B (3:51)

there at the very start. You said it's consistency and I say that all the time. You know, like everyone can go out there and do the tricks, right? But it's doing the tricks under pressure. It's having a good heat, backing it up with another good heat, you know, going deeper in and just, you know, turning up every time there's an opportunity to ride and. And that's tough, right? I mean that's really hard. Especially when you got other guys who all want the same.

A (4:11)

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like, like the good example is last year, like when I I do a lot of trauma, I go against Andrea like the big guy and I go, I have two really good start of the hit. Like one proper S loop, one proper. I'm saying, okay, now I have big point and then it's all go down and I can't really find a way to finish this hit and Andrea go live and just beat me. But at the beginning I was like, I'm in Front, like, let's go. And. And at the end I wasn't. But. But you know, this is like experience and, and. And there you see why the guy they always win and why they always to the top because they have this extra little thing and this is what I try to find, like this extra thing to boost me to, to the next level of competing.

B (4:56)

I always say that winning's a habit too, right? And that's the thing with Andre and Lorenzo. You know, they've just got in their mind that they're going to win every time and they just keep on even if it doesn't start right. And it's not often those guys get behind at the start, but they just have faith in what they can do. And I think for like people like yourself coming up, you know, it's great to be able to do that, you know, but it's also a mental thing, right? It's like, yeah, I'm going to just be focused. But when you're under pressure and things aren't going well, man, it's. It's tough on the mind.

A (5:23)

Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely a mind game more than everything. Like, if you're ready in your mind, then you're gonna perform good. So it's just you. You need to trust the gear really well. You need to trust in yourself and that's something you need to work on. You know, it's like your mind and how you're gonna prepare this thing. And if you're ready and if you prepare it good, you're gonna be in. I think those guys like Andrea Lorenzo and the top player and like Kevin I've been in the past. Being around Kevin also helped me a bit to realize how mentally he prepared. And he's a competitive guy. He always want to win. Like a good example, last month we done a sport check all the rating crew together. When Kevin was losing out one of the exercises, he was so pissed, like, let's do it again. I wasn't fair. And there you see that he's a winner and being around him. And also Damien, who is a guy working really hard, helped me to step up also in my game. And yeah, that's also good to be around those guys. And I hope really to put everything together and have a chance again to go in the big stage and prove myself.

B (6:44)

I've said it many times that you and Parker have a great. Not just a boss, but also a role model and someone to rely on. And you're so right about Kevin. The reason why he's so good and the way his have go and listen to any interview. We've done it, mate. The guy just lives winning, you know, he's like, I'm out there to kill. I'm not there to make the final. If I'm not in this, if I'm in the final, I'm there to win. And I love that. Right. I think that's super cool, mate. You were speaking of the mental side. Let's get straight to it. Dude, what were you thinking on that second heli loop when you went up again? I mean, how did you keep your focus? Because look, Buckey is the spot. It's a big spot, right? But at that stage you must been thinking, am I going to run out of water here?

A (7:23)

Yeah, man. To be, to be honest, I was bit scared at some point. Like I do the jump, like everything's go good. I'm happy, I'm stoked. I go big. Everyone want this. And then I start doing one, two heli loop. And then I say I'm stuck up there. And I start looking a bit everywhere. You know, man, I could see the road, the car, everything going down. Then I could see, you know, the cable park, like from, from above. Like I thought I was a drone, you know, Like I could see everything, like all the kite of the friend. And then I start like okay, now I want to go down. I shift the bar out but the kites go backward so I have to pull it back and then keep me up again. I say, oh. So I start bit like kind of panicking a little bit and then I say okay, now I focus. So I breathe and then I focus on my kites and controlling this loop and managing in everywhere in the window and, and then, and then I island perfect. So, so that's. But I had a bit of moment where I start kind of panicking because I was like up there and it was like, like I never been this high and, and, and then I kind of like controlled the thing and, and then perfectly. Which, which was amazing.

B (8:37)

Even Elliot Bhattan said on his podcast he said Andy landed like a boss. Which is super cool as well, right? You know. Yeah, we into this, you know the weekend before Andrea jumped off 250 meters. I mean, you know, you guys put, you know, you did your little bro science and you're up there 50 meters. Can you imagine what that was like to jump off 250 meters?

A (8:57)

I can't, I can't. But we, we, we can see in his stories now it looked like, it looked like it's going Crazy now. But yeah, from, from. I think he, he had something, man. I think the jump did something on him. I don't know. But, but since he done this jump, the story is going mental.

B (9:18)

What was the wind speed that day? Because, you know, even Bakaraz, you know, the wind comes off that those mountains that Trimantana comes down and just can ramp up. And even if it might say 30 to 40, you can get bigger gusts come through. What do you think the gust was that hit you or was it just. Everything was timed perfectly.

A (9:34)

So this day was, was a bit special actually. The, the morning was really light and, and we have, we, we all the French team, we went together for training and the training was like, okay guys, let's try to focus on finding this gust, which I think I figured out.

B (9:54)

Yeah, I think you got that one.

A (9:55)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then the afternoon we went because we knew the wind's going to be stronger and it was this storm called Stone Pedro across in the France. So we knew that it's going to be pumping. But the wind was super weird because it was really from let's say 20 up to like maybe 45, even 50 because the water was flying. So be that last year a lot of traffic. But then was big low, almost no upwind, and then massive gust. But the gust was like keep it keeping you high and this. And in Baccarat, you know, you have the lagoon when you ride and behind you have another lagoon where the wind come from. Like just below the mountain. When the big gust come, you can see the smoke on the water incoming. And we also in the queue. Like because you do the queue, we also the, the big gust coming. I was first in the queue, so I said okay, let's, let's, let's get this one. And, and then, and then like this. I, I could hit the gust, but you could see the gust coming. And yeah, the wind was like let's say 50 knots in the gust because the water was flying. And I think yeah, 45, 50 in the gust. And, and, and, and what's make me fly it also because I think is two girls coming from not the same direction. And if you're the perfect timing, then it gives you this crazy updraft.

B (11:12)

It's just a big jump, right? And then you do that the first hali loop. It lifts you up, but that's that second heli loop that really whips. Actually the first heli loop probably whips you up another 5 to 10 meters, let's say. But that second one really just Pulls you up again.

A (11:24)

Yeah, yeah. So basically when you do a jump and you arrive to the peak of the jump, it's always good to give a bit of movement to the kite. And, and as you experience baccarat and as you know, when you hit those gusts, I knew it was a proper one. So I knew if I pull a hell loop right now, it could lift me up. So I could feel my kite going bit backward and I could see that it was those people called magicus. And then I start heli looping and then I feel that's the right timing and that's the right time and this is the like feeling and controlling the kite in the air, which give you the right moment to do it. And then if you do the heli loop right moment, then you're going to keep you up and up and up. Which people think also it's based on luck. But I do think there is a part of luck, but it's part of luck in everything. You know, if you hit a good kicker in Ktown, you're lucky you had the good kicker. You can take it like this. But I think the, the thing you control when you're in the air is timing the, the heli loop at the right moment, controlling your kite to keep flying. And finally this, the, to optimize the maximum of the, of the wind you have up there.

B (12:41)

We were saying before how, you know, you, you know, you realize, oh shit, I'm a bit scared here, but just focusing. How was the adrenaline when you landed? Because I remember, do you remember back last year when Hugo did that big jump before his heat and, and he said, man, so much adrenaline I couldn't write. You know, just my body went dead. Did you have that same sort of feeling?

A (12:59)

Man, I, I, I think that was the cleanest upwind I ever done, man. I was like two hand on the bar, briefing, so excited and I was like, okay, now I'm gonna go home safe. You know, I'm down there, I'm gonna go home safe. So I was like this controlling my, my hope. When arrived to the beach, everyone was here like sharing and my, I could not sleep for two nights. Like, like the, the night of the jump, I was like, I was in my bed like this and then I was thinking everything could go wrong up there. And then I was like, oh man, I need to stop thinking about that. And, and, and like I could not really find the sleep. And next day I went kiting again. And when I arrive, I do my first drum. I'm like, maybe I'm gonna, I gonna go again. Like like crazy. So I was like bit septic, you know about it. But then I had couple jump and it was all fine. But yeah, the adrenaline was so high then it kept me in night. I slept maybe three hours because I was like yeah, that was like maybe the craziest thing I experienced all life.

B (14:00)

And you were riding the new read it master model.

A (14:04)

Yeah. The setup was 8 meter master model with 22 meter line. And that worked good.

B (14:13)

I mean this master model looks great, right? I mean what Parker did at king of the air, what you're doing. You know what, Kevin's having fun on it, man. I mean you guys must be super stoked about this kite as well.

A (14:24)

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. It's. It's a really big improvement from. From past year. As you know. Now it's in big air especially. It's really important to have the great gear to. To upgrade your skills. And, and with Damian and Kevin and Parker, we all thought we need something just go high with a lot of lift. And. And I think we, we found this in the master model. And this kite is definitely a game changer for my riding because I can find more height and more lift. And yeah, it's really a big improvement. And we're already working on new version which is going to be as good as this one. So I'm really happy with the kite and the gear we have in region right now.

B (15:07)

Did you ever think about the gear when you're up there thinking holy crap, if something goes wrong now I'm in trouble?

A (15:14)

Yeah. So about, about the gear. Yeah, I was. I was confident on the gear. I. I checked my gear. But. But like I told you, the. The night where I could not sleep, I was thinking oh, if the line ripped off or if my kite ripped off. But then in the air I wasn't really scared about the gear because I'm like now I'm up there. So anyway, everything can happen. And as experience a little bit. I know when you broke a line or you broke something, it's at the maximum peak tension and it's usually at the takeoff. So at the takeoff you put way more pressure than during the loop or when you fly because you don't have anything to go against the kite. So if something has to broke is usually at the takeoff. As. As happened to Nelson a couple years ago. Usually this happened like breaking gear at the takeoff. So I was a bit like, okay, now I'm. I'm pretty. I'm pretty good. I'm pretty good with My, with my kite and I know I'm going to. I got to manage this but I was bit scared to fall like you know, a wind hole. But then I start thinking about the physics and I know if I fall like my kite is going to keep like Andrea going to keep me flying so.

B (16:24)

Exactly. Let's talk about the big elephant in the room. Why you didn't have your surfer watch turned on. Because I seen you posting on surfer before. Did you have the watch on or just didn't read or did it miss the jump? Was it the length of the jump that confused it? Because that happens right away. All devices can be thrown off by you know, multiple lifts or, or the distance being too long. You know what, what happened especially on a day when you knew it was going to be pumping.

A (16:51)

Yeah, rookie mistake. The I K. The old morning and the battery was empty and, and, and I, my watch was not battery on and I had the, I didn't have the charger in my car. So I was like okay, let's do a session without. Anyway, I was focusing on doing tricks for my entry video. I didn't want to go and do like eating as we call in France, you know when you. We try to bite the woo and rank on the thing because all suffer eating. But yeah, the plan was, was not to, to go like for big jump was just to do tricks. So I was okay, let's not have the watch for tricks. And then unfortunately I got the, I got the, the big jump without watch. Which is, which is, which is pretty annoying. But, but also maybe if I was wearing the watch. I will not catch this gust. You know like TR Montana will not let me fly up there.

B (17:56)

You know, you go height hunting sometimes the, the, the gods don't look on you. You know, they don't, they don't favor you.

A (18:03)

Exactly.

B (18:04)

Do you believe in bro science?

A (18:06)

What's, what's bro science?

B (18:08)

Bro science. When you take a still of a still of a shot and you take the kite three times and you. Oh, it's got to be a world record 50 plus. No, I'm just asking because you know I, I see the, you know the people that read and they, you know. Absolutely. They can, they put the heights there and they. I love their thing. Without a doubt. It's the record. I mean, yeah, you're going to be open to criticism and I, I mean I, I look through the comments and I la. Because there's, there's people are talking about all types of stuff then and that's just the nature of the game. Right? What were the other big jumps on that day? Did. Did people, did other people register some big jumps either on Woo or surfer or. That just was the, the biggest jump of the entire day?

A (18:44)

Yeah, that was the. I think some other French guy got some, some really good magic gust, but no one was wearing a Woo or surfer, so, so, so no no any big gust. A big jump registered this day. And the bro science as. Now I understand your question. Yeah, I, I, it's clever. From reading, they. We. We try to measure it as we know. And, and I think some people, some people say it's 50, it's 40, it's 25, 28. I don't know. Some people say like 7 meter, which is pretty funny. But. But, but, but, but yeah, honestly, it's, it's, it's. People claim world record for me when I post the, the jump. I didn't say it's a world record. I say biggest center of my life, which is true. But, but. And then people all start commenting. That's what we call. That's what we called and, and even like big legend. Like when you see the comment on my first video, everyone of the cat industry and big guy were respect a lot. They all comment and say it's a big jump. Which this, this is what I need to know. I don't really need a number on the device. And then people, people, they know, they know it's a big one and if they want to call it the biggest jump in the kite, they can. I'm open to that. And also I land this one, so that's also a big one.

B (20:08)

I like that. I like the fact that the respect from your peers is more important than the numbers. And you know, listen, dude, it doesn't matter what the numbers is. It's bloody huge. It's massive.

A (20:19)

Yeah.

B (20:20)

You know when you said you rode back to the beach and everyone was cheering, I mean that's what it's all about, right? It's that community.

A (20:26)

Yeah, exactly. And it's, it's all about also my feeling, you know, the pleasure. And, and, and at the end you do this for yourself. And, and when I go back to the beach and all the friends are happy and, and when you, you go in the podcast and Elliot say it's the biggest thing I ever saw. And this is like, I'm happy. And then the next day when I come and my friend, they still high about the jump, you know, that, that was like a, for me, that was a good accomplishment. Also my dad and my mom, they Were super stoked. Actually. My dad, when I called him, I said, dad, I think I did a jump like probably 50 meter. He said, that's proof then you can go 50 meter and come on, be happy.

B (21:10)

How much distance do you reckon you traveled? What's the distance from, let's say the jumping zone at Lords of Tram to the Cable Park? Would that be.

A (21:20)

It's 400, 300 meter? Yeah, yeah. 300. 400, yeah. Yeah. This, this is proper 300, I think even more, but definitely like, like, I think 300 plus. I, I'm not scared to say that.

B (21:36)

Is this motivating for you to. Matt, I want to go do this again and, and get the records and, and put devices on my board and, and, and try and go for that. Because look, I mean legitimately people are interested in who can jump the highest, right? I mean Clemont did a big one this year. Unfortunately I was in Japan. I haven't had a chance to catch up with Clemon but, or get him on the podcast. You know, Hugo's got the, the Woo record. Lorenzo's got the biggest jump on surfer. Do you want to be considered up with those guys?

A (22:02)

Yeah, yeah, that, that's, that's for sure a goal, you know, going big and it's, it's the, the whole point of big academy, you know, it's going the biggest. Yeah, this is for sure something I want to push on and is why I collaborate with surfer since a year now and I try to add this to my riding. Also having all those data of the jump when you're training, it's also super like good then you know how big you went. But yeah, it's for sure. I'm really disappointed I didn't have my watch because I could have been on the top and, and it could have been like, like, like something that may be hard for the other guy to catch up with. But yeah, it's, it's like this. I will try to, to get this again. I will ride my watch on all the session. I will not forget to charge it properly and, and, and yeah, that's, that's the, that's for sure something I want to, I want to keep going on and I want to push also because as you, as you, as you say there is a bunch of guy on the top and they do the name like this, but also some other guy like Evan like, like Josh Emanuel, like, like Martin also they, they push on the woo thing and they had like kind of of second bits color in this woo chasing. Let's Say or big jump chasing. But also for me, when I ride doing only big jump, I don't know, I feel this bit annoying. I don't really like it, to be honest. The day where Hugo did this 40 meter, I was on the water with my 8 and I didn't really try to do like, like single big jump. I just do all my tricks, you know, because this is what I like. This is the thing I get when it's super nuking and nuclear. Okay, I can try to do couple big jump but, but then, then of course I want to be at the top of the leaderboard because it's always super fun and it's good challenging and it's, it is always a big reward. You know, you can say I jump bigger than everybody. So this is all. But this is not really something I, I look into it. I will like but I'm not like gonna put all my energy into this.

B (24:16)

Is there a chance you can get into Mykonos now in the second leg of the GK or is that you think that doors closed on the GK and you start focusing on Red Bull events?

A (24:26)

Yeah, that's, that's GKA1 in Mykon is going to be tough to get especially because I know that the guys like to have a full year ranking which now is two stops. So I not really sure they're going to change the fleet. Maybe one or two name going to change. Maybe I going to get opportunity. Let's see. Now my focus is really on my entry video. I want to have a Bengal one. I take the example of Jamie's one for the lot of pram. Leon another one from. For King of the Air and those, the big video. I wanna, I, I wanna go like this, you know, film it properly with a guy. So, so now I'm gonna, I'm gonna spend the next six months to have a proper video to maybe try this one in Mykonos. But also focusing on, on Red Bull event. The goal is to get into King of the at the end of the. Of the year. So, so let's, let's focus on this and let's put all the work I can to, to those five banger of clip.

B (25:23)

Will you ride the qualifiers if they're available? Because you know we saw a couple of French riders springboard off that last year. Is that also in the plan to do everything you can to get to Red Bull King of the Year?

A (25:33)

Yeah, yeah. Honestly, this year I'm gonna ride all the comp I can like I'm gonna ride, I've been in wind of Sinai a couple years ago, which was a really good experience for me. And also I had. Was my best result, like, because I got quarterfinal and I got a super tiny hit against Hamza the local, who gets second there. And, And I think it's the best comp I ever ride with all my it. I got like maybe 25 points, which was like, like a really good comp for me. And I'm gonna try to do all the comp I can. Also French national, also the. The little local comp, also full power if I got the chance. And of course the. The qualifier. Because. Because, yeah, that's, that's the thing I need also doing more comp and now I feel like I need to do more and more and more. Last year I really wanted to do the ones Elliot and Batis did, like the PUKL and the full power, but they were same weekend as Cold Hawaii, and I got called to cold Hawaii, so I had to go for the big one. But yeah, hopefully this year I could do all the comp and yeah, try to get this experience and keep this momentum up and maybe get more like, better results, which I, I think Red Bull also looking for that. They look for people when they. They take you in the list, they want to know, you know, your guy can win and this guy can go do well in comp. And I think also it's. It helps you to. To. To build your name and, and to build your.

B (27:03)

Your brand as well. Your brand.

A (27:05)

Yeah, yeah.

B (27:07)

Yeah, dude. As you know, anything can happen, right? I mean, that's the crazy thing about Red Bull. King of the. Anything can happen. It can just. Yeah, anything that can happen.

A (27:15)

Jamie was on the, on the reserve. This is.

B (27:18)

Let's hope we don't see things like that again. I don't want to see people like Jamie and Hugo on the sideline and baby Shar. I want to see the. The 18 of the best riders in the world at Red Bull King.

A (27:27)

Yeah, I think also with. With those King of the air and. And events, also the entry video. It's. It's also a really good way to. To do it and. But they need to be. To be more clear because people, they don't play the rule. You know, like, people, they go, they put the tricks, they kind of cut the landing. They don't pull full landing and they get scored. They say five tricks, people put pov, they put six trick, they put slow motion, they get scored. It should not work like this. And then those guys, they don't play the Rule they go in the fleet. How is this possible? If you say five tricks landing, you need to see the landing and the five tricks. If you don't see one of your landing, you out. Why will we score you? You don't play the rule. It's not fair, you know. So this, this is something on the entry video. Then it's bit, it triggered me a bit because I like to, I like to, to choose my, my tricks and you know, sometimes I have, I have really big move, but I kind of budget but check it. And so I say okay, let's not put the big move. I, but check, I put another one, maybe gonna scale less points. But then I saw other guy and they cut the landing and they got in.

B (28:36)

You know, welcome to codeboarding.

A (28:40)

Yeah, but this is, this is. Yeah, I, I, I, I know, but this is something, it would be good from the organization there. They just clarify this point, you know, if you don't play the rule and this also for you, if you get in without playing the rule, maybe you're not at the level as you prove in your entry video and you're gonna, you're gonna have no point in your hit. And I, I don't know.

B (29:02)

But Marius, Marius, we've seen that for years, dude. And I, I, if you listen to the podcasts, I've thrown people under the bus for many years. You watch them on Instagram. Holy crap. It's the best ride I've ever seen. But then when it comes to the comp, they can't do it. So you're right. And I always said to that, and I was saying at the end of last year, guys, the one problem with entry videos is the fact that it doesn't take into account how they are in the pressure of a competition. I think competition riding is more important. I would like to see, personally, I'd like to see a points race. We have three or four qualifiers and everyone rides and there's a points cut off. So maybe Andre has to ride because he missed two of them. He's got a ride to score points, you know, and it's like an, an F1 championship, you know?

A (29:46)

Yeah, exactly.

B (29:47)

The top 18 guys who have scored the most points, the most consistent riders are going to ride off in the final, winner takes all. But I think they like to keep it convoluted. I think they like to keep it gray, bro. That means they can do what they want.

A (29:58)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. At the end it's, it's as I say at the beginning of the podcast, for not Being in a lot of crime, I can't really control this. So the only thing I can control is me being better. So I will just try to being better. But as I have the opportunity to speak today, so I just, I just wanted to say that this is something sometime also. It's a bit, ah, you know, frustrating. But, but yeah, it's, it's the, it's the game. The skating is like this and, and it's also a young sport with not a lot of budget and, and, and I think we need to take a bit of also space around it. And when I talk with my French friend or with everybody I know, like Ryder, and we say, guys, come on, we, we, we kind of win a little bit of money to being zero at the end of the year and, and doing cutting and enjoy your life. So let's be happy.

B (30:52)

Before I let you go, Marius, I was saying the same thing to Elliot. There's just so many good French riders. I think there might be, might be more French. Okay, maybe there's more Dutch guys at that level, but man, it can't be far off how many top French riders there are. I mean there is. I can think of easy 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 French guys who. I'm like, man, these guys are good.

A (31:12)

Yeah, we are lots. We are lots. We have some really good spot, especially in the area of Bucharest, Montpellier and all the south of France, which gets really windy. So a lot of, lot of talents in France and it's, it's, it's a big competition because, because we, we all want to push and, and it's also good to have a big group which motivates you to go underwater. And the goal for sure now is to go further than the Dutch in competition, which, which is not easy. Yeah.

B (31:43)

As well.

A (31:43)

Yeah, they're a problem.

B (31:44)

Well, look, Maris, thanks for coming on, buddy. You're one of the all time good guys in the sp. Big smile on your face of. Sorry to hear you didn't make Lords of Tram, dude. But you know what, man, it was a hell of a jump and you know, a lot of eyes and media came on you and Reading as well and hopefully you guys can springboard off that and do more things. And mate, I'll see you in France, hopefully at Lords of Tram, brother.

A (32:04)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I will be there. I will be on the beach and, and try for my friend. And I will be at the secret spot same time, probably treading a little bit. But uh, but uh, yeah, definitely we catch up in France and uh, and uh, we spend some good time out there.

B (32:19)

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