Kitesoul Magazine #21 International Edition
In this issue: Sardinia Grand Slam, Lighthouse to Leighton, Endurance Cape Verde Islands, F-one Dealer Meeting in Dakhla, Oahu strike mission, Cyprus, Eleveight Kites, Jeremy Burlando, Joshua Emanuel, Emanuele Martinez, Kite and the City, How to Jibe in 4 ways, 7 steps on how to starts freestyle, Surfboard essential guide and much more.
In this issue: Sardinia Grand Slam, Lighthouse to Leighton, Endurance Cape Verde Islands, F-one Dealer Meeting in Dakhla, Oahu strike mission, Cyprus, Eleveight Kites, Jeremy Burlando, Joshua Emanuel, Emanuele Martinez, Kite and the City, How to Jibe in 4 ways, 7 steps on how to starts freestyle, Surfboard essential guide and much more.
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132<br />
RIDERS<br />
The One-Legged Kiteboard Chick<br />
Shortly after, Frances lost her<br />
leg in a car related accident<br />
and couldn’t continue with<br />
her military career. She went<br />
back to Puerto Rico. “This was<br />
a dark time in my life, I lost<br />
my leg and I was not getting<br />
it back. I was in shock and<br />
disbelief for a while. I had<br />
an overwhelming amount of<br />
mix feelings but I was mostly<br />
angry”.<br />
Sometime after the accident<br />
Frances took off to the States<br />
on a 4-month long travel<br />
experience, hiking, swimming,<br />
kiting and exploring to<br />
clear her mind and open the<br />
door to different cultures and<br />
different mindsets. Traveling<br />
to San Diego, Tijuana Mexico,<br />
Rosarito Mexico, Cozumel<br />
Mexico, Jamaica, St Thomas,<br />
Haiti, Idaho, The Grand<br />
Canyon Arizona, Seattle, and<br />
Vancouver, British Colombia,<br />
Alberta and Okinawa Valley in<br />
Canada.<br />
After her long travels to clear<br />
her mind Frances went back<br />
to Puerto Rico with $20 bucks<br />
to her name and started instructing<br />
kiteboarding. “It was<br />
a little weird at first kiting<br />
again with a prosthetic leg<br />
but it all came back, I wasn’t<br />
going to let it stop me”. Frances<br />
instructed for 4 years at<br />
15 knots kiteboarding school<br />
becoming a great and knowledgeable<br />
instructor.<br />
Wanting to expand in the<br />
kiteboard world Frances got<br />
a job as a sales rep at Adventure<br />
Sports in Miami and still<br />
teaches from time to time.<br />
“Being in Miami definitely has<br />
made me progress as a kiter.<br />
The bar is high here which<br />
forces you to get better”.<br />
Frances is an athlete for Vetscape.org.<br />
She is also highly<br />
involved with the challengedathletes.org<br />
where she donates<br />
her time teaching others<br />
how to kitesurf. “It brings me<br />
joy helping others in similar<br />
situations as mine”. “This sport<br />
has helped me overcome<br />
major obstacles in my life, it’s<br />
therapeutic and I believe it<br />
can help others to”.<br />
Being an amputee is a long<br />
journey, one that doesn’t end<br />
and must be taken day by day,<br />
but seeing how others in the<br />
same or similar circumstances<br />
push through and succeed<br />
creates a smile and inspiration<br />
to keep on pushing one day at<br />
a time.
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