How did you pick the Canary
Islands as your home base and how long have you been
here?
I moved to the Canaries to windsurf around 5 years ago.
I had spent a few winters there and had a lot of good
friends living there. In the end I became fed up with
the European winters and moved out there!
Great performance winning the Redbull Maui this
year. Flash gave you a real run for your money in the
final. What did it take to beat him?
I knew that I was not going to go higher than him for
sure! I never saw anyone going higher than he did in
the final. I decided to play the game I always do and
go for solid, consistent technical tricks. This plan
has served me well through all the tour events this
year so I am sticking to it. And it won through with
Flash as well.
You won both the PKRA
and KPWT tours when only a handful of riders are actually
trying to do all the events in both tours. Did you ever
imagine that you were capable of that kind of resounding
success when you started the season?
No! I do all of the events, as that is what I want.
I enjoy competing and both tours have their own attributes
and I have a lot of friends doing either one or the
other. I wanted to place well on both tours but I never
expected a situation like this to arise.
Which tour have you enjoyed
the most?
Both and neither! Every event is a separate thing as
the quality of an event is down to the organizer locally
a lot of the time. All of the events this year have
been outstanding on both tours, I could never choose
which is better!
Will you try to do both again next year?
I think so. I would love to see some kind of amalgamated
tour so that we could have one clear world champion
but if 2 tours exist again then I will do both tours.
Do you think that might happen?
I hope that it can happen but it is down to the tour
organizers Mauricio Toscano and Fred Gravoille. I think
everyone wants to see one tour; hopefully they can sort
something out together.
It must be pretty expensive to make all the stops on
both tours. How are you able to afford it? Which sponsors
have kicked in the most?
It is certainly not cheap to travel as much as I do
but I have good support. Both Naish and O’neill
have been incredibly supportive since the beginning
and have shown a lot of faith in me. Without them both
I would never have made it.
Many of the most well known riders seem to avoid
competitions. Why is that?
I don’t know! I guess they don’t like the
discipline of competition. That is fine and their own
choice. For me it is important to compete and test myself.
You seem to enjoy competing tremendously. Do you also
free ride just for fun or are you always Training and
goal oriented?
I only ride for fun! I am never in the water thinking
about training or competing, I am just riding. The moment
it stops being fun is the moment I stop and look for
another career!
Who are some of the other UK based riders and
which have you spent the most time with as your riding
has developed?
I spent a lot of time traveling with Danny Seales, Steve
Kellner, Marcus Damsell and Jason Furness. They are
great bunch of guys. Our travel schedules don’t
match as often as any of us would like but we have a
lot of fun when we travel together.
How did you get selected to ride for Naish?
I started riding with Naish gear when I was learning.
After I did my first competitions I was picked up by
the Naish Spain importer and rode with him for a year.
At the end of the year I was second on the KPWT and
I joined Naish International Team on the strength of
that.
You are riding a directional Naish mutant almost exclusively
in competitions. Do you have to jibe and switch you
feet every time you do a transition? Isn’t that
a huge disadvantage when you are riding powered up in
the waves? I like the power I get from the Mutant. Switching
your feet is only an issue for people who haven’t
learnt to do it yet! It is such an easy thing to master
that most directional riders do not even think about
it anymore. Add to that the fact that I tend to switch
the board around a lot in the air whilst making board
off transitions. The fins give you a huge advantage
wave riding as you can really tap into the power of
the waves and are not dependant on the kite all the
time.
Do you ever ride twin-tips or wakeboards any more?
I try twin tips every so often but don’t really
enjoy riding them so much, I like me directionals!
A lot of people talk about being technical or about
going big? Are they mutually exclusive? Ideally not
but it is hard to go super big AND technical! The problem
is that to go huge requires a big movement with the
kite and that makes a technical move hard to achieve
as the kite is moving so much! I am working all the
time to try to go higher with my moves but I think it
will always be possible to go higher and just hang!
What new moves have you personally invented and how
did you name them?
Latest move is the “misty flip”. It is a
varial 180 with kick flip 360 at the same time whilst
making a frontloop transition. It’s called the
misty because it all happens so fast that for most watchers
it is a bit of a mystery but “mystery flip doesn’t
sound so good!
Does
it seem like kiteboarding in general is catching in
faster in Europe? What accounts for that?
It does seem there is more kiting in Europe but not
radically so. I think generally Europeans are more open
to new ideas so embrace new sports faster. I don’t
want to start a discussion across the pond though.
What do you do when you are not kiting?
Travel!!!! Spend time with my girlfriend (Flo) and dog.
Are you involved in any kiteboarding schools?
No, to be honest I am about the worst instructor you
could imagine, as I have no patience whatsoever. I would
probably scare more people off than I attracted.
Do you have any projects in the works or goals for next
season?
Just to carry on as I have done this year. I am trying
to plan our travel more efficiently to spend less time
on the road but use that time more effectively but it
may not work!
What will you do when you are done competing professionally?
I really have no idea. I hope I have a lot of years
competing left in me yet!
