Tanja Rosenkranz talked to us about her achievements in kitesurfing to date and her ambitions for the future.

TANJA ROSENKRANZ was inspired to start kitesurfing after watching a video in 2006 – today she owns a kitesurfing school in Tarifa, Spain and as well as competing in the sport is rapidly growing her business.

We caught up with Tanja to find out more about her journey in the sport and how much her life has changed since her relocation and complete change of career.

Read on to hear how her family have got behind her and how she continues to be passionate and entrepreneurial when it comes to the ocean and all the sporting opportunities it offers.

To find out more about Tanja’s kitesurfing school Free Your Mind visit www.kitesurf-tarifa-spain.com.   

When did you first start kitesurfing and could you tell us about the video that inspired you to start the sport?

It was in 2005. I saw kitesurfing for the first time on a video called La nuit de la glisse 2003 and I was stoked. This was the sport I wanted to do! So I went to buy a kite on eBay, got it sent it to northern Germany and started by my own. I did not even know that you need a pump to inflate the kite…. So you can imagine how that went! After a few weeks I went to Tunisia to work as a kitesurf assistant and there I learned how to kitesurf and did my first jumps.

Tanja is a kitesurfing instructor as well as competitor.

How big a step was it to move to Tarifa and what were your hopes and ambitions in moving there?

I came to Tarifa because I didn’t have any other choice. It was summer 2007 and the work in northern Spain was not how I imagined, so I applied in Tarifa and drove with my old Ford fiesta and €300 down to the South East point of Europe. After three weeks in Tarifa, I fell in love with the place, the surroundings and the culture. I worked as a kitesurf instructor and focused on training. In the winter times I travelled to Brazil, Venezuela, Sri Lanka and Zanzibar.

In 2010 I decided to open my own school, Free your Mind, and since then I have been completely focussed on it and love to share my passion with other people.

What have been your biggest successes in competitions and how hard have you had to train?

In 2009 I became German snowkite champion and in 2012 I went fifth in the world in wavekiting. To compete you have to train constantly and since I have my school and live and share the kitelife with other people it became more and more difficult to focus just on competitions. I switched to wavekiting as this pushed me a lot more and allowed me to feel all the nature the sport had to offer. Although I have still not been able to pursue the sport 100 per cent as Free your Mind has opened a new shop and I also started to work as a product manager and designer for a new kite brand called Zian kiteboarding. Besides this I have been a mum since last year, so life is quite busy.

Another passion of Tanja’s is yoga.

Could you tell us more about life in Tarifa and what you have achieved there to date including the founding of Free Your Mind?

Life in Tarifa is wonderful! The place is spectacular. I still go to the beach everyday and can say that I live the kitesurf life to the full!

It was in 2010 that I founded Free your Mind which has by now ten members. In 2015 we opened an additional shop in Tarifa which is managed by my sister-in-law. My younger brother is our head instructor at the beach.

As my husband grew up in the north of Morocco and is a professional surfer, we also offer surf and kitesurf trips to North and South Morocco which are really unique.

In 2014 I started my kitesurf career in the kitesurf industry. I went with my family to Sri Lanka over the winter to set up a kite factory and now I am in daily communication with the production of Zian Kites and am involved in the product management and design.

What can those who choose to take a course or book accommodation with Free Your Mind expect from the school?

Quality, fun, progression!

At Free Your Mind we want to share our passion with the people. Everybody leaves satisfied – that is our number one aim!

All of us instructors share the passion for the sport and transmit this in a safe and professional way. We offer beach transfers and create a real kitesurf feeling.

Tanja (pictured left) practising yoga on the beach.

How much has life changed for you since you started your kitesurfing journey? 

I think I was always a person who strived to be free. I grew up in an industrial zone of Germany and my first profession was chemistry. After this I travelled to Asia for almost a year at the age of 21. This was the best I could have done for my life. There I learned about the world and my view and values of it. And it was clear. I was not going stay in Germany working in a laboratory.

From this point on, faith picked me up. I saw that video, I started kitesurfing, went to Tarifa, did competitions, opened my school, made a baby and now work in the kitesurf industry. I am not looking back. Ah yes, maybe once a year, when I visit my family in Germany. There I have thought so many times, ‘wow, this could have been your life’ – luckily it is not!

I think we have a great gift in life, we can choose what we want to do, everybody! And I feel we have a responsibility to make the best out of it. I did so everybody can.

Tanja shares her life in Tarifa with several members of her family and gave birth last year.

What exciting plans or challenges have you set yourself for the rest of the year and beyond?

I am looking forward to the Morocco camps which we hold each November. It’s always a meeting between family, friends and clients (who also normally end up as friends!). From there I will train for the World Cup for Waves in Dakhla, Morocco in March again. And we are thinking of opening another school in the Canaries. My aim is that in the end our whole family can live from this dream!

Find out how you can ‘free your mind’ at www.kitesurf-tarifa-spain.com where Tanja will be happy to talk to you about courses and accommodation in Tarifa.