This year saw 4 members of the Flexifoil team heading to the Mondial Du Vent. As the landboarders were going down for MBS also they decided to drive the entire length of France to get to the event, while the buggiers decided to fly and pick up a hire car the other end. Due to insurance restrictions the buggiers had to fly into Spain then drive upto into France!
On the Friday morning Craig Sparkes & Will Mckean boarded a BA flight for Barcelona, loaded up with their bags full of kite gear they made the 2 hour flight. It only took 30 minutes from landing to getting the hire car and being on the road. After a short 3 hour drive the buggiers arrived at the small coastal resort called Leacute. One thing that hits you straight away is how much, time, effort & planning has gone into the event. You see large billboards about the event from miles away. Once you drive down the road into the main town of La Franqui you see how big the event is. With the town being sent up, and tapped off so that only event participations & residents could gain access.
On the Friday afternoon most of the other riders turned up. Craig & Will met up with Peter Vanden Busche (European Flexifoil Distributor) who would be looking after them while they were in France. That evening they headed to Nicolas’s Grandma’s holiday home where they would be staying for the week. The Landboarders started their journey leaving the uk at 6pm Friday night.
Day 1 - Saturday morning was the first day of the land event so the riders went into town to get settled in. The 2 buggiers went down to beach to check out the surface and see what it was like. As the wind was blowing strong off-shore so the riders chilled out in the town. In the afternoon the wind calmed down so the riders headed to beach and got set up. By this time Mark & Lewis arrived after their mammoth trip down. The wind was still off shore but pretty strong. The landboarders went out for a session on their new Ion Three’s and Craig opted for a 6.5 Blade IV. After sessioning it and getting warmed up Craig went down onto a Blurr and went for some speed runs against the locals and was joined by Will on the Blurr also. That evening everyone headed back and chilled out.
Day 2 - Sunday Brought almost the complete oppisite to the day previous, light winds and bang on shore, much to the relief of the riders. All the locals were saying it would increase during the day as a sea breeze, and they were correct. In the morning all the riders went out and sessioned, the buggiers choose 8.5 Blade IV’s & the landboarders opted for 12.5 IonThree’s.
All the riders went off, going large and freestyling to the max, this was the first time people had seen freestyle buggying so this was something that gained a lot of attention, much to delight of Craig & Will. Throught the day the riders rode hard showing what it was all about.
Day 3 – Monday Saw the end of the PKRA so the riders watched the final of this before heading to the event site. Again the winds were pretty strong and off-shore again. The landboards opted for 8.5 Ion Three’s & the buggiers went out on 6.5 Blade IV’s. As the wind was not very clean the riders headed up the beach to see how far it could go, freestyling one what they found on the way up there. The riders were joined by Snowkite team rider, Matt Blanchard who showd he was rather nifty on a landboard also! After sessioning for a few hours the riders called it a day.
Day 4 – As the PKRA was over, several of the riders came down for a session. As Kirsty Jones was staying with the riders also she invited all her female friends down so the beach was soon filled with all the female kite surfers giving it a go. This went down very well for all the riders on the beach.
With so many riders on the beach the team wanted to show what could be done, so the buggiers choose 4.0 & 4.9 Blade IV’s. Craig & Will went off with a couple of Double Kite Loops from Craig and some sweet rotations from Will. Mark & Lewis went out and did some nice loops & kite loops tricking it up.
That evening was the Stance party which was one hell of a party, this involved plenty of drinking games and fun into the early hours of the morning.
Day 5 – This was the final day and with light winds so the riders went out on a chilled out crusing session, it was a great way to just have some fun and enjoy and relax on the final day of the event.
Day 6 – The buggiers packed their stuff and made their way to the airport for the short flight home to the UK. As the landboarders were travelling back a few dyas later they chilled out in the local area before making the long drive back to the UK.
All the riders would like to thank Peter for all his support at the event – Click Here to go to his website.
Also a big thanks to Flexifoil for supporting the riders and making it all possible. – Click here to go to the Flexifoil website.
