When Nathalie from Big Blue Boards got in touch to say they were hosting an event with Eva from Outbound Kite Travel, we couldn't resist coming along with buckets full of She Flies support.
(Check out Outbound Kite Travel in Dutch too with an epic blog of all things Kite)
They had an awesome spot at Surfschool Bergen aan Zee and while Corona chaos prevented both Josie from She Flies and Sylwia from Infinity Sport joining in person, the new virtual world helped while the awesome Leila - our Holland resident She Flies Ambassador - was on stand by like a boss to represent!
Leila has joined She Flies with bucket loads of support for women in sport, extreme sports for that matter and when she realised her values aligned with ours - she couldn't help but lean in and join the team.
Here's what Leila had to say about it...
Friday 21 Aug - Day 1
Together with Eva from Outbound Travel and Nathlä and Stephanie from Big Blue Boards we kicked off the event with a few girls shredding on the water - with of course some testing of the Big Blue Boards.
It was great to just be there and see the energy of Kite Girls Coming together - it was such a great environment to just be in.
The day started off with a light wind, but it quickly built up to 25 knots in a matter of minutes - it didn't stop building throughout the day, eventually reaching over 35+ knots!
As the day progressed and the wind started howling, we had more girls join the stand we were meeting at & we could see some flying high on the water!
We planned to do Trick Clinics today but we thought due to the safety concerns regarding the strong winds, we thought it was best to move them to Saturday.
It was a great day overall, a shame we didn't get the clinics in but it was full of chatting about all things kite; the wind, the weather and the next trick on the list. We packed up the gear and the stand and in the beautiful sunset, with crazy but beautiful ocean waves we walked home with pre-jitters for the next day, after a well deserved long nap!
Saturday 22 Aug - Day 2
It was such a shame that Sylwia couldn't make it from the UK with all of her amazing energy but we conquered the bad news by making most of the virtual world and we started off the day with Sylwia’s injury prevention workshop - via Skype!
The ladies listened and practiced their warm ups and it was so great to see later, they were practising on the beach before their sessions too!
The wind was strong today but girls went out regardless - some 9m's and even some 5m kites - I was proud to see them get out there!
The Kite clinics were a GO today and we saw some incredible improvement on the water. Riding in between all the girls you could even feel the stoke! With Eva and Nathlä on the sidelines, these girls were making their first jumps to both sides, techniques in jumping, keeping upwind in the big waves, jump transitions and having the ultimate goal and focus to feel comfortable and confident on the water. A lot of Big Blue boards were tested and many girls showed up for this beautiful windy and sunny day! Chatting and expanding the kite girls community by socialising was a big theme of Saturday.Â
Sunday 23 August - Day 3
Today started again with some fresh clinics as well as getting a chance to kite ourselves and meeting even more ladies.
Later on the day we had our She Flies talk about fear and the female mind where we eventually gathered a nice small group of people who were able to listen to the lecture (at a distance).
The talk was great and with women and one guy all interacting in the talk, they shared stories about their scary experiences in kiteboarding and relating to one another when it comes to fear. It's always so insightful to hear others stories.
The rest of the day was spent in the sun, on the water, chatting on the beach, exchanging contacts and making plans for future kite sessions! Today started off with strong wind but dropped to 12m weather throughout the day, which made just a perfect ending to an amazing weekend! We experienced every condition this weekend. We had huge waves, strong wind but we also had lighter wind on Sunday with amazing flat water lagoons!Â
It was so great to be asked as a guest to this great event organised by Outbound Kite Travel and Big Blue Boards, simply to encourage Kite Girls to Come Together. Thank you to Eva and Nathalie for organising this great initiative!
The event doesn't end here, you can grab a lesson with Eva as she is always teaching and IKO qualified : https://school.outboundkitetravel.nl
And don't forget to grab some goodies from the Outbound Kite Travel Shop, they've still got some beautiful items left from the weekend : https://shop.outboundkitetravel.nl
What do you reckon - shall we host an event with you in Holland? She Kites, the Holland edition. Watch this space.
Check out Outbound Kitetravel Instagram here
Check out Big Blue Boards Instagram here
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