The first pictures of Vanuatu :)
19 JanSince 5 days we are in Vanuatu. We discovered 2 amazing flat waterspot and today we tested the wave spot. Internet is slow and bad so uploading anything doesnot work to much. 
Mika kitesurfing in New Caledonia
19 Dec
Making a toeside backroll, raileys in the flat water paradise of New Caledonia.
Win one of the 3 kite sets
19 Dec
Join our Wind Riders lago di Garda facebook page:
And under every kite set you can write a comment with your name and we add your name to the raffle.
To get make a change on winning this kite you have to like our page and post a comment on the event.
If you have already liked our page and you know Wind Riders we give you a double change in the Raffle and we ask you to write a review on Trip advisor or on Wind Riders or any kitesurf forum or any travel, activity sport website.
Just send us the link of where you posted your review and we enter your name double in the raffle!
We will announce the winner on the 27th of March.
Goodbye Vietnam
17 DecKitetrip to Vietnam ( Mui Ne and Phan Rang)
22 november / 10 december 2013
We had a direct flight with Vietnam Airlines from London to Ho Chi Ming City ( Saigon) the biggest town of the South. We arrived well with all our luggage. 1 bag of 33 kilo per person and 8 kilo handlugagge (= 40 kilo of free luggage!!) The flight was fine, nothing special. At the airport we got our pre organized Visa within 30 min and left with our transfer to Mui Ne. The car drive takes between 4 and 6 hours. In the beginning it is crazy how many scooters there drive on the road. All with different coloured helmets and anti smog mount shields. Soooo many! On the road there is almost every 100 meter a shop and it looks like the people really live half on the road.
Arriving in Mui Ne we saw lots of Hotels and guesthouses, there is accomodation for every budget. We checked in at guest house nr 20. We had a nice room and ok bathroom. Between the mainstreet and the beach. Our kite equipment stayed at the C2sky kite school so the 3 minute walk to the school was easy. The accomodation had daily cleaning, the owner are a friendly family. They organized money change, scooter, laundry and everything you needed. We payed 20 dollar per night for the room.
Kiting at Mui Ne. The first days there was not so much wind, I had a few sessions on my 13,5. The wind is nice and stabiele and their are not a lot of people on the water. All the students and most intermediated kiters stay on the beach, in the shore break en within the first 100 meter until the fishing lines. With a twintip you ride over the fishing lines without problems. With a surfboard is not perfect. If you don’t want to damage your fins you need to pop over them. (sometimes 6 in a row…) I had good fun, not enough power in the kite to do big jumps but I could do some nice back roll varitions. Tooside backroll to toosdie became my favourite. And with the surferboard I enjoyed doing little jumps with grapping the board.
Than the wind kicked in and I got to use the 7 and 9 Cabo. With the wind it got a bit more busy but again everyone stayed close to the shore. The waves got a bit bigger and I had fun with the surfboard in the shore break. One day we went on a downwind to Phan Tiet. It was ok medium/light wind and no waves. Nice to see the nature and area downwind of Mui Ne. At the arrival beach there where some nice waves to play arround in. The second week their was no more wind and I didn’t kite. But we went on a kitetrip, 4 hours up North to Phan Rang. Here we had super good sessions. I was both days on my 9 and big waves where rolling in. Maybe it was because of the Typhoon who hit the Philipines that we had such good waves but I was suprised. The second day was better than the first and it was a shame to be leaving the place. With low tide you could not kite there. I always first did a ride on my twintip to check the water before taking my surfboard out. Here the local kids loved to watch us. Also the people from the houses close by where super friendly. Actually all the Vietnamese people are friendly and relaxed.
An other excursion what we did was an enduro bike trip. 250 cc 2 stroke motors, good fun to drive on the beach and on offroad tracks. It was organized by Panda tours and I can recommant it. You see a view more bays, beautiful hills, duines and a nice finsherman village and you ate at a remoted local fish place. Really amzingly tasting fresh seafood!
In Mui Ne you can go everyday to a different Restaurant but already soon we had our favourites. Joe’s beach is nice for breakfast. On the beach you relax and already check the wind. Katies cofee house is perfect for coffee or lunch. Bamboo Bamboo is the best for dinner, good Vietnamese food. The funny thing is the accent of most Vietnamese people. They speak english but they don’t understand us and we don’t understand them. Ordering food or drinks is most of the time pointing at the menu J Usually dinner for 2 was under 10 euros. It is also a good place for shopping, fake bikinis and boardshort who look good for no money. Besides the clothes they also have beautiful wooden handcrafts. The mainstreet is filled with shops, restaurants, hotels and massage studios. It is a long street. Going North you get to the fish bbq area and some night clubs. Mui Ne is closed all morning but stays open until late at night.
All together we had a great time, some nice kitesurf sessions and the memorable trip to Phan Rang and the motorbike trip to the bay of turtle island. It is a perfect low budget kitesurf destination where you can also do more than kitesurfing.
Best Cabo 2013 review
17 DecReview about the Best Cabo 2013 (5,7 and 9) and the V3 2013 bar
In my review I am comparing it most of all with the Best Kahoona and the North Vegas. These are the 2 other kites that I use a lot.
I got the kites in October on Lake Garda. They arrived like all best kites in a box with a pump, kite travel bag and a light weight storage bag. (Like last year you can choose the option to pay less for your kite if you do not take the pump and bag. I like this idea but forgot to put it in pratise)
This year Best really stepped up with there design. The leash for example is bright green, the light weight bag is bright orange with red and the kite is also a completely mix of colours. Quite funky and I like it J
The first kite I tried was the 5 m. It was a windy morning at the lake. It was not love at first sight. This kite flies all over the place. Doing a trancision I got yanked of my board, making a jump the kite made kiteloop, with an other jump a out of nowhere got a second boost. This kite is haunted and has it’s own soul. Pretty mested up one.. But you know a 5 m is a 5. And the only 5 I have to compare it with is the 5,5 Kahoona. This 5,5 kahoona is my all time favourite. I had some amazing wavesessions with it and some good big air kiteloops as well. Ok back to the new kite. So this has a bit more temperament. It is reactes different in the different zones in the windwindow than that I am used to. Then I tried it unhooked. First it stalled a bit if when I steered it up and down. But after depowering it was flying nicely. I did a few nice downwind rides a bit slalomming on my tooside flying the kite one handed. Wouw super nice control. It is stabiel in the air. Easy to keep in one place. If you do nothing it goes slowly down. If you want to send it up it replied good.
The promise is that this kite is responsive also when you fully depower using the strap or when you have the bar up. Well not particular. I think you need to be quit overpowered, and than you can full depower and keep the bar up and it will reply perfect. Flying it in normal conditions it reacts when it is depowered and the bar is up, but not to special. Probably a bit better than the kahoona and compareble to the vegas.
The wind dropped a bit and I gave the 9 m a try. I didn’t go for big stuff cause the little kite had scared the hell out of me. Just some hooked in raileys, turns and cruising up and down. This all felt quit good. It kite was super stabiel and I was getting used to the boost it gives when you in the air.
The next time I tried the kite was in Danmark, femmoller strand. It was not so windy so I took out the 9 again. This time I launched it from the beach. I launched it depowered cause it was my first beach launch after a season launching from the boat of Lake Garda. It steered perfect even to it was depowered. At the water line I powered it up. Sit down put the board on my feet and took of. It was a cold day in November so I didn’t feel for doing anything unhooked. I just wanted to get used to this kite a bit more. I started with some bigger jumps. You over steer this kite easly and it gives you a surprise boost. During the landing it stays a lot on the edge of the wind window and you need to downlooped it to keep some power in it.
The bar feeling is like a c-kite. It is very responsive thanks to the mini bridle. Have a look at the picture. One side is pretty fixed and the other side has one catrol. This makes the feeling more direct.
The last three weeks in Mui Ne I’ve really started to make hours on the Cabo. I’ve used the 9 m in the chop for a bit of freeride and freestyle and in the waves. The shore breaks of Mui ne, the spot Cemetries and the real wave spot near Fang Rang. The 7 m I’ve used only at Mui Ne in the shorebreak.
In the last period I got really used to these kites. I feel where they are in the windwindow. For example when you leave the beach and you want to jump on your board, it’s easy to get the ride power and timing with this kite. I’ve tested the relaunch by crashing it in the shore break. It’s nice and quick! And thanks to the surf touch construction it is ment to handle the crashes easely. What you see from the Surf touch is the double rib stop in the canopy, the reinforced trailing edge and just the overal stiching looks a little heavier than for example the Kahoona.
The first week in Mui Ne we had strong winds. I had the idea that this kite has a good high end and it has proven this. When all the guys where on 8 and 9 meter kites, I was perfectly powered. When the wind picked up and guys where on the 7 meters I was still feeling good in control and still being able to catch the waves without getting pulled of immediately. Well powered up the reponsivety is really nice. One handed it is light and responsive. I used the 9 meter on the small and on the medium 2013 bar. Both options work excellent. The 7 meter I have only used on the small bar and it feels good.
I got to test the 9 meter in some bigger proper waves at the spot 4 hours north of Mui Ne: Fang Rang. I don’t know if this spot is always so lucky with waves or if it had to do with the Typhoon going over the Filipines but the waves were way above expectation. The first day I used the 9 nicely powered getting used to the more Side shore conditions and steering the kite fully up and down to keep it in the windwindow while surfing. In my experices the kite is not so much of a drifter. The Kahoona in comparison drifts more and sits deeper in the windwindow. In the beginning I got a big scared when the lines got slack. But slowly I started to trust the reactivity of the kite. Steering max or edging the board a bit made it always easy to recover the kite.
After a summer at Lake Garda my waveskills had gone down a bit but with these long sessions I slowly got the confident again. In the beginning I didn’t go for enough speed and didn’t freely surf the waves but kept hanging on the kite a bit. After some time I got more weight on my front foot which made my board faster planning and I trusted to surf the waves with a highter speed and hit the lip at the steeper point.
This kite is amazing it doesn’t pull you of the wave and I can hit the waves way more vertical than with the Kahoona. Where the Kahoona pulls you out of your curve the Cabo let’s you finish it. I had some of my most agressive top turns where I pushed the tail of the board for a huge spray and nicely redicrecting the board in the pocket of the wave. At this spot I was using mostly 2 hands on the bar. Some waves cathing fronthand janking the kite up and down and looping it to get around sections and catch some really long rides. On the back hand I kept the kite stabiele making 2 or three turns before going front hand or closing out.
While going through the break and jumping over the breaking waves or using the waves as a ramp it was fun to feel the same boost I felt when I made raileys or big air with this kite. It was good to feel that even if you went a bit through a wave the kite pulled you out and gave you a good speed ready to hit the next breaker on your way out.
I think this kite is a nice intermediated kite. In comparison to the Kahoona it is more agressief but easier to reach the next level in both waves as freestyle. I still think the kahoona is a great kite for some one new to waves since this kite gives you bit more consistant power, drifts better and doesn’t need so much of your attention. But when you want to push yourself to a higher level the Cabo has definetely more options in the waves!
Overall the Cabo’s have a good wind range (smaller than most Delta, bigger than most C-kites). Over powered it stays good in shape and has a lot of depower posibilety without loosing performance. It is very responsive and stabiel at the same time.
For me was the First open C kite that I’ve had and I really enjoy kiting with it.
Review 2013 best bar.
The bars got all a bit longer. I don’t know the reason, I don’t think the 2013 kites needed it but it also didnot disturb me. I could use the medium sized bar without problems on the 13,5 Kahoona.
The quick releash is a comletely new system. You have bars like the old Best bars that if you push the cover up the safety only opens when there is tension on the lines. And there are the systems that work always, with or without tension on the lines. Like the North safety systems.
This one, the 2013 Best safety, works with and without tension. In has been throughely tested also with lots of power and it works good. It does require a bit of effort to activate it compare to the old best and north systems but when you get used to it it works good.
It is super easy to set up, you just push the chickenloop back in and slide the cover over. The cover is nice red and has a good grip. Like the previous year you have the semy suicide mode (double ring) where you connect the safetyleash on. It still works good. The donkey dick improved it is fixed but you can rotate it with friction. So you can send in in the middle for mostly hooked in riding or on the outside for mostly unhooked riding. It is a tiny thin stick but it works good.
The depowere systems stayed the same, still works. The stopperball changed to a bigger one. It works better and easier. One thing is that you have to make the loop of the depower that slides over it a bit bigger, else it gets stuck.
The bar ends got a bit cleaner. No more OSR handles cause they are no longer needed since the kite flags out on one of the front lines.
The floaters look stronger and better quality but time will tell. The leader lines are for a bit longer rubber coated and are really nice to grip for the relaunch.
As said before the red safety line is now attached to 1 front which depowers the kite a lot more than it did on the 2 fronts. This system is nice if you go kiting and want to be more indepentent or more safe. I prefer this systems for the waves. The stopper ball can be moves up or down with an imbus key to adjust it to your preference and kite size. Remember to keep it minimum one kite spam to stay extra safe!
Regarding the leash: only the colour changed to bright green but still works the same. You slide the red part away from you and your free from your kite. In the center above the bar you have the red safety line but also a grey line. This grey line has knots, now you can make the powerlines shorter and longer. (last year there where knots on the steering lines / back lines to adjust these. These and the OSR handle are gone.
The line lenght and the aditional extentions are the same and you can use a 2011, 2012, 2013 bar on the 2013 Cabo and 2013 Kahoona.
When I am back at Lake Garda you are all welcome to test the Cabo!
Read more on http://www.bestkiteboarding.com/Cabo and http://www.bestkiteboarding.com/RP-Bar-V3
Nederlandse Samenvatting:
De Cabo is de Best Wave kite van 2013. Ik heb de kite nu in verschillende maten en verschillende omstandigheden getest. Ik vergelijk de kite vooral met de Best Kahoona en de North Vegas omdat ik deze kites het vaakst gebruik.
De kite komt in een lichte tas daarnaast kun je kiezen of je er ook de pomp en de bagback bij wilt. (wil je ze niet bespaar je 75 euro). De kite is gemaakt van double Rip stop en is Surf Touch. Versterkte wingtips, trailing edge en punten om de LE. Hij heeft een mini bridle. Deze bridle geeft de kite een beetje extra depower maar houd hem nog steeds heel direct met het sturen. Dit doordat de bridle maar 1 kant op rolt. Zie afbeelding voor verduidelijking.
Het is een open C kite. De C kite eigenschappen komen terug in de stabieliteit en de responsifiteit van de kite. Hij reageert goed en snel. Ook unhooked en one handed kun je de kite makkelijke besturen.
Een wave kite is meestal of goed in driften of erg wendbaar. Deze kite drift niet echt super goed maar valt ook niet lucht omdat je hem weer snel kunt besturen zogauw als je een beetje aankant en een stuur imput geeft reageert hij snel.
De Cabo geeft je de mogelijkheid om goed op de golf te surfen. Als je de bar genoeg weg duwt trekt hij je niet meer en surf je puur de wave! Het mooie is dat de kite gedepowered te besturen blijft. Daardat de Cabo minder trekt lukte het me om beter scherpere bochten op de golf te maken.
De kite heeft een verrassende boost. Deze merk je als je de kite door het wind venster stuurt bij een transistion of als je bijvoorbeeld een railey of een sprong maakt. Deze boost was fijn als je door de branding heen ging en even wat extra power of air nodig had vanwege een komende golf of als je powernodig had om in te droppen op een golf. Pull de bar en je krijgt een boost J
De relaunch is ok. Maarja welke kleine/ medium maat kite heeft geen goede relaunch. De safety is top. Lees er meer over in het bar review.
Ik raad deze kite aan voor de intermediated wave surfer of freestyler. Voor unhooked wakestyle tricks is de kite redelijke stabiele en geeft hij een mooie boost. Op de golven geeft deze kite je veel mogelijkheden om de power van de golven te gebruiken maar helpt hij je waar nodig.
Voor een beginnerde wavesurfer, freerider en freestyler raad ik niet de Cabo aan maar de Kahoona. Deze kite heeft een constantere vriendeljike power en drift beter. Zo hoef je minder op de kite te letten terwijl je je eerste golven pakt.
De 2013 bar. Nieuw is de quick releach. Deze werkte met of zonder trekkrach top de lijnen. Ideaal als je bijvoorbeeld je kite op het strand ziet stallen en je voorziet een gevaarlijke situatie kun je de kite releashen voordat er weer spanning op de lijnen zit. De kite flagged out op een front line. Dit betekend totale depower en volledige veilgheid. De 2012 bar zat de safety lijn op de beide frontlinen waardoor de kite depowerde maar uit uitflagde.
Vietnam Mui Ne
29 NovIt’s been one month since I close Wind Riders for the winter. We took all the boats out of the water. All the kites moved to the instructor house ( 52 kites are online for sale!!! so if anyone needs a kite, let me know 🙂 http://windriders.eu/shop/used-material/
And than we load the car and left. The next 3 weeks where filled with visit of familie and friends. Not with much kitesurfing. In Swiss we went hiking. In Danmark I did one kite attempt. For the first time I went with the 9 m Cabo. Wouw nice hangtime and lift! But after 1 hour I was bored. The water was just choppy, I was kiting in Neopreen hoody, suit, boothies plus shorty and gloves. You get spoiled at Lake Garda 🙂 But still it was nice to relaxe a bit and see the area. After Danmark we went to Holland. Time for some action. Flowboarding at the Dutch Waterdreams. 
After Holland we went to England and from there on the plane to Vietnam. Arrival in Vietnam was pretty crazy. The streets where FULL with scooters. In Ho Chi Ming City there where millions of Vietnamese driving there scooters over the streets. Everyone with there own different helmet, and mouth cap on. Also here in Mui Ne they drive around and walk around completely covered for the sun and protected for the pollution. I don’t notice the pollution but I do cover up for the Sun and the jelly fishes.
The temperature is good as long as the wind blows. If there is no wind, it is to hot. But only on our arrival day the wind was light and all the other days I’ve kiting. Sometimes on the 13,5 but mostly on the 9 and 7 m Cabo.
We have our gear at the C2sky kitesurf school. From there you are in the middle of the Bay. If you kite a little downwind the waves get better and the wind is more onshore. I catched some good waves there.
On day we went on the scooter half an hour North. There is a wave spot with 100% onshore wind called Cemetries. Also there it was fun to play around.
The latest movie of North kiteboarding:
This Movie is shot at New Caledonia our next destination. Inspired by this movie I’ve been starting some new tricks. Tooside backroll to tooside is my latest favourite 🙂 Hope to get some video or pictures soon from it. With the Go Pro Hero it is easy to get some shots. Just a lot of work to go trough all of them.
Greetings from Mui Ne and I’ll write an update soon again, Mika
Mika's Blog 