ALEX & ANNELOUS ARE KPL'S BEST RIDERS
Alex & Annelous win Kite Park Event in Fehmarn
From the 18th of until the 27th of August the Mercedes-Benz Kitesurf World Cup took place in Fehmarn. Next to the strapless freestyle there was also a Kite Park Show, where some of the best riders could showcase their best tricks. Cabrinha riders Annelous Lammerts and Alex Maes came straight from Hood River to compete in the Kite Park show.
Alex shared his thoughts about the competition and the growth of park riding with us. “It was a great opportunity to be part of the first Kite Park Show during the Kitesurf World Cup in Fehmarn and I am really happy that both Annelous and me won best rider award at the event. Park riding has been there since the beginning of kiteboarding but somehow always stayed a smaller discipline. Thanks to the creation of the Kite Park League two years ago, park riding has been growing a lot! There are more events, more riders and more parks around the world right now and it is growing all the time. This year we have been attending every kite park contest and we have witnessed a lot of progression of our discipline. More riders competed in the KPL and because we have a proper World tour with five events over the world also the younger generation is joining us.
The good thing about park riding is that it requires less strength than freestyle kiteboarding. Hitting a solid kicker is the most fun thing to do and you can land new tricks almost every session! When there is no wind we can practice at the cable which makes a perfect combination to be on the water no matter the wind. Almost all our tricks come from wakeboarding and it always had a massive influence on kiteboarding.
The fun thing about park riding is that there are so many possibilities. Sometimes only doing freestyle can be a bit boring for riders and starting a new discipline can really help you to become a better kiteboarder. For example, there are so many different tricks and rotations possible on a solid kicker, starting park riding will open a complete new world. If you feel like you are not improving fast enough in freestyle or miss a bit of inspiration, it is a great idea to build a little slider or kicker with your friends, we promise you it will be so much fun and it will push your riding a lot! We found out there are so many great kitespots for this discipline in Germany, the best spots are the ones without tidal difference, pretty flat and that are around knee deep so you can put your rail on the ground but still have enough water to crash.
So once you go back to freestyle, you’ll have more motivation to try new tricks and as we experienced it will even help for your freestyle tricks. There are so many disciplines in kiteboarding, like wave riding, freestyle, wakestyle, all disciplines are all so closely linked to each other and you need to do them all to be a good kiteboarder.
If you want to start riding kickers and sliders it is important to have a proper board. We use the Cabrinha CBL, the perfect board for park riding and what some people might not know is that it is also an amazing board for freestyle. Even without fins this board has a massive pop so you can still throw a few air tricks between the rails. On the bottom of the CBL there is a special grind base that will protect your board while sliding over metal, plastic or the beach, it is basically bulletproof. Don’t hesitate to ride a bit bigger board, Annelous is riding the 139 and I’m riding the 142. And if you are heading to the cable on a windless day the CBL is also great for wake boarding!”
CHECK OUT THE CABRINHA CBL
WATCH THE CBL IN ACTION
