KPWT World cup Dakhla, Western Sahara 1st in the waves! // 29.10.09

KPWT World cup Dakhla, Western Sahara

Three years ago I kitesurfed solo to the Western Sahara from the Canary Islands raising money for a charity in the Sahara. It took me 9 hours non stop and was one of the most incredible experiences I will ever have. This month I had to undertake another incredible journey to the southern most part of the Western Sahara, to a place called Dakhla which was hosting the 5^th stage of the KPWT Kitesurf world cup.

This time I did the journey in my shell/home/time machine, my faithful Animal van! The only slight problem was that I was pressed for time meaning I had to drive from Faro, Portugal to Dakhla in 2 days in order to arrive in time for the start of the event. The thought of driving 3000km in 2 days down the entire length of Morocco made my kitesurf crossing from the Canaries seem like an easy ride!

I was already pretty knackered from a long journey back from a photo shoot with Animal in Sri Lanka but thanks to my super companion Bruno MagaIhaes, who drove me 30 hours virtually non stop from Portugal to Morocco, I managed to arrive minutes before registration for the comp finished.

I just couldn’t believe we made it in time as a few people had said it was going to be really tough and a bit dangerous to do it in the time we had!

The drive down the coast of the Western Sahara is just incredible but finally arriving to the spectacular scenery and lagoon in Dakhla is really special. You feel like you have arrived on another planet! The location for the KPWT freestyle, slider and course racing was situated and hosted at the ‘Dakhla Attitude camp, a Disney land for kiters! However this flat water lagoon is just one of the wonders of Dakhla and the only thing on my mind was finding and tasting the deserted waves. As I was trying to recover a shoulder and neck injury, I wanted to just focus on the wave event here, as I knew entering the freestyle and kite loop again could result in making it worse.

Having the Animal van meant I could bring ALL my kites, boards, toys, shoes, clothes and my new Fanatic Stand up paddle board…there was not going to be any conditions I was not prepared for!

After 2- 3 days of sunrise surfs and magical free ride kiting sessions at the wave spot, the wave event finally kicked off. The free riding the days before had fuelled and stoked me so much that the pressure of the competition lost its grasp on me and I felt that the kiting and surf sessions we’d had the days before were far superior to any ranking in a comp. (Even though a world title was at stake!)

The wave event kicked off in classic, peeling, long, clean waves, but with irregular, light, cross off shore wind from the right making the conditions challenging in some heats. As it took some time for the event, judges etc. to re-locate over at the wave spot from the lagoon we actually free rode in the best conditions before they started the comp then as the heats began mid afternoon the wind became a little shy and irregular.

The first round of the men was finished as the sun began to set and my semi final was run after the sun went down with a powerful full moon rising. As the wind finally died along with the light, I heard the announcement that I would advance to the final, which would be run the next day along with the men’s semi, and finals.

In the final of the men it was once again Mitu Montero and Jan Marcos Riveras who put on an incredible show with pure surfing style. With 3 barrels and extreme, radical turns on just one of his exceptional waves in the final, Mitu took 1^st place with Jan Marcos 2^nd and Jessie Ritchman 3^rd.

For the women’s heats the wind seemed to drop and became really fickle making it difficult for Karrie and myself to ride well in the final. Thankfully I managed to catch 3 mediocre waves that got me the 1^st place I really wanted here.

I want to say a massive thank you to Sidi and his crew at ‘Auberge des Nomades camp’ who looked after us so well and fed us like kings and queens! www.auberge-des-nomades-du-sahara.com

Also off course a huge thank you to my amazing sponsors Animal, North and Ion for all the amazing equipment and support.

A special thanks to the magic Animal van and to Jossie, Judith, Nicola and Nick Turner for sorting out all the documents, insurance and permission for me to take the van to Africa!!

Also a very big, special thank you to Bruno ‘Smith’ Magalhaes for taking care of me and helping me so much