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Kite Boarding at Extreme Hotel – an interview with Nina

womens kiteboarding

Women’s Kiteboarding in the Dominican Republic is growing! The other day I had the pleasure to sit down with the Lovely Nina. We’ve been lucky enough to have this Norwegian gem stay with us at Extreme numerous times over the years, and she always bring great energy and lots of friends! Two things that we love here at Extreme Hotel.

Nina has been on the kite boarding scene for some time now, so I thought it would be fun to see how she started this relatively new sport and how it has evolved over the years. As I said in my previous blog, this is a very male dominated sport, but if you’ve ever watched Nina out on the water you’ll know that she can outrun most young bucks.

kite boarder

Nina kite boarding on Kite Beach

Nina first discovered kite surfing when she was swallowing too much salt water battling the surf waves in Australia. She was traveling with her friend in Perth when caught site of some kites in the air. With some encouragement, Nina and her friend decided to give kite boarding a try. It wasn’t easy; back then equipment and teaching styles were much different: leashes were strapped around your wrist, there was no ‘de-power’ option, and no ‘donkey-dick’ (which prevents your bar from unhooking from your harness…very important).

It would be four years before Nina would start traveling and try kiting again. Her plan was to go to South America and do one month Spanish classes, one month of volunteer work and one month kite boarding – let’s just say that her Spanish stuck to “una más cerveza” but she learnt how to rip up the waves. The lovely Nina was officially hooked.

Over the past two years, Nina has traveled to Brazil, Cape Town South Africa, Tulum Mexico, Lisbon Portugal, Terifa Spain, Cartagena Columbia , Sicilian , Holland,  isla margarita Venezuela , snow kiting in Norway and Cabarete Dominican Republic to kite board.
How did she find Cabarete? Well, this area has been a popular kitebarding location for epic kite boarding in the caribbean for many years. Checking up on kite boarding forums, this place was highly recommended.  How did she find eXtreme hotel? After checking out other hotels on Kite Beach she explained that she stuck with eXtreme beacause “that’s the problem with kiting, when there’s no wind, you need something else to do. After seeing how many activities eXtreme had: yoga, trapeze, dance classes, crosffit, boxing, I thought it would be a fun place”. And that’s definitely something we take pride in here. GoKite is a great kite boarding school, but how about a little cross training every once and while?

 

Extreme Hotel social life

Lots of fun people, and fun activities at Extreme to pass the time when you’re waiting for the wind

We had a pretty big laugh while we considered how to explain to people the relationship kiters have with the wind. “ It’s like being in love with a guy you can’t have. You just have to wait. You sneak around his house to see if he’s around, but it’s never up to you. When he finally decides to call, he’ll totally blow your mind like and endless organism that could last for days”
That’s the tricky thing about kiting – when there’s wind, it would be bliss for days and days. But when there’s not, it’s a waiting game. You get tired of waiting beachside, but you’re too scared to leave in case it picks up and you miss out. That’s why having so many activities at eXtreme makes things convenient. You can stay occupied, while waiting for the orgasm.

But there’s more than just the wind that keeps Nina coming back. Cabrete has a great vibe. There are fantastic restaurants and great clubs where you can dance Bachata, Meringue, and Salsa. There are kiters, surfers, and circus artists everywhere, “a lot of six packs running around”. Plus, eXtreme tends to have a lot of familiar faces coming back. Making friends with locals, guests and eXtreme staff, it becomes a family that you want to return to. Nina mentioned that seeing locals and tourists mingle as much as they do in Cabarete is not something you see very often. “I guess that’s why I think this place is so special, it’s a friendly destination. “

So I asked Nina what we can expect from the sport these coming years, “more girls will start kiting!”
Nina makes a very good point that most girls are scared to start because they think they need to be really strong. In reality, people of all sizes, ages and strength levels can kite. You’re not holding on to the kite with your arms, you’re steering the kite with your arms. The kite itself is attached you your harness around you waist. “People are scared to take control of the kite – but it gives you good abs” …nuff said.

In the end it’s all about having fun and wearing cute bikinis.

girl kite boarding

thanks for the great interview nina! now get back out in those waves :)

I would like to thank my good friend Nina for this wonderful interview. It was great fun hanging out at Chichigua and laughing over the good times we’ve had in Cabarete.

Please feel free to comment or ask any questions to Nina – she’ll be staying with us for a few more weeks.

Until next time,
Genevieve