Invited some friends and had a really good time, laughing and dancing.

Of course Red Bull had to step it up so they got us picked up in a big van with five beautiful girls in there.

We were totally surprised and when we got to the party the girls didn’t want any drinks.

Nah they walked away and came back a bit later but this time with a really impressive dance.

We were onto the third bottle of Vodka by then, so it all worked out great.

Our mates enjoyed the party and a few free drinks as well, so big props to Red Bull for putting on a great party.

Haha here’s some pics for you.

Yes yes, we’ll show you the footage when we’re ready. More to come…

I’m drinking a lot of water and quit drinking from now on… Heard that one before.

Check ya later.
R

After injuring my ankle in Brazil, I thought I wouldn’t need everything in New Cal. So I left like a 40kg weighing boardbag behind at the hotel in Auckland. That was a smart move as there was a big argument going down at the airport, they made us pay per kilo. I sooo hate that and can not believe they want us to pay 1000’s of dollars just to take out sporting equipment.

Anyways, Azza and I just slammed down the creditcard and dealt with it.

Our mate Tom Hebert who we’ve met at several kiteboarding competitions and trips around the world actually lives in Noumea. He was telling us for years to pass by and see the beautiful island. Now we are here, he picked us up from the airport with one of his mates. I like it when you know locals at the place, it just makes you get into the normal life easier and see cooler things. Just hanging out with his friends, drinking some beers…It’s nice.

But our first mission on the island was to meet Red Bull and set-up a meeting with the camera crew. This all went pretty smooth and Red Bull is throwing a party for Aaron and me. That’s gonna be sweet.
So we discussed what the plans were gonna be, first Aaron had to deal with the last PKRA competition. There had only been four comps this year and coming to the spot here seemed quite smooth at the beginning but taking a closer look. They had build all kinds of tents and containers straight upwind from the competition area which made the spot way more gusty than it should be. This was pretty disappointing as this was supposed to be the smoothest location yet.
Anyways, the comp didn’t run that nicely for Aaron. He ended up on a 4th place. I was chilling on the beach during the comp and have been entertained for sure. A beer in the hand, seeing either big moves or big wipe-outs. That’s pretty funny to watch.

So the comp has finished and the Red Bull party is about to kick off in two days.
Monday we’ll make a plan and start shooting at some more spots around the island. Living the life, going spearfishing, maybe catch a huuugggee lobster, we’ll see.

Peace n chat later.
Ruben

I didn’t want to believe it and went for a session anyways to check how bad it was. ..I went out and got really upset, it looked like I had redone my old injury on my left ankle.

I’m going to have it properly checked out and taken care of as soon as we get to New Cal. Try and get an MRI-scan to see what the damage is.

Unbelievable, on a big trip with Aaron and I fuck myself up again.

I had big plans to fully update and film for OnTheLoose.tv on our trip.

The first few days I was too upset to do anything, so I held back for a bit. I realized that injuries come with the job and that I need to keep my head up and stay positive. So from now on I’ll just be filming Aaron’s sessions and living the lifestyle on the side with some ankle exercises and long beach walks.

Harsh deals!!!

Well that was the story of my week in Brazil.

We’re off to New Caledonia now, it’s a biiigg trip…We’ll fly from Fortaleza – Sao Paulo – Santiago – Auckland – Noumea…With some time between the flights it will take us a good 50hrs. Gheghe…Will keep ya posted.

Peace and take care.

R

Riki got the crew together and we all drove to the lagoon at half an hour away.

The wind was pretty light and I took out my 11m and some boots which ended up in an underpowered, depressing first session.

But how bad can it be, the sun was shining. I was over it and Aaron just went out to pull some moves. I got the cam and shot some nice tricks, he’s got some sick style with his fast, powered and low moves that he has been working on…Really technical, tweaked and properly grabbed.

I got myself a nice sunburn and we all headed back to the center.

With the sunset the wind was still pretty light but I took out my 13m this time and just had enough power to deal with a few moves. Although I didn’t really enjoy it as I have to get used to the light wind…if I ever will?! :S

I had a weird landing on one of the moves and thought it wasn’t too bad.

I was at home for a while waiting for some storms to pass by unfortunately we didn’t get the goods.

I was speaking to Aaron who had been in Brazil for a while again, riding hard and having a good time. I was up for some riding for sure so we came up with a sick schedule that we’ll hit together.

10Nov – 17Nov : Brazil

18Nov – 6Dec    : New Caledonia

7Dec    – 20Jan   : Cape Town

21Jan   – 7Feb    : Australia

8Feb    – 5Mar    : Cape Town

I packed my bags and flew to Fortaleza, Brazil. Our Italian friends Riki and Gigi who we’ve met several times over the past years traveling found a nice place in Brazil last year and started up a kiteschool and pousada. Prokitebrazil.com

Aaron and Gigi came to pick me up from the airport and it was great to see the guys again.

They took me to the place and it all looks nice, there’s a nice lagoon right out front at the kite center.

We ended the day with some nice Caipirina’s.

Check back for updates on how the event is going or check out the Lagos Video at AaronHadlow.com

The new A-frame rail’s so freaking smooth to hit, especially when it’s set-up in the slick.

I had an epic week here and the parties were amazing too, some cool bands were throwing down from Sunset to 11 and then we moved on to the after-party house, the Bonzaiii!!

Riders really standing out for me was team mate Dylan Thompson who’s a pro-snowboarder in wintertime and rocks it up on the kiteboard in summer.

It was great to see him throw down his mellow snow/skate style on the rails.
Also Greg Norman jr. who rides a lot of cable and plays his game of golf so now and then. He really showed some tight stuff with the kite low.

Dre was going full speed and with a sick style once again, Aaron was on his moves as usual so it was just epic being out there with so many good riders.

The event was judged by the riders and media crew so that was sick.

In the end I had two good results that I was pretty stoked with.

3rd place in the Rails and 3rd place in Best session…

Aaron took 1st place in Men’s Slick devision and a nice 3rd place Overall.

I can’t wait to have more events with this kind of format and style.

I want to thank all the crew at Real Kiteboarding for the great hook-up and care.
Trip, Matt, Sleazy, Bryan and all of ya thanks.

Aight, we’ll have ontheloose.tv updates with episodes in the next weeks!!
I’m still on the road now so you’ll have to wait a bit.

I’m off to California with Aaron in a couple days, then to the Gorge for a week.
It’s gonna be fun.

Keep ya in the loop.

Shot, peace out!

Ruben

They’ve also got a great teaching system overhere and got plenty of jet-skis and other stuff to do on no-wind days.

Last year we had an epic event here, although the wind wasn’t that great then.
Now 3 days in the event I feel like I’ve had the 3 best days of my life.

It’s just such a sick place here, they’ve got sick houses for the riders to crash in.

Full on swimming pool, Jacuzzi and sound system house, you know what I mean?
I felt right home when I entered the front door.
So having that all good we couldn’t wish for more.

But there was more, the first day of the event the wind was in and they just got the new rail in.
An 80 ft A-frame that came in from the Project, a legit wakeboard spot in Orlando.

So having that in for the first day everybody was stoked on riding and dialed themselves in on the rail.
For now it was still laying out front real which was a bit choppy, but still fun to hit.

Last time I rode so much in one day was, eehh, I can’t remember.
Like a full four hour sessions. I was dead.

The next day into the event we didn’t score it with the conditions but it was a beautiful and clear day.
Everybody was happy to chill and later we put the jet-ski and the rails out which created some nice action.

It was a great feeling to session the rail behind a ski during sunset.
Time to call it a day after we threw down a little party at the Bonzai house.
Pppfff people got kained!! Good timezzz…

Today was an epic day as well, really insane.
We woke up pretty hungover and the house was all messy so I didn’t really wanna get up.
But then Bellsy and Ryan actually cleaned the place and served Aaron and me breakfast on bed, we couldn’t believe our luck.
So we finally got out of bed and chilled and dj’d around a little, then we headed to Real.

The wind seemed to be kicking in slowly.
At 2PM everyone went out to the Slick(Flat water about 500mtr up from Real).
They had us totally sorted and the rails were all in place ready to get sessioned.
I was on my 11m and totally enjoyed every minute of my 2,5hr session.
People were really throwing down and pushing themselves, guys like Dylan Thompson from the Gorge, who’s actually killing it in the snow these days. He was having it well nice with some good style to it.

Greg Norman, Brandon Sheid, Aaron Hadlow, Jason Slezak, Davey Blair and a whole lot of others where getting sick hits.

We came in and ate a lot of food, really a lot. Drank a water and a beer…

Then we headed out to the Slick on our 9m as the wind had picked up.
We had a sick sunset session and I landed a smooth gap 3 over the A-frame, stoked on that.

So yeah, now I’m really dead and looking forward to my last zip of beer.

Take it eaazzzeee..
Rubes

LEN10’s going with Green is the new Black look…So for 2010 you’ll be able to pimp it out with some green flavor to it.
I’m psyching on it and meeting up with the international Mystic team was cool.
Fuerteventura is a pretty Mooney Island, by that I mean that the landscape is al rocky and sandy/dusty, just like the Moon right? I’ve never been there but ok you get it.

The crew created a nice work flow and it involved Mystic marketing/r&d man Max Blom jr., he made the trip run smooth and had all the clothes in at the right time and place.
Photographer Joris Lugtigheid, he’s a real precise and good photographer.
I’ve been shooting with him a lot and everytime he impresses me with the unique shots he takes. It can be really hard sometimes…

On the trip we also had mr. Frank Borghstijn filming most of the stuff.
The action won’t be too insane but we had some nice riding in.
It was just a bit gusty and harsh to deal with sometimes.

Orlando is a local surfer on the Island and he helped us out well good with logistics and info.

Bruna and I are stoked to be leaving to Cape Hatteras, USA tomorrow.
We’ve got an insane competition/freeride event going on, the Triple-S.
Real Kiteboarding has got a sick set-up there.

Keep ya in the LOOP.

LTR
R

While she was over here I took the chance to show her around some of my favorite and typical Dutch places.

I think she really enjoyed it, I took her to Bloemendaal Beach which is a pretty famous and modern in Holland.
Clubs and bars on the beach, it goes off in summertime.

After that we drove to the racing circuit in Zandvoort, I was driving my Seat Freetrack and the next day we had a Seat Leon Cupra 310Hp available for a spin.

So I was checking if there was a possibility to race on the track, but it was all reserved and booked out.
Bummer!

Anyways we drove to my place, chilled out and rested a little…Then we went on to the market, I love the market.
It’s a funny vibe, good food for a good price.

And Bruna was obviously in on the Dutch candy, haha she even got to scoop it herself!
I bet she couldn’t believe her luck, swimming in candy…gheghe!

I made a phonecall to Dutch Water Dreams and they had place for us to go flowboarding that evening.

As Bruna had never done it before she really enjoyed it and was actually pretty good for the first time…

Driving the Seat Cupra 310 was an awesome experience as well, going rad in between 5 and 7RPM…Whhoooooomm!!!

I will see Bruna in a few days when we will be shooting all the 2010 Mystic products in Fuerteventura.

Check ya later.
Ruben