Kitesoul Magazine #12 English Edition

76
TRIP & PHOTOSHOOT
RRD Scarborough, Cape Town 2016
It is the Semi Final, with eight riders left, one of
them is our Jerry! He is the tallest rider by far at
over 2 metres tall. The RRD kite sails high and
proud in the air. We all scream and roar with excitement
for him. He looks back at the crowd and
gives a wave, now the whole beach is cheering
too.
These eight athletes are absolutely at the top
of their game, pushing the limit the whole time.
Mega looping their heart out, trying to get the
best waves for the highest points. Jerry makes a
huge air, he seems to go all the way down the
beach! The crowd is pumping, so much adrenalin
watching this tense final.
Lewis makes a massive air, everyone can tell his
is so high, and he is going so far down the beach,
the crowd is going wild. Watching him lining up
the landing though, we can see it is too fast, too
hard. He hits the water, badly. His kite crashes.
We can’t really see what is going on, but the other
competitors come over and rescue him from
the water. The paramedics run over when he is
on the beach. We can’t see what is going on now,
but a hush falls over the crowd. Everyone’s heart
sinks in synchronisation. It is devastating to see
anyone get hurt, let alone doing a sport that we
all adore.
The competition is stopped for a long time, and
rightly so. We wait around for a few hours, the
crowd remaining, still excited to see the Grand Finale.
Everyone has their fingers crossed for Lewis.
Jerry unfortunately didn’t make it to the grand final,
but we still count our blessings because he is
safe and healthy! High fives are shared all around
for our Dutch brother, congratulating him on a
great performance and so proud that he made it
so far.
Finally the competition starts again, and we are
all ready as the sun is becoming low in the sky.
What a show it was! Amazing riding by the best
riders, the round coming to a close. We wait for
the winner to be announced, congratulations to
Aaron Hadlow!
It has been a long day, and one of the best days
I´ve had in Cape Town this year. The KOTA is always
one of the best events of the summer. The
only way we could end this day is with some
amazing Sushi from Blowfish. We sit at the sushi
train, plates packed high. All of us with pink
cheeks from not using enough sunscreen, some
of us are more the colour of the raw salmon we
are eating.
The long drive home begins, the bright lights of
Cape Town city disappearing behind us, the end-