Over the Moon

Andre: I didn’t know Ben super well before this last Brazil season, but I’ve known his girlfriend Sabrina Lutz for over 10 years now, since the Uruaú days. This season we ended up renting places really close to each other and hung out a lot together. Ben was super willing to shoot every sunset and try different spots around the lagoon. I fired him some questions when I was back home in Los Angeles and he was in Germany.

Hey Ben! How did you first get into kiting?

Ben: My mom started 17 or 18 years ago. She taught my sister and me, and my dad joined later. From then on, that’s pretty much all we did every school holiday. We would try to find a place with as much wind as possible, bring all the kites, share everything, and if possible, all go on the water at the same time. We mostly went to places in Germany but we did go to Greece, Tunisia and of course Tarifa. My local spot is Fehmarn Island, near CORE headquarters.

Andre: And did you ever get into Big Air?

Ben: Nah, skipped that. I did my first backroll in Tunisia, then got hooked on freestyle. I was watching clips online nonstop – Sam Light, Liam Whaley, Aaron Hadlow… Those videos pushed me to add some grabs, and pretty much taught me the freestyle tricks.

Andre: You soon joined the German tour – how did that go?

Ben: Yes, I started doing the tour as a junior in 2012. There would be a couple of events per year in Germany – on the islands in the Baltic Sea and North Sea. It was fun times and there was a good crew – we would meet on tour and got to know each other. In my first year on the senior tour, I won – in 2017. That’s also where I met Sabrina. I was new in the seniors, while she was already on the circuit. It means we feel a special connection to the tour, but unfortunately there isn’t one anymore. We’re trying to bring it back. If we can get a bit of a freestyle tour back, that would be cool.

Andre: Let’s talk about Brazil. How many times have you been there?

Ben: Quite a lot! This one was the longest – 10 weeks. Usually we’d go for three, four weeks max because of university. This was really nice, being able to have rest days, seeing people come and go. Taíba is now really unique – everyone freestyle focused goes there – hectic, but fun.

Andre: We had some epic sessions shooting together. Your style seems influenced by Alex Pastor. I had a few flashbacks from shooting Alex while I was shooting you.

Ben: Yeah and Noè Font, Stefan Spiesberger too – they make it look effortless – Liam and Aaron as well. I wanted my tricks to feel like that. I went to Australia a few years ago and saw them all riding there. It was when it really clicked for me – I started doing grabs on tricks, trying something different. Anyway, thank you for working with me this season. It was the first time I really got to know you. Since I started kiting, I’ve always seen your photos and always admired them. When you invited me to shoot together, I was a bit intimidated! But it was really special to work together and you were so open to shooting together. And you knew the day when shooting at full moon would be best. There is a short timeframe to make it work but you knew how to get the results with flashes. That was a really cool experience, it’s really sick looking back at the pictures. And we even got an award with one of the moon photos!

Andre: Thanks man! I had a great time too. The lagoon didn’t really shape up well for flashes this year so we all had to improvise a bit. Some days you guys had to ride with almost no water. I’m really stoked with what we got. Anyway, tell us about your Kite Park League experience in Taíba. It was your first one and your team won!

Ben: It was really special and the first time for Sabrina and me. We’re not experienced with rails – it was more the lagoon side that interested us plus the concept that you shoot with a bunch of cool people and make the most out of every day. We usually film a lot anyway when we’re in Brazil, and filming with a big group, having fun together, and seeing progress was great. We really didn’t know what the other teams were doing during the week. You kind of see them on the beach here and there, but it all came down to the last day when we watched the final videos together. Winning was awesome, but really, it’s about creativity and everyone being together, and seeing the cool videos that came out of a few days in Taiba. All the videos are really sick.

Andre: While there Sabrina also did the GKA event and came fourth! How was that?

Ben: Hectic. I had two phones in my hand checking scores, another kite ready, helping Sabrina. It was stressful but fun. Seeing her land tricks and cheering her on – that was really cool. It was her best comp ever.

Andre: So what does the future bring?

Ben: Another Brazil season if possible. I’ve also got to start my career in education, but I want to do more kiting, more photography. This time in Brazil showed me how much I really enjoyed the photography sessions. So maybe focus a bit more on that, on photos.

Andre: Nice, yeah let’s do it. It’s a dying thing – we need to save it!