The Maputo Kiteboarding Open 2010

Dear kiters,

As you all know the Maputo Kiteboarding Open 2010 has been held from 26th to 28th of November in the Southern Sun Maputo. The event was a great success and we have seen awesome kitesurfing in Maputo Bay during these 3 days. The level was really high and can only enhance our level in Maputo!

Check the facebook page for more info, results, pictures, video and comments about the event:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/event.php?eid=101369593264416

You can also check the website of the event: www.maputokiteboardingopen.com

Thanks to all the participants, the MOKA and the volunteers for their help during the event.

Hope to see great tricks in Maputo!!!
Rgds,

Greg
MOKA Team

Maputo Race Championship - Leg 3

The leg 3 of the Maputo Race Championship was held on 14th of November 2010. Once again, we had South-East wind but stronger this time: around 20 knots!

The race started on Miramar beach and the riders had to touch Xefina Island and head to Triunfo Beach (around 11 km).


10 participants were in and for the first time, a girl participated. Claudia went proudly with here 12,5 sqm kite in the solid 20 knot wind!!! Congratulations!





Unfortunatelly, we had some safety issues during the race as te boat which was supposed to follow the riders cancelled for too much wind...we had to go without the boat. Sergio realeased his safety by mistake on the way from Xefina to Triunfo and he couldn't manage to launch his kite again. Fortunatelly, a fisherman boat was passing there and rescued him and his gear. Finally everything went OK and everybody arrived safe on the beach.



Good lesson to remember now: no more race (to Xefina) without any backup boat!


Here are the rankings of the race and of the championship:

















Next leg will be held during the Maputo Kiteboarding Open 2010!

Thanks again to all participants and special thanks to Kobus Botha who proposed his boat to go and rescue Sergio!

Greg

Maputo Kiteboarding Open 2010

Dear kite community,

Please note that Kitezone Mozambique and the MOKA are organizing a kiteboarding competition in Maputo - the first one in the city - on 26th, 27th and 28th of November 2010.

Riders will compete in Race, Freestyle and Big Air contests. There will be 2 separate competitions: 1 for the amateurs and 1 for the pro-riders. 14 pro-riders have already confirmed their venue ensuring a great show for the public and for the amateur riders.

The event will be held on Southern Sun Maputo Beach.

Please note that cost for registration is Mtn 3,900.00 (ZAR 740.00 approx)
(Three Thousand nine hundred Meticais)

Included in this registration is:
- 4 evening dinners & Drinks
- Free merchandise.
- Food & Drinks during the day at the event.
- Raffle tickets (Equipment – Kites, boards, etc.)

Further details on the event will be communicated to you via email shortly.
However, the basic program is as follows:

Thursday 25th of November: Opening Ceremony at Southern Sun Maputo

Friday 26th: Race day

Saturday 27th: Freestyle and Big Air qualifications

Sunday 28th: Freestyle and Big Air finals

Side activities such as football tournament, games for kids, BMX demonstration, etc. will be run on the event site during the 3 days of the event.

PLease note that we will have a closed number of participants (40) and that the first participants registered will have priority.

We hope to see you on the water in Maputo Bay during this 3 days!

Registration form must be filled in and sent back to Greg: toubbab@hotmail.com before the 16th of November.

Best Regards,

Greg
MOKA Team

Maputo Race Championship - Leg 2

The 2nd leg of the Maputo Kiteboarding Championship 2010-2011 was held on Saturday 16th of October. The wind was once again blowing South-East so we went from Miramar beach to Triunfo Beach.

10 riders participated to this 2nd race. This time the riders had to pass a buoy just after the start and all arrived at same time on the buoy...after a few tangles we finally manage to get rid of this buoy!

The end of the race was really epic as the wind was dying and the riders had to loop kites and jump of the board to reach the beach!

Once again the ambiance was really cool and fair play. Here are a few pictures of the race and arrival as well as the leg and championship rankings.

Greg

MOKA Team

Maputo Kiteboarding Race Championship 2010-2011

Dear kitesurfers,

The Maputo Race Championship 2010-2010 started on last Monday 4th of October. 10 competitors for the first leg! We did the race from Miramar to Triunfo beach this time. The initial race should have taken place on the Sunday 3rd from Xefina Island to Miramar but we had no wind unfortunatelly.

Kitezone Mozambique is organizing this championship to encourage riders to practice and compete in a fair-play spirit. 12 to 16 races will be organized until June 2011. There will be a ranking for each race but also for the general championship. Nice prizes will be awarded!

See above the ranking for the first race. Sergio Ricardina is the actual leader of the general championship and Francesco Laserpe is the leader of the Rookie championship. Rookies are the one with less than 1 year practicing kitesurf at their first race of the championship.

Here is the schedule for the races all along 2010 and 2011.

To get more details about the competitions and championship, please contact Greg: toubbab@hotmail.com or Stephane: sdwd@usa.net

I hope we'll have more participants for the next leg!

Thanks for those who participate and see you in on the 17th of October for next race.

Greg

MOKA Team

Back to business!

Wind's back in Maputo!

A few pictures from Saturday's sessions.

Greg

MOKA Team

Tofo Watersport Festival website

Hi there,

Here is the link for the Tofo Watersport Festival website.
www.tofowatersportsfestival.co.za

You'll find all information about competition schedule, sponsors, etc. as well as the entry form to be filled and sent back to the organisation.

Please note that the deadline for sending the entry form is the 4th of September 2010.
Hope to see a lot of you there for the event, this is going to be awsome!!!

Cheers,

Greg
MOKA Team

Tofo Watersport Festival

Dear all,

Wind's coming back in August-September (hopefully). It is now time to prepare yourself and train hard for the Tofo Watersport Festival! The event will be held from 8th to 12th of September 2010 in Tofo.

You'll find the contact for registration and accomodation at the bottom of the poster.

Hope to see a lot of you there!

Cheers,

Greg

MOKA Team

Pemba kiters

Maputo kiters might be jealous from them...we have been suffering lack of wind these last months even if we had a few good sessions (cf. yesterday!).

Anyway, seeing such pristine waters may motivate some of us to go riding at Pirata (Carlo's place)!

If you need inquiry about the place, please check http://www.murrebue.com/

Enjoy the winter!

Greg

MOKA team

MOKA T-shirts and caps are ready!

Dear kiters,

Lucky you if you already registered to MOKA! The 2010 MOKA T-shirts ans caps are finally ready. 3 colours available for T-shirt (white, blue or black) and 3 sizes (M, L, XL) - 4 colours for the caps (white, blue, black or brown), unique size.

As a member of MOKA you can choose one T-shirt and 1 cap (coming with your registration). The rashies will come soon!

You can also buy extra items to offer to your friends, family, etc. You will then help promotion of MOKA all around the world!

T-shirt: 400 Mt

Cap: 200 Mt

Just send the sizes and colours you need to toubbab@hotmail.com. The first requesting wil be the first served!

Cheers,

Greg

MOKA Team

Be ready on Wednesday

Dear kiters,

We are all waiting for the wind to eventually decid to blow in Maputo. You won't have to wait much longer! Wind will start blowing on Wednesday morning until Friday noon!

Don't forget your wetsuit, rashvest, gloves, towel and hair dryer!

Hope to see a maximum of you on the beach on Wednesday!

Cheers,

Greg

MOKA Team

Updated member list

Here is the current member list for the MOKA. As you see, we are already 27 members which is good as I initially planned to have only 25! All other kitesurfer interested in bing a member of the MOKA is welcome to join!



This is currently the low season for kitesurfing as you might have all noticed, but we never know. You must get ready for every sigle windy day now, kite and board waiting at the entrance door of your house or even in the back of your car!

MOKA will also propose to occasionnal kitesurfers coming to Maputo, to subscribe for a daily membership, including all the services on the beach. We have still to figure out the amount of the daily fee and the modalities of subscribtion.

Thanks for all the members for your support and your contributions!

Cheers,

Greg
MOKA team

Such a perfect day...

Today was a good day. Between 15 and 25 knots during the whole day without any drop of rain!!! The South-East wind kept its promises! and offered us a very nice day to play in the water.

First member cards have been handed over to MOKA's member. Look how happy they are!!!

If you don't have yours, it's time to subscribe to MOKA and to send us a picture of you, your membership form filed and signed and 3000 Mt for the annual fee.

I wish you lots of days like the one we had today!

Cheers,

Greg

MOKA team

Wind forecasts

Check the Windguru website for wind forecasts. As you said in your comments, the forecasts are not so accurate on all these website. You generally need to register and to pay to have accurate data...

On Windguru, you need to proceed to a "spot search" and enter "Maputo". You'll see quite a lot of GPS points created and need to choose always the same one in order to have always the same reference. Once you've selected it, the forecasts appear for a period of 1 week.

Wind direction: basically the beach is oriented facing East / South-East. The arrow on the forecast shows the wind direction, meaning if the arrow is pointing down, the wind will come from the North. Good winds for Maputo are then North-East (arrow pointing down-left), East, South-East, South and even South-West, the best being South in the winter season (from April to August) and North-East during summer time (September to March).

If you see that the wind changes dramatically its direction every 2 hours, the wind will probably not be good at all. North wind is not good as it is off-shore wind.

Wind strenght: The interpretation of the wind strenght depends on the wind direction.

During summer time, when we have thermal winds picking-up in the afternoon, if you see wind increasing constantly between 11 am and 5 pm and turning from North to North-East during this laps of time, you are sure to have good and constant thermal wind during the whole afternoon. You need to add at least 6-7 knots to what is written, meaning that as soon as strenght's above 8 knots, you'll be able to kite.

During winter time, thermals are not working very well, meaning that even if you see the wind turning from North to North-East in the afternoon with a slight increase of strenght, the wind might stay off-shore. On the opposite, if you see South or South-East wind above 10 knots, you will be able to kite but the weather will probably be rainy...

I hope this will help you and I agree with the fact to set up a system to have real-time forecasts on our beach in Maputo!

Cheers,

Greg
MOKA team

New breathe for MOKA

Dear all,

MOKA's blog is on its foot again! This blog will allow all members (and future members) to follow what's going on about Kitesurfing in Mozambique. Here are a few themas the blog will speak about, but of course this is not an exhaustive list...

• News about the association
• News about kitesurf events in Mozambique
• Safety
• 2nd hand equipment to sell
• Kitesurf lessons
• MOKA's parties!
• Etc.

Anyone can leave a comment or send me the information he/she wants to share and I will post it for you.

Regarding 2nd hand equipment, I think we could do a data base accessible by any kitesurfer in order to facilitate the contact between sellers/buyers.

Make this blog your welcome page!

Cheers,

Greg for the MOKA team