KB4Girls 2010: Kitecamp in Melbourne

German female kite surfer Kristin Boese passes on her skills to a group of 25 girls at the 2010 KB4girls Clinic in Melbourne, Australia. Through intense training these girls learned to kite surf like the pros.

No wind for the first two days of the KB4Girls Clinic 2010, open for female kite-boarders of all different levels, was unfortunate and did not allow the girls to ride together for the usual on-water clinic and demonstrations in Melbourne, Australia. Instead, the participating women enjoyed intense training lessons on land with a focus on mental imaging and trying training devices that will enable them to help improve their kiting skills to the next level. Video coaching replaced the usual on-water demonstrations by Kristin Boese and gave the girls an even better chance to concentrate their next moves and learn closely and in slow motion.

Mel Millen, participant: “It was just awesome to hang out with a bunch of female kite-boarders and I just really enjoyed socializing. Not getting any wind for the first 2 days gave us the chance to get to know each other! I think we all are so motivated to just try out on the water what Kristin taught us on land that we will just go for it in our next sessions!”

Eight of the 25 girls went on to try their luck in the national championships and to gather competition experience for future competitions to come. While the first day of the national championships also ended up being windless, it was a great chance for the female competitors the chance to learn tips and tricks for successful competing. Having the opportunity firsthand to learn from the 9 time world champion herself and being able to go through every detail of a typical competition routine and detailed Q&A grilling, the girls were ready to compete and battle it out for the national title.

In the two following days the KB4girls participants performed exceptionally well and while some were still a bit nervous in the first round, the second and final round proved to be a real success. Three of the girls placed in the top the 5 and 2 even scored a podium spot. Shannon Ducker from Western Australia was the most successful KB4girls participant finishing in an amazing second place with a very close split-decision by the judges.

Kristin Boese says: “I was so nervous for the girls throughout the whole competition that I was just running up and down the beach. It was so much fun to help them through the contest and I am so proud of their results. The girls were absolutely amazing too, helping each other and cheering for each other and even the girls that were not yet good enough to participate in the competition themselves were there for the moral support. This event has really shown me in a very special way how a bit of support can help female kite-boarders and bring our sport forward. I could not be any happier with the outcome and am even more motivated to take on the next clinics to come!”

While the St. Kilda Festival is still in full force, the second KB4girls event of the year came to a successful end with many female Australian kite boarders setting new goals and being motivated for future competitions. With the PKRA World Cup being held in Queensland in December of this year there will be enough time for the girls to practice hard and we can hope to see many Australian competitors entering the female competition to try to make it through the qualification rounds and into their first World Cup competition.

Results of the Australian National Championships:

Women:

1^st place Chrissy Gaudieri

2^nd place Shannon Ducker

3^rd place Michelle England

Men:

1^st place Andy Yates

2^nd place Keahi De Aboitiz

3^rd place Ewan Jaspan

Initial schedule for the KB4girls Tour:

Kahului, Hawaii / April 9^th -11^th, 2010

El Gouna, Egypt / May 18^th – 20^th, 2010