After some epic sessions at home lately and a couple of surfs and kites at Porthleven this week, I am now ready and packed for the last leg of www.kspworldtour.com in Cape Verde. In my bag I have- 6'3 Resin8 Tokoro, 5'7 Resin8 Scoop, 6'0 North Wam, 2012 North Rebels 7 & 9m. The perfect quiver to surf and kite and looks like we are going to get some good swell on the weekend. Just hope theres enough getting into Ponta Preta in the next few days to get used to it as not been there for a few years now.
Been testing out the Dynabar from Jay this past week and had some good sessions at Gwithian as well as Lev so tried it out on my backhand as well as frontside. Seems good and allows you to get round a bit more on your turns without twisting your side. Check out the pics where you can see it working. Big thanks to Joe Cockle from www.jnpevents.co.uk for the pics. Be sure to check out the gallerys on his site for all the action here in West Cornwall.

I am running some coaching holidays in the New Year in conjunction with www.sportif.travel
Firstly a wave and freeride camp to Dakhla, Maroc 5th - 12th Feb
and an Improver camp to Sagafa, Egypt 24th Feb - 2nd March
more details on website http://www.pastyadventures.co.uk/holidays.html 

cheers
lee

I am currently on route to the first KSP World Tour event, The
One Eye Pro in Mauritius. 

I would like to thank my sponsors, especially Sportif for sorting my flight, and North Kiteboarding, The BKSA, Queens Basement Hair & Beauty for helping with entrance fees and my other sponsors- Freeriders surf shop, Rip Curl, Resin8 surfboards and Wiley X eyewear for their continued support with the best equipment you can get.

In my bag I’ve  got 4 boards- 6’6 Ultimate Style Nigel Semmens semi gun, 6’3 Resin8 Tokoro pin, 6’0 Resin8 Scoop and the new 2012 North Wam 6’0 along with 2012 Rebels 11,9,7 a 25 and 22m bar. This is my quiver I am going to be using for all the KSP events and is the perfect travel quiver to surf and kite. I’ve not packed any straps so cannot be tempted or talked into putting any on even if its 20ft which I hope it is!

 I’d also like to thank Eddie Vale who is letting me leave my stuff at his house in Brighton in 2 weeks when I fly back from Mauritius as I’m then off to Amsterdam to meet Tara for a few days holiday, before coming home to work for 7 days and then back to Eddies pick up my bags and off to Peru and the longest waves in the World.

 Tara is currently in Sweden volunteering in Play Parks, learning from the inventors of modern children’s play, to report back to Play England and push this much needed part of youth development forward in Cornwall and the whole of the UK. Partly funded by the Lady Allen Trust, she has taken time off work, been learning Swedish and done all of the work herself to create some amazing contacts. I’m so proud of her and can’t wait to see her for a couple of days relaxing and sightseeing in a fortnight.

 At Pasty Adventures we now have the full range of 2012 North Surfboards available to demo and so far I am super impressed with all the boards now being nice and light. 

The Wam is the allround model, suited for strapless as well as strapped riding, the 6’0 is amazing for riders over 80kg while if you are 70-80 the 5’10 and under 70 the 5’8. I prefer the thrusters set up, but the quad option does give you more drive in onshore conditions.

The Kontact is aimed at big wave riding but it also works really well in onshore (which was a big surprise to me) due to its narrower shape allowing you to lay down full speed carves without bouncing out. It is also real fast and smooth in choppy water. If you like going fast and carving big cutbacks into the pocket, in chunky onshore conditions then this is probably the board for you.

The Whip this year comes in 2 sizes and I’ve found it performs best when ridden with straps. The 5’8 has a fair bit of volume and is good for over 80kg riders and the 5’6 under 80kgs, who mostly ride strapped in onshore or cross on waves up head high, if you ride in bigger stuff, I’d recommend the Wam.

 The last 2 boards are the X Surf 5’11 and Nugget 5’0 which I haven’t had time to get on yet but both look really exciting as strapless boards. The X Surf is going to be my board for strapless fun in not ideal waves up to head high while the Nugget is a chop and small wave fun strapless jumping board.
 If you want to demo any of the boards I will have them in the van
when I’m back or email lee@pastyadventures.co.uk

 All the demo boards will also be available to test on our wave clinics and coaching holidays this winter.

 Thanks and stay tuned to www.kspworldtour.com for live coverage of the world
championship tour.

 Lee

thanks to Mike Newman for taking some great pics last week. If you want to purchase any you can contact him at ocean-image.com

Race training at marazion cornwall.
Kit - North race ltd 69, Fuse 14m.
Wind - 10-16knts, max speed 26.4knts, upwind/downwind course.
Boats are musto skiffs practising before their nationals.

The KSP have just released details of the upcoming event at One Eye, one of if not the best kitesurfing wave on the planet. Can't wait to get there but still in need of some sponsors to help me represent Cornwall and the UK on the highest level world championship tour. See below for the offical press release-

July 21, 2011: The inaugural Mauritius One Eye Pro is set to kick off this year’s KSP World Championship Tour and promises to deliver high caliber, action packed kite surfing. From September 23 to 29, 2011, (with a possible extension period until October 2, 2011) the world’s best kite surfers will vie for the first of three coveted KSP World Tour event titles.

The event will take place at One Eye, a world-class kite surf wave located directly in front of the Indian Resort and Spa at the base of the Le Morne Mountain, a World Heritage Site, renowned for it’s stunning scenery, pristine turquoise waters and perfect surf.  

Local organizer Patrick Desvaux de Marigny states: "We are proud to be able to bring the first ever stop of the KSP world championship tour to One Eye in Le Morne, Mauritius. This event will go down in history, not only for being the launch of an amazing tour with a big future but also for radical wave conditions that give the riders the ability to express their kite surfing styles and techniques to the max."

The KSP is excited to announce it's cooperation with some amazing local partners and sponsors, such as the main event partner the Indian Resort and Spa that agreed not only to host the event, but to also supply free accommodation for the world’s top 24 male and 12 female kite surfers.

Nadine Cameleyre, Managing Director of the Apavou group says: “The Indian Resort and Spa is scattered amidst a succession of lush tropical gardens of 7 hectare, bordered by immense, pristine beaches of white sand just in front of the surfers’ mythical spot One Eye. It is within this exceptional site that the KITE SURF PRO world championship tour event will be held in September 2011. It is with much joy that the Indian Resort is associating in this event as a main sponsor. Through this worldwide event, the Indian Resort shows its implication in the development of this sport in Mauritius and in the promotion of the spot & the destination.”

Additional partners for the Mauritius One Eye Pro include Mauritours Ltd. Travel & Tourism Company, the local travel partner that will also offer free airport/hotel shuttles for all riders, as well as Club Mistral Mauritius, the KSP logistics partner for the event.

The KSP is honored to be working with such an exemplary list of sponsors and partners and is looking forward to a very exciting Mauritius One Eye Pro and the kickoff event to the 2011 KSP World Championship Tour.

For any further info please visit www.kspworldtour.com or contact us at info@kspworldtour.com

Hi all.
Ive just put up a news article on my winter here in Cornwall http://www.leepasty.co.uk/news.html with some great pics. Still working on some video but should be up soon.
Enjoy and hope to see you somewhere windy and wavey soon.
Lee

Check out the latest issue of Kitesurf magazine which features an interview of myself as well as loads of other great stuff.

Today a huge swell hit and I think even bigger than forecasted.
I headed out at Towans around 1.30pm on a 9m 2011 Rebel and strapless on my Resin8 6'3 Tokoro pin. I had 3 decent waves before it got too light to go safely down the line so I came in and changed up to the trusty 11m.
The swell peaked at around 3pm and bottom turning on a few that were 4 times overhead in such light wind the adrenaline was pumping especially being out by myself. The wind then dropped another knot or so and made it super dodgy with the amount of water moving and some of the wave closing out all the way to Godrevy. With the escape route being hampered the tide being too high and 10ft of white water crashing against the cliffs, i called it a day after having around 20 waves with some nice turns on the few I ad enough wind on.
Definately the biggest waves I have ridden strapless on a kite and the biggest anywhere except for Margaret River.
A couple of windsurfers tried to go out just after but couldn't get no where near out back.
Pics are taken form top of sand dune 100+ft up but you can get an idea of size.
With a cacking forecast for the rest of the week, lets hope its the start of an awesome winter.
Ye Ha!