After turning up for Mondial Du Vent last year we were totally amazed by how big and seriously organised this event was! The only downside last year was the fact we only went for 3 nights and now the PKRA had been brought to the event we had planned to make the most of the event seeing as it was on for a good week and a bit.
The plan was to turn up at Mark Berry's Friday afternoon and head down to Mondial Du Vent until Saturday next week. We were lucky enough to persuade MBS to lend us the MBS Land Rover (Defender)! This allowed us to travel onto the beach each day, hold all of our gear plus 4 people comfortably plus make a good object to jump which unfortunately only happened once!
We left on Friday around 7pm for a Ferry from Dover at 10. I highly recommend flying unless you have loads of gear, because it takes well over 10 hours once you're in France. It took us till 4pm until we arrived including many breaks. Even though I had been up since 6am the day before and had no sleep we all knew the first thing we were going to do was go for a session on La Franqui beach.
The conditions were crazy! 30/40 knots offshore and seriously gusty but it was the perfect opportunity to try out my new 8.5 Ion 3. It took time to get used to at the start but the surface had improved loads on last year! Much more grip, which meant we were able to hold a lot more power down! The only problem was it was like sand paper when you fell over as I found out big style on the first day! I ripped a huge chunk of skin off my thigh that affected me for the whole week! No one was really tricking well because the wind was so dodgy but we still got some good height and some good loops. We finished the day by having a meal with Pete from Mellow then going to the Flysurf party.
Day 3 at the event was perfect! We were met by clean 20mph winds onshore! It was also very sunny and the temperature was good! We put on a good display and this was the busiest day of the land side of the event! I was landing all sorts of tricks- kiteloops, handlepasses and board offs. Later on in the day I jumped over the MBS Land Rover (Defender) but the wind was dropping so I decided to give it a miss for the rest of the day! We finished the day by teaching Kirsty Jones to landboard and then hit a small kicker.
The next day was similar to the first- We knew the double elimination of the PKRA were about to run so we got up early and headed down to the competition. The conditions looked difficult but when the wind was peaking the top riders were really going off! The most exciting part of the competition was the semi final- Aaron Hadlow (UK and Flexifoil) Vs. Peter Tyushkevich (Russia and Cabrinha). Even though Peter was riding well in his heats before, he crashed early on which meant it gave Aaron the opportunity to become a serious crowd pleaser. He was coming up to the crowd and megalooping over the top! Everything big and powered! What a show! It's a shame he crashed in the final allowing Kevin to stack up loads of points and win the event! In the afternoon, we headed to the landboard spot where we hooked up with Flexifoil snowkiter Matt Blanchard. It was still really windy so we headed out on 8.5 Ion 3s. Mark and myself were going huge! Whilst Matt was speeding up and down doing massive carving turns.
Day 5- The best day of the event! Crazy offshore winds but much cleaner than previous days! I went out on my lovely 8.5 Ion 3! Really dialled into the kite this time! The cool thing about this day was we got loads of the top PKRA riders out on boards and buggys! First it was the girls- Kirsty Jones, Ania Grzelinska, Jo Wilson and Jemma Grobbelaar. Seeing them all ride was pretty cool! Jo and Kirsty started getting real competitive seeing who could land the best trick! Pretty crazy seeing it was the first day! In the afternoon Aaron Hadlow, Lewis Crathern and Ruben Lenten popped down for a quick session too! Not often you see these guys on the land. Just before we left Ali Barrett and Sam Light from the UK BKSA tour popped down aswell. At night we went to the Stance party, which was seriously fun.
On day 6, we had a chill out day; I went for a session on my 12.5 ion 3! Joined by Clodin Podvin and Olivier Garet. The wind was pretty light but it was still pretty good! In the afternoon, Seb Garet (3x KWPT World champion) came down for a session too. At night we went for a chilled party with some Flexifoil riders in the villa we stayed in last year.
The next day was horrible! It was raining hard and the beach had been flooded, which pretty much ruins the beach for a good few days! Tom Beaton and Mark Berry went kitesurf! The conditions were wild! One minute it was onshore, the next offshore! We decided to hit a lagoon after that which looked much better but very shallow! It was pretty shocking weather so decided that we would leave the next day so we went back early, packed and prepared ourselves for the long drive home.
Day 8 was spent driving, a lot! We dropped Tom off at the airport and headed to Belgium where we would be staying for another day before heading off home. We arrived late around 9 and stayed at Pete's house (European Flexifoil distributor).
The last day, I stayed at Mellow (European Flexifoil distributor) whilst we waited for our ferry. We got the ferry at 4pm and I arrived back home at 9pm.
Massive thanks to Ian at MBS, Pete at Mellow and everyone else who helped out on the way.
