This is just the beginning for British-Italian rider Francesca Maini, who is making waves at only 20 years old! She's making headlines as the first woman to ever land a double loop in competition at the BAKL. In this exclusive INSIGHT interview, Jen and Cesca catch up about her racing, wave riding, winging and big air skills!

Hey Francesca, we're stoked to have you for this INSIGHT feature! Can you tell us a little about yourself? What was your hometown like? What was it like growing up in an Italian/British family? 

I grew up in Herne Bay, a seaside town in the southeast of England. This is where I learned to kiteboard, and I have been kiteboarding ever since! Our house is a minute's walk to the sea, so when the wind direction is right, my dad, brother and I always kite there. Usually, there are no other kiters there, so there was plenty of space to learn! My dad is Italian, and I have lived in England my whole life, but all my cousins and many of my family are Italian and live in Bologna; we visit them a few times a year or whenever possible. Having an Italian family always means there's delicious food around!

You and your brother Mattia have done board sports for years; which sports are you into, and how did you first get into them? 

We are into all watersports! My dad got us involved, and taught us the basics of surfing when we were young. My first go at kitesurfing was when I was about 10. We only had a few kite lessons where my brother and I didn't want to listen to my dad, but he also taught us how to kite.

Growing up, where did you spend your vacations? What was your favourite holiday? 

We spent our holidays in many different places! We went to Mauritius a lot, and this was where I had my first-ever kitesurf lesson. Mauritius is one of my favourite places! I started wave riding there, and our recent trip to Mauritius in August was the first time I tried winging in waves; it is such a fantastic place! Any holiday we went on was primarily based on kitesurfing. We used to go to Cape Verde a lot, and that's where I properly got into kitesurfing!

Can you describe the best session you've ever had in Mauritius?

One of the best sessions in Mauritius was this year while my brother and I were tow foiling each other. So, we are both on foils; one is on a kite, and one has a rope attached to the harness with a twin-tip handle, which we used to tow each other into waves. We were doing this at Manawa Reef when we saw a humpback whale in the distance! So, we decided to go check it out, and a whale breached super close to us with its calf, which was amazing and terrifying as we were on foils and couldn't see where the whale went underwater! We spent all day on the water towing each other; it was such a fun day, and seeing the whales made it even more incredible!

Back in 2018, in your first-ever competition, you scored a spot on the BKSA podium with little training or event experience. I'm impressed! Tell us about that event!

It is funny because the event was only a 20-minute drive from our house, so when we heard about it, my brother and I thought we might have a go at competing for fun since it was so close. I had never competed, and honestly, I didn't even know the names of different tricks or even some of the tricks I was doing! I'm super happy I did that competition, as that's how I started competing. 

In July 2019, you came 1st at BKSA and, that same year, raced at the KiteFoil World Series. Which competition did you enjoy more, and why?

They were very different competitions. The BKSA competitions are always good fun, and you meet many new people. I was happy with my performance there, but I preferred the KiteFoil World Series as I learnt a lot. I had barely flown a foil kite and had to race on it! It was a very hectic event with men and women in the same category, and there were 82 people on the start line. I could have done better in that competition, and I was still trying to understand what the flags meant and even where the finish line was! However, that event taught me a lot and only made me improve in the future.

When did you first get into big air kiting? 

I started to get into big air when I first came to Cape Town in 2019. My brother and I saw all the pro riders looping and going massive. So, we started learning to loop, but, to be honest, we didn't know what we were doing. So, we learnt through trial and error and tried to practise whenever we went out kiting!

Who is your most influential and inspirational rider? 

Angely Boulliot is one of my biggest inspirations. I watched her videos for years and knew who she was when I started kitesurfing. It is insane to compete with one of my biggest role models and see her kite so well in person.

In the 2021 BAKL event, you took down some big names! Can you tell us about that event? 

Yet again, with this event, it just so happened we were in Cape Town, so of course, we wanted to give it a go! Although I was new to looping and did some loops in the competition, I had never looped in that much wind. It was fun to compete against my brother, too. Alessa Mensch and I were the only girls competing, and we were just so excited to participate!

Let's get to the good part - congratulations on coming 2nd at the BAKL in Cape Town and becoming the first woman EVER to land a double kite loop in competition - that was epic! Did you know you were going to attempt it in the event?

Thanks! It was such a hectic but fun day of competing. I still can't believe I'm the first woman to land the double loop. It's funny because I remember saying to my boyfriend a few months before, "I'm going to do the double loop in the competition, and I want to be the first woman to do it". Still, I wasn't sure I would do it, because the only training I did was as soon as I arrived in Cape Town in December; before that, I hadn't trained for at least a month due to university. Therefore, my goal was to do my best and do something completely different. With some advice about double loops from some of the guys, I felt more confident to do it.

Have you ever landed the trick before? What was going through your head in that heat?

I had never attempted a double loop before I did it in that heat! I had never looped the 5m kite either! I tried a few loops on it just before my heat started to get a feeling for the kite, and after that, I knew I could do it. Before the heat, I was so nervous because I wanted to do well and thought a double loop was one way to get some good points, but I also didn't want to injure myself. I saw Angely do a huge kite loop board off, and then my brother put the 5m in the air for me, and I went and grabbed it straight away. During the loop, I wasn't scared; I kept pulling and focused on not messing up the landing.

Let's talk about the F-ONE 'Sultans of Wind' shoot; what a video! Our readers even nominated it as one of the best kiteboarding movies of 2022! Tell us some of your highlights from the trip...

Where we went in Oman was mainly desert, and it was cool to see camels everywhere. The kite spots we went to were empty and so beautiful. We kited in a big lagoon where we were the only people riding. We also kited in the harbour, surrounded by fishing boats, with a beautiful town in the backdrop. It was a cool experience, as all the locals loved watching us kitesurf!

We kited in this one spot (which wasn't really a kite spot) with immaculate waves, but the wind was very sketchy, and it was full of rocks. We had some nice waves until the wind started to drop. Marcela and I were both on 6m kites, and it was impossible to get back upwind. Further down, the beach was just rocks, so you couldn't land there. There was a small island in the sea, also surrounded by rocks. The launch spot was upwind, and there was no way we would make it back. 

As we were drifting downwind, my kite fell out of the sky next to this island, and my lines managed to get super tangled. With no wind, I couldn't relaunch the kite, and I was drifting towards the rocks very quickly, with the waves pushing me even closer. I had to pack up my kite, thinking it might make it easier to paddle away. The rip was so strong that I was paddling for ages, not moving anywhere. Honestly, I had no idea how I was going to get in. The F-ONE guys flew their drone to see where I was. They managed to contact a fisherman to rescue us, and I was so happy when I saw the boat arrive - my arms were so dead from paddling. Mitu managed to make it in, but Marcela and Hendrick ended up further downwind, unable to go to the beach as it was a military base. The boat came and helped them too. It was a great session but not such a fantastic ending!

On the trip, we also all managed to learn a dance! It all started whilst we were camping; Mitu was our dance teacher, and the aim was to learn the dance he was showing us. At the end of the trip, we all knew this dance pretty well, even though some of us weren't great at the beginning!

What exciting plans do you have for 2023? 

I haven't got anything planned yet, but I will try to train and go to as many big air events as possible. I will also be competing in some race foiling events too. So, the plan is to train hard and start getting prepared for the upcoming competitions!

Videos

F-ONE | "Sultans of Wind" - Full movie
By Jen Tyler
Italian/Egyptian Jen Tyler grew up on the sandy beaches of the Red Sea and has been on the IKSURFMAG & Tonic Mag team since 2017.

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