Name: Thomas Alsbirk

Aka: hmmmm I won't tell

 

Born: Aarhus, Denmark

Reside: Copenhagen, Denmark

 

Height / weight: 182cm /80kg

Kiting Since: 2000

Your 09 LF Setup: Hi-Fi + Hi-Fi Comp, Recoil Comp 137, Concept 139/Synergy, Rawson surfboards

Music Playlists: I kind of got stuck in the grunge rock period of the 90's, but I'm slowly widening my horizon

 

Before Riding: Smashing Pumpkins, Placebo, Foo Fighters

After Riding: P1 (national documentary radio station)

Favorite energy source/motivator for kiting: My friends and good kiteboarding conditions, pushing each other makes it more fun to ride.

What is your cross training sports(s): wakeboarding, snowboarding, kite-skateboarding - anything with kite or anything that has to do with a water, frozen or liquid

Describe your first kiteboarding experience: During the spring 2000, after seeing kiteboarding from Maui in a Magazine, I glued a windsurf-fin into a broken 6foot surfboard, borrowed a 6metre competition buggy-foilkite, 4 lined with handles and took off in very gusty wind from a pile of rocks ind side/off winds. I got up right away and after a couple of houndred metres I was to overpowered and lost control, I slammed the kite in the water and spend the next hour dragging it back in..what a mess :-) -

Describe your best moments in kiteboarding: There has been so many good ones, any session with my best friends on a windy, warm and sunny day in Denmark on an uncrowded spot beats anything.

What is the best location you have kited and why for:

Flatwater: NE Brazil, consitent winds for small kites everyday, perfectly flat water and WARM

Scenery: Fynshoved, Denmark - extremely underrated area for kiteboarding, remote and totally uncrowded - flat water or nice kickers

Waves: Maui

 

Sliders: The Brown Lagoon Copenhagen

People/Atmosphere: Cabarete

What drives you to get up in the morning and go kite: I'm totally addicted to kiting, doing anything else is my challenge!

 

What are your personal goals for kiteboarding: Keep having fun and increase my skills, get more days in waves and travel new places. Work with Julien on making the sickest kites on the planet and keep getting my ideas brought to life.

Where do you want to travel that you have not been yet? Tahiti, Cabo Verde, Indonesia

Where have you been that will always remain in your mind? Maui

 

Why do you choose LF: It is just the right place to be for me, time has proved this beyond any doubt. The best gear out there and best people around the brand.

 

What makes LF different and special: LF has strong roots and is the most important wakeboard company in the world. The way our sport is progressing theese days time will show that Liquid Force will have a similar impact on kiteboarding in the future.

Where do you see kiteboarding in 5 years: Kiteboarding will become legit to other boardsports, waveriding, wakestyle and wakeskate will dominating disciplines of kiteboarding. Equipment will be more simple to use but with more technical manufactoring

Where do you see yourself in 5 years: on a 50 foot multihull kitedriven sailship, loaded with kite equipment somewhere in the caribbean with my family and friends

What has been your most personal contribution to the sport that has had the most impact/influence: I started making plywood kiteboards in 2001 as production boards were lame and expensive - I put a little guide on the internet and soon houndreds were riding thoose worldwide and they sucked too! Since 2002 ime I have put a lot of enegy into the Danish kiteboarding culture, through me and my friends website kitesurferen.dk , throwing events and always trying to push the sport a little in the right direction back home as well as gathering Danish kiteboards. The last couple of years, beeing deeply involved with R&D on LF kite equipment has definetely been the most important overall

Myspace/facebook pages: no/yes - don't really have the time

Describe the ultimate day of kiting- conditions, friends, gear, location, etc: Beginning of January 2008. Freezing weather with temperatures way below zero, 40-50 knots of wind, helmet, drysuit, gusty wind, totally mirror flat water in the lagoon 600 metres from my house, Ice on the bar and suit, an overpowered Hi-Fi 7 and a speedboard making me the fastes danish winddriven rider on danish territory so far. Speed is the only thing to do in theese conditions, releasing plenty of adrenaline and helped me through the long and cold winter. Now as it is getting dark around here I'm just waiting for the next storm to arrive.

What else is in your life outside of kiting: My wife Kristina and my Daughters Smilla & Freja makes my life feel meaningful everyday. Right now I am finalizing my master in Geoscience/Metereology at Risø/Niels Bohr institute, KU, digging into some weird weather phenomena in the upwelling area along the costline from Namibia to Capetown. Totally glassy water and calm at the surface and low level jets at 100 knots only a couple of houndred metres above.....If I could just get a kite up there ;-)