vita mea » 2008 Australia

NOTALENT: West Oz

kimandre — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 11:16:59 +0000

Filmen fra Vest Australia 2008/09

NOTALENT: West Oz from Kim Andre Norheim on Vimeo

Our last days

kimandre — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 08:16:38 +0000

Our last days are closing in on us. We have 5 more days left, and we are going to try and ship the kitegear out tomorrow from the post-office. Then we are off for a couple of days down in Perth trying to gather some last things and sell the car.

We have had 3 great months in Western Australia, the winds have been incredible and so have all of our new friends. My personal progression has been good, I have gotten in a few new moves. Now we are psyched to get home and try the snow, hopefully I will be able to pass on the new moves I have learned on water to snow.

I’m very proud of my girlfriend, she has taken the sport so fast. The last couple of days she has been ripping in the waves and managed to still stay upwind and have a good time.

My bad luck

kimandre — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 09:03:02 +0000

Well, this 3 month trip I have been followed by bad luck. Today I got another setback, it’s a minor one, but still. Lost a chickenloop (very lucky that I have 2 bars with me, or else there would have been no more kiteing for me). So now my list of bad luck is running the following items (if I haven’t forgotten any).

I have lost my kite 3 times (leash snapped, released or chakle breaking).
My board got smashed within the first week.
Both my shins got smashed by my board, weeks apart.
Lost 3 fins from the new board I bought.
I have lost 1 chickenloop (snapped out and sunk to the bottom)

They say bad usually comes in 3, so you need 3 bad things to happen before your luck will turn. But still … can’t complain, we have had an epic trip and I feel that I have finally arrived at a decent level of riding.

My search for internet

kimandre — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 07:08:56 +0000

We are again residenting in Lancelin, and the last couple of days it has been 13m2 weather. So I have been working on all my moves on my right side. Nailed some and crashed alot.

We where clever enough to buy a 3 prepaid SIM card to allow us to connect to the internet for 40 dollars (4 GB). Unfortunatly there is no 3g coverage in Lancelin, so the thing is useless up there. Today we hit up a National Park, and tryed to find some 3g coverage. Well, we had to drive 1,5 hours to get some 3g coverage and internet with the 3 SIM card.

So my advice to anybody wanting to use 3 in Western Australia, stay in Perth or one of the big cities. Up north you will find no coverage.

Trick: Slim Chance

kimandre — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:00:15 +0000

The Slim Chance is one of the fastest handelpass tricks I have ever learned while kiteboarding. It took a grand total of 2 days to get it down. The hole secret was to do them the oposite way of what I had previously done. Using my strong arm (right hand) to hold the bar and passing it to my weak arm (left arm).

A tiny guide
1. Ride alittle downwind and unhook (i still keep the kite pretty high on theese ones)
2. Take off by throwing yourself into an inverted frontroll
3. Try and bend your backleg as you start to get fully inverted
4. At the apex concentrate on having the bar close to your hips and push up with your backleg
5. Turn around and reach for the bar on the other side
6. Hold on like crazy on the bar if you go to high, cause it will try and snap out of your hand
7. Bend your knees to absorve the landing

Trick: Slim Dive

kimandre — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:38:13 +0000

How to crash with style.

My epiphany

kimandre — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 03:27:13 +0000

In the last couple of days I have gotten an epiphany, I have strugled with the “Slim Chance” and “Backmobe” so long that I don’t really know when I started trying for them. I have finally started to nail the low “backmobe”, then someone said to me: “Ey, you should try your trix the other way if your right-handed”. Well … what do you know. The “Slim Chance” suddenly became much more in-range, after just acople of hours on the water.

This acctually means, I can do the “backmobe” on my switch side (the side that is not my strong side), and almost the “blind judge” on my switch side. So now my mission has became clear, start trying them the other way so I might be able to stick them faster (I have spent almost 1,5 years getting the backmobe on my switch side).

Nick (our Swedish friend) has gotten all his mates over, so Damian’s house is now filled with about 10 people! A bunch of really cool and skilled riders from Sweden.

We hit the “Kitejam” in “Safety bay” acouple of days ago, and the level there was just off the hooks.
Some proffessional riders where there, and man what a show they put on. The power, the twists and turns, and the stuff they went for was just unbelivable (oh … to be young again). Damo showed his awesome level of riding with throwing anything from huge wakestyle moves to unbelivable board offs with double backflips and getting the board back on his feet before landing. He is an incredible stylish rider (and would have gotten my vote for the win). On the other hand (on the note of sounding selfish), it’s very very very good to see the guys having that many crashes. It makes me feel that I’m not that far away from the level they are riding at. Almost every other trick from all the riders resulted in spectacular crashes.

My prodige

kimandre — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:38:29 +0000

So, my girlfriend just started taking up kiteboarding. And guess what … well now she is shooting upwind like a rocket, letting go with one hand to twist her hips so she can go upwind more, and turning. All this in less than a month …. it took me about 6 months just getting up on the board, and don’t get me started on how long it took me to go upwind. Incredible!

We are still camping in our awesome car, alittle here and alittle there. Mainly we travel between Safety Bay, Mandurah and Freemantle.

My own progression is getting pretty good, and I’m real happy with the level I’m starting to arrive at. My backmobes are now landed about 80% of the time, now it’s time to start working on the frontmobes and slim chance.

My crash and burn

kimandre — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:35:16 +0000

You allways know it’s been a good day when your knees are soar and your entire body feels like it’s been in a wrestling match with someone twice your size. Then you know that you at least went for some new stuff and hopefully the next time, you wont get so beaten up.

What a freaking awesome sport!

Trick: Jump to blind

kimandre — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:01:36 +0000

One of my favoritte moves, just so much fun to do. This will be a perfect way to practice landing blind.

A tiny guide
1. Take off by sending the board upwind quite a bit and rotate your hips to land toeside
2. Hold the bar close to your hips
3. Now you have twisted the hips, untwist them by sending them and the board the oposite way
4. Let go with your fronthand and land blind
5. Take 60% of the landing with your backfoot
6. Pass the bar (if this is proven difficult cause the kite is to high, bend forward and stick your arse out to get the bar)