t make it to the final against me, but still achieved an amazing 3rd place!! Congratulations Heike:)!! Again, it was me against Sabrina in the final, I chose the 7m2 and Sabrina the 6m2. Somehow I managed to convince the judges with more power and height in my tricks than Sabrina, and with a mega-loop (though not landed!) I won the 1st place in freestyle for the ladies in Büsum!!! Great spot and great event, thanks to all the good people organizing and making it possible for us kiters to take part in such an event!

Now I’ll have a 2-4 weeks kite break, because of my hand/wrist. It’s swollen and I can’t use it, and I’ve pushed it to hard since the first competition day in Dahme. I’ll use the time to fly back home to Norway (if the volcano lets me!!) and see my family and friends again! I can’t wait, since it’s almost 1 year ago!!!

Saturday evening and party gathering at the toilet.. It was too cold to sit outside!

Aloha and poowpow to the elbow

Sunday and good wind, here Mario Rodwald
with e high kite loop

1st place Dahme, Germany!!

2010-05-03T13:15:00.015-04:00

I’m so happy, I won the first place for the women in the freestyle competition!! It was sooo cold, soooo bad wind, but it doesn’t matter – in the end :) !! I’m quite surprised, I recon it will be much harder next time to do just as good...

Anne, Heike and Susanne

We arrived in Dahme early Thursday morning, hoping for wind and possibilities to train in cold water before the competition. The wind didn’t show up, so we spent the day sleeping on the beach. I have been kiting with shoes two times in my life, and I hate it. I keep losing the board, and have no feeling. „Lucky“ for me, I couldn’t find neither my neoprene gloves nor shoes before we left, so we had to pass by the windsurf shop in Hamburg to buy all new. The shoes from NPX turned out to be better than my old, good!!, as the water temperature of 8 degrees doesn’t allow me to ride without shoes.

As the first competition day started, I was very nervous and just went running around in circles. If it hadn’t been for my boyfriend, there would have been no 1st place for me;) And also Heike and Toby, riders for Two.ag, helped me out a lot with tips and support! The first heat was against the young rider Maike Erichsen, and luckily for me it was cancelled as the wind was too unconstant, – I was already out of the competition area after one minute, and didn’t manage to return with the gusty offshore wind. After the new start, I went out and tried to do my best, which was enough to win the heat.

Second heat was against the German champion of last year, Sünne Elbel. Somehow I managed to cross the lines BEFORE even starting the kite, tried to fix it, but the starting signal had already gone off, so I had to grab the 10 m². 3 minutes too late in my heat, 4 minutes to go, I had to make the best trick of the heat to have a chance to win. A raley to blind made my day, power to the elbow, and off to the semi-final!!

The Semi-final was against Susanne Brill, and surprisingly I won this as well. At around 16hours it was time for the final against Heike Wycisk. At this point I was so cold, running around in my wetsuit all day, that the result didn’t really matter. Besides this, Heike has become a really good friend, helping me a lot and giving advices during the whole day, so it wouldn’t have meant a difference to lose for her:) I congratulate Heike with her 2nd place!!

Jan from the rescue team had to get me 3 times!!

My friends from Norway and Denmark even came down to support me, and to join the party Saturday evening.. I think I can say that they got the 1st place on the party, and 1st place for best supporting crew! Thank you guys!!

Great weekend, no it’s off to Podersdorf in Austria. Some of the best riders in Europe will take part, so I’m not expecting too much! I hope for better wind conditions, and actually think it can’t get worse than the conditions in Dahme..

First competition!!!!

2010-04-28T08:02:00.003-04:00

We made it back to Europe, without any problems!!! No volcano can stop meJ We will head up to the coast today, hoping for some wind tomorrow so I can practice for race. I’ve never use a raceboard before, and I have noooo clue how to do tacks and jibes;) Let`s see how this goes! I’m sooo nervous before the competition this weekend, but I have good friends coming all the way from Copenhagen to support me. GREAT, thank you!! I’ll have fun, do my best and kite on…

9 days left..

2010-04-15T11:17:00.000-04:00

We arrived in Fortaleza the 25th of July last summer, and it doesn't seem for real that we actually are leaving in 9 days!! I’m really looking forward to come back home, to see my family and friends, to eat all the things I love (the Brazilians are NOT able to produce good chocolate!! And I’m not even going to mention the chips!!), have decent breakfast (kind of fed up with toast bread!) and so on. But for sure, when I’m back, it’s not going to take long before I miss Brazil!

(The view from our apartment)

The last couple of weeks have been filled with surfing, surfing and surfing (and some working..), and as I started to really enjoy it, I got sick. If it was the fish I ate at the beach restaurant, all the saltwater I’ve been drinking, or the old chocolate from Germany (Rittersport mmmm!!) which has been melted and frozen over and over again, it’s not sure. But it put me out of action for a couple of days!! I was finally ready to go surfing again yesterday, had quite a good time in rough conditions with high tide coming in, strong current and 10 000 Brazilians being in my way (hehe, or the

other way around – as I have to use 10 minutes to paddle through the shore-brake, constantly running the risk of being hit by a Brazilian actually surfing the waves).

The wind hasn’t decided to show up again, but it really doesn’t matter. It’s good to have a couple of weeks where I can rest my body and gather new motivation and strength for the coming up season/summer. I’m really looking forward to this summer, with so many great plans. 3 weekends of competing in May, then going to celebrate my best friends’ 30^th birthday in the beginning of June (this is BIG for me, because I’m always missing out on the big days – being somewhere else!!), then hitting the road for Greece for one month (road trip in Greece, that’s new, isn’t it?) – Naxos, Paros, Rhodos and Kos, and finally going to Norway to see my family in July/August!!:) The university doesn’t start before the beginning of October (which is why I love Hochschule Bremen, and would recommend it to every kiter;)), so we have a lot of time to kite around before that.

Giddeliooo and power to the elbow

2010-03-31T19:12:00.004-04:00

My blog has a brand new design, thanks to Longodesign! Im so thankful, and find it great :)

Here is a video I've been working on for a while, with a lot of help from Stefan of course;) The music makes me happy!! have fun:

Thunder and lightning in Fortaleza

2010-03-25T14:07:00.003-04:00

What a night! Couldn't sleep, the thunder was soooo loud, and continued the whole night until this morning around 10.30. Now it's just grey outside, not raining, no wind, the ocean isn't moving at all. I'm allready bored! At least we got a nice session yesterday on the Tabuba lagoon, catching one hour of wind. I'm still working on the 313, since ages (!!!). I can get around, land on my board, grab the safetyleash and continue - but the bar is just unreachable in the air. The day when I manage to get the bar in the air (that day must and will come!), I'll be soooo happy, because then I can continue with the next trick.

Yeah yeah, lot's of blah blah. A boring day at home is nothing for me!

First blog..

2010-03-21T15:45:00.002-04:00

Here we go, let's see how this works..

So, still "stuck" in Brazil after half a year of studying in Fortaleza. The wind and the waves have been amazing... Until now, as the rainy season slowly gets the grip! But, I've bought a surfboard, which I am now forced to use. Why forced, you might think? Well, without my kite, I feel a bit lost in the waves. It's like, I really want to jump over them, and not dive under them. That’s of course when I paddle out. And then there’s the neck pain, which is said to go away after a couple of days. Hope so!! Can barely move my head.

Yesterday was my first day out on the Praia do Futuro. Or actually the second day. I tried once in September, and my only memory is the monster wave which whipped me out, the very good Brazilian surfing kid who had a good laugh of me, and the kids on the beach who I actually thought were going to kill me, steel my clothes and my brand new board. So, yesterday I was hoping of a better experience. In the beginning the waves where freaking me out, but somehow I managed to paddle behind the 100m long shore break and get a rest. Afterwards I caught three nice waves, got up on my board and the day was perfect!

Today I tried again. Wasn't that scary! So that's progression. I was able to catch 4 waves this time, but not really getting up. Somehow my arms were lacking the power. As I wanted to go back to shore, quite dead, the police was on the beach catching the bad guys. This meant for me, turn around and face the waves again, as this seemed like the better option. Another exiting day is soon over, and I had a lot of fun!