Brazil, Brazil
08.10.07

Stop number 3 of my around the world trip: KPWT World Cup Cumbuco/Brazil!

It kind of was very nice to come back to Brazil, a little bit like coming home. I spent so much time here over the last years and it is always nice to go somewhere where you know the people and the hotels and car rental places and so on. As the KPWT Superkite World Cup took part right in Cumbuco in front of the Eco Paradise this year I went straight to Cumbuco and took a room in the Posada “Dunas do Cumbuco”, very close to the competition spot and very relaxed and quiet. I arrived 3 days before the competition actually started and as Gavin was in Brazil too we took the chance to shoot together for 2 days. The first day I got to ride the Nemesis HP and the second day I flew the new Waroo. I found both kites very easy to fly and so it was nice to shoot on them. As always I had fun shooting with Gavin, but as also always something had to go wrong. So the first day my leach broke after 5 minutes of shooting and the kite flew away. Luckily another kiter helped me to get it back and we could continue shooting… without leach. The next morning unfortunately I forgot to bring my spare leach… oh well, we worked it out somehow and were able to actually shoot with leach later on. The next day was registration day and I was so unbelievably tired from traveling and shooting that I had to take off to be able to ride at the competition. Then, from the 3rd to the 7th of October the KPWT world cup Brazil was on. With 69 competitors and the 4 disciplines Freestyle, Wave, Race and Hangtime there was a lot to do and so we finished the Freestyle Single elimination on day one. I actually had great fun in perfect conditions and won the singles. For the next 3 days we run waves in the morning and freestyle in the afternoon, which meant that we had to get up every morning super early to drive to the wave spot which was 10 minutes downwind of the freestyle spot. For this reason and to be able to rig up in time for me heats I actually rented a buggy, and YES! I actually drove a buggy again! Who would have thought that I would ever dare to do so again? But all went well, I did not only NOT destroy the bubby, I also won the wave competition and was more then stoked about that! On the second last day we run the race which was followed and filmed by a helicopter and was a great event. A long course was set with local boats as markers and people at the beach cheering for the winners that came in. Even better for me, as I managed to also win the race! What a week…and not even finished yet. The freestyle double finals were kept for Sunday afternoon, just before the price giving. Even Alex and his girlfriend came to watch and cheer for me and were my lucky charms. In the most challenging conditions of the week I was able to pull of an all right heat and won the Freestyle as well! I think I really like Brazil! ;-) There was only one disadvantage of my good results at the competition. The evening before the Freestyle Finals was the evening of the BEST Party 2007 and even though I went out with the whole Best crew for dinner and went to the Party as well, I had to go to bed early and could not really party so much… But it looks like everybody else had great fun at least. I had one day left in Brazil and I really wanted to take the chance to try the new kites again. So I met up with Alex, Alex, Bucky and Gavin in Taiba and rode Waroo and HP again. I liked the Waroo and thought that it is pretty similar to my Waroo Pros (talking about 7 meter kites…). And then I tried the HP and just totally and completely loved it.. so direct, so easy to fly, such a great lift… I was simply having great fun and did not want to stop kiting anymore… But well, I had to as I had to go to the airport to catch my flight to Malaga…