Even as a little boy, everything that flew thrilled me. I made my first kites, which I flew back at home. But first I went in a completely different direction professionally: I kept my nose in pots and studied my second passion - cooking. I was excited about my profession as a cook and after my apprenticeship I worked in different places in Germany and abroad and met many exciting people. But somehow I wanted more and at 25 I decided to go back to school. I attended the Tourism Business School in Bern. This change opened new horizons for me and with great enthusiasm I came to Silvaplana in 1991 to do the bookkeeping in the Kurverein. Of course, I found the Maloja wind here and came back to my first passion: flying kites. Soon I built my own high-tech kites and bought equipment for myself and my friends.
In the winter of 1992, when I wanted to fly my stunt kite, I discovered a group in the snow testing pulling kites - so-called parawings - for an expedition to the Arctic. I was immediately fascinated by the new technology, so I quickly fetched my skis and joined the group to test one of these parawings.
So that's the story of what happened to me and the stunt kites. Nothing could hold me at the Kurverein. I had discovered my new business idea: sailing in the wind will be fun for everyone and a real success.
In the first winter the motto was above all: practice, practice and awaken the interest of winter sports enthusiasts. Things went steadily upwards and in the second winter I already had my first students. The world's first kite school was opened and people from all corners of the earth came to me to learn the sport. Quite a few went home and opened a school themselves
In summer I made my first attempts in the water and tinkered with friends on kites that could be launched from the water. At first, however, with only moderate success. In 1998 I finally made progress and set off for South Africa with my friend Dani and the new 230 cm F-One board. Once there, the first thing they said was: “Practice, practice, practice!”
Having gained all my experiences, I returned to Silvaplana and my plan was fixed: In summer 1999 the first kite surfing lessons in the water would begin. From that point on, things went up at a rapid pace and a chaotic time followed, in which events rolled by. The team grew rapidly and soon I had over a dozen employees.
After 23 years in Silvaplana I moved to Baar to face a new challenge. Today I am importing products from various brands, mainly kite surfing of course, but also other water sports like wake boarding / windsurfing. With brands in the bike-, ski- and snowboard sector I cover a wider range in the business and also secure enough work during the winter months.
In summer I still like to be in the Engadin and can be found at test events where I present the equipment of the brands Slingshot, North, Mystic and Nobile.
