8 X WORLD CHAMPION Profil
Foto: Redseazone.com
Med en opvækst bag jerntæppet i Øst Tyskland lå det måske ikke lige frem i kortene at Kristin Boese skulle blive 8 x kvindelig verdens mester i kitesurfing. I virkeligheden var Kristin på vej til at blive professionel håndspiller, men da muren faldt, blev det pludselig en mulighed for Kristin at uddanne sig i Berlin hvor interessen for outdoor/freestyle sport opstod. Inden længe var hun windsurfing instruktør og i summeren 2001 stiftede Kristin første gang bekendtskab med kitesurfing.
Ud over at Kristin har markeret sig som en af verdens absolut bedste kvindelig kitesurfere, har hun også gjort et kæmpe stykke arbejde for at udbrede kitesurfing specielt piger. Kristin har udgivet 2 kite-instruktionsbøger og DVD’er samtidig med at hun er kvinden bag KB4Girls, som er en verdens omspændende kitecamp kun for piger.
KB4Girls vil du i fremtiden kunne læse meget mere om her på Riders.dk
Fakta:
Navn: Kristin Boese
Født: 1. Juli 1977
Hjemby: Potsdam – Øst Tyskland
Sponsors: Best Kiteboarding, RIAL, Air Berlin, Da Kine, Anton Boards, Palmolive, Ideenwerft.
2001 Kristin stiftede første gang bekendskab med kitesurfing
2002 Første kitekonkurrence
2003 PKRA World Tour Ranking 4th place
2004 PKRA Vice World Champion
2005 PKRA Freestyle World Champion
2006 PKRA Freestyle
2006 PKRA Slider World Champion
2007 PKRA Boarder-cross World Champion
2007 KPWT Overall World Champion
2007 KPWT Course Race World Champion
2007 KPWT Wave-riding World Champion
2008 KPWT Course-race World Champion
(Kilde: http://www.kristinboese.com)
How many years have you been kitesurfing?
I started to kitesurf beginning of 2002, so I have actually been doing it for almost 9 years now… crazy how the time flies by…
You travel a lot – but what do you consider like home?
During the season home for me is still in Germany where my family and good friends live. However, my real home now is Western Australia where I spend 5-6 month of the year (during the winter time and off season) and which is really the only place where I actually get to stay for a longer period of time…
What are your plans for the winter… any exotic winter training plans…?
For the winters my main plans now are to just try and get to stay in WA as much as I can as I really need this rest from traveling around and living out of the bag all the time… I am looking forward to doing things I usually don’t get to to, like playing basketball with my team there, gardening, biking, SUPing… However, there are always some amazing trips coming up during the winter season and also this winter I will most likely catch up with the Best Odyssey in one of the most amazing locations… It really all develops as we go and usually turns out pretty damn good! 😉
Kitesurfing has developed in to being a lot more accessible in recent years… Any good advices on how to get in to kitesurfing – especially for girls…?
Yeah, to get into kitesurfing now is so much easier than it used to be and that is great for everyone, but of course makes kiteboarding and EVEN BETTER sport for girls! For every girl that wants to start kitesufing I can only advise to find a good instructor (possibly even a female one!) in a spot with shallow water and constant not too strong winds as this will help a lot with gaining confidence quickly and with making progress fast…. In no time everyone will be so hooked that there is no getting away from it anymore!
I think that many girls are afraid of the how they will look in the beginning… the first 10 times kitesurfing can be pretty hard for both boys and girls…. How was your first 10 times kitesurfing?
Haha… yes, the looks are the one thing that you really should not be worried too much about at any point… no hair styling and make up will last on the water, but therefore kiteboarding keeps you incredibly fit and makes guys look at you with a lot of respect! My first sessions were actually absolutely hilarious… I remember one in which I was just trying to go downwind and land on this little beach, but I ended up just drifting through the shipping channel with the lines wrapped around my legs (that was actually kind of dangerouse and is why you should really learn with an instructor!!!)… then I went to work on Fuerteventura and to learn how to kitesurf there and ended up needing a rescue every day (as the wind is offshore) until I was told by the manager that I could not go out anymore… But I did not give up and eventually made it… 😉
Is it hard to be a girl in a man-dominated sport? Or do you just enjoy the extra attention 😉 ?
I guess it can be difficult if you let it be difficult, but if you are building up a way for yourself and just don’t care too much about what people (especially some of the guys) are talking and thinking it becomes much easier. It is just very important to find your own way and to fight for it…
Events, competitions and sponsors are an important part of the kite-industry and probably also a big part of your life. Is kitesurfing getting to commercial? Are we moving away from the sub-culture of being a kitesurfer? Good or bad…?
There is always to sides of the coin. In the beginning of a sport, when it is really small it has a different feel, kind of family like and adventurous. That goes away a bit when a sport grows and becomes better known and more main stream. It is a great thing though to be able to offer more people the opportunity to discover the most fun activity ever. Also with becoming more “commercial” the sport becomes safer and the equipment better as the manufacturers can sell enough gear to actually put money into development. So in the end everybody profits from it and the more mainstream a sport becomes the happier the pro riders and the manufacturers are of course!
What kind of kite event do you prefer…?
I really enjoy organizing girls clinics and these are probably the most fun kiteboaring events for me at the moment… Other than that I enjoy dealer meetings and test events were lots of people of different backgrounds get together and you get to know new people. Competition wise I enjoy racing competitions a lot as it is fun being out there racing with everybody.
Motivation is at key factor being a top athlete… what do you do to keep motivated?
When I was competing in only freestyle it sometimes was really difficult to get motivated, especially when you were trying to learn a new trick and it just did not really work out. I found it best to keep the sessions short… 1 to 1.5 hours so you can really go into it with energy. Today I get a lot of motivation by doing different things and riding in all different disciplines. I love to ride waves and enjoy racing but also to ride a bit of wakestyle and also some big air freestyle! The variety is what really keeps me totally stoked!
Can you compare being a pro kitesurfer with being a rock star? Is the a short funny story you want to chare with us…?
Aehm, no! Short like that… there is no comparison between the two of them. Kiteboarding is such a small sport that the percentage of people knowing the sport is small, the percentage of people knowing the athletes even smaller. The money earned in kiteboarding not much at all and even though some of the riders might feel pretty importand, we really aren’t! 😉 However, I have been pretty lucky to be able to get an insight into the professional work of the real stars and with shoots for Playboy, Vogue and other magazines and different TV stations. It has been fun and a great experience and there are always new opportunities coming up. I definitely feel pretty damn privileged at times and am happy to be what I am!
Any shout-outs..?
Maybe not a shout out, but a reach out to all the girls out there… I am trying to put a clinic-tour for girls together to motivate female riders of all different levels and to support girls kiters around the globe… just get in contact with me through my website or facebook and I will keep you updated on that!!!
Thank you so much for taking the time. We at riders.dk hope that you will have a fantastic winter – hopefully some place warm and windy.