Fyfe gets a flying start to preseason

NAT Fyfe was flying on Friday, but this time it wasn’t on a footy field – it was on water.

The Fremantle Dockers captain teamed up with fivetime kiteboarding world champion Aaron Hadlow for a lastminute masterclass ahead of today’s Red Bull Lighthouse to Leighton kiteboard race.

Fyfe has been kiteboarding for seven years and said it was his summer escape from the rigours of footy.

Dockers coach Ross Lyon apparently supports his love of extreme sports.

“He lets me do my thing,” Fyfe said at Woodman Point, south of Fremantle.

“I got into it because I had been frustrated with the sloppy surf in Perth and wanted to utilise the beautiful sea breezes that we have in WA.

“But I do it more for headspace clearing. It’s good fun.

“I put the kites away for the majority of the footy season and then I dust them off during summer.”

But he admits kiteboarding does throw up the unexpected.

“I was doing some kite training the other day off Garden Island,” he said.

“Then this big, black submarine just popped up in front of us. It’s not every day that you see a sub when you are kiting, so that was cool.”

But was he worried about sharks?

“No, not at all. Gives you motivation not to fall off,” he joked.

It’s Fyfe’s second crack at the event, which starts at Rottnest Island.

Last year he finished 68 out of 135 competitors, while Hadlow took out the fastest time in the Twin Tip category.

About 140 kiteboarders will take on th the 19km race.