Local beach sports centre puts Cyprus on the map as kitesurfing takes off
By Nadia Sawyer
‘Let’s Go Fly a Kite’ is a memorable, uplifting song from the 1964 film Mary Poppins that evokes bygone feelings of freedom and fun because – most will agree – flying a kite is an innocent and joyful experience for children and adults alike. Fast forward fifty years and kite flying has taken to the sea on a short surf board and has developed into an adrenaline-driven sport that is not for the faint-hearted.
Visitors to Softades Beach near Kiti during the last week of July will have noticed that the skies were filled with multi-coloured kites darting across the waves like gigantic butterflies. The annual King of Kite competition is held over a weekend and is hosted at the Kahuna Surfhouse which is owned and run by Larnaca local Elias Mantovanis and his wife Angie.
“This was the 10th Cyprus Kitesurfing Championship,” says Mantovanis proudly, having organised the first competition back in 2013. Kahuna’s website describes kitesurfing as “the fastest growing watersport in the world that combines all the thrills of windsurfing, surfing and wakeboarding”.
But how and when did kitesurfing start in Cyprus? Mantovanis claims to have been the first Cypriot to haven given the sport a go.
“The sea was always part of my life,” he says. “When I was sixteen I started paragliding and then in the year 2000 I began kitesurfing. I had to teach myself. Back in those days there was no YouTube to learn from.”
Undaunted, Mantovanis persisted with practicing the sport and on his travels around the world found kitesurfing centres that were often just thrown together on windswept beaches with few facilities.
“It was always my dream to have a place in Cyprus with amenities,” he recalls.
In 2011, he obtained a license to teach kitesurfing off Mazotos Beach and then a few years later moved to a permanent site near Kiti, which is the only government licensed kitesurfing beach and sea area in Cyprus. Kahuna Surfhouse is a fully equipped kitesurfing, surfing, wing, foil and stand up paddle centre and is open all year round.
International visitors are surprised to find that at Softades Beach the water is warm and calm with no strong currents, no predatory sea life and no rocks or corals that can damage feet. Crucially, there are ultimate wind conditions until late in the evening.
“The weather is the most important thing for kitesurfing,” says Mantovanis, explaining the significance of onshore winds, especially in regards to safety. “This is so that we don’t lose anyone in the open sea”. During competition time, there are marshalls both on and offshore and a doctor and ambulance on the beach.
While kitesurfing is gaining huge popularity on the island both in terms of participants and spectators, Mantovanis’ aim is to put Cyprus on the international kite surfing map. He believes that Cyprus is a “world class spot” for kitesurfing that is now getting recognition worldwide due to events like King of Kite.
Over 120 competitors from Cyprus and abroad took part this year in various categories including racing and aerial acrobatics with ‘Big Air’ being an event that involves going as high as possible while performing extreme manoeuvres such as spins, rolls, loops, board offs, handle passes and grabs, and ‘Freestyle’ being a category that favours a lower kite and involves more powerful and risky moves.
Judging some of these high-octane performances was former World Champion, Christophe Tack, while spectators numbered in their hundreds.
The final day of competition was reserved for the Men and Women’s Freestyle events which saw Marios Adamou from Cyprus and Alisa Fialko from Russia crowned King and Queen of Kite respectively.
“It was the fourth time I won King of Kite,” says thirty-nine year old Adamou, who was a late-starter to the sport at the ripe old age of twenty-six and another self-taught surfer who makes it look easy. “When you are out there, you relax, it’s not just a competition,” he explains. Indeed, one spectator was particularly impressed with Adamou’s exciting performances, saying that Adamou brought gasps from the crowd with his close-to-the-beach dare-devil stunts.
Fialko, who is now living and working in Limassol, but has competed internationally, loves kitesurfing because it gives her the opportunity to be close to nature. “It’s all about the wind and water,” she says, noting that through the sport she has made many friends on the island and become part of a nice community.
“I would like to say a big thanks to Kahuna Surfhouse and the organisers of the event because it is a huge step in making this sport more popular. Lots of young people are taking up the sport and sometimes they are very successful, for example, the girl that took second place after me is thirteen and she only began kitesurfing a year ago – here in Cyprus!”
Winner of the mixed Junior event was fourteen-year-old Turkish Cypriot Ilgar Hifzioğlu. “He has been kiting since the age of eight,” says Mantovanis, who is so impressed by the youngster’s natural ability that he is looking forward to seeing what he can do when he is older, bigger and stronger.
Offering four-day summer camps to under-eighteens at Kahuna Surfhouse has also led Mantovanis to believe that there are kids who could be really good at the sport.
So what are his hopes for the future with regards to the sport of kitesurfing in Cyprus?
“Kitesurfing has just become an Olympic sport so, hopefully, one day we will be able to put the Cypriot flag out there,” says Mantovanis, dreaming of assembling a team but mindful of the fact that local sponsors are still putting most of their money into football and basketball and not into water sports, despite the huge success of Cypriot sailor and Olympian Pavlos Kontides.
But Mantovanis need not be too despondent because Cyprus has already been engraved on the minds of the professionals who travel around the world to compete and who remark on the unparalleled kiting conditions they experience here.
“They all comment on the sea temperature and how hot it is,” laughs Mantovanis. “Even in Greece the sea is cold. In most other countries in the world, competitors wear thick wet suits.”
Indeed, the photos taken at King of Kite show the surfers in t-shirts and shorts, just as if they are on a summer vacation. The other factor that impresses the pros is the consistency of the air currents, which is a key selling point for the island as a kitesurfing destination.
“In Cyprus,” concludes Mantovanis, “we are blessed with the wind!”