It is a long time ago, that I did my last update. Since the last time I did a couple of competitions. In spring there was a team competition in Podersdorf, and I was competing in team BEST. We did really wel and ended up 3rd place.

For the rest this year I was competing in the kitesurftour Europe. There were 3 stops this year, 1 on Sylt (Germany), 1 in Lamezia Therme (Italy) and the last one in St Gilles Croix de Vie (France). Since my injury, I was not really happy about my performance on competitions, I was really nervous all the time. Now its getting better and better. In Germany and Italy I did not really well, but in France the good feeling was finally back and I ended up on a 4rd place. In the overall ranking that meaned I ended up 3rd place, so not really bad. The next year I will compete again and hope I can do better on all the events!

However I was in Brazil at the end of 2010, it was a long long cold winter in Holland. The last 4 months I had been kiting for 5 times so I didn’t prepare well for the competition. Tijn and I have an old VW van and totally renovated it, which took up most of our time. This was the first trip with our van and the car did very well, we had no problems on the way.

The wind conditions in Leucate are really hard. So gusty! Two years ago I was in Leucate too for kiting, but the gusts were so hard that we went to another place after two days. It was a big challenge for me to compete there on the PKRA.

I had to prequalify myself for the main-event because there were to many girls. My heat was against Tala Elajou and the conditions were pretty hard. I was so nervous and the wind was really gusty, my heat was really bad. But I tried to do my tricks and luckily I won. But my feeling about it was really bad. In the main event I was against a French girl. This time I was nervous too, even more than in the trials. I was really feeling like a beginner, and I was so ashamed. My heat was so bad and I lost the heat.

In the doubles the wind was still strong and gusty, I was with my 5m! I was doing a little bit better but I was against a French girl who was riding very powered. My feeling about this heat was a little bit better because I was less nervous than before. Onfortunately I lost the heat and was out of the competition.

This competition was a big lesson for me. I have to learn to control my nerves, because otherwise I don’t have to do a competition again. And I also need to be prepared before a competition like this. Hopefully next time I can do much better, because I know I can.

Now I am in Austria for another competition, so we were driving trough Italy for looking nice spots the last days. Unfortunately there was no wind in Italy, so we drove to Podersdorf already, because there is a good forecast for tomorrow. The competition will start on Thursday, it is an oldschool competition. When i’m kiting most of the time I do newschool tricks, so I will train tomorrow on my oldschool tricks, hope I can still do them!:)

Finally I have finished my all new video about Brasil in 2010, it has been a while since I posted a video so I hope you enjoy it! This is the first movie shot after my injury, and why not start really exotic by filming it in sunny Brasil…

Take a look, it is available in 720p HD

Annie de Jong Brasil 2010 from Tijn van Esch on Vimeo.

I’m very happy with my new sponsors for 2011: Underwave & Schwerelosigkite. Underwave is supporting me with many stuff I need for kiteboarding. Like wetsuits, harnesses, boardmaterials, bags etc. etc,

Schwerelosigkite is a German lifestyle brand and supports me with nice clothes.

Take a look at their websites to see the cool stuff they have!:

www.underwave.info
www.schwerelosigkite.com

I wish everyone a good and healthy 2011. For me 2010 was a difficult year, spending a lot of time in revalidation of my knee. But now i’m back and hope 2011 will be a better kite year for me without injuries!