Latest Kitesurfing News

It wasn’t until the KSP World Tour kicked off that we had heard of Mauricio, he is one of the upcoming Brazilian riders from Florianopolis in Brazil who just oozes style. Always riding strapless he took on the KSP and placed fourth overall, not bad for someone we hadn’t seen or heard much about! Enjoy his latest edit, we’ll try and get an interview together with him soon!

Everyones favourite Northern Lass swaps chip butties for butter flat water in Brazil, looks like her riding is coming on leaps and bounds too, go Hannah!

Really good movie explaining the origins of and how the event works, some sick riding in there too…

Isreal’s finest Eli Zarka used to be a twin tip demon, but it seems he has been putting in the hours with the strapless board of late! Enjoy!

Alex Pastor stormed the final event of the PKRA season, here are some of the moves that got him there… Think you can do better? The season will be starting soon and no doubt Alex is prepared to take on all comers!

Seeing as it’s cold outside, and much of Northern Europe is enjoying the snow here is a cool short film from some of the Flysurfer crew… Enjoy!

Quick edit from Craig Cunningham over in Canada, shot on location unless it’s suddenly got a whole lot warmer over there… Definitely some sick riding going on in this vid, and a cool edit too. Enjoy!

Looking forward to getting our hands on one of these to test… We’ll let you know as soon as we do!

UK TV Channel “Channel 5″ (thats right we only have a few channels over here in the UK) will be featuring Lewis Crathern in thier new series depicting the world’s greatest daredevils. It’s no surprise that Lewis gets a shout out in the show for his awesome leap over Brighton Pier last year (don’t try that at home kids). The show will be aired on Thursday the 26th of January at 8pm on Channel 5 details of the show can be found HERE.

The show will be available on Catch Up and alson on Demand 5 and Lewis has said he will be recording the show and putting it up on his YouTube channel as well so if you do miss it there is a good chance we will link to it on here. Well done to Lewis for pushing the sport to the public even further! Currently he is getting a suntan in South Africa and we would like to wish him all the best with his winter training.

Thursday 26th January, Channel 5, be there or be square…

Kiters and sailors join forces to raise funds for 3 charities

Most of us think twice before leaving our warm houses on a cold February day. For others, it is the opportunity to jump into icy cold waters to raise funds and awareness for charity.

Training ready for the main event!

This is what a group of kiteboarders and sailors will do in a few weeks. On the 4^th of February 2012 and to mark World Cancer Day (subject to weather and wind conditions), Ilias Katirtsigianoglou (kiter), Spyridon Sofianos (sailor) and Sandrine Roussos Werner (co-founder of the Global Kiter Foundation) will be joined by a team of volunteers to cross 22 km of the south Evoikos Kolpos (Channel) in Greece to raise funds for charity. The crossing will take them from Marmari (Evia) across the channel to Loutsa. The team will be supported by volunteers from the Greek PWC Racing Association, the Nautical Club of Palaio Faliro and the Omada Aigaiou (Aegean Sailing Team) who will be assisting with jet skis, RIBS, sailing vessels, lifeguards and donations.

Most of the volunteers have experienced cancer directly or indirectly through their siblings. The concept of the crossing helped Ilias to overcome the challenge he was faced with when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in December 2009. It acted as his motivation to get better and to help others by sending a message of empowerment and helping to raise funds for worthwhile charities. Similarly Spyros is reaching out to family members to make a bold statement he is there for them. “If just one person receives our message and finds the necessary courage and support to fight then we have achieved enough”, they said, adding: “When we joined Global Kiter Foundation at one of their events and saw the effect their work had on people with disabilities we immediately felt we should work together on this challenge”.

The route the riders are hoping to take!

Sandrine Roussos Werner, co-founder of the Global Kiter Foundation and an integral part of the organization of this very special crossing, added: “This is a fantastic way to raise awareness for both cancer and people with a physical disability. We can all relate to this cause as we all know someone who is afflicted by one or the other. I am grateful to Ilias and Spyridon for giving us the opportunity to join forces and create a wonderful event.”

All funds raised for this crossing will be equally divided between three charities: Bestrong Greece, Medecins Sans Frontieres Greece and Global Kiter Foundation (GKF).

BeSTRONG Greece was founded in 2007 and is a non profit organisation that raises awareness, increases outreach and facilitates collaboration in an effort to improve the cancer experience.

Medecins Sans Frontieres was founded in 1971 and is an international humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare. The Greek branch was created in 1990.

Global Kiter Foundation is a non-profit Foundation empowering and enabling people with physical disabilities to break barriers through sport and gives the underprivileged youth a new career opportunity, while taking actions to keep our environment clean. The Foundation was established in 2011.

This is the first crossing the team plans on doing. It is the precursor to a bigger crossing scheduled this summer which will include participants with a physical disability.

To support the charity crossing, please visit http://www.globalkiter.com/projects#4 and make a donation online. All donations will be equally divided between the 3 above mentioned charities.

Follow us on Facebook: Surfers 4 Life and Global Kiter Foundation.