Freestyling in Fuerteventura!

Fuerteventura (meaning 'windy island') was one of those translations that makes you just want to jetset off and spend a week or two away for some serious fun! And to top it all off - there was the annual kite festival being held just a 5 minute drive from where you are staying! A dream? Not for Powerkiteshop Team 2004 who took up the challenge of finding some fantastic locations to ride and find out some of the best land based riding locations in the world!

Its looks so close to tropical locations such as Morocco and Dakar yet the flight only took a mere 3 hours and 35mins which was less time than travelling to the airport for some of us! But soon enough we were overlooking an arrid landscape of volcanic rock formations and terrain that was just luring us to simply unpack in the airport and get the kit assembled!

Our first stop took us to the east of the island onto some of the most perfect terrain we had ever been on - the wind was warm and the terrain was varied enough to ride for hours without bored. Was this the best place we had ever ridden? Well it was certainly near the top as Richie Stones, Mark Everitt, and Rob Hills began boosting big airs and tweaking it in their mid-air spins jumping over obstacles as well as the odd photographer!

Unfortunately for us the wind began shifting up and around the island and evenutally began to blow over the land! Not a problem for us though when the island is so small - a quick stack up of the buggies and boards onto the roof racks and we were soon on our way around the other side of the island to grab the afternoon winds - yet only a 15 minute drive took us to completely the opposite kind of terrain - El Cotillo was one of the harshest places we had ever seen to buggy on. Huge rocks and boudlers with a very loose layer of flint providing us with very little traction was on the agenda and if you were going to come out on this terrain something was going to either break or get torn!

We took to the terrain very precariously yet managing to get some spins and flatland manoeuvres which were leaving the locals with their jaws-dropped. It appeared as though Richie had taken the more scenic route by launching himself into 'the pit'! A 60ft rock covered drop which would take no prisoners if you felt like bailing out! Charging up and down the sides - the freestyle buggy pilots were attacking almost vertical walls with the occasional freestyle flatland manoeuvre thrown in - yet on a vertical plain rather than the usual horizontal! Pushing it even further Mark began charging through the rocks to reach a flat spot in the pit and getting 12ft+ airs off the flat! Soon enough though the crashes and bruises came thick and fast as well as the punctures from riding such difficult terrain! Richie took a tumble that any stuntman woudl have been happy to have escaped from so lightly and Rob landed hard on his neck which left us all dumbstruck for a few moments that he walked away from it with just a sore collar bone! And the end of the day a fantastic 18 punctures, countless bruises and all of us with very good sun tans left us all with a 100% sense of elation that cannot be described!

Day three was underway after a serious night out with the locals - but we were soon packing the kit again for another day of sun, sand and wind! Arriving at La Pared the terrain was looking more vicious than what was being ridden the day before! Bowls, obstacles, trenches - you name it - it was there! John Eaton and Jason Locock put on their body armour and began carving up the terrain with dust and shale flying everywhere pulling off some freestyle technical manoeuvres up and over obstacles - yet being well aware of the potential injuries that could occur if they were to make a mistake!

Meanwhile Rob and Mark had found a skate style bowl that they were using as a slingshot to shoot themselves up and out through the air. Rob began pulling off some fantastic slides and spins while Mark took the option to fly himself as high as possible from as many different angles as possible - conditions were so perfect the tricks they had been trying to perfect for so long became effortless and were perfected in a single day!

Day four we arrived for the pre-event of the Corralejo kite festival - just a 5 minute drive from where we were staying and with all the punctures fixed and bodies repaired - we hiked over the big dunes to the festival which happens to be right on the beach with a fantastic look over the sea. We unloaded the kit from the buggies and were quickly pulling over even our most difficult of manouevres with the greatest of ease! Mark was soon out on safari looking for obstacles to jump over and soon enough a suitable ledge was found to fire the buggies into the sky with some explosive freestyle rotations and tabletops linking trick after trick with over 30m distances being covered through the air! The other festival flyers were soon walking over and pleading with us to take it lightly and to save ourselves for the next day!

The day of the festival and the wind had taken a more lighter approach yet despite it we were soon in the groove and putting on a show as part of the festival mixing it up with both flatland and aerial tricks as well as letting some of the locals getting to grips with some of the kit we had brought over. Dan Eaton and Sly Jennings took to the two and four wheel boards across the flats while the rest of the crew began riding the dunes and launching off the top. With the sun bringing an end to the day however the wind began to kick in and suddenly the long distance buggy jumps were becoming an enernity and easily jumping the local photographers as well as what looked to be the tabletop-mountain in the horizon! Despite the sun setting however the wind was well and truly blowing and some of the crew continued to buggy and board into the night - and were only recognisable when they were back lit by the moon.

The following day we took the longest trip down to Jandia to take a look at the some of the most spectacular sites we had ever seen with a view of the ocean - cliff-faces and traverses. Our main aim of the day though was to visit a ship that had been left a few years back in Playa de Garcia which we thought would be a great backdrop for some photos as well as some good old fashioned chilling-out! The terrain though looked as rugged as the ship that was washed up. Dan and Sly were soon taking on the rocks and boulders - some of them bigger than their wheels - and then launching into massive loops which made them appear to be jumping the shipwreck! The buggies took to the much loved terrain and were ploughing through the debris picking up the odd glimpse of the ship through the dust.

Soon enough the sun was setting and we set up for a team photo which was gatecrashed by an army helicopter which seemed to want in on being in the photo! We were glad to oblige but figured it best that we set off and went for one last flying session.

The trip ended up a fantastic and perfect week with the crew talking of when the next trip would be set for. What an amazing place it was for such a varied amount of terrain on such a small island. We flew back knowing we had not only seen but ridden some of the most challenging terrain anyone of us had ridden.

Report: John Eaton + Dan Eaton
www.powerkiteshop.com

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