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TECHNICAL EVOLUTION CLINTON FILEN
Clinton on the job in the shaping shed Photo: Kyle Cabano Clinton loves the Ultra – the current single strut performance machine Shredding on the Airush Decoy, 2005
THIS ISSUE WE SPEAK TO THREE PEOPLE WHO ARE AT THE CUTTING EDGE OF CHANGE, SHAPING THE FUTURE AND LEADING ADAPTATION, WHICH SEEMS APPROPRIATE GIVEN POLITICS WORLDWIDE. WE LIKE TO BE TOPICAL. FIRST UP, AIRUSH MD AND SHAPER CLINTON FILEN ON THE FAST PACE OF CHANGE IN THE INDUSTRY AND HOW MATURITY WILL MEAN WE NEED EVEN MORE GARAGE / VAN SPACE WORDS: JIM GAUNT PHOTOS: AIRUSH ARCHIVES, UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE
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caught up with Clinton at the UK’s Kitesurfing Armada event in early summer, where he was fascinated by the first ten issues of Kiteworld that we had on display to mark the release of our anniversary edition, #100, last issue. As he flicked through the pages, guffawing at the crude product designs by today’s standards, not just in his own Airush adverts, but throughout the magazine, I tapped the record button on my phone. With issue #04 (published April 2003) in his hands, he tapped the Airush ad page repeatedly in thought, and remembered:
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“THERE’S A THEORY FOR INNOVATION THAT SAYS IT’S GOT TO BE INNOVATIVE ENOUGH THAT IT DIFFERENTIATES YOU, BUT NOT SO INNOVATIVE THAT PEOPLE CAN’T IDENTIFY WITH IT.” CF: This Trio was a very interesting kite for us, but we had to take it off the market because it wouldn’t sell, even though it flew perfectly. People believed three strut kites couldn’t be stable enough, so we kept it on the market for only two years and then it disappeared. You couldn’t sell a three strut at the time. It was just too out there. JG: Remind me what other kites you had in your range at the time. The Trio was our entry level three strut. Stepping up in performance from that we had the Flow, followed by the Lift C kite, which was still on four lines. The Lift Pro was right at the top, but I think there were only about 20 people in the whole world experienced enough to ride it because it was just so high aspect and gnarly. How long was it before you released another three strut kite? A long time, like eight years! You guys were the first to really push single strut designs, but also no struts with the Zero kite. Did you experience the same resistance there? Absolutely! If you’re the only guys doing something, the whole market markets against you. There’s a theory for innovation that says it’s got to be innovative enough that it differentiates you, but not so innovative that people can’t identify with it. Look retrospectively and if something is still around ten years later, then it was an innovation. There’s so much stuff that people claim, so with our products I’m always asking, ‘Is this
really solving a problem?’. It’s so challenging in these fast paced markets where people want innovation, innovation, innovation, but real innovation takes time and is hard to come by. Was it easier to be a designer early in the sport when everything seemed to be progressing very quickly? Yes and no. But there’s still so much change across the whole sport, beyond just kites. A good example now would be with how quickly foils are developing. In just two months we changed the aspect ratio on a foil from 4.0 to 4.6; which is the equivalent difference between our Lithium (entry level and freeride kite) and Vantage (high-aspect performance kite). So in terms of iteration it’s very interesting. Any new category in kiting develops really fast. Which year do you think was the most exciting for kites because it was fast paced? I imagine your designer, Paddo (Mark Patterson), would come back almost month to month with lots of new findings and perhaps you almost had to slow everything down and focus on certain pathways in order to get something meaningful done for production? That’s actually a constant. You’ve got to have ten good ideas and one of them will work. So a lot of what we’re doing is working out what to put the most energy into. A good example is if you take something like the single strut kites: you get to a point where you think it’s good idea, so you work, take it to market and then sometimes the market just isn’t ready for it. Also, often innovation in one space changes another space. There’s a ripple
effect. The fifth line was originally designed to be a great help for relaunching, but what also happened was that the fifth line stabilised the leading edge, which meant you could essentially have kites that used to fold in half, no longer doing so. If we look at our current popular single strut kite, the Ultra; what really changed single strut kites was foiling. All of a sudden a kite that was 30% lighter was a big deal, because you used to be designing a nine metre kite for use in 25 knots. Now you’re designing a nine metre for 15 or 16 knots and it needs to do different things. So even if you think you’re getting to a point where things are slowing down, an innovation will come along somewhere else. Wing-surfers are only becoming relevant now because foiling has reached a certain stage in development. (While talking, Clinton had been scrolling through photos on his phone, looking for something in particular. He handed me the phone with a now familiar looking image on screen). This is a photo of something we put together six or seven years ago, basically off the back of the rising popularity of SUPs. We worked on this kite wing thing for a while, but this was prefoil, and we thought it was a bit stupid to just be wobbling along slowly in 12 knots. We couldn’t make the thing any bigger or more powerful though because the bottom of it would touch the water. Using it in 30 knots was quite fun, but it still never quite ‘worked’ on a SUP. Now, all-of-a-sudden we’re riding 200 square centimetre hydrofoils and you can be going fast and having fun in six or seven knots.
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What’s particularly striking as you look through these adverts? I’m just thinking how the sport has diversified into these mature categories. Wave riding like a surfer has become such a well defined category and people are also freeriding in such a clear way. Look at how freeride foiling and foil racing have taken off. There are these emerging segments and within each of those you’ll find a separate innovation bubble. As a brand, our philosophy is that we don’t dictate to people how they should ride. We just want to give them the tools for self expression. It’s a very fine line. The wing-surfer is a discussion point now because it doesn’t often look graceful or beautiful to me, but was kiting always graceful and beautiful? I guess my question before was when do you think was the heyday for a designer, or are we still in it? I really feel there are more connections now because there’s so much more happening in so many different aspects of the sport. You could argue that development was quite basic in the beginning. It’s hard to remember the evolution of bridles, which were a massive thing that made kites much safer. That is an evolution point, like the fifth line and four line kites. I don’t know if the single strut kite counts as that kind of innovation, because I purely see it in our own reality at Airush. It’s difficult to reflect on the speed of change because every year we were changing things and moving forward, but the riding styles were also evolving so quickly. Guys were riding boots, no boots, then straps, then no straps, then pulley bars, then five line, four line and unhooking. There was a trend in the Gorge for big FMX style board-offs, which was a beautiful change, while in Europe riders
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were flipping the board instead. I was looking at Aaron really early on and seeing where he wanted to take the sport and then when our rider Alex Pastor became the first guy to win a freestyle world cup event in boots, I suddenly thought, ‘when did that become palatable to the judges?’. I think looking at the riding styles is essentially what I’m interested in when I come to an event like this. What I’m really intrigued by is how do people want to ride? What are they excited about? I think the next thing that’s going to hit here is stronger wind foiling using really small kites. We’re seeing it in the core kitesurfing hubs aren’t we? Yeah, big wings, long masts, super small boards and small kites. That’s what a lot of guys are doing in places like Hood River. When we launched a freeride foiling video two years ago with Julien Kerneur, I thought, yeah, that’s the future. And for us it’s kites like the Ultras and mini Monster convertible surfboards, along with big foils, that are now our best sellers. But yeah, it’s really interesting. So, are we maturing yet? I was talking to one of our reps, discussing how we change the mindset of people who feel that they need to go and buy new kites every year. I think it’s still good to invest in the sport, but it’s almost better if you go on a nice trip instead and maybe every second year you buy new kites. That might be healthier for the sport and for the brands who can concentrate on building more durable kit. Maybe this year you’ll go out and buy a foil and next year perhaps a new wave board, or a light wind kite. I think that’s a more sustainable programme, adding to a quiver rather than changing it. That’s the development I see happening now; people
“PEOPLE BELIEVED THREE STRUT KITES COULDN’T BE STABLE ENOUGH, SO WE KEPT THE TRIO ON THE MARKET FOR JUST TWO YEARS AND THEN IT DISAPPEARED. YOU JUST COULDN’T SELL A THREE STRUT AT THE TIME. IT WAS JUST TOO OUT THERE.”
doing a few different things, which is healthy and a sure way to stay interested. We’ve just spent two weeks in Bali developing our surf foils and when you build cross-over you get into this cool area where that smoothness in ride feel becomes so important. For the next two or three years we’ll see foils get easier and more predictable. When everything starts to look similar that’s when we’ve all settled on what’s working really well and you won’t need to keep replacing your gear. KW
That’ll never catch on. The original Airush single strut kite, simply known as the ‘One’, 2010 That’ll never catch on. The 2003 Trio was ill fated, but three strut kites would be back in a big way!
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Sending it, always
CROSSING OVER
BEING A WATERMAN GRANT ‘TWIGGY’ BAKER
THIS IS AN EXTRACT FROM A PRESENTATION THAT 46 YEAR-OLD SOUTH AFRICAN AND THREE TIME BIG WAVE WORLD CHAMPION, GRANT BAKER, GAVE AT THE F-ONE 2020 DISTRIBUTORS’ MEETING THAT TOOK PLACE ON MAURITIUS IN JULY THIS YEAR. AN AMBASSADOR FOR F-ONE, ‘TWIGGY’ IS A TRUE WATERMAN AND PROBABLY THE MOST FAMOUS HIGH PROFILE SURFER THAT ALSO DOES A LOT OF KITING. AS F-ONE WERE LAUNCHING THEIR SWING WIND-WING AT THE MEETING, AND ALSO HAVE AN EXTENSIVE RANGE OF SURF AND SUP FOILS, GRANT WAS ASKED TO SHARE HIS THOUGHTS ON HOW HIS BROAD OCEAN EXPERIENCES HAVE HELPED HIS SURFING CAREER E D I T: J I M G AU N T
Constant water time in Madagascar
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“I’M STILL AMAZED BY HOW FEW SURFERS EMBRACED KITEBOARDING. FOR ME, IT WAS ALWAYS ABOUT THE ABILITY TO MOVE AWAY FROM THAT CROWDED LINE UP AND HAVE TIME BY YOURSELF.”
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wiggy has featured in Kiteworld before for his kitesurfing exploits and we shared a few conversations before this presentation in Mauritius. In my opinion, for a man who excels in very dangerous situations, he’s the definition of humble. When asked to come up and speak I was surprised at how uncomfortable he initially looked, folding and unfolding his arms between moving his hands in and out of his pockets. He seemingly couldn’t find a comfortable position in front of everyone, but once into the flow of describing his experiences, thoughtful words flowed seamlessly and with clarity. His arms soon helped show emotion rather than awkwardness and it was obvious how passionate he is about being in the water. The first question Twiggy got asked was simply, what does he think it means to be a waterman? Here’s what he said: I know a lot of people who are more involved in the ocean and do far more than me. I spend a lot of time in Hawaii where there are people who live off the ocean, fishing and feeding their family. So in some terms I would say that I am a waterman, but there are people who are much more so. I was five or six when I had my first ocean sport experience on a skimboard while on a family holiday. I moved onto a
bodyboard, then pretty quickly to a surfboard and have surfed ever since. I thought kiteboarding was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen when I first saw it in Hawaii. I never tried windsurfing, but I grew up in Durban where there isn’t very much wind. As soon as kiteboarding came around and we could do it in 12 or 15 knots I thought, well, that’s the answer for those months of September to December when the waves aren’t very good for surfing at home. When SUP came along I immediately saw it as an amazing training tool, allowing me to stay in the water, keep fit and use different muscles, helping to prolong the whole surfing side of my career. Riding a bigger board all the time in small waves provided muscle memory and the experience of operating a big board, which was amazing for my big wave surfing. I’d started kiteboarding just before the tow surf revolution and managed to win a couple of XXL big wave awards through tow surfing. I attribute that completely to kiteboarding, again because of the muscle memory benefits and being comfortable riding at speed. We have incredible spear fishing conditions at home and doing a lot of that has taught me about breath holding, which in turn has given me a lot of confidence in big waves. So I guess my point is that these sports help each other and all add to the
experience, increasing your ocean knowledge at the same time. I’m going to be forever thankful to Raph and the F-One family for bringing me in because I’ve got a garage full of toys. Each morning I look at the weather chart for the day, choose my gear and off I go. I’m so fortunate to be able to do that, especially at my age. I’m 46 and, believe it or not, I won my three world titles in my 40s. It’s 100% thanks to the amount of time I’ve been able to spend in the water. Staying young, keeping fit, being healthy and I guess that’s why you call me a waterman. Next question: Try to describe what it’s like to surf a 60 foot face and which was the hardest world title to win? Well, I actually think all of us here know exactly what it’s like to surf a 60 foot wave because we’ve all been in conditions in the ocean that we’re uncomfortable with. My limit is obviously up here (puts his hand above his head), but everyone has their own limit in waves. If it’s your first time in the ocean and you get dumped by a two foot wave, you’re going to feel that fear. It’s all relative to your experiences and the beauty of big wave surfing is that anyone who’s been in the ocean can understand the fear of being out of your comfort zone. You can get pounded and think you’re going to drown because you can’t
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“TODAY, I THINK WE’VE GOT EVERYTHING COVERED. IF THE WAVES ARE SMALL AND IT’S GLASSY WE’RE GOING SURF FOILING, IF THE WAVES ARE GOOD WE’RE GOING TO SURF, IF THERE’S WIND AND WAVES WE’RE GOING KITESURFING AND WHEN IT’S WINDY AND NO WAVES WE’LL GO OUT ON THE WING.” Pushing surf foiling Board-time with a kite
hold your breath long enough, but for me the thrill is like no other. It’s difficult to explain, but I feel the most alive when I’ve kicked out of a big wave after being right on the edge of disaster and success; it’s a natural high that no drug can give you. Pure paddle surfing requires all your ocean knowledge and riding the wave at Jaws that won me the XXL award this year was an accumulation of everything that I’ve done in the ocean. I should have fallen on the take-off, I should have fallen on the step, I should never have got a bottom turn in, the lip should have taken me out when I tried to squeeze under it and I should never have made it so far in the barrel, but I did because that’s what I’ve trained to do my whole life. To get to the boat after that wave was an amazing feeling. The hardest world title... to be honest, I’m not too sure how I’ve won those three, but I guess my gift - if you can call it a gift - is to be able to arrive at a surf spot and read it pretty much immediately. I can quickly know where the waves are breaking and understand the wind and currents. That’s a lot more important in big wave surfing contests than actual ability in the waves because you arrive in the morning, get sent straight out for your heat and you’ve got to figure out the line up, identify which will be the biggest waves and it all happens instantaneously. I’ve beaten guys who are far better surfers than me; guys who have a natural ability that’s much greater than mine, but I’ve always had that edge of being able to read the ocean and take advantage of my opportunities on the day. My knowledge comes from being in the ocean from the age of five. Question: Do you still see animosity between sports? I’m still amazed by how few surfers embraced kiteboarding. There are some that have but for me the freedom that we get from kiteboarding, the ability to move away from a crowded line up – it’s a different sport, but as a surfer everybody should have
embraced kiteboarding. I see it being different with surf foil and I think half of the champions’ league surfers have foils. When I travel around Hawaii pretty much every surfer has a foil going now, and if they don’t, they will in the next two or three years. As soon as the waves are small you see foilers all along the North Shore. In the future I think almost every surfer under the age of 30 is going to own a surf foil as a back up. Obviously being here in Mauritius while injured has been a nightmare as all I can do is watch, but from what I’ve seen in terms of how quickly you all picked up riding the Swing, and how safe it looked in 30 knots, I think that’s going to be different to kitesurfing. Safety isn’t going to be such a big factor and it looks easier to learn. I can see wingsurfing being a huge sport Today, I think we’ve got everything covered. If the waves are
small and it’s glassy we’re going surf foiling, if the waves are good we’re going to surf, if there’s wind and waves we’re going kitesurfing and when it’s windy and no waves we’ll go out on the wing. I’m so looking forward to doing some surf foil downwinders using the wing. What a gift for us all and it’s naturally powered. The future’s here. I think a big responsibility will be teaching people to keep the surf foil away from crowded line-ups, which seems to be the main thing causing discontent among surfers and other water users. For me kiteboarding was always about the ability to move away from that crowded line up and have time by yourself. I think the surf foil side of it is the same. You don’t need to be surfing the same waves as everyone else, so that’s going to be a big responsibility for all of us that adapt to these new sports. KW
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“WE SHARED THE SAME VISION ABOUT ELEVEIGHT IN CREATING A BRAND THAT REFLECTED KITEBOARDING IN THE WAY WE SEE AND LIVE IT.”
CROSSING OVER
STARTING UP PETER STIEWE
A KITE DESIGNER SINCE 2001, PETER STIEWE HAS MADE KITES FOR LIQUID FORCE, CABARETE KITES AND BEST KITEBOARDING, BUT IN ELEVEIGHT HE’S BEEN INVOLVED FROM INCEPTION WITH A SUPER TIGHT CORE TEAM OF FOUR. IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TWO YEARS SINCE LAUNCH, THE BRAND IS COMMANDING THE RESPECT OF TEST TEAMS THE WORLD OVER FOR THE INTUITIVE HANDLING AND SIMPLE HIGHPERFORMANCE TRAITS OF THEIR PRODUCTS. WE FOUND OUT HOW PETER’S RE-START HAS BEEN FIRING UP Hands on
INTERVIEW: JIM GAUNT
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What excites you most about kite design? “Being able to create something new. Redefining the status quo... continues to motivate me, year after year.”
Can you tell me a bit more about your background? My parents were sailors, so I was involved with water sports from a very young age. I started to make windsurf sails in the eighties with a sailmaker who worked at their club. Towards the end of the nineties I started to kitesurf and by 2001 was already designing kites. At that time I lived in the Dominican Republic and, by coincidence, I was neighbours with the Legaignoux brothers. The following year I started working for a factory in Asia, making kites for Liquid Force, Cabarete Kites and Best Kiteboarding (I stayed with Best for 15 years) and gained experience of new concepts, new raw materials and advanced processes together with the suppliers in order to make the finest possible products. When and how did the opportunity with Eleveight come about? What advantages did you see that you had as a team? There are four of us in the core team who have known and worked with each other for a long time, so bouncing ideas back and forth to create an efficient workflow was easy and we’d been
thinking about possibilities for while. More importantly, we shared the same vision about Eleveight in creating a brand that reflected kiteboarding in the way we see and live it. In early 2017 we realised that we had a real opportunity, so developed a very straight-forward action plan. Six months later we were ready to launch our first products. How long did the first products take to reach the correct level to go into production? What you were looking for from the product and when did you know it was ‘right and good to go’? We focused on the core products first and it took about six months of extensive development testing to get there. It’s a long and hard process when you’re aiming for high performance and innovative products. You now have a full set of six kite models, including a school kite and trainer kite. Which was the hardest to get right and why? Surprisingly perhaps, maybe the PS, which is built specifically for schools, but it’s not easy as the design requirements are very
different. Instead of using feedback from professional kiters or your own instinct, you have to think ‘and feel’ the learning process of students and work with feedback from schools. Only in the mind-set of a beginner can you design something that really fits their needs. What excites you most about kite design? Being able to create something new. Redefining the status quo is a fantastic job and it continues to motivate me, year after year. Do you think we are still in a time where the development of kites is continuing to change quickly? Until 2005 we developed and improved C-style kites. Then, from 2005 onwards we developed bridled kites. When comparing a kite from today with a five year-old kite, it might not seem like there’s a huge difference at first glance, but if you look at performance, construction techniques and materials you’ll see clear evidence of improvements. We’re not going to see the same industry-shaking changes of kite shape that we had in
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I “A 10% PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT TODAY IS MUCH HARDER TO ACHIEVE THAN IT WAS TEN YEARS AGO. LIGHTER MATERIALS AND LESS WEIGHT CAN HELP, BUT ONLY IF LIFT-DRAG RATIOS ARE IMPROVING, TOO.”
Peter, always happy in the waves, especially at home in Portugal Crucial factory experience
kiteboarding’s first decade of development, but the use of new materials and construction technologies will continue to push things forward. A 10% performance improvement today is much harder to achieve than it was ten years ago. Lighter materials and less weight can help, but a certain mass can be a good thing for a harmony in flight. Lift-drag ratios, handling, durability and longevity should improve, especially when kite prices may go up significantly due to raw material costs. This will be a sensitive topic in relation to sales and the development of the sport. Can customers still find the will to purchase products and will the sport still grow if kite prices increase by 50% or more? Although you don’t have a huge team of big name riders, we do see a lot of Eleveight kites on various beaches around the world being ridden by really good amateur or semi-pro riders. Do you have a lot of people giving you feedback on kites? Feedback is very important and we can only improve if we listen to our team and customers. Our slogan for our 2020 product launch was ‘Development Never Stops’. As a designer I try to talk to the riders as much as possible and absorb their requests. Even the smallest of details are important as they all add up to increase the performance and quality of the products. As I mentioned earlier, our schools also have an impact on the development process and those guys are really important because they use our gear on a daily basis, in all sorts of conditions, which is useful for tweaking durability and long term performance. Do you have a lot of ambassadors? Eleveight supports a small global team which reflects all the different riding styles in our sport. We believe it’s important to support young riders who push the limits and to create a contest environment which showcases the highest level of performance. On the other hand, we do also support a lot of national ambassadors who are usually linked to shops and schools and play an important role in the local kite communities.
Local events are really important. National ambassadors are the backbone of these events and we try to support them as much as possible. What are you working on right now? Eleveight will continue to increase the product portfolio. We have some great ideas that are being made a reality, including kites,
foils and other items. I can’t say too much, but development is in full swing! More at: www.eleveightkites.com KW
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