Why I Wanted to Kitesurf…

My name is Lottie and I live in England, UK. For as long as I can remember, I’ve spent my summers less than a one minute walk away from the beach, at the best surf spot in Norfolk, UK. So it was only natural that my love for the ocean grew and grew as I got older. To start with, paddling in the shallows was enough to satisfy me, but as I got older, I noticed the surfers, and naturally I wanted to do that. So I started off with body boarding when I was about six, but soon I wanted more. My dad had always been interested in kites and had always flown foils on the beach, which I had no interest in as a young child. However, my dad then discovered kiteboarding on a beach about half an hour away from where we stay, and he was hooked. Soon enough family holidays revolved around kitesurfing; we ended up going to Cape Verde eight times for kitesurfing.

A local riding Ponta Preta in Cape Verde

Sal in Cape Verde is probably a kiteboarders’s dream spot: golden sandy beaches, blue skies, warm crystal clear water, 20 knot trade winds all day every day, and the local break Ponta Preta, training ground to the likes of world champions Mitu Monteiro and Airton Cozzolino. From about age seven I have been bugging my dad to let me have a go at kiteboarding, the answer always being no as he thought it was too dangerous. So we made a compromise; I could windsurf. So the next five years were spent windsurfing for me, but still I wanted to kiteboard. When I was twelve my dad finally cracked and agreed to a four hour course at Hunstanton in brown murky waters and 5mm wetsuit. I was hooked at just body dragging which is all I did that day, and for the rest of the week with my dad. Even without a board, the feeling of two forces of nature combining to create a sport so fast paced and adrenaline packed was incredible. I started riding the board on our next trip to Cape Verde and from then on I’ve been in love with the sport, even though the majority of the time I spend doing it, I’m in waist deep cold brown water, with grey windy skies above and not another soul on the beach aside from the other kite boarders.

Me at my home spot: Old Hunstanton

Since my love for the ocean has never stopped growing, I can now Windsurf, Kiteboard, Surf, Body board, Scuba Dive, Paddleboard, Free dive, water ski and wakeboard, and enjoy them all loads, even though sometimes I spend more time in the water than I do on the actual board! And with doing all of those sports comes the need to have the right equipment and clothing. Due to cold climates in England, I have to wear a wetsuit if I want to have a session longer than twenty minutes, and when you wear a wetsuit for a long time your skin rubs against it and becomes sore. This is where Platinum Sun comes in; I love that the rashgaurds are of such a high standard and don’t move around under a wetsuit (a rare occurrence – rashies seem to manage to move around under neoprene no matter what!) as well as this, Platinum Sun have the most gorgeous designs featuring so many different colours so they’ll match ANY bikini (speaking from experience here!) The main thing that attracted me to Platinum Sun’s rashgaurds was the brightness of colour and how different Platinum Sun’s designs are compared to the main stream surf brand’s designs, it was a rash guard that made me stand out on the beach compared to everyone else who were wearing almost the same rashgaurds as each other. The rashgaurd I have; the rainbow one with a really cool pattern, not only offers protection from the cold English waters, but also offers protection from the sun and from salt water drying your skin out, again speaking from experience from time spent in Mauritius. And it’ll definitely snag you a few jealous glances and ‘where did you get that top from?’ questions!

I hope to continue this blog, and in the future I’ll be writing about my travels in the past and what I get up to when I move to the coast for summer! Until my next entry, you can keep up with what I’m up to on Instagram where you’ll find me at @lottiewarburton.