We all know what a Chupa Chups is, …what kind of a childhood would we have had without at least having one of the brightly coloured lollipops in our mouth at some point in time. However those attending recent kite events or keep their eye out on beaches and social media may have noticed a new location for the colourful swirling logo, …on a kite.
So what do lollipops and kites have in common? You might think not a lot at first, …kites taste salty, and we don’t recommend trying to put them in your mouth, but when we spoke to the Chupa Kites team mascot Mr Chuck he paints a very clear picture of exactly why they are a perfect match.
To sum it all up in a single phrase, “Life Less Serious – Kite Less Serious.”.
Tom Bridge taking life less seriously
So what does this all mean. Let us try and explain (as Mr Chuck has an Italian accent and a lollipop in his mouth and can be hard to understand at times).
Why did we start kiting and why do we continue to this day? …quite simply because it is a lot of fun and puts a huge smile on our face. However at times it does seem that at times a lot of us have forgotten this and become a little bit to preoccupied with imitating the style and skills displayed by the small percentage of our sport who have the right to refer to themselves as professionals by competing at the highest level in competition. These few are professional athletes, they train, the set high standards of achievement for themselves, they compete and they will be the first to tell you it is not all fun and games. I am talking about 5% at most of all of the people who kite, ..at that is being generous, … it is more likely 0.5%.
For the rest of us, we have goals, we want to improve, but more than anything, we want to have fun. Something we are all guilty of forgetting at times, present company included.
There is a smile in their behind all that water
So now back to the subject at hand, Chupa Kite, …they want to promote just that sentiment.Fun. Whilst we all maintain a respect for the pros, we forget that to the outsider of those just starting out in kiting, their level in incomprehensible, blind-judge 5 or blind judge 7 means nothing against that guy over there pull big boosty jumps with a simple grab, ..and when the pro leaves the water with an holier-than-thou attitude versus the jumping guy with a huge smile, loads of stoke and and no problem in sharing that joy with all around …well, who is doing a better job at promoting our sport.
Another day at the office for Mr Chuck
The Chupa Kite team travel around in brightly coloured RV spreading this exact sentiment, showing kite surfing in another way, more playful and carefree, in a couple of words “Less Serious”. They perform synchronised loops, turns and jumps, and ride together, carving and crossing paths in a very visually pleasing display.
They do not compare themselves to the professional athletes and in this way set a very good example for many of us to not forget the pleasure of kiting, the joy of sharing this with your friends and spreading this smile to others on the water.
This is a lesson that we at KiteSista think is very important.
You can catch the Chupa Kite RV at a number of events in Europe and Italy over the summer where you will be sure to see them smiling, and also check out there site at www.chupakite.com.
We close with a little motto form their press release which we think closes this article nicely.
Smile… You’re flying on the wind!
