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

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In luftigen Höhen

This article in Austria’s ‘Krone’ newspaper only features a short paragraph about the PKRA World Cup in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands. Fuerteventura is always a rather crazy event on the World Tour due to its conditions. The competition is being held at the Rene Egli centre in Sotavento, situated in the south of the island, where the wind normally blows extremely strong and super gusty (and I mean suuuuuper gusty, i.e. from 12-35 knots!).

In 2006 something absolutely unbelievable happened the night before the freestyle started. Just like my fellow competitors, I had all my kites in the equipment tent (guarded day & night), some of them inflated, some in my quiver bag. The morning of the freestyle competition, I enjoyed an early morning-sunrise yoga on the beach. Afterwards I went into the equipment tent to get everything ready for my heat and couldn’t believe my eyes… one of the kites, the 5m2 (in fact THE most important kite considering the conditions) that had been inflated stacked together with my 7m2 and my 9m2 was g o n e … !? Whaaaat, where da h*$% did it go over night?? I checked with the guard, obviously he did not know nothing and hasn’t seen anyone who wouldn’t be permitted entry (competitors and organisation only) … and my heat, in which I certainly would wanna use my 5m2 came closer and closer…
To cut the story short: the kite did not appear until my freestyle heat nor did it at all during the course of the World Cup week. Needless to say, I did not too great in the freestyle, t o t a l l y overpowered on my 7m2. However, in the discipline ‘hangtime’, I managed to secure a place on the podium and came happy 3rd!

Surely you will also wanna know whether the kite-mystery ever got solved, yeah? Hehehehe, in fact it did! About 5 days after the event was finished, I was waiting for the wind at Flagbeach, on the other side of the island in the Northeast when I spot a fellow competitor (a bit older generation, competing in the discipline ‘Speed’ and my neighbour in the equipment tent) with his wife and little kid strolling down the beach with a small kite rolled up underneath his arm. I repeat: a small kite p l u s although rolled up, I easily figured out its colour. Yes, the same colours that my beloved baby 5m2 had!! I walked over and had a little chit chat to the geezer… According to him he bought the kite during the event of a Spanish dude, right in front of the equipment tent out of the boot of a car, without a bag and for a rather ridiculous price considering it was the latest model of North’s no.1 selling kite! Well, no comment…whether this was the truth or not and even if, how can a competitor buy a kite during an event out of the boot of a car for cheap $$$ without a bag!? I will refrain from any judging or theories here…I got my baby 5m2-kite back in the end that’s all that counts.