Girls Clinic Maui ’09 announcement

Action Sports Maui presents: Womens Kite Clinic with Kristin Boese @ Kite beach Maui, Hawaii

The clinic is open to all women kiters that are upwind riders and have their own gear. The clinic is October 30th, Friday from 11am till 5:00pm (meet at 11:00 to start rigging…).

We cover all skill levels of riding from cruising, basic jumping, boosting, wake-style, spins, and handle pass. Numbers are limited so reserve your space!!
This is a FREE clinic.

Please call to register 808-871-5857 or send an e-mail to suziej

Best dealer meeting & girls clinic Ireland ’09

Somehow I had never managed to go to one of the Best dealer meetings (except of the one day I joined the meeting in Tarifa 2 years ago) because of competitions and other events that I had to attend. This year however I even canceled the CMIO in Rarotonga to make it for the European Best meeting in Ireland and had been very excited to go to both, the meeting and Ireland (for the first time!)

And it really was a special meeting I have to say as we not only got to test the new 2010 gear but also got to really explore the west coast of Ireland during the 4 short days of the event.

With a big coach, countless rental cars and 3 big vans full of equipment we drove to a new spot every day, exploring coastline and countryside in a very special way.

The first day started of with a beautiful 1.5 hour drive to Keel. Even though we did not find any wind in the wide bay of Keel we did find lots of space for a beach BBQ and to present all the new 2010 gear. In the afternoon we even went on a Beach Safari which was a amazing Kayak tour along crazy rock formations and through caves and I was totally blown away by Irelands magic!

For the next day we had organized a Girls Pro Clinic for all the female kiters of Ireland and thanks to the guys from Pure Magic Kitesurfing the clinic was not only well attended with 20 girls but we also had a bus, free lunch, dinner, T-shirt and party for all the girls taking part in the clinic. With Belmullet we had chosen a spot where all the Best guys could kite on the ocean side and in the waves and where we girls could kite on the other side on a flat water (lake). The day turned out great and after a demo in the beginning where I showed the girls all the moves they wanted to work on during the day we then went kiting all together and everybody improved a lot and we definitely celebrated that at the party in the evening! J

This was not the only party of course and even though I don’t usually party that much I have to say the Irish and all the Best guys are real party people and the Guiness and “Irish Flag shots” were adding to it. This made the event even more crazy and fun I have to say..

But back to work of course as the next day I had a super fun day of shooting fun lifestyle and some action shots (in light winds) with Best photographer Gavin! We even had Jeff and Iveta help us out with the lighting and finding the right locations and managed to just get everything we needed before the meeting was over…

After a little closing party I took a taxi to the airport at 2 am in the morning to get on my way to Indonesia… Long trip, but very much looking forward to meet up with the Best Odyssey and to ride some great waves!

Summer’s End Girls Clinic Hood River ’09

To get 30 women together in one spot is a feat in itself. But to have 30 women kiteboarders who all rip on the water, learning from each other, and sharing the stoke of kiteboarding is an incredible event! That’s exactly what the Summer’s End Women’s Kite Clinic was all about – sharing tips and stoke.

Supported by Dakine, Liquid Force Kiteboarding, Best Kiteboarding, and Elemental Herbs, 8-Time World Champion Kristin Boese and Tonia Farman hosted the event from Well’s Island in the Columbia Gorge. Once everyone was shuttled to the island, the gray clouds parted and the wind turned on. Tonia and Kristin kicked off the all-day event with demonstrations by Kristin while Tonia walked through the steps to perform the maneuvers that Kristin was executing. The gals asked questions as Kristin rode back and forth to demonstrate moves. Then it was time for everyone to get on the water!

28 girls launched their kites and headed upwind to ride in a wide open section of the river, with steady wind for attempting tricks. Tonia and Kristin, on their kites as well, stayed close by to give tips and instruction and demonstrate on the water. After a lunch break, the gals went back out for a group downwinder to the Hood River Event Site.

The evening festivities were hosted by Windance with free cocktails, beer, BBQ, Thai dinner, music, and a raffle sponsored by Slingshot and Mystic. Thanks to Dakine, Liquid Force, Best, South Bank Kitchen, and Windance for an incredible support!

words by: Tonia Farman,www.womenskiteboarding.com

Kiteopia clinic SF 2009

This Women’s advanced clinic in cooperation with Sandy Parker and Kiteopia was scheduled for Sherman Island, but as the forecast did not look to promising we had to show how spontaneous kiteboarders are…

So instead of meeting up on Sherman Island we send out a little shout to all the participating girls that we would meet up on 3rd Ave instead. Quite far away from the original spot I was quite happy that 13 of the originally 22 registered girls still showed up and was actually happy that we ended up with a smaller group, as I had never kited 3rd Avenue before and found the spot safer with less people.

Happy that we actually found wind in a kind of weird weather pattern, we did not really care that the wind was still kind of light and after a first little welcome meeting at the parking lot we all took our big kites to the upwind launch.

Everyone prepared their gear and to make it interesting for everyone and each level we went ahead with a little demonstration on the water. While we had asked the girls in advance which trick they wanted to work on it was now on me to demonstrate one move after the other and Sandys job to explain the different steps and points of the moves. It worked out well and everyone was super excited to now go out and try these moves too!

So everyone went kiting together for about 2 hours, with Sandy and I following the girls, giving pointers on the water until the wind finally dropped so much that we could not keep going anymore.

For me it was just great to meet all these girls kiters from the Bay Area and a lot of fun to see how motivated they got and how much they enjoyed each other! I really hope to be back next year for another clinic in cooperation with Kitopia and Sandy on SHERMAN ISLAND! 🙂

2 clinics in US announced

I am happy to announce the following two girls workshops for which I have been teaming up with 2 of the best female kiters in the US – Sandy Parker and Tonia Farman.

Kitopia Women’s Advanced Kite Clinic with special guest Kristin Boese

August 10th 2009, Sherman Island, Bay Area, California

Please open the poster to the left for more information. For registration and questions please contact: Sandy@kiteopia.bizor mail@kristinboese.com

coaching Germany 2009

With 8 of the Girls-Camp-Girls from the weekend before I went to the national competition in Warnemuende/Germany this past weekend. Goal was to coach them in their first ever competition and to help them with tips and tricks to become fierce competitors.

At the event site I explained the basic competition rules, tactics and preparation routine and intrudced the girls to the most importand people at the event. At times I felt set back in time about 8 years when I started competing myself and so I could relate very well to the nervouseness of the ladies and was able to keep them focused and calm them down a little.

Whit wind on all 3 days of the event the girls got enough time to practice their competiton riding and with 15 girls registered in total there were quite a few heats to ride. While I ran around to start and land kites and to position them for their heats I ended up getting quite nervous myself, cheering for my girls on the beach.

The conditions were quite difficult as for the freestyle the wind was offshore and really gusty and for the course racing the wind was so light that some competitors just did not have equipment big enough. But the ladies made me proud!

While Helen Fischer ended up in 5th place in the freestyle event, Stephanie Voss ende up in 3rd place in course racing and we all cheered for her at the price giving!

I was very happy to see that after 2 weekends together the girls had build a tight group and the perfect team for the competitions to come. While they will all go to the next competition in Fehmarn together they also promissed to send me updates and to stay in contact.

Even more happy though I was about the surprise the girls had for me… When we all said good bye to each other they gave me a big red box with millions of white dots on it and when I unwrapped my gift I found the cutest rain boots ever – in lady bug design! I was so stoked about my lucky rain boots and our farewell was so sincere that I will not forget about these 2 weekends with the girls so soon again!

I will be wearing my lady bug rain boots at the world cup in St. Peter Ording next week and hope to get competition reports from the girls often! I keep my fingers crossed for you ladies!!!

Girls Camp Germany 2009

I just returned from my 7th annual girls camp in northern Germany where we had great conditions and an amazing turnout!

Originally limited to 25 entrants, I ended up expanding the camp into two groups, basic and advanced, to accommodate the unexpected and biggest turnout yet. 42 girls (even with 3 Swiss, one Austrian and one Daenish girl) joined me in this all girls event. Goal of the event was to kite and have fun together but also to motivate the girls to learn new tricks and to compete in the German national tour “Kitesurf Trophy”.

The first day of the event kicked off with strong wind and lots of rain and while we enjoyed a long training session on the water we were glad that the huge tent from the Silke Gordt Foundation kept us all warm and dry in the evening.

The following day brought sunny skies and perfect steady 9m weather. We kited all day and the girls had a blast. Our star photographer Daniel Marks captured some awesome action which also gave the girls an opportunity to practice lining up for the camera. In our second training session I coached the girls on some of the more advanced moves again while Ilona from Kiteboarding.eu coached on some of the more basic moves. Our color coded lycras, kindly donated by Dakine, made coaching a breeze for us and the girls and we had no problem keeping track of our groups.

The final day was sunny and windless and we used the time for a “judging training” with Kitesurf Trophy Judge Ruben, who came to explain the girls everything there is to know about competitions and to prepare them for next weekend when the ones who are motivated will go to Warnemuende/Germany with me for the kitesurf trophy event. There I will be supporting the girls and guiding them through their first kiteboarding competition ever! I am sure they are as excited about that as I am!

This years camp was the great success yet and I am happy we were able to motivate so many girls to push themselves further. Even happier I am that we are able to donate 700 Euros (most of the 30 Euos registration fee) to the Silke Gorldt Foundation and to support a good course we all believe in.

As this camp would not have been possible without our partners I would like to say thanks to:

Silke Gorldt Stiftung

Da Kine

Kiteboarding.eu

Surfcenter Wustrow

SEAT Kitesurf Trophy

Daniel Marks

Best Kiteboarding

Kite Jamboree Egypt 2009

The “Red Sea Zone” had invited me to come to El Gouna for their kite event called “Kite Jamboree” and as I really like El Gouna as a kite destination I did not think much and started planning my trip straight away. So I found myself sitting on the balcony of my room in the kiters hotel “Captains Inn” on may 11th , overlooking the stunning marina and anticipating the next days at the Kite Jamboree Event.

Even though due to the US national race championships I had missed the first 3 days of the event and some of the competitions, I showed up in time for the first Egyptian championships! The Egyptian boys (no girls kiting in Egypt yet) battled it out on the water and were obviously having so much fun doing that that I was reminded of the days when I started competing – no idea, but lots of fun! 😉 I was surprised by how smart some of them were riding though and was happy to congratulate Imad to the first place in the end. If these guys keep kiting as much they might actually be competing in the world tour one day!

The next day was the day of my free girls workshop and with 11 girls showing up we had a great group of girls come together. After a meet&greet on the beach where we all got to know each other and talked about moves and tricks, it was then time to go all kite together to show some girls power. On the water I was very surprised about the high level of riding as all the girls started jumping left and right of me! Standing in the shallow water the girls took turns riding in front of me and with the pointers I gave them they all started working on some new moves. It worked great and (as always when girls come together to kite) the motivation was super high and everybody went for it. A first time landed raley to blind was the move of the day but many chop hops, backrolls and grabs were just as great to watch for me and I really enjoyed to see everyone so happy!

However, the craziest thing for me was still to come… the free kids workshop the day after! 8 kids, age 5 to 9, had showed up in their yellow school uniforms and were super keen on flying the kite and getting to know everything about this funky looking sport that people come to their home town for. To keep them all in a bunch and snatch their attention it worked out great to hand out pizza and ask them about their families. As it turned out all their parents moved to El Gouna from all over the world because of the good working opportunities in this new build town. They all seemed to very much enjoy their new home and with such a perfect place to kite it was only about time that they get into the sport by flying a trainer kite. They all did a great job flying the kite and had even more fun doing it! In the end a few parents had to buy a trainer kite and I am sure when I come back next year the first young talents will already be ON the water!

While we still had wind the next day (which we used for video and photo shootings..) the wind then left us and we got a chance to discover the no wind alternatives. We went wakesurfing behind the Master Craft of Orange Concept and skimboarding in the skimboard competition. But the highlight of the week was still to come: the big closing party on Sunday evening! The great program, an awesome DJ, a huge fire show and a funny fashion show (in which I represented the Best clothes…) got everyone in party mood and so we danced in the sand and into the next day…

All in all Kite Jamboree was a super fun, well organized and intimate event this year and has some great potential for the future! I hope I can come back next year! Bye for now El Gouna and Red Sea Zone!

WACK! girls 09

I am very delighted to find that allover the world girls continue to form organizations and come together to share their passion for Kiteboarding. I spend my winters in Western Australia and was stoked when I heard about the WACK! group. WACK stands for Western Australian Chick Kiters and even though I think the long form is a bit funny, the short form definitely rocks!

Two girls from Perth, Nicolea and Joy, lead the group – organizing one meeting on the second Sunday of each summer-month. I got in contact with Nicolea about 2 months ago and together we came up with the idea for me to join one of their meetings. Said and done… and I joined their meeting on the second Sunday of March (which was just 2 days ago) at Swanbourne beach/Perth.

When I arrived at the spot there were already some girls there chilling under the WAKSA (Western Australian Kitesurf Association) umbrella, hiding away from the hot sun. A bit unlucky – even though Perth is one of the windier spots at this time of the year – this Sunday was beautiful but calm and the chance to actually kite together was about 0.

But this was not a problem for the WA chicks. As this was not their first meeting without wind, they were not too concerned about the situation and were all super relaxed. Even though the wind forecast was so bad 9 (of nearly 20 regulars) girls still showed up to get together and chat away and we all ended up just having a great time and a lot of fun together. I really have to say that the girls of WACK are some of the coolest I have ever met. The group is very international (next to Australian girls we also had French, Swedish, Canadian and German girls there) and very inviting, which makes joining easy and fun for anyone.

We ended up rigging up some kites and helping out the ones who just got into the sport, practicing how to set up their kites and later on went through some tricks and theory and the girls shot away with all the questions they had about competitions and professional kiteboarding. Missing the time to practice on the water (and me to actually see them ride and give some good advise) we then ended up planning an event together in January next year (of course on the second Sunday!) where we will all meet for a weekend of kiting in the River Mouth of the Blackwood River in Augusta. I am already looking forward to catch up with the girls again in one of the best freestyle spots in WA!

For all girls in Australia (or traveling to Australia soon) I just want to mention that the WACK! Group will continue to get together over the winter months but as the wind season comes to an end, events will more be in cinemas or backyards instead of kitebeaches.
You can get all dates, events and reports of WACK! on seabreeze.com.au. And really, if you end up in WA at some point, you should make sure to join one of the WACK! Meetings!

After a truly great day I did not only feel super happy, but also ended up driving through the most beautiful sunset… back towards the south and towards the voice studio… and what exactly I was doing there…? Well, stay tuned and read about that in one of my next posts!

CMIO Cook Islands 2008

The CMIO (Cindy Mosey Island Odyssey) took place in the cook islands this year. Does Rarotonga sound fancy? Well, it was one of the nices places I have ever been to and I really enjoyed the trip! We had lots of wind and a very successful event… but I am not alowed to say too much yet as the magazines want to be the first ones to publish story and pictures of this amazig “only girls” event… so watch out for the next mag in your country and our article!