Words by Peri Roberts
Some people are drawn to the ocean. Others crash headfirst into it, bones and all, and still come back for more.
Lana is one of those people.
A Slovenian-born Big Air kiteboarder with a background in mathematics and karate, she’s built from grit, intellect and quiet resolve. When we sat down to talk, she was deep in recovery from a broken fibula – the result of landing hard on a breaking wave in Big Bay, Cape Town.
“They operated in South Africa, but it got infected. They had to open it again, clean everything and remove the hardware,” she tells me. “And now… it’s not healing.”
Injuries are part of the game in kiteboarding, especially Big Air, but Lana’s journey is one that peels back the curtain on what it means to care. About your body, your purpose, and the places you move through.
“I’ve done karate since I was five or six,” she says. “That’s where I learned to take hits. I think it prepared me for crashing in kiting… the physical side of it. But also balance, body awareness, discipline. That mindset of training hard and competing – it just transferred.”
Before kiting, she was studying mathematics. Not because she had to, but because she liked it. “I even worked in finance for a bit. But then my mum started dating a kitesurfer. He said, ‘Just try it.’ I hated it at first… but once I got upwind, I was in love.”
The trajectory since then has been fast and passionate: chasing wind across Croatia, Brazil and beyond. Training. Traveling. Trying. Until Cape Town, where everything paused. But not forever.
“When I’m ready, I want to pick up where I left off. I want more control, better tricks. But I’ve also learned I have to listen to my body. If I’m tired or anxious, I get out of the water. I don’t ignore that anymore.”
She speaks with the clarity of someone who knows what they want, but doesn’t need to shout it. Podiums are something she’s striving for. Preferably the crazy Red Bull competitions, but also a life built outside the mold, rooted in love, not pressure.
And that’s where our “We Care” initiative intersects with riders like Lana. At Prolimit, sustainability is the thread that runs through our gear and our stories. Our Natureprene wetsuits, for example, are made without traditional neoprene, instead using FSC®-certified natural rubber and water-based glues to reduce ocean and air pollution.
Lana’s been wearing one. And here’s the best part: she can’t tell the difference.
“To me, it feels just like regular neoprene, which is good. That’s how it should be,” she laughs. “If we can make better choices without sacrificing quality, why wouldn’t we? It should be industry standard.”
She’s the kind of rider who brings small actions into big conversations. Recycling at home. Refusing plastic bags. Shopping local. “It’s not much,” she says, “but it’s what I can do right now.”
It’s this mindset; micro-efforts, long-term vision, that defines both her journey and ours.
As we wrapped up, I asked her what success looks like. “Going with the flow,” she smiled. “And risking it for the biscuit.”
She’s not wrong. Whether it’s switching to greener gear or coming back from injury, there’s a quiet power in doing things your own way. Carefully, consciously and when the wind’s right: all in.
Follow Lana’s road to recovery and the promising moments we’re soon to see; her conscious freedom to risk it for the thing she’s most passionate about – kiteboarding.
