Karen Cartlidge 39 from North Wales

Founder

 

Why do you kite?

I just love it.  When I kite all my worrys, fears and inhibitions disappear.  It's my head yoga! It makes me feel utterly content.  At the beach dancing with my kite - best feeling on earth :)

 

Why freestyle and not racing?

I've got a short attention span, I can't imagine doing a tack without adding something in the middle! 

 

What are you most well known for?

That crash at the Dornum KLB European championships

 

What would you like to be most well known for?

Being the person who helped more ladies try freestyle on land and RideLikeAGirl!  I really hope what I do passes the rocking chair test and my ceiling will become the next generations floor.

 

What do you do for windless fun?

Mountain biking and running.  Who wants to run or bike in the wind? It works out pretty perfect!

 

Grass or beach?

Beach 100%.  Im scared of grass! It make a funny noise & doesn't slide!  It also comes with gusty winds & I'm a spoilt North Walian with 360 degree beaches, so never usually have to deal with that!

 

Why buggy and not landboard/buggy/kitesurf/snowkite??

Although I'm better at buggying I consider myself a kiter rather than just a buggier.  I love to do all 4 aspects of kiting; my favourite depends on conditions on that day.

 

Other sponsors 

Peter Lynn, Darksky Kites, Sea ID and support from Forcefield.

 

In your opinion, why don’t more girls jump on land? Girls have generally stopped falling over by the time they hit teenage years, whereas blokes are still playing football, paintballing etc way into adulthood.  I think girls are worried about falling and hurting themselves, however learning a bit of freestyle makes your land based kiting safer.  If for example a gust lofts you, knowing how to land a jump makes it much less scary.  Learning how to powerslide transistion in a buggy or on a board can stop you ending up in the sea after a rogue wave on an incoming tide!

 

How could we get more girls jumping on land?  

I've tried the competition route to get more visibilty but I don't think that worked.  Plan B is run this site starting with the most basic "how to" trick videos, attend more events so people can see it's not scary and just try to encourage as many people as possible to try a little bit of freestyle.

 

Do you do any of your own kit maintenance? (eg fix broken kites, change bearings, mixer test etc).

Ashamedly I don't!  Andy does all the fixing and often most of the cleaning *embarrassed smiley!*