Good idea and good luck. You've got my donation.

Australia has some of the best riders in the world yet less than a handful have ever made it to the PKRA. Getting onto the PKRA is a challenge in itself , even more so for Australians as they have so far to travel. In addition getting sponsorship is very difficult as Kite boarding is not an "NSO" registered sport therefore it attracts no government or state grants, which reduces its sponsorship appeal further. It is really important to get behind the young riders as they are the future of the sport. This is a great idea, kudos to FreedomKite Mag for supporting Josh. Come on Australia lets get behind him and get another Aussie on the PKRA.

He should make some videos and show his skills and creativity. Thats what the sponsors want to see. Its a nice initiative to collect money for Josh but at the end he has to earn going to the PKRA and being part of the pro tour. Thats the only way to sustain it. The level is very high and there are now qualifying heats at all stops which are very tough to get through to make the main event.Ewan has been on the PKRA for 2 years and showed some great potential with few top 10 and top 5 results. He has been unlucky with injuries but has created a lot of good content and has trained hard for many years to get there.

When a young Felix Pivec talked to me about competing on the world stage I suggested that he save heaps of money and go to Maui to train hard. Felix then washed dishes for more than a year on night shift and trained every day here on the goldy, the rest is history......he never asked me or anyone for a cash handout....Just sayin

sir ROWDY said..
Not trying to put a dampener on things but I would like to throw some constructive light on this situation.
I'm going to be honest straight up and say that at the current level Josh has showed me in that video he still has quite some way to go before paying money to go to a PKRA qualifier will be a worthwhile venture. You should use that money to train hard to improve your level before wasting it going to crappy competition spots. Just as a rough guideline, if you're not better than Ewan Jaspan I wouldn't even consider going to a comp. Ewan is super talented and it's still been a difficult task for him to qualify in the past.
I hope that doesn't discourage you too much, but if you're really serious about this it should only motivate you to go harder!
All the best with man, keep at it!

I completely agree with Rowdy. I have seen Josh ride live and in videos and have been in heats with him. He has shown some outstanding potential for sure but the guys riding on the PKRA are on a completely different level than most everyone else. At this point what he needs is a solid year of training. A 3 month training season in brazil next winter followed by some high wind choppy stuff for a few months in a place like Cape Town or Tarifa would be the bare minimum to even consider trying to qualify for an event. Ewan is one of the best riders I have ridden with and even he won't consider going back on tour until he does a solid training season. It's how all of the pros got to where they are and going to a place like that will give a better idea of where the level is at as well. I wish Josh the best and hope we see him ripping on the world stage some day.

I need a new kite, please donate $5 each as I currently can't afford a new one. Mahalo.

Legends!

Hey Guys thanks for all the feedback - all in all it all helps. This project is an initiative of Freedom Kitesurfing Magazine; Josh was (and still is) working his ass off saving coin for this trip.

I met Josh only a few weeks ago but his attitude, focus, determination is the main thing that got me. We offered to try and help him get there, this is not something Josh has asked for... but whether we help him or not this guy is determined to go and "see for himself" the level of international riding out there.

The reason we started this campaign was to hopefully raise enough money so that he can take some time off work the next month and train his ass off everyday 8 hours a day.

This campaign so far is going very well - yesterday Josh lined up a TV interview all on his own accord which will air tonight on WIN Sunshine Coast news at 7pm! :D

This guy is going, its happening... your comments on training etc are appreciated as it can only help him get a level head about the situation as a whole and focus in even more.

Even if Josh doesn't score an opening he's still going to be incredibly inspired by the riders and international crew he will meet.

Thanks everyone!

I fully understand where you guys are coming from.
I have been working 3 jobs for the passed 6 months to pay for this plus my family that i live with in goverment housing with my special needs brother.
Working as a kiteboarding instructor from 9 to 5 i would ride to my next job as a bartender from 6 to 10 i would finish to ride my bike to the rolling rock night club to work from 10:30 to 4:00am. After finishing I would not sleep untill i had kited. I remember 1 week I only had 5 hours sleep haha! That youtube clip above was filmed in 2 hours and edited inbetween work on macas internet, hense the bad quality.
After getting hit by a bus i quit my 2 bartenting jobs and started working full time as a kiteboarding instructor teaching 3, 3hour lessons per day.
When Aronn Hadlow came up to Noosa to ride with me, thats where i got talking to Ollie and we got talking. from this point he said, 'you know what man you need some help, let me see what we can do!''
From this point we started to design a found raising site.
If you are wondering where all my money went? hospital bills for my grandpa with cancer in his spine.. Meditation was costing $1000 per week.
Thank you for you feed back, it just makes me want to push harder then ever!

Antssurfari said..
We know what it's like to follow your dream Josh. We followed our dream and are living and kiting wild and free. Australian Kite Surfari will donate a 4 day surfari for you to raffel off. Just e mail Ant and he will arrnge this for you. Good luck and never give up on your dreams
Ant and Paully

Thank you so much!!
If there is anything I can to do to help you guys let me know!!

Don't take any of that the wrong way Josh, I'm sure everyone would be stoked to see you do well!

The people telling you how hard it is and to train more are people that know what it's like, I personally haven't competed in the world tour but I've judged it for enough years to know where the level is at and just how hard it can be to qualify. Even guys who do the tour all the time are training hard in other locations before going to the next stops or competing again the next years. I honestly believe a good kite trip somewhere for a month would do you far more justice than heading to the world tour qualifiers and sitting around watching competitions. If you want to know what the level is like just watch any of the tops guys vids, honestly they do those tricks 95% of the time.

All the best man and I hope it works out for you! Train hard enough and anything is possible.

Alex.

Hey everyone... thanks for all the input. Here is the WIN News report Josh organised all on his own accord! This is a big part (if not biggest) of making it as a pro kiter... marketing. Well done mate!#t=27