Yes! We were there! This year we were in Cape Town for the King of the Air, the greatest event of the kind in the world, in the best spot for some proper jumps!
Cape Town is known for the infamous Cape Doctor, the strong south eastern wind that blows in Cape Town in the summer months, bringing strong winds, easily above 25 knots. The perfect recipe, together with the big waves of the West Coast, to give chances for spectacular jumps up in the air.
This year has unfortunately seen one of the greatest kite surfers in the world, Nick Jacobsen, injured when training for the KOTA 2018 and unable to participate in the competition. Nick and Joshua Emanuel have been beating each other’s records over the last year.
Emanuel had a chance to meet Nick who came to see the other athletes competing. We hope to see him kite surfing and giving us the usual show as soon as possible! Speedy recovery Nick!
Kevin Langeree, winner of the King of the Air 2018 went very close to Joshua’s record with his 28.88 m (Josh still holds the record with 28.9 m)!
Emanuel also met Gijs Wassenaar, who participated in the event this year up to round 4, where Kevin Langeree and Aaron Hadlow brought home a higher score.
If you want to know more about the event click here.
Such a pleasure for a passionate kitesurfer like Emanuel to meet some among the best ones in the world!
Kite Beach, Blouberg, Cape Town, is THE place to be for big jumps and where all these athlete train for the highest jumps.
Here a couple of pictures from the KOTA to give you a taste!
Emanuel has been teaching in Kite Beach as well as Langebaan and Shark Bay over the last season in Cape Town, as you can read from this post.