Marc Ramseier: From Freestyle World Tour to Wave Clinics

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Marc Ramseier: From Freestyle World Tour to Wave Clinics

We’re really pleased to announce that we have just teamed up with Ozone pro rider Marc Ramseier to offer his range of wave clinics to our customers. Marc has been on the kiteboarding scene since the very beginning. Originally competing in the world freestyle tour and now running a series of wave clinics at some of the best wave sports around the world. We met up with him recently and found out more about his journey so far and his plans for the future.

So Marc, its great to have you onboard as a Planet Kitesurf partner and to be promoting your wave clinics. For anybody that doesn’t know maybe you can tell us how it all started, how did you get into kiteboarding?

After some years jobbing as a Windsurf Instructor i set out to do my studies by correspondence from the ocean side and settled on the Canary Islands for that. There i was the first one on the islands to get into kitesurfing in ’98. My kitesurf experiments got me to move on to Hawaii and become a Cabrinha rider by 2001. From then on i was lucky enough to witness and be part of the early years of kiteboarding and start a career as a pro rider that brought me around the globe and eventually to entirely focus on riding waves with a surfboard. By 2012 I’ve started to pass on that expertise in Wave Clinics that i started to hold initially in Indonesia, now all over the world.

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You were competing in freestyle back then, do you ever still ride freestyle or is it now all about the waves?!

Nope i never really ride in Freestyle anymore, that being on a twintip board. My freestyle aspirations are satisfied a 100% by strapless riding on a surfboard where i still have heaps to learn to get to a decent level. So there is absolutely no need to get back on a twintip or wakeboard.

What we’re the killer freestyle tricks when you we’re competing?

Well i was kinda known for my inverted back and front rolls in the early days. At the end of my competing time, it was all about air handle passes and i even managed to to some powered mobes. Then though i became too old for this kinda stuff to keep up with the young guns and i allowed myself to focus my attention entirely back on the waves, where my true passion lies

How do you think the sport has changed since back at the start?

The sport has become much wider in terms of the disciplines you can ride (and compete in) these days, that being the multitude of boards you can use together with a kite. That’s a great development that took place also on the competition level, something the sport initially missed to institutionalise from the start on to help push exactly that development which is now taking place. it was a bit too long only freestyle and nothing else, now we have waveriding, racing, foiling, strapless freestyle, snowkiting, snowkite racing etcetc.. It’s great to see our sport grow into so many different directions.

Now you’re running clinics at some great spots, so what can people expect from your wave clinics?

You can expect to come to a well suited location at the right time to work on your wave riding skills in a way that will maximise your learning experience in a sustainable way. This means that we will set the foundation for you to keep growing your level of fun, comfort, safety and performance in the waves. i have refined a way to split up the different aspects of wave riding, looking at them individually and putting them back together throughout the week. Like that my kitesurf wave coaching program is set to demystify the complex art of wave riding and to build up a set of tools that will help you to keep nurturing from that later on. All this is supported by professional video coaching to help to put theory into practice in the most effective way.

What are your top 3 wave spots & why?

Personally my top 3 spots right now would be Indo for perfection, Mauritius for the mix of on and off the water conditions/infrastructure and Pacasmayo/Peru for the length and ripability of it’s waves.

Marc  getting stuck into some Indonesian perfection

Strapless or straps, hooked-in or un-hooked?

I’m riding strapless as i had to increase the difficulty (and reward) for myself in wave riding at some point. For the clinics though and for learning it doesn’t really matter if you have straps on your board or not – both have advantages and disadvantages, the technique though stays the same. I’ve been riding un-hooked in the early wave riding days a fair bit, but with the high depower kites we have then received – there is no point to unhook anymore as you receive that upper body freedom of movement just by depowering your kite these days.

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Now your sponsored by Ozone, you pleased with the latest kites?

Yes i’m very happy with the brand and stoked to be riding for them. A learning throughout my career was that designers with a paragliding background have the best knowledge to make the best kites. That’s very much the case with Rob from Ozone: He has proven over and over that he’s a genius in designing kites. The Reo has always been on the forefront in terms of wave kites and i can’t wait to try the further refined 2017 model that i’m about to receive!! Just as with the kites i’m fortunate enough to ride and promote Firewire surfboards, which are currently turning the kite surfboard market upside down.

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What do you do when your not riding waves?

If i’m not tripping around the globe riding waves i’m actually living back in Switzerland with my new and young family, happy father of a six month old.

Plans for the future, how do you see your wave clinics progressing?

I see them progressing in different directions: there will be a fresh line up of camps for twintip riders that are keen to get into riding with a surfboard and eventually riding waves. I see some special clinics on the horizon with a deeper approach on the mental coaching side to better implement the theory into the riding, and i hope to offer some very special ‘once in a lifetime’ trips. Besides that i’m constantly refining and extending the coaching content to make happier and better waveriders in the regular clinics.

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