Teamrider Parker Sage put on an incredible performance at last weeks Full Power Tarifa competition. With HyperModel as his weapon of choice he marched through the heats and went on to win Division 2 of the men. Advancing him into men’s division 1!

First of all, congratulations on winning Division 2, you put on an amazing performance! How do you feel now after that big day?

I have absolutely NO WORDS, the first thing I did was give my parents a call and tell them that I had won. For me this was the best part, hearing the excitement in my parent’s voices. It’s hard to describe how I was feeling the day I won, but seeing all the congratulations on my cell phone from everyone all over the world really sank into my heart. And all I can say is thanks you to everyone who has helped me, and treated me like family. And I want more of it and wanna keep pushing big air kiteboarding.

What did your preparation look like on and off the water leading up to Full Power?

I try to be in a happy state of mind always before a competition. So calling the people who make me happy really puts me into a flow state. I think this is one of the most important things for me because being happy on the water makes me kite 10X better. On the water I trained only the tricks I would be doing in the competition nothing more nothing less. Just got into a rhythm with these tricks. One week before the competition on the water I was thinking about what tricks I would be doing, and visualize them while kiting.

What was your strategy for this competition? Did you already know ahead of your heats which tricks you were going to do?

My strategy was to do my safety tricks first, just to get a score on the board. Do the tricks you know you will land 100% first, and then go for your harder tricks later. For me this helps with my confidence, and then landing my harder tricks will come easier because I already know I have a score on the board. And because I trained these same tricks for the past week, every heat should look the same for me. You shouldn’t be nervous about landing something in a competition. Competition is about doing the tricks you’re confident you will land. I say be uncomfortable in training, so you are comfortable in competition!

Then you went on to win the final! How did this feel? And did you know that winning division 2 would put you in division 1 afterwards?

Winning the final made me extremely happy. I competed against my good friend Zac who’s from the USA. This made the final much memorable for me to be competing with a hometown friend. I of course knew winning the division 2 event would throw me into the division 1 and I tried not to think about it, because it would make me more nervous. I just kept my head clear and stayed smiling. I always resort back to why I started Kiteboarding and it’s because it’s fun. This always calms the nerves for me during a competition and makes my kiting better.

What a day! How many heats did you end up riding in total? Was that a disadvantage against the Division 1 riders or were you still ready to perform at the highest level?

I think I competed in 7 heats in total that day, and I went straight to sleep after the award ceremony. I honestly haven’t been more exhausted all year. I knew I had won already ,and competing in division 1 was just another chance to show myself to the world. I had absolutely zero nervousness during my first heat in pro 1 and performed the best I could. I had been pretty tired since my first heat of the day started at 8:30am and had been crushing heats all day long. I knew I had kited more than everyone that day so I thought I’d enjoy the rest of the competition no matter how it went. Really just soak it all in and enjoy myself.

Tell us a bit about the conditions on that day, how windy was it actually? Do you like Balneario as a spot?

The wind was really the strongest I’ve ever seen at Balneario, nothing I was used to back home in Hawaii haha. I got to practice one day on my 6M kite before the competition. This really helped with my kite control during the competition day. It was gusting 40-50 knots and was pretty scary. I think Balneario is my favorite kite spot in the world, for me you can’t beat the offshore wind, onshore kickers, girls watching on the pier, and the pressure of everyone kiting around you. It’s a pretty undecidable place, unless you’ve experienced it.

What competitions are coming up next for you?

I hope to get some epic videos so I can attend some GKA competitions and compete in the RedBull events one day. I know I’m capable of doing so. I just need to grow my status and get some epic video entry shots.

Meet Parker Sage