Peri Roberts is Crowned World Champion at the GKA Kite-Surf World Cup in Dakhla, Morocco

October 27th-31st, 2021, Dakhla, Morocco — Peri Roberts was crowned World Champion at the GKA Kite-Surf World Cup in Dakhla, Morocco this past weekend!

Peri put her heart and soul into making this title happen for herself. We sat down with her to hear her journey leading up to Morocco, “This year was probably one of the most difficult years for me personally. I moved to Maui with hopes that my kitesurfing career would come to fruition. I left my family, I haven’t seen any of my friends since the beginning of March, and I jumped through visa issues, and on top of all of that, I lost my passport.

When the tour was announced in late June, I had just had my passport, money, and cards stolen in Mexico. I booked a flight back to Maui and basically had a 6-week intense training period to get ready for the 2nd stop in Germany.

I worked 3 jobs, I would wake up at 4:30 am and go to sleep at 11 pm every night so I could work, train, and make sure I could get over to Europe with ease.

I taught myself how to do some strapless freestyle tricks in 45 kts of wind and worked through an injured shoulder.

After placing well in Sylt I knew I had a shot at the World Title, so I came straight back to Maui to train hard again. This time I only had 3 weeks — 2 of them spent with a viral infection and then 2 infected wisdom teeth that needed to come out ASAP. I had my mum sell my car back home in Australia to get me back on my feet after those medical setbacks and to make the 36-hour journey to Morocco — I even spent my 22nd birthday alone on a plane.

All of the hard work and ups and down were so worth it. It was probably the hardest grind I’ve been through, mentally and physically, but it taught me how strong I am and how strong the mind is when you work on it and invest in it. Anything is possible when you put your mind to it.”

Peri arrived in Morocco 2 days before the competition and was eager to get out on the water and put her hustle into action.

The first round of the women’s heats kicked off on competition day 2 and the pressure was on for Peri! Roberts won her heat, advancing her into Round 5 of the competition. This win was importnt, allowing her to get some rest and prepare for her next heat while Round 4 was underway. “Peri Roberts will need to win her heat in Round 5 if she wants to be crowned World Champion here in Dakhla. Being in the running for World Champ is a huge achievement for her, as she has only been on tour for a little more than a year,” said Gemma Hamaini.

Saturday was looking promising for the competitors. Peri was as ready as ever to compete and earn her well-deserved World Champion title — and that’s exactly what she did. “The conditions were perfect for this essential heat, and Peri put her heart and soul into each wave. Her perseverance paid off and she rode her last wave all the way into shore to claim her new title of World Champion,” Hamaini tells us.

Peri said, “I am sooooo incredibly happy, emotional, and over the moon to have won World Champion. I’ve been dreaming about it since I started kiting. This year I focused on my mental game; meditating, strategizing, and visualizing. Once you can see it, it’ll happen! It was ridiculously light for the majority of the competition. Everyone was exhausted running 1 km up the beach every heat. I was using my 12 m Pivot, 12 m Boxer, and Gecko to make the most of the light wind. Somehow the conditions turned on for my heat and I just felt in the zone. I woke up that day with the hopes of being a world champ and it happened. Moments I’ll never forget!”

We are so stoked for Peri and her new title!

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Photo Credit: Svetlana Romantsova