During this period, he often found himself kiting alongside Emirates Team New Zealand training on the water for the Louis Vuitton Cup in the build-up to their eventually failed challenge for the America's Cup. That was but a sideshow for Bore, who had started to become focused on his own progress.
"It was a real enlightenment on how much I had to learn. Any egocentric ideas of how much I had of getting on the podium were pretty much squashed. I was thinking, after coming last after my third race, What have I done? So I just changed my attitude, decided just to have fun. [From there] I started to catch the pack, I wasn't coming last any more, improving at a really fast rate."
Next stop ... With this newfound confidence growing daily, Bore travelled to the Canadian Kiteracing National champs in Vancouver, a week-long event held in late July and began winning. "I thought I would never beat, [whereas] a week before, I was in the midfield. I was loving it - that addiction to getting better."
He began to appear on world rankings and was also pleasantly surprised at being voted "friendliest competitor" at the Canadian event. The novice was a quick learner.
He returned to San Francisco and parked up at his old spot with the America's Cup about to start. To fund his lifestyle he looked for a job, which didn't take long to find; as a qualified chef, he started working at the Waiheke Island Yacht Club pop-up restaurant. (All the while remaining a tad bewildered why he wasn't being hassled by the local feds with his van being parked in such a prime location.)
"I was right amongst the America's Cup, I watched every race. My van was parked by the starting line. Sometimes I had my kite set up and went out and sailed the same course the America's Cup boats sailed just after they'd finished."
Meanwhile, someone had certainly been noticing the rise and rise of the plucky Kiwi lad and another pleasant surprise arrived by mail: an invitation to represent the New Zealand team at the upcoming World Cup in China, where he learned there was another Far North local in the five man/one woman squad, Ben Turner from Mangonui.
With the America's Cup over, Bore quit his day job and moved to San Diego to participate in the America Kiteracing Nationals at the end of September. He was now a regular on the circuit. He somehow again found an ideal spot to park up, from where he could hang out with some of the South American and Mexican champion kiteracers.
"I learnt from those guys who were world class, I was just like the rookie. They were happy to show me because I was just so enthused. There was a diet, I was losing weight, no drinking, all focus."
The JokerThe force was strong now, some say fortune favours the brave, and that you create your own luck. Bore's laidback but positive personality was networking on autopilot and things kept falling into place.
He was given a wildcard to the ISAF Kite Racing World Cup in China from November 18-25, ranked 307 on the ISAF Kiteracing Standings.
After "two days of intense racing" in the seeding rounds, Bore was relegated to the third tier bronze fleet.
From his results over the following days, his world ranking jumped from 307 to 117 to 102 to 91. "Really enjoyed that event - kind of jumped up the ladder!
"Being at the world cup, it was a blinkin' dream, I'm with all the best sailors from South America, Columbia," he said, adding it was an amazing experience being on the tour and hanging out with up to 160 of the best kite surfers from all over the world. "A group of people who have the same passion as you. Amazing! Even the top guys were saying this was the fastest group they had ever seen in their lives. Everyone was going so fast with so little room for error."
He finished the bronze fleet in 12th place overall. Next stop was Sydney for a training camp during the first week of December, then it was on to Melbourne for Sail Melbourne, an ISAF World Cup event.
"Australia? I did really well, made the gold fleet, phenomenal as far as I'm concerned [even though] I came last which is okay, I think I finished 17th overall."
Then to Perth for the Oceanic Games run by the St Kilda's Yacht Club from December 10-15. An experience of a different kind in West Australia's notoriously sharky waters, sport taken to a whole new level.
"When you fall off and you see the jetski coming [to make sure you are okay] but it's still 500 yards away and you're scrabbling in the water, it's the longest two minutes of your life. All the competitors were laughing but the [Western Australian] sharks had been munching people all summer!"
Bore eventually returned home to take part in the New Zealand nationals, hosted by the Kohimaramara Yacht Club, on Auckland Harbour, from December 20-22. Having arrived with the flu, the Far North lad had a slow start in the New Zealand Kite Racing Association (NZKA) event and was 13th overall after the first two days but came right on the third and final day to eventually finish in sixth place. Kite race internationaleOf the tour, the average course was usually 2km long, took around 20 minute to complete with racers contesting up to six races a day. And youngsters were really starting to dominate the sport at international level, Bore said, with the world champion aged 19 while one of kite-racing's most famous stars was 15. He said the NZKRA was searching for a young up and comer in the sport to develop and represent internationally.
And while kitesurfing was regarded in some quarters as a young man's game, Bore said there were no plans to quit anytime soon. In fact, he's just getting started. Besides, there's a grandmasters division which is apparently just as competitive as the open, featuring "guys who have been sailing since they were kids".
He noted kite-racing was continuing a strong campaign to become part of the Olympics, with the major players in the debate apparently suggesting it could perhaps be held in a water-cross format - eg a cross between kite racing and freestyle, such as having obstacles around the course for the athletes to jump over - to make it more spectator-friendly.
Setting sailBore said he picked up the sport of kitesurfing back in 2001, in Havana, Cuba, after learning his chops from theContined page 13
