The Kook issue -The End

by Emilie Marx
(Part 6/6)

Fred Steele ripping it….

Now, one of my biggest inspiration ever lives ten minutes away from my favourite spots.
He is my dear kiwi fellow rider, Fred (that you will find pics of in TPK’s pages).
What an incredible rider and human being he is!
You can’t miss Fred: just like myself, he’s out there all the time.

Oh, the “cool gang” can stop reading: even though he likes his surfboard and is a pretty sweet surfer as well, he very often rides a twin tip (how daring!).

He has thrown some of the coolest freestyle moves I’ve ever seen, he’s creative, he tries new things all the time and I never get bored of watching him and riding with him.
He’s been riding for ever but hasn’t fall into the “fashion” of the sport.

He can do just as well with a surfboard than twin tip, he will be out there in light wind, shit wind, he will be out there having fun when the “cool gang” sits on the shore weighing “this is just not good enough”…

I’ve seen him doing things I didn’t even know were possible to do with a kite and a board and his attitude on the water is great: this guy smiles all the time, always says “hi” when passing you and he will happily give you any tip you may need.
He is to me the ultimate kitesurfer, who still has passion, who still has imagination, who still shares…

One of the most inspirational pro rider I ever got the chance to meet (because not all pro riders are wankers!) is Jaime Herraiz.
He surely is one of the nicest, most approachable and fun rider I’ve ever met –and that I genuinely hope to meet again-.

I want to meet a lot more riders like Fred, Harold, Jaime, who just rock out there while remaining the nicest people on earth.
Come on guys, this is all about having a ball, who cares about the obnoxious lot out there who think they can tell you what’s fun and what’s not.

If being a kook is not following the trends, then I’m proud to be one.
I might make it my way of life, my religion, because, you know what?

Life’s way too short to be taken seriously…

Have tonnes of fun out there
- And let’s keep on smiling, so that the world can smile with us…

Em


Go back to Emilie's journal to read other of her adventures