Just before the Kiteboarding World Cup in Skt. Peter-Ording we took the chance to interview Alberto Rondina, 21 years old professional kiteboarder from Riccione, Italy, currently ranked 3rd in Freestyle on the World Tour and European champion in 2010. Alberto is sponsored by Cabrinha, NPX, Turbolenza, Marcar, Andrel Multimedia.
Q: If your friends were to describe your personality what would they say about you?
Easy going, friendly…italian!
You have improved each year since your first appearance on the World tour and you are likely to finish on the podium this year?
Yes, that is my goal for this year. Achieving it would be a dream coming true!
Q: What are your goals for the next season? How long to you want to stay on the world? What do you want to do when you finish your career?
Those are pretty difficult questions for me! I’m not really planning far into the future right now. I’ll be competiting again for sure next year, and we’ll see how it goes and for how long! As far as I’m having fun, doing what I like to do…I dont think I’ll stop! Remaining in the industry also, would be pretty cool, testing equipment is one of the things I enjoy the most!
Q: To the public it seems like being on the world cup is quite exciting and even a bit glamorous. But what is life really like being a pro rider on the World Cup? Please give a a little insight behind the scenes.
Well yeah, there are positives and negative aspects but I think We’re pretty much travelling non stop, we get used to check-in deals, airports, hotels, every week, or a couple times every month! I would say that’s the biggest negative part… But we also see lots of places every year, meet lots of new people at every event, and mot important we promote our sport and our sponsor, that make us travel all year round! We feel like a family on tour…you gotta try it to understand it!
Q: You are the only well known Italian rider on the Kitesurf Worldcup? What about the Italian scene?
Yep, there aren’t many Italians competing on the PKRA, its only me most of the time, or a couple of friends in the events close to Italy. The Italian scene is growing a lot, looks like with IKA we’re now able to build a good National Federation…and everything should be easier for us!
Q: I looked at the wind statistics for Rimini Airport near your home spot Riccione at:
And to the stats look really disappointing. How did you mange to become such a good kiteboarder while having to deal with light winds most of the time?
You’re right! Where I live it is not really windy, we do have a bit of thermal winds though, which can go up to 10-12 or max. 14 knots! So when I was lighter I was kiting non stop in the summer! Then I finished school, put on 20 kg more..and now I need to go to Brazil to train!
We came across an interesting website a few days ago where you can upload your kitesurf photos, geo tag them and describe your sessions: Kitedaily! You do the content, upload one or more photos and describe your session.
You can keep your spots secret by using the ‘Secret Spot’ option. All other photos will be placed on a world map. Geotag your own sessions, post comments on other photos and save the best shots as favorite.
Check it out!
Following the success of the first season the
Kiteboard Tour Asia was back in action again kicking off with a great opening round in
Çeşme Turkey. The 2010/11 KTA Asia Tour hit the ground running with a challenging four days of competition, two with cross onshore, two with cross-offshore winds and a sneaky no wind day to party and kick back neatly slotted in the middle.
At the end of it all it was one happy crowd of kiters that left Cesme from the stunning bay that houses 7800 Hotel and Residences which along with Audi A1 has given the riders a unique experience of Turkish hospitality along with the biggest cash prize purse the KTA has been able to offer to date - US$10,000. On top of this, there was also support from the industry with title brand sponsor Cabrinha supplying a further US$10,000 worth of equipment as incentive for the winning riders.
Day 1 started proceedings with a cracking killer Kiteloop competition, grabbing the attention of the beach crowds at a venue that has not seen kiteboarding action before on its shores. Taking the honours from these opening battles was Merve Ceyan representing Turkey for the women and Robin Snuggs from the UK winning it for the men.
Following on from the Kiteloop competition, the women’s freestyle took to the water with some kicking heats showing great style and power from the riders as they fought their way through the single eliminator to a closely fought final between the UK’s Hannah Whitely and the KTA’s current tour champion Germany’s Kathrin Borgwardt. In the end it was to be Hannah winning first place after a two to one decision from the judges.
The next day was the turn of the guys, who in variable wind conditions put out some very high quality performances, making the most of the conditions as they moved through their single eliminator. It was good to see some great riding from many of the local riders giving some of the sponsored riders a tough time getting by them. Local rider and recently crowned Turkish Champion Tanner Aykurt, showed he was still very much on form as he moved steadily through to the finals to meet one of the events pro-riders
Mallory de la Villemarqué. Although the wind did at this point turn a little light, the two riders pulled out all the stops with Mallory taking the final leading position.
The singles done, the event then moved over into course racing which this year includes both race board and TT classes. Two races were to take place on the second day, with a further four on the third. The first two races enjoyed the same cross onshore winds as the freestyle riders, but following a no wind day the fourth day was a completely different challenge with the winds turning offshore, making leaving and returning to the beach every bit a challenge as the racing itself.
With everything still very much to play for the riders woke up to the final day of competition in Turkey with the winds still blowing offshore, but building in strength. The final course races of the event set the day in motion with the continuing battles in the men’s fleet between Tanner and his brother Yenner, while over in the women’s side of things the same was being mirrored by Kathrin and Merve. However it was TT rider Sezer Ince that cause the biggest stir of the day when he took the top slot in the first race leaving the race boards firmly in his wake, so not quite all over just yet for the twin-tip boys it seems.
With the winds building and nine races already returned for the tour stop, head judge Stephan Hertig and guest race director from the IKA Markus Schwendtner took the decision to complete the freestyle double eliminator. Brave decision with the tricky beach leave and return, but it proved to be the right move and it was great to hear from the riders that they appreciated the professionalism and confidence of the race team to take on the final days conditions to give them the full finish to both competitions.
The event in the end returned full freestyle double eliminators and nine course races, after opening with a killer Kiteloop competition and then closing out with a final Hangtime season. Even the no wind day was not all sit and chill as you can check out on the photo and video reports of the day, notice when you do the tidy skills of the riders as they wake style it out across the 7800 floating pontoon in the inspired and popular grab a bottle of beer competition!
For freestyle it was in the end to be Mallory and Hannah who hung onto their single eliminator positions to take the KTA Turkey tiles, but not before the final day crowds were treated to some excellent displays of power and technique as the rest of the field from both the men and the women’s competitions attempted to upset proceedings.
So a fantastic start to the season with even bigger things being planned for the future in Turkey, so watch this space as they say and lookout for the first KTA video teaser that will tie things up for the 7800 KTA Turkey. Then next stop
Hainan Island in China as the KTA moves on from the first country in Asia to the heartland of region.
For further information on the 7800 KTA Turkey check out the daily video reports, event photos, full results list and rankings on the official
KTA website which for the first time also includes the archive of the KTA’s first webcast that went out live during the event.
And finally the overall results:
Freestyle Men
1. Mallory De La Villamarque
2. Tanner Aykurt
3. Luke Whiteside
Freestyle Women
1. Hannah Whiteley
2. Arzu Taylan
3. Kathrin Bogwardt
Course Race Men (overall)
1. Yener Aykurt
2. Tanner Aykurt
3. Sezer Ince
Course Race Women (overall)
1. Kathrin Bogwardt
2. Merve Ceylan
3. Arzu Taylan
Course Race Men (TT class)
1. Sezer Ince
2. Erkin Sunal
3. Serdar Kradeniz
Course Race Women (TT class)
1. Nesli Kocakiran
2. Maria Simila
3. Damla Pakize Guokmen
Kiteloop
Robin Snuggs - Men
Merve Ceylan - Women
At the PKRA Kitesurf World Cup in Skt. Peter-Ording the day greeted the riders with clouds and wind blowing at about 17 knots onshore: Perfect conditions to finish the freestyle elimination that had been abandoned the day before with the semi finals due to light wind. In the men’s competition it was Andy Yates (Australia) vs. Windfinder team rider Ariel Corniel (Dominican Rep.). Early into the heat Ariel crashed his kite into Andy’s kite and was therefore disqualified. In the other semi final Alex Pastor (Spain) defeated current world champion Kevin Langeree from the Netherlands. Kevin conquered Ariel in the heat for 3rd place. And eventually the final saw Alexa Pastor beating Andy Yates with more technical tricks.
In the women’s final
Gisela Pulido (Spain) showed better tricks and style to win over
Bruna Kajiya (Brazil). So it was 2 victories for Spanish riders in the Freestyle discipline.
Karolina Winkowska (Poland) took 3rd place.
Immediately after the single elimination the double elimination was started, which gives the losers of the first round a 2nd chance to climb up the elimination ladder. 2 local German riders
Stephan Permien and
Mario Rodwald won their heats keeping the hopes of the local crowd alive.
Course racing, preliminary results after 9 races:
1. Bruno Sroka (France)
2. Julien Kerneur (France)
3. Rolf van der Vlugt (Netherlands)
Course racing, preliminary results after 9 races:
1. Steph Bridge (England)
2. Caroline Adrien (Cabrinha)
3. Nayara Licarinoo (Brazil)
Stay tuned for more action from the Kitesurf World Cup in Skt. Peter-Ording.
Wanna go kiteboarding? This year Youth Empire invites water enthusiastic kids and teens to get to know kitesurfing offering 6 kite events for the young guns in cooperation with several kitesurfing schools. The project “Youth Empire” was started by Cabrinha Kiteboarding in 2009 and its goal is to get kids and teens into kitesurfing and to support young kiters. On the project’s website young kiters will find a meeting point on the internet, where they can discuss kiteboarding issues on the forum, chat, and upload kite photos and videos.
