Kiteboarding and kitesurfing are two expressions for the same activity but now I have also seen for myself what surf-kiting is all about! I guess most surf kiters are initially good surfers who pick up kitesurfing and then combine the two – although I guess it could also work the other way around… Have I confused you enough?? The surf-kiters have smaller kites and boards that are shaped for surfing the wave and these boards have no footstraps! They use their kites to get to the waves and then rather ride the waves. Check out how it is done on this link http://vimeo.com/38347849 here you see Ben Wilson and friends surf-kiting. The beginning of this week brought ideal conditions, we had high winds which we check out on the Windfinder website for our area http://www.windfinder.com/forecast/kadhdhoo . 7 guests from Japan, Holland, Canada, Italy and Germany came to join famous surf-kiting champion Ben Wilson from Australia here at Six Senses Laamu for a week of action. Yin Yang is a well known wave in the Maldives but as we are that far south and the only resort in this atoll, we are the only surfers on the wave most of the time. We had a boat stationed by the wave to look out for the kiters safety while the kiters pumped up their kites here on the beach and kited over to the wave by themselves. Ben kited with the group on the wave and after each session gave his expert advise on how to improve skills. Towards the middle of the week the forecasted wind just didn’t materialize which gave everyone some time to enhance their surfing skills. For the last 2 days the wind picked up and the kites came out again. Oliver Jacobsen was the team videographer and Stuart Gibson, who specializes in surf photography joined as the teams photographer. Check out his website http://www.thecollective.net.au one minute he takes a beautiful shot of a wave and the next minute… you wonder how he gets out of the waves that he takes pictures of. I love his images. As surf-kiters have to be and keep fit – Nikki Fogden-Moore a vitality coach from Australia also came along to support them and her view of “life’s a gym”. Ben Wilson and Nikki Fogden-Moore are toying with the idea to be back with another workshop next year – we would love to see them back!!!