Alex Maes and Annelous Lammerts are two of the most passionate kiters on the planet, when Alex discovered a new spot in Brazil he knew he had to get all his friends together and build a kite park! Check out the full story right here!

If there’s one word I would use to describe the Kite Mansion Open, it would be "Heart". Heart from the organisers, heart for the spot, and heart from the riders participating. It takes dedication to produce an event with a small sponsorship budget, and yet, the Kite Park League is able to move mountains to make this event possible. Last week, The Kite Mansion Open at Tremembe Beach, Brazil was the final stop of the 2018 Kite Park League, rounding up the three-stop tour for the KPL, during which tour champions were decided. 

The story of the KPL continues to be one of sheer grit, determination and struggle. As an unsanctioned “world” tour, we are the rogue players in a game of sponsorships, exposure and industry support. We struggle to find enough prize money (the Kite Mansion Open having none), have “homie” live stream run by our friends, and an iPhone (most often duct taped to a camera tripod), and it’s a requirement that competitors help position features before, during and after their heats. Despite these barriers, the determination of this group of individuals is what makes rad shit happen! Each of us loves kiteboarding, and we are addicted to hitting rails and kickers. Park riding is an acquired taste, but just as the kite bug is contagious, so is the park bug.

Two of the most impassioned kiters in our group are, Alex Maes and Annelous Lammerts; they have huge hearts! Over the last three years, they’ve worked to build various iterations of kickers, install sliders in the water, and worked tirelessly with local officials to ensure that access to the spot stays open. It has always been a dream of theirs to host a KPL stop, and 2018 marks the first year they were able to make it happen.

Two other players that are critical to the Kite Mansion Open and the proprietors of the Kite Mansion are, Nicolas “Nico kite” Baeten and Sam Gaillard; they are two of the friendliest people you’ll ever come across!

Tall, blonde and fluent in five languages, Nico greets everyone with a hearty “good morning!” He always has a smile on his face and is still offers to lend a hand or fix your kite as the self-proclaimed 'Kite Doctor'. He worked tirelessly with Alex and Annelous to secure sponsors, arrange meetings with local officials, and gather materials for the features. Nico also ran the live stream every day during the event, speaking in multiple languages, and fueled the atmosphere with enthusiasm.

Sam is Brazilian by birth but grew up in Belgium. He has been a friend of Nico’s since they were 12 years old. Sam was a bit more behind the scenes; ensuring all of the riders were fed and watered, making sure all the features were in position, and making sure everything that makes an event run smoothly happened without a hitch. During the event, Sam was out there with us in the sun and wind, to ensure we had everything we needed. The heart and effort of these two made the entire event possible.

Hailing from Belgium, Sam and Nico moved to Brazil 10 years ago with the intention to start a kite school and pousada. They found the right conditions in the southern, lesser known spots around Icapuí. Quickly falling in love with the place, and seeing tons of potential at Tremembe Beach, Nico and Sam built Kite Mansion literally from the ground up. Slowly, over the last ten years, they’ve also built up the local kite community, employing local Brazilians, and introducing them to the sport.

The town of Icapuí is a small fishing village, and not much happens there. Having Nico, Sam and the Kite Mansion there has created an exciting vibe in the area, and motivated local riders to get involved. While I was there, I went for a ride with Jaedson, a 22-year old local rider that started kiteboarding at The Kite Mansion a year ago. I asked him, in my broken Spanish/Portuguese mix, if he liked it and he spoke with a fervent passion and his face literally lit up; we all know that feeling! 

Alex Maes has been around the whole time, travelling with his parents to the pousada next door to Kite Mansion every year, watching as Nico and Sam pursue their kite school dream. Initially, unbeknownst to Alex, Nico and Sam have had the dream to host a world-class kiteboarding competition for ages. With Alex following their every move as they built their kite school, the guys planted the seed into Alex's mind, and he also began to see the potential for a future competition to take place in Tremembe. In 2017, the idea was solidified when Eric Rienstra mentioned that there was an opening for a tour stop for the KPL; the wheels were already in motion by then.

The spot itself is a lagoon much like what Brazil is famous for, although this particular location is a river mouth that ebbs and flows, filling and draining with the tides. As the tide comes rushing in, corralled through the channels of the sand, the physical force of it is enough to make you stagger on your feet. Every day requires heaving and hoeing the various features for the event from along the shoreline of the river, where they are safely stored away from the passing fishing boats into the middle of the lagoon.

The water depth is slightly shallower than competitors would like, the spot is somewhat smaller than is required for our numbers, and the tides don’t let us ride for quite as long as we'd want to, but the water is butter flat, and we had a slider park, so we were happy!

During the Kite Mansion Open, we had nineteen riders; fifteen men and four women. The Kite Mansion Open was a unique event, and we held the competition on 'The Lines'; meaning we placed two features in a line so that a rider could hit one feature, do their manoeuvre, land and then immediately edge into the next feature. This format has been talked about for years on the KPL, and it was interesting to finally see it in action.

On the right-foot-forward line, we had a short, double barrel hand-rail incline and the flat bar, a single-barrel steel tube that was feet out of the water. Left-foot-forward we had “Cop City”; a massive incline and the flat bar rail. We also hit the kicker on both the left-foot and right-foot setups. Each feature was scored out of ten points and for the 'The Lines’; an additional five points were automatically added for flow. Flow points could only be deducted based on mishaps, while in between the rails on each line. These mishaps were: grabbing your chicken loop, bad kite control, switching your stance or your leash or anything that messed up the flow.

Organising any sort of competition is a feat, but hosting a competition in a new location in Brazil, with a new format and a tiny budget? That’s another level. Overall, 'The Lines' proved fun to watch, but the shifting wind direction and speed made for challenging conditions as heats progressed. This park isn’t for the faint-hearted, with some features requiring a massive ollie-on and others simply big, scary and covered in barnacles, but every single competitor brought their game face.

Stand out riders at the event were the ever-consistent Brandon Scheid, with Christophe Tack looking good too. Ewan Jaspan made a big push for the win but in the end it was relative newcomer to the park scene Ramiro Gallart who took the top spot on the podium. Brandon did enough to secure the overall title for the year and a special mention goes to Alex Maes who rode to an incredible fourth place which was impressive considering he had so much other stuff going on with the organization of the event.

Over in the ladies fleet, Colleen Carroll was ripping as usual, I was doing my best to keep up with the new charger on the block Annelous Lammerts, but in the end it was Annelous who came out on top and took the win! It’s been great to watch her park riding come on in recent years and she thoroughly deserved the top spot on the podium!

The competitors on the KPL are a core group of passionate riders, and the drive and passion of the group are what makes the events happen. Whether it's pushing each other on the water, or working to bring in sponsors for the events, it’s the riders that make this tour what it is.

Often, we are riding in swamps, frequently there are too many of us on the water; usually, you have to do a lot of work before you can even start your session, and often there’s carnage! But it’s those magical sessions, where everyone you ride by flashes a grin, you get a “whoop” whenever you hit the kicker, and every single rider is supporting and pushing one another that makes it all so worth it.

Huge thank you to Alex, Annelous, Nico and Sam for making this event happen. If you’re interested in sponsoring a future KPL stop, email us at kiteparkleague@gmail.com

Final Results:

Mens:

  1. Ramiro Gallart
  2. Ewan Jaspan
  3. Brandon Schied
  4. Christophe Tack

Womens:

  1. Annelous Lammerts
  2. Colleen Carroll
  3. Sensi Graves
  4. Julia Castro

Videos

Kite Mansion Open Warm up session
Kite Mansion Open 2018 - Recap Round 1
kite mansion open 3
kite mansion open 5
By Sensi Graves

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