Gabriele Steindl: Professional Kitesurfer & Freelance Writer - Action, Lifestyle & Travels

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Kiteival Mauritius 2007

The first edition of the Kiteival – Kitesurf Festival – on my beloved paradise island Mauritius was a huge success and I’m feeling honoured having been part of this examplary premier event.

Top organisation, lovely people, an inventive format and of course the beauty of Mauritius created an incredible feel amongst participants and all the ambitious people who were involved in the Kiteival, consisting of 3 disciplines – long distance, wave, freestyle – at various mindblowing spots. Besides me, two other pros had been invited to join and mingle with the local crowd: Thomas Coquelet from France (KPWT World Champ 2005) and Greg Thijsse from South Africa (expert in wave riding).

Me, I arrived together with a TV-crew from the ATV (Austrian Television) with the mission of producing a programm about the event. By now, the mission has been successfully completed and our show was broadcasted on Sunday, 15.07. with enormous success. I will keep you updated and post the link as soon as you can view our little movie on the net.

Already the start of the event turned into a mayor highlight. Y E A H, the “Le Preskil Beach Resort Crossing“, a long distance course race of approximately 25km, set in one of the most beautiful lagoons that I know: Blue Bay on the South East Coast of Mauritius marked the beginning of the kiteival. I was THE ONLY girl in a starter-field of almost 30 male competitors and hey hey hey…listen to that: I WON !! Yes, I kicked a$$ big time and left all the dudes wayyy behind. Hihihiihihihii, you should have seen the guys faces at the end of the race: “…whaaat, only one girl competing and then she’s beating us all…!!?“

The Crossing was named after the beauuuuutiful hotel that was the main sponsor of the kiteival and thus our ’home’ over the course of the event: “Le Preskil Beach Resort“ located right at one of Mauritius best spots along the turquoise waters of Blue Bay. A truly authentic Mauritian experience, a dream and certainly THE most beautiful place that I’ve ever stayed in, even more so considering the management gave me the ’Lagoon Honeymoon Room’ – THANX !!! – with an incredible sea view and sunrise in bed every morning!!! I L O V E D it. For more info on the hotel check out http://www.lepreskil.com I can only highly recommend it, one thing that might not be mentioned on the resort’s website: you can launch your kite directly from one of the private beaches infront of the hotel and kite away into the dream waters of Blue Bay !!

Another definite highlight was our wave-session in Le Morne. World-infamous wave “One-Eye“, “Manawa“ and the other spots… the coolest about it all: organisers of the Kiteival even managed to get a helicopter over in order for the TV-crew to get THE most amazing view. When you see the film, you’ll be blown away, I’m sure!

Freestyling in the flat waters – it couldn’t get anymore perfect !! – of Cap Malheureux topped it all of.
Oh man, I could write a novel about those two weeks at the kiteival, however, have so much more to catch up on. Thus, will leave you with a few impressions… and all that’s left for me to say: Come over for the Kiteival 2008, you’ll love it, I’m sure!

MANY, MANY thanx to all the people who worked so hard to get such a great happening together as well as of course the sponsors: Le Preskli Beach Resort, Vacances a Themes, the Mauritian Tourism Board, Sindbad Watersports, Malibu, Mauri Tours, and Air Mauritius.

Check out my article about the event that Kiteboarding.de published in my Portfolio or the write-up of a french journalist in the local paper the SCOPE!

In addition several other of my articles about Mauritius already have been published, check out my Spot Guide to the island in German, French, and Russian,  have fun!