Chapter One: The Kiteboard Legacy Begins (2016) - full transcript

Subtitles by explosiveskull

Weather is big news, this
morning, an unusual weather bulletin.

It's a storm that
developed really rapidly.

Northern Ireland and Northern
Britain, parts of the Republic

are bringing gusts
of up to 70 miles per hour.

Massive thunderstorms intensifying
explosively in a process known as bombogenesis

started to hit northern parts of
the UK and Ireland on Wednesday.

leaving thousands...

Travel was disrupted and there
were restrictions and closures of bridges.

While on the rail many
services had to be canceled.

In the western islands
17,000 homes were evacuated.



At least one coast guard
categorized the sea state as phenomenal.

It's the technical term
for as rough as it gets.

Extremely large waves
around northern and western coasts,

bringing wintry
showers to Scotland,

Northern Ireland, the Republic,

and Northern England.

It's not just very windy,

huge waves are crushing
in to the coast as well.

I've ridden quite some
storms in my life.

But the forecast that we
have on the radar now

is something I've
never seen before.

They're already calling it
Black Wednesday.

Seventy knots of wind.
So the chase is on.

It ended up in a disappointing
session actually.



We didn't get the jumps in
that we hoped for.

Just not getting what you
were hoping for. It hurts.

What I didn't know,

is that the biggest storm
of my life was yet to come.

Hawaii is pretty incredible.

There's a lot of diversity
in the geography.

Especially on a place
like Maui.

Maui's got about four of five
different climates.

From the rain forest
on the east side of the island,

to the near desert
on the south side.

To Haleakala which
is 10,000 feet.

You've all these microclimates
on the way up the crater.

So it's a pretty
diverse landscape.

But the thing about it, mainly,

is that it really is the
ultimate water sports place.

Surfing in Hawaii,
it's something that,

while being a very solo type of
sport, it's also very social.

Everybody is out in the water,
and it's a way that...

you catch up with people.

It's almost a bit of a ritual
for a lot of people.

Hawaii is a really
unique place.

It's the furthest
away island chain

from any major landmass
in the world.

It's seven major islands
that are volcanic.

So, they basically pop up
in the middle of this vast

desert of ocean,
you would call it.

The aloha spirit as it's called
is kind of the island's style.

People live on what they call
Hawaiian time here.

So, not in a big hurry,
you know, pretty mellow.

There's still a sense here of
calm, compared to most places.

That's I think just natural from
the environment and the lifestyle.

If you look at the people
that live in Hawaii

there's always been
a lot of free time.

A lot of people live here because of
the lifestyle that Hawaii provides.

So, the ocean has always been
an integral part of it.

So, even if you're working,
you work to make enough money

you could get in the water
and surf or something.

I was really really lucky that
my dad was one of those people,

that in the sixties
was willing to just throw

everything through
conventional way,

and follow his dreams, and take
the family and move to Hawaii,

with no real guarantee of what
the future was gonna be like.

He wanted to live somewhere where
he was free and close to the water,

and be able to surf. Just took
the risk and went for it.

He took a teaching job

and moved to where
he could surf, fortunately.

Having a bunch of kids and
living on a teacher's salary.

We weren't hippies, but we were
definitely following the dream,

rather than living
the established life.

Once I got into windsurfing in 1974
he started windsurfing as well.

And that gradually took over
everything else.

And so my dad started making
boards in the garage.

It soon became more
than just a hobby.

Naish Hawaii started
for a couple of decades,

that was the name of the game.

The very first kiters
were all windsurfers.

When we started
developing the sport,

even the earliest guys like
Don Montague, Pete Cabrinha,

we were all coming
from the windsurfing world.

That's where we brought our experience,
technology and know-how...

the knowledge
of wind and waves,

and how to improve this stuff
to make it really work.

When I first saw kite boarding,

one of the first things
that attracted me to it,

was the fact that you could
get huge, ridiculous air.

If you look at how we
started kite surfing in the surf

it was an amazing way to get air and jump.
Huge jumps off nothing.

But pretty rapidly behind us
was a succession of young guys.

This was their first sport
that they really got into.

Those guys have taken the torch that
we handed them with this new sport.

And they have developed it into
the sport that it is today.

There aren't that
many places in terms

of perfect kite surfing
wave riding conditions,

where it's the right wind speed,
wind direction and swell direction.

so everything lines up.

Even here on Maui, we don't have that
great kite wave riding conditions.

It's really good kiting,
but we don't have any spot

that's like the full-on down
the line perfect wave to kite.

So, basically to go ride really good
waves on a kite even we have to travel.

If you want surf,
you have to chase it.

And the whole southern hemisphere,
especially down by Antarctica,

produces large storms, that send
swells up to all of these islands.

Fiji is a pretty
insane place,

a whole lot of islands
popping out of the water.

Super volcanic, and some of the most perfect
set-ups for surfing I've ever seen.

There's this part of Fiji, that
in really like a five mile radius,

has possibly five or six
world class surf spots.

There's all these reef passes that are
lined up perfectly with the wind.

Like point breaks, long
sweeping, arching reefs,

where the waves wrap
and bend around the reef.

Everything about traveling is
really just a series of reveals.

Even to the point of taking the boat out
to cloud break, you can't see the surf

until you get right up to it. So
as you get close and closer...

you start to see waves,

and then you start to see
exactly what it's gonna do,

what you're gonna get.

And when we saw that it was
fiery with wind and swell,

and nobody out, we just
could not believe our minds.

For people like Robby
and myself,

we evolved all from surfing
to windsurfing

to kite surfing.

But for kids like Keahi, kite surfing
came along at a early age for him.

So, you might say he's really kind
of the first generation of riders

that grew up with kite surfing
as their main sport.

Growing up as the sport
progressed around me was pretty cool.

I had the opportunity
to basically pick a style...

try my best to kind of help
shape the way the sport is.

I see something kind
of brewing on the forecast.

It seems to be changing.

Day by day the forecast is growing
for the cloud break area.

So, what started off as a swell
in the five to six foot range

grew to eight to ten foot,

and now they're calling
it 14 to 15 foot.

Looking like pretty amazing
conditions are lining up.

It looks like really solid
waves, good wind.

I think a few guys have
seen that as well.

I think Jesse Richman is coming
over, as well as Robby Naish.

In the summer months
I'm pretty much always keeping

an eye on the weather forecast

for the South Pacific and Hawaii.
You know, Hawaii, Fiji, Tahiti.

Even Micronesia, and the forecast
for this trip was just perfect.

As good as it gets.

It's hard to find a
wave that gets really big

and has the perfect
wind direction

that gives you the opportunity,
actually to ride it.

As on Maui last week
it seemed like the ticket.

This swell looked big,
it was perfectly lined up

with pretty much everything.

And it just looked like it was
gonna be one of those swells that

you could rip with a kite.

Riding waves this big, just put
everything in a perspective.

Because it's, you know,

30 foot wall of water,
possibly, coming at you.

And at cloud break is not just a wall,
but it's a building collapsing.

And it's so thick,
so heavy, so wide, juicy,

like you look into the barrel and you
could fit a school bus in there.

Run.

It's interesting when
it comes to safety.

You've got a kite and you've
got a tool that can

essentially, pull you
out of bad situations.

You wipe out, you keep
the kite in the air.

But at the same time you're attached
to a kite that has 20 meter lines.

When you crash, things
can go seriously wrong.

Things are gonna go wrong,

things are gonna go bad, it's not gonna
be a pretty sight for a moment there.

But that's what I love,
is finding that line

between pure adrenaline stoke
high to another dimension

and just getting the beating
of your life.

Run.

Kite surfing has
to be one of the best

traveling adventure
sports of all time.

It's an incredible vehicle for
just experiencing the world

and finding places that you'd
never experience any other way.

Brazil is the perfect
place to train.

Just because there's wind every single
day they have trade winds here.

So, that means it blows
pretty much all year round.

You have perfect lagoons
around all of the beaches.

If you just drive down the coast,
you'll find many many lagoons

that have been untouched.

And they're just perfect for kiteboarding,
because they're butter flat

and the wind hits them
with no obstacles in the way.

So, when I got invited to Uruau
by Youri I was super stoked,

because I've respected him since I was
really young and really loved his riding.

And always wanted
to be as good as him.

And yeah, to get to go and ride with
him for a few days is pretty sick.

Normally two competitors won't go
out and train together mid year,

when they're both still in the
race for the world championship.

I invited Liam over to Uruau,
to my home spot here in Brazil,

even though we're fierce
competitors in the world tour.

We compete the whole year
against each other.

I still decided to ask
him to come over

since I think he's one of the best
riders out there at the moment.

I'm really trying to push
the sport into the next level.

And I think if we ride together
we can actually achieve that.

Tricks that we're doing
now are harder than ever before.

Just have to get
into a certain state of mind.

And you don't get into that
state of mind every single day.

It just comes with time.

You can be training every
day for a week, for months,

and you'll just get into that
flow, every once in a while.

But when you get
into that rhythm,

then you really feel
something different.

You can visualize all of your
tricks much better,

and you can really feel that
you're gonna land them.

Yeah, that's when you pull off things,
that you never expected to do.

Ever since 2004 I've been coming
here to Brazil, especially Cumbuco.

I've seen very young talent,

local kids from the town
and from Cauipe.

They've been inviting me well.

And every year there
was one kid

that was basically standing out a
little bit more over the others.

Three years ago
I came to Brazil

and I arrived in the lagoon,

and so this kid was just doing every single
trick that all of us pro's were doing

at the highest level.

So, that was pretty amazing, to
see a kid come out of nowhere

and suddenly just beat
every single guy on tour.

At the moment I'm ranked
number one in the world

and Bebe is ranked number two.

We're really close on points.

Yeah, I guess he's a threat
to me as he's riding so good.

Everything that I was doing was
just kind of ordinary, I felt like...

And I wanted to switch it up
and do something different.

So, a friend gave me a sailboat,
I decided to fix it up,

and sail it up to the British
Virgin Islands,

the windward islands
in the Caribbean.

Just get away from everything,
the day-to-day grind, you know.

Not having a return ticket
or a flight back...

and not knowing where you're going
from there is super different.

And a different way to live.

Living off the sailboat in the
way I have only dreamed, is priceless.

I don't have any rent, I can
anchor wherever I want,

and live off the simple
things in life instead

of all this stuff that
we really don't need.

It's a strange feeling parking your
boat in front of Necker Island...

Richard Branson's island.

There's a big contrast
of owning a private island

and living
on a little sailboat.

But living the same dream
and being so close together...

it feels like we're neighbors.

I believe that people who
kite are much more connected to nature

than almost any other people
I've ever met.

There's an enormous
amount of effort,

put up by the kiting community
to protect our species.

On Necker Island,
there are more species

than on any other island
of its size in the world.

And every corner you turn you're
gonna run across something,

whether it's a flock
of flamingo's,

whether it's giant iguana's that you only
find on this island and one other island.

So Necker is rich in species,

both on the island and under
the seas, just off the island.

One of the reasons we bring
these species to Necker,

is some of them are CITES 1, the
most endangered species on Earth.

And Necker is the perfect place
for them to breed.

We've had tremendous success with
all the species we've brought here,

in reproducing them so that these
particular species will never die out.

Look, I'm a great believer that
if you can keep fit and healthy

you can achieve pretty well
anything in life,

and if you let your body go
the reverse is true.

And one of the best ways of keeping
a fit mind and keeping a fit body

is getting out there
on the water.

And the more time you can spend
on the water the better.

I first came to Necker Island
eight years ago, I would say.

I just came to kite, I didn't even
know who Richard Branson was.

I didn't even know
this island existed.

I've just been lucky I've
been invited back ever since.

I first kited
about 14 years ago.

I now find kiting, the best
sport in the world.

I just get away from, you know,
the hustle and bustle of life.

And just bounce over the waves.

Kite boarding gives
you so many things

that it's hard to say which one thing is
what motivates you to get out every day.

Some people do it to break away,
some people do it to relax.

Other people just do it for
the sport or the adrenaline.

It really depends I think it's more
like keeping your mind active,

keeping your and body active.

Those are the two of the things,
once you get hooked on that,

you need that every day.
Kite boarding provides that.

The sport is so diverse that,

you know, even when you feel like
you've done a lot of one thing,

and then break into something
completely new

and that changes
the game completely.

Essentially foiling just means
that you're picking

the actual board that you're
riding on out of the water

and you're riding a little wing, it's
literally like riding a magic carpet.

One of the nice things about
kiting is that anybody can do it

and pretty well anybody
can afford to do it.

And all you need is the wind, and you
just go where the wind wants to take you.

I mean, Necker Island
attracts adventurers.

And maybe because, you know,

I've spent my lifetime trying
to break world records

and it was wonderful, for
instance, to have Nick here,

who decided he wanted to jump off
the highest point of Necker Island,

which just happened to be the Jacuzzi
on the roof of Necker Island.

And try to kite down
into the sea.

Oh, you're going to do
it from the top?

I'll see how it feels.

If it feels good,
then I probably will.

All right.

You're trying to land
on the board, are you?

Yeah.

Probably slightly
further back, or...

- No, I think this is perfect.
- Yeah? Okay.

Let's do it.

All right.

Okay. I'm just going to try
and sit. See how it feels.

One minute.

- One minute.
- Okay.

All right, 15 seconds.

Nick standing by.

Okay, guys. Nick's
ready on the roof.

Three, two, one... Launch.

Oh, my God!
Oh, my God!

This city.

Of all cities,

knows the dream of freedom.

Freedom, to me, is just jumping
on my board and grabbing my kite

and cruising out into the bay.

When I go kite surfing,
it's just meditation, almost.

I don't think about anything
else. I'm just super relaxed.

Just going with nature,
cruising along.

And you know, after a hard day at work,
or whatever I'm trying to solve,

if I can just get on the water
for 20 minutes,

that completely relaxes me.

When Robby Naish, Pete Cabrinha
and myself

started kitesurfing

I was really interested in
kite design, kite development.

I've been designing kites now
since 1997.

I got a lot of input
over the years

how kite surfing can
change people's lives,

change our lifestyles. And I really
wanted to bring that to another realm.

But the feeling
of kite surfing is amazing.

And I wanted to share
that with everyone.

And so I started working
on different platforms...

seeing what I could pull from
sailing canoes to small catamarans.

And that led me into the kite boat
project which I'm now working on.

For the last ten years, we've
made nine different boats.

Probably 15 different
sets of foils,

a hundred different
prototypes of kites.

The mission now is to cross from
here to Hawaii in record pace.

That's the next thing, the next chapter
in my life, is to cross this ocean.

I discussed my project

with Larry Page and
Sergey Brin from Google.

And they said, "Why not, instead
of sailing around the world,

you save the planet?"

So, they proposed to build
a renewable energy company,

using kites to generate
electricity.

And that's how we
started in 2006.

And we started small,
we started with soft kites,

and worked our way
into rigid wings.

To explain how
the Makani system works,

if you've ever flown a kite and
you've actually looped your kite,

you can feel that force against
you. Pulling against you.

And so, what Makani's doing is
just basically taking that force

and turning it
into electricity.

One of the unique features
of Makani's wing,

is that they can go
to a higher altitude,

than a conventional
turbine.

Mostly because
of the wind gradient,

there's more wind up higher.

And just tapping into that area that
isn't being used at the moment,

Makani is going to be able
to take high altitude wind

and help power the earth.

After chasing a crazy
big storm in Ireland,

Ruben and I decided to keep
an eye out on the conditions.

We wanted to chase more storms
and maybe even crazier winds,

bigger waves, and then all of a sudden I
got a phone call with some terrible news.

It's actually crazy how
quickly things can go downhill.

From feeling happy,
strong, powerful...

to experiencing chest pains
and symptoms, losing energy.

The first symptoms that I got
to experience was in Maui.

I was feeling massive chest
pains and short of breath.

I could barely walk up a hill,
without stopping every five meters.

But I never thought
anything major of it.

I thought it was like the flu
or just an inflammation,

or whatever.

The doctors came
to the conclusion,

that I was dealing with a
tumor right behind my heart,

in between my lungs.

When I heard that for the
first time, I freaked out.

I thought my life was over.

As soon as they told me
it was treatable and curable...

you immediately switch
to survival mode.

And you just do what
you have to do.

And that was chemo therapy.

Putting poison in my body,
was something horrific.

This seemed like
the only solution,

as the tumor was already pressing
on my nerves and my vessels.

This cancer thing has definitely
given me new perspectives

on what I'm here for,
and what I love doing.

Just focus on things that resonate
with you and just going with the flow.

That all sounds easy,

but we tend to get caught
up in the everyday life,

and take things for granted.

What happened
to Ruben, made me realize,

that it's very important
to decide

where and how you
want to spend your time.

For me it's very important to live
my life as natural as possible.

And one of the things is to escape
the crazy, busy city lifestyle.

You know, I love
coming to Indonesia.

Especially traveling here
together with my sister

is just something magical,
you know.

No T-shirt team.

Kev and I, we've always
been super close since the start.

Like, doing the same sport.

He kind of got me
into kite boarding.

We've always been very competitive
with each other. And especially for my side.

He's always
a little bit better

and I'm always trying
to achieve the same.

I used to be a very shy person
when I was younger.

Kevin was always there, and he
always took good care of me.

But I was always
kind of in his shadows.

But it also made me very
strong because without him,

I probably never would have
pushed myself so far as I do now.

I'm super
proud of my sister.

To me she's the best female
wave rider in the world.

And she's proven it as well.
She became world champion.

To me it's also very
motivating, you know,

I can see how she
goes out every day,

and like rides and rides
and rides and progresses.

It gives me something
special as well.

So being in this remote
place in Indonesia,

is just almost stepping back
a 100 years in time, you know.

It seems like they're
more enjoying life.

A simple life is a good
life, I would say.

Coming
from the Netherlands,

where everybody
thinks time is money,

everybody's always stressed, you
have to make an appointment,

and you're always just racing
and you never sit still.

Here you just have the time to
actually think and you just wait.

When it's perfect, you go out
on the water...

I don't know, it just
frees my mind, kind of.

When I was young, I was into
kite boarding because of my family.

My dad was into water sports.
He was kiting before me.

He always wanted to visit
Cape Town in South Africa

as he heard a lot about it
through his windsurfing days.

One winter, we decided
to skip the cold in the UK,

and we came out to Cape Town.

I actually progressed so much
in that winter. It was amazing.

And I think that's what maybe
sparked my dad's thoughts

that I could continue to do
well in this sport.

And he is the one who gave me the
opportunity to continue kiting,

compete and get
to the level I'm at.

And I think he thought,

"Right, it's time for a new
chapter, a new challenge."

And he never
really turned back.

We are kind of the first
generation growing up with the sport.

I was 13 when
I learned to kite.

And it's been really cool, to
see how the sport's growing,

and how different riders have
established themselves

within the disciplines
they love.

We've all taken our influences from
the other board sports we watch.

Kite boarding is like
a massive combination

of all the different
board sports in one.

Over the last few years,
wakestyle has grown quite rapidly.

There's one guy that stood out,
and that's Sam Light.

He brings a great style
in execution,

both on the rails
and the kickers.

I always used to enjoy going
skateboarding with my buddies,

and finding a rail
or a stair set to jump down.

And I think that's similar
to how park riding is now.

So, you travel the world, seeing
your friends, all year round.

But for some reason, at one point,
everybody comes to Cape Town.

I've never felt winds like
there are here in Cape Town.

It is out of control,

and it kind of leads
to ridiculously big jumps

and ridiculously
big kite loops.

There's one event every year
that challenges everybody's skills

and pushes the level of
kiteboarding in big air.

And that
is the King of the Air.

The King of the Air, to me, is
definitely the best event of the year.

It's an event that
everybody waits for.

There's a 2.5 week
holding period,

which is way longer than almost
any kite boarding event has.

The real beauty
in that is that,

we actually are going to get
the conditions that we need,

to go as high as we can go.

It brings the 24 best riders
in the world to Big Bay, Cape Town.

And that's where we show what
extreme kiteboarding is all about.

From the beginning of the contest,
there is not one easy heat.

Every single person
in this contest is going in,

with their eyes on the prize
and one goal.

Conditions off
the hook, here, in Big Bay.

Probably the best conditions ever, to be
seen at the King of the Air competition.

And the guys having to work
incredibly hard out there,

putting it on the line,
pushing the envelope,

and evolving the sport each and every
time they get out on the water.

It's a monster big hit.

Lasse Walker calls
for assistance.

That's looking huge.

The guy's trying to ride around for
that perfect pitch to get those tricks.

We were in the semi-final.
I had a heat with Lewis.

It started off strong,
started off wild.

And instantly he
took a huge crash.

...as they
get out there. Aerial acrobats.

Warriors of the air.

Oh, my word. Massive crash.

Can we have you
out there, please?

The flag is up.

The next heat has
been put on hold.

When I saw Lewis go
down, that hit me really deep.

Seeing that in the water,

seeing a friend who I just had a
conversation with on the beach,

unconscious, face down
in the water, was intense.

He was gone. He was not there.

It left all of us in a really
weird space.

You just kind of sit there
and realize what just happened.

Sometimes you can take an injury
and you will come back from it.

And he actually ended up
spending over a week in a coma.

I was not in the same
headspace as I was before.

It was much more intense
after I saw Lewis' crash.

After seeing Lewis down
and out in the semi-final,

I knew that I had to go out
into the final positively,

to bring his style and his
energy with me.

The final heat of the day.

The 17th heat. It is the
final, coming your way.

And that's it for the final of the
2016 Red Bull King of the Air.

Ladies and gentlemen, your back-to-back
winner 2015, 2016, from the UK,

give it up for Aaron Hadlow.

I've put so much of my heart
and soul into King of the Air,

so as soon as it finished,

I was really relieved and really
stoked to walk away and feeling good.

But I was ready to chill.

Golf ball, golf club, table...

- And when you go...
- Yeah, boy.

Wakey, wakey, boys.

Ow.

Kite boarding
really is a brotherhood.

All the top riders
know one another.

We're all in this together.

So, seeing Ruben
come out to the trip

and hang out with us
for a bit was radical.

We just got to hang
with our best friend

who's gone through
a really serious time.

But that has never stopped him
from having a great time,

and enjoying every
moment of life.

I'm slowly getting all my
energy back and it feels great

just being together,
that's what it's all about.

I just couldn't wait to fly a
kite and step back on my board.

For me to come back to the
water is something special,

but to have everybody out there and
really have the loved ones around

was definitely a dream.

I've been out of the game
for six months now.

I'm nowhere near riding
as extreme and hard as before.

But for now I'm just really
enjoying trying new things

and jumping on the surfboard for the
first time in my life, actually.

Let me tell you this.

Subtitles by explosiveskull