SBC Kiteboard - Features

2012 Triple-S Warm Up - Sliding the boat basin

Thu, 31 May 2012 10:20:00 -0400

" I was riding the broken dock on the slick behind Real when I realized the John Wayne was all alone in the boat Basin. The wind was 25knt plus so power was not a problem inside the basin. I was on the Naish 10m Ride kite witch is super stable making it easier to ride in such a tight spot. You should never ever hit rails hooked in so dont get any ideas. I was basically sending the kite to get on the rail. It was not ideal rail riding conditions by any means. It was something different but more importantly it got my adrenalin up and was fun. I'm not sure what was more fun hitting the rail or the 100 mini tacks I had to take to make it out of the basin"—Davey Blair

How to Win at Ro Sham Bo

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 11:25:00 -0500

A cult. A state of mind. A rock band from Milwaukee. And the fairest way to determine who rides shotgun. Alas, Roshambo, also known as Rock Paper Scissors (or RPS), is all the above and more. It’s due time we crack the rock, uncover the paper, and stretch open the scissors.
   To indulge in Roshambo is to explore the tripartite nature of life and chance. Begin play by facing your opponent, legs shoulder-width apart. Each combatant must then form a fist with his right hand. (Southpaws may call upon their left hand, though a throw of scissors must have a green rubber coating on the handle.)
Go.
   Begin to pump fists in symmetrical rhythm to a count of three. Saying, “One, two, three,” or “Ro, sham, bo” to keep beat as you prepare for throw is acceptable, though advanced players let their hands do all the talking. Shoot on “three” (or “bo”). For heaven’s sake, do not shoot on the first, second or fourth pump, as you will reveal yourself a novice or a fool (unless of course you are “hustling” your foe).
   There are three––count ‘em––three possible throws: rock, paper, or scissors. A shrewdly thrown rock (closed fist) will smash a dumbly laid set of scissors (horizontal peace sign) eight days a week. However, if one is crafty enough to launch a clean sheet of paper (flat hand, palm down), one will cover a hastily plopped rock like a tarp. Uh, not so fast, Charlie. A smart scissors shoot will slice up that very same paper with mind-boggling consistency. All identical throws (or “mirrors,” as they’re known in the biz) result in a “push” or “cat’s game,” and another round must be played immediately.

When to Play
For money: Though the purpose of waging RPS warfare for cold, hard cream is often reserved for the glittery Roshambo complexes of Las Vegas and the outskirts of Hood River, it is perfectly legit to gamble on your fists.
For recreation (sparingly): It is not recommended to Roshambo “just for fun.” With nothing of value at stake, the warriors’ minds become flaccid, their focus wanders. (Who wants to pay good money to see an exhibition NHL game?) Recreation RPS should be reserved for small children, the elderly and the crippled. (Note: Playing “for honour” is not considered recreation.)
To obtain something of which there is a limited number: Want to sit beside the driver, control the stereo and stretch out in Legroom City? Desire that clicker? Sure could use that last slice of pizza? Need to be first in the shower after a 48-day camping trip? Roshambo!
To not do something: Perfect for determining who hits a possibly dangerous kicker first, launches the kite, or deciding which sibling has to empty the kitty litter with a spoon.
To make decisions: RPS is an exhilarating alternative to coin flipping, especially if, like this author (dreams only), all you carry is a wad of large bills. Say you and your significant other are venturing to cheap night at the movies: Should you take in a romantic-comedy starring Freddie Prinze Jr., or a romantic-comedy starring Richard Gere? Should you treat your fine lady to KFC for Toonie Tuesdays, or McDonald’s for $2 McNuggets and fries? Are McNuggets meat? If so, from which of the chicken’s 2,000 parts is it forged? Roshambo can solve all that eye-lash-batting, you-decide-no-you-decide-sweetie-I-picked-last-time-all-that-matters-is-being-with-you-so-you-go-ahead-and-choose-no-it’s-up-to-you-I-insist crap in a three count. Simply appoint fried-chicken-on-the-bone to one honeybunny and fried-chicken-not-on-the-bone to the other. Faster than you can say Ro-sham-bo, you two lovebirds are winging off to your very own frugal feast. And two indecisive people can functionally coexist.
To determine who punches whom hard in the shoulder: Self-explanatory.

Strategies
Cloaking: One of the first tricks employed by novices is withholding a paper throw ‘til the last possible second, giving the appearance that you are, indeed, dropping a rock. Like card trickery and speed typing, cloaking demands a quick hand. In the event both players cloak (“double-cloaking”), you will be left with many a paper push. Thus, cloaking has been burdened with the stigma of defensive manoeuvre.
   Paper-clipping: There are two essential ingredients to the paper-clip. The first is easy: Throw scissors. The second, and the key here, is to coax a paper throw from your foil. This can be achieved by saying, “I am going to throw rock” (which, between you and I, is a boldface lie), or daring your rival to throw paper. If executed properly, paper-clipping guarantees victory. (Warning: Ironically if you throw paper, you run the risk of being paper-clipped yourself.)
   Priming the chump: Priming the pump (the fist-pumping ritual to synchronise the three-count shoot) can be exploited to your benefit when you meet a fresh pretender to your throne, as it is unclear as to what the priming speed will be. Seize this opportunity to dictate the pace by priming faster than your nemesis. Your slow-pumping foe will be so wrapped up trying to keep up with the flow of play that he won’t be able to concentrate on releasing an effective throw.
   The Wildman: Part copout, part understated genius, the Wildman has its own juvenile way of producing just as many victories as defeats. Simply clear your mind and throw without plan or ploy. The sheer randomness of the Wildman makes it the ultimate anti-strategy.

Pebbles of Advice
1.   Ensure players remove all sharp jewellery, watches and Lee Press-ons prior to play.
2.   Clearly establish what is to be decided by the RPS outcome.
3.   Predetermine the number of rounds required to win the match (best of three, best of seven, etc.).
4.   Playing best of 97 can get tedious––and deadly. It once caused an aneurysm.
5.   Experiment. Invent new Roshambo hybrids using three or five throws. Throws such as Banana, CT, Surfer and the dreaded Vulcan have been incorporated in fringe RPS tournaments, also known as Alt-Rock Paper Scissors.
6.   Where possible, steal home-court advantage.
7.   Play twice as hard while pregnant. You are Roshamboing for two now.
8.   The Avalanche (throwing rock and rock only) is a thinly veiled gambit, and easily punished over the long-term. Avoid it.
9.   Do not literally crush your opponent’s “scissors” with a real rock you find in the bush. Likewise, do not actually cut his “paper” with a rusty pair of your uncle’s hedge clippers.
10.   Ignore No. 9 if you are German, or inherently evil.

Dynamite: Shearing the fuse of Roshambo’s Red Herring
We’ve all been there. Shoulder-deep in the thick of a tense RPS match, and your opponent coyly sticks out a solitary digit on the three-count.
“Dynamite,” he says, a sly smirk tugging upwards on the corners of his cheating lips, “blows up rock. I win.”
No. No, you don’t win, you diabolical bastard. Dynamite, Roshambo’s dubious fourth element, allegedly blows up rock and burns paper. A superior play of scissors, however, can snip its wick lickety-split. You do the math, brainy: two possible wins to one possible loss. The odds are tipped in dynamite’s favour, fair play and triangular warfare are thrown out the window, and the Roshambo deities have been affronted.
Chances are the TNT perpetrator is fully aware that he’s insulting your intelligence; he’s betting on your dimwittedness. Don’t let him slip away scot-free. Stand up and extinguish his phoney bomb stick. Better still, insert that explosive directly up his smug where-the-sun-don’t-shine. If not for yourself, for the sake of the game’s integrity. Dynamites, like fifth Beetles and second gunmen, are artificial constructs that, unfortunately, have spread like a Filipino computer virus. Dy-no-mite is a zippy catchphrase for Jimmy Walker. And nothing more.

Roshambonus: The RPS Substitutes
Roshambo (the bands): Not one, but two contemporary musical outfits have adopted Roshambo as their moniker. One is a San Jose cover band that papers solid-gold smashes from such stars as Tom Jones. The other Roshambo hails from Milwaukee and strums hard-rolling guitars. If only their $9-pitcher sound was as polished as their slogan: “Roshambo: Where rock always wins!”
Roshambo via e-mail (csua.berkeley.edu/~phale/roshambo): Log on and smash your best Australian friend’s scissors to smithereens without the hassle of visiting your electronic-mail account. Simply select your throw (I suggest rock, as it gives you a 33.3% chance of victory), and key in the e-mail addresses of you and your victim. Added feature: space for you to trash type your foe.
Roshambot: Big Blue, look out. Now you can Roshambo your computer (emf.net/~estephen/roshambo.html) in RPS’s raging rebuttal to Solitaire. Perfect for those lonely nights when you’re left pumping your own fist.
Roshamho: A person, usually female, who falls head over heels for punishing paper pushers, raging rock rollers and sneaky scissors snipers. Her admiration is renown for switching targets, depending on which player is on a hot streak, or “in the zone,” as it were. Roshamho likes winners and long beachside walks.
Roshambo (the Webmaster): Some guy who manages a homepage exclusively devoted to the hot, young cast of I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Roshamboni: A late-’70s luncheon-meat marketing scheme that went horribly awry.
MUKcheeBAH: Korean version of Roshambo.
Ro Sham Bo: An album recorded by Sony recording artists, The Grays.
Roshambo (South Park style): In an episode of Comedy Central’s South Park, Cartman challenges various other 2-D drawings to a match of roshambo. Now here’s the good part. Instead of traditional RPS, Cartman explains that Roshambo involves taking turns hoofing your opponent in the cajones with as much force as you can muster. The first one to quit loses. Cartman always kicks first. And always wins. That’s the joke. Get it?

Kiteboarding wind minimum?

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 12:02:00 -0400

What do you think is the lightest wind a person can kiteboard in? We posed this question to North Kiteboarding designer Ken Winner. Winner is also a top international kite racer, former professional windsurfer and long-time gear designer. He understands wind speed better than most, and we couldn’t think of a better person to answer this question.

"It’s hard to answer precisely because, as you know, air temperature, altitude (altitude of the body of water), vertical gradient, and ratio of gust strength to lull strength hugely affect the ability of a kite to generate the kind of power a kiteboarder needs. A steady, cold, onshore wind at sea level will work far better than a puffy, hot, offshore wind on Lake Titicaca, even if both winds average eight knots. And as you also know, rider weight, kite weight, line length and board type are other big variables.
    That said, my seat-of-the-pants estimate is that an average size guy on a raceboard can race around an upwind-downwind course in a steady five knots of wind. I’m guessing five knots because I have been testing a lightweight 18-metre kite that will fly in barely perceptible wind (about two knots), and seems to power riders on race boards upwind in about five knots. In our tests, whenever we’re seeing more than the faintest ripples on the water, we’re planing.
    I’m sure we can lower that threshold with lighter, more expensive kite materials. The main benefit of the lower threshold, in my view, will be to increase our tolerance for extreme lulls. Right now, if the wind average is five knots and the extreme lull is four, we’re fine, but if the average is five and the extreme lull is two knots, we’re in trouble because the kite may fall in the lulls. It only takes one big lull to ruin your day.
    Which raises the topic of relaunch. Our light, 18-meter relaunches in surprisingly light winds—approximately five or six knots—when we use the fifth line because the fifth provides the rider with so much control over the kite. However, the same kite needs a few knots more to relaunch on four lines. The relaunch threshold may actually be the deciding factor for a lot of riders when it comes to kiting in light wind."—Ken Winner, North Kite Designer

TDZ: The Ultimate Kite Porn

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:11:00 -0400

Be sure to check out the interview with TDZ's Ian Alldredge, Bear Karry, and Patrick Rebstock in SBC Kiteboard's Fall 2011 issue. Here is a collection of our favorite TDZ videos.

TDZ

Small Day in Mex from TDZ on Vimeo.

TDZ OREGON from TDZ on Vimeo.

PEACHES & CREAM from TDZ on Vimeo.

SURFING WITH KITES from TDZ on Vimeo.

BLOWN OUT SURF from TDZ on Vimeo.

SURFING WITH STRANGERS from TDZ on Vimeo.

Patrick Rebstock -Triple S Wildcard Entry from TDZ on Vimeo.

Photographer Bryan Elkus: Self Portrait

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:00:00 -0400

"My goals for this year are, the same as every year, to continue shooting and riding as much as possible."

Bryan Elkus just finished redesigning his website, so SBC Kiteboard thought this would make a great opportunity to repost his Self Portrait article from a couple years ago. Be sure to check out his new website where you can buy some awesome prints, and great coffee table books.

http://www.bryanelkus.com/gallery/kiteboarding/

Being able to capture time is what originally drew me to photography. By having an image that shows a particular moment in time, and being able to share that experience with someone else is a pretty special thing if you think about it. Pictures can accomplish many things, they tell stories from trips, sell you a product or take you on an adventure to a place you’ve never been. There seem to be very few mediums that have such a reach.
   If you were to count an elective class in high school as formal training, then that’s the most extensive formal training I have received. To really learn photography you have to go out and shoot constantly. Read websites, post your pictures online and get critiques from others. There is so much information out there, all you have to do is spend the time finding it, learn from it and then build on that knowledge.
   For years I just really enjoyed taking pictures of my friends having fun. From there, I just kept shooting and shooting. I learned to kite a few years ago and it seemed like a natural progression to start shooting kiteboarding. I then took a position at REAL that really helped me make contacts and put me closer to better riders. When you’re out there shooting your friends and getting to ride you can see the excitement come through in the images.
   My first published photo was a snowboarding photo of a couple friends of mine that was run in a local newspaper in Michigan. It was shot with a 35mm film camera during the production of the MidWest What! DVD, a collaborative snowboarding documentary.
   It took a lot of work to start out knowing very little about the industry, but through my work at REAL and advice from other photographers (Tracy Kraft, John Bilderback, Ryan P. and Jerry Chalk), things started to click quickly. Picking up serious gear was the first massive hurdle. Spending tons of money, of which you don’t have, for something you don’t know will work is a tough thing to swallow. Shooting all the time, trying different ideas and experienced riders also helped me progress my photography.
   I don’t think the average person realizes how much work goes into getting a single shot. Most of us are out there on our own time putting in the effort to get a worthy shot. Luckily, I get nearly the same satisfaction from shooting as I do from taking a session. There is such a demand for high quality and unique photography in the industry for kite companies, retailers, magazines and advertisers, but there is very little if any motivation for a photographer to spend the time to get an image as there should be. I do hope that the industry can evolve to allow for some of us to make it a full-time gig, and thus build a healthier marketplace for everyone involved.
   Most of the riders I photograph rock! They are very easy to work with, as they already have an idea of what I’m looking for. With a little direction and a couple takes with these guys/girls you are going to get something good. Most of the riders are excited to get exposure so they are interested and motivated to get that one good shot. The REAL Team has been great to work with riding as much as possible and shooting when the times are conducive.
   My goals for this year are, the same as every year, to continue shooting and riding as much as possible. I am trying to travel more and put more effort into finding new exciting and unique locations. I have some unique shots that I would like to try and get dialed in the coming year. There is still a lot of testing and a bit of gear that needs to be acquired to get these shots dialed in.
   My gear wish list is long. I have what I really need to shoot, keeping in mind that I still have to carry it all. There are a couple more toys that I would like to add to my bag, which are a couple new lenses and a water housing.
   I have really liked working with digital. It’s really helped me to learn quickly because it gives you instant feedback. You can tell what setting you need to change to get the shot right. On the flip side of that, I miss the slower times of spending hours in the darkroom developing pictures. But all in all, I think that digital has been a great innovation and has made the photography market a more interesting place. —Bryan Elkus

Bryan’s Gear
Canon 40D
Canon 70-200mm F/2.8L IS USM
Canon 17-55mm F/2.8 IS USM
Vivitar Flashes and Pocket Wizards
Apple Macbook Pro

www.bryanelkus.com

Youri Zoon Recorded 2010 Recap

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 12:40:00 -0400

Youri Zoon RECORDED: Episode 1 -Tarifa Times- from EyEFORcE on Vimeo.

Youri Zoon RECORDED: Episode 2 - Brazilian River Mouth from EyEFORcE on Vimeo.

Youri Zoon RECORDED: EPISODE 3 - Prime Action from EyEFORcE on Vimeo.

Your Zoon RECORDED: Episode 4 - The injury from EyEFORcE on Vimeo.

Youri Zoon RECORDED: Episode 5 - Another day at the office from EyEFORcE on Vimeo.

Youri Zoon RECORDED: Episode 6 - Life at the Lagoon from EyEFORcE on Vimeo.

Youri Zoon RECORDED: Episode 7 - Paradise Beach from EyEFORcE on Vimeo.

Youri Zoon RECORDED: Episode 8 - Raw Material from EyEFORcE on Vimeo.

Youri Zoon RECORDED: Episode 9 - Into the Wild from EyEFORcE on Vimeo.

Youri Zoon RECORDED: Episode 10 - Uncut from EyEFORcE on Vimeo.

Airush’s Designer Clinton Filen

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 11:37:00 -0500

Trade Secrets

with Airush’s Clinton Filen

Upon meeting Clinton Filen, Brand Manager and unofficial sensei of Airush Kiteboarding, one would never assume that his clean-cut, and proper South African demeanor reveals only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. One part indie musician, two parts old-school skate rebel, Clinton’s alternative tendencies are only the beginning. With deeps roots in the surf and windsports industry and a hidden layer of complete devotion to design and artistic expression, Clinton lives outside the normal confines of the average industry stalwart. Those close to him revel in his entrepreneurial instinct and fine-tuned business savvy. The driving force behind Airush Kiteboarding, Clinton pushes development and innovation in all the right ways; defining new niches, creating revolutionary products, while forging the path of the brand’s increasing prominence. At the centre of board design, Clinton embodies the drive, vision, and humble genius that emanates from the Airush collective.

You’ve been in design for a long time. How did you start and what else have you designed? How did it lead you to designing kite surfboards?

As a kid, I had a few smart, creative peers and we starting building surf and windsurf boards in a friend’s garage. My first job was with F2, a windsurf company where I tested product and helped to develop the early board design software. When I was done with that, I started helping a friend in his design company while I was studying. After a couple years, I set-up my own design company doing wetsuits, harnesses, and accessories for Pro Limit, along with lifestyle and fashion products for a few European customers. I had also worked with Dave Stubbs, a local shaper, on kiteboards as I was always interested to move forward with board designs.

I initially joined Airush as the Product Manager and worked closely with the primary board designer at the time, Colin McCulloch, doing the computer design work and product concepts. Around three years ago he was diagnosed with cancer and I found myself supporting him more and gradually taking on more of the board design. Sadly he passed away [in July, 2000], and I continued forward from there, designing the majority of the range in conjunction with my brand management duties.

As brand manager for a large brand such as Airush, do you find the rewards of designing are different than the rewards of your duties as brand manager?

Not really, great design is about relevance, and good brand management is the same. For example, some of the greatest brand architects like Steve Jobs and Jake Burton are primarily great product people.

Before I worked with Airush, I ran my own design company, fundamentally Airush is the same a group of passionate and talented people focused on design. I feel this is quite different to your traditional company, which is much more sales and marketing oriented.

You are credited with designing one of the first production kite surfboards in the industry. What was that board and when was that? How have the designs changed since that first design?

Well, there were a lot of people who made it happen, and that was some time ago, as we did the development in 2005. It started as an obvious concept of having a board you could travel with for surfing and kiting, so basically a surfboard that kited well. Colin (McCulloch) and I initially worked with a Western Australian surfer, James Catto, as he was pretty much the best surfer we knew who kited and he had some good ideas. Felix Pivec also jumped onto the program early and helped to drive it forward.

Of course the concept took some time because everybody claimed the board was way too big, riders were using 4’8-5’0 surfboards. So, we basically came to market with something at least a foot too long. Over time and I guess with more and more surfers getting into the sport, the trend became pretty clear.

If I am riding strapless, why should I buy a kite surfboard instead of just a regular surfboard?

Firstly, your average surfboard construction does not really deal with the much heavier riding involved with kiting.

Secondly, we have worked a lot with optimizing the design of the boards to work better at the speeds generated when kiting.

Where do you see surf shapes going?

That is very much a condition-dependent question, and [on] how riders will change the way they ride. I do feel that the classic surf-style boards will always have their place. However, as much as I am a proponent of bigger surf-style boards, the spot outside our office is onshore and 30 knots, so I end up riding a 5’3 x 19” Choptop as that works best in the conditions, especially strapless.

For down the line, there is a lot of interest in our more compact shapes, which are around six inches shorter than a traditional short board. This doesn’t really go against my surf philosophy as this is very much an emerging style in surfboards and actually even more relevant to surf kiteboards as the geometry gets you more over the board, which suits the average kiter.

Finally we have also worked a lot with widebody boards, where boards are actually wider than a traditional short board. This enables you to get planning quicker and ride in much lighter wind.

It’s also difficult to view in isolation without discussing kites. For example, by working with kites such as the ONE that are so much lighter, you actually move the whole lightwind threshold down a few knots.

With the surf lifestyle running so deep in popular culture, affecting music, language, art, and even spirituality, do you think that kitesurfing shares the same culture of passion and emotion enough on its own to spread influence to create its own unique culture?

That’s a very deep question (Spirituality?). Firstly I cannot define being a kiteboarder as my cultural identity. I am not even sure I like where surfing has gone over the last 10 years. When we were kids, surf and skate was a real “alternative culture,” we were often labeled as subversives and this contributed towards the strong subculture, which many of the surf brands have commercialized so effectively. I personally prefer the way skate has maintained its core values, and I think that is rooted in the way that it is an almost an anti-social sport. You pretty much have to love skateboarding to keep doing it, it’s too technical and difficult to do just because you want to be associated with the lifestyle.

I do feel that within all these sports the core exists of people who do have this deep “riding culture” and this forms a big part of their social identity. But I think we should be very open to creating a broader community and not get stuck in our little clique of windsports or kiting.

With all the variables that kitesurfing brings to the equation, are there certain challenges you face in designing a kite surfboard that you wouldn’t necessarily address with designing a surfboard?

Well generally, you are going faster and you have the kite to help you generate speed, whereas with a surfboard, a lot of the focus of the design, especially in smaller waves, is about making something that generates speed and drive.

So I would say stability at speed is a more important component than on most surfboards, and having onshore boards that still can snap is important. For example I don’t really think a true Fish is a very relevant shape to kiteboards, as the rocker is too flat and the board is mostly designed to get speed, which sacrifices a lot of turning characteristics.

How, as a designer, do you see the strapless movement playing into the designs of kite surfboards. Is there a difference between a good kite surfboard ridden strapless and a good board ridden with straps?

Yes, I feel that things such as stability and predictability are much more of a factor when you are riding strapless. I am not necessarily talking about the top five per cent of riders, I am more interested in making strapless designs for the average person to ride.

Are there any innovations in kite surfboard designs in the last five years that you think have progressed the sport of kitesurfing?

With twin-tips, the durability and level of refinement has basically tripled the lifespan of a board. Still, in twin-tips we developed a new ultralight freestyle board that is under 1.8 kilos but still at the stiffness required by a freestyle rider. Generally the challenge is getting the stiffness right on ultra-lightweight boards.

I feel the development of the widebody freeride, race and lightwind wave boards has opened the door to sub-planning kiteboarding (wave riding in six knots is now a reality), and made the development of short line kites (lines shorter than 12 m) much more user-friendly.

On the higher-end side, we have developed a patented, active construction in surfboards, which I feel is a massive leap. We can reduce the weight of the boards by around 20 per cent. This allows us to make a Kiteboard that is the same weight as a surfboard, but with much greater durability and still great flex. This has been the last limitation on the perfect crossover board.

Is there anything or anyone in particular where your draw inspiration from for your designs?

I met my wife Carol as I was starting my career, as an athlete and a designer she has always been a huge and constant inspiration in my life. I have also been extremely lucky to grow up with two friends, who went on to become brilliant creatives in other industries and remain a constant inspiration. That set the tone for my life I guess.

I look a lot at innovation and design outside of the industry as I am really interested in so many other things, but I am inspired by the vision of people like Philippe Starck in design, Rick Rubin in music and Jake Burton and Yvon Chouinard from a business perspective.

I know that you have been involved heavily on the development of the Monaro Race and Sector FreeRace boards. Does your kite surfboard design experience contribute to your race/free-race designs?

The design fundamentals are similar to a point. But you are dealing with a lot more upwind ability and control of the large fins, more than looking at the finer points of handling. In a way, racing products are a lot easier to test as you can simply go and benchmark against someone and decide which is the better board, instead of the nuances of what is smoother in a turn or snaps a little more.

As a windsports industry veteran, designer, brand manager, father and husband, you keep your plate very full but seem to balance it all with a great attitude and enthusiasm, while still executing on all levels. What is your secret?

The secret is to keep your meltdowns as private as possible [laughs]. More seriously, I really enjoy what I do, and there is a lot of variety in my life. I don’t just spend my whole life kiting. (Although I kite a lot). I play music, surf, skate, study and hang with my friends and family. So pretty much every day I wake up amped to build the brand and make great stuff.

You’ve been in design for a long time. How did you start and what else have you designed? How did it lead you to designing kite surfboards?

As brand manager for a large brand such as Airush, do you find the rewards of designing are different than the rewards of your duties as brand manager?

You are credited with designing one of the first production kite surfboards in the industry. What was that board and when was that? How have the designs changed since that first design?

If I am riding strapless, why should I buy a kite surfboard instead of just a regular surfboard?

Firstly, your average surfboard construction does not really deal with the much heavier riding involved with kiting.

Secondly, we have worked a lot with optimizing the design of the boards to work better at the speeds generated when kiting.

Where do you see surf shapes going?

Finally we have also worked a lot with widebody boards, where boards are actually wider than a traditional short board. This enables you to get planning quicker and ride in much lighter wind.

With all the variables that kitesurfing brings to the equation, are there certain challenges you face in designing a kite surfboard that you wouldn’t necessarily address with designing a surfboard?

Are there any innovations in kite surfboard designs in the last five years that you think have progressed the sport of kitesurfing?

Is there anything or anyone in particular where your draw inspiration from for your designs?

I know that you have been involved heavily on the development of the Monaro Race and Sector FreeRace boards. Does your kite surfboard design experience contribute to your race/free-race designs?

Naish House 2.0 : A Hawaiian Winter

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:42:00 -0400

The Naish House 2.0 coincided with a phenomenal winter in Hawaii. The original plan was to have the entire event take place on Oahu, but when December rolled around some serious storms in the Pacific delivered typically diverse winter conditions to both Oahu and Maui. Jaws was seeing its best swell in years and the Pipeline Masters was experiencing perfect waves and a record turnout. In between their kite sessions, the Naish team was exposed to all aspects of a winter on the Hawaiian Islands.

Hawaii is an amazing place any time of year, but a Hawaiian winter is a special thing. It’s still warm, with average temperatures being only a few degrees colder than summer. It can rain for days or be sunny for weeks. The wind is up and down, and the surf can go from flat to twenty-five feet in a matter of hours. As Forest Gump would say: “You never know what you’re gonna get.” In winter you can have long periods of no wind, but you can also have the best kiteboarding conditions ever, with incredible North Shore surf and riding at spots that you may only get to ride once or twice per year. You just have to be in the right place at the right time. You have to fly between islands. You have to chase it, and at the same time be patient and go with the flow. Wind, waves, rain or shine, Naish House 2.0 was about winter in Hawaii; hardcore kiteboarding when the conditions are happening and hardcore fun when they’re not! —Robby Naish

This year’s lineup consists of: World Champion Kevin Langeree; British Champion Sam Light; French Champion Florian Daubos; North Shore Oahu Unhooked Wave Master Reo Stevens; California Strapless Wave Phenomenon Ian Alldredge; All-around French Ripper Cyril Coste; Naish Kite Designer Damien Girardin; and Robby Naish.

Naish House 2.0 from naishkiteboarding on Vimeo.

DAY 1: Morning venture to Jaws on North Shore Maui and afternoon Westside kitesurfing session at a secret local spot.

Waking up early to beat the rush, the crew journeyed along the country road, winding past Ho’okipa to the pineapple fields of Haiku. The road to Jaws features the ocean on one side, so you can gauge the wind and swell for the day, and acres of cane and pineapple fields on the other.

Damien: A way-out-of-season typhoon coming from Japan turned into one of the biggest storms ever in the North Pacific, resulting in one of the biggest swells in years for Hawaii on December 7, 2009. These waves were coming with no wind, creating one of the sickest Jaws days ever! As we drove to the sketchy dirt road between mile marker 13 and 14, an announcer plays back a recording from exactly 68 years ago on this day: “Pearl Harbor is under attack!”

Sam: The wind forecast was kinda sketchy the first few days of Naish House 2.0, but the surf forecast rocked; it was huge! With comments like, “biggest swell in 40 years” and “60-foot faces” the whole of the North Shore on both Maui and Oahu were talking. I was on Maui a few days before the rest of the guys arrived and woke up at 6 a.m. to get down to Jaws (as it was a zoo at 8 a.m. the day before and I knew the wind would pick up slightly). I saw the biggest sets I’ve seen in my life!

Flo: Jaws is such a mythical place for water sports, and as an ocean fanatic, I was pretty stoked to admire the monstrous waves crashing into the reef. The ambiance at Jaws is surreal. When a big swell comes to Maui, it seems that the entire island is living in a “swell” mood. There were more than 50 skis out towing guys in. Robby and Kai Lenny were killing it. Watching the different generations out there together was epic.

Kevin: I saw Jaws for the first time in my life… That was seriously unreal!

Watching Dave Kalama, Laird Hamilton, Robby and 17-year-old Kai Lenny battle a dangerously beautiful wave like Jaws jump-kicked the guys better than chugging a gallon of Red Bull. After taking the morning to witness the eighth wonder of the world, it was their turn to get in on the action. With a light north wind kicking in on the North Shore they headed to the west side for an afternoon kite session (the only spot on Maui that works for kiting with a north wind). When they arrived at a secret local spot there was a side-shore wind around 15 knots with a two to three metre shore break that made for a sick first day of kiting. The guys were obviously stoked to be kicking it together again, doing what they love on the windy isle.

Damien: The lighting was insane as we drove to the west side of the island to a secret local spot. The wind was kind of light but there was a solid wave breaking super close to the shore. Kevin was just crowned World Champ in freestyle, but his wave riding is just as powerful too and he’s fearless! He’s charging the fat shore break with a huge grin on his face. Reo was really killing it too, showing off his famous off the top skills.

DAY 2: Team building activity on outrigger canoes and afternoon SUP session on a perfect wave at Kanaha (Central/North Maui).

All-around waterman and Naish Maui Sales Rep, Nitsan Solomonov, is an avid paddler and canoe club member. Nitsan arranged a traditional team-building activity on Hawaiian outrigger canoes. Each six-man canoe is made up of a steersman, who sits in the back, and five others sitting in front. The person in the number one seat sets the pace and the person in seat three keeps count letting the rest of the team know when to switch paddling sides. Flo and Sam must have thought they were on a gondola because they just sat back, relaxed and enjoyed the ride while everyone else paddled. Maybe they were just saving energy for the killer SUP session that followed.

Reo: The facet of Hawaii that I am always stoked to share with people is the Hawaiian culture. Since the landing of Captain Cook in 1776, the Hawaiian people have always shared a warm and loving attitude with others and that attitude hasn’t changed much over the years. They believed that the group as a whole should work together with everyone specializing in a certain area. This belief was not limited to the work of their survival in the areas of war and farming, but also transferred to areas of fun and recreation. Outrigger canoeing is an excellent example of this.

Kevin: It was fun but kind of hard because it was a team activity. The person at the head of the canoe sets the pace for everyone else. I was at the front and I kept getting distracted and forgot everyone was following my lead. I’d be going really fast and concentrating, then I’d see something off to the side and slow down to look at it, then stop altogether and realize everyone else had stopped too… oops. I’m not really good at team sports. It was fun to catch waves though; you catch them easy and just keep going.

Sam: After canoeing we decided to go for a stand-up session on a desolate outside reef bank. It’s a stellar wave that breaks on the outside, and then walls up into a weird bowl and a sick right that was barreling. Nitsan was out on a ski doing a sterling job dropping [photographers] Stephen and Elliot off in the perfect spot to get the shots, I was on a 7’9” which was a bit short for some of the big drops; I’d call it a solid overhead and double-overhead English size. I tried getting shacked a few times but just got worked. It was one of the best paddleboard sessions I’ve ever had. My favourite thing about surfing is when it’s just you out with your buddies, everyone is shouting and cheering and there’s just a righteous atmosphere.

Flo: SUP rocks. It keeps your whole body fit and it’s great to surf. The outside reef was just insane! The waves were clean and tight. We were the only people at the pick, getting huge drops. On the way back to the beach, the sun was dying under the mountains and I could see turtles, whales and seals. Mother Nature was looking her best.

Damien: The waves were insanely clean and the drop felt like a perfect Tahitian wave drop. Sharing a perfect glassy three metre wave SUP session with friends is as good as it gets.

DAY 3: Freestyle action on the Central/North Shore of Maui at Kite Beach followed by island hopping over to Oahu.

Day three brought perfect freestyle conditions with 12m weather and flat water at Kite Beach. Kevin, Sam and Flo were dominating the waters, showing off their champion freestyle skills.

Damien: The wind picked up the next day, permitting some serious freestyle action. Kevin was killing it, obviously still pumped from winning the world championship. Sam was throwing wake style move after move. Sam definitely shows how wake style is done. There isn’t a lot of muscle needed, but it requires a lot of momentum to launch off the jump and roll with it until landing. It is just Sam and gravity, a very pure style. Flo was fresh back from a knee injury that had him out for eight months and the 2010 Charger was the perfect kite for his debut.

Flo: Welcome trade winds! It was a bit difficult for me to show off my freestyle skills because of lingering pain and apprehension… but it felt so awesome to be out on the water again! There is nothing like it in the world; something about the ocean and what a kite permits you to do on the water that makes you feel so ALIVE! This difficult experience really changed my vision of the sport and reminds me how much you have to live it up every day. The lesson I learned from this is that you can’t control everything all the time, the way it goes can change so fast and you have to deal with it. Even if something happens or conditions suck, just play hard and always have fun!

From Maui to Oahu, there was too much going on to stay in one location. Checking out the forecast, all arrows pointed to chasing the wind over to Oahu. Everyone was at Damien’s house trying to pack 12 board bags (barely fitting it all into the bed of his truck) and get out the door in 15 minutes! The Super Ferry is no longer in operation, so the boys had to fly.

Kevin: We were rushing like crazy to pack everything and Damien is putting up his Christmas tree and hasn’t even started packing yet! It all worked out OK; we got everything on the plane, only paid $100 for the extra luggage (score), and barely made the flight. We got pretty lucky this time. We got into Oahu pretty late, grabbed McDonald’s and drove to the North Shore.

DAY 4: Kitesurfing at Mokes on North Shore, Oahu.

First kite session on Oahu was at Mokuleia. This is Reo’s stomping grounds where he undoubtedly contributed to some of the pathways through the bushes 11 years ago when he started kiting and all those lovely safety features hadn’t been invented yet. Reo learned to surf, windsurf and kitesurf at Mokes and was super stoked to show off this location to the rest of the team. With a sweet North swell and light wind, the wave riders were tearing it up until the wind collapsed and Robby lead the swim all the way to shore.

Ian: We got to Mokes and the wind was light. We could barely go on 12m but the surf was pretty fun. It was hilarious when the wind shut down pretty much instantly and everyone had to swim back!

Damien: Ian was simply killing it. His legendary strapless style got even more impressive since I saw him last. Robby was showing the boys how it’s done to ride backside; the whole “family” was out on the water together. When the wind suddenly turned off, the whole family got to swim back to shore together too!

Flo: In the evening we cheered some beers at Nick’s and barbecued. Robby grilled steaks! Huge thanks Nick! He has an amazing house in front of the beach on the North Shore. It was so much fun kickin’ it there.

Kevin: It was cool kickin’ it with everyone from last year’s house and watching the surf pick up along with the crazy sunset. Sitting beach-side of North Shore, Oahu makes you feel pretty damn lucky for this lifestyle.

DAY 5: Pipeline Masters on North Shore Oahu.

The next day unreal surf conditions accompanied the Pipeline Masters and the guys just walked down the street to show up at the right time to witness a record-breaking turn out.

Flo: In the morning we watched the Pipeline Masters, which is the final of the WCT Pro surf tour. The best surfers in the world were fighting for the world title in a thick six- to eight-foot Hawaiian. Back door and Pipe were breaking in huge barrels. Guys out there were ripping and lots of people were cheering on the beach. I had never seen a big surf contest before and it was impressive to watch celebrity surfers dropping in on these powerful, monster waves. Pipe is such a mythic wave, you can really feel that lots of important moments of surf history happened there, unfortunately sometimes causing casualties among the best pro surfers.

Kevin: Super cool to see that wave in real life. It was so crowded on the beach, it was like a football stadium!

DAY 6: The invention of tow-in kiting at Phantoms on North Shore, Oahu, and a little nightlife action at Waikiki in Honolulu.

No one had tried tow-in kiting yet, so on a light wind day the guys got out the Jet Skis and gave it a shot. It turned out to be a fun approach and a brand new avenue!

Sam: At our pimp house on the North Shore of Oahu right on the beach at Backyards, we were chilling on the balcony watching over about five world-class breaks including the famous towing wave, Phantoms, that only breaks at about 10-15 ft faces. The wind was light and offshore. On a recent photoshoot in the Caribbean, I tried towing behind a boat while flying a kite to create enough wind to kite along for about 20 yards to capture a picture. We figured if we could tow a wave guy, like Ian, into a wave, he would have enough apparent wind to catch the wave then use the power of the wave to keep his speed. No one has ever done it before so we thought we would give it a go as we had three Jet Skis waiting. It didn’t work quite as well as planned, as the wind was dropping even more, but after we ditched the kite I towed Ian into a bomber! Naa, it wasn’t huge, but it was so much fun towing him in. I think it’s definitely possible to tow in a kiter and might even give them more of a chance to get radical as they won’t have as much power in the kite pulling them out of their manoeuvre.

That night the guys ventured over to Waikiki to soak up some of the famous Honolulu nightlife. Kevin managed to attract some special attention during his first exposure to Hawaii’s big city.

Kevin: People always make comments about Amsterdam being full of drugs and prostitution. We drove downtown to the Beach Walk of Waikiki and the second I stepped out of the car someone immediately approached me and asked if I wanted to buy some weed. He walked away, and a moment later a prostitute came up to me! What are the chances?! It was fun going out on the town with all the guys. What is up with the TVs in bars? Why do people go out to watch television?

DAY 7: Shark diving outside the North Shore of Oahu.

It must have been Jaws going off on Maui that got the guys in the mood to go cage diving with sharks on Oahu. Kevin said swimming with “10 to 15” sharks was one of his favourite parts of the trip. Sam claimed that swimming with “15 to 20” sharks surrounding him was amazing. Ian thought that swimming with “over 20” sharks was incredible. Hmmm… starting to sound like a good old “fish story.”

Flo: In the morning we went for a shark boat trip outside the North shore. I’m totally fascinated by sharks. They’re super shy and intelligent, opposite of what most people think. This was a dream come true for me and I’m so stoked we did it! On the way back to the harbour, we met a group of dolphins. There were so many of them (babies and adults) jumping and flipping everywhere. The day ended magically. Once again I realized how wonderful the ocean is, and felt guilty to remember how we treat it at times.

DAY 8: Island life: SUP action around little islands off Kailua, cave diving and cliff jumping.

The last day was full of adventures. It consisted of standup paddling around islands and swimming into caves (where you could witness a bunch of extreme adrenaline junkies acting like a litter of scared wet kittens).

Ian: We took the SUP boards to these islands by Kailua. The water was crystal clear and there were huge coral heads everywhere. Waves wrapped around the islands and came from every direction. You could go LEFT and turn on a wave coming at you from the opposite direction and then go RIGHT. The water was glassy and it rained when we came in. Sam and Flo were trying to tip everyone over with their paddles, stupid mother-f%$ers. I managed to stay away from them.

Sam: After we went standup paddling around the little islands, we found some caves to investigate. Flo and I went into this tiny cave; dude, it was scary! When a set came in, the cave would fill to the top, then suck completely dry between each wave. You had to wedge yourself in, to stop getting worked. Stephen and his daughter were at the back of the cave where it was pitch black, super scary! There were all of us fearless international kiters, too scared to go in, when Stephens’s young daughter is in the very back! Bunch of wimps!

Flo: As the sun was going down, owing to mighty cliffs and breaking waves, the atmosphere was pretty frightening. Finally we went back to earth through the lagoon under an amazing sunset, shading off sky colours from blue to orange, then pink to green.

All in all it was a killer week. The boys didn’t kite every day, but they did score some awesome riding. Above all, they were experienced what winter in Hawaii is all about from Maui to Oahu, huge swell to flat water and Kona winds to cranking trades.

From there they packed their bags and went their separate ways. Kevin headed back to Holland for the holidays then shot off to South Africa for winter training. Sam headed to Australia to work on videos. Flo and Cyril headed to France to freeze their asses off. Ian headed back to Cali to kitesurf the shores of Santa Barbara. Robby and Damien hopped back over to Maui. And Reo is still on Oahu soaking up one of the best Hawaiian winters of his lifetime.

Special thanks to: Nick and the Geranio family; Henry and Janet Larrucea; Elliot Leboe, ACL Productions; Stephen Whitesell; Nitsan Solomonov; Sharon Balidoy, Lae`Ula O Kai Canoe Club; and Stephanie Brendl, hawaiisharkencounters.com.

Birth of a Brand: Axon Kiteboarding

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:19:00 -0400

I wanted to be a rock star, let’s start there. Even when I was just a kiteboard greenhorn living in my 1985 Cadillac Fleetwood in Maui, I had dreams of cracking into the music scene with a smooth acoustic groove. It was a sound that I was trying to perfect in the local North Shore bars where nightly gigs paid the bills as I was learning the ropes in the kiteboarding world. But no matter what I thought my dreams were then, it turns out I was built for kiteboarding and not for music.
   After almost a decade in the sport, countless competitions, endless R and D hours, and unquantifiable PR efforts, I found myself at a crossroads in the world that I had spent the majority of my twenties. The idea had been in the back of my head for years, but now I was standing on a precipice of opportunity and decision. Do you continue trying to conform to the molds set forth by the industry, or do you put your neck on the line and create your own destiny? As much as I tried to convince myself that a decision had to be made, in the end, it was really no decision at all. If I didn’t go after this now, I would regret it forever. I am sure that everyone reading this now can relate to that kind of decision. That is what we share as kiteboarders; a certain character trait that sets us apart from 99.9 per cent of the rest of the population. I mean, how many people in the world willingly put themselves at the mercy of one of the most powerful forces on Earth whenever they can find a free moment… and enjoy it? Not many, friends, and that is one thing that will always link our kiteboarding clan together—the search for adventure and adrenaline. And so the creation of a new kiteboard brand arose not from indecision, but from necessity.
   I wanted to create a brand that captured the mojo that abounds every day at beaches all over the world. I know, I know, you’re thinking that the last thing kiteboarding needs is a new brand. And if I didn’t know better, I would agree. Which is why the birth of Axon Kiteboarding is not your atypical “create every product under the sun, pump some advertising dollars into it and see what happens” kind of company. Axon is dedicated to creating a cool, quality product, without dictating what or where kiteboarding should go. We want to create the most technologically advanced tools for where kiteboarding is. Oh yeah, and we want to look good doing it. Who says that technology and advancement can’t be cool? Being unique goes to the very core of all of us.
   Starting your own company is not an easy thing to do in any business. I wasn’t quite prepared for the 70-hour work weeks that became commonplace throughout the seven-month development period. Sourcing manufacturing, factory prototyping, and graphic design were parts of the process that presented me with the stiffest learning curve. In addition to honing my communication skills and precise manufacturing detailing, I had to teach myself how to use multiple 3D CAD platforms to produce the components and the boards themselves. Well I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. I felt that there were certain portions of the kiteboard industry that had become complacent with the current state of function and technology. Axon aims to change your expectation of kiteboards right now, this year. We want you to expect more from your kiteboards. Advanced molding techniques, easy and functional component integration, high-quality laminates, cores, and fin materials ensure that the boards are as technically perfect as possible. While the clear and easy performance categories and a fresh graphic line-up ensures you can find the board that defines your riding style and personality.
   In addition to the knowledge that I’ve had the privilege to acquire over the better part of the last decade, I’ve poured my heart and soul into the Axon brand. Every little detail was though about and planned and I found out just how much of a perfectionist I am really am (just ask my wife). I wanted to build a brand that hung its hat on performance and integrity without in-your-face gimmicks and false claims. In the end, when I look down at an Axon board under my feet, it represents more than just a kiteboard to me; it is the culmination of years dedicated to a sport that I am proud to be a part of. It is a collection of all of the energy and positivity that you will find at all of our local beaches on a daily basis. I am thankful to get the opportunity to share the story of the brand and hope that the message makes all of us feel that we have ownership in our sport. See you on the water, come join the movement…

Ben has also been a team rider, R and D team member, marketing manager, and team manager in the years prior to starting Axon Kiteboarding. More information can be found at axonkiteboarding.com.

Caption: Ben Meyer, a rock star at heart.

A Master At Work John Amundson

Wed, 26 May 2010 09:07:00 -0400

“I have surfed all my life and am obviously influenced by surfing, but I am not one of these guys who will preach how it should or shouldn’t be done. When I have a kite in my hand I am kite surfing and want to push myself into positions that I cannot reach surfing.”—John Amundson

I first became acquainted with John Amundson by admiring his custom kiteboards at a local kitesurfing spot six year ago. The designs were clearly rooted in state-of-art surfboards and beautifully constructed for kitesurfing. The craftsmanship really caught my eye.
    As a kid, John surfed the beaches of Southern California and worked his way up through a local surfboard manufacturer, learning every aspect of surfboard making. His desire and commitment to make the best possible surfboards led him to move to Hawaii more than 20 years ago. John’s move to make surfboards in Hawaii was risky as there was already a long list of established shapers making surfboards for the best surfers in the world. Luckily for the rest of the world John’s determination to create performance boards collided with a still formative kitesurfing industry. That, coupled with John’s amazing talents as a surfer and kitesurfer, has propelled him to recognition as one of the top kitesurfers in the world as well the most sought after kiteboard designer.
    Since my first encounter with John I have had the privilege of traveling to some of the world’s best wave-riding spots with him; his kitesurfing is mind-boggling and still improving. John’s mastery of his kite is so subtle that you often forget he is kiting at all. John is always a celebrity at whatever windy spot he shows up to, with photographers flocking to capture images of his deceptively smooth and lightning fast wave riding.

Give us a little background on your shaping history.
I was 16 when I shaped my first surfboard. I had always admired the local shapers, these guys were always held in high regard and were given the highest respect. I guess this was part of what attracted me along with my natural ability to put things together. I always loved working with my hands. The early years where great experience for me, the foam blanks where thick and rough. This taught me to visualize my design inside of a very rough piece of foam and slowly whittle my surfboard out of it. Over the years the blanks became closer to a finished board and then came computer-aided machines. But having that early shaping experience has been a huge benefit to my shaping skills.

Tell us about your first job in the surfboard industry at Magic Glass.
I was 17 years old when I got my first “formal” job in the surfboard industry with Steve Dempsey and Magic Glass. I remember getting the call from Demps, he was a craftsman that was considered the best in the industry. I was full on over the moon that he called me to come and work for him. Over the following two years I became very good friends with Demps as he taught me many life lessons as well as instilling in me the pride of being a top craftsman. Most work days would carry over into some late night antics. During the day I would be honing my surfboard craft and by night we where mastering the art of laughter. I had some of my best times in that surf shop.

What about moving to Hawaii?
All through my school years I knew I was going to be on a plane as soon as I graduated high school. I felt as though I was in prison counting down my days until my release. I moved to Hawaii in 1989 and have been on the North Shore ever since. My early experiences on the North Shore where crazy. One afternoon I was going to surf my favourite surf spot, which is in a quiet little neighborhood. As I walked around the corner I see one of the local “heavies” jumping up and down on the top of this red Camero swinging a piece of wood, fending off a very pissed off and very big Green Beret looking guy. When the local guy made eye contact with me he instantly recruited me as back up and yelled “come on, come on.” Can you say conundrum? If I didn’t charge in to battle I would surely reap a long-term cold war with my local buddy and if I did charge in I would surely get mopped by this government-trained badass. For a split second the military man looked at me, at that moment the local guy jumped off and ran for cover. I was off the hook. That was my first experience with the dark side of the North Shore. Over the years the North Shore has become home. The place is so unpredictable and extreme both in and out of the water.

Over the years I often hear you separate the words shaper and designer. Why?
As a young “shaper” in my early years I thought I knew so much about the art of making boards that worked well. The fact was, I made boards that worked well or even great but also had my fair share of lemons. I was more of a “shaper” at that point as my designs where more luck than design knowledge. About 15 years ago I started designing on a computer program that allowed me to design with amazing accuracy and allowed me to make changes to any aspect of a board design that I previously tested. The progression was immediate and constant. I now have thousands of proven designs on file that include kitesurf, strapless, freestyle, speed, course, distance, traditional surfboards, standup paddle, tow-in surfboards. I feel that I am a much better “designer” now, the whole design is very calculated.

Explain the relation of your prototyping with the customer feedback that you get from all the people who ride your boards.
As I said before, I am always tweaking my designs for signs of improvement. When I get some improvement I am always keen to get the feedback from others. I always encourage my customers to give me feedback on their boards. My customers are one of the most important parts of the development of my designs. My customer feedback is also very important to help me to better understand the next customer. For example, I get an inquiry from a larger intermediate rider that is dealing with lighter winds and has a cruiser surf style, I talk with my customer extensively to understand all his or her needs and then design off of a proven design that had great feedback from a previous customer with their same needs. This method has proven to be 100 per cent effective in delivering a board that works insane for that customer.

I know you have made boards for some of the best kiters in the world. Do they impact the designs that you make for your customers?
Professional kiters are so good that they can normally make anything work, so my answer would be not really for my normal customers. My customers that are professional level would benefit from the previous feedback I received from a professional but they are just a part of my business.

Tell me a little about your background as a waterman.
I grew up in southern California as a third-generation surfer. I have always loved the ocean whether I was surfing, bodysurfing, diving, fishing or paddling. A little over 10 years ago I started kiting. I am so grateful that this beautiful sport came into my life, it has opened my mind to other waveriding such as tow-in surfing and standup paddling. As important, kiting has broadened my board design palette. My understanding of surfboard design has improved from designing kiteboards, in fact, all my board designs benefit from my better understanding of the other. Sorry, off the subject. I now enjoy both freestyle and wave kiting, surfing, standup paddle, and tow-in surfing.

What is in the back of your van?
I always have a full quiver of Rebels and Fuses, I double up on my 7s and 9s as these kites are very vulnerable to the North Shores heavy waves. I carry three bars, if the surf is going off at my favourite spot I will surely swim in at least two times and have two balls of string that will be dismantled over a beer later that evening. I have my favorite 5’9’’, 6’, and a dedicated 6’ strapless board. During the winter months I have a couple 6’ tow-in boards as well as a couple of life vests. Most of the time I carry around a 9’6’’ SUP with a few paddles. I am pretty sure my van and its contents are covered on my home owners insurance.

As a kite waverider, describe your style of surfing waves.
I am into total progressive performance. I have surfed all my life and am obviously influenced by surfing but I am not one of these guys who will preach how it should or shouldn’t be done. When I have a kite in my hand I am kite surfing and want to push myself into positions that I cannot reach surfing. I want to be part of what is to come in the future and not just mill over what we have already done in the past.

What about your preferences? Hooked or unhooked? Strapped or strapless?
This question is like a stale fart! I am looking towards the future of kite surfing. All four of these styles are completely legit and I embrace them all in the appropriate conditions. I think in the next few years most kite surfers will be using all of these methods to elevate their performance levels, the rest will be left in the dust.

You mentioned “the right conditions.” What are the right conditions for hooked and unhooked?
I am still trying to figure that one out. The other day I went out at my local spot and my first 10 or so waves felt funky, let me clarify that, I was riding like crap. Those first 10 I was hooked in and the wind was, in my opinion, perfect for it. Wave number 11 I unhooked and surfed that wave unbelievable, the rest of the session was unhooked and perfect for it.
   My style of unhooked is a bit different than most. I like to unhook, do my bottom turn and top turn, and then hook in and de-power as I hit the bottom of the wave, this allows me to be deep in the wave and ready for the next section. If the wind is light, there may not be such a need to hook back in, if the wind is strong the hook-back-in method prevents the “hyper-extended arm syndrome.”

Today when we where on the water I saw you hooked in, as you went into your bottom turn you let go of the bar and executed your bottom turn and top turn. What the heck is this?
Ha. That is something I did for the first time the other day when I was totally in the zone and it felt so good I have been adding it to the repertoire. What I do is park the kite at around 10 o’clock as I go into the bottom turn I let go of the bar. The top turn is executed entirely hands free. As I finish the turn I grab the bar and regain control of the kite.

Who inspires you?
Anyone who rides for themselves and follows their own style. I think I am inspired most by all riders, be it with a smile on their face or just simply ripping.

Parting words?
Enjoy yourself and smile. Don’t be afraid to offer help to a fellow kiter. Who knows, he may have a cute sister.

Rapid Fire
Five things you couldn’t travel without?
North Kites, Amundson Boards, passport, bling, a bag of candy
Drink of choice?
Bintang
Other interests?
I have a new challenge at any given time, the latest is building a new CNC surfboard shaping machine.
Your current ride/car?
Honda van
Favourite thing to cook?
Big steamy barrels
Dream trip?
My dream trip was to Indonesia this last August with my bros on the Discovery. The cuisine was decedent and the waves where insane.
One word your friends would use to describe you?
Predictably unpredictable. Sorry, that’s two words.

At home in: Oahu
Best surf break: Pipeline
Best Breakfast? Cafe Haleiwa
Best lunch? Ted’s Bakery, shoyou chicken
Favourite place for dinner? Haleiwa Joe’s, prime rib
Place to chill with friends: Rockza
Your local riding crew: Reo Stevens, Dan Moore, Kevin Senns, Skip Wonderlick, Felix Pivec, Davey Blair, JB and Alexis Bilderback, Bo and Marigold Zoll, Jerry Bess, Lono Humphreys, Jesse Fergison, Scott Jones, Eric Emodt.

Final Word: Should kiteboarding be an Olympic sport?

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 10:30:00 -0400

There is a movement to see if we can get kiteboarding to become a medal event at the Olympics. Kitesurfing is a modern high-performance sport that would surely make an awesome addition to the Olympics event lineup. Let’s look at what it will take to get kiting through the door of the Summer Olympic Games, and what disciplines would have a chance of making the Olympics.

Since the events for the 2012 Olympics have already been decided, the first shot for kitesurfing to become an Olympic sport would be at the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro.
   Kitesurfing’s best pathway to becoming an Olympic event is through its membership within the International Sailing Federation (ISAF). This body organizes, recommends and selects the Olympic sailing classes and disciplines; ultimately deciding which Olympic events compete for Olympic medals. Since last year, kitesurfing through its International Kiteboarding Association membership within ISAF is now an Internationally Recognized Sailing Class, which is the first step to gaining Olympic status as a new sport. This makes us well positioned within ISAF’s political infrastructure to push toward Olympic inclusion.
   It looks like there is no way we could bring freestyle kitesurfing to the Olympics as a separate stand-alone or exhibition sport. Politically this is near to impossible. Being part of the Olympic infrastructure under the umbrella of ISAF is the best way to possibly add to or replace one of the 10 current Olympic Sailing Classes, which are all Course Racing classes. Kitesurfing’s discipline of Course Racing could include Border-cross Racing and we would have the option of freestyle being recommended as an Olympic exhibition event. Now that kitesurfing is in an established Olympic infrastructure like sailing the push can begin to get Kite Racing into the Olympics.
   IKA is currently in the process of making a submission to ISAF’s Events Committee for Kite Course Racing to be one of the 10 medal sailing sports for the 2016 Olympics. Keep in mind that trying to bring a new sport into the Olympics does not come easily. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is trying to reduce the number of Olympic events and number of participants in the Summer Olympics at all times.
   Currently the 10 Olympic Sailing Classes we are fighting with for a medal spot are all well situated politically to defend their positions within the Olympic family, so it will be a big challenge to bring kitesurfing to Olympic medal status. Our strength comes from kitesurfing being a new and popular high-performance and inexpensive sport that is growing worldwide with a developing international infrastructure. In a way kitesurfing promotes itself towards our Olympic aspirations.
   When IOC, through the ISAF, decides which classes will race for Olympic medals, it makes its decisions on some of the following criteria: Performance of the equipment, is it a new and modern form of sailing, cost, worldwide availability and if it raced worldwide within an organized infrastructure. This is how windsurfing became an Olympic sport in 1984, and is a model we will use to see if we can get kitesurfing into the Olympics.
   The latest modern kite race boards are super high-performance and are close to being the fastest of all sailing craft currently being raced in a wide range of conditions in over 60 countries around the world. Kitesurfing can be raced right on the beach in 12 inches of water in winds of five to 35 knots, making it a perfect spectator sport event to be run off Rio De Janeiro’s famous beaches during the 2016 Summer Olympics.
   The push to the Olympics is certainly supported by the best kiteboarders out there. You just have to look at the list of the top pro kitesurfers who have taken interest in the racing discipline and are currently racing worldwide to see the support this movement currently has. It includes: Martin Vari, Sky Solback, Jesse and Shawn Richman, Sean Farley, Adam Koch, Charles Deleau, Abel Lago, Damien Leroy, Ken Winner, Chip Wassen, John Modica, Bruno Sroka, Billy Parker, Kevin Langeree, Dirk Hanell, Gisela Pulido, Kristine Boese, Steph Bridge, Melissa Gill, Angela Peral, Kari Schibevaag, Clarissa Hempel.
   Ultimately bringing Kitesurfing to the Olympics will be a long uphill fight. We are going against some well-established competitors, including catamarans and other cool sailing classes like the foiling Moth. Kitesurfing’s mass appeal is that it is one of the purest forms of sailing that can be practiced almost anywhere there is a little wind and water.
Wish us luck!

—Michael “Gebi” Gebhardt - IKA Olympic Ambassador

Gebi has been kiting since 2000. As a retired professional windsurfer he has won Silver and Bronze medals in Olympic windsurfing competition. He is currently an avid kiteboarder competing in racing. He also coaches speed sailor Rob Douglas and current course racing World Champion Sean Farley and designs fins for Curtis Fins. He is sponsored by Lynch Associates, Ozone Kites, The Black Dog, Kaenon Sunglasses, Da Kine and Curtis Fins.

World's First Category Four River Kitesurfing

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 09:41:00 -0400

“A simple pull down into one of the many seams behind the wave would tangle him irrevocably in his lines, and impede his ability to swim towards the surface. All too often he had been pulled down into the deep blackness of Mavericks’ anterior room, silent, crushing, black.”

Let me start off by saying, this is not a typical article, set in a typical place, or a typical wave, in a typical environment. Or by any means, was this ridden, by a typical rider. First, the place: the Lachine Rapids, on the St. Lawrence River. Picture 2.6-million gallons per second of water pouring over a series of shelves, reefs and rocky outcroppings. This drops 45 feet in less than a 3/4 of a mile creating a series of thunderous, awe-inspiring, chill-inducing river rapids, which definitely would be the last place you’d want to take a kite. But Julien Fillion is probably one of only two or three people in the world with the kite skill and whitewater experience to handle such a gnarly environment.
   Dreams. We all have them, and we all work towards them. For most of us, our dreams are based on something that we’ve seen on TV, in a movie or magazine. But for Julien Fillion this dream was something that no one else had done, and no one else had, to his knowledge, even thought of.
   From an early age Fillion used the waters of the St. Lawrence around his childhood home in Hull, Que., as a place to grow his water roots. What Fillion didn’t know was these experiences and skills were helping him prepare for his future dreams.
   “Two years ago, in order to take my goal to the next level, I teamed up with Corran Addison, one of the godfathers of river surfing,” Fillion said. “Together as a tow-in team we’ve mastered the Lachine Rapids using a Jet Ski to tow into waves just like I do in Hawaii during winter to tow into big outside reef waves, and we have learned as much as you possibly can about these rapids.”
   Addison has been tow-surfing the river waves of the Lachine Rapids in Montreal for the past eight years and has over 30 years of whitewater experience under his belt. Addison is no stranger to firsts either; in the late ’80s he held the record for highest waterfall drop in a kayak at 101 feet, a record that stood for nearly two decades. And his extensive knowledge of river waves in a whitewater setting helped the Addison/Fillion team to test and design boards to surf the river waves.

   “The Lachine Rapids, and specifically the river wave called Mavericks, is a unique environment to surf. It’s big, pushy and dangerous,” Addison says. “The converging currents create whirlpools and thick seams that pull downward towards the river bottom 30 or 40 feet below. The bottom is littered with underwater caves, and probably shipwrecks from the late 19th century. Thirty-second pull downs are common when surfing Mavericks. And I’m just talking surfing, not kitesurfing where you have other things like lines to worry about as you’re getting tumbled below the surface.”
   Fillion’s and Addison’s convergence of river surfing passions meant two years of tow-in sessions.
   “We would surf one, two, sometimes three times a day. I had to log endless hours or river surfing in small and big waves like Mavericks to gain the confidence I needed,” continued Fillion. “Just understanding what happens when I crash in fast currents was an invaluable lesson that I needed to learn.”
    April 16th, 2009 started off like any other day for Fillion. “I went to the coffee shop, opened my computer, and checked my e-mail. Then I checked the wind for the day” he says. “The wind wasn’t particularly strong, maybe 12 knots, but the arrow for the wind direction was pointing NE.”
   It was the moment Fillion had been waiting for. He immediately placed the necessary calls to Addison and Yanick Larouche, fellow river surfer and kiteboarder. They would drive the Jet Ski and work safety. The best winds looked like they’d come right before dusk, and so it was planed for late afternoon.
   “It was such a surreal day. The sun was shining and the wind was the perfect direction. That almost never happens,” Fillion says.
   As the crew assembled, Fillion had the greater part of the day to gather his thoughts and focus on the task ahead. In moments like these, it’s almost better to dive in and go without too much reflection or consideration for the consequences. These thoughts are distracting, and counter-productive, but the human mind works this way, and Fillion inevitably began to consider all that could go wrong.
   A simple pull down into one of the many seams behind the wave would tangle him irrevocably in his lines, and impede his ability to swim towards the surface. All too often he had been pulled down into the deep blackness of Mavericks’ anterior room, silent, crushing, black, all thoughts to remaining calm, and go through the rehearsed motions: reach down for the board leash, pull in the board, angle it upwards and hang on and ride the rocket to the surface.
   But this was not going to be possible. All efforts have to go into keeping the kite flying. A flying kite was a kite less likely to tangle around his body in the water, but this also meant the “lifeboat” to the surface was not going to be there; there would be no way to grab the board and ride the train to the top.
   These thoughts are followed by deep anxiety. What if? Gloom, despair, and fearing the worst. Family, loved ones, and commitments all swirling about in your head begin to enter the consciousness. What will they think of this? Will they see it as young folly, or understand the pursuit of a dream, and quest for life on his own terms?
   “I had to clear my head, and concentrate on the task at hand,” Fillion mused, as he turned and looked out into the distance, as if taking stock of all the puzzle pieces that lay interlocked behind him, his journey down the path to this moment.
   Addison and Larouche mounted their Jet Ski with Fillion following on his own, and made their way out into the thunderous rapids.
   “There is no wind onshore, so we had to launch my kite from a small rocky outcropping in the middle of the river,” Fillion pointed out. “Using a Jet Ski is the only way to reach these rocks, and the driving is very technical.”
   After manoeuvring his way to the rocks and anchoring one of the Jet Ski’s Fillion launched and made his way into the rushing current. As he crossed the first series of boils and seams, he knew that this challenge was going to be just as much a mental game, as a physical one.
   “As soon as I hit the current I realized that all my preparations I’d done were going to pay off. It was like nothing that I had ever done before. The current was so strong and moving in the opposite direction as the wind,” Fillion recalls. “Everything seemed bigger and faster. Going upstream and downwind requires constant down-loops and small direction changes, but I was also going to have to adjust things on the fly.”
   Fillion down-looped his way upstream, picking his way through wave trains and seams and arrived at an area known as the pick-up spot.
   “I watched Julien hit the pick-up spot just behind Mavericks, where we grab each other after falling when surfing. It’s a giant flat boil in the middle of chaos,” Addison pointed out. “Fillion charges hard in everything he does, but there was an almost imperceptible pause here as he made a last-minute decision. This was it. Go, or no go. I’ve been here enough times in my life to know what this moment is. Complete and total commitment from this point on is vital. It’s not an easy thing. I don’t care who you are, and what you’ve accomplished before. At these moments, your heart skips a beat every time, and for a brief instant, you feel like you die.”
   That moment passed almost unnoticed, and the game was on. With a down-loop of his kite, and a determined drive of the board’s edge into the current, he almost leapt forward as he headed straight through the last set of waves and dropped into Mavericks.
   “As I pulled in for the first time I had another moment of realization,” Fillion says. “This wasn’t like dropping into an ocean wave with the wind and waves basically going in the same direction.” What Fillion suddenly had to compensate for was the fact that the wave itself doesn’t move in relation to its geographical location, but the wind wants to pull the rider upstream and slightly right of the wave.
   “I had to instantly adjust and learn to fly my kite backwards in the window to keep it from pulling me off the wave,” laughs Fillion. “But once I’d done that the real excitement kicked in.”
   Addison and Larouche watched as Fillion dropped in deeper and deeper and started to get a rhythm going on the wave face, increasing the amplitude and power of his turns. “Julien is probably the only person I know that could combine the skills of a kitesurfer, whitewater kayaker and surfer to pull this off,” Addison adds energetically. “It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.”
   Fillion was starting to enjoy the moment as he became more comfortable with the wave, riding hooked then unhooked, laying down deep laid out carves, lip smashes and huge snaps. But then in the middle of all the excitement and the relaxation that comes with comfort, the inevitable happened.
   “I was really having fun when I dropped in and did this deep laid out lip smash that felt really good. But Mavericks is a strange wave and in that instant it doubled up on itself, and jacked up to almost twice its usual height,” Fillion says. “The fins broke free, and I went over the falls, landing with both feet planted squarely on the middle of the board. There was a sudden powerful shock up through my legs and knees as I impacted the rushing green water below, and then everything went black as I broke through the board, snapping it clean in two.”
   Now, normally in kite waveriding you just power up your kite and continue along body dragging to safety. But this is a totally different environment; the current is pulling you in opposite direction that your kite wants to go. The farther downstream you get the lower your kite gets. Eventually it ends up crashing.
   But Fillion was faced with another problem as the wave wasn’t finished with him yet. That blackness was soon replaced by blinding light as he was pulled up and over the falls, once, twice and then, darkness. Crushing, terrifying, silent. Almost loud, booming with total silence.
   “I was shooting pic after pic and at first I didn’t think anything was wrong,” Addison recalls. “But then I noticed his wingtip getting closer to the water.” Fillion was being thrashed around and being rolled in his lines. Right before he disappeared from view, pulled under, I saw him reach for his back lines, and the kite climbed up into the air. But Julien was gone, pulled down into the Green Room.”
   Larouche had the Ski down onto the collection zone in seconds, surveying the position where the lines entered the water. “I just kept calm and thinking to myself, keep the kite up, keep the kite up,” Fillion says. “If it stays up I’ll be OK.”
   About 15 seconds after he’s been pulled under, Fillion broke the surface, hands still on the bar, the kite still overhead. He flashed a quick “OK” hand signal to the Ski crew, who moved out of the way giving him room to untangle himself from the lines just in time to stop the wingtip clipping the water. The ski picked up Fillion, who sat on the back flying the kite back to the rocks where the second Ski lay anchored.
   There he sat contemplating leaving it at that. Addison and Larouche sped away to retrieve broken parts of the board, and get the backup board from shore a mile away. Much like the mind games that had played with Fillion before going out, so new ones evolved. These could develop into unreasonable, paralyzing fear, or be channeled into useful information and a learning curve.
   Fillion took it in stride. “The lull gave me time to sit and soak it all in. After coming to grips with what had happened, I was ready to get back out there. We’ve broken boards in this wave before because when you fall on it the water below is so hard and fast you hit with a terrible shock, so I wasn’t surprised that it broke when I landed on it like that.”
   The learning experience of that first ride, and all the new variables that were thrown in with the kite that he hadn’t dealt with before while surfing the wave over previous years showed immediately, and each ride after that was better than the one before.
   “We were sitting on the left of Mavericks, in the base of the wave just inches in front of the growling, rumbling pile about as close as I could get the Jet Ski to the critical part of the wave. I could see Julien’s kite heading down the line towards the wave, but I couldn’t actually see him,” Larouche recalls. “But all of a sudden, he exploded off the top of Mavs and dropped back in. As a kitesurfer and a river surfer myself, it was a moment that I’ll remember for a long time.”
   With each ride the carving turns became more dynamic, explosive, and Fillion’s true colours as surfer and kitesurfer shone through.
   As the threat of darkness encroached, Fillion dropped in one last time. He rode for about a minute, doing a few small turns and some long drawn out carves—more of an encore than the climax to the day, until finally he looked up at the crew on the Ski, gave a small wave, and pulled off the backside of the wave and headed back towards the moored ski.
   As they headed back to the docks, one can only guess what it must feel like for Fillion to drop that last piece of the puzzle into place, step back and look at it complete for the first time.
   “When I got home I showered, got dressed and sat in my living room for I don’t know how long,” Fillion says quietly. “I didn’t even turn on the light, I just sat there soaking it all in.”

Working with a kiteboarding photographer

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0500

One of the biggest challenges for photographers is shooting riders that are new to being photographed. Here are some tips from them to make sure your first big photo session goes well.

Look at the camera When working with a kiter I haven’t shot with before I usually joke that I’ll have to train them how to ride again. This is because when working with a photographer you need to ride for the camera. Do tricks where you can look at the camera, so when you get home and look at the shots, it’s not just a bunch of ass. —Stephen Whitesell

Know where to do the trick Make sure you’re aware of what lens the photographer is shooting with and where to line up. For example, with a fish-eye lens you have to ride pretty close. —Tracy Kraft

Be productive Remember, there’s nothing worse for the photographer than for the rider to make one trick near him, continue past, do three more moves and drop the kite. If a photographer has to wait ten minutes between moves he can shoot, he will soon feel he’s wasting time. —Stephen Whitesell

Go with the flow When shooting with a crew, try to get into a flow so that nobody is getting cut off. There tends to be a lot of “traffic” near the photographers. Organized traffic is a good way to avoid anyone getting frustrated. —Tracy Kraft

Be creative Don’t make the photographer come up with all the ideas. Survey the area, find out what direction the light and wind are coming from. Based on those criteria do tricks to favour your body’s rotation in the desired direction. This will help the photographer walk away with more face and less butt shots. —Bryan Elkus

Land your tricks Try to pull tricks that you can stick for the first half of the session. Magazines are leaning more and more to using shots from a sequence in which the rider pulled the trick. After you stick a few sick sequences, go for broke. Hold the grab and try not to spray yourself in the face. —Jason Wolcott

Wait for the sun Don’t do your best move of the day when a cloud blocks the sun and ask, “Did you get that?” Think, wait for sun and ride for the camera. —Stephen Whitesell

Tweak it out Just because you can do a Double S-bend to blind with a Back Mobe out doesn’t mean it is going to photograph any better than an Indy Grab. In fact many times the more simple tricks, when tweaked out, prove to work out better. Learn your grabs and tweak them out! —Bryan Elkus

Don’t hit us Camera gear is expensive, as well as medical bills, try not to hit us. —Tracy Kraft

Give thanks Buy the photographer a six-pack or a burger. They spent three hours standing on the beach or swimming in the water while you had fun. It’s kitesurfing, so we all know the photographer is not getting rich, he is shooting for the love of it. —Jason Wolcott

Think body position As the rider, do not look at the camera when being photographed. It looks very unnatural and awkward 95 per cent of the time. Instead, the rider should be paying attention to their body position or better yet making sure they are grabbing and poking out the trick. —Bryan Elkus

PKRA 2009 World Tour TV Show - Episode 2

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0500

26 minutes Highlights TV show of the 2009 PKRA in Germany. Be sure to check out the interview with the new world champion Kevin Langereeand at the 8:45 mark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_wyrEXq65w

New 2009 Kiteboarding World Champion

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

PKRA 2009 WORLD TOUR Official Result

With the final event of the year wrapping up in New Caledonia, Kevin Langeree was able to capture the the overall freestyle world title from 5-time champion Aaron Hadlow.

Here are the overall standings.

Men:
Kevin Langeree (World Champion)
Youri Zoon - 2nd overall
Aaron Hadlow – 3rd overall

Women:
Bruna Kajiya (World Champion)
Joanna Litwin – 2nd overall
Karolina Winkowska – 3rd overall

"It feels so good I can still not describe it my cheeks are sore from sliming all day! I've been pretty busy answering all my emails that I had over the last few day's. I want to thank everyone for the messages it's just awesome to read all of them.

I also did two radio interview with GIEL and BNN those are two of the most famous radio stations in Holland. I also did interviews for the Spits, De Telegraaf and NU sport those are really famous newspapers and news websites." —Kevin Langeree

Here is also a clip from extremeelements.tv:

"So this year has sort of come to a disappointing end for me. I feel like it finished pretty harsh for me in the end, there was 4 events this year with 1 discard, my best 3 results were two 1st and a 3rd but unfortunately there was less points in Fuerte so that 1st place ended up being a result that I had to discard? I thought that was a sort of weird rule but I guess thats the way it goes. So for sure a combination of events didn’t work in my favor this time around, if the points stayed the same in Fuerte I think I would have won but they were the rules this year so now it is time for me to move on and forward and see what 2010 brings." —Aaron Hadlow

TOP 10: Funniest things heard while selling kite gear

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

1. Where do you put the fuel?
2. What about all the fish... I mean the sharks... I mean the whales and dolphins... I mean what if you’re afraid of water?
3. I know it’s the most awesome kite, and it’s on sale, but I need something to match my board, what other “styles” do you have?
4. How much food do you take with you?
5. If I carry my fins onboard, do you think airport security will think they’re Chinese weapons?
6. What is this nipple for?
7. Sold... I’ll take the kite and board, do I really have to get the harness?
8. All the lines scare me, can you do it with just one?
9. I’m afraid of heights... do you think I can do this?
10. That’s pretty pricey, what else can you do with it... I mean the kite does more than just fly, right?

Adam Von Ins is the owner of catchsomeair.us in South Carolina.

Preserving Your Kiteboarding Access

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

As you crest the hill you can see whitecaps all across the lake, it must be solid 9M weather at least. Anxious, you can feel the adrenaline start to rush as you get closer and closer to the beach. The same beach you have frequented for the past seven years. It is a rather nondescript beach, but it is perfect to kite from, easy access to the water and you can kite from South-west-north wind. The best part is that it is an hour from the city so you can make it there after work. As you get to the beach you don’t see a single kite in the park, strange you think. Yet there is a large group of kiters gathered in front of the park, the group is discussing the no kiteboarding sign
   Unfortunately this is not a fictional story, this just occurred to a kitesurfing beach north of Toronto in Georgina, Ont. The beach has been closed to kiting. To learn from this and protect your beach from being closed down here is some of the history that brought us to this point.
   Two years ago the local kiters started discussions with the local ward councilor for the area who was getting complaints from the residents that whenever it was windy they could not get into the park as it would be filled with kites, and that these same kiters would park everywhere in a frenzy to get to the water. The kiting community came up with some rules that we all agreed to, and ran them by the town and local ward councilor. It seemed to make sense for everyone. The rules were pretty simple. They were to keep the kites on one side of the park. Don’t rig more kites than you are using. Do not lay your lines out unless you are ready to launch. And park courteously. Over the course of time the local kiters, who became known as the grumpy guys on the beach, would try to educate other kiters on the rules. They would move kites that were up against the kids’ swing sets, and would gather up lines that were left laid out. We became known as the grumpy guys, as we attempted to police the rules and protect the park that is 10 minutes from our homes. In the end we failed.
   On a windy day, kiters would show up... park wherever they could (and get ticketed as the neighbours called the town), then blast into the park. They would ignore the rule that said use one half of the park only as locals would attempt to communicate to everyone that the beach would be closed if rules were not followed. The park which is 100 feet by 150 feet would have 40 kites on it... kites and lines everywhere! A mad rush as people trying to get their kiting fix. It seemed inevitable that the town would close us down.
   Behind the scenes, the local residents kept calling their councilor, who lobbied the local parks department and ultimately they were successful in getting kiting banned from this beach. A few lessons were learned here, the biggest one is that you can not assume you have rights to a beach. They can be revoked instantly.
   Most kiters are very reasonable, but few take the time to read rules when they reach a beach in a frenzy. What is the biggest change each of us can make when we kite? ASK ABOUT THE RULES WHEN YOU SHOW UP.
   As one of the grumpy kiters who tried to protect his local beach (and failed) I can tell you that I must have told the same story hundreds of times. About 50 per cent of the time kiters ignored the rules, stating that it is a public beach and I have no power to impose rules on them... after all they have just driven an hour in brutal traffic to get here, and the last thing they want is someone telling them they have to follow some rules.
   Contrast this with when a new kiter shows up an asks the rules. There is no confrontation, they are eager to kite, but don’t want to mess up kiting for themselves or anyone else. These kiters, once the rules are explained are the same kiters that now help educate others on why the rules are there and encourage others to follow. This also eliminates any contention with the locals riders who again, tell the same story hundreds of times a weekend. These new kiters tend to be welcomed in quickly and we get back to what we all enjoy, which is kiting.
   None of us like rules. We love the beauty and adrenaline rush of kiting, but we need some self-imposed rules or the local residents will police us with a less than desired result. So the simple learning is ask the rules when you get to the beach, be proactive in your community and help other kiters to do the same. This way we can stop more beaches from being closed.

Tell us what you think! Visit the SBC Kiteboard blog at sbckiteboard.com.

Acrylite Kiteboard: The world’s most expensive kiteboard

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

When I was asked by a photographer in late 2008 if I could see the potential of using a fully clear board, I thought it was a joke. Then I thought, “Why not?” We started to work on a project we called Acrylite ride. I sent the company specifications for the board and some months later I held my new fully clear ride in my hands.

It’s built from 15mm Acrylite which has been CNC shaped. After the inserts are installed the holes get filled with liquid Acrylite. For the scoop rocker line the board is pressed and heated in an oven to the right temperature and then formed over a rocker stick to get the correct scoop line. All the surface as well as the rails are hand polished for the most perfect and shiny see through look. Cost of the Acylite prototype project? $10,000!

Acrylite had never been used for a kiteboard before, so I had to be quite careful my first ride. I was riding, pushing the rail a bit harder with each pass, then doing first turns and checking out the flex. All seemed to be OK. Here I was, on a perfect sunny day in the North Sea of Germany with two-metre waves and the perfect wind for a powered-up 12m Rebel and I had the day of my life.

I was riding the waves with my new board seeing very clearly, the water underneath. I could see the sand running by. It was insane! Once off the water I got comments from the spectators, “When you were in the waves we could only see you riding, no board, no nothing. It looked crazy!”

I am already dreaming about going to places like the Maldives with crystal-clear water to enjoy my new ride even more. I will keep you posted. —Dirk Hanel

Be sure to check out the action photo on the Contents page of the Fall 2009 issue of SBC Kiteboard magazine.

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Kiteboarding Wakestyle Roundtable

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The Switchblade IDS is now in its fifth year and it has clearly made its mark in the wakestyle world. We talked with arguably one of the best wakestyle riders Andre Phillip, cable park monster Greg Norman Jr., filmmaker/rider Kevin Steen and Kitescoop’s Adam Anton about the kite and how to galvanize the movement to take it to the next level.

In the early days on the bow kites, wakestyle guys questioned whether the Switchblade kite was going to be effective for unhooked riding. Four years later, the fifth generation Switchblade is a favorite among wakestyle riders.
What changed?
Adam: I think people just started being more open minded, realized they felt great even for wakestyle and the trend began. Of course it didn’t hurt that guys like Dre were riding them from the start.
Dre: In the early days when I first tried a bow kite, I hated how it felt but at the same time loved the advantages that the design would bring to kiteboarding (relaunch ability and more depower than a C shaped kite). The bow kite wasn’t originally designed to be a kite ridden unhooked (it sat too far back in the window and would stall when unhooked) and therefore it sucked in that department. Throughout the years we have been making adjustments to the Switchblade in order to make sure that it is a good design for unhooking and have the benefits
of being a bow.
Kevin: Even though the Switchblade is not a C kite, it has grown into one of the smoothest and most legit kites out there. With the input from the design team and Dre they have really raised the SB to the level that wakestyle riders are looking for. You never have to worry about it as you try to learn those new manuvers so wakestyle riders have opened up to it.
Greg: Bow kites always had a bad rap, but the Switchblade now has got it nailed. It sits perfect in the window. Has constant power. Perfect for both flat water and hitting kickers and sliders.
But the best part is it feels just like riding the cable park.

Many of the riders coming from a wakeboarding background rely on a smooth consistent pull that mimics the feel behind a boat or cable. How does the Switchblade compare to other kites in terms of that “pull” riders are looking for?
Adam: I think there are a lot of kites that give just as good pull as the SB when unhooked, but they don’t get you back upwind as good and they feel like you have to ‘work’ even when you’re hooked in. It’s like the SB has the best of both worlds. Nice and light in your hands and easy to fly but when you unhook the steady power you want is right there.
Dre: The Switchblade is one of the smoothest kites I have flown. It cruises through choppy wind and is a very predictable kite. It also has a constant flow of power that makes it easy to pull against when you are throwing tricks.
Greg: I joined Cabrinha because I was looking for a kite to give me the cable feel. With previous kites I would have to worry about flying the kite while throwing tricks. The Switchblade stays where I want it to stay in the sky. And I can just ride.
Kevin: Exactly. I feel most riders are looking for a kite that they can park in the window and not worry about it, while it gives them proper pop and slack while doing tricks. The Switchblade delivers smooth pull in even the most adverse conditions.

Wakestyle is evolving like everything else in kiting. What do you believe it’s about these days compared to in the past?
Dre: Wakestyle has never changed. People are still doing it with their kite low and riding in boots, throwing
tricks, hitting rails and ramps. The only thing that is different these days is that more people are doing it and the riders are getting better.
Greg: Yes, before it seemed limited only to the number
of riders committed to the style. It’s now at a point where we can go out and separate ourselves from other riders with our own style.
Kevin: I believe wakeSTYLE is all about the style. It’s all about how smoothly a rider can do his tricks. Riders have always been pushing this, but I feel with more riders riding wakestyle, we are going to witness kiteboarding style taken to a new level.
Adam: As far as trends, it’s definitely about the obstacles these days. Getting technical on rails and also just being creative and finding new obstacles to ramp, slide, bonk, whatever it may be.

The informal jam sessions and rider judged contests are gaining popularity in all action sports arenas. When will we see this take hold in kiteboarding? Will this replace the traditional freestyle tour?
Adam: I really hope so! If there’s one thing that action sports have in common is the freedom it gives people to be creative, no rules, no limits, and because of this you will see the best tricks being thrown down when riders don’t have the pressure of doing heats. There is a camaraderie that is unique to these sports as well and riders do better when they are with their friends just pushing each other and having fun, not thinking about trying to stick a certain amount of tricks before the clock runs out. So the riders have more fun and the spectators get a better show, everybody
wins.
Dre: It seems like they are already starting to take hold in kiteboarding with the Triple S, Gorge Jam and Core Jam. I think we are gonna see more of these style events in the future and hopefully it will take over the dangle tour.
Kevin: Jam sessions have been popping up all over the world recently, and they are mostly just a crew of riders putting
a rail or a kicker out at there home spot, but they truly are the best type of event. However, I do hope that larger jams and rider judged events start happening so that riders from all over the world could come together and ride. And yes these should replace the freestyle tour...for sure.
Greg: I feel jams have their place as does the typical contest.
Whatever you’re feelin’.

Parks have been popping up everywhere. Much of the new park hits have come from the skiing / snowboarding
terrain parks. What features have you been hitting recently and describe the challenges involved in translating it to the water.
Greg: I only hit parks that are on the water so I don’t have a hard time translating it to the water. But I love gappable or transferable features or a kicker.
Dre: I’ve been hitting handrails, boxes, A-frames, kickers, big drainage tubes, barrels and stuff. The only crappy thing with hitting obstacles behind a kite is the fact that we have to tune the angle of the obstacle with the direction of the wind so it’s extra work but once there is a crew of people willing to help out its not too bad.
Kevin: Recently we have been setting up some really random stuff, anything that is cheap and fun to session. It’s pretty funny to setup an obstacle with no clue if it will actually work, and session it with the friends. It is a bit of a challenge setting up stuff up in the water for kiting but at the end of the day it’s well worth it.
Adam: I live in the Caribbean so I’m not doing much snowboarding. But you will definitely be seeing more bonking going on in kiteboarding soon. It’s a lot of fun and its something different to sliding for a change, and you can get really creative with bonking obstacles.

Although wakestyle is growing in popularity, its still a niche aspect to the sport. What needs to happen for it to flourish in the kiting world?
Dre: I think it is still niche because it’s harder for one to progress the way we are riding as opposed to riding with footstraps and your kite at lunchtime, so it is just a product of itself. This is why wakestyle will attract the youth and core boarders that take pride in letting hard work pay off. I think that more exposure in the mags, videos etc will help it flourish along with things like Kitescoop.com that offer a place to get together, talk crap about wakestyle and see what is happening with that side of the sport.
Adam: Exposure! I think kids need to see the wakestyle side of kiteboarding because it will appeal to them much more than the type of kiting thats mainstream now. Also if the gear was cheaper i think you’d see the numbers growing more.
Kevin: I think we need just more people to try it. Throw a pair of old wakeboard bindings on your board and go for a session. Also people riding wakestyle in footstraps is just wrong. Footstraps are for beginners, all experienced riders doing wakestyle should be in bindings. Wakestyle’s gonna take over you’ll see.
Greg: For our sport to flourish, the wakeboard industry has to realize we do the same thing. The lines between what they do and what we do need to disappear so wakestyle can take over!

Related Links

Boot Camp: Why Boots?

2010 Cabrinha Switchblade

Getting to Know Dre: The Andre Phillip Interview

Who's That: Kevin Steen

Kiteboarding Forums - KiteScoop.com's Adam Anton

Nuke Tantrum

GREG NORMAN JR. JOINS CABRINHA TEAM

Kitesurfing Durban, South Africa

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

“Durban’s where you want to go, that’s where it’s good, Cape Town is beautiful, but the kiting is in Durban.”

Most ideas, good or bad, seem to come up after a few beers with a few good friends. This idea was no different. It started somewhere around the halfway point of Richard Sills’ four-and-a-half-month-long stay on the North Shore of Oahu. I found myself sitting in the local bar with Richard and a few other South Africans, struggling keep up with the drink count as well as the conversation. I seemed to understand the words coming out of their mouths, but the many of the ideas were definitely lost in translation.
I ended up sitting quietly, steadily drinking my beer as I listened to the conversations. They would vary from the typical exaggerations of how good each other’s rides were that day, to the inevitable “sepo” vs. the rest of the world argument that we all love and hate. The talk randomly strayed again when all of a sudden and moving in sync like a pack of meerkats, they all looked at me and said: “Hey, we need to get you to South Africa, you’ll love it!”

South Africa has always been a place I wanted to visit, but I never really thought of it as a kitesurfing destination that was right for me. I have heard long and lengthy tales of Cape Town’s wind and waves, and how the world’s best freestylers like Kevin Langeree, Ruben Lenten and Aaron Hadlow spend months training there in the off-season. But the idea of 40-knot winds and ice-cold water never tempted me enough to fly the 30-some hours to get there. As I start to express my contempt toward cold water, I’m quickly interrupted with, “Durban, Bru, Durban’s where you want to go, that’s where it’s good, Cape Town is beautiful, but the kiting is in Durban.” I must admit that I was relatively ignorant about this part of the world and was intrigued about the possibility of somewhere new to kite and visit. Legitimately interested, I began with my usual inquires, “How are the waves? What wind direction is it? When is it good?” As well as an assortment of non-kite related questions such as, “How much? And what else is there?” Many of the questions were answered with little to no surprise, but one answer had me puzzled. “The wind can blow whatever direction you want.” Durban is not only home to great beach breaks, but also has a unique wind pattern. There is no prominent wind direction; each day is unique. One day you could find yourself riding lefts and the next riding rights, each direction as good as the last. With over 20 kilometers of unobstructed coastline as crooked as an $11 bill and countless beach breaks, Durban offers just as much variety and quality as a buffet at a five-star hotel. From going left, to going right, barreling slabs to pushy shoulders, onshore, side-shore, to offshore; Durban offers the true “one place fits all” conditions for any rider.
   After that night a rough plan was set, Richard’s four-and-a-half-month-long stay would come to an end along with my school semester and this seemed like a worthy plan to fill the fast approaching summertime doldrums.

   After three layovers and 30 hours of flying from Hawaii, I finally find myself curbside at the Durban International Airport. I sit there like a lost puppy hoping that Richard happened to check his e-mail sometime in the past few days so he knew that I was coming and to pick me up. Sadly, this is not so and after about an hour I realize he likely isn’t coming and I start to scratch through my bags looking for the obscure little piece of paper that I wrote Grant “Twiggy” Baker’s phone number on. I finally find the number crumpled in my backpack deep in the pocket that I never use. I eventually find a phone on the other side of the airport and buy an obscenely overpriced useless souvenir to get some change to make a phone call. I call Twiggy, who is my only hope at this point, only to be devastated to find out that he is in Jeffrey’s Bay for the WCT contest. He still tries to help me out, however. “Don’t worry Bru,” he says. “My girlfriend Kate is there, I’ll call her, she’ll help you out, here’s her number. Call her in five and it’ll all be good by then.” I give it a few minutes and call Kate, “Hey Reo, I found Sills, he’s at the beach and is on his way to get you.” Saved! Ten minutes later, Sills races up with a big smile and a surprised look on his face. “How’d you get here so fast?” he asks me. “I just got in this morning and I left two days before you. I never had a chance to even see if you were coming, wad a shocker! Well, let me make it up to you, the boys are at Billy’s bar, I hope you’re thirsty.”
   We make our way into the local bar where Richard is nothing short of the local hero partly mixed with the court jester. Everyone knows him and they are all completely entertained with his stories of the road. It takes us a half hour just to make it in the door because he couldn’t seem to take two steps without running into someone screaming, “Sillsy, you’re back!” and bombarding him with questions of his recent adventures. By the time we made our way in through the front door I felt like I’d met half of Durban and felt like I was from there myself. As we make it up to the bar, a seat instantly cleared for Richard as if it had his named carved into the backrest and without notice, an ice cold Marzen Gold was placed in front of it. The king was home and his throne was set. A few hours and many meet-and-greets later, the 12-hour jet lag was catching up and I found myself turning into a narcoleptic walking around Billy’s randomly falling asleep standing up. I discover Richard feeling the same effects and he agrees it’s time to go home. “Good night’s rest and we’ll find some wind and waves in the morning.”
   The next morning I wake up after a 15-hour catch-up sleep to find that Richard was cursed with a 2 a.m. wake up due to the jet lag. He starts to fill me in on what he’s been up to for the past eight hours and starts quoting scenes from the latest Harold & Kumar movie that he just watched. I quickly try and change the subject after the “burnt asshole” joke and ask about the conditions. He seems to have an entire plan figured out and fills me in on where we’re going to check first and if that’s no good, where we’ll check next. He seemed to have a backup to the backup plan, obviously having a productive sleepless night. What followed was a “welcome to Durban session” offering up some of the best beach break kitesurfing waves I’ve ever had. The surf was overhead, the wind was blowing sideshore out of the left and there was not another kiter in sight. I end the session coming to the conclusion that it doesn’t get much better than this. On the ride home I can’t stop thanking Richard for talking me into coming down, and he simply replied with a smile and a long list of more things to do. “Wait till we do a downwinder, it’s like a 20-kilometre wave, or wait till the wind blows the other way, there’s another spot that is even better, or wait till we take you for a bunny chow. That’s even better.” I am a little overwhelmed, but hey, if there’s more I’ll take it.

While Richard and I were reaping the benefits of the wind and swell with solo sessions, Twiggy found himself heading down to Cape Town to be on hold for the Red Bull Big Wave Africa contest. The BWA is a big wave paddle-in competition that is held at a local wave called Dungeons, which is not for the faint of heart. It is a very large, shifty, extremely cold-water wave that requires an hour hike and long paddle with a lot of big fish swimming around that would love to eat you. Sounds perfect for a best of the best big wave contest huh? A large swell was forecasted and Richard was scheduled to commentate for the online webcast of the contest. Since we already had a few really good kite days and light wind in the forecast, Cape Town seemed like a good option. We quickly booked our tickets for the two-hour flight south to meet up with some of the big wave legends from around world. We arrived the next morning to a swell that seemed to be living up to all expectations, resulting in one of the most exciting shows I’ve ever seen. I somehow squeaked my way onto one of the boats and got to watch the majority of the contest a few hundred feet away from the channel. As we got closer to the lineup the size of the surf was hard to judge, but one thing was for sure: it was huge. It was so big that the waves seemed like they were breaking in slow motion. The conditions were perfect. The surf picked up as the day went on, leaving the surfers scrabbling for the channel at least once a heat. During one of the heats a set came through that caught all six surfers like a massive avalanche, leaving four of them with broken boards in its wake. As the day went on, I saw one spectacular ride after another. Twiggy used his local knowledge and go-for-it attitude to make his way to the final, eventually winning the contest by catching what he called “one of the biggest fucking waves I’ve ever paddled into.”
Two days later we find ourselves on a plane back to Durban. There was still surf and a mix of wind directions in the forecast. Twiggy was chomping at the bit to get back and get some waves on a kite. He seemed to still be riding the high of winning the contest and a few bottles of Patron from the night before and couldn’t wait to get back onto the water. We returned to overhead surf and wind blowing from the right. We got the first session with the all three of us out. I found it funny that two days prior, Twiggy was riding a different class of conditions than what we were riding that day, let alone a different sport altogether. Nonetheless, he seemed to fall right back into the groove and showed us a new spot and some of the first backside riding I’d seen this trip. With the trip coming closer to an end, I still hadn’t seen the wind switch direction. I was beginning to think that the multiple direction wind was a bit of an exaggeration, but the very next day when I woke up there was something different. That morning when we went for a surf check with our coffee cups in hand Sills said, “Look there, see that? Were gonna go right today.” A few hours later we showed up to the same spot Richard and I kited a week previous and for lack of a better description, everything was the same, but different. The point break on the other end of the beach cleaned up, the wind was blowing out of the other direction and it had become a whole new playground.

In the few days that followed, I got filled in on the variety of conditions that Durban had to offer. Truthfully, two and half weeks was not enough to see and do everything. The kiting is good enough to make you want to kite everyday, braais (barbecues) with more meat than you could ever eat (one had a whole lamb for 15 people) combined with the allure of long nights with good people call for the occasional rest. I left wondering why I was leaving, the wind and waves were still up, my place to stay was still open, and I still had things to see and do, but I was catching a plane to Indonesia and the memories I had of the year before were keeping me from changing my schedule, so it didn’t seem all bad. It was a great time and more to do is just a reason to go back.

Spot Check
Closest Airport: DUR
Best Winds: August, September, October
Best Surf: April, May, June
Average Kite Size: 7, might need a 5
Cost Factor: Low, Med, High—low but if you want to live like rockstar Twiggy it could be high!
Local Tourism website: www.kzn.org.za, www.durban.co.za
Local Shops: cyclonekiteboarding.com, ocean2air.co.za
Wind and Surf forecast resources: windguru.com is usually spot-on for Durban.

FORUMS: Top five Kite Scoop threads

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

What can we say about Kite Scoop that hasn’t been said already? Apart from being the number one forum for wake style kite boarders to congregate, its reputation precedes it as being the most outspoken ‘hold no punches’ type of forum in the kite world. It was launched in 2004 and since then it has had a strong following of riders from all over the world. The Scoop has always had a reputation for having un-filtered, un-biased information which in some ways turns people off because of its abrasiveness, but its also why so many people love it. Scoopers don’t tippy toe around topics for the most part, they shoot straight to the point. So amongst all the jokes and smack talk what you will find are some of the most honest reviews around. They also don’t sugar coat anything so if you’re claiming tricks that aren’t done properly or with style, you’re gonna hear about it. With plans to expand the Scoop in the very near future, you’re going to see some of the best riding in the industry being documented along with heaps of new features that will keep you coming back for more. So if you haven’t signed up already and you wanna be part of the movement, come join us, we’re always looking for more troops ;)

Some of our fav recent threads:
1 Here's one about a member who got screwed by Delta Airlines. He ended up getting some useful information on how to get in touch with executives at Delta.  
http://kitescoop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3910&start=0

2 The Gypsy Wake Skate Project. Really cool story about a traveling wake skate. 
http://kitescoop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3254&start=0

3 A healthy debate about the progression of kiteboarding
http://kitescoop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3727&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

4 Amazing photography by Lance Koudele.
http://kitescoop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3454

5 Another funny debate about kite surfing. These are always funny lol.
http://kitescoop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3214&start=0

Interactive Kiteboarding Map

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The SBC Kiteboard Interactive Map features links to Ride Guides, Beach Web Cams, Local Shops, and action videos from the world's best kiteboarding destinations.

View Best Kiteboarding Destinations in a larger map

Legends at the Abyss - Part Two

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

"But it’s not just the quality of the wave and wind that makes this spot
most definitely too good to be true. It’s that we’re the only ones here."

By the next morning our hoped-for swell has arrived in full. We are anchored on a thin shelf at the end of a thick right-hander that wraps purposefully along a deep-water pass into the inner lagoon. I’ve been awake all night; partly on anchor-watch due to our tenuous hold and partly in anticipation of what the break will be doing come daylight. “Waaaaaaaaat?” screams Moehau before the sun has cleared the palm trees. I take a look and am too stunned to muster anything but “my god.” The break has doubled in size and side-offshore winds have tuned them perfectly for kiting. Months of tension depart my body like an exorcized demon and I finally relax. We are going to get the goods.
    Today Scott, Bruce and I ride with Pete, who seems to always glide effortlessly into the biggest wave of the set. We experience the thrill of witnessing Moehau drop ludicrously deep and the pleasure of witnessing Mauricio’s notorious style. Kristin has already charmed each of us onboard and now she’s taming giants and taking her own beatings and I’m thinking: how could this girl do all this AND be a Playboy cover model?
   During a lunch break Bruce asks Pete, who certainly has some verified wave knowledge, where this one ranks on his own Richter scale. Pete’s smile grows and he replies “9.9.” But it’s not just the quality of the wave and wind that makes this spot most definitely too good to be true. It’s that we’re the only ones here. Each of us swears an oath we will never give this spot up but the fact is there is almost no way to get here anyway. When we leave the wave will be as vacant as it has been since the beginning of time.
     The day is replaced by coal-black skies and the winds howl through the rigging. I set the anchor alarm as heavy rain keeps me from sleeping on deck to maintain an eye on things and just after everyone has settled into bed the alarm blares. A quick check of the depth gauge and radar confirms we have lost our holding and are drifting down quickly on a leeward reef. I race to the engines while my First Mate raises the anchor. We’ll have to beat up the reef 10 miles to the first pass and a better place to spend the night, an uncomfortably wet and raucous affair that leaves me exhausted. But the move proves valuable. The pass is now picking up swell and the wave is immediately compared to Fiji’s infamous “restaurants,” but a right-hander that peels a deliciously long time. We launch from an island Jody reckons is “stupid gorgeous,” and we agree this is the only appropriate descriptor.

Moehau Goold gets deep and pays the price. MacDonald photo

   It’s only on day four that the crew is already getting up a bit later. Hips are bruised, legs are sore, skin is burnt and three cups of coffee are required instead of one. Inspired by what I’ve seen, I inflate my 8 m kite, hit the water for a stint and come home with the first and thankfully only painful injury of the trip with a blown ear drum after dropping in a bit too deep. Painful not from the blow but the ensuing infection, which feels distinctly like someone drilling an 1/8th inch drill bit into my brain. At the same time the pain is muted by the fact it’s the most fun I’ve had kiting waves in my life.
   Regrettably we make the decision to let bodies repair and plan a travel day to the next atoll, 70 miles distant. We head out of the deep pass through a maze of reefs, the only sounds breaking the silence are the flutter of the deeply reefed sails and long breaking waves, remnants of the swell we’d surfed gleefully in the days gone by. Only hundreds of metres clear of the atoll the depths plunge to 10,000 feet and beyond. Unabated winds whip the seas into an angry and impressive froth. Discovery careens down the swells and I marvel at her resilience. Pete draws the scene in his sketch pad as one of the fishing lines sings its magic song. An hour later Scott lands a 120-pound mammoth Yellow Fin Tuna. Sashimi is served promptly and great slabs of succulent meat are added to the freezer.
   Off our starboard bow a light-blue line runs like a straight-edge into the distance until it disappears, the first sign of our destination. Outside this line we travel on a nearly bottomless sea, inside the line an enormous lagoon and we hunt for an entrance through the reef. There isn’t mention of this atoll in any cruising guide or any travel guide. This line seems to demarcate the end of the earth, the abyss—we have reached the farthest reaches of man. Never in all my travels by sea have I felt so remote, so far from anything. But the atoll is not uninhabited. There are people living on its small isles at the perimeter of the lagoon who approach us in hand-made wind-powered canoes with gaping honest smiles and baffled, inquisitive looks. They receive no visitors. I had spoke with other “yachties” who had spent years in the Marshalls, not a single one had ever come here. I searched the Internet, not a single hit. We have come to the very edge of man’s reach.
   The one pass into the lagoon is identified. It is deep yet narrow, two dark-blue lanes that Y to the north and south, hemmed on each side by thriving coral walls that come to within inches of the surface. Huge schools of magnetic blue bait fish move in unison along the barrier. Everyone jumps off the stern so Discovery can tow them along for a better view. I have never, ever seen a place like this. The beauty is beyond words, and I am gaffed at any attempt.
   We travel under sail in no hurry to reach whatever destination lies ahead. Miles of pristine reef pass at a languorous pace; each of us lost in easy thoughts, our minds sponges for our surroundings. In time, we reach a lone isle at the northern extremity of the lagoon. The anchor sinks into deep sand in 35 feet of water in what must be the largest swimming pool in the world. Locals approach in outrigger canoes made from breadfruit trees that seem much too small for their owners; big men in pygmy-sized boats.
   The village is filled with smiling children, proud mothers, and finely-featured grandmothers and we are literally welcomed with open-arms. They delight with hoops and hollers in seeing their faces on the camera’s LCD. Pete has it right when he says we should just stay forever. We should.
   In the coming days we play for hours on yet another break and the pros somehow find the energy to entertain the locals on the flatwater in front of their village. Children scream and clap and adults gape and laugh. We sit with the local teacher on his floor, drinking coconut water. Someone asks what the biggest problem is for the community here. The man laughs a bit, looks lovingly at his wife, innocently at us and replies, “Problems? We have no problems here.” Life is like this, at the end of the world.
   In the final days we each come to our own conclusions, we’ve each had our own highlights. We all agree it has been the trip of a lifetime but maybe that is too cliché? I can easily call this one of the best places, no... one of the best moments of my life. I’m confronted with a similar feeling as it all comes to a close, one I can never shake when trips end and I imagine is shared by my peers. The feeling is sadness. These magnificent days that seemed would never end have indeed drawn short. Another trip behind us, one fewer in front. I find I am monumentally thankful and appreciative of this crazy life we have carved out for ourselves but I am all too conscious of how fast it goes. Like the swell, like the wind—it comes... and then it is gone.

The Best Odyssey is a five year world kiteboarding expedition headed up by the author, Gavin McClurg. The expedition would like to thank Continental Airlines for their generous support. To find out more and see a short video from the trip, please visit www.offshoreodysseys.com

Marshall Islands: Kiteboarding Guide

View Interactive Kiteboarding Map in a larger map

Getting there: Continental Airlines (www.continental.com ) is the only airline to service the Marshall Islands. 3-4 direct flights per week from Honolulu or Guam

Staying there: On the main island of Majuro, the best bet is the Ramsey Reimers Hotel. It’s clean and very friendly, and they’ll arrange small boat trips to some great kiting spots away from the town.

When to go: Strong trade winds blow mid-December through April during the NE monsoon, 24 hours a day. For even more wind and sun, head north in the Marshalls, but getting anywhere outside of Majuro requires an offshore-capable boat as the domestic airline (two planes) is grounded.

Bring: Everything you might need, plus some. There are no kiting schools or centres, which means you’ll have it all to yourself, but you’ve got to fix what you break (read: BIG WAVES in the Marshalls). Go heavy on the medical kit, the hospital is poorly supplied.

Contact: The Marshall Islands Visitors Authority. They are very helpful and delighted to have visitors (the Marshalls get very few).

If you go without a boat: You won’t have a chance to get to the outer atolls, but you can visit Arno, just 30 miles east of Majuro. The atoll boasts great waves, nuking winds, very laid-back attitude and there’s talk of a local getting accommodation set up just for kiters…

Barrelled in the Marshall Islands

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

"The pass is now picking up swell and the wave is immediately compared to Fiji’s

infamous “restaurants,” but aright-hander that peels a deliciously long time."

We’ve prepped for this day for months and now that it has arrived I feel miserably behind schedule. My new First Mate was supposed to show up a few days ago but she missed her flight in Honolulu. This means that instead of handling the expedition’s inevitable logistics nightmares I’ve been making beds and cleaning heads. I’ve only been able to root up the scarcest of information for our planned itinerary; the supply boat hasn’t arrived to stock the stores with goods; my “to-do” list remains way too long. It’s tropically hot and humid and my brain throbs, insisting I give it and my body sleep instead of the endless cups of coffee which have kept me going the past few days.
   We’ve been operating trips like this for 11 years; you’d think I’d be more relaxed. But today is different. Today our guest list includes four of the finest wave kiters in the world. These people travel the world seeking out the best there is and I’ve talked them all into coming to a place most people have never heard of. I know it’s windy, I know it’s remote, I know from the charts there’s a good chance for waves, but beyond that it’s a crapshoot. It has all the ingredients of what will hopefully be a grand expedition, but my usual optimism has been replaced with rampant doubt.
   My handheld VHF barks to life. “Discovery, Discovery, Discovery this is Bilderback.” It’s game time. Our crew has arrived. I slosh down another cup of coffee and crumple up the to-do list. Things will have to be left undone. I race into the wharf with the dinghy to meet two large vans; one stuffed with jet-lagged bodies, the other with gear. Smiling faces emerge and I am instantly more at ease. A great expedition begins with great people and in this regard we are not in short supply.
   I meet Pete Cabrinha for the first time but we embrace like old friends. His body is sculpted from a lifetime of surfing and, though slighter than I imagined, he exudes strength and power; yet his smile is humble and magnetic. I turn to meet four-time world champion Kristin Boese and am instantly smitten. She is a goddess, there is no other word. Moehau Goold and Mauricio Abreu return for their third trip on the Best Odyssey and I’m already anticipating watching these guys go to work. John Bilderback and Jody MacDonald will capture all the action on film and camera. Two guests and shareholders round out the kiting group (the boat operates as a time-share for like-minded kite explorers): Bruce Marks, a lovable doctor from Australia and Scott Wisenbaker, recently relieved of his obligations in New York as part of a recent Goldman Sachs “reorganization.” Sole, our Chilean chef tells me she’s scored what she needs at the store, and I finally meet Pia, our new First Mate, also from Chile.
   I give a quick safety brief after everyone gets settled and describe the itinerary. We must sail a long way to get to a place that beyond what lies on the chart, little is known. The Marshall Islands stretch over a great expanse of the Pacific Ocean some 2,000 miles west of Hawaii and consist of 29 atolls dotted with more than 1,200 islands scattered around their perimeters. Only two are serviced by air. The rest are sparsely populated, fantastically isolated and inaccessible except by an offshore-capable yacht. There is no safety net where we’re going. No hospitals, no stores, no supplies.
   The first leg of the journey takes 18 hours at a moderate pace. Bilderback’s stomach disagrees with the motion in the most violent of ways and my own doubts increase. What have I gotten us into?
   The island has two passes on the north side and the first proves totally flat. It has promise, but there is no wave. I’m on the brink of tears as we sail down to the second pass. What if we completely bomb out? I know these people are not the types to place blame, but I feel like I’m on the wrong side of a pressure cooker. Thankfully the second pass is picking up some swell and our forecast shows a big surge heading our way. We decide kiting is the perfect medicine for queasy stomachs and one by one everyone launches directly from the stern of Discovery. A dozen or so locals appear out of the trees like a mirage in the desert. We’d all assumed the island was deserted and I find myself staring at them in disbelief as you would an apparition. Their eyes are drawn to the sky for their first-ever view of kitesurfing, and soon they are whooping and crying out a song of “whoas!” and “wows!”

Getting Barrelled>>>

2009 Kiteboarding Buyers' Guide

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Building on the Foundations of Success

The evolution of both board and kite performance continues at a steady pace in 2009, and one overlying question continues: When will the steep incline of performance enhancement start to taper off? Last season we saw both a refinement in performance when it came to third-generation bow and SLE designs, and also an influx of new radical kite shapes and bridle configurations.
    Bow designs like the Cabrinha’s Switchblade and Crossbow saw marked improvements in direct feel, bar pressure and turn initiation. The SLE revolution continued along the same lines, with better handling and direct steering that both intermediate and advanced riders demand. Innovative new shapes and design concepts from many companies also emerged. If you look at the skyline of local kite beaches today, you can see the diversity of these different designs. Distinct shapes line the sky from companies such as Naish, F-One, Globerider and North.
    Wind range, stability and safety features have welcomed and widened the kiteboarder demographic and made kiteboarding more accessible to more people around the world. For 2009 the performance revolution shows no sign of slowing as R and D teams build upon the foundations of their proven technology and ideas. It could be argued that in 2009 the performance of these newer innovations has really started to take form. In that sense, 2009 is as ground-breaking as any other year before it.
    Some kites may not look like they have changed as drastically as other years, but the performance is in the fine details. In fact, the measurable success of improved handling, stability, water relaunch capability and overall kite performance shows remarkable improvement across the board. Every kite tested this year had a good measure of improvement in certain areas. So if 2008 wasn’t your year for a new kite or board, get ready for a real treat—2009 models are even more impressive.

Brand Profiles: A , B , C , D, E , F , G , H , I, J , K, L , M, N , O , P, Q, R , S , T, U, V , W , X, Y, Z

Getting into the sport
For beginners and intermediates who wish to conquer the basics and beyond, every company out there has something for you. Remember not to sell yourself short and get an older model or used kite because you believe you might trash or grow out of a new model.
    The 2009 kites tested have improved stability across the board and this means less tendency to back stall, fall from the sky or become turbulent and twitchy in gusty situations. All of the kites tested also have better water relaunch capability than ever before. Some of the top picks for fast and effortless water relaunch include the Cabrinha Crossbow, Liquid Force Havoc and the Naish Cult.
    More and more of today’s models are suited to a wider range of skill levels and disciplines. Kites like the Best Waroo, the Eclipse Nano and the Ocean Rodeo Rise have performance that let you learn easily but can easily take you to the next level and beyond.

Evolution of bar and safety systems
Kites have come a long way to improve safety, with foolproof systems and instant depower. For the most part, the pulleys on the bars have been eliminated, and more direct steering and control are evident in every new 2009 kite.
    Every new kite buyer at any level should take the time to study, learn and practise using the safety systems. Most bridled designs utilize the long doubled back trim line that attaches below the bar. When you engage the safety, the trim line pulls through and doubles in length, thereby engaging and pulling flat both sides of the bridle along the leading edge of the kite. This type of safety works as long as the bridles are working and both front lines are attached.
    Many kite bars also have additional fail-safe flagging-line capability at the bar ends. This is a great feature for added safety. Other safety systems use a mini fifth line that attaches up through the bar for single front-line flagging or a similar double front-line pull that also kills the power. The fifth-line hybrid kites and five-line C kites have a line that runs up through the bar to the apex of the leading edge. This is the most foolproof safety system because no matter what happens to the other four lines or bridles, the kite is flagged and powerless because you’re attached to the apex of the leading edge.
    Quick-release trim loops have also been improved in recent years and every company has a working easy-to-engage chicken loop. It’s also important to understand how your chicken loop operates and be sure to keep them clean and clear of sand so they can be engaged when you need them to be.

Versatile performance across disciplines
With improvement in depower capability, overall stability and direct steering characteristics, its evident that many kite models are blurring the lines between disciplines. Kites have become more versatile than ever before and can be used in a wide range of conditions, from waves and flatwater, to freestyle, old school or big-air boosting.
    Bridled designs feel more like C kites, and C kites and five-line hybrids have better depower capability than ever before. Each kite does have specific character that suits certain personal preferences and makes it better for one discipline over another. But looking at the whole picture, 2009 kites are better equipped to handle a wide range of different water and wind conditions as well as the diverse disciplines of freestyle, wakestyle, waves or simple freeriding.

Advancement in bridle systems
In 2009 bridle configurations have been tweaked on almost every model, improving stability, water relaunch, and overall durability and longevity of the bridle system. Many designs like the Airush Flow FT, the Eclipse Nano and the Naish Helix have reduced or eliminated the number of pulleys on their bridles. Companies like Liquid Force and Cabrinha have also led the way in reducing tension and compacting the bridle system to ensure superior stability of the foil. This is why many kites in 2009 have such superior stability than earlier designs.

Depower and range
All of this evolution in foil shape, bridle configurations and systems have attempted to increase the depower and range of the kite while at the same time maintaining direct steering control and ultimate stability. Depower is one aspect that hasn’t changed that much for 2009. The difference is in the ability to control and steer the kite while in a highly depowered position.
    The success of this increased usable wind range can be seen at every local beach. Sometimes it becomes disconcerting because the average rider is using too big of a kite for the conditions. Kiters should remember that just because you can fly a big kite in a ton of wind doesn’t mean you should. You can have a lot more fun and learn a lot more when you’re perfectly powered as opposed to overpowered.

Smarter construction and material enhancement
As kite ranges increase at both ends of the wind spectrum, they are being flown into more wind for greater lengths of time than ever before. This has forced kite models to incorporate tougher materials in critical areas as well as improve durability of seams and workmanship. Some people wonder why the price of kites has remained fairly static over the past 10 years, but the quality of workmanship and materials has increased substantially. You get more for your dollar than ever before, and the test team was impressed with the entire 2009 kite lineup when it came to construction and materials.

The rise of racing speed and upwind performance
For 2009 kites are faster and more efficient upwind than ever before. It’s no wonder kiteboarders broke the 50-knot barrier in 2008 flying 2009 designs. Narrower leading edges and increased foil efficiency are driving faster and better upwind than they have in the past. Board designs are also faster and smoother, and have kept pace with the rise of speed and racing performance.

Here are just some of the highlights of the boards and kites available in 2009.

Brand Profiles: A , B , C , D, E , F , G , H , I, J , K, L , M, N , O , P, Q, R , S , T, U, V , W , X, Y, Z

Airush

Airush was born on Maui in 1999 as the world’s first kiteboarding accessory maker. Soon after, Airush introduced many of the board technologies and designs that are the forefathers of today’s kiteboards. With the launch of inflatable kites in 2002, Airush quickly became one of the most trusted names in the sport. Approaching 2009, Airush is rooted in a philosophy of high quality through technical advances based on the principles of innovation, refinement and progression. Based in Australia, Airush has assembled the highest-quality athletes, design and product development team. —Dave Tyburski

Product highlights: Throughout our board and kite lines we embrace differing preferences and styles by creating an innovative product line that embodies kiteboarding today while progressing forward, offering products for where the sport will be tomorrow. Our Converse and Choptop surf line cover the wave junkie’s every need, and our Switch, FS and X-Pact freestyle and freeride boards are on the cutting edge of performance. Headlining for the kites: the Flow FT and soon-to-be-released Vapor III, a versatile performer that merges improved unhooked performance and heightened boosting characteristics perfect for aggressive freeride and freestyle riding.

Website: airush.com
E-mail: info@tridentsports.com
Designers: Mark Pattison, Benoit Menetrier
Shapers: Colin McCulloch, Clinton Filen

Amundson
John Amundson has been designing surfboards for over 25 years. His designs include kiteboards, surfboards, standup paddle and tow-in surfboards. His kiteboard design platform includes surf, twin-tips, mutants, speed, course and skim. A custom board from Amundson starts with a phone call or email to determine the customer’s size, the conditions he rides in, ability and the type of board he wants. Amundson then designs around these particular needs. When ordering an Amundson custom, you don’t have to compromise; you get exactly what you want and need out of your kiteboard. Amundson custom boards are the most current cutting edge designs available.

Product highlights: “The newest additions to my kiteboard line are my speed boards and course raceboards. Recently, Rob Douglas broke the overall world speed record on an Amundson custom speed board. The other addition, customs course raceboards, have won races in Canada and have been strong in races around the world. Coming into another surf season here on the North Shore of Oahu, I am excited about developing and prototyping new surf designs, and delivering the best available kitesurf designs to my customers.”—John Amundson

Website: amundsoncustoms.com
E-mail: john@amundsoncustoms.com
Shaper: John Amundson

Best Kiteboarding
At Best we have one simple goal: to make kitesurfing more fun for more people than any other brand. We make kiting gear because kiting makes us happy; we love to kite and we love people to kite with us. There’s no secret recipe or magic sauce at Best; just a lot of kiters working hard making gear for other kiters. —Simon Clark

Product highlights: Best’s kite designer Peter Stiewe has taken kite construction to the next level this year with the introduction of our new leading-edge construction technology. Twister Tech integrates segments of Kevlar-reinforced cloth into our Cuben-equipped leading edge. Twister Tech allows each segment of the LE to twist in response to rider-steering input, giving you a kite that turns tighter and faster. Because the LE is made out of Cuben rather than Dacron, it is also thinner and stiffer, giving you reduced drag and greater stability in all riding conditions. It delivers a potent combination of pure performance and ease of use.

Website: bestkiteboarding.com
E-mail: info@bestkiteboarding.com
Designer: Peter Stiewe
Shaper: Shannon Best

Cabrinha
At Cabrinha, our goal is to bring innovations that matter to the world kitesurfing market. It’s about a design philosophy that delivers high-performance products with industry-leading security in an easy-to-use package. It’s about anticipating the needs of the user, leading the market with development in performance and security, and setting the standard in a sport that’s known for pushing the boundaries. —Todd Greaux

Product highlights: For 2009, Cabrinha has focused on the connection points between the rider and the equipment. Our new Intelligent Depower System (IDS) is designed to put complete control of the kite in the user’s hands. Whether it’s depower on demand, self-landing, or total depower for security reasons or self-rescue, the IDS bridle and Powerdrive IDS control system work in harmony to connect the rider to the kite with complete control while increasing steering performance and lowering bar pressure. The Sync backless bindings have reinvented the connection between body and board, providing a more direct feel and performance. With the security of bindings and the ease and flexibility of footstraps, Sync is a revolutionary solution that makes a secure connection between the rider and board with comfort, ease and performance.

Website: cabrinhakites.com
E-mail: support@cabrinhakites.com
Designer: Pat Goodman
Shaper: Ian Ponting

Caution
Caution began in 1998 when Peter and Poul Schiebel hand-built their first kite in a garage in Santa Cruz, California. From day one, Caution has aimed to build high-quality kites designed to withstand the challenging conditions faced in Santa Cruz. While initially focusing on high performance and pure functionality, the Caution design team has expanded its current design efforts to suit all levels of kiters. The culture of Caution is focused on making products that allow its owners, team riders and core customers to share a tremendous sense of pride in its current products as well as excitement for the future. —Brendan Richards

Product highlights: For 2009, Caution has introduced the Zombie, designed as a freeride kite that offers super stability with predictable and precise performance characteristics. The Zombie features a single inflation system, five-strut layout and simple four-line tangle-free bridal setup, offering riders reliability and the most out of their water time. Caution also offers the 2009 Mayhem, a high-performance kite with fast flying characteristics, precision turning control and increased durability while achieving competitive pricing. The Trespass line of directional boards has been updated with a new 6’, offering a wider template with more stability, great for those getting into waveriding as well as heavier riders.

Website: cautionkites.com
E-mail: sales@cautionkites.com
Designers: Peter Schiebel, Poul Schiebel

Crazy Fly
Crazy Fly started in 2002, with the goal of bringing the highest-quality boards possible to kiteboarding. This difference can clearly be seen in every board we build. From full carbon models to specialized components, there is no compromise to perfection. Every board is hand-built in our own personal factory, not just another brand in a lineup of production. We control every aspect of board construction and testing. So when it comes to choosing the right board for the right rider and his needs, we supply the largest range of boards of any brand, because we know all riders are not alike. —Jeff Howard

Product highlights: For 2009, our design team put an extended amount of thought into the internal lay-up of carbon and glass that would allow us to precisely control tip-to-centreboard flex patterns like no other. From this testing we created a board that rides smooth and calm when being loaded on the centre rail line to give the rider the utmost in upwind ability, yet it’s quick and nimble with a great amount of pop when fully loaded at the tip.

Website: crazyflyusa.com
Email: info@prokitesurf.com
Designers: Jozef Bukovcak , Jeff Howard

EH/Freak Dog
EH Kiteboarding is based in Cabarete, Dominican Republic, one of the top kiteboarding destinations in the world. In North America we are represented by Freak Dog kites, which is based Florida. EH is known for high-performance, no-gimmick kite designs. Our focus is performance and durability. Our kites stand out of the ordinary, and in extreme conditions EH kites are regularly the only kites left out on the water.

Product highlights: “The Beast is a modern hybrid that mixes SLE with ultra-flat technologies. This mix can pull a 155 lb rider on a plane in eight knots. Usable range for a 155 lb rider is seven to 15 knots on a Beast 15.
The Ripper Pro Team limited edition is a kite designed for the hardcore. This kite is absolutely bombproof, built to last for a long, hard life. Its smooth 15- to 35-knot range makes it a favourite for surfers and jumpers alike. The profits of the Pro Team go 100 per cent to our Dominican kiteboarding team.”

Website: cabareteairforce.com
E-mail: eric@ehkiteboarding.com
Designer: Eric Hertsens

Eclipse Kites
Eclipse was founded in 2006 by Chris Cousins and Dimitri Maramenides. From the start, our goal was to offer our friends and fellow riders a product that was specifically designed for them. We believe you need to have passion for kiteboarding in order to be successful. With that in mind, we made sure our entire team was made up of active kiteboarders. All of us plan our day around the wind. We all love our jobs and we want to pass on our enjoyment and passion to other riders. If one of our prototypes doesn’t work for us, we know it won’t work for you. If we don’t like a kite, we don’t make it.

Product highlights: For 2009, we spent almost triple the amount of time on R and D and design. We literally tested our kites from Hong Kong to Greece and back. We enlisted the help of pros and professional engineers, but most important, we had average riders help us design our kites better, simpler and smarter. After a lengthy R and D process spread over three continents, we were able to create the 2009 Kima, redesign the Nano and make the Thruster even better. Whether you are a recreational rider, seasoned freerider or experienced pro, Eclipse has a kite specifically designed for you.

Website: eclipsekites.com
E-mail: dimitri@eclipsekites.com
Designer: Dimitri Maramenides

F-One
All we do is kiteboarding. We are in this business by passion, not trend. F-One started back in 1998 when no one believed in the future of kiting. F-One’s offices are located 10 minutes from the sea, and being on the water as much as we can is a priority. F-One is a 100 per cent kiteboarding brand. Enjoying what we do and pushing the limits is part of our job. We are directly connected to the field, listening to schools, distributors, shops, pros as well as local riders. —Nicolas Ostermann

Product highlights: Last season, the Bandit was a major breakthrough in kite design, with its incredible combination of safety, relaunching capability and overall performances due to the Delta C-shape design. It was the first time a brand made the deliberate choice to have only one model in its range. This approach has proved to be a big success. We are keeping our concept and introducing the Bandit Dos in 2009. The wind range of the Bandit Dos is even wider, and you will be surprised by the low-end instant power and high-wind comfort. F-One is also introducing a brand-new surfboard line with its unique Bamboo Sandwich Technology. Bamboo is an incredible material for strength, comfort and is environmentally responsible.

Websites: f-onekites.com , kitebroker.ca (Canada)
E-mail: info@f-onekites.us (U.S.), info@kitebroker.ca (Canada)
Designers: Sylvain Peretti, Raphaël Salles
Shaper: Kakou

Flexifoil
Flexifoil is the only kite company in the world that offers a kite-sports solution no matter if you are a five-year-old flyer or a five-time world champion. We strive to continually improve and develop to provide our customers with a kite-sports experience that is second to none. Flexifoil has been making high-quality performance kites for over 35 years.

Product highlights: We are truly excited about our 2009 product offering. This year we have worked tirelessly, tweaking and refining to ensure that our products are world-class. We have listened to our customers and are confident that these products will exceed expectations for quality and improved performance. Our 2009 water range includes the Hadlow Pro (C-shape competition-winning performance with the pedigree of a five-time world champion), the Neutron hybrid (big on quality and performance, small on price—Flexifoil’s most affordable water kite ever ) and the Ion4 (even more bite from the performance hybrid). In addition, we have two new additions to our kiteboard range: a totally new freestyle twin-tip and freeride twin-tip.

Website: flexifoil.com
E-mail: sales@flexifoil.com
Designer: Dr. Henry Rebbeck

Flysurfer Kiteboarding
Flysurfer stands for innovation and straightforwardness. Customer satisfaction is our main goal during our quest to push the limits of our products even further. Flysurfer has become synonymous with bridled ram-air kite systems for water use in just a few years. From the beginning, Flysurfer has fought for its own path. Although that wasn’t the easiest way to go, it has proven to be the right direction. Flysurfer builds no-pump kites with exceptional depower technology, efficiency, ease of use and high quality according to German engineering guidelines. —Ramon Schoenmaker

Product highlights: The Psycho 4 has Triple Depower Technology, which combines three different ways of depowering into one kite through angle-of-attack change, profile change and the ability to change from an SLE to a C shape. This creates an enormous wind range with only one kite. Another benefit: when kiting overpowered you still have direct bar feedback. Jet-Flap Technology is incorporated into all models to ensure more lift and stability. Instant relaunch makes for an easy and fast water relaunch by just pulling one back line. Flysurfer kites relaunch within seconds. Double-skin profiles create efficient kites that can be flown one size smaller than SLE kites.

Website: flysurfer.com
E-mail: info@flysurfer.com
Designers: Armin Harich, Andi Hanrieder
Shaper: Eddy Lansink

Griffin
Griffin Kiteboarding has been evolving since 2002. We provide quality, high-performing, great-value products to kiters worldwide. —Selena Griffith

Product highlights: The 2009 Griffin kites are a flat hybrid-style kite with SLE technology, offering massive wind range top to bottom end, huge floaty jumps and quick turning as well as super-stable, predictable and overall fantastic performance. The direct-connect bridle suits all riders because it produces a direct feel and constant power. Turning speed can be adjusted to suit your preferences. The compact bridle insures against any tangles. Griffin kites are comparable in performance and build to any premium-priced brand.

Website: griffinkiteboarding.com
E-mail: info@griffinkiteboarding.com
Designers: Chris van der Plaat, Selena Griffith

Globe Kites
Designer Mat Pendle started Globe Kites in 2003 after previously co-owning Takoon and Wipika with Bruno Legaignoux. Now with his own company, there are no limits. This has led to many design innovations that have shaped the technology of today’s kites. The moving front-line attachment point common in most kites today was patented by GK. Now the A-KPO bridle is a GK-exclusive innovation for 2009, allowing you to change the balance point of your front lines. Eleven years of inflatable kite design has put GK at the top of product development. Design innovation and refinement of manufacturing techniques are a No. 1 priority at GK, not hype marketing and gimmicks.

Product highlights: Updated versions of the Trix and VSonic kites lead the industry once again. Laser-welded bladders, laser-cut material and a strong LE seam are like none other available. The A-KPO bridle system is now easier to move than ever before, allowing the rider to tune his bar pressure or turning speed. Within seconds, the rider can change the kite for an upwind racing kite to a kite-looping freestyle kite by moving the centre of effort, which is only possible with the A-KPO. The GK Click-n-Go bar is vastly improved for 2009. Chicken loop safety, simplicity and versatility were of paramount importance when designing the Click-n-Go.

Websites: globespirit.com, globekites.com
E-mail: info@litewavedesigns.com
Designer: Mat Pendle

GIN Kiteboarding
GIN Kiteboarding is based in Switzerland. Robert Graham has been designing kites since 1990 and has a background in paraglider design. GIN’s development philosophy and motivation are based on making high-quality performance products. This is its goal—not big marketing concepts. —Michel Montminy

Product highlights: Kitebroker is the North American distributor for GIN kites. We are pleased to introduce Eskimo III, the new kitesnow kite. GIN kept all the appreciated characteristics of the previous Eskimo and brought the best new features in innovation, safety and performance to the Eskimo III. The results are impressive. Designed for high jumps and hangtime, the new arc also allows for fast, precise turning. The safety system incorporates a fifth line for 100 per cent depower.

Website: kitebroker.ca , ginkites.com
E-mail: info@kitebroker.ca
Designer: Robert Graham

HQ-Powerkites
HQ-Powerkites has reached another level of innovation and quality for 2009. World-renowned kite designer Tom Bourdeau has teamed up with us to introduce an awesome new range, featuring our first water-relaunchable kite, the Neo. The development and production of our kites comply with the high standards we set for ourselves. Our passion for quality, performance and safety is matched only by our fascination of power kiting. At HQ, our engineers integrate our team riders into the development process from a kite’s initial concept. This partnership and team spirit yields high performance and user-friendly products you can rely on. Our products are backed up by our commitment to customer satisfaction. If you are not satisfied with HQ, let us know. We’ll do what we can to make things right.

Product highlights: HQ is launching a true crossover kite that will revolutionize kiteboarding. An innovative closed-cell design and bridle system allows riders to use the Neo on land or water, with the ability to reverse launch off any surface. The durable ram-air properties of the Neo eliminate bladders that can burst as well as the time spent pumping them up. HQ also introduces the Hydra, the world’s first and only water-relaunchable trainer kite. Extremely stable and easy to fly, this closed-cell ram-air foil has no bladders to inflate or replace, yet it floats on water.

Website: powerkites.de
Email: sales@hq-kites-usa.com
Designers: Tom Bourdeau, Alex Hesse

Jimmy Lewis
Jimmy Lewis is one of the few true hand shapers for custom kiteboards. While other brands save costs with square-cut rails that block and deflect water, Jimmy believes that riding on water calls for a fluid rail. This creates a smooth ride that forms to and releases from water with ease. The boards are finished with an automotive-quality paint that produces speed and a high-gloss finish unmatched by others. Jimmy has been working with the Kinetic Factory, which has produced all of his production boards for over 20 years because of its constant evolution in quality, construction techniques and materials. Kinetic replicates Jimmy’s custom shapes and finishes flawlessly, making JL boards accessible to the world.

Product highlights: Jimmy doesn’t believe it’s necessary to add a new gadget or flex pattern to his product every year. The designs are timeless and flawless, so new colour patterns are only introduced every two years. Your JL board will turn heads for years and never become obsolete. The latest shapes to join the lineup are the Super Model, which has wider tips for more freestyle action, and the Chamber KT, a super-aggressive surf shape with or without straps.

Website: jimmylewis.com
E-mail: , sales@jimmylewis.ca
Shaper: Jimmy Lewis

Liquid Force
Since 1999, when Liquid Force entered the kiteboarding industry, it has been pushing the limits of kiteboarding with cutting edge designs and core riding image. Today, LF designers and riders are still taking the sport to the next level with ground-breaking kite designs from Julien Fillion, cutting edge twin-tip designs from designer/founder Jimmy Redmon, and the magical kite-surfboard designs of legendary North Shore shaper Pat Rawson. —Corky Cullen

Product highlights: The industry is buzzing about LF’s greatly anticipated Havoc 3. This third-generation Havoc was designed to be the most advanced yet user-friendly, high-performance premium freeride SLE kite ever produced. In its third year of evolution, the new Havoc has been refined to once again set new standards in kite design, performance and reliability. Also new is the Influence twin-tip. To create the Influence, Jimmy Redmon teamed up with LF team rider Jason Slezak. The design platform of the Influence brings with it more detailed features than ever before: a variable edge rail (similar to the Mission), contoured multi-channeled bottom shape, compression-molded top-deck contours and a kite-specific flex pattern.

Website: liquidforcekites.com
E-mail: info@liquidforcekites.com
Designer: Julien Fillion
Shapers: Pat Rawson, Jimmy Redmon

Litewave Designs
Litewave designer Dave Turner started the company in 1998 with a philosophy of making a value-priced board that is tough, easy to use and doesn’t limit the rider. Litewave was the first company to make the pressed snowboard-style production twin-tip and we continue that spirit of innovation with cutting edge cores, laminates and construction techniques while keeping costs down by eliminating unnecessary expenses. In 2009, Litewave offers 12 different boards to cover the needs of riders from school to surf to pro.

Product highlights: For 2009, we have exciting board developments in both the lightwind and all-around board category. The Wing was a tremendous success in 2008 and we have refined the rocker and added a five-inch-wide aspen wood stringer to give this board an amazing ride that feels like you are snowboarding in bottomless powder. The Spirit is a beautiful, functional board that really looks different. It was tested for a full year on the PKRA tour in 2008. The see-through graphics highlight the beautiful kapok-wood core. This gives a smooth ride but won’t lose grip by allowing the fin to flex off. The third major development at Litewave is the UltraPlush lace-up binding.

Website: litewavedesigns.com
E-mail: info@litewavedesigns.com
Designer: David Turner (a.k.a. Litewave Dave)

Naish International
This year Naish is celebrating its 30-year anniversary and it continues to be dedicated to the philosophy of passion, commitment, innovation and quality. Robby Naish has dedicated his life to watersports. This commitment is echoed throughout Naish International, from the designers, engineers, salespeople and team riders. We ride every day and are constantly looking for ways to improve our products, be it manufacturing methods, materials or designs. We test constantly in a wide variety of conditions to produce the best board-riding products possible. We do not copy. —Jon Malmberg

Product highlights: Two-thousand-nine continues the refinement of both the GeoTech and Sigma concepts. The 2009 Helix has been completely re-engineered and emerges as the top-of-the-line performance Sigma kite. The kite has been designed to fit between the Cult and the Torch. The Cult, our ultimate all-terrain kite, remains the best choice for 90 per cent of the kiteboarding population, with an emphasis on ease of use and relaunch. The 2009 boards all boast improved construction and shaping. For the twin-tips, all models have refined outline, rocker and flex patterns to match the target rider and intended usage. The surf lineup has seven models grouped into three different ranges: Global, Fish and Gun.

Website: naishkites.com
Designers: Damien Girardin (kites), Greg Drexler (boards)
Engineering staff: Jon Malmberg (mechanical engineer), Des Walsh (bridle development, testing), Cyril Coste (concept development, testing)

Nobile
What do you get when you combine the design efforts of former world champion Mark Shinn with one of the largest board factories in the world? Nobile took the board market by storm when it entered the kiteboard market just four years ago. Last year saw the introduction of Nobile’s first kites. Two-thousand-nine will see the release of our newest kite models in early February. —Johnny Cousineau

Product highlights: After four years of continuous research, testing and development, we took a step back and re-evaluated the goals for Nobile’s infamous 555 (T5) board range. We may have created the world’s best-selling kiteboard, but there is always room for improvement. Over and over again we came back to the same design parameters: ease of use, comfort and performance. The development of our new ’09 Composite Core 2 (90 per cent wood and 10 per cent honeycomb) has allowed us to improve the legendary comfort factor without losing the board’s lively performance, and once perfected, the addition of our new dynamic asymmetrical outline to the existing elliptical progressive concave and anti-vibration technology has increased its versatility even further. The new T5 offers the ultimate in freeride ease of use with performance you’ll never grow out of.

Website: nobilekiteboarding.com
E-mail: nobile@nobilekiteboarding.com
Designer: Mark Shinn

North Kiteboarding
North Kiteboarding has always been a product- and technology-driven company. Our designers and testers have the most say about what is delivered to the market. We don’t submit to the pressure to come up with shiny new products just so the marketing department has something new to talk about. Instead, we concentrate on listening to our customers and improving our most popular products while trying new angles and ideas along the way. Kiteboarders are pretty sharp, eager to test the latest kites and then tell all their friends about it. We work hard to make sure we pass this test every day on every beach. —Doug Hopkins

Product highlights: The Rebel went to four struts this year, which makes it lighter and more reactive. An adjusted profile and leading edge curve prevents back-stalling, even in light and fluky wind. It also has a single inflation point called Lazy Pump. All twin-tip boards now have wood cores, allowing us to design them with a softer flex for a smoother ride. The correct use of triaxial carbon in the lay-up prevents torsional flex, which is often the problem with softer boards. It also maintains good pop. There are comfy new footpads and straps, and glossy new graphics are easy on the eyes.

Website: northkites.com
E-mail: northkites@northsports.com
Designers: Ken Winner, Ralf Groesel
Shaper: Marty Littlewood

Ocean Rodeo
Regardless of price, conditions, experience, age or gender, Ocean Rodeo provides the products that meet the needs of riders. It’s equipment you can count on in extreme situations to optimize your performance. We only offer the best possible quality for all levels of riders. From beginner to expert, we make the rider’s investment count. Our quality will never be compromised. We work endless hours in order to provide optimal performance and premium-quality products —Kevin McLellan

Product highlights: In 2009, our product lineup is highlighted by the performance and rave reviews of our Rise kite and Mako board. The 2009 Rise follows in the footsteps of the popular 2008 Rise, with only a few subtle changes—we didn’t want to mess with near perfection. These changes were done in a way to improve overall enhancement without sacrificing performance: smaller tubes, convertible attachment points and all-around feel across the size spectrum. For the legendary Mako lineup we have introduced a 140 x 40 cm version to follow in the footsteps of our most popular board of all time, the Mako Wide 150 x 40 cm.

Website: oceanrodeo.com
E-mail: info@oceanrodeo.com
Designers: Ross Harrington, Richard Myerscough
Shapers: Ross Harrington, Richard Myerscough

Ozone
Ozone is a rider-owned group of friends who came together to design and build products to reflect their passions. From paragliding the Himalayas, BASE-jumping fjords on Baffin Island, kitesurfing Antarctica, to snowkiting hundreds of miles in a day, Ozone creates performance wings that excel in every environment. Ozone pushes design evolution with unique kites for all seasons and all kite sports. It owns its own factory, with 400 employees designing, testing and sewing kites. From the bladder to the bar, every part on the kite is assembled and packaged by Ozone personnel and pre-inflated for 24 hours before being delivered to happy riders worldwide.

Product highlights: The legendary Ozone Instinct has gained a reputation for its rock-solid feel in strong and gusty conditions. The original design allows the Instinct to fly farther into the window, creating a larger wind range and making upwind progress even easier. Rob Whittall has spent over 20 years bridling kites and gliders, and has created a new four-line version of the Instinct that defies the current definition for bow and hybrid kites. The 2009 Instinct offers more power and turns faster while maintaining that perfect balance between light bar pressure and a responsive feel. There are three models suited for waveriding, freeriding or flying—you choose your passion.

Website: flyozoneusa.com
E-mail: info@windzup.com
Designers: Rob Whittall, David Pilkington, Hugh Pinfold

RRD
RRD is based in Tuscany, Italy, in an area where craft-made products are a tradition. Attention to detail and design is one of the most important features of our brand. RRD was the first company to develop a kiteboard. The Legaignoux brothers invented inflatable kites for water-kiting, but we were the first to develop boards, and the third brand to enter in the kite market after Wipika and Naish. We are still a passionate and dedicated company that has been there since the early days of kiteboarding. —Ovidio Ferrari

Product highlights: The most exciting achievement is the Screw-it! System for footpads and footstraps, allowing riders to avoid the use of a screwdriver to assemble pads and straps. It’s a revolutionary system that we apply to all our twin-tip designs in the 2009 line, and it can be used on any brand’s twin-tip board. Also new for 2009, we developed a new line of kites with our kite designer Werther Castelletti. He designed some phenomenal well-tuned and well-refined kites using the new hybrid Delta shape. The Passion is a freeride kite with the Delta hybrid shape, and the Addiction is the new racing kite.

Website: robertoriccidesigns.com
E-mail: claudio@robertoriccidesigns.com, info@deepbluesports.us
Designers: Roberto Ricci, Werther Castelletti
Shapers: Roberto Ricci, Werther Castelletti

Rogue Wave
Rogue Wave has been building boards for 28 years and kiteboards since 1997. The lineup includes eight different models and literally hundreds of sizes are available. Each board is hand-shaped and painted by Lee Brittain to the customer’s exact requirements. Rogue Wave offers the industry’s most comprehensive warranty: an unlimited lifetime warranty against manufacturer’s defects. Rogue Wave has a loyal following in more than a dozen countries around the world. Ninety percent of the boards are built for repeat customers. Delivery time is normally less than three weeks from date of order. —Lee Brittain

Product highlights: Our new raceboard shape appeals not only to racers, but also to riders looking for performance in wind as little as six knots. They are custom built using full sandwich construction, with extensive use of carbon fibre in critical areas in order to stand up to many years of abuse. They are available in quad- or twin-fin setups. The buzz with Rogue Wave’s twin-tip boards this year is “mass centralization.” These boards utilize a new dual-density foam core that keeps the weight at the tips to a minimum, making the board respond quicker and ride smoother than ever before.

Website: roguewaveboards.com
E-mail: sales@roguewaveboards.com
Shaper: Lee Brittain

Slingshot
Since 1981, Tony Logosz and his brother Jeff have dedicated themselves to the performance and design of quality watersports equipment. Years of hard work and innovation, spawned from Tony’s ability to think in original ways, fuel them today. In 1999, after numerous innovations in windsurfing, wakeboarding and other major sports, both set forth to found Slingshot, a global brand that caters to top kiteboarders and wakeboarders around the world. Our commitment to quality, innovative design, testing and riding have been a driving force for a decade. During this time we have been awarded four U.S. patents that make kiteboarding more convenient and safer. —Mira Kwon

Product highlights: “Our goal has been to develop a bridled kite that feels and performs like a C kite. Our bridled kites have been getting closer and closer to this, and the RPM, our newest kite, hits the mark. C kites are extremely direct in steering and unhook easily for pop-and-drop handlepass moves. Bridled kites are more vague in their steering and don’t lend themselves to be unhooked quite as easily. With the new RPM kite you get the best of both worlds. Our other greatest accomplishment is Slingshot’s own proprietary board construction, Future Response Technology, which is incorporated into all our twin-tip boards. Born from wakeboarding and now available in kiteboarding.”

Website: slingshotsports.com
E-mail: info@slingshotsports.com
Designers: Tony Logosz, Amery Bernard
Shaper: John Doyle

Vari Kites
Two-thousand-nine is Vari Kites’ first year manufacturing kite equipment, but we are hardly new to the sport. After eight years of professional riding for major brands, three-time world champion Martin Vari downloads his knowledge and experience into the Vari Kites product line. With close teamwork between engineers and designers, the Vari team has come up with an innovative and simple way to portray what today’s kiter needs in terms of equipment. Vari’s philosophy is to help you feel the essence of kiteboarding, developing equipment for ease and riding comfort wherever you want, letting you experience the sport in all forms. With an innovative design that is easy to feel and fun to ride, you will always be in control of the kite. That way, you can maintain your focus on the terrain, whether it be water or snow. —Martin Vari

Product highlights: We spent over 12 months developing the progressive Condor One. Nowadays, many riders like to kite in different conditions and ride on different styles of boards. Not just your twin-tip for flat water, but also skimboards, wakeskates or surfboards to ride waves. The options are limitless. We based the design of the Condor One on that foundation. Using a progressive bridle system that varies between each size, this kite range is compatible with all styles of riding.

Website: varikites.com
E-mail: info@varikites.com
Designers: Gabriel Dicio, Juan Faustin

Wainman Hawaii
Wainman Hawaii is a new kiteboarding brand five years in the making. We’re making kiteboarding gear that’s a little bit different and we think that’s good. With Lou Wainman heading development, with the help of Franz Olry and a team of extremely devoted and diverse riders, you can bet there are great things to come. Our passion for kiting can be seen in the quality of every product we make. Our designs are streamlined and effective, and are tested in the most extreme conditions Maui and the rest of the world have to offer. —Mike Prezeciechowski

Product highlights: The Rabbit kites are universal kiteboarding tools with sporty character and a wide wind range. They are unlike anything you’ve flown before, so they may take some time getting used to. Light bar pressure and fast turning make the Rabbit a waverider’s dream, while powerful low end provides massive pop and hangtime whether hooked or unhooked. Multiple attachment options allow for customization of bar pressure and turning speed. The bar is super simple, with three leash options to suit all levels. And for a perfect complement to your Rabbit session, get a Blunt—board that is. It is extremely light yet strong with very little drag and massive pop.

Website: wainmanhawaii.com
E-mail: info@wainmanhawaii.com
Designers and shapers: Lou Wainman, Franz Olry, Mike Husky

Windwing
Windwing has maintained its innovative and well-built products since its inception in 1982 on the shores of Berkeley, California. It has always been a small grass-roots company, building cutting edge products with the ability and flexibility to change and redefine products more quickly than the larger and less manoeuvrable companies. Windwing has quietly and successfully led the way with many innovations, which can be easily found in its products. Since its inception, Windwing has never deviated from its philosophy of safety, innovation, quality and service to their customers. —John Chao

Product highlights: Batwing 15.5 and 12 continue to be major players in lightwind performance. Lighter and more efficient, these kites turn faster, go upwind better, jump higher with longer hangtime, and have a major increase in wind range. The new Batwing 10 is sportster and has a set of foil vents that keep it from back-flying while tuned for maximum performance. It has huge wind ranges, quick turning, easy relaunch and motors upwind better than bigger kites. Following the new direction presented by the Bat 10 m, all 2009 Rampage II kites have adopted the Batwing technology with X-ply TE and foil vents for added control.

Websites: windwing.com , windexpress.com
E-mail: info@windwing.com
Designers: Jonathon Merrell, Bob Wendler, John Chao

Board Factory Tour

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0500

No one can deny that snowboard manufacturing techniques have revolutionized kiteboard technology. 90% of the twin tips on the market now feature ABS sidewalls. The benefits in weight, riding comfort, strength and durability are legendary. Lets take a look at the board building process at the Nobile factory with Mark Shinn.

Nobile currently make boards for a number of leading kiteboarding brands. Nobile is one of the largest snowboard manufacturers in the world making in excess of 500 boards a day and was one of the first companies to become involved in transferring that technology into kiteboards.
   One of the big advantages of this construction technology is the specific control available over the flex in the boards. There is a lot of talk about flex by which people are really talking about generally “soft” boards. The purpose of using these specific manufacturing techniques (core build up, laminate control and 3-D moulding) is to take control of the flex in a precise and replicable way, not only in the overall amount of flex but also the speed of response, reduction of vibrations and across different zones in the board.

Wood Cutting
This is the first stage of production. The three main core materials used are wood, airex (high density PVC foam) and more recently Honeycomb (also known as Nomex). These materials can be used either on their own or in conjunction with each other to produce a composite core. The wood is prepared into large blocks with the grain direction carefully placed before it is delivered to the factory. Before anything else can be done with it though it has to be cut into board sized pieces. (Small note for the environmentally conscious….the off cuts and the shavings from this process are taken to an incinerator and burnt to heat the factory and provide hot water water.)

Core Preperation
Once the wood is cut to the right thickness the process of preparing the core can begin. The materials are cut by CNC and all the pieces arranged like a jigsaw to achieve the desired build up of the core. This is a crucial area of the boards design process, all the different core materials have different properties and strengths but of course all have their weaknesses as well. Varying the materials in the core is one of the key ways to alter the flex characteristics of the board and thus it’s performance.
   The CNC also cuts the holes so that then inserts can be placed into the board before it is laminated. By inserting the inserts from the underside of the board you literally have to pull the deck of the board off to pull them out. Once all the pieces of the core are assembled they are held together with special tape and staples and the core is ready for laminating..

Printing
Before the board can be laminated and put into the press, the graphics are prepared and printed. The graphics are printed onto the reverse side of a transparent Duraclear foil. Printing the foils is a time consuming business, as each colour needs time to dry before the next one can be added. The more colours the longer the process takes. Once the screen-printing is finished everything is ready for the board to go to the press.

Laminating and pressing.
The exact lay up of glass cloth in the board is another one of the factors that affects flex, strength and weight. The specifications for the board are established during the prototyping phase and are often different for every board size and type.
The cloth is laid out and laminated away from the core. When both sides of the boards cloth are properly wetted out everything is in place for loading into the mould.
   The mould is the last of the three factors that controls the flex in the board. There are two types of mould available in this construction process….CAP and 3-D.
A CAP mould is essentially two flat plates of Aluminum that are pressed together. In this mould type the ABS sidewall is normally profiled (thicker in the centre and thinner towards the ends) in order to provide more flex control.
   The other type of mould is 3-D. In this case the deck (or hull if you want shaping in the base of the board like channels or concaves) of the board has a series of steps and cuts into it. A 3-D mould provides many more options to control the flex throughout the board but requires significantly longer to build and is more costly.
   Both mould types are made from the highest grade of Aluminum available. During the pressing process around 90 tones of pressure will be applied to it and it will be heated to over 80 degrees Celsius so anything but the highest grade mold material will distort.
   The mould is cleaned, prepared and lain open. First in goes the Duraclear top sheet with the graphics. Next comes the laminated cloth and then finally the pre assembled core. When all is set in the right place the mould is closed and placed into the press.
   The rocker table for the board is already loaded into the press so that when the pressure is applied the board is formed onto the rocker permanently taking it’s shape. The press takes around 15 to 20 minutes and then the board is removed. All the excess resin and foil has been pushed out the sides and is still attached leaving the board roughly rectangular in shape and with very rough edges.

Cleaning and grinding.
The pressed boards are then taken back to the CNC machine. The machine cuts all the excess material from around the board and opens up the fin screw holes. At this point the board starts to look like the finished product. The edges have to be ground down to give a smooth finish (the machine does not cut a perfectly clean edge) and the inserts have to be opened up (they are already in the board but are still covered by a thin layer of laminate and Duraclear top sheet. Once this has been done the boards can be washed to ensure they are clean. At this point the final Quality Control check is also made making sure every board is as close to perfect as possible and is ready for packing to it’s final destination.

Slider Nation

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0500

From Hood River, Oregon, to Shippigan, NB, kiteboarders are building and riding more kickers and sliders than ever before. This issue we take a look at just a few of the unique ones being ridden this year.

Logs, Stumps and Driftwood
Back to Nature in the Gorge
Koudele photo

The Gorge kite community is pushing boundaries. Whether it’s Tonia Fairman and KB4C raising nearly $100,000 for cancer research or Alex Peterson jumping a 200-foot cliff (twice), there is no other concentrated place in the world where kiters are looking to see what can be done next more than here.
     The Inept crew is no different. Escaping the madness of the sandbar, the crew assaulted a desert island by boat for several days to construct a slider built entirely of driftwood.
    Joby Cook initiated the design with a mock-up on the island with twigs. Using a sledge hammer, handsaw and a few nails, the group built the slider piece by piece with what they found, costing us only a couple dollars’ worth of nails and the gas to get to it. Not bad considering we had to build it twice.
     Not even a day after the first one was up, some British tourist idiot tore down the structure with his rented Jet Ski. In his defense, he honestly didn’t know what it was and claimed it happened to be in the way of his kids learning to kite.
     So ironic that, given the scale and size of the Gorge, even in this remote place we faced exactly the kind of kookery we were hoping to escape from during peak season at the sandbar.
     The next structure carried a menacing “No Trespassing!” sign just to be safe. But still the island wouldn’t let us have it easy. A leaking boat, motor issues, stranded equipment, flashes dropped in the river—every step proved a challenge.
     In the end a serene sunset with steady wind made it all worthwhile. Pushing the slider movement deep into Mother Nature, logs, stumps and the driftwood structure were sessioned and the stoke was rich. One day was all we got. No one saw it save for us and the eagles overhead and fish jumping in the river. That, however, made it that much more special. Those who say sliders have no soul never saw anything like this. —Lance Koudele

Smith Limo
Hood River, Oregon
Rico photo

The Smith Limo is a monster truck. No, really. It would give the original Grave Digger a run for its money. The Smith Limo was built from scratch from the ground up. It cost a sum of $50,000 to complete the project. The limo is owned by Smith Optics and operated by Zach Horwitz. Building it, he had one thing in mind: not getting it stuck. The limo frame is welded to a truck frame and then lifted onto 37-inch Super Swampers. It’s powered by a diesel engine. No normal diesel, it has enough power to run a small town. The diesel engine gets 14 miles to the gallon and runs on bio fuel.
   “The thing will not get stuck. If it did,” Zach says, “you would need military helicopters to get it out.”
   It weighs in at a macking 13,000 pounds. The inside is lined in leather with Smith logos embroidered on all the seats. The tunes are pumped out of four 12-inch subs. Pimp is all I can say.
   The concept behind the Smith Limo was to have a new portable (move it where you want it) snowboard rail. The limo has been to all the major snowboard mountains for snowboarders to slide. Jason Slezak and Sam Bell were the first kiteboarders to ever slide this beast in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, last year. It was super sketch because they had to send their kites to get on top of the limo.
   One year later, Jason and Zach made a plan to bring the limo to Hood River, Oregon. The boys involved with Inept and Slider Project made a perfect up-ramp to the top of the limo. This allowed for the sickest session in kiteboarding history to go down. That day we tied kiteboarding directly to snowboarding by sliding the same rail snowboarders slide. This day will always be remembered as the day kiteboarding became legit. —Davey Blair

Pool-Gap Slider Over Ground
Gauvin photo

For the past three years Julien Fillion has had a dream: build and ride a pool-gap slider. Being part of the Liquid Force family, he sees wakeboarders hitting rails over ground from pools all year long. Traveling the continent, he has kept his eyes open, looking for the perfect place to build his dream setup. When he made his first trip to Shippagan, NB, he knew this would be the perfect location.
   When he first mentioned this project to me, I was more than interested in capturing this new kiteboarding adventure on film. The project seemed simple at first, but after some preparation we realized it would be more work than expected. The only easy task was finding the perfect place to build the pool and sliders. Shippagan was the right choice for it. All around the island you can find kiteable spots for every wind direction and, more important, the offshore riding spots needed for this kind of rail.
   Looking carefully at the wind forecast, we headed to the area’s famous flatwater spot of Chiasson Office. This place is awesome; you almost have 360 degrees of rideable wind. The local girls can even use the water as a mirror to put on makeup in 25-knot winds. The water is that smooth.
   The massive sandbar is owned by most of the local kiteboarders. With that in mind and with their help, we weren’t worried about being pointed at while building a 30-foot-long pool and a massive one-foot-wide-by-48-foot-long slider.
   Julien started building the slider off-site with the help of his girlfriend. I couldn’t believe all the work they had done. With only four hands and not much time, over 40 sandbags were filled up and the slider was almost complete.
   The next step was to get the setup to the riding spot. The one way there was a sandy road, which only four-by-four vehicles could get through, and then we had to carry the gear on our shoulders for 2,000 feet. I’d like to call it a good get-ready-for-the-kite-season workout.
   On the second day it was almost complete. We were stoked to have the wind blowing in the perfect direction, too. We started to fill the pool, and it was full just before sunset. While getting the kite ready for the first session, the wind gradually vanished with the sun.
   With all the hard work of the setup behind us, Julien decided to ride it anyway. After a couple of test runs in the short pool, he started hitting it more confidently. As the wind continued to drop, he had a hard time reaching the end of the rail. His board was totally destroyed after falling several times on the rocks. Fortunately, Julien was not scratched up like his board. We were happy to get some great sunset shots, even if we only had 40 minutes of lightwind riding.
   After that short success the wind switched for the next few days. We waited on the beach for a better wind direction, but then decided to move all the gear to another spot. Luckily, we had the help of the local kite community. L’Association Windsurf-Kiteboard Shippagan-les-Îles president Jules Desylva lent us his ATV for the rest of the week, and his generosity was a reflection of Acadian culture.
   Local young rippers John Robichaud and Frank the Tank came to give us a hand. Eric Girard, owner of local kite school Club Wind & Kite, also joined in. We borrowed the second water pump from him because we drowned the one Pascal Blanchard lent us. Julien had one hell of an electric shock trying to save it when it fell in the water. Pascal is a kiteboarder and owner of the famous local club Noroît, where you’ll have the craziest night in town.
   The new pool received wind from the right direction, but we didn’t know big tides were coming. The low tide created a 10-to-15-foot gap at the end of the rail that made it impossible to use. We had to wait for the tide to come up. When it did, the wind system switched. It was disappointing, but we managed to have fun chilling on the beach and riding around the area.
   Lobster and crab boats passed through the channel all day long. The guys had fun hitting the enormous waves these boats created. We were worried when the Coast Guard passed by our crazy pool-slider setup on the beach. I’m not a lawyer, but this kind of thing may not be legal in some areas. However, the guy just looked at it like there was nothing there.
   We had to leave a couple of days later, so we removed all the stuff from the beach. When we were done, the wind finally blew stronger and in the right direction. It may sound like a cheesy movie script, but it really happened. We had no time to rebuild it, but we still left with smiles on our faces. Even if we didn’t have all the riding time we wished for on our pool and slider, we were proud to experience something new in kiteboarding. —Patrick Gauvin

Big Black
Miami, Florida
Kraft photo

Full props go to Josh Noe, North America brand manager for NPX. He put blood, sweat and tears into this kicker, beating out a tight deadline for the NPX international team photo shoot in Miami, Florida. Towards the end of the building process, he got great help from NPX team riders Andre Phillip, Jon Modica, Damien LeRoy and Julien Fillion, as well as videographer Elliot Leboe and Garry Menk (a guy with a great set of tools).
   The kicker got her name because she’s really big and painted black. As with any project, Kent Marinkovic had his hands in. Much happened at the last minute to pull it all together, and there is an element of ghetto style that separates Big Black from her peers. Kent and Garry christened Big Black at the Coconut Grove marina by spraying a shaken can of their favourite beer, Milwaukee’s Best, down her silky PVC decking. A kicker was born.
   The NPX photo shoot featured Big Black in several famous locations such as the Vizcaya mansion and Stiltsville. She has since made appearances at Crandon Park and at Matheson Hammock Park for good times among the locals.
   For about six months, Big Black sat in Kent’s backyard and then his front. The neighbours loved it: a spray-painted ramp fixed to a beat-up, tagged Hobie Cat hull on a trailer. Dogs seemed to like her, too, as they often used the trailer’s tires as their personal fire hydrant. She’s now resting comfortably, and with more esteem, in front of Adventure Sports Miami, waiting for the next windy day. —Todd Greaux

The Stoke
Rio Vista, California
Thym photo

The kicker was originally called The Stoker Ramp. The ramp is a springboard in a couple of ways. I wanted to bring a quality kicker for my homeboys to ride. I wanted to see the stoke in NorCal riders’ faces with some new-school toys to play with like our buds back east have had for years. And second, the ramp is an actual springboard, as in a progressively loaded springboard to maximize pop
For me, the biggest hurdle was dealing with the liability factor. How did I do that? I said to myself, Is it worth it? Well, I’ll put it this way. I drew up the first sketch about three and a half years ago. Then one day I said to myself, Screw it. If they want to get you, they will. And I just went to work. —Greg (L.M.G.) Boyington

Da Bar
Oliphant and Lake St. Clair, Ontario
Bryja photo

Hitting sliders isn’t all that hard. Depends on the slider, I guess, but if you can unhook, park your kite at 45 and claim some basic wakestyle tricks, you’re ready for some rail hits. That’s the easy part. The challenge starts with what type of slider you want to build, where you can put it, where to build it, and how to pay for it. Thanks to SBC Events, Smokey and I scored some HDPE (sheet plastic) from the demolition of the famed Titanic Wakestock slider. This saved us serious cheddar. Smokey came up with the design of Da Bar, the mandate being friendly, fun and long.
   Better to pick some no-wind days for your build. Cold beer helps, as do good friends living near your new park who are willing to let you rip wood and shoot screws in their yard (thanks, Mitch and Harm). Not sure how we named it Da Bar. Could’ve been a crack I made: “If it doesn’t work, then you got one hell of a bar.”
   Keep her away any non-kiteboarding locals, or else your new slider can quickly become an easy finger-pointer to those who would like to jeopardize your access to dope flatwater spots. Build her strong so she can withstand scenarios like rednecks chaining it up and ripping it apart with their pickups.
   In the end, all your efforts will be worth it. You’ll see riders in their 40s getting hits, and young guns pressin’ and stylin’. We set up four features at the Lake St. Clair annual event Kitestock this spring, and many riders got their first hits, Da Bar being the crowd favourite. I was blown away by the riders who were super stoked on the setup and how they gave personal thanks to the slider build crew. Don’t get too hung up on design. Just build it and get some hits. —Rob Vanyi

2009 Kite and Board Test update

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

It's been quite the week down in Cape Hatteras. Wind everyday and a good swell at The Cove. Finally today we have a little down time to catch up on some work and rest before the wind cranks back up this afternoon. So here's a little update of what the SBC Crew has been up to the past few days.

Thursday we did an epic downwinder from North of Avon to Buxton with 6-10ft swell and 25-35 knots! The new Naish, F-One and Amundson Custom surfboards were a lot of fun and handled the gnarly Hatteras surf no problems.

Friday we were off the The Cove for a session. South East is the best wind direction for the spot and that's what was forecasted, setting up for perfect down the line conditions. The wind never swung around and continued to blow off shore. So we figured we would ride the small little lagoon/pond type of thing that was formed in the middle of The Cove. The area was literally butter flat and only about 6' deep. We removed the fins from a twin tip and had a really fun session.

Saturday we made the drive out to The Cove again in hopes of hitting one of the most legitimate waves on the island. The drive can be long and nasty but well worth it. 4*4 are the only way out and only the big ones make it to the spot. It was my first time on this wave and I can't get it out of my head. What a killer session! Sharing waves with Jason Slezak, Dimitri, Sam Bell, Jullien Fillion, Matt Nuzzo and a couple of the Best team riders has definately been one of the highlights of the trip.

Sunday the crew hit up Kite Point again to do some testing on the flat water and it looks like were going to continue to score with some more sound side sessions this coming week. We'll try to keep updated but you know how it goes when the winds up!

Rider-Sponsor Relations: The Industry Responds

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

I can’t help but respond to Jason Stone’s comments in SBC Kiteboard No. 26. I’ve been involved in this industry at every level, from team rider to retail shop worker, to national distributor and now brand manager. It would be fair to say that I’ve seen more sides of the industry than most. As a rider, I don’t disagree with Stone’s opinions. However, there is another side to the story that maybe we all need to consider.
    The unfortunate reality is that kiteboarding is just too small for megastars. Everyone involved in the kiteboarding market started for their love of the sport. However, a business only exists to make money (or at least not to lose money, which is not exactly the same thing). No matter how altruistic you are, a company that loses money is a company about to disappear. Investing in a personality is a huge risk for a brand, unless you have an iron-clad contract for the long term. If the rider leaves you to go to another brand, you have effectively been investing for your competitor’s advantage—a bitter pill to swallow for any brand.
    The megastar athletes we all aspire to have been with a brand for years before they start to “become” the brand through association and their fame is secure. The brand can buy into a known quantity and then rest safe in the knowledge that the athletes are going nowhere. In some cases it works to their advantage, as the athletes become so involved and part of the brand image that no other company would even consider sponsoring them.
    The majority of kiteboarding companies use their team riders as an example of what their equipment can do. Most of the big-budget athletes from other sports draw their huge salaries from outside businesses, not the material manufacturer. Probably the biggest example of this is clothing companies. If you see an advertisement of Kelly Slater surfing perfect conditions in boardshorts, what the brand is trying to sell is the dream; it’s trying to make you empathise with Slater while raising your personal opinion and awareness of the brand. This approach relies on the product being available in huge distribution, so, having had your awareness raised, you can see it and buy it in the immediate future.
    None of this relates particularly well to kiteboarding. Few people would buy a kite or board on the basis of a picture of someone else. Kiteboarding equipment is expensive, and purchases are infrequent. Thus, far more care is taken in the decision-making process, therefore reducing the effect of trying to sell you the dream.
    Stone is correct, though, in pointing out that the role team riders are playing in kiteboarding right now is not as effective as it could be, and the industry is reluctant to pay them their worth. The level of the top athletes is so high, the average kiter can never hope to achieve those skills. Therefore, the sell-by-rider example approach has little or no effect. Does Ruben Lenten landing 15-metre-high Kite Loops make the beginner-intermediate rider want to buy the same gear, or are they just impressed and enjoy watching it before they go off and buy something far more relevant to their level?
    Pro riders need to carve themselves out a new role in the sport and show the manufacturers how they can create a positive image and brand without having to be a traveling salesperson. I would love to see a fresh approach to the system instead of trying to make a pattern used in vastly different sports fit into kiteboarding. It’s like trying to put a round peg into a square hole. We might never achieve the kind of level that other sports have reached financially, but our sport has a lot to offer, both as a spectator or a participant. And what is good for the pro riders will be good for the sport as a whole.

Nobile brand manager Mark Shinn hits it all. Huge strapless Tabletop. Ducate photo

Check out Jason Stone's article.

Jason Wolcott's Self Portrait

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

It’s hard to miss the photography of California’s Jason Wolcott. If you open any of the major surf or kite magazines, you’ll find his work as a shining example of the best the California surf scene has to offer. SBC Kiteboard’s new photographer series asks Jason Wolcott to turn the lens on himself and his work.

“I’ve been behind a camera since I was about nine years old. My dad had this sick Nikon that he kept locked up. I knew where the key was, so I would sneak it out when he was away on business and go shoot in the mountains near my house. I shot and edited surf and bodyboarding movies for a while in my late teens and early 20s but always had a still setup too. I just liked to frame scenes the way I see the world. I love the challenge of capturing something that is moving fast and is unpredictable.”

“I took high school photography and video production classes, then went to college studying photography, art and planetary science. I think getting the technical knowledge that you receive in the classroom is very important.”

“I like to shoot both film and digital. I still love the smoothness and saturation of films like Fuji Velvia. I shoot film in the water with my 15 mm fisheye still just because I love the look. Digital is amazing; it’s come a long way in the past 10 years. I like the fact that you can see your work as you shoot and adapt to changing conditions. And it’s a great tool to learn without spending the time and money that you would shooting film.”

“It’s both art and business for me. I shoot surfing and kiteboarding for business along with architecture, product, portraits and even the odd wedding. I’m always working on my fine art collection whenever I have time. I have a few series going now that have been shown in some high-profile galleries in Los Angeles. My main focus artistically now is abstract water photography. I want to use these images to bring awareness of the need to pay more attention to our environment.”

“I never get tired of tourists asking me, ‘What do you call what those guys are doing?’ or, ‘Is that a parachute?’ ”

“I’ve been lucky to be able to shoot with guys like Reo Stevens, Damien LeRoy, Josh Mulcoy, Mauricio Abreu, Davey Blair and Ian Alldredge. As a photographer, it’s amazing to be able to shoot with the best in any sport. You can concentrate on framing and composition without worrying about the rider blowing a section. It’s the same in surfing; I shoot with Dane Reynolds and Timmy Curran a lot here in Ventura, and they just go out and get it done. My favourite part is when the shooting is done and I get to go ride with all of them. It’s pretty easy to get better at kiting when you have a guy like Reo giving you pointers after a session.”

“I really enjoy watching the sport progress and trying to help it gain momentum in the surfing world. The stuff that guys are doing these days is so much more like surfing than it was when people were into whipping at the lip like a wakeboarder riding strapped boards. They’re surfing with kites now.”

“Mauricio Abreu bet me a hundred bucks that I could not eat a giant bite of the hottest pepper in Peru. I asked the kitchen for one, and they were all scared and telling me in Spanish that I was going to get hurt and they did not want to see me eat it. It was not that bad going down, but the next few days... Mauricio got his hundred bucks’ worth laughing as I ran for the bathroom. Stupid. I guess that’s not that funny.”

“I’m sure I will travel a lot again. I want to continue to work with the best wave kiters in the world. Travel with my friends. I will be putting a lot of effort into shooting surfing in the coming year as well.”

Localism on the Rise? Why Can't We Be Friends

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

I love waves. I was only riding the whitewater at first, but as soon as I ventured out onto the open face I realized that others love waves as well, maybe more. I was as happy as any five-year-old, until riding in front of a rather large fellow. I was knocked violently from my board. I surfaced only to be dunked under and under and under. I remember thinking, This is only a two-foot wave. How can it be drilling me so hard?
   After realizing it was the large fellow dunking me over and over, the lack of oxygen soon had me wondering, Why is this water cop treating me like a fresh-baked fritter?
   “Do you want to die?” he yelled.
   Gasp! “Uh, what?” I muttered as I barfed water.
   “Do you want to die?” he repeated.
   This was my first lesson in wave etiquette, and it was made clear to me that I was to conduct myself with a bit more thought than I would in the lineup at the local Starbucks.
   This neanderthalistic, limited thinking rubbed off on me, and now I find myself annoyed when a carload of kooks show up at my local break. Hell, I might even have an existential breakdown. For those who have based their lives around riding waves, this is reality.
   During a recent phone call with one of my sponsors, I was haunted by a recent weekend where I had a not-so-pleasant encounter with some visiting kiters who happened to be brothers from a different mother. These were people with similar backgrounds and interests, people I’m sure I’d like, even respect. And had we been introduced, I might not have been so damn annoyed by their presence. As my sponsor continued to inform me of how core his group of friends were and that they had rather extensive surfing history, I felt like I had hassled Pete Cabrinha himself for surfing with straps. So, feeling like an ass, I figured I’d tell my side of the story and let our readers decide my treatment options.
   On a sunny, light, but rideable, small-wave day, following a string of windy days with swell, I was having a pleasant solo session, but soon my spider sense was tingling with annoyance. What is this I saw? Three non-local kites being pumped up in the main launch.
    As they made their way down to the beach, I could see they had all the coolest gear: waist harnesses, boardshorts, handlepass leashes and unstrapped boards. Pretty damn sick surfboards that I’d love to surf, with intimidating logo placement. No reel leashes, helmets, diaper harnesses or life vests here. These guys must rip, I thought, as they prepared to head out on C kites a size smaller than my bow.
    I set up for another down-the-line right as the first guy decided that, after driving forever, this moment was the perfect time to head out. I was instantly annoyed to alter my kite’s position as he rode out underpowered while he pumped his kite up and down the shoulder of what I considered to be my wave. The next two lurkers headed out in the same manner, and soon I was dodging and riding amongst three visitors as they made their way in on the shoulder of my next wave. Much like stealing a man’s horse, this offense is punishable by death. This is something that most of us who ride this spot only do to each other out of disrespect or just mucking around.
   As they were a bit underpowered, they slowly drifted downwind into the surfers’ lineup and ended up riding through and over the pack of surfers. Now I, much like one of Jane Goodall’s subjects, beat my chest and shouted obscenities.
   I became so annoyed that even the building breeze couldn’t keep me in the water; I was too peeved to ride amongst this disrespect. I went to land my kite and had to avoid one of the visitor’s kites that had been splayed out with the lines connected, which took up one of the two launching lanes. As I landed my kite, other locals were trying to set up around this unridden setup. I again (not so nicely) barked at the now fully clothed drinking visitor that he indeed was a kook and I would never show up to his spot and act the same way. I was greeted by a proper “F you!”
   Everyone accepts the fact that riding waves is so much fun you turn into a Golem-like creature protecting your precious. It’s science. Countering with an “F you, too!” I stomped away to load up my vehicle, then headed to the skatepark to take out my frustration on its coping.

By now, it’s obvious that I have many issues that require serious therapy. But before I enter a treatment facility there must be some advice I could impart to our readers to help them avoid pissing me and other over possessive wave junkies off ? Maybe something to help smooth your transition into the local waveriding scene, dodge the dreaded “just pack your gear and go home” stink eye or just avoid some caveman using your kite as a welcome mat now that we have shined a bit of light on the unstable mental conditions you may encounter in the surf lineup.
And while “our” next installment will concentrate on anger management, therapy, relating to others, and maybe a little jail time for those of us who feel obligated to act as gatekeepers at “our” local spots but somehow lack the social skills to do it with out yelling, obscenities and intimidation. Before they even think about increasing “my” medication, here are a few things to consider before you even think about pulling into “my” parking lot and maybe a nifty little handout of the guidelines for “your” local wave spot.

Some spots have enough riders according to the people utilizing them. We may not want or even need new riders. We are not destination spots and don’t need tourism to thrive.
Showing up at any new wave spot with more than one or two people is often considered bad manners.
If you’re going to ride in the main peak, or trick zone. Bring something nice for us to look at .Please have some skills so you can utilize the wave properly while throwing down.
Talk to many regulars as possible, launch and land few while asking questions about the spot and “its” local guidelines before heading out. Get a second opinion.
For those of us with some ‘recently” diagnosed medical reason that causes us to fly over surfers, we should be at a first name basis with each. With them having a good understanding that yes we are putting “your” lives and/or appendages at risk yet again.
Don’t head straight out and battle for the main peak your first time out a new spot.
Wave rider has the right of way at most wave spots, avoid the shoulders of waves being ridden on the way out and in.
Freestyle in the coveted surf zone is frowned upon if it interferes with the wave riding.
Do go upwind or down wind to ride waves instead of the main peak depending if safe/legal riding conditions exist.
Bringing beer for the locals does do wonders, laying the groundwork for the gradual acceptance of your unacceptable annoyance.
Don’t leave your kite out with the lines laid out in the main launch, if you’re not riding, especially if you just told the local grump to f off and are walking away.
If there is other room for a safe launch or landing nearby, use it after asking if is okay to launch over there out of our way.
Sometimes the better you can ride waves the less we may actually want you, since you’ll only catch more good waves.
Any spot with waves will be more protected by grumpy kiters/surfers.
Some spots may have very risky access issues. One more incident involving kiters/ surfers could result in bans.
The downwind right I'm snaking you on is actually an upwind left and you’re snaking me.
Pick up ten, what one can say as you pick up ‘their” trash?” Uh, thank you”. Or you missed “that” used condom over there because you’re not getting off that easy bud”.
Surfers always have the right of way
Keep “your” kite low if you insist on heading out or in on the shoulder of “my” waves down wind.
Please don’t pee on or near “my” van , it smells bad enough in there
Everyone accepts the fact that riding waves is so much fun you actually turn into a golem like creature protecting “it’s” precious. Its science.

Final Thought: Sponsor-Rider Relations

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

What is it with the sponsorship relationship between riders and sponsors? Seriously. There is always a huge gap in the worth of riders. Sponsors seem to think that riders, meaning sponsored athletes, are just a way to get their brand across. In the worse-case scenario, riders would be walking, talking billboards. Riders, on the other hand, believe they’re sponsored for their image and ability. Who’s right?
Riders’ personalities and abilities are resources rarely utilized by sponsors. Instead, sponsors try to get as many people as possible riding their brand of equipment for as little as possible, hoping to make a difference in the consumer’s idea of what’s good and bad. Gone are the days of mega-star athletes (at least in my narrow range of professional athleticism), replaced by cookie-cutter riders with generic ideas and style. Sponsors don’t want to invest huge amounts of marketing money into athletes because if they build the rider’s name, that name is then mobile and not attached to one company. That makes it even easier for the rider to get paid a premium, because the leverage the rider has over the sponsor is huge. If, on the other hand, the sponsor spends its marketing dollars on growing the brand, then it doesn’t matter who rides its equipment, as long as the logo is visible.

I could write a laundry list of companies that think this way. This is an extension of the windsurfing business model in which kiteboarding has dug its roots. Funny thing is, if you look at sports that are doing well now, they focus their marketing on personalities and images. Surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding... why won’t the kiteboarding industry wake up to this simple concept?
Competent, well-rounded athletes are taken advantage of in this system. They’ve been relegated to billboards, and I think it’s bullshit. But, of course, I’m a biased athlete. —Jason Stone

Agree or Disagree? Let us know. Visit The SBC Kiteboard Blog

Short ’n’ Surly: To cover or not to cover

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0500

The first time I heard about the shorts-over-wetsuit debate was at a bar halfway to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. I was a total kiteboarding newbie at the time and didn’t know a thing about any of it. I was having beers with a windsurfer and a kiteboarder, and they were talking about the pros and cons of each sport. Then the windsurfer says, “Yeah, kiting looks pretty fun, but what’s with the shorts over the wetsuit?”
    And this is where the bull started flowing.
    “Oh, that’s because we have to wait for the wind a bunch, so you end up sitting on the beach a lot. Don’t want to wreck your wetsuit.”
    The windsurfer looked skeptical but left it alone. But I made a mental note of the topic and decided to find out for myself.
    The truth is—and we all know this—us kiters are insecure about our packages. We’re insecure about our own packages, and we’re insecure about having to look at other dudes’ packages. Hell, if you really examine it, we’re insecure about looking at lady bits, too.
    What makes covering ourselves up so lame is that the only other ones doing it are wakeboarders. The surfers aren’t doing it, the windsurfers aren’t doing it, divers aren’t doing it. Hell, boogie boarders aren’t even doing it. So why are we?
    Are we really that ashamed of the size of our penises? Does accidentally looking at another dude’s package threaten our sexuality that much? Apparently, yes.
    Over the years, I’ve tried both sides of the equation. In an effort to fit in, I threw shorts over my wetsuit, it’s true. Shorts were always one piece of gear I couldn’t go kiting without. They were more important than a pump, because someone else would always have a pump. Then I’d jump in the shower afterward and struggle to remove the wetsuit, forgetting that I had the shorts overtop of it. Then I’d jump in a hot tub with six other dudes (shorts on, of course).
    And then, one day, I got over it. No, my package isn’t anything to be proud of. It looks tiny in a wetsuit. But I’m alright with it. It’s rare to see any single girls at the beach on the cold wetsuit days anyways—let’s face that fact right now. And if you’re a dude and you can’t stop looking at my package, then, shit, man, you’re the one with the issue (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
    The worst part of this is that it’s sending the wrong message to non-kiters about kiting. It’s saying, “Hey, look at our sport. It’s cool, it’s fun, but we’re all a bit ashamed of our packages, and none of us are secure with our sexuality.”
    And that, for lack of a better word, is pretty...

Photo: Why stop at just boardshorts? Daphnée Laliberté covers up, too. Couture photo

Final Thought: The Shaping Machine

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0500

At first I was a harsh critic of computer-aided shaping or “the shaping machine.” Coming from a surfing background, I take pride in tradition. The tradition I’m talking about is the hand-crafted piece of foam and fibreglass on which we carve through water and ultimately find our piece of nirvana. To design in your head and shape a surfboard by hand commands the utmost respect; it’s a skill that elevated the shaper to guru status. As a 16-year-old, this craftsmanship attracted me to shaping. As time went on, I fully realized the history and tradition behind hand-shaping.

I started hand-shaping 23 years ago and kept chicken-scratched records of my designs until eight years ago, when I started working on a CAD program. Computers have been the best thing for my surf, kite, tow and other related designs. With both my twin-tips and my surf design, I can keep accurate records and develop off of proven designs. I am able to accurately change a design in a certain area of a board that has already been tested while leaving the rest of the design untouched. I then can test that design and feel the changes I made. This gives me an absolute result. If I choose to change a proven design in a certain direction and it fails, I can return to that proven design and try another direction. This assures that my designs only get better and better.

I work with two different design programs, SurfCAD and another vector-based program. SurfCAD allows me to design and CNC-cut complete surf designs, rocker tables for twin-tips, and cut outlines for twin-tips. My other vector-based program allows me to design full-scaled outline and rocker templates, which I can print on my plotter/cutter machine.
With all the benefits to this design technology, what could possibly go wrong? I have seen a new breed of shaper. This freedom and ease of design has created a small portion of “shapers” that have not even touched a power planer to completely shape a board. This technology allows the lazy, unethical shaper to hijack designs by directly copying existing shapes that may be the blood, sweat and tears of another shaper. It’s like the painter who has the gift to craft a masterpiece of his own but decides to paint an exact copy of Mona Lisa.

Throughout surfboard-shaping history, veteran shapers have been saying, “Back in the old days, we had to....” Now it is my turn, I suppose. It’s important for the shaper to possess the ability to shape a board from start to finish, and this requires years of anguish and hard work.

John Amundson personally puts his shapes to the test at the Mauritius wave contest at One Eye. And with more than half the competitors riding Amundson’s custom creations, it looks like he’s onto a winning formula. Fournet photo

Check out this riding video of John Amundson from the North Shore of Oahu. The trash talk from Reo at the beginning in pretty funny.