HOMETOWN: Sunshine Beach, QLD
 
D.O.B: 15th December 1992

NATIONALITY: Australian
 
KITING SINCE: 2004
 
SUPPING SINCE: 2007
 
GEAR:
Kites - Cabrinha Switchblades
Board - Cabrinha Custom 136, skillet 5'6''
SUP - Cabrinha 8ft

From a young age, I’ve always liked anything to do with the water. I guess I was introduced to surfing when I was about 5 years old and spent a few years just surfing and doing some local comps around my hometown.
 
I was about 11 when I first started kiting. My dad ran a beach hire where he did kiting lessons and I started playing around with the kites from there. It took a while before I got fully into the sport, but after a year I was hooked. I pretty much stopped surfing and stopped comps completely because surfing was always so crowded and I liked that I could escape the crowds in kiting.
 
After a couple years in kiting I started competing in a few comps with the first being the 2006 Australian Freestyle Nationals held in Melbourne. I took 3rd place in the Juniors which was a great result for my first comp, considering I was competing against people much older. I started to really enjoy competing and continued to compete in a couple more comps throughout the year. I finally got my first win in 2007 taking out the U18s at the Freestyle National Titles at Caloundra and backed it up in 2008 when I took out the same division at Elliot Heads.
 
One of the things I love most about kite boarding is the variety. Not only do I enjoy the freestyle side of it, but I also really enjoy the wave scene. I took out my first Kitesurfing Wave Nationals Junior Title in 2008 after taking 4th in the Nationals the year before.
 
During this time I also started to get back into surfing and started Stand up Paddle Boarding, which was growing extremely fast. It gave me something to do when there was no wind and allowed me to surf much smaller and powerless waves due to the size of the boards. The boards continued to get smaller and before long I was down to an 8ft board. The small boards really opened up the sport for me and I began to develop a style more like shortboarding with a paddle.
 
My first comp on a Stand Up was in March 2009 when I competed in the Noosa Festival of Surf. I took third place which was pretty good considering it was a pro event with only an open division. It was good to see what the standard was and that I could hold my own against the older guys.
 
After competing in the comp I got more into Stand Up Paddling. Previously I would only do Stand Up when there was no wind for kiting, but I often found it hard to decide between the two when conditions were good and I was definitely surfing heaps more than usual.
 
Although I was spending a lot more time doing Stand Up I was still into my kiting. The Nationals came along again in 2009 and I decided to compete in the juniors as well opens. This was definitely a whole new standard for me, but I ended up taking out the title after a couple of very long days kiting. I was pretty stoked to back it up again in 2010 with a 2nd to Any Yates who went on to win the 2010 world tour.
 
I shifted my focus once again to compete in a couple of stand up comps. One of which was the State Titles where I took first place and got an invitation to compete at the Australian titles in late 2009 which I came third in. In 2010 I was able to back it up again with a 2nd in the Noosa Festival, a 1st in the Malfunction and a 3rd in the Aussie Titles. I am really enjoying the sport and I hope I can keep up the good results in the future.

Towards the end of 2010 I started really focusing on my kiting again, especially the wave scene. First up was the Merimbula Classic where I managed to take the win for the first time after a 4th the previous year. The start of 2011 saw the wave nationals happen again this time in Warrnambool Victoria. After not having a wave nationals in 2010, I was pretty keen for another comp so I was really stoked to win my first Open title in the waves. After doing so well in the wave comps, I thought it would be a good idea to follow the first couple stops of the world tour and see how I could compete at that level. It was a great exeperience to check out Morocco and Lanzarote and after winning the first two events, I couldn't be happier.

I'm hoping to continue along the same path throughout the future and hopefully I can do well in both kiting and SUP.

Cheers,

Keahi