Rou Chater and Mary Booth travel to Sicily to join the Cabrinha Rider Academy and learn what it takes to be a pro rider; it’s not all deckchairs and ice creams either! Early starts, long days and lots of sun cream are needed to get the footage and the job done!

The life of a pro rider certainly looks glamorous from the outside; travelling the world, kiting in amazing places, and getting paid while you’re at it. For us mere mortals looking in, it can often seem like the dream job, is it all it is cracked up to be though?

The world has changed a lot in recent years; technology has pushed us into new realms. Media is changing, cameras are changing, social media is running rampant and there is an ever-hungry need for content. Back in the day if you wanted to make a kite video, you needed to rent expensive gear, pay camera operators, maybe a helicopter pilot if you were feeling flash, then someone had to literally cut it all together and you had to get your movie onto video tape and distribute it globally by sending copies out to shops for them to sell.

These days all you need is a mobile phone and an Internet connection. I remember as a kid waiting for the latest and greatest windsurfing movie to come out. I’d head to the windsurfing shop, part with a chunk of money and race home to check it out. I’d then watch it over and over and over, as there was nothing else. My brothers and I can still quote phrases verbatim from the World Windsurfing Retuned PWA video from 1996… “One Malibu if you want to relax, two if you want to conversate, the other night I had three, animal man” for anyone wondering!

It’s crazy when you think about it, these days we just consume a 3 minute clip while eating breakfast and in 30 seconds we have skipped onto the next one. Being a pro kiter back in the early days meant being the best rider on the planet. These days it seems to be more about how many Instagram likes you have. There must be more to it than that though!

When Cabrinha invited us on their Rider Academy we jumped at the chance. James Boulding the Marketing Manager set up the programme as a way to gather some of the team in Sicily. The plan was for younger riders to learn from the older more experienced ones. To shoot a load of content and create some stories and to set out what Cabrinha were looking for from their riders too.

Prokite Alby Rondina would be our base for the week in the stunning area of Lo Stagnone on the island. If you’ve not been there get it on your wish list. I’m a die hard wave head and foiler at heart, packing a bag with two kites and a twin tip felt weird, but oh my word did that place deliver! It’s so much fun, there is more flat water than I have ever seen and you only need to check out the Aaron Hadlow movie Reflection to be further convinced.

The plan for the week was to have meetings and talks in the morning, followed by sessions on the water as soon as the wind picked up. With a pretty dire forecast things weren’t looking too good as we headed into the week, but Sicily delivered with local thermals allowing us to ride everyday but one.

Riders came from all over the world, with short hauls from Europe and longer hauls from the Canada and Mauritius! Alby Rondina, basically a poster boy for any aspiring pro rider has also shown how to transition from rider into brand disitrbutor and ambassador.  Alby has ridden Cabrinha since the first Nitro was produced and has never deviated from a lifetime relationship with the brand.  Alby played an important role working with the riders and really embodied what the week was all about.  Annelous Lammerts, Alex Maes, Nick Jacobsen, Simon Lamusse, Arthur Guillebert, Lucas Arsenault, Lauren Holman, Therese Taabbel, Jonathan Isselstein, Rens Van der Shoot and Andrea Ammann made up the roster, the line up was certainly impressive!

While some riders were seasoned pro’s, some were fairly new to being sponsored and the week was seen as an opportunity for them to learn as much as possible about what it actually means to be a pro. I was asked to give a presentation about working with media and how to maximise opportunities to get in magazines. I was also helping James shoot images during the week so all the riders would go home with a plethora of content for the upcoming year.

In the background, James was keeping an eye on the riders, playing the role of Dad in a way, but also making notes on who was living up to his standards. An experienced pro rider himself, James has been in the industry long enough to know what it takes to stand out.

Arguably, he was one of the first riders to pioneer the role of self-facilitating media node when he broke his ankle in Australia and was left filming and creating content for his friends. These days the shift from just being a good rider to becoming a good content producer is well and truly established.

What does it take then? What do you need to be to be a pro? The one thing all the riders had in common was incredible talent, Simon and Arthur two of the younger riders were incredibly impressive on the water. Their riding was technical and the level was high. Riders like Lukas oozed style and had the ability to work with the photographers to get the shot.

Andrea was a dab hand with the camera and was shooting constantly; Rens had the blue steel looks along with the skills to back it up, while Jonny was a gentle giant with a fearless attitude. Lauren showed a willingness to learn and try new things while Therese has a dogged determination to her riding, hitting tricks over and over until they were perfect.

Being good on the water though is just a small part of the package, it’s essential of course, but there is a lot more to take on in order to become a seasoned pro. It’s also about how you carry yourself when you are off the water too. Can you be approachable? You can be the best rider on the planet, but if you don’t have the time to speak to people on the beach then you won’t be much use to any brands.

A pro rider is a representative of that brand, and in order to sell kites they need you to be responsive and engaging. You don’t have to be the best sales person on the planet, but if someone asks you about the gear you are riding, or for a launch then you had better be ready to step up. A pro rider is just as much the face of the brand as anyone else working for the company.

If you can ride to a high standard and carry yourself well on the beach then you are half way there, but there is even more to learn before you become the full package. Part of my presentation was about how you can communicate with the kitesurfing media effectively, a huge skill for any pro. After all if you aren’t being featured in the magazines or websites, then you won’t be getting much coverage for your brand.

The ability to send a succinct email; put together some good images and maybe even write an article or two is important if you want to get ahead. Next up you need to think about generating content yourself. In this modern age this is perhaps one of the most effective skills to have as a pro rider.

Much of the week was spent generating content and it was interesting to see how different riders approached it. Insta stories abound, sometimes it was difficult to get anywhere with all the selfies! However, a large part of being a pro these days is generating a social media following and feeding it to keep it happy. Equally though longer format videos and higher quality images are just as important.

These days decent cameras are incredibly accessible, and if you don’t know how to use one, it is easy to learn. If you really struggle here then team up with someone who enjoys filming and taking images. If you want to be a pro you need to be generating content, it’s as simple as that these days.

The last aspect, and perhaps the most important one was how you actually handled being a pro. It was interesting to see as we lived up close and personal who was treating the trip like a job and an opportunity, and who was taking a more relaxed approach. When there was a photographer in the water, who were the first riders out, who rode the longest and who worked the hardest to get the shot.

When it came to taking down the park at the end of the day who was helping out, who just rocked up, rode and left. A lot of the riders maybe didn’t realise, but James was watching everything, and the riders who stood out in this regard are arguably the ones who will go the furthest. However it may look from the outside, being a pro is a job, and those who treat it as such and work hard will go far. You have to work hard in all aspects too, not just on your tricks.

What does it take to be a pro? You’re going to need some talent first and foremost, be sure to make yourself approachable and help out other riders on the beach too, a willingness to help other kiters will be a great asset to any brand. Become a self-facilitating media node, generate content as much as you can and get it out there. Learn who the editors of the magazines are, reach out to them about getting involved with getting stories and images published.

Lastly, remember it is a job just like any other; those that work hard go far. The most impressive aspect of the trip for me was seeing the difference between the experienced pros and how they approached the week. Their work ethic was tireless and it’s easy to see why they have come so far.

If you want to get ahead, get busy as they say!

Here is a little insight to what some of the riders learned on the trip…

“We got information about how to present our equipment at its best. Every year we need to create great photo & video content. I learnt that it’s not always about the craziest tricks. Sometimes to get a good shot it’s more important to perform a controlled trick with emphasis on style and to combine with nice background landscapes.” - Jonathon Isselstein

“The riders academy was a great time to catch up with other riders and learn from each other. We also had Rou Chater from IKSURFMAG with us. He was very helpful in providing some useful advice to improve our content and make things easier both for ourselves and kite magazines.” - Lukas Arsenault - Canadian Freestyle Champion

“For me, it was a huge learning experience. Going out to shoot is totally different than just going out for a free ride session, and it was great practice getting more comfortable in front of a photographer.” - Lauren Holman

“Riding for photos is very different and takes more practice than you think at first. It involves a lot repetition. But when the trick, the light, the backdrop and the photographer comes together - it is like magic.” Therese Taabbel

“I learned so much during the first Cabrinha Riders Academy! I learned to work with magazines and see what they were looking for as well as helping wherever I was needed during the shoot. It’s not always about the biggest trick but also making yourself useful to the whole team. This trip I have also learned to work with different people and focus more on photos” - Alex Maes

By Rou Chater
Rou has been kiting since the sports inception and has been working as an editor and tester for magazines since 2004. He started IKSURFMAG with his brother in 2006 and has tested hundreds of different kites and travelled all over the world to kitesurf. He's a walking encyclopedia of all things kite and is just as passionate about the sport today as he was when he first started!

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