PKRA TOUR STOP#1: VENEZUELA: The first two days: No wind, no competition, and no Yargas

Posted Thursday April 19th 2007

Tuesday 17 April - Wednesday 18 April

Sadly, nothing happened on the first two days of the tour stop in Coche, Venezuela. There wasn't any wind.

Which is very sad, because Coche, with its nice flat water, is a prime location for a freestyle competition, and it would have been a great place to start off the year. Tuesday and Wednesday were to be held on Coche, but from Thursday on, the competition would move to El Yaque, where the water is choppy and the wind can be gusty, which is more challenging for the riders.

And with the level of riding where it is right now, and with the stress of competiton, and with the added pressure to do well at the first stop of the season, the last thing the riders need are any additional challenges.

International team rider Bas Koole has been providing daily updates via his blog. It's nice to finally have a team rider at the events giving daily reports on what's going on. To read Bas's Blog, right click here and open in a new window.

I've also asked Bas to (privately) get me the REAL story of what goes down at the PKRA. I want the dirt! The drama! And I think an "Untold Story of the PKRA: Exposed!" series is highly in order. I get tired of rummaging through the elimination ladders trying to figure out who beat who, tired of the dry technical reports on 20 knots of wind, 11m kites, and all the insane tricks that everyone's throwing down. In between the double handlepasses and the switch mobes, I want the love triangles, the betrayals, the barroom brawls, the catfights!

Sadly, I don't think the other riders would be into such an expose, however, so it probably wouldn't go over very well. We'd probably end up having to enroll Bas into a Witness Protection Program and alter his identity ... maybe make him look a little less like Aaron Hadlow or something. But it sure would be a lot more fun for me. But I digress.

Here's what's supposed to happen on the first day of the competition. A total of 32 men and 16 women can compete in the main event, so if more than that show up, they hold a qualifying round to get the numbers down. Riders who placed well on last year's tour are prequalified and go right to the main event. This time, due to the number of riders that showed up, a qualifying round wasn't necessary, and everyone could take part in the main event.

Exactly 32 men showed up ... usual suspects like Alvaro Onieva, Kevin Langeree, Ruben Lenten, Aaron Hadlow, Youri Zoon, and Cesar Portas .... and 12 women, including last year's superstars Bruna Kajiya, Jo Wilson, Ania Grzelinska, Angela Peral, and wonderkid KPWT 2006 World Champ Gisela Pulido.

But on Tuesday, the first possible starting day, there wasn't any wind. Nor was there wind on Wednesday. So everyone sat around and waited for wind that never came. Also waiting around for things that never came was the Best team, who were sitting around waiting for their 2007 9m Yargas.

On April 6th, I sent four 9m 07 Yargas ... one for each of them. The last UPS scan had them in Caracas, on the 10th. But now? No one knows. UPS is "investigating the whereabouts of the package," and will fax me the results within 8 days time. I keep calling them on the phone, but no one knows anything. So now the riders have to ride their 06 kites. And if the kites show up after everyone has left? Bas will still be there for awhile, so he'll have his very own quiver of 4 9m kites ... great. Bas is sad, I'm sad, everyone's sad, and there's absolutely nothing I can do. So if anyone out there sees four renegade kiters out on some blue/yellow Yargas, let me know. They've probably been stolen from the UPS facility in Caracas :(.

I tried to get Bas to send me a picture of him looking sad about not having a 9m Yarga, but this was the best he could do and he doesn't really look sad, just a bit smirky. Girls, send your jpgs, love notes, and marriage proposals to The Bas Koole Fan Club c/o Best Kiteboarding and I'll see what I can do.

On Thursday, the entire "circus" moves to El Yaque. Looks like there'll be wind!