Kitesurfers Ride El Gouna’s Waves for Grand Slam 2016

Kitesurfing is one of the fastest growing water sports in the entire world. Poised to be included as an Olympic game, kitesurfing is now the new CrossFit, and nowhere is that more obvious than along Egypt’s coasts. Even with Egypt’s tourism struggling to recover, kitesurfers from all across the world are flocking to the motherland to take flight over its Instagrammable seas, flooding our feeds with breathtaking stunts and beautiful scenery, thanks to El Gouna’s Grand Slam 2016.

#AScoopOfNow: Meanwhile all the way in @elgounaredsea, we’re getting ready for #ElGounaGrandSlam2016 to start with the governor of the #RedSea Ahmed Abdullah, Samih Sawiras and others. ? #SurfGouna #ElGouna #KiteWC #ThisIsEgypt #Egypt

A photo posted by Scoop Empire (@scoopempire) on Mar 26, 2016 at 9:35am PDT

From wave riding to freestyle, course racing and more, the kitesurfers have pulled out all the stops to guarantee being crowned the new king or queen of El Gouna’s Grand Slam 2016. At the awards show, we chatted with head of Orascom Samih Sawiras and the Red Sea Governor Ahmed Abdullah, who seemed very excited and giddy about who was going to win.

While the celebrations and music began, we caught up with one of the contestants, two-time kitesurfing world champion Yuri Zoon for a quick chat. 

“El Gouna GrandSlam 2016 is a great chance to promote these water sports in Egypt, and not only that, but tourism as well. This is definitely the way to go. I want to thank El Gouna for all of this,” Zoon told us with a big smile on his face. As we were talking, we heard Sawiras’s voice shouting Zoon’s name, asking him and the rest of the winners to come to the stage to accept their awards.

#AScoopOfNow: We’re not sure if Samih Sawiras is more happy than the actual contestants who made it to the end or not, but nonetheless, congratulations to y’all who surfed up to the top of #ElGounaGrandSlam2016. // @elgounaredsea #Egypt #ThisIsEgypt #KiteWC #SurfGouna

A photo posted by Scoop Empire (@scoopempire) on Mar 26, 2016 at 10:22am PDT

The celebrations did not end there. We headed to the after party at El Gouna’s renowned Mosaique Hotel, where all the kitesurfing heroes rode the dancefloor instead of waves. What happens next is none of anyone’s business (JKLOL we slept really early)…

#AScoopOfNow: The show must go on, or should we say the partying! We’re here at @elgounaredsea’s #Mosaique getting our drink on and celebrating the proper way with everyone from #ElGounaGrandSlam2016. #KiteWC #Egypt #SurfGouna

A video posted by Scoop Empire (@scoopempire) on Mar 26, 2016 at 1:25pm PDT

WE SAID THIS: Check out El Gouna on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat @elgounaredsea for more about the Egypt Kite Boarding World Championships.