first contact:
my first contact with kitesurfing happened in a magazine-store in
summer 2000.
i saw a few pictures of flash austin doing incredible stuff and i
instantly knew
that this very moment was the point where my life as non-kitesurfer
ended.
getting started:
to get out of the shop and into the water wasn't as easy as i thought.
i ordered a kite and board, but windtools took ages to send the kite
and
the shaper couldn't get any blanks and hardware to build my board.
every time i went out to the coast for a weekend, there was no wind or
it was blowing
above 6 bft.
this summer was like hell even though it involved a lot of wakeboarding
and windsurfing.
but the first time i got onto the board for my first 20 meters, i
instantly knew that
kitesurfing was worth it.
this day ended with a big grin on my face and i wasn't able to talk
about anything else
than kitesurfing.
material used:
i started with a windtools mosquito (4 lines and handles).
but the lack of depower and the bad relauchability got me to
buy a naish ar 3.5. when this kite wasn't big enough anymore
in days with less than 5bft, i bought a flysurfer speedair.
after the season in germany endet, i switched to peter lynn
arc kites which i used during the winter.
with a drysuit, 2 pairs of neoprene gloves and a hoplessly
addicted mind, kitesurfing is still possible when the
temperatures reach less than 0°C.
in early 2002 i stopped the foil-buisness and got me
a set of tubekites.
my first board was a 6'3" pilot customs directional.
i've been riding directionals for a long time before i switched
to wakeboards. after a brief period of riding twintip-boards
i switched to mutants.
right now, i ride whatever i feel like - every style has too much
to offer to be totally ignored.
kite instructor:
in summer 2002 i gave a few lessons supervised by a friend and
instantly liked it. later that summer i became VDWS certified
instructor
and helped out in a few places, giving lessons whenever there was a
shortage of instructors. winter came to germany and it got too cold
for lessons, so i left the country to
work for colona watersports
in
hurghada, egypt where i was
teaching in german and english, following the IKO standards
instead of VDWS.
back in germany (summer 03),
i've been instructing for windgeister in
germany for the whole season.
winter '03 / '04 came and went without me leaving country again,
i needed some time for technical projects.
