i remember feeling the same way about competition. It was refreshing to see someone spending time to do things differntly. keep up your creativity Tom and keep searching for inspiration to carry on pushing your limits!

@carlitokite

Жыл бұрын

André Philip, wow good old time legend ! Boots pioneer !

@le_tranq

Жыл бұрын

A competition is only as good as the format/ location and the judges...

@horrorlon

Жыл бұрын

Woot, Dre here? :D the most stylish kiter of All time. But back to topic. Keep head up tom. Dont give a f..... To the contest scene. Be and stay creative as you already are

Find a girl that loves you as much as colin loves tom bridge ❤

@tombridge5009

Жыл бұрын

I love him more he just airs my texts :(

@SankaFur

Жыл бұрын

Hahahah! Came here for this.

@wernerxldata

6 ай бұрын

Whahahahaha, awesome ❤

The thing I admire most about you Tom is that you are you! You don’t care what people think or say and that takes guts to do. You are the only rider that I watch every post of cause it’s inspiring. Please keep doing what you are doing I love it!

Fucking mental. My insides are reeling with emotion. This isn’t your everyday cut. The birds picking out the turtles eye sockets, the concealed recording, the accompaniment, Tom riding away on the sand. The whole thing is so melodic. The brilliance to be able to counterpoint the presentation and the performance so harmoniously. The genius to ride like that in the face of being judged a failure. And the genius to be able to see it, capture it, and show it. Bravo.

Tom Bridge is the only freestyler i follow on instagram, and the only one to make me regret not doing more freestyle!!

"Going for the.. Oh hahaha *I don't know what trick that was, but it was ridiculous* " Absolute great portrait, and a beautiful collaboration, loved every minute!

Excellent edit! I was gutted to see him knocked out. Tom is quite a bit more entertaining to watch than most!

In this era of big air...... i am completely inspired by what Tom does.

The world isn’t ready for you Tom. Just like the world wasn’t ready for Lou Waiman back in 2000… insane riding.

A rider's rider. Big ups!

Priceless to have innovative riders like Tom Bridges 🤙🏾🤙🏾🤙🏾😊. Thank you, Tom... And thank you Colin 😁

Oh to be able to ride like that! and on a broken boot to boot... Another excellent cinematic masterpiece Colin!

@christopherdunkley2632

Жыл бұрын

Was the broken boot part disclosed in the piece? Must have missed that.

Jesus Colin you're an artist!

If they designed an event with Toms riding style in mind perhaps we might have an interesting freestyle competition again;-) or we can keep spining and blowing knees to win;-) 1 min freeride overall impression bonus points for trick flow. + 3 best trick scores

@wietla

Жыл бұрын

It needs a better scoring system, should score actual lines rather than individual tricks. Also add some park obstacles so we can see some steezy stuff.

Love it! beautiful edit

I like Tom, He's a rad guy, doesn't take any shit, does what he wants, tries tricks other people aren't doing... that's right up my alley. From a purely objective standpoint though (having judged for over 10years) He just didn't ride to the criteria. Doing an NBD is part of the format sure, but the reality is it's not as big a part of the format as say execution is. Not only that but it's pretty clear in the format that lines don't count (same like they stopped counting switch that also fucked many people but it is what it is), some of his best trick that would have maybe made a difference were as his second trick unfortunately thus didn't count. I get that people might be pissed he wasn't scored for that (or that lines don't count) but that's just how comps work, they create a set of guidelines to make it so everyone can compete on as even ground as possible. I think Tom's riding is rad, I also think He's rad but I don't think the judges got anything wrong that I saw (at least in regard to his placing). Overall comps just suck, we all know that, it would be great if people actually noticed what riders are doing irrespective of comps and social media likes/views, but here we are in 2022 with kiters going viral for doing basic darkslides then being handed sponsorship deals...

Never let any competition have any impact on you as kiteboarder. Honestly it’s so boring watching the same stuff. I love the individual style of the sport. Best edit I’ve seen in a long time. Well done Paul West Sussex

One of the best kitesurfing videos ever made. The Storytelling, the Up‘s and Down‘s, the music, the picture… such a masterpiece. Thank you for sharing videos like that!

Insane edit

Obviously combos should count, and obviously they should put a rail in the middle of the box. GKA should be the slopestyle of Kiteboarding. Fantastic edit.

@wietla

Жыл бұрын

Yeah!! Without combos and park elements it’s just boring and kind of lame actually. A game of who can spin an extra 180 is no fun. Cable comps are actually a better watch.

I just discovered your channel, whooooo, your work is amazing, I love it so much!

Commentator: "Tom Bridge needs to improve." Improve? No, the GKA needs to improve and the commentators need to improve if they can´t say what trick was performed. Colin, that was a magical edit - thank you from the bottom of my heart.

@phil70031

Жыл бұрын

To be fair he probably said „needs to improve on his 4,something“ or something like that. At least that’s what he usually says

One of a kind!

Colin, this video is absolutely amazing, it's art. Keep up the great work!

Just rewatching. Probably my favorite video on KZread. Brilliant video, and a gifted and unique kiteboarder. Visionary stuff. Well. Art. It's the best of a culture. It is what survives in posterity. Thanks again guys. Tom will be fulfilled some day. Please lemme know.

What a video and what a fucking legend of a guy! Tom is surely unique in his style and personality. I hope he will continue to be like this for ever, i always following him on Instagram and is just something different, pure compared to everyone else!

Nils Frahm is a genius. And so is Tom Bridge. What an awesome video. Hopefully YT won't take down your vid due to copyright infringement.

A great edit to show a creative mindset. I hope Tom found his way to being that rider he wants to be.

Amazing.

That was no KZread stream, this was a masterpiece of art, this composed picture. Colin, that was great. Keep rollin...

Love it !!!

This is an amazing video about an artist on the water. Tom is that rider that you can watch with pleasure and not see these repetitive and boring handle passes all over again, like from other riders. I hope for more epic edits from you and Tom💪🤙

Go Tom!!The different is everything good 🎉 Limits is only sky

Amazing edit Colin. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Woah.... This is an UNREAL tribute to an epic triumph via tragedy.. Awe inspiring from every angle. Both this piece of art and Tom deserve the highest accolades. 15/10 sausages gentlemen 👏 👏 👏 👏

This video is soo sick in so many ways. Tom, I hope you just keep doing what you are doing. Steezy wonder is a nickname that suits you very well.

Just a beautiful and innovative bit of storytelling. And as a mother of a kite boarder who has stood on many beaches watching my own son compete - this breaks my heart a little. Sometimes there is a real tension between being the best and reason that’s so.

It's so stupid that combos are not allowed. His style is so much more entertaining than all the others. Freestyle is difficult to follow for any audience since the tricks look so similar

@undertowsurf

Жыл бұрын

Should be rewarded more for innovative tricks, any other sport would

@TKM11370

Жыл бұрын

they are now.

Any action sport media bigwigs watching, THIS is what great content looks like.

🙌 ❤

Great edit ❤

Great video , seriously

This video is another pearl ok kite filmmaking man!, I watched it without close any eye. God EXIST this guy ride like a beast, in some moment he is doing the trick hanged of the barr unworried of the fucking kite!! 😆. I admire alienTom's TT wave riding 🙌🙌🙌🤘🤙

I believe the hype still! This clip was the most interesting piece to come out of that comp! This clip proves he doesn’t need to compete, just like the Dane Reynolds, Craig Ando’s of the surfing world, landing a trick in time slot means nothing, just keep making these killer edits! 👌

Never knew Tom plays the piano.

The judges where left totally dumb founded by the technicality of the moves Tom puts together in an effortless smooth style. Unique Tom, from a family of awesomeness.

I believe and wish Tom to be the Djokovic in the freestyle kitesurfing! A sportsman who returned stronger than ever and showed what is really capable of! Btw ... this video is a piece of art!

Brilliant masterpiece again, please keep making these videos!

Well done jason

awesome video and also sort of inspiring

Fucking master piece, love it.

Well...brilliant video...of a brilliant rider. I always be a huge fan of Tom and he will return to the podium.

As both a musician and kiter I have sooo much appreciation for this...such an extraordinary piece and truly moving.

great edit. They aren't ready for tom's tricks, and probably never for this type of contest. Don't worry Tom , everybody knows who won and inspired. Keep your creativity, was one of the best moment with cocolutto tricks and chabloz relax style

That's the fate of Artist !! Amazing Video, that's also a "never seen before" in kitesurfing-vidéo Jazz improvisation and artistic kitesurfing !! Bravo such an inspiration !!

That was a beautiful edit

I don't have anything against freestyle and of course admire its ridiculous difficulty, but this was the first comp I paid attention to in many years because you did such a good job of building interest in it, and for Tom's involvement. The video capped it off wonderfully. Bravo.

fkn sick

why is this edit done by a random kite caddy better than a Hollywood movie?

not sure what's worse... having to watch freestyle or listen to piano music.. makes sense everyone cleared the building.. on the bright side there was more drama to watch then actual freestyle.. haha.. moral of the story is go fucking balls to the wall like Giel has.. he has been shunned (imo) in competition and it just makes him more hungry.. the man is going insane trying to win KOTA

Nailed it. Thanks for sharing such an engaging provocative fun snapshot of one aspect of the sport we love. Or something like that. Anyway, good video.

How good is Nils! Tom not bad either.

the kid just has absolutely fuckall BMT. There are many very talented athletes in all types of sports with the same problem- they can only shine when there is no pressure on them. As long as his sponsors accepts this and are willing to continue backing him, he should be left to do his own thing.

"Tom Bridge needs to improve" - priceless

The GKA clearly has no regard for innovation and can clearly not deal with the amount of f***s Tom gives. One can fully understand why he couldn't care to compete anymore. His style brings out the beauty of the sport in a way that it can be appreciated and the GKA is not willing to take even a bite of the slice of steeze cake sitting on the plate in front of them.

Why isn't there any Tom Bridge merch on the entire internet?

Awesome edit - good shit

So good

But this is entirely because of the combo rule right? Which he wasn't aware of because he missed the rider's briefing... that rule is shit but still, he's his own worst enemy.

Really nice Edit. That's why freestyle kiteboarding is not on top of kiteboarding anymore. Watching Tom is just Fun without knowing anything about Freestyle because He is in a Flow.

best kt movie - - keep slaying king

Just asking about the girl @1:22

I don’t understand how Tom as a junior world champion can get things so wrong as a senior freestyler. If his boot broke then surely he would have a spare twin tip board rather than use duct tape…. ??? Tom is a rare talent that seems to be sidelined or not recognised by the judges. He is pulling tricks that no one else is doing and for him to go out in the quarter finals is sad to watch. Hopefully, he will come back from this event and be better prepared next time. The video itself is one of the best I have seen, but sad to see his reaction at the end where he sails off into the horizon.

@devonmike

Жыл бұрын

Bring six new tricks to a competition which judges have not seen before does make scoring difficult. If Tom had relayed his intention to do new tricks to the judges before the completion then maybe things would turn out differently. Seeing Tom as a 9 year old and winning freestyle competitions could be the case that fame came to early for him and now he is disillusioned with direction his career is taking him. Maybe he should follow the path that his two brothers have taken and give up freestyle competition and just enjoy freestyle as a form or enjoyment and relaxation. Keep making videos that showcase your unique style.

@archiehicks2023

Жыл бұрын

@@devonmike What is preparation for a freestyle comp though? Look at what everyone else is doing and do the same? Nah. The thing that sets Tom apart is he doesn't do that. He rides how he want to, doesn't just copy everyone else. It's the purest form of kiting and any extreme sport, being able to express yourself through your sport. It's not on him for the judges not rewarding that, hopefully after this event they will notice changes are needed to get freestyle back up to the level of big air in terms of exposure. I genuinely believe Tom is what's missing and it would be a shame for him not to compete anymore.

@devonmike

Жыл бұрын

Archie I totally agree with your comments. Tom is the new breed of freestyler and the future. Freestyle seems to have flatlined in recent years with regard new trick. Tom brings a whole new dimension to the sport. However, he does need to get him equipment in better shape. I watched a video about KOTA 2022 and Tom admitted he just had one 9m North kite with pin holes where as his room mates, also competing, had a whole quiver of new kites to choose from. Tom is his own worst enemy and needs his equipment sorted first, such a shame….

@le_tranq

Жыл бұрын

Well you still need to follow the criteria no matter the comp. I'm a fan of Tom and a friend and personally I don't think the judges got anything wrong in his case (scoring many other tricks yeah they did).

@archiehicks2023

Жыл бұрын

@@le_tranq Could this be an example of why the criteria may need adjustment then? From what i understand, there's 28 trick categories and 144 (i think) listed tricks. Any trick done that is unlisted is to be categorised into one of those 28 cats by the head judge. Then only the top score from each of the 28 cats will count towards final score. Maybe Tom's style of riding doesn't fit into this as a lot of tricks involve blind/toes so they get popped in the same cat and essentially discarded? Then the criteria itself (Height and amplitude, Technical difficulty, power, risk, smoothness, innovation) only applies to the top score of each cat vs the overall score. So, he loses the majority of the criteria as they discard a lot of what he's done. Maybe the criteria could be 're-applied' at the end of a run which would promote the use of innovation, smoothness and technical difficulty due to encouraging lines and more fluid riding? I could be very wrong but after a quick read of the GKA rulebook this appears to be the case.

Tom Bridge is for kiteboarding what Rodney Mullen is for Skateboarding.

I think Tom is sure now Colin has a crush on him ❤️

Your productions are the benchmark. Every thing kite related I watch is compared to your work. They should leave it to you.

This is art

Amazing... I wept.

I have no idea what's going on in professional kiteboarding, but I just recently watched some competitor do that 3x handle pass move because it was all over social media. Apparently it was the first time anyone landed that in a competition? 8:36 objectively looks more impressive. Doing the same spin 3 times in a row is more like doing a handstand. It just doesn't feel like freestyle, which is funny because that's what the competition is called. What Tom is doing - THAT is freestyle.

@le_tranq

Жыл бұрын

Not sure about that. I love Tom. The fact He does different tricks is also very pleasing to me but what they are all doing is freestyle, just that Tom is doing some tricks they aren't practicing or doing (the tricks they know the judges will like, it's the same in all sports).

@Hopyboby

Жыл бұрын

@@le_tranq I had a whole wall of text written down and then clicked on another video. Unlucky. So in short: GKA low on viewers, current set of tricks (mostly) not very viewer friendly. Tom's style makes for a better viewing experience for the average Joe - especially on the beach. GKA scoring system has to move away from chaining 360s and passes and move to slower, higher flips. Add ratings for "combos" to keep shit technical without forcing the riders to go higher and higher. That's it. "Freestyle" sports should be about watchability first. Technicality and speed are useless if Joe on the beach can't follow. Also current system requires you to be mid/low height or you can't keep up cuz physics.

@le_tranq

Жыл бұрын

​@@Hopyboby I don't really agree with that. Firstly, Tom was going the same height as Coco or other big names, secondly and most importantly regular viewers don't really see a difference between Tom or the others, it's all much of a sameness to them so it won't change the amount of interest. They said the same things when I judged, they wanted to move the comp towards kite higher with more "amplitude" in tricks so regular people could understand better, reality is it changed nothing. That's because like any sport the only people watching it are the people who are actually interested. It's the same with people harping on about how big air is so good for the "regular public" yet to the regular public all kiting looks the same and if they aren't interested in kiting they aren't going to watch Big Air as much as they aren't going to watch a Freestyle comp. Honestly this fact was always highlighted to me when in Germany at arguably the biggest kite comps ever held, funnily enough the most spectators I would ever see year to year would be watching as the racing would start to see all the kites in one area for a moment, then they would disperse.

@Hopyboby

Жыл бұрын

@@le_tranq We can't know what the public prefers but what we do know is that the concept we have now isn't working. So lets change it up and then 10 years from now we can compare the numbers. Only way to find out what's better. *was talking about body height

@le_tranq

Жыл бұрын

​@@Hopyboby Well we kinda do know what the public prefers, as I mentioned previous. Anyway who gives a fuck what the "public" thinks, the public don't kite nor do they buy gear... the world tour should be run to progress the sport and give credit to the best riders, the reason Kiting is falling apart now is because the main focus has turned to Social Media and likes/views versus what a board sport is actually all about: progressive riding. Less time spent worrying about Joe Blow and more time focused on doing shit for the progression of the sport would be a wonderful thing. Lets face it, whether more public watch it or not things won't change much, it's not going to magically be a bigger sport than the other boardsports that get better sponsorship than us from corporate entities. The biggest area for improvement in sponsorship for riders IMO would actually be from brands who are invested in real boardsports already, thus making sure what we are doing is legit and holds some level of respect and credibility should be paramount. Qatar, Virgin and all these other corpo names aren't here to help kiting they are here to help themselves for a laughingly small investment and then when they are sick of it they just bounce...

Edit on point

Nice to see different tricks and some nice style, shame it isn't rewarded

wow.. a masterpiece

colin, I like your videos. But thank you very much for this awesome music video. I really liked that.

Insanely good edit with some of the most stylish moves you’ll ever see in a kite freestyle comp. Pointless event format though.

@kitewipe - excellent video dude. Really enjoyed seeing your pianist on KZread.

Yeah no wonder why kiteboarding wakestyle can't gain traction and sponsor money... Bridge should featured along with Gianmaria ...

@le_tranq

Жыл бұрын

Kiteboarding comps in general can't gain traction or sponsor money because it's all niche AF. Bridge is up there with Coco no doubt, a GKA comp doesn't mean shit.

Nice work Colin.

Awesome clip, I dont know if they will ever b able to score this as I think it should b. I mean no combos?...its art IMO, Tom keep it real mate

That back lip on the container tho! Amazing edit and riding

Well done lads

That was incredible and I don't even like freestyle! Why are combos not scored. Understandable in Big Air as it's not possible, but that would be like the WSL saying we only count your 1st turn on a wave? Stupid freestyle judges are putting the final nail in the coffin for the category by not rewarding this style of riding

@le_tranq

Жыл бұрын

Why aren't switch tricks scored??? Same thing man. Freestyle has been getting screwed for years.

It would be cool if the kite was bit lower. Still he is good tho

@thetripleblue

Жыл бұрын

hahahahahaha

@wesley8082

Жыл бұрын

Bruh..

Tom is a little bit different… colin is different too. I like different. But apperantly different scores for shit in competitive freestyle. 🥸 Enjoyable edit. 👌🏼

Colin, you must create your own league of creative freestyle with blackjack and hookers. Your own personal judging criteria.

Man, what a BS, defo one of the best freestylers…. Obviously there was a reason why he didn’t do comps and please just stay away from it, and ride for yourself….. 🤙🤙🤙🤙🤙

The pianist was insane, maybe it's the judge's that need to try harder.

The helmet is holding him back, I have never seen Hadlow wear a helmet even on a hydrofoil.

Less piano, more kiting

Nice interplay Colin Colin Camera Man - obviously Tom shouldn't give a Shite about FREESTYLE or the GKA - really who does? I am an avid kiteboarder and the only name on the entire rankings list that I even remotely recognized other than Tom was Jeremy Burlando. Is there any money for these Freestylers? I live in Hood River and there are only like 6 of them left - most of them are trying to get real jobs. Kinda sad as they are certainly very skilled but when nobody is watching does it really matter? Further and more to the business point - I don't know anyone that has or is buying a kite specific for Freestyle or that even knows what it is - the WINGERS are taking over, followed by the hordes of surfboard / TT riders and the faithful foil crew but then you have to go all the way down past the SUP paddlers and e*bike enthusiasts and wayward birdwatchers to get down to the paltry numbers of the last few Freestyle kite boarders - there was 1 guy at KB4C but nobody even knew what he was doing and yes he was in boots. So cool for him? I guess... By this time next year the sport will be over taken by the skijoring community in numbers... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skijoring

@le_tranq

Жыл бұрын

Bruh, you talking some wild stuff haha. You know Jeremy Burlando but never heard of Bebe as an example? haha. There's no money for any discipline, not just freestyle, all kiting is niche AF. You need to leave USA, there's tons of people buying Freestyle gear in Europe especially if you consider many riders in this comp were also on SLE kites. Twintips are still the biggest selling board globally, that's a freestyle board. Just because people in the USA near you aren't doing freestyle doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Saying that "not many people do something so it doesn't matter" also doesn't make much sense... guess what? There's more Rollerbladers and Bodyboarders globally than Wingers and SUPer's, I guess that means WInging and SUPing doesn't matter either!

@mconti564

Жыл бұрын

You might be right? Time will tell, let’s just hope there are enough of you Euros to keep the niche AF (I agree) kite companies in business so we will be able to still get gear. See also : [the demise of windsurfing] the story of Sailworks Sails 😢

@le_tranq

Жыл бұрын

@@mconti564 I'm not a Euro. Considering most of the industry is European based in regards to company ownership I don't think it's really an issue, nothing like Sailworks in my opinion nor the demise of windsurfing. Windsurfing died because many people moved to kiting to make the most of lighter wind conditions globally, Kitesurfing did well to fit that gap. Winging can't replace kiting really, many people switching to wing from kite are people who would have switched to something else regardless. Kiteboarding will be just fine. How many brands can the industry really support is probably a good question though, who knows, but with curent numbers (and past) there's really only room for 1 or 2 elite level brands I think.

🙌 ❤