I LOVE KALPITIYA

Amazing Kitesurfing in Sri Lanka.
 

2013 Season so far in Kalpitiya Sri Lanka

Wow, what a start! The season actually started 1 week later than normal in Kalpitiya (which actually means you we will have a season last till mid October at least). Wind as usual stayed consistent thereafter with a perhaps 3 days of lesser wind. Many days of 30 knots per day from May, June. July has now come and winds average at 18 - 20 knots.

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2 awesome Kitesurfing Lanka beach parties were held. Lots of people, lots of fun. Our kitesurfing event we intend to have around the end of August. 

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On the community side, Kitesurfing Lanka revived the Pre School Project with David and Janey being instrumental in helping to drive the project. Thanks you guys. We have a wish list for those who wish to make a difference. Please see the community page on www.kitesurfinglanka.com 

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Kitesurfing Lanka todate has seen over 200 persons stay with us! Smiley happy people. We are blessed with some awesome staff - God given we must say. Hopefully things will remain the same.

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Sri Lanka as a whole is really seeing  a lot of development. Kalpitiya too has its fair share of development. Hopefully it will be managed properly so the innocence of this very special place will not be lost in the name of development and tourism. For you, as a tourist, remember to respect local culture. Respect local businesses that operate and obey the rules of the land. 

Pre School Project in motion!

Suresh our rescue man - the best in Kalpitiya

Local life infused with kiting - pretty special

Flat water spots

Chilled out Hubert on a KSL comfy chair

Interesting people - Mischi (Kitesurfing Lanka Instructor)
started collecting and reconstructing a whale skeleton!

Smiling people - the biggest however must be Susantha's!

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Sylvain's captures of Kalpitiya

UPDATE KSL COMMUNITY: Pre School Development Project

One way KSL supports the local community is by supporting the local preschool. Last year Ms. Ramani fund-raised to build a permanent concrete school building which can cater for up to 35 preschoolers. This was a great gift to the local community and to the school's head teacher Ms. Madu . However the school continues to rely on outside support as it is not government funded. English is becoming an essential skill for the local people as the tourist industry develops in this area. This summer KSL organised for an English teacher  to come and teach English Language to Madu so she can introduce English to her daily classes. 

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In July KSL guests from all over the world  volunteered their time and funds to paint the school walls to brighten up up the grey breeze block walls and paint the classroom furniture cheerful colours. Rajitha a KSL staff member and local artist has offered his skills to paint colourful scenes on the classroom walls.

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The latest Donations from KSL guests have also made it possible to build a permanent brick toilet for the children at the school and to put up window shutters and an iron mesh around the school to secure the building from theft. 

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However, there is still so many ways visitors coming to stay at KSL can support the school which relies so far completely on outside support. The parents of children attending this school are in serious financial difficulty and often cannot even afford the monthly school fees which are only Rs. 100 per child - that is less than one euro a month

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Before you come, please have a look at the list of materials below which the school currently needs and maybe you have some things at home you could donate to the school. The age group of the children is 3-5 years old. 

• Small school bags
• Plastic water bottles for the children to take water to school for a drink
• White paper
• Coloured paper and coloured card
• Simple wooden puzzles
• Games to learn numbers 
• Copy books
• Pencil cases
• Pencils and colouring pencils
• Rubbers
• Mini white boards
• White board markers
• Counting cubes
• Materials for teaching numbers and counting
• Pattern cards and shapes
• Sorting trays
• Posters of animals 
• Posters of food
• Posters of months of the year
• Posters of the weather
• Small kites
• Duplo
• Stick-a-bricks
• Toy cars
• Toy dolls
• Toy instruments

Fundraising for the School - The wish list :

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The school's most urgent need is to fix the flooding problem. Every year during the rainy season in November and December the school grounds surrounding the school  flood making it impossible for the children to reach the school. Ideally the ground level would be raised by half a meter or initially a raised path created from the school gates to the school door. Euro 1000. 

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A school bag, uniform, water bottle and copybook and pencils for every child. Cost at least Euro 25 per child.

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The outside wall of the school is faced in bare concrete blocks. The school needs rendering and painting. Cost at least Euro 500.

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At the moment the school has a CD player and cd s of children's songs and English phonic rhymes. However there is no electricity or wiring for electricity in the school so the teacher relies on batteries which are very costly. The cost of wiring the school and monthly electricity would be at least Euro 500.

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Special thanks to David Proudfoot & Janey Blayney for the support given so far. 

For more information visit our WEBSITE or if you have questions contact Dil from Kitesurfing Lanka (info@kitesurfinglanka.com)

  

Kite Clinics in Sri Lanka by Kite Academy

Nicolas one of the best coaches in the world will run their kite clinic in September! Super exciting.

http://www.kiteacademy.fr/en/srilankacamps/kitesurf.html

Life Skills for Kalpitiya - English for the Fisherfolk of Kalpitiya

KSL were blessed when we got an e mail from Jenni Blayney from Ireland inquired about an opportunity to teach English. This was exactly what we were looking for. A kiter who is a trained teacher who wanted to make a difference! 

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Little did we know but Jenni was pretty darn enthusiastic about it. In Ireland she organized a Triathlon, Quiz nights and who knows what else to raise funds. Her first packages arrived in Sri Lanka two weeks ago. I prayed that we wont be hit with duty and we were stoked when no duty was charged for the items. 

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The remainder of the packages have now arrived and all systems are GO for the transformation process. Last night was very special. We went for our first class for the fisherfolk turned Boatman for Kite Trips. Class was supposed to start at 6.30 PM. 7.00 PM and the first students trickled in. By 7.30 PM we had 20 persons. Full house. 

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Colourful Jenni commenced the assessments. We are sure that its going to be an awesome 6 weeks of learning. 1 teacher from Ireland, 20 local fishermen who know little or no English. We will keep you posted on the developments! 

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We you like to contribute to the cause, let us know. 

 

Julian and Dilsiri talks Kitesurfing in Sri Lanka

Amazing Journey of Kitesurfing in Sri Lanka

The first exposure or information I got about the sport of Kitesurfing was way back in 2006 when my friend Previne gave me a call asking if I wanted to attend a Kitesurfing Camp in Kalpitiya. I had the faintest of ideas what this sport was about nevertheless I said yes.

The camp was expensive for an average Sri Lankan just out of school. A month, actually about 2 months salary was ‘invested’ to attend the camp. Was it worth it? Perhaps if we actually got to Kitesurf! We didn’t know at the time, but if you wanted to learn the sport you actually had to enroll for a course. So we watched from the beach, the guys kitesurfing…

I think they felt sorry, so I was given my first go in a powered kite. Just to fly it felt really nice. Marcel who later I got to know quite well, showed me how it was all done. Once that experience was over, I knew that I had to try the sport. Even before lessons, I ‘investment’ or shall I say borrowed money from my mum in order to buy my first 12M kite, Harness, Boards. If the camp was expensive, the gear was even more expensive!

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The plunge was taken and the next logical step was to be introduced to an instructor. I remember calling and meeting Mischi who drove down in the 4WD and talking to me. His first Lankan student I think. I remember his words of caution, ‘you must chose, a girlfriend or kitesurfing’, ‘this sport can ruin your life’.  I did take it lightly, but in retrospect, whoa Mischi,  it certainly is true!

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So the journey began, with lessons in Kalpiitya. A crazy little place far away from Colombo. All I knew about the place was that it was very volatile. The war in Sri Lanka was still on and Kalpitiya highly guarded. I remember the heat exhaustion due to pushing myself too hard for the sport and not drinking water, I remember the ambulance coming and giving me a jab on my bottom – I was too knocked out to even feel a thing! I remember puking all the way back to Colombo with Tassilo and Cora in the vehicle, I remember the long long bus journeys on the days I couldn’t get a ride to Kalpitiya.

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Wake up at 4.00 AM, carry your kite, boards etc to the top of the road and then hop bus 1 from Mount Lavinia to Fort Bus stand. The security check all the luggage (was still in the height of the war and bombs actually did go off in public transport). You thought Kitesurfing was a risky sport, try travelling in busses during the height of the war. I remember 3 distinct check points on the journey: Colombo, Near Chilaw, Kalpitiya. Each time everyone had to get off the bus which all gear, show it and then proceed. The journey to Kalpitiya took around 5 – 6 hours by bus then.

A savior was introduced to me one day in Kalpitiya, Julian Bolling, swimming great of Sri Lanka incidentally also was a fellow waterman like me and was into the sport of kiting. He has wheels, which was a luxury! One trip together and slowly we realize the common passions we had for a number of things. The journey’s became easier travelling by car, what a relief!

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Julian was one of the first local kiters in Sri Lanka. Well, one of the first who attempted the sport. His busy schedule stopped him from really progressing fast. Now that I pestered him every weekend (yes, I didn’t want to take the bus!) he also got a chance to practice a lot thus improving!

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I soon became accustomed to Kalpitiya, I remember the lodging we had at Gabriels’ Lagoonside. Later on when I met Mike & Chunky we stayed at Harin’s bungalow. Those Rotties were awesome!

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My first big taste of downwinders was when Hannes asked me to join him in the ocean! To this day I love kiting in the ocean way more than flatwater! Thanks Hannes!!!

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Kitesurfing Sri Lanka was then started just with a view of putting Sri Lanka on the map for the sport. Initially we didn’t quite tell where all this kiting happened but later on the world started to hear about this awesome new spot we had in Sri Lanka.

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The first kite I flew was Faith and then Caution, I can’t remember when exactly but I was invited to be part of the Faith Team. It was a blessing. For an average person, kiting gear was expensive, being a rider enabled me to get discounts on gear, thus I slowly increased my quiver!

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Faith was instrumental in molding me into the kiting buff I am today. Thanks to the brand, I was exposed to the wonderful opportunities there are as a kiter. In 2011 I got my Instrutor License from the IKO and in January 2012 I went on for my first Kiting Competition! What a long way since the humble start taking the bus from Colombo.

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It was two years ago that Leo contacted me through my blog, I gave him all the information needed for the sport. He went on to run a kiteschool in Sri Lanka and in 2012 we joined hands to run Kitesurfing Lanka.

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With the background we have had. The experiences we got from the sport, the hardships, we understand your situation. We want your kiting experience to be a memorable one. We have experience the joys of kiting in this island paradise and certainly want you to have the same experience. This is what Kitesurfing Lanka is all about.

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The most fondest experiences Kiting in Sri Lanka are;

The big downwinder with Hannes and Marcel where we ended at Dutch Bay. As soon as we landed the kites we see Indo Pacific Dolphins swimming just a few meters from the shore!

The amazing kiting sessions Leo and I had in the South of Sri Lanka and also very recently in the new Dream Spot discovered by Leo and myself.

The downwinder with Graham and Anny on the main lagoon.

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One year since I started writing this account, I sit in the ‘old camp’ with the ‘new camp’ in on the left of me. Wow, Kalpitiya is now on the map and Kitesurfing is here to stay in Sri Lanka. Join us in this amazing journey!

Our first ever kite trip

Slowly but surely we started to promote the location

Keshini, kiter gal

First try on a kite with Marcel from Elements

The man who convinced me to try! Prev!

Damien and Andrea, that trip changed the course

Amazing people you meet. Franki was one of them.

Tom Court in Sri Lanka

....explored some of the hundreds of flat water spots that exist in that area of Sri Lanka. It is as great place to kite if you are looking for a freestyle playground with flat water and strong winds, and what an amazing country!

The best place to stay in Kalpitiya!

Kiters non kiters, you will feel at home! Tripadvisor rates KSL #1!