For me it all started back in 1986…
…with windsurfing lessons at the local Chiemsee, a lake in the south-eastern part of Bavaria. Until 1991, I spent a majority of my spare time at Lake Garda in Italy and then travelled many fantastic places in Europe and around the world to go windsurfing: Hyeres (Mediterranean, France), Cascais (Atlantic Ocean, Portugal), Paros (Mediterranean, Greek Islands), Perth (Indian Ocean, Western Australia), Dahab (Red Sea, Egypt), Cape Hatteras (Atlantic Ocean, USA) and Hawaii (Pacific Ocean, USA).
And even more important to mention: I met some of my best friends via this great sport!
I’ve been a dedicated
windsurfer for ever since I started to practice at the local Chiemsee.
My home spot, however, has always been Lake Garda (Italy). Over the past
years, the wind pattern at Lake Garda has changed slightly and the
famous Ora has not been as reliable and strong as it used to be (at
least as I experienced it). In recent years I did not have one good day
of windsurfing at Lake Garda.
Finally, in 2007 I decided to retire from windsurfing
In
spring 2008 I started my kitesurfing career at Lake Garda and at
Reschensee (1400m altitude), both located in northern Italy. I soon
realised that kitesurfing is superior to windsurfing. Why? It is good
fun from 11 knots upward (windsurfing 20 knots). You can easily jump
higher and fly longer compared to windsurfing, even on a lake. Even
more important is that kite boarding offers much more chances for
individual developments and almost the full spectrum of kite boarding
maneuvers and styles can be trained and performed on lakes.
So for me, kitesurfing will never get any boring as long as there are at least 11 knots wind đ
