Gisela’s happiest flying high on adrenalin

Others just want a white picket fence and 2.3 children.

And some reach for the sky — literally.

Gisela Pulido knew exactly what she wanted to be when she grew up — a kiteboarder just like her dad and a journalist just like the hundreds who have interviewed her over the years.

She’s already achieved one of those dreams and she’s not yet old enough to drink alcohol or vote and she’s barely old enough to drive a car.

At 16, Gisela is considered one of the world’s best kitesurfers and she’s got eight world freestyle champion titles to prove it.

Gisela won her first world championship in Istanbul in June 2004 and followed that up with the Kiteboard Pro World Tour crown in November 2004.

By the time she became a teenager she had three world championships.

Talking with Gisela, you soon realise it’s not about the titles — it’s about the adrenalin.

She’s kitesurfed at some of the world’s most amazing destinations — the Gibraltar Strait, waterways in South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, Queensland’s Gold Coast and the south-west’s Twelve Apostles.

The Spanish high school student lived in a small town near Barcelona until she turned 10 when she moved to Tarifa, home of the Gibraltar Strait, because it was the perfect place to practice her particular discipline — freestyle which consists of doing manoeuvres and tricks during a seven-minute heat.

“It’s exactly like gymnastics,” she told The Standard in between school exams this week.

“And, so I like to ride with really flat water.

“My favourite place are the lagoons of Brazil.”

The Southern Ocean, home to the Twelve Apostles, is anything but flat and some of the Apostles tower 45 metres above the ocean and, as everyone from this part of Victoria knows, the strong winds and currents have claimed many lives.

But the adrenalin rush of freestyling beneath the rocky behemoths was just irresistible for Gisela who undertook the event as part of Red Bull’s Mission Apostle 2011 earlier this year.

She is the first person to have kitesurfed between the Apostles.

“To ride in the Twelve Apostles has been one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done,” Gisela said.

“I knew it was dangerous.

“You can see how huge they are and how tall the cliff is.

“Even though I had two boats with me the whole time, and best security, when I was there, surrounded by the rocks, I felt more danger.

“The wind was strong and gusty, the sea was moving a lot and there were big waves.

“I felt really small, like I was nothing.

“I was all the time in tension, because I couldn’t fail.

“It was a big challenge and when I got it I was super happy.”

Gisela said the Twelve Apostles experience was beyond unforgettable.

“I have surfed all around the world,” she said.

“South America, Caribbean, Europe, Asia, but down at the Apostles it was totally different.

“The waves were big, there was a big swell and current was really strong.

“I didn’t feel comfortable, compared to other places I’ve been.

“It was quite extreme to kite there.

“I surfed at the Gold Coast. Unfortunately, we had really light wind, and I could barely try the spot.

“But, of what I could see, it was a really nice spot with perfect waves to surf. And I can say, I really liked the way of living here and the culture. I’m looking forward to come to Australia again this year.”

Gisela’s family is into extreme sports, particularly her father who rides a variety of boards in a variety of natural mediums, so it was quite normal for the teenager to take up an extreme sport.

“He practises windsurfing, surfing, snowboarding and kiteboarding as well,” she said of her father.

“He taught me all the sports he does but kiteboarding was forbidden because it was too dangerous.”

Gisela’s persistence paid off and by the time she was six she was well on the way to becoming a world champion.

“I asked many times and finally he bought me a small kite,” she said.

“I started flying small foils on the sand when I was six

years old.

“In 2002, when I was eight, I made it to the water.

“My father has always been very sporty and my mother as well.

“So that’s why I started practising extreme sports since I was really young.

“I always had this influence.”

Gisela will graduate from high school next year and she’s got her sights firmly set on a career influenced by her experiences.

“I can combine it very well with trainings and competitions because I do online education.

“I always travel with my laptop, and I can study or do my tasks. It’s perfect.

“I would like to study journalism.

“Journalists always interview me, and I would love to be in their place — interviewing someone or a sportsman.”

Having achieved so much at a young age, it’s easy to wonder if Gisela will experience burnout early, but she said she could not see the passion drying up soon.

“I love competing, and I’m not tired of it. Maybe in the future, but from now I’ll keep competing.

“I also like to face big challenges such kiting in the Twelve Apostles or crossing the Gibraltar Strait competing against the ferry that crosses too. Apart from competing and trying to defend my title, I’d like to face challenges like these ones.”

Gisela readily admits the sport is male dominated but this has not impacted on her.

“The relation with male competitors is great,” she said.

“In general, the atmosphere there is in the PKRA (kite surf world tour) is really nice.

“Even thoughwe compete against each other, we are colleagues. We all respect each other.”

She’s suffered her fair share of injuries on the climb to the top.

“I suffered some small injuries, such cuts or hits.

“But I just suffered one big one. I stretch the internal ligament (medial collateral ligament) of my right knee. I did a jump, and I landed it hard and badly.

“It was in 2009, in a competition in Germany.

“I had to do rehab during four months.

“It was hard and painful, but now I feel perfect.

“I was doing rehabilitation with the best physios and doctors in Spain from FC Barcelona’s soccer team.

Gisela said she encouraged other young women to take up the sport, offering some sound advice.

“From the beginning I always wanted to compete and be at the top,” she said.

“It was something I had inside of me.

“I fought for it really hard, and with the support of my family and later on, the sponsors, I achieved it.

“I can only say that if you really like something, and you go for it, you can get it.

“Nothing is easy, but neither impossible. You have to work hard, but after you get your recompense.”

And the future ... will she ever hang up the board?

“I will never hang up the board. Board and kite will always come with me,” Gisela said.

And will she revisit the Twelve Apostles?

“I can honestly say I won’t do that again. Or at least, not for the moment.”