Tired of taking a beating training for the freestyle tour, Jerome Cloetens found his love for kiteboarding slowly fading. Ready to become a beginner again, he set off on a trip to Dakhla with a board bag full of toys to reignite the fire! Read all about it in this article!

I never thought I would get bored with freestyle. When I was 17, it was all I could talk about. Freestyle was my entire life, and every other style of kiteboarding didn't matter. If you weren't freestyling, you were probably a 60-year-old dude that rides with a board leash, gloves, helmet, sunglasses, and board shorts over the wetsuit.

Looking back, it was not a great attitude to have. I had spent so much time thinking that my kind of kiting was the only cool kind that I had missed out on a lot of fun! The single-mindedness that I had felt with freestyle had blinded me to the excitement in every other discipline in kiting.

Imagine a 40-knot day in Tarifa... Instead of going for a big air session, I would spend my time fighting with my kite trying to do handle passes. When it was wavy and choppy, I risked my knees trying to land tricks on moving water rather than making the most of surfing the waves.

While I grew up in one of the best kite spots in the world, it took me a while to get into kiting. I started at eight years old, and my dad had a hard time convincing me that I would enjoy it. I spent the first couple of years flying a two-line kite and riding a small board but hadn't found the love for the sport yet.

When I was 10 and landed my first jump, I was sold. From that day, all I could think about was kiteboarding. Nowadays, I'm the one pushing my dad to get on the water, but I never would have made it this far without his support. I'm forever grateful to my dad for sticking with it and helping me find the stoke.

I remember living close to the beach in Tarifa and sneaking out to watch the PKRA event. I spent all day on the beach talking trash with Liam Whaley and Manu Bertin or asking for autographs from Aaron Hadlow, Youri Zoon, and Ruben Lenten. Watching them and hearing their stories had me dreaming of becoming one of the pro riders on tour.

At 13, I started competing, and at 15, I tried to convince my parents to let me quit school and put all of my energy into competitive kiteboarding. My local friends Liam and Forest had been able to sell their parents on that dream, but my ever logical parents said no. I managed to keep kiting while in school and qualified for the freestyle tour when I was 17.

After winning the European Junior and World Junior titles, my parents finally let me join the freestyle tour. I was fortunate to have the support of Duotone to help me out. I worked with them on product demos and videos, and they made sure I could compete on tour.

Unfortunately, that just so happened to be the year that the tour fell apart due to mismanagement and other scandals. I had been so motivated to compete that the collapse of the freestyle world tour was soul-crushing. Everything I had been working towards had vanished into thin air.

When a group of us pro riders teamed up to start the WKL, a tour of our own, it just wasn't the same. Every event was a fight, and I was getting involved in politics like begging investors to help us with prize money, fighting the IKA for the world title, and chipping in money for iPads for the judges to use.

On the water, things had changed just as much. The endless beatings from trying to learn tricks to stay competitive and putting in long hours on the water in less than ideal conditions left me feeling like kiteboarding was work. The routine resembled a job, and the punishment from not doing well enough was demoralising.

When it all stopped being fun, my progression slowed down significantly. I had no interest in winning the tour anymore, I would just go to events to have fun and meet people. I'd hang out at the spots as long as I could to kite, surf, dive, or skydive, and then head back home and dive back into my university studies.

My wave kiting friends, Pablo Amores and Oswald Smith, wouldn't shut up about how riding waves was the most fun they ever had on a kite. I joined them on the next trip to Indonesia for my first ever wave session. It was a small day in shallow reef, but the feeling was so incredible that I was out on the water for five hours. I felt alive and was immediately hooked on kiting again!

It's weird to believe that you're a pro kiter, and then change boards and become a beginner all over again. That's what is so cool about kiting. If you change disciplines, you enter a whole new world of progression. Yes, I'm still a bit of a kook, but it feels damn good to challenge myself and progress in this new-to-me style of riding.

When I had the opportunity to go to Dakhla a few months ago, I was counting down the hours until the trip began. Most kiters who have never been to Dakhla have at least heard about the massive lagoon surrounded by an empty desert, where the waves never seem to stop breaking. These rights are perfect for kiting, surfing, and winging, and they often run for a minute or two. Ten days of incredible wind and access to do every style of sport I wanted? The trip couldn't come fast enough.

Dakhla works almost year-round, but the combination of wind and waves that I love usually come together in November or March. I was nervous about planning a trip with the COVID-19 situation kicking off around the world but had the information and reassurance from the crew at Dakhla Attitude and Dakhla Hospitality Group. It was a good sign when I checked in for my flight with Air Maroc and didn't get charged for overweight board bags!

On an average year, Dakhla is insanely busy, and everything takes a little longer than it should, from food to hotels to shuttles, and even the internet. This year was very different. The wave spots were empty, the speed spot was clear, and the pancake buffet at Dakhla Attitude never ran out! Everything was organised, efficient, and the internet was on fire! The locals were so happy to have some fresh faces to welcome back to their spot, and it was the perfect break from reality. If you've thought about going, now would be the time.

After having (likely) obtained the unofficial world record for heaviest board bag, I had enough gear to spend every waking second on the water. While splitting attention between so many different sports slows down progression in the short term, I was having five times more fun. My motivation to get out there every day and learn something new was through the roof!

There wasn't one watersport that I looked forward to more than the others. It was all about the forecast, and whatever the forecast delivered, I would find a board to match. The best conditions for one discipline tend to be the worst for another, so I almost never had to choose one over the other. Too windy? Big air. Too choppy? Get the wing. Good swell? Time to surf. Offshore and flat? Let's go freestyle!

Since my trip to Dakhla, I haven't been able to picture being back on the GKA freestyle tour full time. I will definitely join for some stops, but I'll pick the places where I can bring all of my toys. That way, I can have fun, even if I lose!

The GKA has been organising competitions in Mauritius and Dakhla that include a freestyle event and a wave event. How cool would it be to start the day in Mauritius surfing out in the reef and chasing barrels with my friends from the wave tour, and then heading back to the beach to grab my twin-tip and throw some big freestyle moves with my brothers and sisters from the freestyle tour?!

While I used to feel blocked and frustrated with my freestyle progression, nowadays I just change boards and do something different. Instead of dreading the repetitive, painful training sessions, I look forward to any and every reason to stay out on the water longer. Even if my short term progression is slower, I'm confident my long term progression will be much greater. The ability to use whatever tools are available to get on the water in any conditions have me feeling as stoked as I did when I first started kiting.

If you ever get bored of kiting or stuck on progression, don't keep pushing yourself with the wrong mindset. Kiting is an extreme sport. To progress, you need to have a serious pair of balls. I don't know about you, but my balls only show up when I'm having too much fun to think!

If I were to give any advice, I would say to find a friend to have fun with or a trick that gives you a thrill when you land it and go for it! Stop thinking about what could go wrong. Your mind will stay focused on those gnarly beatings rather than the rewarding adrenaline kick that makes it all so fun! If a kiteloop scares you, start small and just have fun with it. When you stop thinking too hard and counting your crashes, you'll be doing massive loops in no time.

Kiting is still such a young sport, and there is a lot of room to innovate. So get creative, share your stoke, share your gear, help grow the sport, and enjoy every moment you can in the water!

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BLACK DOG - DAKHLA - Jerome Cloetens
By Jerome Cloetens

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