European Best meeting and girls pro clinis in Ireland
22.09.09

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!