Kite is a woman thing

This is it! And there are more and more women in the world of kite, including the ones who write about it even after they’ve swallowed a little salt water. We are learning, falling, getting back up, doing downwinds, and even surfing Pacasmayo’s long lefts. We are in Australia, Cape Verde, and Ceará. #KiteGirls rule! And if we stop showing up, it’s because we stopped believing in ourselves.

That’s what happened at Rancho do Peixe, in Preá last year. They went into the water, practiced, but they did not know each other— the women of the water. While showering off or washing their boards, they began to greet each other and comment on the long journeys of Surfin Sem Fim along the coast of Ceará. It seemed too ambitious. #yeahright. Among them was athlete, Marcela Witt, who did the SSF Iron Man route (name that perhaps does not live up to the Iron Women that appear in the different seas around the world). For her, not even the frozen sea of Patagonia was an obstacle to practice kiting. Hearing the girls’ comments, she replied: “yes! Let’s do our own downwind!” The folks at Surfin Sem Fim soon got carried away. There were seven women, including Lu and Eliana, mother and daughter together, enjoying Jeri’s sunset and proving that certainly has #KiteGirls!

And it’s not just them. Today, Jalila Paulino is one of the leaders of Surfin Sem Fim. Organizer, public relations, and passionate kiter. She started in the sport just like many women start: watching. She spent four years working in a kite club in Rio, organizing events, falling in love with the waves and listening to kite stories. It was only after this period, when she moved to Jericoacoara, that Jalila bought her own board and indulged in a passion for kiting. Last year she managed to surf the waves of Pacasmayo and Cape Verde. A huge evolution!

Listen to Milla Ferreira, kitewave champion and athlete of the SSF Delta Poldros route, where there were 270 km of emotions: “You know when you’re so happy to be doing something and thrilled about it at the same time? Everyone wants to hug everyone, congratulate them and say they’re together! In that group, everyone started out one way and ended with a huge evolution in their abilities”.

Helping in this evolution is also Vanessa Chastinet, a member of the Rancho do Kite, and a precursor of the sport in Ceará. When she moved there and opened school in 2006, they only had 8 kites, and the predominant equipment was still the dreaded 4m C-kite. “Today we are one of the largest schools in the world, and equipment has evolved a lot, with more security, and more and more women are entering the water. About 45% of our clients are already women. ”

And how long does it take to complete a SSF downwind? Every woman has her own rhythm, but in Julia Rudge’s case shows that in three years of practice she is already able to go a long way as SSF Classic Route (and she lives in São Paulo, far from the sea). Analice, our photographer of the biggest routes of SSF, crossed 3 states – Ceará, Piauí and Maranhão, “It’s that kind of experience that’s so hard to explain, one has to experience it themselves. The smell of the sea, smiles every day, and the fatigue and happiness that only an expedition can bring. ”

There are many of us: Inês Correia, Carla Lima, Nicole Gaudimier, Giselle Nuaz, Naomi Routhier and many others. Kiting was made for us! It is a sport in which your body must communicate with the sea and the wind is constantly passing through the subtle movements of the bar. It is a sport of sensitivity.

You can use your strength, of course, and you can do maneuvers and face the waves whenever you want (what woman doesn’t love a challenge?!). You just have the courage to go into the water and practice. Let’s go? Who knows, maybe we’ll soon have an Iron Woman route.

 

Luciana Annunziata