These Things I Know
A really popular series from the mag in which everyone, from the sport's biggest stars to the most humble high achievers, tell us what they've learnt through life's ups and downs.
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Robby Naish was raised in Kailua on the east side of Oahu, Hawaii. He started windsurfing in 1974 when he was 11 and went on to win 24 world titles.
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| Sebastien Cattelan, 34, grew up in Gruissan in the south of France. He started kiteboarding in Hawaii in 1999 and, as was the case with everyone at the time, hurt himself repeatedly until he got the hang of it. |
| Yaron Barlev, 32, lives in Israel in Beit Yanay, a small coastal village, 30 minutes north of Tel Aviv. He started kiting in 2000 and, with a computer engineering degree, began work on kite R&D in 2002, eventually launching Blade kites in 2005. |
| Franz Olry, apparently 34, started kitesurfing in 1998 and is widely credited with designing the first real twin-tip in 1999. Sponsored by Wainman Hawaii, Franz also still designs his own boards, under the Alkita brand. |
| Already a two-time wakeboarding champion, AWWA hall of fame member and inventor of the S-bend, Shannon Best was introduced to kiting in 1995, but didn't actually pick up kitesurfing seriously until 1998. |
| Dimitri Maramenides lives in the Outer Banks in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, USA. He set up the Epic kite brand in December 2009. |
| Bruna Kajiya is the 2009 women's PKRA freestyle champion and spends most of the year travelling around the world on tour. When not on the road she spends most of her time between Tarifa and Barcelona in Spain. |
| Lewis followed Jake over the pier a few minutes later on his first attempt. A three-time British freestyle champion, he started kiting seven-years-ago and quickly made his mark with a fluid, powerful and progressive style. |
| Jake Scrace, 25, Worthing, has been kiting since 1999, he has experienced a variety of aspects within the kiting community, however, now enjoys kiting as a free rider. |
| 29-year-old Alex Caizergues broke the elusive 50 knot world speed sailing record in October at the 2008 Luderitz Speed Challenge and is one of only three men ever to have broken that barrier under wind power. |
| Flash Austin started kitesurfing in 1995 when he decided to combine his kite with his skimboard and found it worked pretty well. Through the late nineties and early noughties he ruled the kitesurfing competition scene with a list of titles as lond as your arm |
| John Bilderback is 46-years-old and lives with his wife, Alexis, on Oahu's North Shore. |
Matt's father was one of the pioneers of hang-gliding in the UK in 1973, so he literally grew up in the skies strapped to his Dad's back. Matt's own fascination with watersports began with windsurfing when he was 13.
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Michel Carnet was born in Caen, France, and moved to the UK when he was 19-years-old.
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| Felicity Aston, 28, led three other women to become the first all-female British team to cross the Greenland Icesheet. |
| Jimmy Hall, 36, runs on 5000 double “A” Energiser batteries. He lives on Oahu with his girlfriend Stefanie, and his super-dog Moki. |
| On April 13 2003 Pascal Joubert had a horrific accident leaving him in a wheelchair for six months with an extensive list of injuries |
| 44 year-old Pete Cabrinha is the head of the Cabrinha Kiteboarding Company. He has won a windsurfing world championship and been a pioneering figure of both kitesurfing and tow-surfing. |
| Morten Gjerstad is 27-years-old and was born and raised on the west coast of Norway. He is the creative force behind the stunning Entropy and Something Stronger snowkite DVDs, and although he has only been making snowkite films for two years he has already caused a storm with his talent. |
| 31-year-old Marc Ramseier is a team rider and product manager for JN. Since stepping back from competing full time on the PKRA world tour a couple of years ago, he has been chasing the best kitesurfing waves across the globe. |
| 5 time World Champion and UK local lad Aaron Hadlow has been there and seen it all in the kitesurfing world... and that was way back in 2005 when he featured in issue #17's These Things I Know |
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Tuva Jansen got hooked on kitesurfing after working in a wake and skate shop in Oslo way back in 2001. For tricks and flat water Tuva loves to visit Coche in Venezuela. |
| 32-year-old Mark Shinn won the 2003 PKRA and KPWT World Championships and now spends his life chasing the waves of the world |
| Jo Wilson, 29, is two time British Champion and one of the most welll-respected female freestyle riders in the world. A tenacious and physical competitor on the world tour, her hard riding and freestyle ability saw her regularly pushing the top five. |
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Mauricio Abreu was born in Brazil, moved to Oahu in his late teens to pursue his dream of becoming a professional surfer, but when the egomania of the North Shore got too much, he hopped over to Maui, became the local fish chef and started kiting. |