Six days full of action, fun, memorable moments and lots of burgers. Join the new faces of Naish Team Europe on a kiteboarding adventure in France in this IKSURFMAG article!

Three years ago, Naish Team Europe made its debut, with a few of the most incredible up-and-coming athletes on the team. Today, these young athletes are all grown up, both in their riding skills and as athletes. Meanwhile, alumni riders Stig Hoefnagel, Cohan van Dijk and Tom Seager have taken the next step and joined the Naish International team. With their advancements, they've made room for new talent to be added to the team. 

Since the first season of Naish Team Europe, the boys have mostly only been able to connect via video chat and at one of the few competitions that have occurred in recent years. With very few travel restrictions left, at long last, it was time for the new edition of Naish Team Europe to meet! Riders Nathan Texier (FR), Timo Boersema (NL), Jinne Boer (NL), Adriano Gazzoli (IT), Arne Thiebaut (BE) and Teun Spliethof (NL) were ready for an adventure.

On Thursday the 28th of April, the day the boys from Naish Team Europe have been waiting for finally arrived. We were all a bit nervous, but mainly all super excited - if only because the boys had to speak English for six days, which is not a native language for any of the team! Nevertheless, the time was upon us for the new team to meet, connect and shred together.

The boys all met each other at the airport in Montpellier. From there, we drove with all the gear to Leucate. Special guests on the trip were former Naish Team Europe rider Stig Hoefnagel and local boy Louka Pitot, both riders on the Naish International team. These two know what it means to be a pro athlete and can guide the boys from Naish Team Europe on their path to hopefully grow into internationally recognised pro kiters.

The first evening after arrival, we went for dinner as a group to get to know each other better. The tone was immediately clear; the boys are not into fancy food with ingredients they can't pronounce. As long as there is a burger on the menu, it's all good. 

Over dinner, we double-checked the forecast and saw that there was a likelihood of wind the next morning. After dinner, it was time for bed with alarm clocks set at 6:00 for a sunrise session. When it comes to team trips and shoots, you've got to make the most out of it and catch the wind while it lasts! 

The team woke up full of adrenaline, and without breakfast, they hit the water. The wind was stronger than expected, and we were the first kiters on the water. A few meters downwind, the GKA Wingfoil World Tour was happening. We spotted a guy in a yellow vest slowly walking towards us and were a bit afraid he was from the organisation and might ask us to move more upwind. After a short chit-chat, we found out that the guy was a tourist who came for the wingfoil event but then saw a bunch of young kiters shredding which looked way more spectacular to him. It was the same story for one of the photographers on the beach that day!

At the end of the morning, the wind died. It was time for a good lunch, but without any burgers on the menu, it wasn't the ideal lunch for the boys! Afterwards, there was time for some chilling at the campsite with a heated pool. Of course, there's always the admin and errands like shopping for groceries, which was up next. Pasta was on the menu! Arne was responsible for cooking dinner that evening and recruited Jinne and Nathan to help. It was Jinne's first time cutting onions, and he learned pretty quickly that they will make you cry. For Nathan, it was his first time cutting bell peppers. Note to Nathan: you have to throw away the inner part! We survived the pasta, even with a few charred bits, but it did what it had to do, and we went to bed with full bellies. 

The day after, the wind was forecasted to pick up in the afternoon, so we decided to meet at mid-morning. The French Naish representative was at the spot in front of the campsite for a test event for wing and kite, which was another great learning opportunity for the crew.

Being a pro rider is not only about being a good rider, and Stig and Louka explained to the boys that being a pro also means being present at test events and talking to people about gear. As a sponsored athlete, you are representing a brand. We spent some time at the event, had some talks with the representatives and public, and then went off for our next session as a team.

The next spot on the schedule was Le Barcares for an afternoon of shooting photos and video. The boys were jumping around all over the place and doing tricks simultaneously. The photographer and videographer were hardly able to focus, with action happening at every angle and constant water spray from the boys. In short, it was chaos! After a break with some much-appreciated burgers from McDonald's, the boys hit the water again to shoot the new Naish gear.

The next morning, we had a meeting with Stig and Louka, who shared some of their experiences with the boys about what is involved in being a pro rider, outside of just being a top-level kiter. They spoke about what off-the-water skills you can develop to be more valuable to potential sponsors and how to represent your brand in a professional way. Besides that, photographer Arthur Samzun and videographer Floris Tils selected some good shots and showed where there is room for improvement, explaining to the boys what they could do differently to get the best possible shots and to take direction from the camera crew while on the water.

The next day we went to Le Barcares again so the boys could put into practice what they had learned that morning. We were stoked to see the immediate improvements! The chaotic session was a thing of the past; the boys gave each other room to do their tricks in front of the camera and listened to the photographer and videographer's instructions and tips and tricks.

Unfortunately, we didn't have any wind on the last day, and everyone had a chance to sleep in a bit later before shooting off to the cable park for some action.

That evening was a special moment for the riders. They got to meet Robby Naish and Scott Trudon (Naish Brand Manager) via video call. The boys had been asked to prepare some questions for the meeting, which they had, which led to a super informative Q&A session with the big wigs! They wanted to know if Robby was still on the water every day, what his scariest experience in kitesurfing was, what a day in his life looked like, his vision for the future of kiteboarding, and so on. 

On Tuesday the 3rd of May, it was time to clean the lodges, pack all the gear and head back to the airport… Time flies when you are having fun! 

Do you want to be part of Naish Team Europe?

Go to https://naishteameurope.com and fill in the form.

By Linda.van.Lakwijk

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