On the Loose

For a long time I’ve been thinking of what to do next when it comes to Mega Loops.

I thought about jumping over a helicopter, some gnarly bridges and pieces of land to fly over. But that doesn’t really cut the deal for me, well the heli would be sick but after some investigation it’s just not that smart.

So I was thinking of making a mega loop, but when it’s on it’s halfway through the loop I want to yank it back the other way.

This will make the kite stall and have me freefall for a second. I’m fine with that, but what’s important, is to get the height and confidence to the max.

I always heard about this spot Pozo in Gran Canaria where it gets super windy and some good waves roll by from time to time.

Before I knew Red Bull was backing this stunt up and the On The Loose crew flew out to Gran Canaria. No one of us had ever been there so it was a bit of a gamble.

The forecast looked quite promising, but it’s windy there most of the time anyways.

We met up with Bjorn Dunkerbeck as he’s from there and knows all about the right conditions on the island. So he showed us some nice places, unfortunately the waves weren’t that big.

I mean, the wind was good, there wasn’t even a beach, the sand was blown away by the non-stop strong winds. So a rocky beach and strong winds are not the best set-up for kiteboarding. Although the locals were all rocking it pretty nicely, I mean I saw guys that were in their 40’s and they were still pulling some nice loops.

They just learned how to deal with it, that’s great, but as a holiday destination for beginner kiteboarders I would suggest something else.

Anyways, the stunt I was going to try. Yes! The first day out was pretty strong winds and the waves were ok…As the forecast seemed to improve I just focused on getting dialed in with my new 2011 gear.

My new boards are pretty dope, love the new Lunacy with it’s channels and concave set-up. Then the kites, I was riding my 7mtr Fuel on 17mtr lines which felt good.

I was only able to pull some big mega’s on that, but for the stunt I needed a 5mtr.

So I tried that out and it felt pretty good, got some biggies in there for sure.

We had booked a helicopter to capture the stunt from a different perspective. Unfortunately my ankle was killing me and the wind and waves weren’t as I hoped for. But I know that I’m comfortable enough to search for the right spot to rock this move out.

We didn’t get the stunt done, but I’m sure we got a nice section out of this trip.

Our good mate Gianni Aragno was chilling on an island next to us, so I gave him a call and he rocked up to have a session with us. After that we went to have some fun at the go-kart track.

He also brought his dj mixer and we had a nice night spinning in Pacha Club Gran Canaria. For me that was a sick experience!!

Aight, enjoy the pics for now. Episodes and highlights will follow in some weeks.

Peace!

Ruben

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