Growing up introducing myself to older people (especially middle-aged dads) they would always make the same joke about my name: “Ah so you are the guy underneath that helmet.” Or they would say they’d always wanted to know who the real Stig was and now they finally knew. I never really understood, but even as a seven-year-old, if a lot of different people keep on joking or giving compliments about your name, you start to wonder who this other “Stig” is that they are talking about. So after dozens of these comments, I went to my mom and asked her who this Stig is that everyone mentions when they hear my name. She told me that there is a very fast driver who drives around in cool cars. No one knows who he is, but he wears a white racing suit and helmet and always wins the races and puts down the fastest times. I had a moment of pride that I share my name with this mysterious and famous race driver. Now I knew how to reply to all those dads’ joking about my name.
Many years later, when my kiting journey was well on its way, I met Edwin Haighton on the beach, a talented videographer who would sometimes get out his camera gear after he finished his kite sessions. He’d seen me ride and asked if he could take some clips of me. This was a huge upgrade from my GoPro attached to a pole on the beach, and when I saw the footage, I couldn’t really believe that someone had taken such good shots of me. We met a few more times and became better mates, and even though I was still very young we seemed to get along well and have an eye for the same kind of shots. After shooting quite a few videos together we both came to the conclusion that we needed to create something bigger and more creative than just some tricks at our local spot. So he suggested doing something with my name and the racer Stig and so it began. We started brainstorming locations, a script, the crew needed, and before we knew it, we had created the concept of “The Real Stig”, a little film where the Stig from Top Gear (played by my friend Rover) would race against myself the kitesurfer.
We ended up filming the first video in the Netherlands in 2019, in the polder landscapes that have small canals with just enough space to kite in, with “the Stig” in a yellow Ferrari on the roads next to them. This video became a big success and many people seemed to really like it, so we decided to make another version. Episode two was planned for the year after, and I arranged permits to drive on the beaches of The Hague. The project grew quite a bit compared to the first one we did, but unfortunately we were never able to finish the movie – during the first few hours of the shoot, while filming the opening scene, the car flipped four times ending up on its side! Luckily my friend Rover only had a few scratches and was unharmed. But the car wasn’t… it was completely totaled and written off… this meant the end of the video and, in my mind, the end of this video concept.
