Ewan Jaspan - PKRA Diary - Triple S / 2014 Gear

Ewan Jaspan- PKRA Diary - Triple S / Turkey / 2014 Gear

Always great to hear from Kite Republic Team Rider and Australia's #1 Rider, Ewan Jaspan. After a podium finish at the Triple S, and catching up with Katie, they're off to Italy. Enjoy the read... great writeup Ewan!
p.s. sorry for delay in getting this one up. Crazy month! ;)



I am currently in Turkey, waiting for wind basically, and looking to get involved in some riots. I have just finished a great week at the Triple S invitational event, in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and am leaving soon to go to the 3rd PKRA world tour stop of this years season in Sicily. So as tough as that sounds, I am actually having a great time! After travelling for over 3 months straight now I thought I would be pretty keen on coming home, but after hearing from so many people how grey and cold Melbourne is at the moment, I think I can happily go to Italy without complaint and not be wishing to go home any time soon.



As some of you back home may know, Katie has just joined me here, and will be travelling with me for the next month, making the most of the warm wind southern Europe has at this time of year and visiting new places. We have just finished driving 5 hours of the SE coast of Turkey and are currently in a small Turkish fishing village, which I have no idea the name of, but apparently has a great kite spot! We are also travelling with North International rider Mario Rodwald who competes on the PKRA with me and is a great person to hang around with. Also a girl who I have just met, Catarina from Sweden is with us, who came with Mario, is here also, but she busted her knee pretty bad a month ago so can't kite, which sucks, but there is plenty else to see here so thats some good news for her. We will be making a nice movie from our trip here, so definitely look out for that one in coming weeks!



Back the the Triple S event. The event was something completely different from what I have gotten used to after competing on the PKRA. The event is basically the biggest slider event on the kiteboarding calendar and is one of the only times of the year the world best 'wake style' riders get together to ride and push the sports progression to new levels. Wake style riding for those who don't know, is basically a style of riding in kiteboarding that derives pretty much directly from wake boarding and is mainly hitting kickers and sliders with the kite as low in the wind window as possible, riding boards more similar to wake boards with wakeboard bindings. This is relatively new to me at the moment, but is an aspect of the sport which I have become more interested in recently as its something new and adds a whole new dimension to my riding, keeping me amped for the next session all the time. One great thing about this side of the sport is that you can practise it when there is no wind, at cable parks. Its something I will be happy to talk to about to all the KR club members when I get home as its something that at the moment isn't huge in the kite scene in Melbourne, but there are quite a few of you who I know would be interested in it, and its a very social side of the sport that brings everyone together to progress.



The standard of the riding at the Triple S was super high, its amazing to see things transferred across from wake boarding straight to kiting, and a lot of times with added speed, power and style to what is possible behind a boat or at a cable park, as we as kiters are able to completely control the pull. Hatteras is one of the most unique locations I have ridden with miles of 'slicks' (what the locals call their flat water), which form a perfect location for a competition. I managed to score a podium in my first year at the event after I won the wildcard for Slicks. I was so happy with this, as coming into the event with all the big names on the list which I had watched for years were turning up, I thought I would have no chance, but I just went for it and ended up 3rd behind Aaron Hadlow in 1st and my team mate Rick Jensen in 2nd, who was absolutely throwing down with power and style, and then Hadlow was as technically perfect as usual, no need to elaborate on that, he is the man!



At the moment I am planning on coming home just after the PKRA event in Germany, which takes place from the 11th of July until the 20th. I am more and more looking forwards to coming home and catching up with the crew and getting some things happening with the freestyle side of the sport. I will be running a few clinics with Kite Republic this year on freestyle and hopefully some wakestlye, so get amped, should be good to help everyone reach their next level, no matter what it is.

Chris is currently at the Naish dealer meeting learning all about the new gear, and hopefully getting enough wind to test it and share the stoke on how amazing it is with all the KR members, so get your pre-orders in now as I can assure you, you don't want to be one to miss out on the gear, its all-time! I am riding the Dub board at the moment for freestyle, and for all you wake style lovers, we have a new wake style board coming, but thats all I can say for now, other than that it will blow any other wake style board on the market out the water!



Hope you all get some wind soon back in Melbourne (or wherever you are reading this from) and get out for a session, and if not, get watching some kite videos and keep the progression going either in your head or on the water!

Cheers,

Ewan