#domandcolleen

Although, I had promised to catch this blog up on all of my trips and worthy kiteboarding news, I feel it is already time for an update on my most recent trip.

Here is a short and sweet recap of our time in Thailand in as few words as possible letting the photos do most of the talking.  If you want more, watch for a full travel feature coming out in Stance Magazine (www.stanceplanet.com),  as well as various spot checks and features in other publications.  You can also view our Instagram album by searching #domandcolleen.

Enjoy!

Looking back on many of the temples we visited while in Bangkok

So here we go…..Lets rewind to this fall in Brazil and a late night conversation with good friend Dominique Granger via facebook.  Dominique was living in Montreal, Canada at the time and told me that she was itching to do a kite trip.  So, we started making plans to do a 7 week tour through Southeast Asia.  Somewhere I have wanted to travel for years.

Dom and me on day 1 while touring the Wat Po temple

Our trip started in the nations capital, Bangkok.  We toured around seeing as many temples and sites as possible .

Our favorite budha, the Reclining buddha.  Stands over 3 stories tall!

Buddhas lining the hallways in buildings surrounding the Reclining Buddha’s Temple.

A look at how incredibly ornate the buildings are surrounding the temples.

But unfortunately because of political unrest and protests threatening to overthrow the government, we didn’t get to spend much time in the colorful bustling city.  We were in and out of Bangkok in just one day and headed south to a small town called Pran Buri.

Off the kicker at Kite Cable Thailand photo credit Jim Thirion – Lines Productions

Pan Buri is now home to it’s very own cable park (Kite Cable Thailand) and boasts side onshore winds that average 12kts-20kts in winter months.  Sounded perfect for us!

One of our first kite sessions of the trip.  Broken Pier in Pran Buri.

In Pran Buri we were connected with Willy Kerr, owner of Kite Cable Thailand and Co-founder of the Kite Tour Asia.  Willy is awesome.  He was the best host we could have asked for; he brought us to the best authentic restaurants in town, introduced us to the various kite launches, and even hooked us up with a killer ride!

Willy with his best friend, Lom Lang (which means strong wind in Thai).

Dom on our scooter loaded with gear.  Sidecar’s are the best!

We took a trip to “Monkey Mountain” (about 30 minute drive from Pran Buri)  where you find literally hundreds of monkeys.

They may be cute but don’t be fooled they will grab anything they can, cameras, sunglasses, hair, you name it!

Willy dishing up one of our favorite Thai meals, Tom Yum soup.

Both Dom and I really enjoyed Pran Buri.  We would spend our mornings kiting and our evenings at the cable.  The food was the best food of the trip and everywhere you went in town you were greeted with the biggest smiles.  Thai people have the best smiles!

Above is Gum, our cable operator at Kite Cable Thailand.

Dom locks into a solid press on the old Kite Cable slider (there is already a new slider in its place since our time there).  Photo by Jim Thirion – Lines Productions

While we were sad to leave Pran Buri, it was time to head to Thai Wake park.

Dom and I with new friends Vanessa, Joanne, and Claudia.  Photo by Claudia Ldr

And once again, we were stoked with our location.  The first thing Dom and I noticed during our maiden session and TWP was that there were more girls than guys on the water.  And they were good too!

One of my favorite features at Thai Wake Park

Riding at TWP everyday with a group of ripping chicks was just the motivation we wanted.  Everyday we rode until we could barely hold on and at night explored markets and fairs in nearby towns.

Before we knew it, another week had gone by and it was already time to leave Thailand.  We were almost in disbelief by how smooth our travels had gone.  We had met so many wonderful people, seen amazing places, and had our far share of water time.  All in all, Thailand was rendered a total success!

Goodbye Thailand…..

Hello Camsur Watersports Complex!

Called Out, Part 2…

Well, since that first post didn’t sting too badly, I’ll just keep rolling with it.  Right on to NORTH CAROLINA.

Each spring for the last 3 years, I have spent most, if not all, of my flower blooming season on the Outer Banks in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.  But this year was going to be special.  North Kiteboarding International had decided to do their 2014 Vegas and Gambler teamshoot in the area and I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the 5 to do the shoot.  They brought over teammates Reno Romeu (Brazil), Stefan Speissberger (Austria), and Mario Rodwald (Germany) to join Craig Cunningham (Canada) and myself for a packed month of freestyle, park sessions, muscle cars, heli shoots, and stunts involving aircraft carriers.

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words…so what does that mean a kick ass 13 minute video is worth?  Check out our finished episode here:

And just in case you didn’t your fix from the video, here are some of my favorite photos as well as a few behind the scenes moments from our adventure:

Since the wind was light at the start of the week we spent a few days working on the vegas product clip in front of our humble abode.  It was clearly all work and no play 😉

We had a little bit more off the water time at the start of the trip so we took the boys over to Kiteboarding legend, Jason Slezak’s private skate bowl.  Craig Cunningham above.

Once the wind filled in, we kicked it into high gear with full days spent on the water.  Some days kiting from first light to sun down.

Craig Cunningham getting hits in front of Carlos Guzman’s lens.

Kiting over photographer Toby Bromwich.  This photo also made me Miss August in the 2014 The Kiteboarder Calendar 🙂

Above is a photo from one of the most intense kiteboarding experiences of my life.  Craig Cunningham and I had the entire Real Watersports slick to ourselves with a full park setup (huge thanks again to Eric Reinstra and Matt and Trip from Real Watersports for making this possible).

With only one hour to get the shots, quickly changing wind conditions, and the thumping of the propellors reverberating in your chest, the pressure was on to get good hits.

After a few stellar weeks in Hatteras, the boys and I were off to Texas for a change of scenery and….

….To jump off the USS Lexington….!!

The boys checking out the drop.  Something else you wouldn’t have known from just watching the video…the water was only about 5-6ft deep!

Mario Rodwald above.

Captain Craig Cunningham putting Petty Officer Reno Romeu in his place.

Who gave this guy a gun??

A little different from the backyard launch we had in Hatteras…

But the back drops were just what we were looking for.

After 3 whirlwind days in Texas it was time to call the shoot a wrap.

The whole gang on the last day, stoked from a successful shoot.

As our month of shooting came to an end, Craig Cunningham and myself said goodbye to our new friends and immediately had to set our sights on our next goal.  No longer would we be riding to get the perfect shot.  We’d be riding to execute our perfect run through the park.  Nail 4 sublime tricks in 2 tacks completed in just one pass through the slick.  Catch the best waves of the day and slash the sh*t out of them….oh yeah, and party, party, party!

It was time for THE 2014 TRIPLE-S INVITATIONAL….

Called Out….Part 1, PERU

Recently, I was called out.  Quite blatantly called out in print by one of the largest international kiteboarding mags out there.  I’m not going to name names but if you’ve seen any recent 12 page interviews of me recently, you’ll know exactly what I”m talking about.  Now this call out wasn’t all bad.  Basically it called me out for being a big fat slacker.  And thats just what I am when it comes to updated my blog.  This blog that I started well over a year ago and currently sits at a meager 2 posts.

So here I am, barely off the plane from another fall season spent in Brazil and about to bring in the New Year and thinking that I have a lot of catching up to do.  So that is just what I’m going to do.  In one, all encompassing elephant of a blog post that will take us from a quick jaunt to the Peruvian coast, to private park sessions and heli shoots along the shorelines of Cape Hatteras, to the Triple-S Invitional, then ‘home’ to Hood River.

We’ll start with Pacasmayo, PERU.

I was invited to come to Pacasmayo, Peru (resort accomodations shown above: El Faro Adventure resort, http://www.elfaropacasmayo.com) by the North Distributor for the region, Augusto Nicolini (second from left in photo below).  Augusto’s invitation stemmed from the idea to bring me out there and encourage some of the local kiter girls to take their kiting to the ocean, something most of them have never done before.

With Augusto, Jamie (owner of El Faro), and Brissa Malaga (local ripper who kicked my butt her first time in the ocean!! She is also a national surfing champion so I think she may have been over qualified to be called a novice)

Brissa charging one of her first waves on a kite.

This was the last day in Pacasmayo and probably one of the ‘sloppier’ days of swell that we had (although until I had seen a good day here I would have thought this was incredible).  Most days delivered meticulously peeling lefts, lusciously spaced by about 16-18 seconds, with a steady 17-20kts side-offshore breeze.  Can’t get much better than that for a goofey footer!

After Pacasmayo, I was guided to a small tourist town about a two hour drive south of Lima called Paracas. While Paracas does boast one of Peru’s best rights, it is best known for its shallow, flatwater conditions.  If you were looking for a spot to learn to kiteboard in Peru or maybe a place to break up your kitesurf vacation with a bit of freestyle, this would be it.  I was invited here by Jose Losno, owner of Kite Club Paracas (www.kiteclubparacas.com) who offers comfortable accommodation, expert lessons, and knows all the local know how…best kite spots on the radar and off!

Paracas, Peru:

First kite spot for the day.  Just Us and the birds.

Native peruvian dog.  This may have been one of the moments where my naive self was getting the better of me but my local guides told me that these peruvian dogs are known to have healing powers and are always warm.  Even went temperatures drop their dark skin will stay warm.  It is said that if you are sick you should cuddle up to one of these dashing creatures and they will help to heal you….give it a try and tell me how it works out for you 😉

After checking out one spot just outside of town we decided to venture on to a protected bay that holds nice shallow flatwater within its sandbars.  To get there we drove what seemed to me, straight into the desert.  No roads.  No signs of life…anywhere.   Just two 4x4s and the knowledge for how to get there.

After checking out one spot just outside of town we decided to venture on to a protected bay that holds nice shallow flatwater within its sandbars.  To get there we drove what seemed to me, straight into the desert.  No roads.  No signs of life…anywhere.   Just two 4x4s and the knowledge for how to get there.

When we came over the last sandy ridge finally, signs of life and what looked to be promising kite conditions.

Before taking to the water I wanted to poke around town.

We found a friendly face who didn’t mind having his picture taken while working on his fishing net.

And while the thought was to post Peru, the North Kiteboarding Teamshoot in Cape Hatteras & Texas, Triple-S, and Hood River all in one massive post.  I will have to stop here to catch my next flight home to visit my family for Christmas (with good intentions to continue what i’ve started as soon as I board my plane!).

So please, check back soon for more updates, photos, videos, and travel insight.

Happy Holidays!

Colleen