DeafVentures
● Ummanz
DeafVentures offers kitesurfing lessons tailored to your needs. The team includes two deaf kitesurfing instructors, a sign language interpreter, and a hearing kitesurfing instructor who is also hard at work learning German Sign Language (DGS)!
DeafVentures is Germany’s first kitesurfing school to offer courses in sign language.
Since 2018, the two founders, Marie Kohlen (sign language interpreter) and Pia Boni (VDWS-certified kitesurfing instructor), have been conducting their courses for the deaf on the island of Ummanz in the west of Rügen. In 2019, together with the VDWS, the two trained two native DGS speakers to become kite instructors, who now also teach the art of kitesurfing in sign language on Ummanz.
In addition to theory and practical sessions on kitesurfing, the five-day courses always include SUP polo, a pizza night at the Tiki Bar of the UMMAII Surfhostel, and, most recently, a chance to try out the wing.