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- [00:00]
A
It was the perfect timing as well because it was towards the end of the day.
- [00:03]
B
For many years he struggled with consistency.
- [00:05]
A
I'm sure that's something they're going to change.
- [00:07]
B
Something caused them not to call it.
- [00:08]
A
No one disagrees with that.
- [00:10]
B
Probably spooked them a little bit. Just picking up now and I'm putting it ready. Man. This one is probably a bit more nerve wracking.
- [00:22]
A
Kevin Langry, three time winner.
- [00:24]
B
This is like a heavyweight boxing match. This isn't the featherweights. There's no dancing around. I'm ringing spots a kick first move.
- [00:32]
A
The ripple through the air for a.
- [00:34]
B
Woman is super clean. That is yet another innovation move.
- [00:46]
A
Marc Jacobs heading out towards the iconic Robben Island.
- [00:49]
B
Highest trick scorer in all. Red Bull King of the Airs, Janek Tikachi.
- [00:54]
A
Kevin Lanky has taken it for the third time.
- [00:58]
B
Way more than a dream.
- [00:59]
A
Come tr.
- [01:05]
B
That is massive. Meanwhile out the back and that has to be facade.
- [01:08]
A
It's an all out teenager fit. Okay. You join us in Water Sports Warehouse which is the kite shop just back from the King of the Air event site. We are currently surrounded by neoprene.
- [01:29]
B
Wetsuits everywhere. Wetsuits and harnesses.
- [01:32]
A
Yeah. This stench of neoprene is actually quite. I like it to be honest. So no Neil one he's just sniffed.
- [01:39]
B
These ones smell a lot better than my one.
- [01:41]
A
Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure. We're here to talk about the winners and losers of King of the year 2025. You know that it's in the title. I don't know why I say it.
- [01:49]
B
Let's start with some winners because I think in this event we had a lot of winners.
- [01:53]
A
You want a nice positive start there?
- [01:55]
B
Absolutely. Let's go.
- [01:56]
A
Okay. Okay. Winner. For me it's the moment everyone's talking about. It's the foil going up for the first time. By the way. Evan Klein had rocked a foil kite in Lords of Tram and no one gave a shit when he did. No one cared. What made this different.
- [02:16]
B
I think a little bit more hype around the Sonic 5. I think the guys at Flysurfer and the team there felt a little bit more confident in this kite. You know, we'd heard Benny Bolly and.
- [02:27]
A
Evan Klein on though.
- [02:28]
B
I think he was on one of the older models.
- [02:30]
A
Maybe a soul.
- [02:33]
B
He always been on that Sonic. But we'll have to check that. We'll get back to you. But I think they worked on a lot of stuff because they realised that if we want to see these in competition, we need to make them a little bit more high performance. And if you want to hear more about that, go back and check out the episode when they released it because Luca and Benny talk about making it quicker, getting that second lift and all the things that modern day kites are looking for. And that's what they sort of tried to bring to this new kite. Look, when that kite went up it was possibly the loudest chair of the whole event outside of the final. It was kind of crazy and we were, we spoke about it. There's Aaron and Mika and everyone was sort of excited to see that kite go up. So yeah, a huge winner.
- [03:12]
A
Yeah. I think it was the perfect timing as well because it was towards the end of the day. Heel was comfortably leading the heat. It wasn't that windy and then all of a sudden someone did something that could have changed it and it did change it. So I think that's why people latch onto it so strongly.
- [03:32]
B
I don't know whether we're going to see more of those in competition. Yeah. But I mean it's going to have to be lighter win competitions.
- [03:39]
A
Is it?
- [03:40]
B
You know they're talking about that ceiling being 30, 35 for the ceiling for that kite. Lords of Tram. They have a big long window. They seem to nail those storms Mega loop. It's probably not going to be seen. So maybe the King of the Air has made its debut. Maybe these are the type of competitions we're going to see anymore. But I want to add on to that. And another winner for me is Luca Ceruti. For many years he struggled with consistency. Sometimes those big performances can get you ready. Going the third place last year at King of the Air. It's really springboard on this year. He's got his mindset and. Right. He doesn't seem to be so nervous about competing. He's really dialed into the gear. Feels more in tune with the gear. A constant semi final. This year was a semi finalist at. At the Cold Hawaii Games which a big event and then. And then doing it again here. I think for Luca is just to continue that momentum into next year and he's becoming a bit of a smooth operator for the South African guys and. And you know being the guy who's sort of leading the charge, sort of taking that mantle away from Jason a bit.
- [04:37]
A
Yeah. Yeah. The highest performing South African for the last two years straight. Now let's have a loser go on.
- [04:44]
B
Let's continue on from where we're talking about the Heel not taking the 10 meter out. You know, spoke to us. You Know, a couple days before the event saying, you know, if it's 10, I take it I can still get that kite low. He was up against that foil kite. He was on the nine or the, you know, he was on the nine. He didn't go to the back of the beach and get that. That's got to be a misstep. I think looking back, he'll look at that and think probably a misstep from his part. Maybe should have been on the 10 from the beginning. Me talked about holding that 10 to a high sort of win level. Yeah, I think, I think a misstep on that side. Andrea on the eight as well. I mean, kite sizing maybe is one of the losers. Not taking a nine, maybe doesn't like the nine, who knows? But sticking, you know, it's almost like the guys stuck to the kites they were comfortable with and didn't want to change.
- [05:27]
A
With regards to Andrea, I think it's not a. Whether he does or doesn't like it. I just think that kite is a new kite and he wouldn't have had the time to train on a 2026 rebel before King of the Air. So I think it's fair enough. Sticking on the, on the gear he knows, particularly as this new Rebel that's just come out is made of different material. It's Duotone's own Alula. So it will be, it will be different to previous models.
- [06:00]
B
Is Duotone a loser for not getting that kite out a little bit earlier and giving their premier rider the best opportunity? Because we spoke about going in. Andrea's going to be on a new kite. He wasn't. He was on a kite that he's been riding for some time. Is that a loser? Is Duotone a loser here?
- [06:14]
A
I think also Durotone didn't have anyone riding on that last day, which is really odd to see, but I'm sure that's something they're going to change. And actually those two young French riders, Baptiste Schacherman and Elliot Bouton were actually pretty good, weren't they?
- [06:35]
B
They came out and did their job.
- [06:36]
A
I mean, did they win a heat? No. But was anyone expecting them to? No. The selection a loser for sure, it's a loser.
- [06:44]
B
Yep.
- [06:44]
A
Jamie Overbeach should have been there 100%. No one, no one disagrees with that.
- [06:49]
B
Would Hugo Wigglesworth have beaten those two boys in a head to head competition? There we go, done. Let's stick onto the losers because this is kind of fun. I want to say Red Bull is a loser here. Because Sunday the 23rd was a perfect day to finish this off. It was the day after the first day we were on the beach. I mean it was seriously windy. It was the type of wind that when you bend down your shirt, right when your shirt flies up that sand hits your back and it's not nice, uncomfortable. It was perfect. Something happened, something caused them not to call it. I don't think we'll ever know. But for sure a massive misstep.
- [07:27]
A
I also think, you know, it concluded on the Wednesday, but the only the window opened on the Saturday and I think the unwillingness to just wait and be a bit more patient was a loser. Like the fact that they couldn't wait for stronger wind. I think probably due to last year it all happening on the last day of the window and everyone shitting themselves that it wasn't going to conclude. I think that's kind of fair enough and it's understandable why they'd be like that. But as Kite Booring's biggest event and when they choose to run it has huge consequences on who wins and the outcome. Yeah, I think that is short sighted.
- [08:08]
B
Yeah, a lot of pressure on the team and I think you're right. I think the sort of position they were in last year going down to literally the final three hours of the window to get it done probably spooked them a little bit and they probably no one wants to be in those positions again. They had not called that original port Apollo re ran at the end of the year. So I think they probably, maybe they stretched it to three days and okay guys, we know we're going to get a couple hours of wind at the end of each day which is going to be suitable or within our minimum standard. Let's just do that. But yeah, the three day structure was made it a little bit tough on competitors and you'll hear interview coming up with Natalie. Just the frustration of just riding on day one, having to wait for five days to ride again and only having one heat to do it. So yeah, I think, I think that sort of structure was a loser. Let's talk about some winners. I want to talk about the American kiteboarding scene. Zach Adams, Parker Sage. What did you think?
- [09:05]
A
Where did Parker Sage come from? He's never performed like that ever. All of a sudden he just takes down Jason Van der Spee and continues this. He's like a wrecking ball.
- [09:17]
B
If there was any of a question that gear makes a difference. That's a classic example right there. I mean we'd written Parker off and through the air. He just wasn't performing, couldn't get going. Turned up at Lords of Trammer on the new 5 Strut kite from Reeden. It's a brainchild production and just, man, he just seemed to be in complete control with that kite and, you know, even said, I'm loving being in the Reading team, you know, but I want to say with these guys, these guys need to find now consistency. Three weeks ago, Zac got knocked out by Elliot Bataan. Bounce off this, build off this. But let's be consistent and let's be regular semi finalists. And that's the tough thing to do because people only. You're only as good as your last competition. Right. Never remembers the big one. So it'll be interesting to see how Zach and Piker can, you know, take this sort of form and momentum into 20, 26 huge winners. Again. You've got a shout out to Mike McDonald for his vision to go and going to Hood river then and, and, and putting that event on when we all thought it was. He maybe played a smart move there. And we've got two amazing riders, by the way, you saw in the, in the post show. Aiden is another young kid coming out of there. So, yeah, let's, let's hope we see more riders because it's a massive market and we've got Jesse Richmond and then these kids. It's been a long time, long time since those guys, you know.
- [10:34]
A
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
- [10:36]
B
Yeah.
- [10:36]
A
I think you're right to mention Big Air Kite League and the impact it's had. It's also given us the person that won King of the Air this year or. And won it the year before and won it the year before that. Andrea and Lorenzo are products of Big Air Kite League.
- [10:51]
B
Absolutely. Let's talk about Andrea. I mean, I, you know, I hate saying the word loser because they're not a loser, but it's just, it's the way this is. But you'd have to say a disappointing performance from Andrea all around.
- [11:05]
A
Obviously, there's no debating that is a major, major upset for him to be out in round three in a heat that he kind of looked in control of. Yeah, as well. It was only that last move that flipped it, but then there was actually a big discrepancy in the scores. Almost a three point difference between the two.
- [11:25]
B
Yeah. Let's talk about their variety in a minute. And even in Andrea's loss, it just shows the champion. If you really want to know Andre's character, a lot of people don't get to see this Side of Andrea. Very often you get to see the champion and he gives these great speeches and he's always positive about it. But the way he took that loss and how he came to speak to Zac and just said, hey, man, you're the man. Awesome. You know, it was. It was a testament to him as a character, which kind of makes me want to put him in the winners. But people only care about his performance on the water, which is the difference.
- [11:55]
A
But I think people will remember that.
- [11:58]
B
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
- [11:59]
A
I think it was one of the. Maybe the forekite was the top moment, but then maybe second moment was Andreas.
- [12:05]
B
Yeah.
- [12:06]
A
Grace in his speech, it was just. Yeah.
- [12:10]
B
Humility at its finest, really.
- [12:11]
A
Yeah, it was a masterclass in how to lose. Yeah.
- [12:15]
B
Which, by the way, we don't see very often.
- [12:17]
A
No, he's very rare in that. He is a fantastic athlete, obviously very able on the water, innovative beyond anyone else's capabilities. I mean, Zach beat him with a move that Andrea gave birth to. That is Andrea's style. So to have that on water ability, but then to also be a rock star off it, and then to also be. Have humility, have self awareness, see the bigger picture, have respect for other people, despite everyone telling you that you're the man. And to have your ego under control enough to be able to do that at his age, with that pressure on him in that spotlight is really special. And I think he's the only person in kiteboarding that can do that. He's really special and he should be really proud of himself for being able to be like that under pressure when everyone's watching.
- [13:23]
B
And the other. The funny thing is he's not trained to do this.
- [13:27]
A
It's just.
- [13:27]
B
It's just him. But the way he did it, what made it even more special to me is he didn't take that away from Zach. You know, a lot of people, all they were talking about it. If you watch it in context, he did take nothing away from Zach's. When he didn't, he just said, man, I got beaten. You know, this is. These are the kids to watch, and these are the kids to be here. So, yeah, if you haven't seen that, I might clip that and put that on Instagram. So definitely check that out. Impression score, winner or loser? Very controversial, this event. A lot of swings, you know, before where impression maybe got one or two points and that was the difference. You could come behind from one and a half. We were seeing up to five point swings here. Too much, too little.
- [14:06]
A
So just to quickly explain how it works. For those of you that maybe weren't reading and watching everything that we did, you get your three trick scores out of 10 and then the final 10 points are this overall impression score. Seven of those potential 10 points. So seven of the overall 40. Have I lost you? No, concentrate. Seven points are available for you. Ticking off unique tricks. And these are defined as different categories of families. They're called. So just a kite loop with no rotation is a category, a contra loop is a category, a front roll is a category, a back roll is a category, and so on and so forth. Lorenzo Casati was the only person to get seven out of seven unique trick scores every time.
- [14:58]
B
Almost.
- [14:58]
A
Yeah. Leonardo Casati was the next person. He managed to do six. So that's how it works. And what it meant was a much more objective scoring of kiteboarding for the first time ever. Big tick from me. It also meant that it was way more strategic than ever. Big tick from me. It also meant that left foot forward and right foot forward riding was more important than ever and thus in my opinion, rewarding the more complete rider take from me.
- [15:34]
B
Just to fill that up. There was still three more points available that the judges had. So the judges impact was only 30% on that impression score. It was a big winner.
- [15:43]
A
In what way is it a loser?
- [15:44]
B
Just think the, the riders need to get better at, you know, utilizing that. We put out that article and you know, a lot of them, a lot of them read it but on the water they couldn't put it into, put it into action. So that's going to be interesting to see if this is implemented to any of the other Red Bull events moving forward. For sure, it's not going to be in the mega loop because it's a one trick wonder, but Cold Hawaii could be a position that we see this again. We're unsure of the Red Bull schedule for next year. We don't know if there's going to be qualifiers. As soon as we know about that, we'll update you when it comes to the gka. You know, I've heard rumours of a Mykonos event. Lords of Tram has always been there. I think they've got one year left on their contract. That's obviously a different format to that. So it will be interesting to see how they continue with that. By the way, they only told about this the day before and that's. I think that's what annoyed most of the riders, you know, that they were just. This was dropped on them very, very late. And even though it's kind of Simple. A lot of them were very confused about it, you know, still confused. So I hope that they will educate themselves better.
- [16:44]
A
The other downside to this new impression score is that they had a 6.5 point cliff. So if you. If you scored 4.9. 6.49. Sorry, sorry. You weren't able to access the unique trick scores.
- [17:02]
B
Yeah, that's. That's also a debatable one. I don't know if 6.5 is the right level. I think if we've got those consistent strong winds where we had sort of a very big range of wins, maybe that. Maybe that needs to be scaled. Maybe there's a scaling system again. That's for the judge. Look, it's their first time they've done it. I know they sort of trolled that live impression last year, but for sure, these. The judging teams will go back and. And look at that. And I think this judging team, a few little hiccups, but I think overall they'll go back after the sort of, you know, dust is settled and do a good review of this. I mean, they are the most professional judging team here. Let's not take that away from them. But let's talk about the judging of the Charles Bridal Heat.
- [17:43]
A
Is Charles a winner or a loser for you?
- [17:45]
B
Look, I think Charles is a huge winner. He listened to what they wanted from last year. He went to the bigger kite. He shortened the lines to get the kite angle. He was doing the half cab with a foil board, which is crazy. I just don't know why he was underscored. I guess it's unprofessional for us to speak publicly about what the judges have said on that. And I also haven't really dived into that because I sort of don't feel like it's the right time. But Charles is upset for sure. And he's rightly upset. I mean, everyone feels that on the beach.
- [18:16]
A
So he's upset and he's been robbed, but you still think he's a winner?
- [18:20]
B
No, I put judging that he's looking at my notes here. I put judging because I thought the judging was good, but then I was like, question mark, Charles.
- [18:26]
A
Okay.
- [18:26]
B
What. What do you think?
- [18:27]
A
Yeah, his writing was amazing. He was amazing, and he will continue to be amazing and deserves to be at this event and deserves to be rewarded. Foy is riding like this, too. If he had been in the final, no one would have batted an eyelid.
- [18:41]
B
It's interesting how the judging changed from the Porta Polo scoring to this because arguably it's the same team. Right. It's the same principle of team, you know, Red Bull. And I've got them as a loser here. They. They always want the show. They always think, we want the show. We want the show. We've given Angelique a chance, we've given Ayrton a chance, been given Charles a chance. But I never felt like they really looked after them. It was almost like, let's send the freaks out for a bit of fun and let. Let the crowd enjoy it. But we're not going to score them or we're not going to let them go too far. I mean, I think Angela got. Anjali was different. She got the highest trick in her first ever heat, but I always felt like they were up against it.
- [19:18]
A
Yeah, yeah. I think Ayrton is a wrong and. Well, it's an unfair comparison because Ayrton compared to Charles kind of sucked.
- [19:25]
B
Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah. I mean, Charles is the best.
- [19:27]
A
Was epic.
- [19:28]
B
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
- [19:30]
A
And I think also a point on Charles's. For Charles's case, this fleet really rode in a very similar way, only Cohen really made much of a difference doing that big dangle in the final. The rest of them all try and ride like Lorenzo does, like Andrea does, like Jeremy does, maybe heel as well. Stands out as someone that has a unique style. This is kite lower and really exaggerates the free fall. That sound in the background is kind of horrendous. Do you think we stop? This is the. This is the reality of being in a shop, though. Of course. Warehouse.
- [20:15]
B
I think that I would like to see riders just to push the sport and ride the sport they want to the way they want to. You know, that's what Lorenzo and Andre did back in the day. They were doing stuff that was completely different. It was kind of frowned upon by the sort of senior guys, and everyone sort of got in suit and followed. So, yeah, you're here in the Natalie interview coming up in a few days, she talks about, you know, hey, ride the way. Express yourself the way you want to ride. She's mainly talking to the girls, but I think that can apply to the guys as well. So if you want to do something different, if you're a young rider out there and you want to do something different, there's that little kid, Jemai. Kite in Colombia is a great example. Right. He's riding F1 kites. He's doing stuff completely different on a kite, and he's getting lots of traction because it's. It stands out. You need to find that balance between what you Want to do in competition within the rules and developing your own style. That's different.
- [21:07]
A
Where were the short lines?
- [21:09]
B
Yeah, I mean, it was even said it was even. Show us short lines.
- [21:14]
A
No one did it.
- [21:15]
B
Apart from a single point. You lost straight away. It would have turned a 6.5 to a 7.5.
- [21:20]
A
And it's. When you reflect back after it's been a couple days and you think about this kind of stuff, you do sort of think like, what were those riders thinking? Read the. Read it and then put that into practice. Cohen, perfect example. In the final against two people that are more technical than him. Why didn't he go short lines? Why didn't he take a bigger kite? Why didn't he change something up? The dangle was genius, but the rest of it, there was a gap. He could have filled it.
- [21:52]
B
I mean, I think if the riders have been given more time with that and they could have got their strategies, we might have seen more. I think Jason Van der Spee unhooked once as well. But there's a. I mean, I think even Lorenzo unhooked, didn't he? He went for a, you know, probably not as successful. Well, definitely wasn't as successful as Cohen's. But I also think maybe that 6.5 limit or bottom limit for their scores also puts you under pressure. Guys just didn't show enough that they could have done or could pay extra points.
- [22:23]
A
No way. Near enough.
- [22:24]
B
Yeah. Anyway, let's get to some positive stuff. I guess we should talk about the Casati family. A huge winners. Leo, first time finalist, second place. Lorenzo, his brother winning for the second time, the trilogy, fourth final in a row. And let's shout out to Renato, I mean, the mastermind behind all of that. For all the controversy around the way he does stuff, you gotta say he's. He's nailing it.
- [22:51]
A
He's coming up looking like a genius.
- [22:53]
B
Yeah.
- [22:54]
A
I thought it was really special that usually the winner of King of the Air gets hoisted up on whoever's shoulders, whoever wants to be in the picture. Renato got hoisted up by his two boys.
- [23:07]
B
Are we going to see two brothers in the final? I don't think that's ever going to happen again.
- [23:11]
A
You mean?
- [23:11]
B
I don't think so.
- [23:12]
A
I mean, it's going to happen again with those two.
- [23:14]
B
Yeah, those two. Unless some crazy twins turn up. And they're just absolute weapons. Yeah, it's kind of amazing. And you know Lorenzo, he's going to be coming on the podcast this week. I'm going to record with him today. I want to find out if it was. If it was excitement or relief because I don't know, because Leonardo is going to be a huge problem. He's four years younger. He's already starting to fill out. I think the difference in, you know, we. Through the week, we're talking about, you know, Leo not having that consistency, crashed a lot more, but in that finally just sort of found that rhythm. So I think once he gets a bit stronger and fills out as a, as a, as a man, he's going to be a problem. Lorenzo, on the other hand, the consistency is just absolutely out of this world. It's ridiculous.
- [24:01]
A
I mean, same with the female winner, Natalie Lambreck. 10 tricks in the final. All of them landed. Someone told me Lorenzo did 39 out of 40 tricks landed.
- [24:12]
B
I need to check that, but I don't remember.
- [24:13]
A
I remember stuff that we shouldn't say without double checking. It's not professional.
- [24:19]
B
Well, we're gonna leave it at. Anyway.
- [24:20]
A
But how good was an athlete? How good was she?
- [24:28]
B
Yeah, again, you know, we spoke about Luka's growth. You know, Nathalie went from a heartbreaking 13 minutes to becoming a champion. You know, she wrote 13 minutes last year and that broke her down to coming back a year later and winning it. It's kind of crazy, her growth. She's been a podium finisher, whether it's freestyle or big air. Got an amazing interview coming out with her that's going to come out later in the week. Probably you'll hear just that relief and that just like I started to question myself, can I do this? Oh, really amazing team behind her. She's always had her sister there and her family. But she's brought in Michael Schipper, who's a guy who's ridden the big air kite league a lot, knows the sport, part of the SpaceX crew, a smart guy. And I felt like that external calming and influence really gave her a base that she could sort of bloom off, you know?
- [25:20]
A
Yeah, she was epic. She was epic and great. In the interview we did with her as well, just spoke clearly about what it meant. And Zara was also like, so, so sweet about how proud she was of her friend.
- [25:36]
B
But, I mean, that's just a testament to the ladies, right? They just are, you know, great supporters of each other. Other. And, and I don't know if that's a female trait versus the aggressiveness of male, you know, females maybe have that sort of a bit more sort of a nurturing side to them.
- [25:50]
A
No, I think some. I think we're Wading into. Are we mansplaining dark waters there and you are in a mansplaining position. Yeah. He's got his. He's got a hand on his thigh, his legs.
- [26:03]
B
Talking about how ladies leaning forward. Francesca Manie. Mystic move. Winner. Had another big crash. Another big crash.
- [26:13]
A
Yeah. But sickest thing ever landed at King of the Air by a female for sure. Really worthy winner. Massive board off, two extra rotations. No one's ever done that before. It was massive. Left foot forward.
- [26:25]
B
And I love the honesty. Did you suppose. Were you supposed to do that? Nope. You know, which is cool, right? I mean, a lot of people say absolutely I was doing that.
- [26:32]
A
Her talent, though, that's her talent, being able to stick something like that.
- [26:35]
B
Imagine how that felt going 30% bigger than you've ever been and just going for that. I mean, that's just. These ladies are just so awesome. And, you know, let's throw Lana in that mix as another huge winner.
- [26:47]
A
Big winner.
- [26:48]
B
Lana Herman coming back from a very, very tough year of injuries.
- [26:51]
A
Best interview ever. Yeah.
- [26:52]
B
Yeah. Not the most talkative person in the world, but does her talking on the water, you know, probably not the conditions for her in the final, but yeah, just a tough year to come back and do super well.
- [27:02]
A
Yeah. Like our cousin always says, life sucks.
- [27:06]
B
And then you die. Have you had a chance to look at the live stream? Because I had a lot of people speak to me over the last few days and say the live stream was. Was terrible.
- [27:18]
A
Terrible how?
- [27:20]
B
Missing tricks, you know, wrong camera angles.
- [27:23]
A
It's pretty much the same and they never change it. They never change.
- [27:26]
B
Is that just due to the fact that these cameramen are not experienced enough in shooting kiteboarding?
- [27:31]
A
I think it's a combination of. Yeah. The people picking the camera angles don't do that job unless it's King of the Air. And the people shooting the stuff don't do that job unless it's King of the Air. There's no rehearsal, there's no practice. There you go.
- [27:48]
B
Generally, the three person heats are the hardest. Right. You've got more stuff to look at. The. The two. The. The one on one. It is a nightmare. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. The one on one heats are a lot easier. So we'll go back and have a look at that one.
- [28:01]
A
This is the first King of the Air ever to not have a Cabrino rider.
- [28:07]
B
Yeah.
- [28:10]
A
Kind of mad. They would have had Stino, but Steno changed to Harlem this year.
- [28:15]
B
Stino a bit of a loser on this one, I think.
- [28:18]
A
Yeah.
- [28:19]
B
Going out in round Two.
- [28:21]
A
Yeah, it's crazy. Only a loser because he's had such a strong year otherwise. And that was why that was a big shot. Parker getting him.
- [28:28]
B
But cost me a lot of fantasy points, that one.
- [28:30]
A
Well, exactly.
- [28:32]
B
Stabbing the heart, Steno.
- [28:34]
A
But he's had an amazing year and I'm sure now he's had the time to reflect on that. He'll. He'll realize that.
- [28:41]
B
Yeah, it's kind of interesting moving forward into 2026 to, you know, with basically Duotone represented at the moment, let's be honest, solely by Andrea Principa. You know, a lot of their riders have moved on to other brands, which is completely cool. The rise of Haarlem and see how they go through 2026. There's a lot of cool stories coming up. Yeah, 2026 is looking quite tasty, especially with these Zach and Parker and these young guys. I mean, let's talk about Shaharch almost beating or not less than. Didn't almost beat. But he put Lorenzo under a lot of pressure. You know, I saw Renato on the beach and he did not look very comfortable. Normally he sort of got that little bit of a swagger on, but. Yeah, interesting. Are we going to see more radios in the future?
- [29:24]
A
Surely it makes total sense. You can pick the kickers. Someone up on the hill can y tell you when a good set's coming through? You just turn around now in order to hit the biggest one. I can see that the third one's looking biggest. You can't see that when you're just riding. You don't have the perspective on the whole heat. You don't know what everyone else is doing. You don't know what's going on.
- [29:43]
B
Yeah, well, they are getting. They are getting the scores on their watches, so you don't necessarily need to hear the scores, but I think that.
- [29:50]
A
Decision making is not in your hands there.
- [29:53]
B
You know, when you. Yeah, you're overstimulated and someone just calmly saying, hey, mate, let's take back out. There's a set coming out. Let's try get back up in the box. Let's. Let's come back and let's look to. To do this. Let's fill up the space. Little things like that. Which I think. Yeah, again, I don't want to keep referencing the Natalie one, but it's worth listening to because she talks about that. She enjoys going to the beach to have that one on one FaceTime with. With Michael where she can see and feel that space, you know, rather than just hearing it here. And not being confused with different stuff. So maybe we'll see a bit of a break in the field where some guys go to radios and that might bring brands to bring out technologies which make the radios less clumsy and less sort of cumbersome. Not hanging the back of your head.
- [30:35]
A
Duct tape to the back of your helmet.
- [30:37]
B
Hey, last one for me on the losers. I want to see some consistency on the female trophy, you know, the male.
- [30:43]
A
What do you mean? It's pretty much always Francesca, Zara or Nathalie, isn't it?
- [30:46]
B
No, I'm talking about the actual physical crown, the trophy. I mean, this one was the first year was some sort of Aztec, you know. This one was a bit more of a hat.
- [30:59]
A
Yeah, it was a hat, I think.
- [31:01]
B
Why can't they get masks? That's sort of the synonymous.
- [31:04]
A
It's a crown, though, isn't it?
- [31:05]
B
Yeah, but they don't let it. They don't call it the Queen, they call it the king of the female division.
- [31:10]
A
Yeah.
- [31:11]
B
You know, and. And what makes and what's always made this event special is those amazing tribal masks that each have their own story and bring something special to that you can hang on your wall.
- [31:23]
A
Last one, slingshot. Jeremy Blando, winner or a loser?
- [31:28]
B
Yeah. Disappointing for Jeremy. You'd have to say he's going to fall into that loser category. Disappointing after, you know, beating Lorenzo, winning cold Hawaii in an amazing event. And he would have been looking to get to that final and he's one of the only guys who can put Lorenzo under pressure along with Andrea. So, yeah, he'll be disappointing, you'd have to say a loser, but he's another guy. He'll come back. Was super disappointed, but sort of took it on the head and took it on the heart and was like, I'm going to be back more, fight up for next. And Jeremy's always said that, right, I'm coming back stronger than ever. So, yeah, disappointing.
- [32:00]
A
Yeah, he'll be back for sure, but an amazing year if you zoom out. And hopefully he will see that too. Jamie Overbeek, what's going to happen for him now? What's his plan? What's he going to do?
- [32:11]
B
Jamie's coming back and expect to see a man pissed off and prepared. Jamie, look, he's always prepared. He's ready to ride. I would like to see Jamie focus into a kite that he really likes. We've seen him riding the Harlem a lot here, but it would be nice for him to lock in and spend a lot more time on the kites. I know he's been riding that Sonic 5 as well and he was planning to use that. But I'm not worried about this kid. I'm not worried about him at all.
- [32:38]
A
He's going to be back for sure. Alright, things are holding up in Water Sports Warehouse. We're surrounded by people now trying impact vests onto our right, playing with the bar that's hung up on the ceiling to my left. I can see a brainchild trigger right in front of me. And the place is humming honestly now, going towards Christmas. We've got some good shit coming, guys. Don't worry. Blank height test. The 12 meter blank height test is coming in time for Christmas, so that's coming this month. It's already in the editing process and until then you've got the latest episode of how to Get Paid, episode four, where we go to Sri Lanka and talk about the situation with the GKA and. Yeah, and the Mystic Move documentary as well, which is for free on the site too. Let's go and check that out. Anything else, Adrian?
- [33:30]
B
I think that's it. Look forward to the Lorenzo Casati and Natalie Lambreck interviews coming up. I'm going to space those for the week. It might be Wednesday and Friday, I haven't decided, but you'll have a lot of content coming out this week to back up what's on the Portrait site. And yeah, we're on the run into Christmas.
- [33:46]
A
Yeah. And for those of you listening that have a subscription to Portrait, it's you guys that have got us here and enabled us to bring you the coverage that we have done this year in a way that we're excited to do. Without the support of the audience, we would not be here and would not do this. This is our full time job. And yeah, we're really proud to be here representing you guys. And it's honestly a bit of an honour, isn't it?
- [34:19]
B
Oh, absolutely. And you know, we're always open to feedback. Not too much feedback, but a little bit of feedback.
- [34:25]
A
Yeah, absolutely. It's.
- [34:26]
B
It's that this is what we do and we're lucky to be here and we're lucky to have these relationships with riders and brands and shops that we can come to a shop and sit in it and just. And do our work and they're completely happy for us to be here. So, yeah, it's. It's pretty special.
- [34:40]
A
Yeah, next year is planning to be just as big. Yeah, actually bigger. So, yeah, we just want to thank everyone for coming along for, for the ride. And yeah, there's much more to come. All right. Thank to us as always. Thank you for water sports warehouse in table view for having us. Very nice shop and we'll see in the next one. Cheers.