Brand Stable Battle Royal by WOO | Episode # 416

Summary

Kitesurf365 Ep. 416: Brand Stable Battle Royale by WOO

Host: Adrian Kerr
Guest: Alan Ledoux (WOO Sports)
Release Date: December 5, 2025

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Episode Overview

This special edition of Kitesurf365 sees Adrian and Alan Ledoux (from WOO Sports) document Cape Town’s “Battle Royale” — a two-day, high-stakes, mass participation booster event powered by the WOO device. Top global kiters, local legends, and a handful of up-and-comers were all gunning for big air glory, with €15,000 on the line, a cut-throat elimination format, and shifting Cape Town conditions setting the stage for drama, technical debate, and wild moments.
Main themes:

• How to run a Battle Royale–style big air event
• Athlete strategies, kit choices, and reactions under pressure
• The rise of hydrofoils in big air
• Community and event storytelling — real time, on the beach

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Event Format: From F1 Quali to Kite Battle Royale

[00:17]

• The competition borrows from Formula 1’s qualifying structure—mass participation, then rapid eliminations by score after each round.
  • 2 Days Max: "Holding a kiter’s attention, I felt like we could max hold them for two days" (Alan).
  • Day 1: Open entry — Top 25 men and Top 10 women qualify.
  • Day 2: Multiple cuts — At 2pm to Top 10/5, 5pm to Top 3, and by sunset, the winners are crowned at Misty Cliffs.
  • Each round’s leaderboard resets: Perform every time, or go home.

Quote:

“This is the two-day format. So in, in holding a kiter’s attention, I felt like we could max hold them for two days...open invitation to anyone in Cape Town to qualify. Day one, top 25 men, top 10 women. Then after day one, we start to trim it down to eventually just three riders, men’s and women’s.”
— Alan ([01:17])

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2. Cape Town Spots, Gamesmanship & Local Knowledge

[02:42], [24:55]

• Locations included Blouberg, Dolphin Beach, Big Bay, Doodles, Macassar, and the legendary Misty Cliffs.
• Riders strategized over which beaches would deliver the minimum wind to qualify, leading to “gamesmanship” — splitting up across city to chase the best gusts.
• Local knowledge came into play, especially with “downwinders” used to rack up high jumps.

Quote:

"There’s a little bit of gamesmanship going on that there will be enough wind in Blouberg to get into that top 25. What we don’t know is where that cut line is going to be."
— Alan ([02:42])

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3. Event Drama: Weather, Pressure, and Wild Cards

[13:55], [15:45], [24:22], [33:56], [36:06]

• Day 1 started with teasing conditions: “15 knots. Not an ideal day...But Jamie’s probably going to set the first score today.”
• Riders and event organizers had to adapt on the fly, moving beach to beach as the wind built late.
• Day 2 saw rough time cutoffs and last-minute score submissions:
  • “The look on their face as they sprinted to their cars. None of them had data. All of a sudden I’m hotspotting to each of them to give them data. 1 posted at 7:53. 1 posted at 7:59. The guy that posted at 7:59 bumped out the guy that posted earlier from the top 25.”
    — Alan ([36:06])
• Disqualified riders due to late uploads, device glitches, and event rule confusion — highlighting logistical and psychological pressures unique to this format.

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4. Big Names, Gear Choices & Rivalries

[00:12], [09:32], [11:32]

• Field included Jamie Overbeek, Charles Brodel, Hugo Wigglesworth, local hero Luke Dixon, and legends like Aaron Hadlow and Andrea Principi.
• Top names experimented with kit: foils vs. twin tips, various kites (Ozone Edge, Fly Surfer Sonic 5, Harlem, Duotone, Gong), and even equipment the week after competing in King of the Air.
• Rivalries: especially Jamie vs. Hugo ("those two haven’t really had a proper duel since Hugo became world champ") and Charles Brodel’s ongoing quest for a big WOO result.
• Community stories: Family on the beach, younger siblings coming up, parents scoping out the comp site.

Quote:

"I will say, when we were in MCAST Jamie looked the most comfortable of any of the riders out. He was not only jumping high, he was looping, he was doing board offs. He was basically doing his entire bag of tricks. Granted, he was fresh."
— Alan ([07:57])

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5. Strategies, Tactics & Real-Time Reactions

[16:03], [47:06], [65:22], [76:49]

• Some top riders (Jamie, Charles Brodel) would hold off on posting scores until the last minute to keep others guessing.
• Others like local Luke Dixon and “groms” simply sent it all day at their home spots, showing unique advantages.
• Conditions forced constant gear switching, tactical breaks, and kit experimentation ("I'm just flying everything", Jamie Overbeek).
• Candid post-session interviews reveal the exhaustion, camaraderie, and “terrifying but amazing” pressure.
• Community attitude through it all: “The whole idea is just to bring the community together and have some fun. Actually, it’s been awesome to see all these guys riding together.” ([30:41])

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6. Foil Kites Dominate: Sport Evolution Debate

[76:14], [81:06], [82:12], [85:31]

• The final rounds were dominated by hydrofoils. Jamie Overbeek broke the South African big air record on a foil; Hugo Wigglesworth also posted massive numbers on one.
• The top two men’s jumps in WOO history are now on foil kites, shifting the big air landscape.
• The show closes with Alan and Adrian openly considering separating hydrofoils and twin tips in future Battle Royales because of the huge performance gap.
• Massive technical debate about foil kites: Are they “fair” in Big Air? Is it time to run separate divisions?

Quote:

“We just let Charles Braudel compete in King of the Air with a foil. But... the top two jumps all time are out on foils now... I think you have to start to get serious about it.”
— Alan ([82:12])

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7. The Final Results & Memorable Moments

[79:14]-[85:31]

• Last-second drama: Jamie posts a 36.8m jump on a foil in the dying minutes at Blouberg to snatch the win from local favorite Luke Dixon (33.0m, twin tip), with Hugo third (32.7m, foil).
• Women’s champ: Gloria Ashkenazi, “the woman to beat,” posts 20.4m after hours on the water, with Gabby Pierre and Alyssa Sofia contesting.
• CHAMPIONS:
  • Men: Jamie Overbeek (36.8m, new South African record)
  • Women: Gloria Ashkenazi (20.4m)
• Real-time leaderboard app drama ensued while Alan, Adrian, and riders scrambled to verify results, field DQs, and chase whispers of a possible (but debunked) 41m jump by “Manu.”
• Emotional congratulations to Jamie:

  “I thought that I was gonna jump the world record, but I just didn’t make it because the wind got a little bit less lifty.”
  — Jamie Overbeek ([79:28])

Electrifying exchange:

“Turns out we were idiots.”
— Alan, on prematurely writing Luke’s name on the winner's cheque ([78:42])

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Notable Quotes & Moments By Timestamp

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote or Moment | |-----------|---------|----------------| | [01:17] | Alan | “This is the two-day format...open invitation to anyone in Cape Town to qualify...” | | [09:32] | Alan | “I’ve always been curious, you know, on any given day, how do these guys stack up...” | | [13:55] | Adrian | “Not an ideal day to start...But I heard DK’s forecast...Jamie’s probably going to set the first score today.” | | [36:06] | Alan | “The look on their faces as they sprinted to their cars. None had data...1 posted at 7:59, bumped out the guy that posted earlier from the top 25." | | [47:06] | Adrian | “He guessed to the tenth of a meter how high he jumped. He guessed 20 meters on the dot.” | | [76:49] | Hugo Wigglesworth | “If I had to change this format, I’d get rid of hydrofoils.” | | [81:06] | Alan | “This might be the end of mixing hydrofoils and twin tips...top two jumps all time are out on foils now.” | | [78:42] | Alan | “Turns out we were idiots.” (on nearly missing Jamie’s win) | | [83:03] | Adrian | “The concept basically is last man standing.” | | [85:31] | Adrian | “On the men’s side, all these boys had scored big...Jamie Overbeek...score of 36.8 meters, second highest reading all time, highest South African record. Again, he did it on a foil.” |

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Segment Timestamps

• [00:00-03:32]: Event introduction, format, field preview
• [13:55-24:55]: Day 1 launch, spot choices, first scores, wind drama
• [24:55-33:56]: Hunt for wind, rider interviews, strategies as wind builds
• [33:56-41:00]: Deadline chaos, near-missed cutoffs, data/hotspot drama
• [41:01-55:07]: Misty Cliffs cut, women’s leaderboard, equipment switches
• [65:22-77:20]: Final elimination rounds, kit swaps, tension, reactions
• [77:20-81:41]: Finals drama, wind cooperates, Jamie’s huge foil score
• [81:41-86:21]: Debates over event structure, hydrofoil dominance
• [86:21-end]: Leaderboard wrap, lessons, closing reflections

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Tone & Takeaways

The episode stays true to the Kitesurf365 philosophy: real-time, on-the-ground, honest, a bit scattered but always passionate and packed with technical and community banter.

• If you’re a kiteboarder, you’ll appreciate the granular detail around kit, location, and tactics.
• If you love sports drama and event design, the narrative of pressure, wildcard entries, and “last man standing” stakes delivers.
• The close sees reflection on how kiteboarding tech (especially foils) is rapidly reshaping the boundaries of Big Air and what event formats — and fairness — will look like in a new era.

Final memorable moment:

“Jamie, I never doubted you. Jamie, I never doubted you.”
— Adrian ([79:17])

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Full Results

Men’s Podium:

1. Jamie Overbeek — 36.8m (foil, Blouberg)
2. Luke Dixon — 33.0m (twin tip, Misty Cliffs)
3. Hugo Wigglesworth — 32.7m (foil)

Women’s Podium:

1. Gloria Ashkenazi — 20.4m
2. Gabby Pierre
3. Alyssa Sofia

Notable mention:
Possible (but unverified) 41m jump detected and filtered as invalid.

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This summary delivers the insider’s feel, the accurate drama, and the wild progression of today’s WOO-powered kiting scene. Whether you missed the episode or want to relive the action, you’re covered.

Transcript

[Alan Ledoux]

Welcome to the kitesurf 365 podcast.

[Adrian]

So it is December 1st and I'm sitting here with Alan Ledoux. It is the day before Battle Royale and over the next two days, I think we're going to have a lot of fun.

[Alan Ledoux]

I think so too. Yeah. We've hosted a lot of challenges at WOO over the years. We've hosted WOO Worlds now five times. We've done a Code Purple, we've done all these different formats and we have probably the three best Woosters in the world here. We have Jamie Overbeak, Charles Brodell and Hugo Wigglesworth all here. So this will be the first time, I think, ever that those three have gone at it in the same location, same condition, same opportunity. Hugo might pull out a foil kite. He might pull out a foil. We know Charles will be on the foil. Who knows what kite Jamie will be on? He's been trying everything recently.

[Adrian]

Yeah, that's going to be interesting. I wonder if we'll see those two boys go to the foil. I remember speaking to Hugo, wasn't super keen on the foil in super windy, but I think that he's seen it works.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah.

[Adrian]

And we saw him, we saw him in Plimmerton in New Zealand having a go at it, kicking off the foil.

[Alan Ledoux]

That's right. And he's a world champ.

[Adrian]

Yeah. I've seen Baptiste Bordolis kick off the foil from very high. It was crazy. So, yeah. So what's the plan for tomorrow? Which is the second. It's the start date.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah. So this format is, is kind of an iteration of the one day kind of woost off idea. And, you know, I actually have to give credit to Jason Broderick, who this room we're sitting in right now, because he came to me with this idea this time last year and said, you know, if you watch Formula One, you've seen a qualifying session where all 20 drivers do a lap, five get cut, they do another lap, five get cut, and then we have the qualifying standings for the race the next day. And it always seemed like a good fit for a boost off. Uh, this is the two day format. So in, in holding a kiter's attention, I felt like we could max hold them for two days. That was about as long as I thought. And this gives an open invitation to anyone in Cape Town to qualify. Day one, top 25 men, top 10 women. And then after day one, we start to trim it down to eventually just three riders, men's and women's. And yeah, I think we're going to learn a little bit about kind of this boost off that we've been doing now for 10 years at woo and different location, different riders should be. Should be interesting.

[Adrian]

Alan and I are going to go along and follow these guys and catch audio throughout these next two days, which could be crazy. I think probably misty cliffs. It looks like misty cliffs to. On. On the Wednesday, which is the final.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah.

[Adrian]

Where does it look like it's going to happen tomorrow?

[Alan Ledoux]

I think most riders will. Will post up in. In the Bloberg area. I think that's, you know, the consensus right now, and there's a little bit of gamesmanship going on that there will be enough wind in Bloberg to get into that top 25. What we don't know is where that cut line is going to be. So to hit that 25th place, you're going to have to probably beat a few pros. We know Nick Jacobson's here. We know Kevin Langer is here. You know, there's a pretty stacked roster quietly sitting on the sidelines, you know, not starting king of the air, but still working in the industry and, you know, making the trip down here. So I think that 25th place is going to be a little bit spicier than maybe some of these riders think. On the women's side, I think you're okay if you're maybe in that like 7 or 8 meter range. That's my guess. So.

[Adrian]

Well, what do you think the means is going to be? That's going to be the tough.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, yeah. I was looking at the data. Let me, let me pull up the. The November leaderboard. So. So to give you an idea of where the line could end up, you know, for the whole month of November in Cape Town, we've seen. So we've seen nine riders break 30 meters, including Andrea Charles Brodell. We didn't even mention Andrea. That's crazy. Hugo. Luke Dixon. Luke Dixon. If you're, if you're a fan of the local guy, like, if you don't like the fact that all these pros just showed up at this beach and you want to root for someone that's local, Luke Dixon's your dude. You may not know his name unless you're like active in the WOO app. Cause we don't talk about folks like that very often that aren't on the pro tour. But Luke is 31.4 meters, fourth place for the month. VannersPay, you might be thinking. VannersPay. He blew out his eardrum the other day.

[Adrian]

Really? Is he out?

[Alan Ledoux]

He's out. Vannerspay's out.

[Adrian]

So I was actually looking forward to seeing what Kaiju is going to be.

[Alan Ledoux]

That's right. Yeah. We were at mcasser the other day. Jason was trying all sorts of kites and he would have been a great one. But unfortunately, bleeding out of the air, he will not participate. Jamie Overbeak, second on the month of November, 32.2. And first place was VGO Yanma, who is a Dutch rider. VGO was riding a. An ozone 7 meter ozone edge.

[Adrian]

Proven big jumper has held the record many times.

[Alan Ledoux]

Vigo.

[Adrian]

No, the. The ozone edge.

[Alan Ledoux]

The ozone edge. Right, right, right. So VGO is unfortunately on a plane back to the Netherlands. He will not be competing. So as of right now, we ranked it by November. Jamie Overbeek, Luke Dixon, Hugo Wigglesworth, Julian Zens, Shout out. Julian Flysurfer rider. Charles Brodell, Principy. You got Josh Gillett right on that 30 meter cut line. Ross Dillon, player right there. Even Andy Troy, 28.4.

[Adrian]

Let's get to the 20th mark. What's the, what's the 20th?

[Alan Ledoux]

Let's scroll, let's scroll. Let's go.

[Adrian]

I'm going to guess around the 21, 22 meter mark.

[Alan Ledoux]

That, that's a good guess. I think, I think tomorrow it's not gonna be nuking. So I think, I think right around that 20 meter mark is gonna be where you start to feel pretty good. I think if you get a 20 meter tomorrow, you're safe. I think if you're in the like 18, 19, you might have to go back out. If you download that session, you might have to go back out.

[Adrian]

So going into day three, which is a big day that you and I are going to really cover, we're going to go to Misty Cliffs early. How do the cutoff times work? How are the cutoff times throughout the day? Work.

[Alan Ledoux]

That's right. So on Wednesday, Wednesday we're going to do three cuts. So we're going to do 25 riders and 10 riders to start the day on the men's and women's. And by 2pm we're going to have our first cutoff. So we're going to go down to 10 men, five women, 2pm you know, in retrospect does exclude some of our local working kite borders, which, you know, it's not totally fair in that sense. But hey, work the morning, take the afternoon off. This will be a special day. The second cut will be at 5pm we'll get down to three and then by eight, right around sundown, we might be in Macassar at sundown, so we might be getting out of there pretty quick. But that's when we'll have our winners. We put up €15,000, which translates to about €750 to the brand stable for our winner on the men's and on the women's side. And then we have a few extra kind of bonus prizes. We want to see the top grom, so 16 and under. So we want to see the top grom, under 16, so 15 and under. We want to see the 40 and over category, the master. And then we have top on a demo.

[Adrian]

Woo.

[Alan Ledoux]

So from the shop, if you don't have a woo, come grab one. See who. See who rocks up to the shop and jumps the highest. We already have one pro from the Nash team that grabbed one this morning. So sneaky.

[Adrian]

And also one I like. The most improved.

[Alan Ledoux]

Most improved.

[Adrian]

Great. You can actually stretch it the biggest. Let me go back to these cutoffs. Do the riders have to ride in each cutoff zone? Let's say Tomorrow Jamie jumps 30 meters out here. Does he have to ride in the cutoff zones at Misty Cliff throughout the day?

[Alan Ledoux]

So we're resetting the leaderboard every round.

[Adrian]

So you have to be there.

[Alan Ledoux]

You have to be there, and I think that's fair. I think it gives people a ch, you know, a chance to, to make up ground, to, to come back, maybe to not ride their best, maybe have the wrong kite for a session, make an adjustment. But it'll be interesting. We'll see if, if Jamie can smoke everyone every round or if it kind of flip flops as we go toward the final. I will say, when we were in in MCAST the other day, Jamie looked the most comfortable of any of the riders out. You know, Cohen was out. He was out. This lot of the King of the Air riders were riding next to him and he was not only jumping high, he was looping, he was doing board offs. He was basically doing his entire bag of tricks. Granted, he was fresh. He wasn't riding King of the Air.

[Adrian]

But don't remind me. I'm still, still didn't. I'm still tender about that one.

[Alan Ledoux]

That's right. So he, he's got something to prove. I think this would be fun to see him on any kite that he chooses, whether it's, you know, Harlem, a duotone, could be a fly surfer, could be that. What's that red kite that he's been riding? It's a foil kite.

[Adrian]

The element.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, the element.

[Adrian]

The good thing with this podcast, it's going to come out in retrospect. This is going to be a narrative for you. So when you listen to this, this will be the build up of the events, obviously. Tomorrow night we'll be down on the beach talking about the top 25 and 10 on the, on the, on the male and female side. And then Wednesday, Arlen and I are in the car on, on a serious mission. And I'm not sure how that's going to go, but yeah, by the time we get back to Blouberg, it's going to be chaos. Thursday gets edited and Friday it comes out. I'm looking forward to this. It's kind of a fun, fun little.

[Alan Ledoux]

Adventure side side quest of sorts. Yeah. So I've always been curious, you know, on, on any given day, how do these guys stack up with each other? You know, when you look at Woo leaderboards and daily leaderboards, you imagine that everyone's trying their hardest. But I think when we put a little prize on the line, little media on it, I think, I think we're gonna see something. Will we see a world record? I'd be surprised. We, we did see the women's world record set at Misty by Anjali. I, I would be surprised if anyone gets in that ballpark on the women's side.

[Adrian]

Anjali's here, you know, is she. Can we tempt her to ride? Can she be tempted?

[Alan Ledoux]

She might. That's a good call. Actually.

[Adrian]

I saw her the other day. She's looking fresh, got a big smile on her face, looking injury free.

[Alan Ledoux]

Whoa.

[Adrian]

Maybe we need to call her.

[Alan Ledoux]

Whoa.

[Adrian]

The thing is, what I'm liking about this is it's going to require some commitment, which, let's be honest, some of these pros are not the most committed people here. So if you are a big wow. I mean, this is going to come out after, but if you are a big jumper, you need to get involved in this because it's, I think, for some exposure as well. And you know, we're going to have the winners on here and it's going to be super interesting. It's going to be a nice little challenge. And yeah, I think that's going to be people like Hugo. That's the problem with Hugo. He's just so dedicated and wants to do so competitive and he'll be there. He'll be doing his push ups and.

[Alan Ledoux]

His squats and I met his mom and dad this morning.

[Adrian]

Oh, yep.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, they were at the brand stable. They were scoping things out. And yeah, Hugo has not turned down a challenge that we've sent him. He's won the, the winging challenges, he's won the foiling challenges. He's won draw anything like he, like the kid is a competitor so I will.

[Adrian]

And there's another one coming too. The younger brothers.

[Alan Ledoux]

That's right. That's right. Who's apparently quite the racer. So yeah, I think, you know subplot we got Charles versus Hugo tomorrow. Those two haven't really had a proper duel since Hugo became world champ.

[Adrian]

Yeah. And. And since Charles stole his world record.

[Alan Ledoux]

That's right.

[Adrian]

There's a little back and forth there between those guys and I kind of feel like Jamie's, you know, he has the most over 30 meter jumps in the history of Woo. And yeah, I feel like that in Jamie's quest to find their most competitive card he's lost that little bit of worge. But I know that he wants that back. So yeah, expect big things from Jamie. Charles will want to get back on the winning horse after being disappointed at the Red Bull King of the Air. So there are some cool little stories there and maybe we're going to see the Sonic 5 come out and do some, do some damage. There's a lot of talk about the Sonic 5.

[Alan Ledoux]

So yeah, yeah, I think, I think it's a little preemptive to give the the official crown of WU based on Wednesday's results. But it is a solid achievement to win that given the roster, given the, given the field, given that, you know, a lot of these WU riders didn't have the best King of the Air. Our team, you know, they did not, they did not excel this year at King of the Air. So different focus, different focus. They've got something to prove here and this will be a fun one.

[Adrian]

Next time you hear from us it will be Wednesday 2nd December which is day one where we're looking for the top 25 men and top 10 women.

[Alan Ledoux]

Maybe we financially.

[Adrian]

Well, we're at the event site where the King of the Air happened a few days ago. It's 3:30 on the first day of of the battle rail sponsored by Brand Stable and Woo. I'm looking down the beach and I can see probably one of the favorites, Jamie Overbeat getting ready to go out. Oh, it's probably, let's be honest, probably 15 knots. Not an ideal day to start this competition. But I heard DK's forecast today and it's about to start. That's an indicator of actually how the conditions are. We've got a Duotone kite there down in the water. But I think Jamie's probably going to probably set the first of the scores today. I think from here we'll move up to Dolphin beach to catch up with some riders who are probably going to do downwinders. If you don't know, downwinders are a great way to get a woo score because you don't have to worry about going up when they can just jump and jump and jump all the way down. We're seeing a couple of guys jump out there on these Sonics, so I'm going to try and catch Jamie before he gets on the water. He's making me straight out here. He looks like he's ready to go. I'll get a couple of quick messages from him before he goes.

There's the mum, there's the dad.

Jamie. Good to see you, brother. How you feeling? I haven't caught up with you yet. No, mate. First day of the battle royale. These are the conditions you wanted.

For me, it's not bad. I have big foil kites. I have everything, so I don't really care. Yeah. What are you going out on? This is the element, huh? Yeah, this is the element. 12 meter?

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah.

[Adrian]

How have you found the Sonic? I've seen you riding that one as well. You like that? Yeah, I also like it a lot in some sizes and I'm still testing what I really like. But yeah, for now I'm going on this kite. I'm just flying everything. You think the wind's going to come? I kind of feel like it's already starting to build. It might come a bit late. I think it will come a bit late, but it's starting to build now, but I don't think it's going to be really strong.

[Alan Ledoux]

But tomorrow looks better.

[Adrian]

So let's see Misty Cliffs tomorrow. Nah, I'm just staying here. You're gonna stay here while obviously you only need to in this better or you know, to make the top. Yeah, I think it's gonna be okay, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. No judges to kick you out on this one. It's just all results. Exactly. Hey, good luck, man. Good to see you out there. I was just talking to the overbeaks and I saw Jamie do his first takeout and I'm gonna say he's probably number one on the books for today so far. So Jamie, who we expect to see right at the very end, has, has definitely set the best target of the day so far.

[Alan Ledoux]

So we're at 3, 45, round one. We only have four more hours left.

[Adrian]

Well, I'm constantly looking up towards the mountain, hoping to see some wind, you know, bringing us a tablecloth. But Jamie's pretty confident the wind's coming and it can come late here.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, he's on the water with a few fly surfer sonics who just crossed the horizon. All right, all right. It's definitely picking up. Like you look out there and it's, it's windy. It's just not windy by Cape Town standard. It's not windy by big air standards.

[Adrian]

I mean, if this was your home spot, it'd be a good day. Yeah, it'd be good.

[Alan Ledoux]

It'd be a great day if it was after work right now and you rolled up. All right, core XR8 out the back. Yeah, I'd say, I'd say we've seen with our eyes so far. Maybe a 10 meter jump you think about, right? Maybe Jamie was about 10 to 12.

[Adrian]

Yeah, for sure. I mean, he's. I mean, we can. He. He won't post this till later. How does it work? Should you be encouraged to post early or do you post late and do you put pressure on people? Because, you know, yesterday and you've heard in the podcast we were talking about maybe the 1819 meter mark being the cut off. I think it's going to be a little bit lower at this rate. For sure.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah. We, we need to find 25 riders. Right. So they're not all at Kite Beach. Like, we're looking at probably 40 riders right now all the way up from Sunset Dolphin. This is kind of the main strip here in Blouwerg. But, you know, I know for a fact some kids went to Macassar today. I know for a fact some kids went to Platboom today. If anyone went to Elon's Snaps for that, because that, that was the GKA challenge spot that everyone had their highest jump.

[Adrian]

And is the wind east enough for Macassar? I mean, we've heard some people getting sick from Makassar. We heard a lot of people be getting some food poisoning from the water quality around Makassar. But it is the spot to get big, right? Yeah.

[Alan Ledoux]

The Macassar water quality, I always forget about that. And then I remember we sent Nathan Van Buren on the wing there earlier this year and he came back sick, which. Yeah, that's a bummer.

[Adrian]

Whoa.

[Alan Ledoux]

Okay. Okay, it's Jamie again. That was a little board flip action. That was easily a 10 second jump.

[Adrian]

Yeah. He's working on his King of the entry video for next year.

[Alan Ledoux]

So we looked at the stats for November in Cape Town to see who might be a favorite for the challenge today. And we realized that Jamie Overbeek has ridden more days than anyone else. I think he's ridden 20 days so far this month, or I guess last month.

[Adrian]

Does that include sessions as well?

[Alan Ledoux]

I don't know how many sessions that is, but that's days on the water. 20 days on the water and then he's got 24 kilometers of total height. So.

Yeah, you do the math. That's a lot of kiteboarding.

[Adrian]

Yeah, he's certainly one of the favorites. The wind is definitely picking up as I look up towards Dolphin beach, which is south of our location. There is definitely a lot more kites in there in the air. You need to get out with your woo. I mean, if this was live, you should be telling people, maybe we need to go live on Instagram and say, hey guys, get down and get you. It's an opportunity though.

[Alan Ledoux]

It's hard to. It's hard to get people really stoked when it's blowing 18 knots.

[Adrian]

Yeah, they'll be a bit disappointed with us if we tell them to get down here. Because it's pumping.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, it's pumping. If you're a intermediate kiteboarder, trying to get your first 10 meter jump is perfect for that.

[Adrian]

Or you've just bought your brand new Sonic 5 after seeing Luca Trudy beat Heel of Loot at the King of the Air, which I believe sales are going through the roof, right? Yeah, they you need to get down here, get it up in the air, probably kite around Jamie in case you have some issues, cuz he probably is the best person to save you out there. Oh, we are seeing some more guys. Get some out again. Another fly surfer kite out here. I think the fly Surfer Kite says 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 of them have probably been the biggest jumping kites that we're seen so far. And we coming up to 4 o', clock, there's another big one that will be on the board. And what time's cut off? 8 o'. Clock.

[Alan Ledoux]

8 o'. Clock. 8 o. Clock. Yeah. The consensus on the Sonic from folks I've been talking to, it's a great intermediate PB machine. So if you're riding in that like 10 to 12 meter jump range, the Sonic is a pretty comfy ride down of your biggest jump. So I'm excited to try it myself. That's kind of my sweet spot. It's great that everyone's trying them. Right, let's keep pushing the sport in new directions. Quick Score update. We have four scores on the board so far. High score is still an 8.0 meter jump. We've seen with our eyes at least a few 10 meter jumps. So this is always a bit on delay until people download their session. Cedric, we've got a ladies score as well. We've got Alicia backs. First one on the board, 5.5 meters. So that cut line is going to start appearing pretty soon.

[Adrian]

We are sitting across from Dave K. DK's car. His wife Sue, Prolific, you know, scorer in the WOO Worlds. They're doing a downwinder from sunset. We should be seeing them pretty soon. So I think they'll upload their scores pretty quickly and get their scores on the board. They'll probably have a bit of a break and, and have another go. Because Dave, the over 40 category, I, I believe is a kite boarding with them as well.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, yeah.

[Adrian]

Wow, Another Woo legend. I mean, she's got. I mean, if it's. Look, you just need to look at AI's Instagram to see what she's done. And Wu, she is very, very dedicated to distance riding and she also loves to compete in the Wu world as part of the magnificent Wu Tang Clan team, which is my team.

[Alan Ledoux]

All right, we're going downwind. We are driving to Big Bay to go meet up with Andrea, who is.

Mentally preparing himself for the biggest jump of a his life in 21 knots of wind.

[Adrian]

People might be asking, why Big Bay actually at the top of Big Bay for it gets to Little Bay, the waves curl in there and the way the wind wraps around, it's a little bit like Tarifa. You get sort of. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Guys have been riding there, so you get the wind going one way, the waves going the other. Maybe it's a smart move. Maybe he's thinking that's. Look, he only. It's got to make that top 20 for the men.

[Alan Ledoux]

Right, right.

[Adrian]

I mean, I think he's pretty much going to make it anyway. But he might be sending a message to Jamie Overbeck, who's dominating so far.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, I think, I think Jamie, I mean, he was consistently getting probably 12, 13 meter jumps, but yeah, with the right takeoff. You know, a lot of this game is line tension. So if you have a wave that you're kind of edging against. Ooh, who is that board flipping a sonic at like 15 meter jump. Smooth landing. That's good.

[Adrian]

Got to be. That's got to be Luca Trui. I must think I'm looking back up the beach. Do I see this? I Don't see the fly surfer, but.

[Alan Ledoux]

That kind of slim looking dude.

[Adrian]

Yeah, that was pretty.

[Alan Ledoux]

Oh, it could, it could be Evans ends.

[Adrian]

Or Evan Klein.

[Alan Ledoux]

Or Evan Klein.

[Adrian]

I mean, he's definitely here as well.

[Alan Ledoux]

Or Evan Klein. That's right. That's right. Yeah.

Yeah, we're going to see him come out of the woodwork. I feel like if you've been quietly lurking in Cape Town, you're going to be, you're going to be posting tonight. So, yeah, we don't need to stand.

[Adrian]

In the wind in heat. We can just drive up and down and just commentate on people driving past. I mean, that seems like we're doing this the wrong way, brother.

[Alan Ledoux]

I think our goal is to have a great two days together, so whatever.

[Adrian]

It takes, I'm already enjoying it.

[Alan Ledoux]

We have very little to actually do. Most of it is done by the woo, which is kind of the point of this whole format is that if you want to run your own event, you know, most of it is the creativity and the, and the timing and the prizes, and then you kind of just put it in motion and see what happens.

[Adrian]

If you ever wanted a podcast to fall asleep to, this might be the one. You're an insomniac and you can't sleep, or you're sailing across the ocean and you need to get to sleep. This is the podcast to listen to because it's gonna be like this for the next two days.

[Alan Ledoux]

It's gonna be a journey, it's gonna be a slow build. Right now we're on an eight meter highest jump, so.

[Adrian]

But this is like Formula one, you know, you've got to get through those, you got to get through those free practice before we get to the knockout rounds. And once we start cutting people out, that's when the action's gonna begin, when people are right on that limit and we're gonna see them hit the water.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, free practice, never my thing to watch, but this is, this is the equivalent today is that kind of free practice into P1. So we'll see where we shape up.

[Adrian]

Anyway, we're just about to turn into Big Bay and we'll bring you some more action when we get there.

So a little update from Big Bay. I can see Aaron Hadlow, Andrea Principe, Hugo Wigglesworth, Michal Isol, Sofia Monti, all the pro riders here just milling around waiting for wind. And it's probably about 8 knots here. The tide's super low. A lot of these guys come to this place because the waves and the wind are opposite. Get A little bit more line tension. But I think the general consensus is that most people are going to head back to the main beach where there looks like a little bit more wind. Yeah, it's quarter to five. So we still have around about three hours till day one of Battle Royale is over and it looks like the riders have decided to finally give up. And Arlen is walking towards me. He's, he's got a look on his face of not, not depression. But I mean what's going on here? It's definitely seems more windy there.

[Alan Ledoux]

I just feel like we've, we've all flown a long way to be in Cape Town right now to have this moment together. If the wind would just cooperate, we'd have a really special time. It's going to be a different special time. Our special time is going to be in front of Doodles doing board offs 12 meter jumps.

[Adrian]

I mean it's good to see Aaron Hedlow here. He's ready to compete. He's talking about, he's getting, talking about getting his 12 meter out. But I think everyone is packing up and going back to the main beach and I think we're going to follow suit. So. Yeah, we'll update you again once we get to the next location.

Well, we've shifted from Big Bay to Doodles where the wind, it's actually pretty good. It's probably 20 to 25 here. Some of the fly Surfer groms are pumping up kites. I can see one of the guys pumping up a 12 fly surfer have an unreleased fly surfer kite which I won't say the natural bet they're doing a bit of a photo shoot just up to the north of me. Hugo Wigglesworth is here, Aaron Hadlow is here, Andrea Principe is here and they're all getting kites ready. Sometimes at Dolphin beach the wind can feel, when the wind's a bit south, it feels a little bit offshore. But down here at Doodles, I think the beach and the coastline straightens up a little bit and it feels like a bit of wind, a bit of wind direction. So if you haven't been to Doodles, which is not a really common place to ride, come down, check it out. It's opposite the famous Doodles bar and opposite the Blauberg beach hotel where the king there had their riders meeting a few weeks ago. I'm here, I'm here with Liam Bremner who is gonna go on a 12 meter. Yeah, I mean dude, you might be on the biggest lei on the whole coast today.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, yeah, it Seems like it's always how it is.

[Adrian]

But yeah, we make the most of.

[Alan Ledoux]

It and what's, what's better than being super powered and being able to go super high?

[Adrian]

So yeah, we just make the best of it and that's the idea. You got your woo ready?

[Alan Ledoux]

Yep, always, always ready.

[Adrian]

Tell us about Doodles. Cuz it's not a spot that people ride very often. Honestly I wish I could tell you more. I haven't ridden here often myself.

[Alan Ledoux]

I think I've had about three sessions.

[Adrian]

Here in my entire life which being.

[Alan Ledoux]

A local is quite crazy.

[Adrian]

But yeah, I mean we've had some.

[Alan Ledoux]

Days where the direction might be a.

[Adrian]

Bit funky and Dolphin isn't working so well. But then we come to Doodles and for some reason it just works. But yeah, I mean we're going to.

[Alan Ledoux]

Go out there now and see how it is.

[Adrian]

It looks like a lot of sand banks out there. It looks quite shallow at parts and.

[Alan Ledoux]

There'S also some rocks a little bit.

[Adrian]

Downwind over there that come out of the water and low tide.

[Alan Ledoux]

So you just need to be a bit careful on your landings.

[Adrian]

And yeah, just watch out. I mean you're an upand coming rider here bro. You don't hit the rocks. No, no, no, no rocks. Hey, good luck today brother.

[Alan Ledoux]

Thanks Adrian.

[Adrian]

Appreciate it. As I look up the beach here at Doodles to the south of me, as I look back towards Dolphin Beach I can see Andrea Principe SW family have prepared one of the brand new D Lab Rebels. That's the 2026, it's the blue one. Interesting he did not ride that at Kingy there which is super interesting. There is an 8 meter fly surfer era on the beach. I haven't seen Hugo ready but I did see Hugo's mum in a wet so she's maybe she's riding that here. Hugo comes down, he looks like he's going Ali as well. So yeah, the action is about to kick off down here. Sophia, Monty's getting ready. Mikaela Sol's getting ready. I did see Aaron before, haven't seen Aaron getting ready but it definitely is a bit of a crew building up here. Hugo is going Ali. Interestingly he hasn't gone for the foil kite. Remember it's not about getting the highest score today, it's just qualifying for the next round. So we might see a few different kites flying today. But it's definitely windier here than at Big Bay. And let's let the action begin. Just a little update. Andrea going out on the D Lab Rebel 9 meter. Also, Hugo going out at a 9 meter. So it looks like 9 meters of choice here. Interesting. You heard before, Liam Bremer going out on a 12. Sophie, what, what car do you hang out on? Eight. Eight.

Or eight? Hate.

Obviously, Sophie Monty, one of the top woman strapless riders. Have you got a woo on that board, Sophie? Can we give you a woo? Yeah, yeah. Oh, we're gonna, we're gonna pimp her out with a woo. Yeah, that's going to be good. And you know what I think the key is, Sophie, is to get that board, when you do your board off and just pump that woo really high. I'm here with Julian Zens, who's the fly surfer tester and all around Cape Town legend. And he's going to tell us why Doodles is or was the secret spot here in Cape Town.

[Alan Ledoux]

Well, I would say if, if the wind bounced off the houses nicely and the waves were bigger down here, if the people didn't know about it, and, and I think if it wasn't for about a bunch of other factors, I think it'd be the best spot. It's just such a pity that it's. All of the above is incorrect.

[Adrian]

It's a little bit lighter down the.

[Alan Ledoux]

Bottom than up top.

[Adrian]

Sometimes it stabilizes it out, sometimes it.

[Alan Ledoux]

Makes it more gusty.

[Adrian]

It's really just dependent on the direction of the wind, like where 5 degrees difference will influence it.

[Alan Ledoux]

And then otherwise you just got to.

[Adrian]

Get lucky with the kind of sand banks and the way the rocks are showing.

[Alan Ledoux]

But if all those things line up, it's generally pretty empty.

[Adrian]

And you can get really good sessions. I mean, we've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 9, 20 kites here. That's the most that's ever been here for sure.

[Alan Ledoux]

It's 20 too many.

[Adrian]

They can all off.

Well, it's two hours to go on day one. Yep.

[Alan Ledoux]

6:00Pm now. Two hours. Two hours to go and we're starting to see a tablecloth. So what started as a kind of a sleepy afternoon has really built into as DK predicted. He was our weather forecaster here. Perfect conditions for really any kiter of any ability to go out there and do a jump. And we're watching Andrea's mom right now on a new blue Rebel D lab doing some big jumps and she might be in the top 10 for the women by the end of the day for sure.

[Adrian]

I see Sukay's already posted, so it'll be interesting to See when those, those populate back up. But interesting. We saw Hugo and Andrea right here for half an hour and then disappear down to Big Bay. We were at Big Bay before. I don't know if that's a misstep or not. So maybe we'll go and check on those two and see what they're doing. But yeah, the scores are starting to come in.

[Alan Ledoux]

I, I think they're both on a 20. Like I think both Hugo and Andrea have found a 20 meter jump. So they're probably safe. Like they're probably gonna survive tonight.

And yeah, folks that are like kind of on the edge, I think if you're on a 15, we just saw, we just saw King Alvin the Destroyer post a 15 meter jump. So I don't know, he might be right on the bubble.

[Adrian]

Can you imagine if he has to go to Misty Cliffs tomorrow? Tomorrow he's gonna be pissed. The whole idea is just to bring the community together and have some fun. And actually it's been awesome to see all these guys riding together. It's. I don't think we've ever hit so many kites at Doodles. I mean we're just speaking to Julian's ends. This is one of his favorite spots. He came down, he was very heartbroken to think I said there's 22 kites and he said there's 21 too many.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, we started at Big Bay, came up here, it was a good call. There's significantly more wind just like half a mile up the road. So yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna head down to Big Bay now.

[Adrian]

So we're currently in Big Bay still where we, Andrea Principe and Hugo Wigglesworth are not really, I wouldn't say they're woosting, they're more putting on a show with the waves. Coming here gives very much a Tarifa effect and they're enjoying themselves. The biggest crash of the day was from Alicia, Sophia Minch who went for a huge late back. The kite not catching her and her having a pretty large crash which Andrea was quickly there and dragged her out of the water. But she is okay, I think and I believe that Sophia wants to go up to Dolphin beach and do one more, do one more downwinder back to maybe high five and get a few more big jumps in. But it has been a pretty impressive day. Arlen and I will head back to Dolphin beach very, very soon and analyze the scores on the men's and women's front. But expect to see Andrea, Hugo, the big players all through there cuz the wind has really come in. I think DK N held that forecast absolutely perfectly and we've got a bit of a dilemma here.

[Alan Ledoux]

It is 7:17pm so we've got 43 minutes until cutoff and Andrea is currently on the water. He has not posted a woo session yet and his phone is in his car which is not with him because he downwinded to Big Bay on his own. The keys to that car are with him because his filmer has them. Keenan Keena. So I'm going to drop Adrian off here and go try to sort this.

[Adrian]

Out and I'm going to update you a little bit later once the top 10 girls and top 20 boys are listed. Right. So and we're going to get back tomorrow anyway because this is only the warm up. We put so much effort in today but probably no one's interesting. Yeah we don't know but anyway I'm going to let Alan go and we'll catch up with you guys later on. With 29 minutes left for people to post the score, I'm with Alvin the Destroyer who's currently still in the top 10 for men. How are you looking forward to going to Misty cliffs tomorrow in 40 knots? Well I'll have you know that audience that Adrian, it was actually my idea for me to be interviewed in this occasion. I had to prompt Adrian and think and tell him. This is one of the main stories of the day where I, I maximize my opportunities that I had. Obviously I was hampered by my 8 meter and the fact that I, I wasn't sheeting in fully because I as you know it wasn't that important to me today but my natural skill and ability got me through. And you didn't want to break 20, you didn't want to put Jamie under pressure straight away. I mean it's the last thing I wanted to do. Honestly Adrian, when I woke up this morning I that was my first thought.

It's Wednesday the 3rd, the last day of the Battle royale and we're into the 10am in the morning. We're in the knockout rounds. Dave K and Brett Mason are already posting from Macassar Damo as well and Damo Sukay. Well there's been new stuff since I last looked but this morning I had a very interesting phone call from one Francis Cara who's a GKA Hydrofoil Big Ear competitor who did a 17.9 metre jump but went out to dinner and posted at 9:30. I think that saying you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink as very apparent. So that would have put our friend Alvin the Destroyer out of the leaderboard.

[Alan Ledoux]

There were a few, I think, I think Max Tollett as well.

[Adrian]

So it's an interesting. You've got to follow the rules in these competitions. That's all it's about. We're on our way to Mr. Cliffs for which.

Could be an epic day. And another person who didn't follow the rules, Aya Kiteboarding Woo legend.

[Alan Ledoux]

She used her legend card last night to get a late entry into the top 10, but it was only because.

[Adrian]

It did push anyone out. If it were someone else, I wouldn't have done it. I mean, I, I agree, but we got Aya, who's obviously a Woo world's legend, distance record holder, a member of the legendary Wuang Clan. We're on our way up to Misty Cliffs. When we get there, we will sit down with I and do a short call. But I am going to get a little bit more sort of voice or get a little bit more messages from some of the riders because it's kind of cool. I like the excitement yesterday, but I think today it's going to pick up a lot more and we're going to bring you all the action as we have been doing over the last day. I hope you've enjoyed this podcast. As I said, very different journey style podcast, but it's been fun. Yeah, it has been fun and yeah. Stay tuned for more.

[Alan Ledoux]

Can I give you some stories from yesterday?

[Adrian]

Oh yeah, Alan's going to jump in with some cool stories. Here we go.

[Alan Ledoux]

Well, so when I left you, Adrian, we were driving back to dolphin around seven, I think it was about 7:30. And at that moment Andrea was on the water. He had not yet posted his score and he didn't have his cell phone with him. And I don't think he really realized how kind of urgent the moment was. And.

After I dropped you off, I quickly swung by his car, picked up his cell phone, drove out back to his spot, walked out on the beach and we downloaded a session. He guessed to the tenth of a meter how high he jumped. Yeah. So he guessed 20 meters on the dot. Hugo was also riding. Hugo also didn't realize the urgency of the moment. Came in, posted his score. I think he was on like a 17, 17 or 18. He was safe. He was good.

Mama Principe and Dad both were casually going to dinner at that point. They hadn't posted yet. Turns out they were. Mom was over the cut line. She made it. Dad was just under the Cut line got cut. And then There was these four boys that were, they were all maybe around 20 years old. They were all out for a session. It was just a beautiful night at Big Bay Sunset. And I roll up, it's like 7:50. And I'm like, boys, you got 10 minutes to post. And, and the look on their face as they sprinted to their cars. None of them had data. So all of a sudden I'm like hot spotting to each of them to give them data. 1 posted at 7:53. 1 posted at 7:55. 1 posted at 7:59. The guy that posted at 7:59 bumped out the guy that posted earlier from the top 25. So it was a surprise little feature of that time cutoff. I think if we were to adjust in the future, I don't, I don't think that was necessarily the intended way to play the game, but it created a fun wrinkle last night, to be honest.

[Adrian]

From my, from my point of view here.

[Alan Ledoux]

I actually thought that the 8 o'.

[Adrian]

Clock deadline basically was that you had to have the session time couldn't be later than eight. That's what I understood. I also didn't have my cell phone and stuff on me either, so. Well, that's something that we can work on for next time because this has been a lot of fun and I'm sure that more people want to do this, but we don't need a cutoff deadline really do. You just gotta jump on the day.

[Alan Ledoux]

So this is, we're coming down to Misty. This is kind of where the road forks. So on the right we can go down to the fish factory and then on the left we're gonna go along the wall here and we'll get like a little view of.

The spot and there probably will be a few of the competitors already on the water because it's. We got about two hours to go before the next cut off.

[Adrian]

I mean it looks windy already. Oh, I can see the white caps from over here. That's a good sign. Legendary spot, Misty Cliffs. This was a place where multiple world records have been broken and held over the years, right?

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, yeah. The, the women's world record still set here by Anjali. The men's world record was broken by Mike McDonald. By Martin Hager. Yeah, there was, there was a season where like I think the record was broken three or four times here. And this was kind of the special spot for the uplifty wind. So yeah, I think we might see a 30 meter jump today.

[Adrian]

You hear that? A 30 meter jump today. You heard it right here. Will we see a world record? Charles Braudel must be on his way out here.

[Alan Ledoux]

Braudel will be in the mix and the one storyline I'm sort of quietly anticipating is the foil. And you know, Hugo and Jamie both have foils. I know for sure Jamie has one here. I don't know if Hugo has one in Cape Town, but if they get wind that that Brodell's out jumping them on the foil, you know, Jamie might. Might hop on his as well.

[Adrian]

Speaking of Hugo, I wonder if we'll see the. The Sonic 5 out. That's right, actually. Yesterday. Random. Oh, yeah. Here's your first spot at the legendary Misty Cliffs. You're looking below it now. My heart is thumping out of my chest right now. Oh, there's some big jumps already. The waves look pretty.

[Alan Ledoux]

I see Gloria's white helmet in the bottom of the box with the Nashkite. I think that must be her.

[Adrian]

How do you say her last name?

[Alan Ledoux]

Ashkenazi.

[Adrian]

Yeah, Ashkenazi. So Gloria Ashkenazi we can see out at the moment, which means probably Alyssa is down there as well. Okay, so the girls are here early putting on scores. As I said, it is 11:36. We've got two hours and 24 minutes before round the cut off. It's the first cutoff of the day. I think it's round three, round two, round two.

[Alan Ledoux]

That'll end round two.

[Adrian]

That will end round two.

[Alan Ledoux]

Round one was yesterday.

[Adrian]

So, yeah, we're just driving past. Oh, it's big. We are trying to give the shit to ire. Here it is. It's looking. We're going to turn the car around and go back and put Aya on the right side so she can actually see.

[Alan Ledoux]

All right. So I see about 12 kiters on the water right now. Of note. Yeah, we've got Gloria in the white helmet. That's easy to spot. Looks like a few more are setting up. We're at 11:37 right now. So they got about two hours to pull, post a big jump, make the cut. Gloria.

[Adrian]

Whoo.

[Alan Ledoux]

Solid woost.

[Adrian]

I mean, it's supposed to be a 2 meter swell today and from where we stand, it looks like they're fairly big. So we're gonna send Aya out there and get some live reaction from her when she comes back. But yeah, looks like a good start for the day. I wonder what size kites they're on.

[Alan Ledoux]

So we've got, we've got an ozone out there. We've got a Nash out there. Harlem.

Duotone, Elevate Readin Cabrina. Pretty much one of each out there.

[Adrian]

No north kites. Where are the north kites?

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, they're sleeping in.

[Adrian]

So the pros are starting to turn up here at Misty Cliffs. I've seen Gabby Pierreta, former world record holder on Wu, Matthias Rumierglou I think his name is. He's just turned up. Sophia Minch is here, here. So it is starting to to rise up. You just heard them talking about the cut offs to get into the top 10. Mattias thinks around the 20 meter mark for the guys. Sukay has already laid down a big one so Sophia thinks 18 for the girls which will be interesting to see. But at the moment a lot of the guys are going out on eights and nines. There's a few wind surfers here but yeah it's starting to pick up and it's looking super good. You have to put away your ego in this event and some of them are like oh I don't like posting these low scores but actually you've got to post to get through. Let's get some word from Monique, local legend. Monique, what do you think? Is the wind going to pick up? Is this spot to be in today? Yeah I reckon so. It's the only place that's got some good proper wind. So we all going to try give it horns and see what we can do. And what do you think this cut off is going to be to make it into the next round? Forget about sue score. Yeah let's. I mean let's not. Sue's laid down the gauntlet here. I know she has. You know it's kind of a love hate relationship with her. More love. Not when she hits 25.2. No. Sorry. Sue, were you there when you saw that jump? Were you there that day? I actually just left. It's a waste away. Yeah, exactly. It's like fishing. Yeah, yeah, I reckon maybe 12m will be the cut off. Okay so let's see. Well I'm here with Dave and Sukay who've already first a post on the board from Makassar early. I mean is this going to kick off today dk, it certainly feels like the wind's picked up in the last half an hour. I do kicked off. It's beautiful out there like what more can we ask for? Sunshine Kickers. Lovely Sideshore at at Misty's Witsan, if we weren't running a competition all of us would just be dreaming about these conditions. Tell me about it. Yeah. What's 17417 something. I tell you what, all the girls are a bit like, God damn it. But I believe it resets every round, doesn't it? It does. So under pressure. No, nothing's under pressure. You go out and do your best. That's all you can do. The best attitude in kite boy.

[Alan Ledoux]

And now I get to be caddy.

[Adrian]

For DK for a change. So I'm going to go run his line so he can get out and make sure he's in the top 10.

[Alan Ledoux]

Of the men's at least.

[Adrian]

The oldest man. Yeah. Where's Ben? Where's. Where's Alvin the Destroyer? I don't know. Where is he?

[Alan Ledoux]

Strategy wise?

[Adrian]

Totally screwed up. He doesn't have any strategy. His table view always has a midday lull and he's going to run right into it. So, sue, get going on those lines. Okay. Thanks, dk.

[Alan Ledoux]

No worries, mate.

[Adrian]

Okay, I just ran in. I've got two minutes left. Connected the woo.

Downloading the sessions now. Had one good one. It's on the eight. It was actually perfect. Power had much more in. It wouldn't have actually been very nice. Woo app not happy. Download error. Connecting. I'll restart the app. Got two minutes. I should have enough time. Man, it was so physical.

You never normally ride like that. Just hitting like kicker after kicker after kicker with no brakes.

Download sessions. Here we go. Maybe it's because I chose to do the voice note halfway through. Okay, one minute left.

Surely I'm gonna have to be like in the teens. Hot in the teens.

Recorded on the 3rd of December. 15 meters. Bang on again. 15 meters on the dot.

I don't know if that's going to be enough to make the top 10 a. Well, I'm really banking on not very many people turning up.

Off description. Got wet fingers. This are not helping at all. Images.

Twin tip save.

It's in.

With about one minute to spare, I think. Yeah.

It'S just gone 2:00'. Clock. Okay, so now I'm gonna go and see the leaderboard.

Refresh. Jamie. Overbeakers at the top again. 25.8. Luke Dixon. 25.5. UCL third 24. I have not made the cut by.

4.0. Luke Megalooey. Is that the cut off his number 10?

That's. That DK beat me. Damn it.

Can't believe I got 15 on the dot again.

Anyway, there it is. Well, I made it into day two, which I'm quite pleased about. And now I've got a chat with the. With the accountant. That'll be good.

[Alan Ledoux]

All right.

[Adrian]

Cheers. Woo. That was fun. I'm just walking towards Gabby P, the former WOO record holder. I'm going to get a quick word from Gabby. Gabby, the wind is here. Are you more happy now? Cuz you're a bit worried before. Is it here? It is. I know you. It's here. It's here. Guys are going on 8. It's not about wind, it's about the kite because I have only seven. Yeah, but you've got a 7XR. Yeah, it's the best. It's the best kite. What do you think? Today I will be happy to jump, you know, seven meters. She's very humble. She's going to be going through the next round, I can guarantee. Good luck, Gabby.

Let me just quickly catch up with you. Saw Parallax Gong's latest signing.

[Alan Ledoux]

Where is the camera?

[Adrian]

There's no camera here. It's going to be for audio for Wu, mate. What do you think today? I mean, are you going to break a WOO record here? You're surely going long lines today.

[Alan Ledoux]

I want 30 meters high. 30 meters on the Aito. Yeah, I want it to happen today maybe. Hopefully if the wind gets pretty strong.

[Adrian]

I think we should see some short line stuff today as well. Just put a show on for the crowd.

[Alan Ledoux]

I didn't bring my short lines, only the long lines today.

[Adrian]

You know, someone rang me yesterday and said, oh, Jamie Everbeck's putting on a show in Blouberg because I was up in big bar. Said, I'm pretty sure that's not Jamie. It's a good sign. You've been compared to Jamie.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, her hair looks a bit similar.

[Adrian]

Good. Good luck today, bro.

[Alan Ledoux]

Thank you, bro.

[Adrian]

So, just to do a little bit update, one hour before the closing time for this round, we have George Quintus, who's a new name on the scene. He's coming out of Greece looking very good on the elevate kite. Hugo Wigglesworth is out on the Sonic 5.

Luke McGillowy is out on a sole. Also jumping big. We have Aya kiteboarding out in the water. Oh, someone's bringing the board. That's not a good look. But the person who's done the biggest jump so far and bought the biggest chair is Jul Parlock on the Gong. Everyone interested to see how that double skin gong's going? I spoke to Yousef before. You. Well, you probably just heard Yousef before talk about how he wants to try and do 30m today. Probably not windy enough at the moment, but definitely. Oh, there's another big jump out. That is Matthias Rumulo Glue, Matus Rumula Glue. Who is out the back there? Who is one of the riders who capitalized on the brand stable? Woo. I think he's going to win that. He's looking pretty good. But this guy George Kintis is actually a good rider on the elevate kite. Just speaking to him before, I might just try to get a little bit of interview from George Kinison, but he's. He's out of Greece. I can see Matthias coming in here. Hey, Matthias, what's your score so far? Or he doesn't have his watch on, but he is a. He's a sneaky guy because he's borrowed a Woo from Branstable. He's going for the sneaky prize, which is probably a good thing. He thinks he's jumped around about 18 at the moment. I cannot see useful prologue at the moment. Hugo Wigglesworth way out the back with another big one. He's on the Sonic 5. Interestingly, Luke McGilloway is riding a soul. Told me that there isn't any Sonic 5s left for him. So that's a great sign for Fly surfer. Yeah, it's a very interesting day. I'm sitting on the bank enjoying the view. Alessa Sophia has come in and changed kites. She has gone to the pivot. She was riding the Nash Psycho before coming and changed to the pivot. Little quick change, which is good to see everyone utilizing the gear. As I said, it's now one o', clock, so there is one hour before these guys are. Oh, that's a huge one at the back. Usele is going absolutely massive. He is going so huge. For sure. He's the biggest jump of the day. He is riding that new gong, the eto, which is. Is the dual skin. Interestingly, when you go to launch those kites, you cannot get your fingers around the back of the leading edge because it's got the second skin there. Makes it feel quite uneasy to launch. You feel a little bit nervous in these strong winds. I find that I end up one hand on the back of the kite and one hand sort of holding the bridle to keep it still. But Yusu is on the long lines, known for his short line riding. That looks like Gabby Pierre ratio out the back with a big jump. Oh, Gabby will be happy with that one. That was Gabby Pereira Radar. She'll definitely be happy with that. Was a little bit worried that the wind wasn't strong enough for her, but she is on the. On the XR Pro 27 meter, which is a renowned big jumping Kite. I'll give her the thumbs up. She hasn't seen but that's okay. Alyssa, why did you change to the pivot?

So she's going off the psycho because she feels more comfortable on the pivot and with the wind just bending a little bit on shore at the moment, she feels like she wants to be on a kite that she has a little bit more familiarity with, let's put it that way. How big is Yusil going? Yusil is going huge. Yeah, he's riding super well. I mean I've seen him now in the last. He's been down the water for about five minutes and he's probably done three of the biggest jumps I've seen. Very different approach. Hugo Wiggers Worth is quite far at the back if you know Mr. Cliffs. He's sort of further out, sort of heading from the rocks, tacking up from the rocks to the sort of to the fish factory in that direction where Yusuf is just throwing down wherever he wants to because he feels like he's in complete control of that kite. At the moment I'm here with Luke McGillowy after his first session. How are the conditions out there? You were riding the sole. What size?

[Alan Ledoux]

6 meter sole.

[Adrian]

It's good, it's just there's so many people. The spotting your landing is pretty sketchy.

[Alan Ledoux]

But man, the watercolor is insane. So good.

[Adrian]

A beautiful spot. Hey, where's the best place to sort of take off when it's busy? Is it to come from these sort of rocks to the, to the south of us and here and head out towards the fish factory? I can see Hugo's quite far out there. Yeah, I think today is a bit weird. Like the middle is actually quite good.

[Alan Ledoux]

Because there's a really nice like kind.

[Adrian]

Of mid break closeout kicker. That's where I got my biggest one. But if you want to stay away from the crowds, you have to go up. But yeah, it's a tough balance between trying to get a good takeoff and miss people or just go upwind and get a crappy takeoff and you don't land on anyone.

[Alan Ledoux]

So It's a catch 22.

[Adrian]

I mean is the wind going to pick up? I mean it is only one o' clock in the afternoon. I think it will. It started punching now so there's some.

[Alan Ledoux]

Nice cold pulses out the back.

[Adrian]

So it definitely is going to come through more.

[Alan Ledoux]

But let's see. Okay, that gong did go big.

[Adrian]

That gong is looking good.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, it's looking fresh.

[Adrian]

It's an interesting one too. I was just saying it's interesting one when you go to launch it, because you can't sort of grip that leading edge, it makes you feel quite uneasy on the kite. You almost feel like you want to grab the bridle.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah. That the double skin is a strange.

[Adrian]

Thing to play around with.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah.

[Adrian]

Like you said, launching it as well is a bit odd. It'll be interesting to see how it.

[Alan Ledoux]

Responds to getting a wave and I.

[Adrian]

Wonder if it will fill up with water or not. Have you had a good play on those yourself as a kite designer?

[Alan Ledoux]

Not the gong one specifically, but yes.

[Adrian]

We'Ve had some good play on some double skin stuff. Yeah. It's an interesting aspect of the sport.

[Alan Ledoux]

But let's see where it goes.

[Adrian]

Another big one from Romeo. Glue out the back there. Here comes Hugo coming in.

Why don't you take Hugo's kite out? He probably won't let me, to be honest. There's not enough stock that we can give him a new one. If I break it. I mean, that's a good sign, right, that you're running out of stock.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, yeah, it's a great sign.

[Adrian]

I mean, I still say the biggest cheer of this year's King of the Air was when you got that kite up in the air for Luca. It was pretty awesome, eh?

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah. That was a very, very good move for us. And it's really, I think, shows that you can actually take four kites out in 30 months.

[Adrian]

How was the party that night? I'm bummed to have missed it because I had to go back and we had to work late, but I saw the party on top of the bus, around the bus. Someone told me that he went and bought like 10 crates of beer. I think it was 13 crates of beer. But the party wasn't that night.

[Alan Ledoux]

That was just fun and games.

[Adrian]

The.

[Alan Ledoux]

The party, the tattoo party was the. The day after or the last day of Kota.

[Adrian]

That was.

[Alan Ledoux]

That. That got a bit wild.

[Adrian]

You know, I haven't been invited to any of these parties yet. Luke, you remember that you, Mike, even Mike Raper said to me, I'm going to Luke's house. I'm like, I don't even know about it. Yeah. You know, every time I message, I.

[Alan Ledoux]

Never get a response. The only time I hear from you.

[Adrian]

Or Ben is like, when you need something, then it's no. Then I respond and then you don't reply to me.

[Alan Ledoux]

If I don't give you what you.

[Adrian]

Need, that is absolute. No, you're better. You're better. I'm going to edit that part out. But it is. No, but I am looking forward to catching over the next few days before I head out of town. So mate, good luck.

[Alan Ledoux]

Thank you. Have a good day. Refreshing the leaderboard. What are we seeing? What are we seeing?

[Adrian]

Oh, you're so perl. I can to find first place.

[Alan Ledoux]

24.8 on the gong 9 meter.

[Adrian]

Well, it's interesting, the leaderboard. Where's. Where's our boy Alvin?

[Alan Ledoux]

Where's Alvin? No Alvin session.

[Adrian]

Jamie's on the cut off. Yeah, well we still have, we still have about, about 25 minutes before they have to upload.

[Alan Ledoux]

Right.

[Adrian]

I think this is part of the strategy. You know, it's team tactics.

[Alan Ledoux]

Right. Jamie's texting right now. I don't think he's. I don't think he's gonna post until five minutes to go.

[Adrian]

Oh, okay. So he's a sneaky one.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, I think he's holding it.

[Adrian]

Team overbeat strategy.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah.

[Adrian]

Well, we're at Misty Cliffs. I'm here with Francois Caro who is a GKA Hydrofoil Big Air competitor who posted around about 9:30, 10:00 clock last night and didn't realize there was rules.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, I made a mistake. I posted maybe even at 11.

[Adrian]

At 8:20 I was rushing to go to the restaurant and still get a table and once I sat and got my beer I posted the sesh.

[Alan Ledoux]

But it was too late.

[Adrian]

And you would have been in. Yeah, I would have been. I was 12th yesterday in South Africa overall. So with 17.8, not huge, but for a light wind day, not so bad. But you're up here today just to have some fun, get some big jumps in.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, let's do some big jumps and hopefully some big loops.

[Adrian]

And the plans next year, Are you going to do the GK again? If they come to Abu Dhabi? Because I know you're based in the uae. If they come to Abu Dhabi, I will definitely do it. Yeah, 100%. Did you enjoy it? Yeah, it was fun.

[Alan Ledoux]

The wind was a bit light, but.

[Adrian]

We had, we had good fun. Six knots. It's not the wind, eh?

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, but we have the sonic 5.

[Adrian]

15 meters and I mean you can already do 3, 4 rotation with a.

[Alan Ledoux]

Board off in 6, 7 knots, which is ridiculous.

[Adrian]

But I mean, you and I both know the UAE very well. They actually got a bit unlucky to be honest, because the Abu Dhabi can get decent wind. I mean let's say 15, 16, 17 knots quite regularly. They did. But at the same time I think it was the wrong time. They did it end of October, which.

[Alan Ledoux]

Is the season change.

[Adrian]

And, and usually it's the moment where we don't have any wind.

[Alan Ledoux]

We go from the thermal wind in.

[Adrian]

The summer to the trade winds, which are from the west in the winter, and this was exactly in between.

[Alan Ledoux]

So there was like 10 days with almost no wind.

[Adrian]

Well, I tell you what, if you go out there today and post a big one, I'm going to bring it up later in the podcast saying, hey, this guy could have been there.

[Alan Ledoux]

All right, no pressure.

[Adrian]

Good luck, brother.

[Alan Ledoux]

Thank you, man.

[Adrian]

Okay.

[Alan Ledoux]

All right, loading the cut up right here.

[Adrian]

We're here with Minique 2. 2:03pm Women's cut off.

Let's go through the women's top group now.

[Alan Ledoux]

So Sugi on the morning, session 17.3. Gloria, who is out for like three hours here, she even come in.

[Adrian]

She came into post. Came into post. 16.8.

[Alan Ledoux]

Gabby, 16.7.

[Adrian]

Monique, 16.5.

[Alan Ledoux]

Right there, right there.

[Adrian]

I know, I know. It's so close. I would have never thought so. Hey, are you enjoying this? It's fun. I am, I am. It's. It's amazing. Terrifying but amazing. That's exactly what we hope for. Terrifying but amazing. A gets bumped.

[Alan Ledoux]

14.2. We tried to get her out for one more go, but yeah, 15.6 for Alessa. Solid. So we got a solid five for our. Our next round.

[Adrian]

Yeah, awesome. Has been proper comp. I've got to be honest.

[Alan Ledoux]

They're all here. They're all here. Yeah, they're all. They're all at Misty.

[Adrian]

So just while we wait for pull up the men, they have another three hours before the next cut off and that we. Then you cut that down to three on the woman's side. Right, let's talk about the men and go through the top 10 on the men.

[Alan Ledoux]

The top 10 on the men got pretty, pretty tight. We have Jamie Overbeak first, 25.8.

[Adrian]

All the way down.

[Alan Ledoux]

Luke McGillowee, 19.4 is in 10th place.

[Adrian]

Right off of the pace.

[Alan Ledoux]

Loops for boobs. Loops for boobs.

[Adrian]

Loops for boobs. Just up there. He's a bit disappointed on the beach. He didn't. He had a foil ready, but he didn't take it out.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah.

[Adrian]

By the way, watch one of the great handles. Loops for boobs.

[Alan Ledoux]

Brad Mason gets bumped. Liam Bremmer, he was like second yesterday.

[Adrian]

He's out. Crazy. Timo Becker's out. Dave K's out.

[Alan Ledoux]

Peter Neuenhausen's out.

[Adrian]

Let's run through that top 10. Let's run through the top 10 there.

[Alan Ledoux]

So in 10th place. Right now we have Luke Mark Hro. Do we know him?

[Adrian]

Yep. He's a German guy drinking at my house quite regularly.

[Alan Ledoux]

He's one of Raleigh's mates.

[Adrian]

He's a friend of Raleigh's mates.

[Alan Ledoux]

We got George Quintis.

[Adrian]

Yep. Guy out of Greece.

[Alan Ledoux]

Hugo Wigglesworth Damo, the Grom Matthias.

[Adrian]

22.6.

[Alan Ledoux]

Rodell 23.5. He was in, he was at Kite Beach. So him and. Him and Jamie were sessioning together. You sold 24.8 on the gong.

[Adrian]

Kite.

[Alan Ledoux]

Luke Dixon, the local boy, 25.5 highest and misty. And then Jamie 25.8 also at kite Beach.

[Adrian]

I mean so these guys have another three hours too. And then we're going to cut this down to how many? Three for the boys, three for the girls.

[Alan Ledoux]

We're going to three for men, three for women.

[Adrian]

Yep. I'm enjoying this. This is going to be tight.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah.

[Adrian]

And it's actually excellent to see how much, how much these riders are enjoying it. Right. Everyone's having fun.

[Alan Ledoux]

Jamie texting me. Is it picking up a misty. He wants to know what the deal is.

[Adrian]

We've text them. Not really. When it really is there.

[Alan Ledoux]

There's some indecision in camp Overbeak right now. If they're going to stay at Kite beach or come over.

[Adrian]

Oh, you've got to tell them to come here. I mean this is, this is windy.

[Alan Ledoux]

We want Brodell and Jamie at the, at the final spot.

[Adrian]

Yeah, tell them to come. Yeah, tell them to come. Right, we're here with boots and loose. Unfortunately was on the cut off zone and got cut out. Mate. You had the foil. We're waiting. What happened? It's. The waves are just too messy and there is so much seaweed.

[Alan Ledoux]

I, I didn't take it out.

[Adrian]

I think that's an excuse.

[Alan Ledoux]

You could have done it.

[Adrian]

I mean, I mean you've got one of the best handles in the whole of woo. I mean we were expecting big things.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, thanks.

[Adrian]

But it's big now.

[Alan Ledoux]

20 meter is okay for that messy sheet.

[Adrian]

Have you, have you enjoyed the day? Have you enjoyed the comp?

[Alan Ledoux]

Great.

[Adrian]

Super cool competition next time. Hopefully I'm in. What are you going to do next time? You going to do it? You're going to do something different next time?

[Alan Ledoux]

You mean the next round or the.

[Adrian]

Next time we run the school? Maybe I would go again with the, with the foil. I'm here with Matus Rumio Glue who's also through to the second round. How was that out there? You having fun? Yeah, it Was super fun, like just doing big jumps and everything. Like it was super sick. And like I came out at like 1 4. I saw and I like I was 21 point something and I was like, okay, I still have 20 minutes. I go out first jump 22.6.

[Alan Ledoux]

So now I'm true.

[Adrian]

I'm super stoked. Just so much fun out there with everyone. Yeah. First session I missed it too. So it's super nice. You know, this is the first time I've ever been here and hardly seen any loops. Yeah, no, I didn't send one loop. I think it's my first sessions in so long.

[Alan Ledoux]

Usually when I go to the water.

[Adrian]

I always try and try to do some trick stuff and like now it was just so much fun trying to just go the highest as possible. Yeah. So you're through to the next round. We cut it down to three after this. What's the plan? You going to have a short break and go again? Yeah, I think so.

[Alan Ledoux]

I think that's the plan.

[Adrian]

What, what time is it going through again to five o'. Clock. So there's three hours till the next break. Okay. Okay. Nice. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I'm going, I'm going in again. Absolutely. Good luck, brother. Thank you. Okay, so we are into the cut, down to the final three. Now we've got three hours till five o' clock and a little bit of change of tactic. Hugo's gone from the Sonic 5. He's gone to the era, but he's gone to the hydrofoil. He's obviously in that. Jamie and and Charles Braudel are posting hydrofoil action down in Blouberg. So yeah, that's going to be interesting. And at the moment we're having a little bit of a break. A lot of people come in for some, some food. So it's going to be interesting to see Hugo have a little bit more of a spot to himself. It has got very crowded here a little bit people complaining about how busy it is, but everyone enjoying the action and everyone enjoying this.

We can see Luke McGillibee going out also. Just snuck into the final round right on the cut off. He said to me he didn't mind if he got cut off. He was quite happy to go back, but can see he's now also changed to the nine meter fly surfer era. So we are seeing a little bit of a change in tactics from some of the guys. So a little bit of inside knowledge here. We're on to the next round and Dave is sending sue out, who's currently the top of the leaders on the ladies. But it restarts every time he's told her. There's a 20 minute session window and then they're packing up and going to a new location. He won't even tell me where they're going. He's keeping it very secret. But they are hard doing this the secret way. They've got us, they've got a plan and they're sticking to it. But we are on the final round. The ladies are going to cut down to the three final three at five o'. Clock. Sue currently the top one out there, so I'm gonna try and ask him again where they're going but he's looking at me like he's not going to tell me. Another huge one from useful out there on the gong. There is a kite getting completely eaten in the rocks. It's all go. It actually is a good time. Doesn't look like there's so many people on the water now.

[Alan Ledoux]

It's still too crowded for me.

[Adrian]

That's a person who knows every spot in Cape Town at an interesting time. So the sc. The idea is there is to post, make that top five and wait again. You don't want to burn yourself out. But most people are having a break at the moment. Right, let's do a little update here because we've got a bit of a dilemma.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, yeah.

[Adrian]

Do we stay here?

[Alan Ledoux]

Okay, first off, what do you know? What do you know about where we're at right now? So we're in, we're in round three right now.

[Adrian]

Yeah. One hour to go.

[Alan Ledoux]

One hour to go. Where do you think we sit? So we're going from 10 to three on men's and five to three on women's.

Do you know who's sitting on one?

[Adrian]

No. I have seen. I see Jamie's on the top for sure.

[Alan Ledoux]

He's already posted.

[Adrian]

Yeah. Oh, let's check maybe. Oh. I know that a lot of guys like to hold back.

[Alan Ledoux]

So a few things we're learning about the battle royale. So first off, the.

Dynamic of having to post on the clock has proven to be almost harder than the kiteboarding. Getting someone off the water kite down phone with data downloaded to the Wu and posted. So when you're on the clock, there's that. The second piece is once you see the score and where you're at, you might want to go back out for another one. And when you leave it to the last minute and you see you're under the cut line. Aya and I just had an epic moment where we were Running back to her kite to try to get her one last jump. And we get down to the lines and they're inverted as we like roll them out so she didn't go out for another one. But yeah, it's kind of a fun dynamic. I mean we haven't really played with like hard cutoffs like this like time cutoffs before and especially in the middle of a session, like middle of the day.

[Adrian]

So it has a very much like a, like actually a competition feel like, you know, when you get down to the sort of last rounds, there's less people around, more people have left. Do we stay here and charge with Hugo or do we go back and watch the boys hit it on foils? That's, that's where I'm, that's what I'm thinking.

[Alan Ledoux]

So here's the kicker. Hugo, about 20 minutes into this round three, jumped over 30 meters on the foil and he now knows he can get a 30 meter jump here with that combination. He's feeling pretty good as Kevin Langery goes out the back and just a huge jump.

[Adrian]

Yeah.

[Alan Ledoux]

So Hugo's sitting on a 30. He hasn't posted yet. He hasn't notified Charles and Jamie. Charles and Jamie are both still in Blouberg to our understanding. There's a bit of. Yeah, there's a bit of a dilemma at the moment which spot you only get. You only get one spot. They're about an hour and 15 minute drive away from each other. That'll take up about half your round. Just going from one to the other.

[Adrian]

Actually looks like it's improving here by the way. Yeah, the tide's gone out a bit. The kickers actually look way better and I think we still have some of the big players here. But it's going to be interesting when we get closer to this cut off. Can we just do a little update? I know that guys are starting to hold off and not post to today, but not post till later. But let's do a quick update of where we stand at this round and let's look at the cutoff zone because we are looking for a final top three. Hugo obviously clearly will be there now with that 30. I think it's going to be pretty tough to beat.

[Alan Ledoux]

We're, we're in Big Bay and a few of the kids were like, oh, let's do a downwinder from Dolphin drove them up there. They came right back, they came right back in the car. They said, nope, we were already in the right spot. So wind meters, you know, live cams, there's Only so much information you can really use at your disposal. Sometimes just being there with the kite up is the best info you can get.

[Adrian]

But with a few people having left and gone back, it actually has opened the spot up because around about 1 o', clock, 2 o' clock was pretty crazy here. So it actually is looking like a better spot to ride. We are at 4 o' clock now, so we're in hour before the final cut off, before we go into the last round. Yeah, I'm kind of thinking that this is the spot where the people risk it to go back is. Is up to them. But we're going to have a quick look at the. At the scores now. But Kevin Langry is here and if Kevin's here, it's got to be the best spot. That's a good sign.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah.

[Adrian]

Well, I can still see Yu down on the beach there, pacing around, prowling around. As someone messaged me yesterday, Jamie Overbeat's out there on a gong, which I assured them it wasn't Jamie. But Yusuf is quite calculated. He has tried a few different setups. What's the consensus for the wind? Is it around 30 knots?

[Alan Ledoux]

I would say so, yeah. Everyone is pretty stacked. Like everyone that we're landing on. You know, sevens and eights are like Hugo said he was stacked on his 7.

There's a few kids still out right now just kind of prowling, hoping that they're on the water for when that gust comes through. We got. We've got two in so far. So Luke Dixon on a 25, USIL on a 23.7.

[Adrian]

Those are not going to be enough. We know that the inside words. That's not going to be enough.

[Alan Ledoux]

We know there's a 30 from Hugo. We don't know what Jamie. We don't know what Charles, because they've both been in Blouberg all day, but.

[Adrian]

And on the ladies.

You'Re gonna be very happy to see the top ladies score at the moment.

[Alan Ledoux]

Whoa, we got our first 20. Gloria 20.7. Alyssa 17.8. Gabby 16.4. Monique 15.4. Sue yet to post and I think sue drove to Blauberg.

[Adrian]

You think they went back to Bloug?

[Alan Ledoux]

I think so.

[Adrian]

Why did they go back there?

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, Was not there, right?

[Adrian]

No, the lacuna van is definitely gone. I can see Luke Wigglesworth standing here, but also the fly surfer van has gone as well. So definitely people have moved on.

[Alan Ledoux]

Luke McGilloway is still in the competition, right?

[Adrian]

I think he's out.

[Alan Ledoux]

I think he's out.

[Adrian]

But he was looking forward to getting out. Yeah.

[Alan Ledoux]

Is that Hugo?

[Adrian]

This guy? That's the. That's that kid, George Kintis. He's actually impressed me.

[Alan Ledoux]

Oh, that was on the elevate.

[Adrian]

Yeah, he's really impressed me. He's been out there a lot. He's on a 10 meter. He's one of. One of the biggest kites out there.

So I'm here with Gloria. Who's the current number one position at the moment with a 20 meters point? I don't know. Well, it's over 20 meters. Yeah, 20 meters. 20 meters. Alyssa, you're there as well. You can come here. Alyssa. And also Gabby Pereta. But I think Gabby has gone back to Blouberg, which might be a huge mistake because I don't think there's any wind. What's next? It all starts again. You've got to go. That's the hard thing about this, right? You can get a big score, but it all starts again every time. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I love the short words. What's the plan? I mean, you've been up kiting for. It seems like four hours straight. No, I did multiple breaks in between. Yeah, I didn't see. What's your plan for this final? Just go big.

You seem to have changed a lot of kites today, I think. What's going on? I had a little technical nightmare. I trimmed my bar yesterday and I did it the wrong way around. And which kite are you going to ride for this last round? So probably an eight, because I don't have a seven. I love it. I mean, it's a strategy to go out there for as long as possible. Or just get a couple of big jumps and go in. Yes, exactly. I should interview her more. What about you? I'm going to go on a six. I just went out on the seven and it's pretty strong, so good luck on the eight. But I respect it. I respect the balls. Yeah. I don't think Gabby. I think Gabby's given up. She's just. She's too broken. She's like, I had fun. I'm done. Yeah. Yeah. I think a coffee now and a hot shower sounded way too tempting. It does seem pretty good, eh? A cold beer. What? A cold beer sounds good now. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

Well, I'm here with Luke Dixon, who's pulled a miracle out of his arse. And one of the last jumps and it's knocked Paul Usel out. You're in third place now, I believe. I need to get that finally checked. I mean, you seem like, you've been out there for all day. You got enough room to go one more time? Almost.

[Alan Ledoux]

The plan was to save the energy, but.

[Adrian]

And I think it's gone to plan. Just as the last jump came in, I headed out and I knew it was like, I think there was four minutes to go.

[Alan Ledoux]

So I was like, this is it. And it happened.

[Adrian]

Hugo's I think, in number one, Jamie in two. I think they're both going on falls. Maybe he's not going on a four now. Okay, you're up against it. You got a foil.

[Alan Ledoux]

He got 32 on the foil there.

[Adrian]

Yeah.

[Alan Ledoux]

That's gonna be hard to compete with.

[Adrian]

Yeah, I know. I've ridden a foil about three times, so no chance. You and me both, we're actually wondering if Charles Brodel was going to post. I don't know what happened with Charles, but I don't think. I just don't think there's going to any wind in Blouberg.

[Alan Ledoux]

It's just.

[Adrian]

I mean, this is the spot, right?

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, but Jamie is. Jamie not in Bloberg.

[Adrian]

Jamie's in Blberg.

[Alan Ledoux]

Okay, but he. He got second. Was it?

[Adrian]

Yeah. Hugo, 32 something. What. What was your last one?

[Alan Ledoux]

27 four. Yeah. Yeah.

[Adrian]

You going to have a short break and go out again or just get straight to it? A short break.

[Alan Ledoux]

The wind's really good, kickers are improving slightly. So short break and. Oh, well, we'll give it our best.

[Adrian]

Everyone's asking me, you know, where's this Luke Dixon come from? I mean. I mean, are you considered to be a gromstal or not? Well, this is my home spot, so.

[Alan Ledoux]

I guess I'd have the.

[Adrian]

The home spot advantage.

[Alan Ledoux]

But no, I started kiting four or.

[Adrian]

Five years ago and I've virtually only.

[Alan Ledoux]

Kited Mr. Cliffs and, yeah, occasionally Masa and things, but jumping is my thing.

[Adrian]

And how's the new D lab Rebel? This is the 2026, right?

[Alan Ledoux]

It's the. It's the SLS rebel.

[Adrian]

Okay.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah. But it's a fantastic kite. It's got fixed bridles, so the handling's better, more precise, less bra pressure, and obviously it jumps massive.

[Adrian]

It's the classic South African go big or go home.

[Alan Ledoux]

Right?

[Adrian]

Exactly. Hey, good luck, brother. All right. Shot, Adrian. So just speaking a little bit more to Luke Dixon here. He's actually a local boy. They've built a house just down the road here, and this is his home spot. Spends most of his time kiting here. As I was speaking to him, Gloria came past and said she's going to just change down to a seven meter. I think Alyssa is also pumping up a seven meter on the beach. So we've got. Of the six finalists, all four of them are here, and I guess two of them are back in Blouberg, so it's gonna be very interesting. It's kind of a shame that Jamie isn't here, because it'd be awesome to see those guys back to back. But someone who's super disappointed is Usul because Yusuf was in third place to the very last minute before he got pipped by Luke by 10cm, which is kind of funny to see them both looking at their phones in the reaction. It's been a very long day, but we are about to get this final underway. The guys have another three hours to post. So some people are having breaks, some people are going straight out. The feeling I'm getting from Hugo is he wants to get a couple of big scores on the board and he wants to get out here. He's also feeling the fact that it's been been a long time on the water. Alyssa is changing down to. That looks like a six. Let me just go and check with her. I can see.

Alyssa. Is this a six? So Alyssa's gone down to the six. I think Alyssa has pumped up about 10 kites today, so this is the last one you have to pump.

So I think this is pretty happy about that. Yeah, I mean, Hugo wants to get a score on the board and get the hell out of here. You still. I mean, you were in the final tool 0.1, bro. I mean, you're in the final tour, literally 59.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, yeah. I was like, I texted a friend, I think I'm third now, and I'm going to the final.

[Adrian]

We're going to compete. And then.

[Alan Ledoux]

But I just told my friend, there's this guy with the purple kite.

[Adrian]

If he comes out and he passes me, He's a. He's a local boy. He lives here. This is his home spot. He kites here every day. Luke Dixon. I mean, you had a good day, though.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, it was a fantastic day. I'm really happy. 27.4. My kites also can do it. I showed it. So it was a. It was a good day for me.

[Adrian]

Yeah, I tell you what, you. I mean, that kite was awesome. I think early on you were like the best on beach for sure. It was. Was awesome to see. Anyway, thanks, brother.

[Alan Ledoux]

Thank you, bro. Thank you.

[Adrian]

Well, I'm here with Hugo Wigglesworth. Hugo, it's end up being a pretty long day for you. Just another day at the beach. Another day at the beach. So nobody's posted a score in the final yet. Jamie's obviously in, in Blouberg. You're here and Luke Dixon's here. We did see Luke get a big one. How was it out the back? Do you think he connected with some big ones? Yeah, I was out for 45 minutes and I only got like three really good ones.

[Alan Ledoux]

The conditions since 2 o' clock have gone.

[Adrian]

It's gone offshore, so it's super gusty. So it's a bit harder to find the gust, but I'm sure it's out there somewhere. But I'm a bit over it. Me too. I think we're gonna probably play the waiting game now. I think Jamie will always post. He's always been posting five minutes before the end. It could be down to between you and Jamie. I think so, but I don't know. You never know with these, with these, with this game. If you had to change this format, what would you do differently? I think get rid of hydrofoils.

Because I think like on your, on, on your average day, a hydrofoil is going to jump a lot higher every day and I think there'll be a lot more contenders.

By the way, this is Luke Dixon. Kids come out of nowhere. He just lives locally. This is his local beach. So he's, he's cutting hair all the time. You think people should have to post as soon as they get off the water? I think so. I think we need a rule, something like that. Just an official check in zone, come in, upload and then you can rest. I think if we all go to the same spot instead of different beaches.

[Alan Ledoux]

And we have like an official. And as soon as you get off.

[Adrian]

The water you have to post. I guess that makes a lot more sense. Dude. Yeah. Know, you know kite borders, right? They'd be like hurting cats. Be bloody impossible to get it. Andre didn't even turn up today.

He's probably just practicing his board flips at home. All right, man, we'll wait and see. Good luck. All right, cheers. It's 6:30 on the final day and in the middle of the last and final round. And Luke Dixon is the last rider, the local South African. This is his local spot is off the, the water. The wind has kind of gone offshore and basically a itself. But in Luke's first two or three tricks we saw a huge jump where he went straight into the beach and loaded it onto his watch. His partner was there to do that. I don't know if his wife or girlfriend. Sorry, Luke. And so everyone's a bit tight lipped about what the scores are because Hugo hasn't posted, Jamie hasn't posted. I'm sure Luke will probably wait. Luke's at a disadvantage, the only one riding in the final on a twin tip. So yeah, we are an interesting position here.

Hey, man.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yo. You're on with Adrian and Arlen. Ah, okay, what's the, what's the story here? We. We didn't think you had it in you and. And we actually wrote Luke Dixon's name on the winning check.

Yes. Turns out. Turns out we were idiots.

[Adrian]

Hey, excuse me. Let's get this clear. I said do not write his name down because I know Jamie. He's going to do it. Yeah.

[Alan Ledoux]

Of course the wind picked up and.

[Adrian]

I already did 31.1 on the 10.

[Alan Ledoux]

Meter and I didn't jump higher in that round because the wind just didn't pick up yet. And after that I was fully stacked on the seven. So.

[Adrian]

Yeah, then I jump a bit higher.

[Alan Ledoux]

You jumped.

[Adrian]

How many times did you jump over.

[Alan Ledoux]

30 meters in that session?

[Adrian]

Over 10 times, probably 50 times. Jamie, I never doubted you. Jamie, I never doubted you. No. And I thought that I was gonna.

[Alan Ledoux]

Jump the world record, but I just.

[Adrian]

Didn'T make it because the wind got.

[Alan Ledoux]

A little bit less lifty.

[Adrian]

Dude, unbelievable effort, bro.

Yeah, I was fighting. You needed to because this kid Luke was just hitting every gust today and he was on a twin tip. I mean, honestly, bro, he was just hitting every gust.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm speechless. We kept our photographer here because we thought for sure we had it, but you proved us wrong.

[Adrian]

Hey, Jamie, he's saying speechless. He actually means embarrassed.

Yeah.

[Alan Ledoux]

And I even got the South African record. Dude, that was the second highest all time.

[Adrian]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I love it, I love it, I love it. Jamie, you're the best, brother. You're the best. Congratulations, man.

[Alan Ledoux]

Thank you.

[Adrian]

Thank you very much. Wow.

[Alan Ledoux]

As the sun sets in Misty Cliff, we wrap up the. The the Brand stable battle Royale, man.

[Adrian]

We'll let you go, Jamie. We'll let you go celebrate with the family.

I'm.

[Alan Ledoux]

I'm just gonna chill. We. We might come find you. We've got a. We've got a present for you.

[Adrian]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's all right, that's all right.

[Alan Ledoux]

I can send you my location. Cool, Sounds good. We'll start driving.

[Adrian]

Cheers, brother.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, perfect. See you soon.

[Adrian]

I mean, I don't know. It was a really great day. I mean, I think a lot of things to tweak. But in general, a really great day.

[Alan Ledoux]

I mean, this might be the end of mixing hydrofoils and twin tips. I was warned about this. I've been warned about this many times and I think Luke Dixon in our heart.

[Adrian]

We're driving past Luke Dixon who's in his car, the tears coming from his eyes. Hedder has promised his wife a brand new present. He said, I've got this. I'm getting you something nice. I'm sorry about that, Jamie. Jamie says sorry. You know what he said? He said. He said, I knew I was going to do it. Really? Yes. He drunk 10 times over 30 meters at Blouberg and broke the South African record.

[Alan Ledoux]

Well, he's second overall now. Second overall, Yep. Mate with a foil, though.

[Adrian]

Yeah, we're just discussing that with the Fuel legend. Cool. Thanks, brother.

[Alan Ledoux]

Cheers, guys.

[Adrian]

You think separate the hydrofoils next time. But mate, he was close.

[Alan Ledoux]

That. That's the thing is like this sport.

Is starting to reach a consensus about that. I mean, we just let Charles Braudel compete in King of the Air with a foil. But.

Yeah, I think after the. After the Brodell world record and now Jamie, number two all time on the foil, I think you have to start to get serious about it. And if it's light wind, they're gonna have a huge advantage. And now we've seen in, you know, 30, 35 knots, they have an advantage even all time. Top two jumps. All time are out on foils now, so.

[Adrian]

And as Hugo posted yet.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yep. Yeah, Hugo, who was. Who was also on a foil. He was at.

I think he was at 32.7.

[Adrian]

Great day.

[Alan Ledoux]

Good day. Good day.

[Adrian]

Well, I think we're going to have to. You know, there's been some good feedback from some of the riders. Yeah, I think some positive feedback, but for. What's this? What is this? What is it? What do you call this type of woo contest?

[Alan Ledoux]

Is it a. I think we stick with Battle Royale. I think it's kind of a fun. A fun format. The concept basically is last man standing.

[Adrian]

So last man and last woman standing.

[Alan Ledoux]

Last woman standing. And we learned today that Gloria is the woman to beat. And we already knew Jamie was the man to beat, but he proved us kind of stupid at the moment.

[Adrian]

I mean, Gloria's kind of a hard chick. She was on the water for about five and a half hours. I mean, it's kind of crazy in those conditions. And she's fine.

[Alan Ledoux]

Yeah, she's the. She's the whole package.

[Adrian]

Well, it's 8 o'. Clock. We have a developing story.

Let me. Let me just. It is. I was just about to do the final leaderboards, I was just about to do the final leaderboards and we just got a call. I'm going to hand you. I'm going to put the microphone of. In front of. In front of Arla. And have we just been celebrating with Jamie because he was the winner, but what's happened?

[Alan Ledoux]

Well, there was another jump today that was recorded by a kid named Manu on a Harlem kite. And apparently the jump was read at 41 meters, which would be the first jump Woo has ever tracked over 37. And.

We were all at Misty today, all day.

You know, we were filming most of the day. I can't say I saw anyone jump that high, but I also wasn't paying attention the whole time. So what we're going to do now is we're basically going to verify why that jump was filtered out. So when the user saved the jump, it was detected as invalid and then it was basically hidden. So he saw the initial score and then doesn't see it in his final session. So it's basically just a hidden jump at the moment. This does happen somewhat often if a jump is misdetected, but that's why we have a backend filter is, so that we can validate it. And yeah, that's what we'll do now is we'll check in.

[Adrian]

Battle Royale is finished. I will go through the scores while we're here because it is important to know who won. On the ladies, it was won by Gloria Ashkenazi, a Russian rider riding under the German flag. She scored a score of 20.4. Gabby Pierre and Alyssa Sofia were the two ladies in that final. They didn't post their scores because they. They couldn't beat her score of 20.4, which is obviously.

Well, they couldn't beat her score, so they didn't post. But on the men's side, all these boys had scored very, very big scores. We do know that Jamie is the winner, but they didn't post till late. In third position, Hugo Wiggersworth, 32.7 meters. In second position, who was leading to the very, very last minute. Luke Dixon, 33 point or 33 meters on the dot. And then Jamie Overbeek, who does what Jamie does, posts at the very last minute with a score of 36.8 meters, second highest reading all time, highest South African record. Again, he did it on a foil. So the top two scores on the Wu leaderboard are now Holborn foils, which is really Changing the game, really. So it's going to be interesting to see as we get closer to that 40 meter barrier, it foils of the way.

[Alan Ledoux]

Forward on the big air scene. So now you know.

[Adrian]

Well, if you've enjoyed this long podcast, it might not be long, but if you enjoy this podcast, let us know because we do more of these cuz they're kind of fun and they're easy to do. They're. The riders are happy to talk and I haven't edited it. No, let's, let's might have to take that part out. And the moon is shining, the sun is gone. Two days of fun and yeah, we will be back for Battle Royale. Maybe in.

[Alan Ledoux]

We might have to run it back in January.

[Adrian]

Oh, that's a. Okay.

[Alan Ledoux]

You think so?

[Adrian]

Why not? But you could do better Royale in.

[Alan Ledoux]

Europe, maybe team format Battle Royale. Maybe we'll do a team format where one team gets eliminated every round by brand. By brand, yeah.

[Adrian]

Oh, I like that. The brand.

[Alan Ledoux]

The Brand Battle Royale.

[Adrian]

The Brand Battle Royale. Yeah. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed that and there's been a lot of content coming out this week. If you haven't checked out the Natalie Lambregh episode, definitely check that out because it's unbelievable to hear her journey. Lorenzo Casadi's been on many times. I asked some different questions to Lorenzo about when he was last scared. What's the pressure? You know, is Leo going to be a problem? And obviously we talk a little bit about Renato and the master plan. Let me finish this island before we get to it. He's. He wants me to give him a hot spot. And if you haven't checked out the winners and losers, definitely check that out because it's a little bit controversial, as we like to do. And then I will be back probably on next Thursday. Nothing will come out on Monday because I'll be traveling. Guys, the King of the Air content ends today. And we have coming up, Finn Flugel, World Champion Freestyle. We have a techcast with dk. We have the Christmas special with, with Colin I. And then it's going to be almost the end of the year. So I think there's some more to come. But I can't remember off the top of my head because I'm tired. Goodbye.