Kristin Boese, Women's KPWT World Champion, at the final event in New Caledonia

Posted Thursday 13th December 2007

OK, it is done. I am sitting in the airplane and am on my way back to Australia. The season is finally over (it really has been a long and very busy one for me) and I am super happy to go home now (or at least what I call home for the winter) and to rest and relax a bit. In my luggage I have definitely the biggest trophy I ever won and it is a very beautiful one that will sure get a special spot at home, and here is the story to it:

Eighteen days ago I got onto a flight to Noumea/New Caledonia to do some freestyling and to prepare my body and my muscles for the last KPWT World Cup of the year as this one was about to kick off on the first day of December at one of Noumea's beaches. I freestyled at the competition spot every day and 2 days before the competition started I even went on a one day trip to the Dumbea pass with Magalie (super nice local girl that rips in the waves) and her local friends as this was where the Wave Masters competition was supposed to take part during the upcoming World Cup week. I did not only want to be prepared for the Freestyle, but also for the Waves competition.

Wave trip crew

To make it short, I had a good time, freestyling and wave riding and getting fit for one last time this year. However, this time it was a little different and I was nervous, more than usual ... Ainoha Garcia (Spain) and I were extremely close in the ranking for the Overall Championship Title, with me being a few points behind. I knew I had to ride extremely well and could not afford to make any mistakes. And I must say, this fact simply put me under quite a bit of pressure!

In front of my hotel

Local dances

During the last 2 years I had been able to secure my titles well in advance, giving me one or two events to still come up with the necessary points in case something goes wrong. This year it was up to the last event, and actually - as it turned out - to the very last minute! I can say it again: I WAS NERVOUS!

Event Site

But nevertheless, the first of December came closer and finally arrived. We registered in the morning and the Freestyle singles were started in the afternoon. I had a pretty good run and made it into the semi-finals which were to be continued the next day. In the semi-finals it was Hellen Barierre (France) against myself and Ainoha Garcia (Spain) against Marine Sudre (Australia). I had a good heat and made it into the final where I was expecting to meet Ainoha. I was watching the heat with Ainoha and Marine closely but with the wind being extremely strong Ainoha was not able to pull off her normal Slim, KGB and 313 but crashed some of her moves, still riding a solid heat but with Marine winning over her with some nice blind landings and smooth kiteloops and a good overall impression.

Uh, now it was me against Marine! But how would I go against her? The final turned out to be out super fun though! The wind had dropped a bit and we were both doing our best making it a close heat. But in the end I had a few more points on the judges sheet and managed to win the singles. "All right," I thought ... not a bad start.

The next day gave me a bit of a rest as the doubles would take some time. And then it happened: a cyclone made its way to Fiji where it was planning on staying for the next week or so – bad news for the wind on New Caledonia. Now the local forecast did not give us much hope for any wind for the rest of the comp but at the same time it could just kick in any minute again too. This for me was the worst thing to happen as it meant sitting around at the beach every day and all day to be ready in case the wind returns, knowing that if Ainoha comes back up in the doubles she could still beat me in both Freestyle competition and Overall ranking.

Race World Champion

And yes, we got some more wind... but only light wind, not quite strong enough for the doubles but enough for a course race which was also on the schedule for the comp. So we managed to do a 3 mile NISSAN course race on the 7th day of the competition (still 3 more to go). But even better, I actually managed to win the race, being followed by Marine in second (she is definitely a great rider!) and then again Ainoha in third. You can imagine how happy I was about this result as it meant great points for the Overall ranking, but also it meant that I would be the Course Racing KPWT World Champion of 2007 and I really love Course Racing and got totally into it this year (doing the races in SF and in the Gorge was just so much fun with everybody being so excited about it!). So, obviously the luck was on my side and I could hope for good things.

Wave World Champion

Still, nothing was sure yet. We still had a possible Wave Masters and a possible Double Elimination coming up. But yeah, we ended up not get any more wind which really was a bummer as not only did it mean much more sitting around and waiting, but it also meant we were not able to do the Wave Masters which we were all looking forward to so much – New Caledonia's perfect waves, the normal strong wind – yes it could have been perfect, but somehow was not meant to happen. And with no more wind also the Double did not happen and I really and seriously managed to win the KPWT Overall World Champion Title for 2007 together with Sebastien Garart (France) for the guys. I also won the KPWT Course Race World Champion Title, plus the KPWT Wave Masters World Champion Title (as I was first in the wave ranking before New Caledonia already, attempting all the Wave events of the season, but missing 2 freestyle and race events this year).

Winner, Freestyle New Caledonia event

Clinton with Men's World Champion Sebastien Garart

For me this was a seriously great end of a busy but very successful season 2007 with a seriously great trophy for the Overall title! I am super happy, very relieved and also pretty tired and I know will for sure enjoy the holidays to their fullest!!! I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and you will hear from me again next year!

Overall World Champion

~Kristin