For the first round of the Kiteboard Tour Asia, I headed to Bintan in Indonesia, I have a new companion in the form of my adopted sister and fellow BKSA competitor and judge, Sukie Robertson!! We arrived on the Island a week before the event began so we had plenty of time to “roam”.
When we arrived we stayed in these amazing -if not, slightly rickety- huts on stilts on the beach, the beach in question was a super empty and long one. And as soon as we arrived we pumped up and hit the water, with no other kiters in sight, the sun setting and our little hut in view, it was a session to remember. The only trouble here was the shallow water with rocks and chunks of reef sticking out – a magnet for fins (and Sukie’s freshly painted white kiteboard).
On a rainy, non-windy day we met Andi and the wonderful Bintan kite riders at Trikora beach club. We were just strolling in the terential rain as you do (or as most Indonesians do not) and we spotted a Neil Pryde flag. It turned out that it was linked with a Cabrinha Distributer in Singapore and Sukie and I moved in there for free (despite the fact that they aren’t due to open until May!!)
The Trikora beach Club has an amazing set up with outdoor wooden seating, a platform to watch people on the water, and a big lawn for rigging and launching kites – really important on Trikora as the actual beach is very narrow, especially at high tide. We stayed in one of their brand-new huts that was a little more substantial than the previous one that was held together by rusty nails.
As the tide was higher here, there was less of a fear of being impaled on a rock so for tricking it was a better spot. There were also some fun little waves to play in, the Bintan Kite riders led the way!! They are a group of local riders who are genuinely the happiest people on the water I have ever met, their enthusiam for kiting and surfing is unending and they took Sukie and I under their wing. On the non-windy days we surfed, swam in the rain (and felt like we were in a film) or used the school’s SUP boards.. there was always an “activity”.
After a week, we (slightly reluctantly) moved from our little paradise over to the Bintan Agro Resort for the event. We loved our time at Trikora.. thank you Andi and Cindy for the great food and letting us borrow your moped so many times!!!
Polly Saskia Crathorne 