When you're training in Brazil, you come to Cape Town and you can land tricks that you normally always land in Brazil and anything like that, what's going on?
It is the ultimate place just because you have so many conditions, you have flood water, you have huge kick-aways.
You really need to fight the conditions and it builds up confidence during the competitions, especially when we're competing and not really the best conditions always.
The conditions are currently not really working out. We went to Sharks Bay and the conditions were really light wind but it looks so nice there for footage.
The conditions were really bad, it was really not enough wind and after 20 minutes I injured my feet.
They didn't stop turning one of the worst days ever. The conditions were really bad, it was really not enough wind and after 20 minutes I injured my finger and I had to drive to the hospital.
I just thought, okay, this is it for the season, how bad is it?
I'm going to give you a ring lock and I will come and stitch it.
It's stitching? Okay, nice.
What about the super glue? Is that possible to glue it?
Yes, for your mouth. Under the tongue.
Last year my plan was to just have a few podium places and halfway the season I had my first podium in Italy for the freestyle.
It felt really really good, I was stoked. But then after all I just thought, is this just it? I didn't need to do better now.
I just wanted to have it every event and then when I had one event where I'm not on the podium I just think I could have been standing there.
Being on the podium feels just more awkward, I guess. Everybody just standing there, I mean it's quite cool. But when you're actually riding in the final heats and then you're like pushing a few tricks and you land and clean and anything, like yeah, okay, I got this, I got this and then you do the next trick and this is actually the best feeling you can get.
Afterwards thinking about, whoa, I did that by just having that heat, I was sick, I need to do that every heat.
When I arrived in China I just saw those massive waves and just thought, oh man, this is my tour stuff. We have perfect kickers, I can show my tricks all on the waves that I've been training for years and nobody really uses them in competitions besides a few other riders.
When I saw that I was going to compete in the final against Aaron, I was really, really sick because when I started competing and getting better I thought like, oh, I'm not going to see Aaron on tour.
And everybody has still reminded that he's the five times world champion, he is the ultimate competitor and now coming back. The first trick I tried was a 720, landed it clean and I thought like, okay, man, this is the warm-up and I saw where the 720, okay, it's going to be a good heat.
A first event, man, I'm really, really, really happy. I have an autograph of Aaron in my room from in 2003 or 2004 at the PQA in Belgium, man, and now I just want from him. It's pretty unreal.
So today is the first day I'm going to try kiting after my finger injury. It's starting to close so I have this nice little finger condom here and that's going to be my saver so I can kite.
In your snout with pleasure, boom, shape, pleasure.
Deep greeting, googling above the corner.
In your snout with pleasure, a boom, shape, pleasure.
It was light wind. It was fun. It hauled up so I'm pretty happy. It's a bit sandy now but I'm happy I can kite.
In the last years we kind of reached the limit with our tricks that we do with the air tricks.
Now what I think is the future is doing tricks on waves, using them as a natural feature as a kicker like you have in wakeboarding.
All of the stuff that they do I'm pretty sure it's possible to do it with kiteboarding as well.
And that's what I want to show people that can do the half-caps and all that kind of stuff.
Nobody did it yet really.
