We are happy to introduce our latest Wainman Hawaii ManiaC rooster signing, 2009 Junior World Champion, from Tarifa - Spain, addicted to kiteboarding since the age of 11, Forest '4est' Bakker.

He started his first PKRA competition @ The Red Sea Kitesurf World Cup Egypt on ManiaC Today, won all his heats and is waiting for the Main Event!

Enjoy small introductory interview with Forest and keep fingers crossed for his appearances in the Main Event!

Wainman Hawaii: Tell us more about yourself and how long you have been kiteboarding?

Forest Bakker: My life has been pretty much hectic since I'm born, my parents are from two different nationalities (French mom and Dutch father) and I was born in Barbados. This pretty much summed my lifestyle for the coming years, I was raised in salt water and since then I could’t live without it. My current home is in Tarifa where I spend most of my time kiting and working on my projects. I’ve always wanted to be a pro athlete, first at surfing but due to the lack of waves in Tarifa I decided to start kiteboarding and shortly after that I was hooked and started competing. Now its been almost 8 years since I’ve been able to live my passion, I won the world junior freestyle title in 2009 and started PKRA after that. People mostly know me because of my videos, I love filming and editing and this has helped me a lot to promote my self in all areas.

How do you feel about joining the Wainman Hawaii Team?

What I see in wainman is a group of passionate people doing what they love, more than a brand is a philosophy. I couldn’t be happier joining a kickass brand, developing and innovating material for the love of kiteboarding. 

You are pure freestyle rider, tell us what are your favorite tricks and maybe you are working on some new ones now?

Freestyle is the liberty of expression thru movements, and in any sport I always try to find this freedom. Its all about style and expression, its something very personal and everyone can choose its way forward, the best part is that there is infinity options. At the moment I’m practising mostly style and power in my tricks, I want to find the perfect control in all of them, I love KGB’S 5 and backmobes, those are the ones that give me the feeling ! 

You have been riding ManiaC C Kite for few weeks now? What do you think about the kite?

The ManiaC C kite is a pure freestyle kite, designed with love and it keeps an eye on all of your tricks. When riding the Maniac C kite I never feel alone.  I was truly impressed with its performance in low winds, the kite stays up there no matter what! Super stable and great slack with the 5th line. Its the kite that all freestyle riders are looking for. 

You are just about to start in your first PKRA even on ManiaC Kite. Any 'minimum plan' for the event?

Keep it stylish, keep it low and rock’n’roll! 

What are your kite-boarding goals for 2014 in terms of competition?

I’m on a comeback from my knee injurie, I had two surgeries in one year time and my confidence is getting back. I feel good at the moment and I’m stoked to be a part of the movement, I want to keep my position in the top 12 so that next year I can start fresh without the need of qualifying. My mane goals for 2014 are creating sick kite videos of my travels, I’m currently making a serie of episodes calle “Another Point of View”, next one will be out very soon so keep an eye on my social pages! 

Your hometown is Tarifa (Spain) but you consider your residence place as "all around the world", so where are your favorite kite spots? Where you just love to ride all day!?

I find in Tarifa the perfect balance for all kind of conditions and I love riding with all my homies, its definitely my favourite spot to ride, but for training I really enjoy Brazil since the conditions are pretty much perfect everyday. 

Few words words for the fans?

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but no one will forget how you made them feel! so folks, the lesson here is to go big and make those people feel what you are experiencing in that moment, and show the world that kiteboarding is one of the sickest sports out there :)

Aloha!