Emilie’s close friend: the reef (or the curse of the accident prone)

by Emilie Marx
(Part 5/6)

I’ve always told all my students that kitesurfing didn’t have to be an extreme sport, and that it was only as dangerous as we were choosing to make it through our decisions and reactions.
But having said that, we all know that one of the beauties of being a teacher is to set rules for the others that don’t apply to ourselves, lol. Facts were that I was no longer a role model and didn’t want to be… (Lower back pain put aside, this surely had to do with my decision to stop instructing as well…)
I like pushing the limits when it comes to ‘me and the elements’… It’s such a special relationship.

For me, kiting truly is about the feeling, and I’ve always felt a lot more flying ten metres above the surface than landing a new trick.
Tricks are challenging and cool though, but they don’t measure up (to me) to what you feel during a big air when you get to see the world from an angle no one else ever will, or when you’re going down a big wave or simply a beautiful wave…. These moments just become timeless even if they last only seconds.
I care more about sensation than performance I suppose.

I really enjoy wave riding, which I only discovered in Australia (and, having nearly drowned in a swell ten years ago, it was a real challenge for me). I was terrified the first year. I’m proud I’ve finally managed to get over it. I‘ve since had some epic sessions in three metre swell and they were some of my most intense and unforgettable sessions.
I remember how truly terrified I was when I saw my first waves in Sydney, I used to spend three hours in my car every single day just to ride on flat water, I never thought I would ever become a wave rider - And that’s the beauty of kiting - watching someone doing something thinking “man, I wish I could do that”, and finding yourself doing it few months later….
Waves are still a new playground for me and it surely does give me my biggest high these days.

What does this sport demand of you?

A healthy lifestyle; I don’t party any more because hangovers ruin my sessions! I live like a nun lol.
I’d say that in my particular case, it demands sensibility - I can’t just throw a move and wait to see the result (because that might just be me out of the water for weeks). A new trick requires a lot of preparation for me cause I can’t stuff it up that many times without being injured… I have cracked my ribs already three times (simply badly landing rotations - I’m stupidly breakable….), so I try to be (semi) sensible…
I’ve always seen kitesurfing as a mental sport and tend to calculate everything I do.
- I often mentally compare the wind to a wild horse, (I like that picture…), it’s something you’ve got to work with (not against).
Respect its power and use it to your advantage...
Having said that…. I am accident prone -Le Gallions’ reef and I are close friends by now!- and a bit of a nutcase…
The first time I landed a (real nice) board off, I was so happy, I let go of everything, yipeeing like an idiot and forgetting I was five metres from the beach… I ended up being dragged up on to the shore and nearly crashed my kite into power lines…
That’s me…
So yeah, a bit of self preservation (which involves keeping my brain working…) goes a long way!

Have you ever been in an accident?

Lol Sorry, its not a funny topic, but I can’t think of a day I don’t get hurt (this includes off the water as well!)

Kitesurfing surely is only as extreme as one chooses to make it, people don’t have to get hurt doing this sport… but I’d be lying if saying that I don’t lol.
I do collect accidents like others collect stamps or shells!
I’m a good person to hang around with because if anything happens, it will be to me!
(It works the same way with mosquitoes by the way…. I’m the best mosquito repellent on the market …)
In the past week alone, I’ve messed up my elbow while attaching the lines to the boat, twisted my ankle while surfing, been hit by my fins on numerous occasions, had a foot infection, and managed to put my hand precisely where the hatch window fell down, nearly slicing one of my fingers in half… I will leave the extent of the damage, if there had been any strong wind, to your imagination lol!

I’ve only been here for few months, but it’s already become a private joke at the pub where I work: “So, what did you do to yourself today?” If they ever see me popping by outside my working hours, they now hand me a lime or a bag of ice before I even ask for it, lol.

But all together, in spite of me excelling in the art of getting hurt, I must say I’ve always been accident prone in a lucky way!… I can think of plenty of ‘kitemares’ but can’t recall one ever having a tragic outcome.

I have had a few times, like everyone else I believe, where I saw everything happening in slow motion, but apart from that very first knee injury, I never got badly hurt.

I’ve had the odd flight fifteen metres above the water after someone pushed the button, the equipment failure, the landing on the beach, the kite stuck on kiteloop going straight towards electric lines, the usual tendonitis, kites tangling, a whole lot of bruises and more, (I used to think triple rotations were so cool…), even once had a student running over me with a directional board… But I am touching wood - nothing bad has happened so far (I plan on keeping it that way).

Having said all that, it’s important to put things back into perspective, not all is to blame on the accident prone or on kiting being an extreme sport. I am fully aware, when I go down a wave above the reef at low tide, that if I fall off, chances are that I might get hurt. And that isn’t to blame on bad luck or on kitesurfing… That is to be blamed on …. the adrenalin junkie I guess…
It is my choice. I sort of see it as part of the game (no pain no gain…) and happily admit that my own decisions are often responsible for the damage done. When I get hurt, I usually know why…

I used to love kiting in North Queensland in Oz because, with the amount of hazards in the water, stuffing up wasn’t an option…

I will always remember that day a fin popped out right next to me; amazingly, I didn’t miss a single landing that day…I was stoked. I came up with the theory sharks were very helpful for one’s learning curve… ;)

I don’t see kiting as a dangerous sport although, I genuinely believe our decisions can be wrong.
The kite only flies. The kitesurfer does the rest. We are the drivers behind the steering wheels. When things go wrong, it’s more often our own fault than anything else…. When people tell me kiting is dangerous, I reply that everything is relative. I personally feel a lot more threatened each time I get in a car than when I put a kite up… Sitting under coconut trees is actually more life threatening than kitesurfing… But for some reason, people who think kiting is dangerous have no problem sitting under coconut trees…Go figure…




To read about Emilie’s wishes for the future and see more photos