Last week the Urla Surf House in Gulbahce,Turkey, hosted its first international kiteboarding event. With wakestyle and wakeskate being the chosen disciplines for the competition, it was obviously going to be exciting to see how a new event would play out in a new location.
We caught up with Dutch national rider Alex Maes to hear about the action, the spot and the event.
“The Kick and Slide was a competition to remember. Hosted in one of the top kite parks in the world, the good winds and location drew in plenty of good riders. The line up was full of new faces, including fellow French National Team Rider Aymeric Martin, who impressed me on the kicker with some solid riding and Mobe 5’s. Quite a few local riders showed up for the competition and I was able to see them improving during the event. I’m sure this place is going to generate some serious new comers to the wakestyle movement. With everything that’s going on with the World Tour, more and more riders are trying to expand their riding horizons and not limit themselves to one discipline, which in my opinion can only be a positive thing for kiteboarding.
As my first wakestyle competition, it was really fun to participate under the Kite Park League format where riders get 3 hits on each feature, all the while riding together to push each other. I’m stoked on my 2nd place in the sliders, and 3rd place overall. It was a great experience and motivation for the Triple S invitational. I’m happy to be part of a brand that is actively supporting the kite parks around the world, and this one was no exception. North gave away a brand new Gambler 139cm to the most motivated newcomer of the event, who i’m sure we’ll see throwing down some solid moves in the future.
It’s amazing to see more and more kite parks opening up around the world. What was great to see was the support give by the Hipnotics cable park to Urla, who send over the rails that they are no longer using to the kite park. As you can imagine, with this kind of support Urla is sure to grow into something really impressive in the near future.
Keep an eye on Urla Surf House for some more events to come, and an official stop of the Kite Park League. Whether you are looking for a place to hit your first obstacles, or to push your newest moves, then Urla is definitely the place for your next trip.”
source: north kite boarding
