Kitethrills Mauritius 2011

Kitethrills Mauritius 2011 trip was brilliant or to use the words of Kitethrills team rider Tom McGreggor ‘hell good’ or  Billy the super grom ‘fully sick’.  I’d like to start by thanking each person who came for providing such a fun vibe and atmosphere.   Lisa and I have commented on several occasions since returning on the fact that we miss the group dynamics and good times.

The full report!

So, what was it like?  The pictures taken by pro photographer Stephan Kleinlein speak volumes – click on this gallery to see our favourites or on Stephan’s website to view them all plus his other amazing work.  Stephan worked tirelessly, editing for hours every day so each evening we could all oooh and ahhh to a montage of the day’s events.

There were some great times at Le Morne and it was fantastic to see the stoke at the end of the day whether it was from friends trying the smaller surf for the first time, nailing a new move in the flat water  or advanced riders ripping one eye to pieces.

We had big days and small days at One-eye (the world famous left and location for the first round of the KSP in September).  A memorable experience was seeing Pete’s kite get eaten by a monster wave (and Stephan’s photo montage of the incident).  It was also thrilling to see so many Kitethrills trippers on the break and on the few occasions when the wind dropped out at the end of the day, we were very glad to see Christopher coming for us in our boat support.

The group atmosphere was awesome with plenty of laughs to go around.  Tom masterminded several firework displays – the kind you see on new years eve.  We had nights Sega dancing by the pool, live reggae at the local and even a gourmet burger night where some of the crew out did themselves in the kitchen.    I personally loved the moments around the table when someone would say something hilarious that would have us in stitches or the evenings playing guitar by the pool.  No-wind highlights included surfing and SUPing the local breaks, an epic day zip lining, mantaboarding, scuba diving, swimming with dolphins, visiting the local markets and sightseeing places such as the Casela wildlife park, Indian temple and the town of Chamarel.

Matt Pendle (good friend and GK designer) was a terrific help providing local knowledge and mooring his yacht in the lagoon towards the end of the trip.     We were also lucky to have Ozone designer, Rob Whittall on the trip who was there with sponsored team rider Tom McGreggor to complete a photo shoot for the new Ozone REO kites.  Rob was awesome, providing lots of laughs, some great kiting and was also very handy on a SUP.   The new REO lived up to the hype with Tom frothing after his first session (and for several after) and Rob explaining that to date there had been no negative feedback on the kite to date and what a rare thing this was for the industry.

The unseasonal weather pushed us to explore kite spots on the north and eastern side of the island that we’d never been to and we discovered an awesome flat-water location on the east plus undertaking two epic 18km downwinders in the North with the help of the GK school, Kite Zone.   The unseasonal weather cemented Mauritius as a travel destination for us as we were able to kite over 75% of the time with the locals claiming it was the worst year in over 20.

I personally had a blast and can’t wait for next year.   Thank you again to all the awesome people who made this trip amazing.

We’ll be announcing the exact dates for next year very soon – we’re looking at going from mid June to mid August 2012.   If you’re interested in coming next year and want to know more or would like to make a booking, call us on 07 5438 8118

Here are a few of the pics but click here for the full gallery .