Turkey, Cesme, Alacati and a whole lot more

I have just arrived home from a great trip to Turkey. I have never been there before and in my imagination I have this black and white picture of an arid, desert like location. I was flying there with two others Martyn Hogg and Ian Edmondson from Expix Photography to stay with Adrenaline Sports. Our flight took us to Izmir 3.5 hours after taking off from the UK and I was picked up in a 4x4 black pick up truck. I thought, now this is my style! Love it. The driver proceeded to drive us to Cesme where we were staying at 180kph down the highway. Landing so late at night I wasnt able to take in the scenery plus everything was a little blurry from the speed but I woke up first thing the morning to see huge lushious green trees swaying around a beautiful garden which seem to set the tone for this Mediterranean holiday. I couldn’t believe it. Nothing like what I expected and everyday as Adrenaline Sports took us to explore a new spot.



Well first things first as soon as we had our kit together we reloaded the 4x4 and hit the first of many kitesurfable locations for the week. Alacati where you will find the kite school and centre of Adrenaline Sports



Alacati is a large lagoon for windsurfing and kitesurfing. The water is flat and warm and the wind blows cross shore around 20 knots. I had time for a quick freeride necessary after being in sporadically windy England for the passed handful of weeks but I was out with Expix Photography to shoot a lot of photo sequences for Access Kiteboard Mag, so it wasn’t long before it was time for fun work.

Shooting sequences is actually really hard. I had a range of tricks to get from waterstarts to handle passes. Trying to find the right angle to shoot from was an art and then Ian was having problems figuring out which lenses were better. Together it took as the whole of the week before we were happy with the outcome.

To be fair mid way through the trip we took a ride 3 hours a way to a place called Gokova. This spot is yet another stunner with onshore thermal wind which funnels between a vegetated mountain range.



The water was flat and even warmer then Alacati and after 3 days of shooting sequences it was time to have some fun. It was a great place to train and together Hoggy and I caned some unhooked kite loops and went to town on busting some powered handle passes. Hoggy had more success then me with that one and would fly passed my nailing powered low mobe after powered low mobe while I would eat s**t trying to refigure out blind judges and build up the courage on the front mobe. A bit of time off the water does funny things to your body and mind and I tried to block out from my mind that that it would take more then this one week to get back up to standard after recovering from my broken wrist!



The final days of Turkey we spent exploring even more locations with Adrenaline Sports. The wind did a 180 degree shift for us opening up a whole range of new places to try. We even found a wave spot although they were no more then kickers for us (fine by me, I loved it). Everywhere the water was crystal clear.



Turkey is no doubt a little kitesurfing gem that not so many people know about. Keep your eyes peeled for the magazines. We have a sweet article to unleash.

Thanks to Ian at www.expixphotography.co.uk and Adrenaline Sports who offer kitesurfing equipment and tuition for anyone wanting to learn to kitesurf or improve their existing level.

Please find my fan pafe on facebook if you are keen to see more shots and find out quick updates on where I am and what Im doing.

Ride hard! x