2009 North Kiteboarding LTD Edition Course Racing Board with Ken Winner
SBC Kiteboard magazine editor John Bryja caught up with designer Ken Winner for an exclusive behind the scenes look at what could be the most revolutionary board of the year, the new LTD Edition course racing board from North.
John Bryja: How long have you and the North team been working on directional race boards?
Ken Winner: We started last summer, in June, I think. We’ve gone through 15 or 20 protos since then.
How did you get into designing race boards?
I thought it would be interesting to see whether kiteboards could do a better job of going upwind. In the sailing world you get no respect if you can’t go upwind well, so I thought I’d put a little effort into it. I’m pleased to say that we can now hold our own against almost anything on the water.
Your directional board has a revolutionary look with the square tail and angled fins. Was it’s design influenced by your earlier work on windsurfing boards like the AVS.
Any apparent similarity between our production race board and the short, wide race boards that started the modern Formula windsurfing design trend 13 years ago are entirely superficial. The way a Formula board works is completely different and the AVS-related features are also completely unrelated.
What are the biggest challenges in designing a board that is fast upwind yet controllable off the wind?
A board that’s fast upwind tends to have a pretty flat rocker and wide...
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