Tabuhan Island PRO Kiteboarding Event 2015 Preview

Last week Val & I traveled to East Java, Indonesia for one of Asia's newest and biggest Kiteboarding events, The Tabuhan Island PRO. Supported by the Banyuwangi Government, Tourism Board and BangSpring Breeze - this event was quite unique. Located around 4K's off of East Java this little gem, Tabuhan island delivered perfect Kiteboarding conditions everyday. Without a shadow of a doubt the best Kiteboarding experience I've had to date. I'm extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in this event and also win 1st place in the Freestyle event.
Thank you to Cabrinha for giving me the opportunity to travel and compete. Additional thanks to Jeroen from Bangspring Breeze for his hospitality, support and having us at his beautiful resort.
Cabrinha | GoKite | NPSurf | Ronstan | SHQ | Otis

You had fun and got a win? Onya. So much more wind there than bali hey champ?

well that was some serious shredding>>Top stuff Dan
And congrats on the fam building too

Congratulations Dan! I am still in Bali and thought you might like to know that, for Indonesian viewers, your movie clip has been censored by the Anti-Pornography Board. I went to the trouble of downloading a proxy server so I could hopefully view the "offensive" material but I was very disappointed to only see kitesurfing!! :) :) :)

Many friends here were also highly impressed by the event and the high level of organisation. They even had COLD BEER!!! In Java!!!! Not easy to find even on the mainland! Will be there next year for sure.

hay dan do all the tourism boards of all the countrys you go to like indonesia basicly give the local kiteing community government funds to host the event and thus "organise" to have you on board? ala pay for your plane tickets? doesnt it seem weird when you then go up against the local guys and demolish them in the comp and get the prize money?

just curious because from what i can tell thats basicly it right?

i dont really understand why tax payers of all these countrys basicly fund profesional kiters to come and beat there local riders in comps..... i know it boosts tourism obviously the event organisers are hopeing that no one cottons on to it all (by no one i mean joe bloggs local fisherman or freddie freaking farmer) because theyd probaby grab there nets and pitchforks surely if there funds werent going towards things like schooling and road networks.....

the only people that seem to win is the pro's (which is awesome way to go mate) the event organisers as they allso have undoubtedly comped themselves and friends and i guess everyones kind of gambleing that if the event DOES take off it will boost tourism thus returning the granted funds from the government via the tourism board back to them.

but time and time again i just wonder exactly how much does the government get back? is it a worthy investment on the tourism boards part? any idea how to even calculate the return? is this even something you guys think about?

i have been thinking about it a bit lately and it just kind of seems like a very strange practice.


oh silly me i actually forgot the sponsors hahahaha you know the ones that chuck in a few hundred to get there logo on a banner which a total of what? 50? kitesurfers see and mentioned in the local rag.

but the lions share of the money is allways comeing from the government taxes via the tourism board right? maybe im completely wrong but for last fair few years all the kite comps ive stuck my nosey little beak into all seem to run a very similar model

hi jeroen

it definitely is a multi doller industry.

so why do the locals pay and loose and the pros get paid to go there and they take the prize money?

the prize money comeing originally from local familys ala TAX

you are not the first or even only person in this thread to have organised and set up an event.
and my question is not even directly directed at you or even this event.

lets say its directed at event A or X whatever it is.


forget about the kiteboarding side of things for a moment.
now the tourism board get x amount of dollars to try bring in tourists aka money
a sporting event has been proven time and time again to boost the economy. just think if all those fat aussie and kiwis came to dump there annual weeks holiday budget there it creates jobs and shops and activities for there familys etc etc

now its often the expats of these islands who invest and get involved in all this they are after all quite often the majority of the tourism board themselves.

dont you think it would be kind of dangerous continueing these events in this nature? all it takes is a few village elders to get a wiff of all this and you have a situation on your hands.

the situation is entirely different if hosted in oz or nz because were not looking for ways to get water and power or work or jobs or food or whatever to the broader class of our citizens.

i dont know it just seems crazy to me whenever i see a government drop 50 odd thousand into a sporting event fly a bunch of athletes to the spot and judges sponsors get there photos (the events are allways tiny to its allways basicly only the competitors there that day and maybe a few dozen spectators most who happen to be walking pass)

anyways dont know why im bothering
its all just going to be media trained responses and nothing even remotely what im after like a dawning moment of hay **** maybe your right maybe now if a profesional athlete wins we give 25% of the cheque to the local villages well and roads fund or even BETTER just pay them to teach the locals hell i doubt any of them wouldnt take a couple k for a day or 2 training the local freestyle guys a few things they useually do that all for free anyways actually thats a stupid idea they shouldnt have any there prize money taken off them. maybe just dont use tax payers money to fly them there? im not going to even pretend to know what its like being a pro and having to be flown for shoots all over the world all time from what ive heard upto 10 months of the year sounds like really ****ing hard work. they get less hometime with the family then miners which is pretty brutal. so maybe there sponsors could chuck in for the airfares instead of the local government?

and why do the organisers get comped ? i mean yeah logos and advertiseing and fund raiseing etc etc takes up a bit of time but they allready organise cheap flights / food / accomodation for sponsorship with again mostly foreign owned business's

i think i would just like to see a competition in a developing country win one for themselves by themselves not invest in foreigners who piss it all up the wall (again not saying you guys not even saying KITESURFING just saying from what ive encountered with sporting events in rural/foreign/developing countrys) and then the government hopes it pays off.

the 10 20 30 50k they chuck at these things allways surprises me when it could be used in so many other ways to benefit. im not even sure why the tourism board ever even really understands what really happens with the sporting events.


tldr okay so sporting events bring in tourism dollers but why cant they bring in something more beneficial to the local communitys that they often need and why don't the locals get comped and win the prizes instead of the foreigners who take them

Hey Kozzie,
Not necessarily no, as I mentioned this was quite a unique event - the organising body and hands on approach from sponsors like bangsring breeze and the presence of the local people/ mayor being the main distinctions. The involved sponsors of course encourage an international presence but by no means pay for riders to attend.
I think your interpretation of the Kiteboarding industry may be a little broad since the reality of these great events and the details itself are often different to publics view, like in your case, which is totally fine. I still work full time, I do however gain support from Cabrinha in many ways. Any government body that sees value in creating a presence and scene from events will contribute accordingly to the value they put on these events. The event was supported in many ways by the local people, business's and more. They were certainly not doing this for free. The local boats probably did at least a years worth of revenue in one weekend. East Java is massively into their culture and events, the whole thing was a massive celebration. The culture there is quite a contrast to here, its more about life and bringing people together as opposed to commercialising the project, the Tabuhan Pro was defiantly a celebration and it was refreshing to see everyone 100% behind showcasing our awesome sport and showing it off!
In terms of the participants and prize money, we had a massive broad spectrum of riders from Intermediates to "Pro". By far one of the hardest events I've competed in, against PKRA Junior #3 and Asian Champion. It wasn't a case of land and grab all the prize money, at all.
I think its important to remember, everyone involved left feeling inspired and touched in one way or another. I'm sure Jeroen from Bangspring will never see his tremendous return in time and effort put into the event. Return of investment is an interesting one, not one I can comment on. Sometimes its more about participation and contribution...creating something like this, especially in a third world country such as Indo which has most of its tourism directed at Bali for the surf.