TheKiteMag #39 - Digital Free Issue

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NEW

F-ONE’s legendary BANDIT returns for its 14th edition, featuring improvements that offer the best riding experience no matter the conditions.

+ Outstanding upwind efficiency + Optimized bar pressure: Concise and effortless response from the kite + Exceptional wind range: The new BANDIT performs remarkably in both low and high winds + Reduced lateral pull: Takes the quest for a ride without drag to new levels + Power and generous lift for massive kiteloops and big air boosts + Remarkable stability for an enjoyable and safe ride, even in the toughest conditions

INST. @fonekites FB.

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@fonekites

TKC Sales Ltd f-onekites.co.uk

KITE COLL. 2021

Photo - Matt Georges

Rider - Mika Fernandez

Spot - Corsica

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WWW.F-ONE.WORLD

CIT MODES / FREESTYLE - ALLROUND -WAVE 3 STRUT LIGHT FRAME FUTURE-C SHAPE RADICAL REACTION TIPS CORETEX® TRIPLE RIPSTOP CANOPY 6 YEAR WORLDWIDE PARTS & SERVICE AVAILABILITY

NEW

FEEL THE RUSH

Composed and well mannered in unpredictable winds. And explosive when lit. Try the easy-to-ride megaloop champ with improved, lighter struts and feel the power and precision that’s built into every GTS.

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FOLLOW US ON

corekites.com | facebook.com/corekites | instagram.com/corekites | twitter.com/corekites

CORE Kiteboarding / +49(0)4371-88934-0 / info@corekites.com / Fehmarn, Germany 4

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FREESTYLE WAVE FREERIDE

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L E A R N M O R E AT S L I N G S H O T S P O R T S . C O M | F A C E B O O K . C O M / S L I N G S H O T K I T E O F F I C I A L | I N S TA G R A M : @ S L I N G S H O T K I T E

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COMFORT | PERFORMANCE | DEPENDABILITY

SENTRY V1 Click-In chicken loop technology meets intuitive, auto-swivel, line u n t w i s t i n g i n t h i s a l l - n e w s t a t e o f t h e a r t c o n t r o l b a r . We a r e p r o u d t o introduce the pinnacle of kiteboarding control systems; the Sentr y V1.

We h a v e c o m b i n e d c o m f o r t , p e r f o r m a n c e , a n d d e p e n d a b i l i t y i n t o o n e elegant design that gives riders a cleaner, safer, and higher performing on water-experience. By collaborating with our riders and listening to our customers, our designers dissected our past control bar technology and developed one of the most comprehensive and intuitive systems on the market.

17 ” x 2 0 m | 2 0 ” x 2 0 m + 3 m | 2 3 ” x 2 7 m

1. CLICK IN CHICKEN LOOP

4. ULTRA SOFT EVA GRIP

Release and reload faster and with zero hassle. Simply click in and GO!

Session long comfort meets dynamic control. Softer than ever with Anti-Slip Texture.

ISO CERTIFIED

2. AUTO SWIVEL TECHNOLOGY

5. CLAMCLEAT DE-POWER

Ceramic Bearings and our Dual Chambered Center Hole untwist lines automatically.

Simplicity and Functionality at its f inest.

This above the bar de-power system is smooth, easy, and dependable.

3. PU COVERED DE-POWER LINES PU covered de-power lines provide smoother control & longer lifespan.

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CONTENTS THE FEATURES

THE REGULARS

102 // Land of Rainbows

35 // Tangled Lines Legends… Max Blom 42 // On The List… Akyaka 46 // I’m On It… Ewan Jaspan 48 // My Beach… Raiarii Fadier, Bora Bora 56 // The Mission… Sebastian Ribeiro | Carl Ferreira 68 // The Creators… Florian van Rije, Lieuwe 74 // Profile… Reedin 82 // Gallery… Cold Hawaii Games 2020 134 // The Big Picture… North | Cabrinha 148 // Tech and Materials… Duotone SLS | Harlem Booomtag 154 // Technique… Blind Judge 5 with Jerome Cloetens | Strapless Backroll with

Where do you take the guy who has ridden One Eye most days of his life to show him a good time? Wet and windy Ireland of course! Willow-River Tonkin and Steven Akkersdijk load up on neoprene and get stuck in.

112 // Cumbuco Crew Andre Magarao sits down with two riders who are lucky enough to call the dreamy lagoons of Cumbuco home, Erick Anderson and Alex Neto.

122 // Paradise Jinxed Ewan Jaspan and fellow Naish riders Katie Potter and Peri Roberts head to Australia’s stunning Whitsunday Islands. It’s the dream ticket, although not without a few incidents along the way…

128 // Cape Town: The Dark Side Aron Rosslee and friends make the case for putting off-season Cape Town on your list of places to hit up. It might not be as easy as summer time, but those stolen sessions can be a lot more rewarding.

Airton Cozzolino

158 // Tell Me About It… CORE Bolt | Ride Engine Harnesses | Ocean Rodeo Shift Bar | Slingshot Super Natural

178 // Reflections… Gabi Steindl

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COVER

Airton Cozzolino unleashing as only Airton can…

Photo: Gabor Balogh HERE

When the end of the day looks like this it’s time to just cruise around and take it all in… Annelous Lammerts enjoying Lake Garda.

Photo: James Boulding

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NEW DECADE NEW DIRECTION Naish has improved its lineup of award-winning kites by refining designs to be lighter and more efficient, yet still built to last. Backed by 20 years of experience along with a new team of engineers, world champions, and pro athletes, our kites have been tuned through rigorous testing on maui and around the globe. The wide lineup of kites hits each discipline from big air, to freestyle, to park, to waves and foiling, while keeping each model an all-around performer.

The legendary Pivot and its sibling the Triad have proven to be the most acclaimed all-around kites on the water, excelling at just about everything. This year’s kites feature Naish’s industry-leading materials with fine-tuned patterns and added adjustability features. The result is a lineup of well-proven and easy-to-fly designs that deliver maximum performance for every riding style in every condition!

PIVOT SIZES: 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 14 SLASH SIZES: 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 TORCH SIZES: 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 14 DASH SIZES: 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 14 BOXER SIZES: 2.8 | 3.4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 11 | 12 | 14| 16 TRIAD SIZES: 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 14 FIND THE AWARD-WINNING NAISH KITE LINEUP INCLUDING THE PIVOT, SLASH, TORCH, BOXER, DASH & TRIAD AT YOUR NAISH DEALER TODAY OR AT NAISH.COM

NaishKiteboarding

Naish_Kiteboarding

Naish.com

Kubus Sports BV . info@kubus-sports.nl . +31 (0) 88 5525200

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Frankie Bees . Tim Walsh: Pivot LE Kite, Drive Twin Tip

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Welcome Back in the game Well, I for one have never been quite so excited about the prospect of a Big Air event held in grey, stormy, insanely unphotogenic conditions somewhere in deepest darkest Denmark… But when we heard about the Cold Hawaii Games Big Air event, there was a collective sigh of relief from the whole crew here at TheKiteMag. Finally a comp. We enjoy watching any kite content of course and to be honest, although we have seen a dip in output from pro riders and brands over the last few months, there is still plenty to keep us entertained. But the fact is that events are FUN and it’s always great to gauge where the sport and riders are at. And with less events happening (i.e. none) this one seemed to take on more significance. If you didn’t follow the event then we won’t give anything away, just head to the Gallery section where we had Therese Taabbel on the scene (in the rain) and she takes us through it.

More generally, and the good news (there isn’t a whole lot of that right now, sorry) is that post-lockdown retailers and brands reported one of their best periods in many years with people choosing to stay at home and then splurge their holiday/possible redundancy fund on NEW KIT! That is the kind of attitude we like.

The upshot is that brands have been falling over themselves to get their 2021 kit out and they have also had a good enough year to go full power on R&D for the next round of gear… And it has to be said that, although kite evolution seems to be more about the micro-adjustments, when it comes to materials there is some very innovative thinking going on, with pretty much every brand claiming big weight savings for their kites for 2021, and with plenty of new thinking in the world of twintips and surfboards too. I’ve got to say that from a ‘surf’ perspective, it’s a whole new world now and the 7kg super stiff surfboards of yesteryear are – thankfully – a distant memory… Kit got good.

This issue we catch up with a lot of brands to find out what’s getting them over-excited for this season and what they think you should have on your wish list, and we have had our first chance to put some 2021 kit through its paces too. Plus we obviously have a whole lot of top-quality exclusive content from all corners of the globe, where the focus has been on ‘making the most of what is on your doorstep’. Although it turns out that some people have nicer doorsteps than others…

So, as we stare into the ongoing unknown, we really hope you can take some joy from what we have within these pages – you may not be able to travel to a lot of the spots we cover, but hopefully you can still get to your local and hopefully the stoke you felt after getting on the water after some enforced time off just keeps on giving…

Enjoy the issue,

Alex

(and Sarah)

HERE

Tarifa is well known for its strong offshore wind that quickly scares the sunbathers away. This is one of those magical sunset sessions by the Tarifa castle, with Maarten Haeger out there going wild in 40 knots.

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Here’s Maui based Kainani Drexler in quite possibly the most majestic kitesurfing shot we have ever seen!

EDITOR Alex Hapgood

ART DIRECTOR Nikki Hall

A S S I S TA N T E D I T O R Sarah Sylvester

TECHNICAL EDITOR Richard Boughton ONLINE MEDIA MANAGER Gemma Hamaini D I G I TA L M A R K E T I N G To m W e y e r s

CONTRIBUTORS A l d e n S i m m e r, A l e x S c h w a r z , A l e x a n der Lewis-Hughes, Andre Magarao, Caio Pacheco, Chuck Harlan, Diego Correira, Dylan Osborne, Franck Berthuot, Frankiebees, Gabor Balogh, H e l e n F i s c h e r, J a m e s B o u l d i n g , J o h n C a r t e r, J u l i e t a P e r e y r a , K e n n y L i a u t , Leigh McAra, Lukas Pitsch/proimagehub.ch, Maria Cole, Martin Bjørn C h r i s t i a n s e n , N i c h o l a s S p i l s b u r y, Nicklas Kold Nagel, Nina Font, Ryan Osmond, Samuel Cardenas, Samuel To m é , S t e p h a n K l e i n l e i n , S v e t l a n a R o m a n t s o v a , T h e r e s e Ta a b b e l , V i c t o r D u t r a , Yd w e r v a n d e r H e i d e

ADVERTISING Advertising enquiries can be sent to advertising@thekitemag.com

COPYRIGHT All material in TheKiteMag is subject to copyright.

Reproduction without the express permission of the publishers will result in prosecution.

PUBLISHER TheKiteMag is published by Water Born Media Limited, Cornwall / United Kingdom

E N V I R O N M E N TA L This magazine is printed on paper sourced from responsibly managed sources using vegetable based inks. Both the paper used in the production and the manufacturing process are FCS ® certified.

The printers are also accredited to ISO14001, the internationally recognized environmental standard.

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SHAPING THAT

LIEUWESINCE 2010FEELING

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R ID E R L IA M WHA LE Y PHOTO YDW E R VA N D E R HEI DE LOC AT IO N CO R SIC A

TKM: F-ONE couldn’t undertake their usual Indian Ocean mega-trip this year and had to stick a bit closer to home…

Corsica doesn’t look so bad though does it?! Here’s Liam Whaley checking out the local topography.

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FOCUS

FOCUS

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RI DE R T IM WAL S H PH OTO F RANK IE B E E S LOC AT I ON MAU I

TW: Living on Maui, light wind days are rare. Most of my days are filled with 30 mph+ winds and stomping new tricks. I love the feeling that rushes over me as I pull up to the beach for a kite foil session on the new and versatile 810 Kite Wing – exploring Maui’s North Shore coast and riding with friends is an epic experience

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R I D E R C A R L A HE R R E RA ORI A PHOTO SA MUE L C A R DENAS LO C ATI O N TA R IFA

CH: As I don’t yet have the full quiver of Ocean Rodeo A-Series kites, they’re not normally my kite of choice for sessions – I prefer to train with the kites I’m used to. But as soon as I take one out, I immediately feel super comfortable and can land all my tricks. In this photo shoot with Samu I was feeling so in the zone, that I pulled my first kiteloop backrolls. The A-Series Roam is a great high-performance kite that really allows you to take your riding to the next level.

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R ID E R JULIA N M E ISTE R PHOTO LUKAS P ITSC H/P ROI MAGEHUB.CH LOC AT IO N CO LICO, LA K E COMO, I TALY

LP: Trips to Lake Como always feel like going on vacation – warm water temperatures (at least compared to our mountain lakes...), lots of sunshine, good coffee and the best ice creams in the world – enough reasons alone to pack the car and drive south. Plus, Lake Como also offers reliable thermal winds to start the day with an easy warmup foil session, followed by some twintip action, and last but not least, a foil sundowner during the golden hour for some photo-shooting fun. It was just before sunset when Julian demonstrated his foil skills on the empty water.

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RI DE R NOÈ F ONT P H OTO NINA F ONT LOC AT I ON S PAIN

NF: Kiting never felt any better – this was my first day back on the water after a three month hiatus due to Covid-19’s restrictions. My sister Nina took the photo at our local spot in Spain.

This day had me out on the water for longer than I had been in ages, and although my arms felt like jelly, with the spot to myself it would have been rude to go home. It’s been really nice to be back home for the summer and enjoy what it has to offer. Sometimes you forget how great it can be right on your doorstep.

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RIDE R ANDRE A LU C A AMMANN PHOTO LU KAS P ITS C H /P ROIMAGE H U B .C H LOCAT I ON S ILVAP L ANA, SWITZ E RL AND

LP: This was just before the sun went down behind the mountains of the Engadin valley, therefore sending the thermal winds to sleep. It was not my first time shooting with Cabrinha rider Andrea, so I already knew his stylish unhooked skills. I had no time to review the shots while swimming in the lake, so I was super happy when I opened the underwater housing and saw this unhooked Seatbelt Grab in perfection, with the Corvatsch mountain in the background.Â

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R I D E R L E WIS C R ATHE R N PHOTO L E IG H M C A R A LO C AT IO N GWITHIA N , UK

LC: With a 45-knot storm brewing in the UK, Aaron Hadlow, Tom Court, Sam Light and I drove five hours to the best spot. We have all been on an incredible journey since our early kiting days and our careers have often taken us away from our roots, and each other. Meeting up and staying in our vans prior to a big day is a great way to remind us of our beginnings, whilst being in an environment to push our riding. These shots are from my first session on the 2021 Dice; it has become my go to for megaloops and extreme conditions – perfect for the UK. If you’d told me five years ago that I wouldn’t be riding a pure C-kite for Big Air I would not have believed you!

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R ID E R K E A HI D E A B OI TI Z PHOTO C HUC K HA R LAN LOC ATI O N OA HU

KA: This shot was taken during an extremely fun session shooting the new 00 range from Cabrinha which has just been released. Getting the right combination of wind and swell on the north shore of Oahu isn’t always easy, but when you do score both together, it’s always a blast. There’s something special about the smooth clean faces that this spot offers which really allows you to lay into a turn!

FOCUS

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R I D E R E WA N JASPA N PHOTO A L E XA N D E R LE WI S-HUGHES LO C AT IO N B R IB IE ISLA N D, QUEENSLAND

EJ: Many years ago I saw footage of Andy Yates (Aussie PKRA champ) riding a small lagoon on Bribie Island. After weeks of no wind we saw a south-westerly forecast, which is offshore on the east coast, so we went for a drive and across the bridge to the island. When we arrived, the once freestyle-able lagoon had dried up to a little mud pond, but we were still able to make the best of it and had a mini session playing around on the sand!

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RI DE R V IC TOR H AYS PHOTO SV E T L ANA ROMANTS OVA LOC AT I ON B RAZ IL

VH: November is usually the best time to travel to Brazil – filled with endless sunset sessions, good friends and good vibes. It is the perfect playground to allow you to push your freestyle riding game every day. This shot was taken when I arrived last season by my good friend and amazing photographer, Svetlana. She is always ready to shoot, no matter how sketchy it is! I’ve been to Brazil many times and I’m hoping to make it back there again this year…

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RI DE R TOM COU RT P H OTO JOH N C ART E R LOC AT I ON IS L E OF WIGH T, U K

TC: This was one of my first sessions back after the UK lockdown, and after weeks of sitting on the sofa it was time to stretch the legs. With wind showing on the forecast, we mounted a photo mission to The Needles lighthouse on the Isle of Wight, with two safety boats, my kite, Ross Williams on a wing foil and Tom Buggy on a windsurfer to go and shred some of the world’s most dangerous tidal waters.

A perfect way to blow off the cobwebs, get back into the adrenaline fix and score some good shots. Here, I was seeing how close to the lighthouse I could get with my kite. It was hard to judge as the rocks are so big that you can’t really tell how close you are…

FOCUS

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R I D E R PATR I M C L AUGHLI N PHOTO A L DE N SIM ME R LO C AT IO N MAUI

PM: Orion Owens has been a friend of mine for 10 years.

Unfortunately, a few years ago he dove into a shallow lake and broke his back, which left him paralyzed. He still charges though, and is up for anything. I asked if he wanted to strap on my back and go kiting – he said yes right away. The first time he got into a seat harness and we tied it to my waist harness. It worked alright but his legs were skipping around uncontrollably. We went back to the beach and duct taped his legs around my waist piggyback style. It worked but still needed some improvements. Orion ordered some construction harnesses, and we connected them together with carabiners. That worked a lot better and we were able to boost some jumps. We got a pretty good gust on this jump, and ended up crashing pretty hard! It was super fun though. We’re planning to get him out into some waves this winter.

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RI DE R JAN B U RGDÖRF E R P H OTO H E L E N F IS C H E R LOC AT I ON F E H MARN, GE RMANY

JB: This was one of the first sessions I’ve had with the new 2021 Eleveight gear. Area manager, Philipp Mohr, Helen and I met up on Fehmarn to do my premier shooting as an Eleveight team rider. What started as a wonderful afternoon session on my 14m FS, over time became a magic sunset session. However, this picture was taken before we actually started shooting, as Helen was still on the other side of the harbor. It seems like she caught a pretty good moment of me jumping behind the beautiful sailing yachts.

FOCUS

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PH OTO AL E X S C H WARZ LOCATI ON T RAU NS E E , AU ST RIA

TKM: Formula Kite has returned with a super intriguing trial of the new “Medal Race 3.0” format which will be applied for the Olympics in 2024. The event definitely proved that the male/female team element can work with some insanely tight and competitive racing throughout the week… And check out this shot: what a crazy backdrop!

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Max Blom

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You can spend as much money as you want on kites and boards, but if your wetsuit isn’t warm or your harness isn’t comfortable, it’s gonna take the shine off your session. For nearly two decades, Mystic have been wrapping their harnesses around many a kiter’s waist; from the weekend warrior to the most famous of pros. Max Blom pretty much is Mystic and lives and breathes the brand…

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Max Blom TKM

You get to ride with a lot of the top riders, who is most fun to ride with and pushes hardest?!

They all push hard so you learn from everyone you ride with. I was lucky enough to start working with the brand at an early age. Because of that I have spent a lot of time with the pros.

In the early days, I was still riding a twintip and doing megaloops, mostly with Ruben, Youri and Bruna. Over the years I have fallen in love with wave riding because I really like to surf as well. I spent three months in southern Brazil in 2014 and spent a lot of time with Guilly Brandão. He is an amazing rider and really pushed me in decent sized waves. I have also been riding a lot with Jalou since we did many shoots together in Cape Town. Lately I get to ride with Ozzy a lot too – I am trying to match his style but I have my doubts if I’m ever going to make it to that level!

TKM

Which Mystic product (okay, you can choose two!) are you proudest of?

We have made a lot of very nice and successful products, but if I need to pick two that are special to me, it’s the Warrior and the Stealth harness. The Warrior was a breakthrough moment for Mystic as it was the first dedicated kite harness. Back in 2005 we introduced a white version, and at that time Ruben was dominating the PKRA tour and on top winning the last King of The Air in Hawaii. Since then the Warrior became iconic and it hasn’t left the range. The Stealth harness is my other pick as it is our newest addition to the range. For us it’s the best engineered harness on the market today and celebrates more than 15 years of building innovative products.

Ruben Lenten

If you could create an event from scratch, what would the format be?

It’s not necessarily a new event or format that pops into my mind. I would like to see the King of The Air go into a world series at different locations around the world with the grand final in Cape Town. This format has proven it’s good for the sport and will boost the competitive side of kiting. You could have events in spots like Tarifa, Leucate, Holland, Hood River, then Cape Town could form an epic showdown. Ideally, I would love to see Red Bull behind that with the GKA supporting it. Also, a big wave event in kiting is something I would love to see. Seeing guys like Jesse, Niccolo, Patri, Kai, Keahi, Airton and other big wave names battling it out in a suitable location would be great to push the boundaries of the sport.

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TKM

Which material developments have had the biggest impact on your products?

Composites, carbon and neoprene layering – these materials have developed very quickly over the years and made our products so much better. The innovation these days is racing along and therefore you rely on the research and development. We have always been keen to source new materials and apply them in the best possible way to make our products as durable as possible.

Mike Raper (Brand Director, North)

What a great leader you are for the Mystic team. You’ve developed these skills from somewhere; I suspect some of these learned character traits have come from your father. My question is: what influence has Max Snr had over you?

I think every kid is in some way a product of his parents. The way you have been raised, and the values your parents share with you, are the basics for who you become as a person. My dad has always been a leader throughout his career. In the 90s he was the CEO for O’Neill Europe, so I basically grew up within the O’Neill family. Watching him next to guys like Jack O’Neill, Wingnut and the world class athletes O’Neill had at that time was inspiring. I joined Mystic at the age of 19 and not long after that doing presentations for the sales force to share the vision and marketing ideas. Doing that for a long time, you develop some skills that help to lead the team and

ax Blom

brand. My dad was always there, guiding me from the back, but I was pioneering from the front to choose the route for Mystic. You make mistakes on the way but that only makes you come out stronger as you learn so much.

Ozzie Smith

What’s the gnarliest wipeout you ever had and did you ever think you were gonna die?

I had a couple in different sports. In kiting I once got a wildcard to join the Kiteloop competition during the PKRA in Fuerteventura. I managed to beat a couple of guys and ended up in the final with Aaron, Kevin and Tom Court. For me as the only non-pro it was quite a big thing, so I went fully overpowered to give it my best. I still remember during the final minutes of the heat pulling a big loop with a massive wipeout as a result.

Of course, I went bigger than my skills would allow but the adrenaline of being in a final took over! The crash was really painful but luckily Kevin and I had a laugh about it overnight at the bar instead of the hospital.

My other major crash was in sailing. I grew up sailing when I was younger and during a competition in the Tornado (Olympic Catamaran) on a very wavy ocean, we flipped over on the downwind leg with the gennaker up. I was on the back of the boat and as we flipped I was launched all the way to the front, hitting the mast on the way. When I came above the water again my foot was stuck in a rope pulling me under. I managed to get loose but that was a stressful moment for sure.

MAIN

Well, someone’s got to test the gear?! Max in action.

RIGH T TOP

The big reveal with the North/ Mystic dealer meeting in Dakhla 2019.

RIGH T B OT TOM

Modeling time.

MAX BLOM

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Max Blom Marc Jacobs

TKM

What are the challenges of having a brand that spans several different sports? And why have you not moved into the bigger market of surf accessories?

For me the most important thing is to be credible in every sport or market you enter. It’s not just about supporting a few riders and suddenly you are in. It takes time and that will only happen if you are speaking the right language. This comes naturally if you are passionate about it. I think it is underestimated how important that is and to keep a high level in each market sector. Surfing is the biggest and most competitive market in action water sports – before you enter you need to have a strong plan in place. We are all very passionate about surfing so it’s definitely a market we are exploring. Once we go for it there will be no way back since you can’t enter a market at half speed…

Jesse Richman

What’s the weirdest thing a guest has done at your house?

Haha! My guests and friends are pretty chilled when we do barbecues so nothing major has happened there. The weird stuff always happens at Graham’s house in Cape Town…

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Did you enjoy kiwi land when you came to visit last time? Anything on your list for next time you’re over?

Yes I really enjoyed it – it was on my list for a long time. We got together to prepare the North launch since the brand and product team is located there. We worked a lot so I only managed to explore during the weekend. The scenery is breathtaking, and I scored a couple of good sessions. When I come back I am looking forward to bigger surf and to see more of the remote regions, as the country has so much to offer. The trip to go there is pretty intense so it takes commitment, but once you are there its 100% worth it.

Annabel van Westerop

You are as passionate about the brand as you are to be out there and riding. Do you have any personal dreams or goals with kiting or surfing?

I once crossed the Atlantic Ocean by kite back in 2013. It was very satisfying to complete this massive challenge. I was always looking for a big challenge, but since I finished this project I haven’t felt the need to come up with something new.

I really enjoy being out there as much as possible, ideally in great conditions, but can appreciate my home spot Schev-

Max Blom eningen as much as the tropical destinations. Last year we went to the Maldives for a surf trip – 10 friends on a boat and surf every day. That was really cool and special so another trip but a different location like the Mentawai Islands is definitely still the dream.

Jalou Langeree

You and the team have built Mystic to what it is today – a super sick and outstanding brand which I’m proud to be part of. What is your next goal?

The journey so far has indeed been amazing. Day in and day out we have worked hard to build the brand to where it is today. We have been following our own path aligned with our vision and it’s great to see this has brought the brand to where it stands today. It’s a worldwide effort from everyone involved with Mystic, from our staff in the Netherlands, to the riders and global sales force. Everyone has played a part in contributing to the success. Looking at the future there is a lot more to come, and joining forces with North has opened up new opportunities for further expansion. We still want to improve a lot with our current products with regards to sustainability. We are also looking into exploring other markets, since Mystic is about more than just kiting, it’s a multi-sport brand and the brand deserves market share in the other markets we are active in. Therefore the five to ten year goal is to become a more diverse brand in different areas but still maintaining the level that Mystic has today.

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Max spends a bit of time in Cape Town. It shows.

AB OV E L E F T

No kite, no problem.

AB OV E

Mystic have sponsored KOTA since day one - Max gets plenty of photo ops.

MAX BLOM

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Akyaka, Turkey

WORDS GEMMA HAMAINI

A true gem of a kite spot, located close to Europe, that dishes up reliable wind conditions from June to September, offers amazing food, stunningly beautiful boutique hotels and has perfect weather‌ does it sound too good to be true? Well, let me tell you, it exists, and it is called Akyaka.

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ON THE LIST

Akyaka is a picturesque seaside town located in southwestern Turkey.

A town with a laid-back and easy-going vibe, full of cute restaurants, small hotels, bars, and intriguing shops, and best of all, it has Gรถkova Bay located just a short drive away. It is here that you will find a perfect sandy bay, full of kite schools and beach bars, and a great kiteboarding vibe.

Through my work with the Kiteboarding World Tour I have been fortunate enough to visit Akyaka for several years running. Akyaka hosted

a tour stop for two years running, and it was one of the most successful events on the calendar due to the reliable wind and the flat water near to the shore which made it an optimal freestyle spot. It is also one of the favorites with the pro-riders, not only due to the great conditions, but also because of the welcoming atmosphere.

Getting to Akyaka is simple. It is a relatively short four hour flight from the UK or other main European airports to Dalaman, Turkey. From here, there are many companies that organize comfortable AKYAKA, TURKEY

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ON THE LIST

Getting There Closest airport is Dalaman, and there are regular direct flights from Europe. If you can’t find a direct flight from your local airport, then you can always fly to Istanbul and then connect with a short, internal flight. Special bonus if you get to fly with Turkish Airways as they are definitely one of the best companies out there .

Staying There There are many beautiful boutique hotels to choose from, with prices ranging from 50 euros to 150 euros per night depending on how luxury you want to go. Most will include a delicious traditional breakfast. You can also find some great places on Airbnb.

In the Bag

transfers, and it’s then just a one hour drive to reach Akyaka. For accommodation, there is a wide range of choice. Small, boutique hotels are scattered all across town. They are comfortable and welcoming, and it is easy to walk around town when you want to eat out in the evenings and do a bit of sightseeing.

Turkish food is some of the best food I have ever eaten, and if you walk into town you can find some charming restaurants located on the river, that serve up delicious traditional food at great prices. The best part of all? Traditional Turkish breakfasts that include fresh tomatoes, olives, cucumber, cheese and of course the Turkish coffee!

The drive to the kite spot is about 10 minutes from Akyaka town, and once you arrive you can find plenty of parking at the entrance to the beach. If you are a beginner, you have a huge choice of kite schools available to you. They are all located directly on the beach. You can also arrange to store your kite gear at one of the centers if you prefer not to load it up in your car each day, and this also allows you use of the compressor and other facilities. Each school also has a beach bar or restaurant, so you will always be able to find great food and enjoy a nice cold beer at the end of the day.

The wind in Akyaka is very reliable during the summer season from June to September. The stats are impressive, with a 99% possibility of wind during this time of year. The wind blows cross-onshore, and the huge, shallow bay is a safe and beautiful spot for kiting. The water can be choppy at times and you can expect to find lots of beginners around the shore, but if you head out a bit it is easy to find more space.

Akyaka is a truly great spot to visit if you are traveling with non-kiting friends or family. The beach bars offer great spots to chill during the day and the town and surrounding areas have many great locations to check out. It’s definitely a place that I always look forward to going back to and Akyaka has a very strong kite community, so expect to make plenty of kite friends who always welcome you when you head back to this kiting nirvana. ■

You can expect it to blow around 18 to 20 knots during the windy season so, depending what you are riding, anything from a 13m for unhooked freestyle through to a 6m for foiling.

Rubber During the main season it’s warm, so either boardies/bikini or a shortie. Happy days.

Beer You can expect to pay between two to four euros for a beer. Be sure to try one of the local brews, such as Efes.

Most Likely to Hear This is like Brazil without the 20hour journey!

Least Likely To Hear I wish I’d opted for the staycation…

AKYAKA, TURKEY

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PHOTOS ALEXANDER LEWIS-HUGHES

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NAISH TRAVERSE

BOARD DIMENSIONS: 152 x 43.5cm // RIDER WEIGHT: 80kg // RIDER HEIGHT: 178cm 46

I’M ON IT

2019 Kite Park League and 2017 Triple-S champion Ewan Jaspan was stoked to contribute to the development of his first signature pro board with Naish. The Traverse Ewan Jaspan Pro is a bold variation from the ubiquitous twintip formula and draws inspiration from various board sports to offer something delightfully different…

It was great to be involved in the development of this board. I am very passionate about R&D, keen to gain more knowledge, try more equipment and strive for the best possible product. Working with the team at Naish is great because they really take on board feedback and love collaborating with the team riders to improve the product line. The longer I have been with them, the more involved with the gear I have become, and it is something I enjoy more and more the deeper into it I get.

For the new Traverse we took inspiration from different boardsports, such as snowboarding and surfing, where freeriding

means going out, drawing long lines in the water or snow, busting stylish grabs and making your riding look and feel good. I am constantly pushing my riding to be smooth and stylish, and this board really encourages that style of riding

The board is so easy and fun to ride, so it has a very broad ap-

peal. It is a great freeride, freestyle and park board. It really allows you to ride your twintip in any conditions and make the most of what your spot has to offer. The board excels in high performance riding too, due to its slightly stiffer construction and sintered base, allowing you to take it anywhere and ride anything.

It’s longer and narrower than traditional twintips, especially in the tips, so gives a great progressive load for jumps. The long rail gives you a smooth ride through the water and plenty of glide. It also lays a great foundation for long drawn-out turns in flat water or waves. Now you can ride a bigger board without it feeling like a door, as the surface area is close to being the same as a lot of lightwind boards.

The board is designed to be ridden a size up from your

standard twintip shape. So I ride the 152 in boots, and the 144 when in footstraps. I rode a 142 in boots and 138 in straps, when I rode the Stomp. This was one of the best freestyle shapes I have ever ridden, but more one dimensional than the new Traverse.

Water fires off the rail with the Traverse so you don’t get

splashed in the face. It also has a continuous rocker which contributes to the smooth ride. The nose is up out of the water so also helps to ensure you never get sprayed in the eyes, and the energy from hard landings is dispersed.

The board’s rail is thicker than many of the boards in our line-

up, providing a really nice grippy feel and more bite that doesn’t feel too locked in. This also allows the board to be ridden finless for the ultimate feeling of freedom. The clean bottom shaping provides just enough grip without feeling sticky.

Because of Covid-19 Naish HQ had to send files for the fins

back and forth and I had them 3D printed and then tested them.

They are 2.8cm G10 fins and are longer but not as tall, providing a lot of grip but won’t feel like they’re locked in, or trip you if you land slightly off kilter.

There is also a regular Traverse board as well as the Ewan

Jaspan Pro. If I want to ride hard and have a more responsive ride, or ride in boots, I use the Pro board. I’ll use the regular Traverse if

I just want to cruise and focus on a comfy ride, but still have some performance. The standard Traverse comes with 5cm fins.

Naish used the trusted Motion construction for the regular Traverse, while the Pro has a sintered base and a more beefed-up layup with an extra cross of glassing, making it slightly stiffer and stronger. They both have a Paulownia wood core. The inserts are super strong and will never pull out, making both boards bombproof for boots riding. We also incorporated a raised beam the length of the board on either rail, which increases stiffness in both axis without adding unnecessary weight to the board.

I took the board on my recent trip to the Whitsundays [Ed: more on this later!] and it was great to use for all conditions. My favorite session was at the picturesque ‘Whitehaven Beach’. The tide was high and there was a perfect little lagoon to freestyle in and small kickers on the outside. As the lagoon dried up we had to ride in the chop so I switched to footstraps on the 144 and had fun carving the little waves, boosting airs and doing some old school moves.

It’s amazing the variety of riding the board feels comfortable with, and it really allows me to do all disciplines on the one shape.

I’ll use my 12m Torch for freestyle. I have been riding this for

12 years now and couldn’t feel more connected to a kite. For Big Air and old school moves I’ll use the 12m Pivot. It has so much power and jumps so consistently in any wind and it has more tunability for higher wind and strapless riding. For foiling I use the Boxer or the Pivot on 12m lines or if there is a really nice 20-25 knot day though and I want to do a bit of everything, the Dash really works well.

I want to compete in the Red Bull Megaloop Challenge but I’m waiting on confirmation that the event will go ahead, and with the Covid travel restrictions it is looking unlikely to happen. If it does go ahead it normally delivers super strong wind so I may use the 138 to hold down maximum power. Then I’m hoping to get to Cape Town to practice my Big Air riding and film for my Red Bull King of the Air video. ■ NAISH TRAVERSE

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Bora Bora F R E N C H P O LY N E S I A PHOTOS KENNY LIAUT

With its turquoise waters and white sand beaches, Bora Bora is without doubt one of the most beautiful places in the world. Popular amongst honeymooners for its overwater bungalows, it turns out it’s not so bad for kiting either! Local resident and Eleveight team rider Raiarii Fadier tells us about one of his favorite local spots.

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MY BEACH

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MY BEACH

W H AT A R E Y O U R F I R S T R E C O L L E C T I O N S O F T H E B E A C H ?

I remember arriving there for the first time and being surprised because I didn’t know there was such a great spot like this on Bora Bora.

The spot is located on a ‘motu’ (little island) so you need a boat to reach it. It was sunny and the wind was a bit light so I just enjoyed the moment with my friends but I couldn’t wait to have a perfect session there.

C A N YO U R E M E M B E R A N Y O F YO U R F I R ST S E S S I O N S ?

Yes, the next time we went there the wind was still a bit light, so I decided to take my foil out. It was a bit sketchy because the flat-water zone is really small, and close to this you have some coral rocks, so you need to stay high with your foil. Then a big cloud came and the wind got stronger so I had a sick little session with my twintip. After that all of my sessions there were focused on freestyle. The spot is so made for this – it is a nice flat-water pool protected by a beautiful sand bar.

W H O E LS E D I D YO U R I D E T H E R E W I T H ?

The first time I went there, a friend took me to the spot to show me how cool it was. Then, the next session was with my parents – they had learned to kite when I was eight. I wanted to show them this great spot and have a session with them. I once took friends from Tahiti, they couldn’t believe the beauty of the beach and how hidden it is.

C A N Y O U TA L K U S T H R O U G H T H E T Y P I C A L C O N D I T I O N S ?

Usually the wind there comes from the east or south east and blows

from 7am until sunset. Most of the time, it is stronger in the morning, gets lighter around noon, and then comes back stronger in the afternoon around 3pm. The perfect season is from May to September.

H A S T H E S E T U P AT T H E B E A C H C H A N G E D O V E R T H E Y E A R S ?

Not really and this is a good thing because it is perfect already! The spot is really hidden from the reef pass of the island, so the sand doesn’t really move or change. The beach is on a little private island near the airport, so nobody tends to go there except a few local kiters.

W H AT W O U L D B E Y O U R P E R F E C T D AY T H E R E ?

A classic freestyler day, arriving at 10am, with the perfect conditions – sunny, 20 knots of wind, just me and a friend sending some tricks and pushing each other, then a little break at 12 to enjoy a good sandwich, and after that back in the water until the golden hour. And to top it off a good Hinano beer on the way back home driving on the boat on the way back home!!

TA L K U S T H R O U G H O N E S E S S I O N T H AT S TA N D S O U T F O R Y O U THERE?

I think when I took my friends from Tahiti, because the conditions were super perfect, the wind was steady, the sun was out, and I was so happy for my friends that had come from far away to have conditions like this.

We rode all day long, and there was a funny moment when we saw a police car driving our way from the airport – I thought they were coming to tell us we were riding too close to the airport, and were going to stop the session, but they were just chilling and enjoying the show!

BORA BORA, FRENCH POLYNESIA

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“We rode all the way from morning till night, and even had a perfect sunset. This was the day we took some of these pictures.”

W H E R E ’ S Y O U R F AV O R I T E P L A C E T O E AT O R W H AT I S Y O U R F AV O R I T E M E A L A F T E R A S E S S I O N T H E R E ?

Because the spot is hidden on a little island, I usually eat at home after the session. I often call my fisherman friend to ask if he has caught any tuna, and if so, I’ll take some home to make sashimi and rice. If I’m too tired, I’ll go for pizza in town!

D O Y O U T H I N K Y O U W O U L D H AV E G O T T O W H E R E Y O U A R E T O D AY I F Y O U D I D N ’ T L I V E S O C L O S E T O T H E B E A C H ?

I don’t think so. Because my parents learned how to kite when I was so young, and I spent most of my time with them at the beach, that is why I ended up learning too, and it motivated me to ride every day.

W H E N D I D Y O U L A S T R I D E T H E R E – H O W WA S I T ? !

It was a month ago. I was there with some friends; the wind was good but a bit light, but we still managed to have a good session. We rode all the way from morning till night, and even had a perfect sunset. This was the day we took some of these pictures.

I F Y O U H A D T O C H O O S E A N O T H E R S P O T T H AT Y O U L O V E B U T T H AT I S C O M P L E T E LY D I F F E R E N T, W H E R E W O U L D I T B E ?

The other spot would be Hitimahana, Motu Martin in Tahiti, because when I turned 18, I moved to Tahiti for my studies and this was the only spot I was riding every windy day. This is where I learned many of my tricks. The spot is really cool – there is a big zone on the grass to pump your kite, a shower and lots of parking. Today, I work on this beach, so this is where I spend most of my time now. ■ 52

MY BEACH

Over 40 years of experience combined

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We know the thirst. We chase that feeling. It Calls.

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BRAZILIAN ADVENTURE S E B A S T I A N PH OTOS V IC TOR DU T RA

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ot content with following the well-trodden path to Cumbuco, Brazilian strapless freestyle champion Sebastian Ribeiro got out his map and compass, and plotted a route further south. We couldn’t possibly divulge the exact location, but wish we’d been there for the après-caipirinha…

During challenging times like 2020, I find it important to change our mindset. As a professional athlete, being creative is key to maintaining my health and training schedule. I decided to face the challenge head-on, viewing it from a different perspective, and found a great opportunity. After lockdown in southern Brazil, I finally discovered a place that allowed me to keep my goals alive.

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I have been traveling to different places around northeastern Brazil for a few years now, and knew that the rainy season had just ended and the wind was starting to kick in. But I also knew that Cumbuco, Preá and all those famous kite spots weren’t my best option, because the waves in those places only work with a north swell which doesn’t really coincide with the windy season. I pondered where I could find some

good wave-riding conditions around Brazil, and after hours of researching, scanning maps and making calls, I found a little gem right on the corner of Brazil.

The coastline of Rio Grande do Norte, where Brazil’s east coast turns to face north, has so many small remote villages. Rain is not unusual there and is actually great because it makes the place really green, packed with coconut trees and full of fun lagoons everywhere. I had heard about this area before and knew that it was promising, but hadn’t explored it myself. I set up base in one of these little villages and, respecting all the health rules for Covid-19, I rented a car and went exploring. I couldn’t believe how perfect it was. It had everything I was looking for – great wind, the right swell direction, good waves to surf and foil, a warm temperature, and a pretty good set up in a relatively small area – I’m talking a two-kilometer coastline full of bays and different types of wave. Also, it’s quite close to Natal, if something goes wrong…

I drove to a spot that is known by surfers, but not really by kiters.

You park up at the top of a massive cliff and you have to hike down a pretty sketchy trail to get to the beach. But it is 100% worth it – the wind blows from the side and is stronger because of the cliff, and the beach is fairly well protected which makes the waves really smooth to ride, whether surfing or kiting. Plus, the waves are formed by a huge table-shaped rock underwater, a rare thing in Brazil where most spots are beach breaks. It is quite tricky riding, but I quickly realized that low tide would provide the perfect riding option.

Being an athlete who practices kiting, surfing and foiling as my main sports, my day is usually dictated by the weather conditions. There are only a handful of places in the world where I have the opportunity to choose what I want to do and when I want to do it. That is why this gem, with no crowd at all in the middle of the high season, became my main spot for this trip. I had everything in one package – my three favorite sports to practice during the day, and good infrastructure with great restaurants to go back to and fuel up for the next day… The perfect trip. ■

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THE MISSION

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B I G

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O U R W AY T O M A K E T H E WORLD A BET T E R PL AC E .

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W I N T E R WAV E S C A R L

F E R R E I R A PH OTOS SAMU E L TOMÉ

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isty Cliffs near Cape Town is a well-known and much-loved spot amongst proficient wave riders, consistently providing generous mountains of water in Cape Town’s summer.

However, when Covid-19 forced RRD International rider Carl Ferreira to stay at home during their winter, he discovered that it’s not so bad then either…

It has been another cold and wet winter here in Cape Town for me.

Last year I blew the meniscus in my knee at the end of the season and was unable to travel, and this year the Covid-19 restrictions made it almost impossible to go abroad. This forced a lot of the South African kiting community to stay at home for the winter, and discover which spots work at this time. In summer the wind predominantly blows from the south-east, which gives you endless coastlines to play on for days on end. However, in winter the wind switches and blows from the opposite direction, the north-west, giving us opportunities to ride new locations that aren’t possible in summer.

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We made the most of the winter storms, which produced a gusty 40 knots and heavy 10-foot swells. I headed to Misty Cliffs with my trusty photographer and Scarborough local, Sam. He knows his way around the ocean here, and bravely swam all the way out to the crayfish factory at this spot to capture these shots. With the strong offshore wind, it was really difficult to stay on the face of the wave and not get blown off, but we made the best of it and we scored! The factory can produce some

of the best waves south of Cape Town, and this day it really delivered.

If you haven’t experienced a winter in Cape Town before, I can recommend it. It may be quite a bit colder and more intense weather-wise, but you’ll see a completely different side to what you know from our summer, and get to ride spots you haven’t before. After spending the winter here for the first time in years, there’s one thing I’ve realized: Cape Town winters aren’t so bad after all! ■

WINTER WAVES

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T H E

CREATORS. FLORIAN VAN RIJE Dutch brand Lieuwe have been producing beautiful custom kite boards for ten years in their own specialized production facility at home. Crystal Veness headed over to Lieuwe HQ to check out their factory and to catch up with Lieuwe founder Florian van Rije…

H E Y F L O R I A N . S O , W H AT WA S T H E I N S P I R AT I O N T O S TA R T A KITE BRAND?

My main motivation was to build machines. I’m a mechanical engineer and building a kiteboard was a good excuse to build a lot of interesting machines. There is so much technique involved in the production.

I wanted to make the best board on the market and build whatever I could. I’d achieve one thing then be motivated to build better and better boards. They sold well so I thought it had potential to expand and build a brand.

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THE CREATORS

W E R E YO U P L E A S E D W I T H YO U R F I R ST B OA R D S ? H OW D O YO U R C U R R E N T B OA R D S CO M PA R E ?

My first boards were what I expected but weren’t quite as good as I wanted them to be! I wanted to build more and build better. That pushed me to improve the boards and I got really involved in the small details and finding solutions to challenges. Now the current boards are bigger, more reliable, and the quality is better.

H OW I S YO U R P RO D U CT I O N D I F F E R E N T TO T H E B I G G E R BRANDS?

We find it important to build a good product – we’re striving for quality over quantity. The strength of the board is crucial to us, not just how it looks. If we make a mistake, we want to fix it and improve it.

It is not always the best tactic for efficiency but we ensure everything leaves the factory perfect. The factories that other brands use have the same kind of machines for production, but it’s how you use them that makes a difference.

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T E L L U S A B O U T T H E P E R S O N A L TO U C H E S YO U ’ V E P U T O N THE MACHINES HERE.

We adapt every machine ourselves, from the wood routers to the press, and all the other small machines you need to build a board. It has been a lot of work, but then the machines are exactly how we want them to be to build a kiteboard. I think it’s unique in the industry, and maybe a bit stupid that we decided to work that way, as it ended up causing so much more work than we thought it would! There are still some things we want to optimize but we’ve learnt a lot.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO PRODUCE BOARDS IN YOUR HOME COUNTRY?

We’re able to really keep an eye on quality control, and keep our team small which is more efficient. It makes us really flexible and means we don’t actually have to hold any stock. We build to order and can build custom boards – people can order special sizes and graphics. We can quickly adjust to the current market and what people want, for example the weather can affect what people are looking for in a board.

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THE CREATORS

THE NETHERLANDS W E AT H E R !

D E F I N I T E LY

GETS

SOME

EXTREME

Yes, it is a hotspot for really good extreme kiters here, the home of Big Air pros! The North Sea can be very rough with strong winds, and it is great to see our boards used in heavy conditions. If the boards work here you can be sure they work anywhere. It’s also really useful that we get wind and can kite all year round here, especially at the moment…

And luckily the conditions here have been good this year.

I N D E E D . Y O U ’ D N O R M A L LY B E P R E P A R I N G T O S P E N D T I M E I N S O U T H A F R I C A N O W. H O W H A S C O V I D - 1 9 A F F E C T E D Y O U R BUSINESS?

Because kiters haven’t been able to travel this year, they’ve actually had more budget to spend on a kiteboard, so that has helped our business. And some people have had more time on their hands so we’ve seen an increase in the sale of custom boards with personally-designed graphics.

W H Y D I D YO U D EC I D E TO O F F E R C U STO M B OA R D S TO YO U R CUSTOMERS?

Because we can! It is more fun to build different boards than the same one time after time. We have a standard cost for limited editions with selected graphics, or people can use our configurator to design their own board with existing graphics. There is also the option to send in a picture to which we’ll make adjustments and then we’ll build the board. It’s really fun when we get different graphics and make some elaborate boards.

Y O U H AV E A S I G N AT U R E L O O K W I T H T H E E X P O S E D W O O D – I S T H AT A D E S I G N C H O I C E ?

One of the first boards I built was wood and I haven’t changed since. I was into showing the wood – I loved the look of it. It can be a headache as it’s difficult in production. You see every mistake like air bubbles – it’s like cooking in an open kitchen! But it was a choice from the beginning and we won’t change it, especially now we’ve got the production process under control.

H OW D O YO U S E E T H E B OA R D S D E V E LO P I N G I N T H E F U T U R E ?

We’re not going to change a lot about the boards, as we’re happy with them so are focusing on what works – if it’s not broke… But we’re working on small details to improve the boards, like small parts, and are working on the technical material in the board. For example, we recently implemented a Teijin material that makes the board stronger and more shock absorbing. We’re planning to work with new kinds of carbons so you can select the color and different structures. And we’ve built a pocket foil board for next season… ■ FLORIAN VAN RIJE

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Profile Pro

Reedin

Aside from the other big goings on of 2020 (you might have heard about them) another significant bit of news was that top designer Damien Girardin and top rider Kevin Langeree have joined forces to kick off their own brand, Reedin. A good time for a catch up then‌

P H O T O S Y D W E R VA N D E R H E I D E A N D R YA N O S M O N D

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PROFILE

W I L L W E S E E YO U CO M P E T I N G I N T H E R E D B U L L K I N G O F T H E AIR AGAIN, COVID PERMITTING?

Yes I just won myself a wild card during the event in Denmark. I wasn’t pre-qualified because I didn’t have such a good result at the 2020 KOTA. Let’s hope we get Covid under control so we can have another epic season in Cape Town.

H OW D I D YO U R E ACT W H E N D A M I E N F I R ST P I TC H E D T H E I D E A O F S TA R T I N G A B R A N D ?

We had been talking about it for a while. I do have more cool ideas I want to do, but this idea was so big that we needed the right timing. A few months ago it felt like the right moment. It has been such an epic adventure already and we have only just started. From the first day we started talking about this plan, both of our eyes went wide open from excitement. I get so much energy from working with Damien.

W H AT ’ S Y O U R O F F I C I A L R O L E W I T H I N T H E B R A N D K E V I N ?

K E V I N , Y O U ’ V E J U S T W O N T H E C O L D H AWA I I G A M E S .

C O N G R AT U L AT I O N S ! H O W D I D T H E E Q U I P M E N T P E R F O R M ?

When doing events like that everything needs to be in sync – your mind, your fitness and most importantly your gear. The SuperModel handled the rough conditions we had really well. With it, I know where my kite is and that way I can fully focus on my trick and where to land.

Having complete trust in my gear really helps me push myself to the next level.

As a business owner you need to understand your business like no one else. In the beginning you do everything, but my main focus is testing our products with Damien so we get what we really want. Then at the same time I do most of the marketing, so I work with videographers and photographers to get the best shots and tell the stories on our products. I’m also responsible for paying all the invoices! So I’m the money man. I must say that wasn’t on the top of my list of things to do but now I’ve been doing it for a couple of months I’m starting to enjoy it. It’s good to see where all the money goes and where the money is coming from. This way I get a very good insight on where we are doing well and where we need to spend some more time improving.

A N D W H AT E L S E A R E Y O U U P T O ?

Well I’m also a dad to my beautiful two-year-old daughter Malie and I’m still a professional athlete. Running my own YouTube channel and traveling the world to promote our brand and the spots takes up most of my time.

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gear and our stores were all really impressed by the reaction of their clients who would sometimes want to buy gear on the spot right after testing. We could see that in the few locations like Switzerland or Maui where people could still kite, we had a lot of demand. When the market re-opened it was overwhelming and we also sold out of our first production really quickly which was exciting. I like to believe that we’re gaining market share because we have good products!

W H AT W E R E Y O U R M A I N O B J E C T I V E S F O R T H E S U P E R M O D E L ?

DAMIEN,

W H AT WA S T H E P L A N W I T H R E E D I N , A N D H O W H AV E T H E F I R S T F E W M O N T H S B E E N ?

I wanted the freedom to design the perfect product and have it manufactured the way I wanted, and having ownership of my destiny together with Kevin has given me that! In terms of product design, I thought I had hit a wall with my kite design and didn’t know how to improve anymore, but when I started the design of the SuperModel, new ideas were flowing more than ever. For example, my bridle design had always been a lot of intuition and guesses and now I have been able to put concrete concepts and numbers on these intuitions in order to reach a better level. The same went for the Control system – the DreamStick didn’t even exist in my head a year ago, but came to life in a matter of weeks once I started working on it.

HOW HAS IT BEEN RUNNING AN EMERGING BRAND DURING T H E C O V I D P A N D E M I C ? T H E R E ’ S B E E N A WAT E R S P O R T S BOOM IN EUROPE, AND DISTRIBUTORS SOLD OUT ONCE PEOP L E C O U L D G E T B A C K O N T H E WAT E R , D O Y O U T H I N K T H I S H E L P E D YO U G A I N M A R K E T S H A R E ?

Launching in the middle of the lockdown was definitely a very weird and scary time, but after the first cancellation of pre-orders from a few of our dealers, we could feel that the excitement for the brand was still there. Luckily Holland was still open and our stores quickly did very well there; the first demos had people really excited about the

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The first objective for the SuperModel was pretty simple, it had to be a kite that Kevin and I would love. We both do multiple disciplines: twintip, waveriding, strapless, foiling, so the kite had to be as easy and forgiving as possible while delivering max performance in all disciplines. Kevin and I both agree that if a kite has good flying characteristics it is good for all types of riding. A good kite must engage turns on the rider’s demand, but even more importantly it must swing fast out of the turn so that the process of turning barely slows down its flying speed. This creates a kite that will be able to generate more power without being grunty, so you can ride a smaller kite without sacrificing its upper range. Not to mention it will also provide a more dynamic launch of your jumps and make kite loops more fun. It must drift well so you can ride waves without steering the kite much and ride downwind on a foil without having to focus on your kite. It must be very stable so you can ride in gusty wind with full comfort. The bar feel must be direct enough that you always feel where your kite is but light enough that you don’t get tired. It must glide well when you’re up in a jump, while at the same time provide great precise depower control so you can adjust your trajectory especially in case you happen to be jumping on a strapless board. And finally it must relaunch really easily even in its low end.

T H E B A R SYST E M I S V E RY C L E A N, E L EG A N T A N D F U N CT I O N A L ; D I D YO U D E S I G N I T F RO M T H E G RO U N D U P ?

The DreamStick design was a seriously awesome design process for me. It came to me in just a few days, but really is the result of 20 years of designing control systems. I set some design objectives that I quickly surpassed. The first objective (not counting the obvious ‘click’ reload of the chicken loop that needed to pass the ISO norm) was to ensure the front lines never twist. Then it had to be low V for obvious reasons like self-landing and the bar feel that it provides. Then came the small diameter stick, and the quest to make the control system as light as possible. Right away I started working with Cousin on a new line in order to have no stretch. All the details started adding up – the locked splices construction, the grippy floaters, the light bar length adjusters.

The more I worked on it the more I was getting excited until the day in January when I finally got the first pre-production DreamStick while at the factory – I was jumping around like a kid on Christmas morning!

YO U G UYS A R E U S I N G E U RO P E A N M A N U FACT U R I N G FO R Y O U R B O A R D S . W H Y D I D Y O U C H O O S E T O H AV E Y O U R T W I N TIPS MADE IN POLAND? AND WHY THE SURFBOARDS IN PORTUGAL?

At Reedin we want to make products that we are absolutely proud of and that we know customers will love. In Portugal every one of the employees in our factory is either a kiter or a surfer and all material is sourced in Europe. The infusion technology we use comes from high-end sailboat building, resulting in boards that are amazingly strong and light with consistency in quality that I would not even have dared dreaming about before.

Our twintip factory is also of the same level – a lot of the employees are also kiters, and there is 100 years of European quality ski making embedded in the DNA of the factory, so it results in boards that are stronger and lighter, with better flex which in the end simply ride better. One other key element for us is the fact that in Europe the factories must comply with strong environmental laws, which combined with the small distance for shipping our boards to our main market ensures that our boards are as eco-responsible as possible. To tell you the truth I was really excited to work with European board makers and when we received the first pre-production boards, I was blown away because the result totally surpassed my expectations.

H OW D O YO U S E E YO U R P RO D U C T RA N G E E X PA N D I N G ?

We only want to make products that Kevin and I would want to buy ourselves and that we are absolutely proud of, both in terms of function and quality. Our philosophy is based on the fact that as kiters ourselves we don’t want to have multiple different kites or boards depending on what the conditions offer. So our product line will stay concise in order to make sure the choice is simple but also so that we can spend the necessary amount of time designing and carefully manufacturing our products. We are already working on new products at the moment, but this will be for another discussion at a later time…

H OW A R E YO U B OT H F I N D I N G J U G G L I N G A L L T H E D I F F E R E N T ASPECTS OF RUNNING A BUSINESS? AND JUGGLING IT WITH F A M I LY ? !

To be honest I was already used to it – in my previous job I was involved like it was my own brand, meaning I was involved in product design, production, pricing, marketing, graphic design, product presentations and sales. So really the only thing I had to add was the financial part, and it turns out Kevin is great in this role! Now of course I am a lot closer to our sales manager, distributors and sales team than I have ever been to any distributors in the past, so with the 12-hour time difference that means we call each other late at night or early morning, but I love it. The motivation and excitement have been keeping me awake, so I can work through part of the night and still spend time with the family. ■ REEDIN

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Cold Hawaii Games 2020 W O R D S T H E R E S E TA A B B E L P H O T O S M A RT I N B J Ø R N C H R I ST I A N S E N A N D N I C K L A S KO L D N AG E L

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Cold Hawaii is the term given by surfers to the north-west coastline of Denmark. It delivers strong wind and chunky waves, and some say has ‘similar conditions’ to Hawaii…

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The conditions were ‘almost’ like Hawaii… gusty cross-onshore wind between 2025 knots from the south-west, with cold and rainy weather. The waves were clean, medium size, and perfect to use as left foot kickers to get some extra height. The wind picked up over the day, and peaked just in time for the final. The riders were pushing the limits and jumping between 20-25 meters. It came down to an all Dutch final with Kevin Langeree, Lasse Walker, and 20-year old up and coming rider Stig Hoefnagel. During the final, Lasse changed to a bigger kite, but Kevin Langeree put on a show with his new kite brand Reedin, and was way ahead, taking home first place, followed by Lasse Walker in second and Stig Hoefnagel in third.

COLD HAWAI I GAM ES 2020

The Cold Hawaii Games is Denmark’s first international Big Air event. 18 of the world’s best Big Air riders were invited or entered through video submission.

Among these riders were several big names such as Kevin Langeree, Lasse Walker, Steven Akkersdijk, and Danish local favorite and event organizer, Nick Jacobsen.

Because of Covid-19, few non-European riders were able to compete. This gave an exciting touch to the competitor list, as several young, up and coming riders were ready to challenge the more experienced field. Judging criteria were adapted from Red Bull King of the Air, with the focus on 70% height and 30% extreme factor. The riders were judged on the combination of Extreme Big Air and Overall Impression. A lot was at stake, as the riders were not only fighting for first place, but also the unique chance to qualify for Red Bull King of the Air 2021, the biggest kiting event in the world.

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Although only 600 inhabitants live in Vorupör – the small fishing village where the riders were to compete, and perform their best and most extreme Big Air tricks – more than 500 spectators were gathered to witness the first Big Air event in Denmark, and watch the world’s best kiters take on the strong wind.

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Even the seagulls were impressed and watched proceedings, hoping to pick up some flying tips.

The first possible start was set at 08:30, but conditions were not suitable, with less wind than forecast and pouring rain. Here’s Ruben Lenten keeping the crowd entertained while waiting for the wind to kick in.

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S E I R D A N O U B K A E R B # Aren’t we all looking for ‘The One’? We’ve found her! Totally zipfree and fully black or white.

Besides the stylish design you’ll get our flexible M-Flex 2.0 neoprene, super warm Polar inner lining and all seams are GBS and covered with Waterproof stretch taping on the inside. It also

THE ONE

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The first heat of the day came with upsetting news. 19-year-old Tom Bridge from the UK injured his knee only a few minutes before the start, and was forced to withdraw from the competition.

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By 11:00 the wind had increased, and the sky had cleared up. The riders were ready and set, and most competitors had prepared their 9m and 10m kites.

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2017 KOTA winner Nick Jacobsen couldn’t find his flow and lost his third-round heat against Simon Bruhn from Germany. But ever the jovial sportsman, that didn’t stop him smiling.

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Some of the spectators using a boat for shelter while watching young blood Stig Hoefnagel.

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Kevin Langeree, multiple KOTA winner, showed the judges and spectators what he is capable of, taking first place on his own brand, Reedin... That’s got to be satisfying.

Scott Drexler on Drifter K, available in 3’6�. ktsurfing.com, @ktsurfing 89

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LASS E WALK E R

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Red Bull athlete Lasse Walker conquering the classic Cold Hawaii Games conditions and taking second place.

Just like Hawaii, apart from the rain. But that didn’t seem to bother Kevin and Stig.

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Kiteloop board-off seemed to be a high scoring trick, as it showcases both height and technicality. Here performed by young Dutch rider Stig Hoefnagel, who was stoked to take home third place.

Kevin, Lasse and Stig were stoked with their places on the podium, proving to the world that “if it ain’t Dutch it ain’t much”.

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5.7.9.10,5.12.13,5.15.17 LIGHTWIND

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1 // North Orbit 2021

2 // ION Hook

3 // Duotone SLS Neo 2021

4 // Reedin SuperModel

So, North didn’t do so bad on their first year out. I mean 1st, 2nd and “Biggest Jump of the Day” at the biggest event in kitesurfing is a pretty good start hey… Jesse Richman had the Orbit to thank for his win.

For 2021, the stability has been improved, the bridle has been tweaked for a more playful feel, and you wouldn’t bet against seeing it on a podium or two in 2021...

ION’s new lightweight aluminum Quicklock Hook is their latest take on the world of kite hooks. The construction offers single-handed hook-in and eliminates the risk of the chicken dick slipping out and releasing the kite by accident.

Perfectly suited to freeriders or waveriders who rarely or never unhook, and who want a super safe hook solution, where you can hook in quickly and easily with no fumbling with your QR required…

If you buy a new car then you know you always have the option to upgrade one or two things depending on your budget. It’s tempting to just keep hitting yes. Which is pretty much what Duotone seem to have done with their SLS series of products. There are new materials and new tech, with the Neo using Penta TX to help reduce overall weight by 15% and to increase the strength and rigidity of the kite significantly… It’s the next level.

A big hit with TheKiteMag’s test team last issue, the SuperModel has now increased its kudos yet further through scoring the win at the first kitesurfing event held in 10 years (okay, 10 months, but it feels like 10 years hey!), the Cold Hawaii Big Air contest. It’s not just designed for Big Air legends though, it’s actually a super easy and super fun kite for regular bods as well.

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/ Hyperbolic Chassis / Torque Equalizer

Riptide /

/ Active Backbone

133-39 | 136-40

/ Wood Core / Carbon Fibre Weave

Dimension /

/ Double Channel

136-40 | 139-41 | 144-43

/ Double Concave

BRUNOTTI TWINTIPS The Dimension & Riptide twintips are all round freeride, freestyle designed boards. We have developed a more flexible and narrower framework so you will now benefit from an enhanced and more comfortable ride. The CNC shaped wood core base is now equipped with back to back carbon weave to ensures more control and quick response.

FOR MORE INFO CHECK OUT BRUNOTTIBOARDS.COM 97

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5 // Airush Union V6 + Apex Team V7

6 // Eleveight FS + Commander

7 // CrazyFly Hyper 2021

8 // Naish Pivot S25

Balancing Big Air, kiteloops and freestyle, the Union combines superb hangtime with smooth kiteloops and is ideal for riders looking for increased boosting performance and crisp steering response. With a fixed bridle for better unhooking capabilities and a stiffer frame for stability in high winds the Union is your go-to for performance.

Then we have Apex Team with a double concave and solid center spine to aid soft landings, and provide better edge grip when riding on flat water. Then the Carbon Basalt construction means more pop when jumping big, making the Apex Team perfect for hooked and unhooked riding and allowing you to truly push your limits.

The flagship FS has an open-C design providing direct control, explosive lift, and a wide angle-of-attack providing insane versatility whether you are looping or unhooking. For 2021 there is a new lightweight trailing edge with anti-vibration patches and new load diffusers Although the FS is developed for pros, Eleveight’s aim has been to ensure that the performance is accessible to EVERYONE! Perfectly coupled with the FS is the Commander. It’s built around a rare low-density Paulownia 3D wood core and is a true passion project for legendary board shaper Franz Schitzhofer…

The new Hyper is lighter than in 2020, yet the strength and rigidity of the air frame and canopy remain the same. In fact, the 2021 15m weighs less than a 2020 12m... How have they done it? Well a new bridle system reinforces the kite, reducing the number of panels and combining more panels together, and a new lighter trailing edge with two layers of Ripstop instead of heavyweight material. The back lines now also attach directly to the leading edge, which puts less pressure on the canopy and creates a more direct response and faster turning. CrazyFly tell us that the top prize in the Ultimate Test’s boosting category is theirs. We’ll know in a few months!

The Naish Pivot requires little introduction with a host of consistent achievements in the Big Air sector. For S25 there is a new adjustment system for the bridle to give the Pivot even more range. It was inspired by the KOTA riders who want to ride the biggest kite possible in super strong winds but is also beneficial for strapless wave riders who don’t need the super strong pull. The bridle setting is a quick 20 second knot swap on the beach and changes the Pivot’s character quite dramatically. The Pivot remains one of Naish’s flagship kites and continues to lead the charge in innovation and performance for the Hawaiian brand.

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660MM CARBON

PURE SURFING SENSATION

RIDER: @LARRYFOILER

INSTAGRAM.COM/AXISFOILS

AXISFOILS.COM

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9 // RRD Passion Y26

10 // Slingshot Sentry V1

11 // F-ONE Bandit 2021

12 // Flysurfer TRIP

Designed for a wide range of conditions and riding styles, the flagship of RRD’s kite collection, the Passion Y26, is the 12th version of this renowned high performance, three-strut freeride and freestyle kite. The Passion is aimed at entry level riders through to experts thanks to its huge wind range, predictable yet powerful behavior and stability and smooth power delivery. It balances power and slack, fast turning, excellent drift and impressive depower, and remains light on the bar with impressive jumping ability and hangtime. Have you got a passion for kiting? Then, yup, the Passion should do it for you.

This newest bar from Slingshot features a comprehensive and intuitive system where click-in chicken loop technology combines with state-of-the-art, auto-swivel line untwisting: you can simply pull in on your bar to untwist your lines. Other features include softer EVA grip and EVA over-molded bar ends for extra comfort, PU coated center lines, ceramic ball bearing swivel, and precision engineered bar floats.

Onto a pretty staggering V14, the Bandit is back for its second year as the big brother to the surf specific Bandit-S. So you can expect a more freeride/ freestyle/Big Air honed riding machine that you can be sure has had more hours of R&D spent on it than pretty much any other kite on the market.

Whether you’re looking to unhook or send it to the moon, the Bandit can do both, but it still manages to be the kind of kite you’d be happy to give your mum her first lesson on...

Magic.

With Flysurfer’s new all-round perfomance split board, the TRIP, packing, lugging around and paying for a big board bag doesn’t have to be a given on your next kite holiday. It’s also useful if you only have a small car, or get to your local kite spot by bike! The TRIP has a PU connection system to improve cushioning, minimize damage and keep the weight of the board down compared to conventional split boards.

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FLY OVER WATER

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WAKE 101

The land of Rainbows Who needs to kite on tropical beaches in nothing but boardshorts, when you can kite in freezing temperatures, wearing so much rubber that only your face is showing? Red Bull King of the Air regular Steven Akkersdijk introduced wave slayer Willow-River Tonkin to the unique weather of beautiful Ireland to see if they could strike gold at the end of one of the magical island’s many rainbows…

WOR DS STE VE N A K K E R SDI J K AND WI LLOW-RI VER TONKI N PHOTOS LUKAS P ITSC H A ND J ULI ETA PEREYRA

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“After the rain comes sunshine, creating immense rainbows that will blow your mind.”

Steven: Ever since I visited Ireland for the first time it has held a special place in my mind. What is it that keeps drawing me back to this magnificent island? West of Great Britain, Ireland’s rough coastlines and immense cliffs drop into a boiling sea. Above the cliffs you’ll find open grass fields dotted with stone houses, the occasional pub selling Guinness, and a lot of roaming sheep who don’t seem to care about the weather – unless it gets really bad, at which point they’ll huddle together or shelter behind the wreck of an abandoned house. To be honest, the weather in Ireland is horrible for 60% of the time. It’s guaranteed to rain every day, and the only way to dry your damp clothes is in front of a fire. However, after the rain comes sunshine, creating immense rainbows that will blow your mind. This sums up the other 40% of your time in Ireland – moments where everything lines up and the clouds, combined with sun, paint the hills with beautiful colors. This is what draws me back – the feeling you get when you’re out there in the wild, sharing the moment with your best mates and the sheep.

I told Willow about Ireland during one of our trips. He couldn’t imagine kiting in a winter wetsuit with hood, gloves and boots – Willow grew up in Mauritius which is pretty much the opposite of Ireland. They have amazing white beaches and palm trees, while the reef surrounding the island provides calm waters close to shore and perfect point breaks further out. We had discussed a new shooting location for the CORE Nexus 2 kite, an all-rounder for wave and hooked twintip riding, for me the kite to put in my board bag when I want to do everything the ocean throws at me. This makes it the perfect kite to take on a trip to Ireland. After a chat with the head of marketing, who

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loved the idea, we decided to do our product shoot in Ireland and take Willow as a rider. On the journey he said he was totally open-minded and ready to tackle whatever Ireland had to offer. And – to our surprise – he managed the thick wetsuit way better than expected!

We were located around Brandon Bay for most of the trip as it offers so many different faces, and the bays provide good conditions for different wind directions. With a westerly or north-westerly wind, we had awesome conditions in the huge bay, and for any south-westerly winds we could drive over the peninsula to Inch Beach. Local knowledge and reading the forecast and maps really helps as there are so many different options. Our first few days consisted of a mix of wave riding and twintip sessions. The south-west wind brought some fun swell, but was often combined with bad weather and unstable wind conditions. We really had to pick the right moment in the day to get sun, wind and waves at the same time. There was a big swell forecast and it looked like it would be the right direction, so we decided to check out a point break that can be really good. However, when we arrived it was pretty much flat and the few waves there were breaking on the rocks – it was one of those classic moments where we got skunked by the forecast. But after waiting a while, the waves picked up and the beach next to the point break actually started to get some nice waves. We ended up having an awesome session right until sunset, with big smiles on our faces. There was a golden light shining on the hills and we forgot all about the waiting we had done earlier in the day.

THE LAND OF RAINBOWS

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After the south-west storm passed, we were treated to a front arriving from the north – this provided steady winds and super sunny days. The only downside was the temperature that dropped down to six degrees Celsius. We ended up kiting with boots and gloves so we didn’t lose the feeling in our fingers and toes, a new experience for Willow. The swell dropped to the point where it didn’t make sense to continue hunting for waves, so we ended up looking for spots to twintip and came across some real gems – river mouths that delivered different conditions as the tide changed, from little channels at low tide to small rolling swell providing playful kickers at high tide. All this with a background that would make your jaw hit the floor.

Over the three weeks we spent in Ireland there were so many different conditions that we got to play in. Not every day was a success, but it was surprising how many sessions we could have if we were flexible and didn’t mind getting a bit wet from the rain. I’m confident to say we can all look back on an amazing time, and I can only recommend giving it a try for yourself.

Willow: I love traveling around the world on the hunt for awesome locations and conditions. When CORE told me we were going to Rainbow Land to experience something completely different to what we are used to, I couldn’t have been more excited for a new adventure. We were unsure of what to expect, and it was definitely a shock how cold the water could actually be. But we were prepared for the unexpected, and had everything from surfboards to surf foils, rain jackets to winter jackets; we even took paragliders. You name it, we had it, and trust me, we used all of it! Unlike Mauritius with its trade winds, Ireland relies on storms out at sea to bring in wind and waves, but that often comes with rain. So one day we were soaring over dunes or paragliding up in the mountains, and the next day we were kiting completely over-powered on a 7m. It can feel like kiting on the North Sea in Germany as they’re both cold and rainy, but the waves in Germany are just not comparable to those you can score in Ireland. It wasn’t quite One Eye, one of the best and most consistent waves in the world, but we discovered a very long right-hand point break that peeled along the coast. We were in awe when we arrived – nobody else was out, and it was begging for someone to come and rip it to pieces, so that’s exactly what Steven and I did!

I enjoyed riding a twintip as well when the swell dropped. I’ll ride anything that gets my adrenaline pumping or my heart racing, especially when it gets really windy. Seeing Steven change from one board to another, whether it was a twintip, surfboard or foil, and absolutely shred on all three of them, really motivated me to the max to be versatile. We even did some surf foiling. Luckily Steven brought his foiling set up in his camper van so we took advantage of it when the conditions got glassy. In Brandon Bay there were little split peaks off a sand bar going left and right, so there were plenty of spots around to get a few good pumps and rides in – I loved it.

Ireland is truly an incredible place. After all those sessions and long cold rainy days, we were so tired. I was literally asleep at 6.30pm some nights! We did manage to go out once or twice to get a feeling of the Irish pubs and the crew loved a pint of the Guinness. And luckily for them I don’t drink so I was always the designated driver!

Editor Note: While we had Willow on the line, we asked for a little update on the recent oil spill in Mauritius. Here’s what he had to say...

It has been devastating. Seeing one of the most beautiful lagoons and beaches in Mauritius being completely ruined is pretty shocking to see. And also seeing dozens of whales and dolphins washing up onto the shore has been heart breaking. I spent a few weeks going there nearly every day to help clean up the mess. It’s something I have only seen on TV, so when I experienced cleaning up this thick crude oil with my own hands it felt surreal. More recently we have had many professionals finally come in to try and clean up the mess, so for the moment us volunteers have to hold back and let them do their work, and only assist them when they need us. This can be pretty hard when all you want to do is get involved and help. On the plus side I have to say only around 3% of the coast line has been affected so the rest of the island is completely fine without any damage whatsoever. So don’t worry, your next kite trip to Mauritius is not ruined because of the Wakashio ship. As soon as the borders open up, book your tickets and come join me because I am feeling so alone out here on One Eye! ■ 108

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THE LAND OF RAINBOWS

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Brazilian photographer Andre Magarao spends a lot of time in the kite mecca of Cumbuco, and recently caught up with with a couple of local legends, Erick Anderson and Alex Neto, guys who would almost certainly never have had the opportunity to become professional kiters if it they hadn’t grown up at one of the most consistent kite spots in the world‌

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Andre: If you have ever been to Cumbuco, you will have seen Erick riding around. He is one of the stand-out locals and is a unique, super-steezy pro rider. He is one of the few guys that actually spends time riding on the ocean when the lagoon is only a few kilometers away. It’s easy to recognize him because he pretty much always rides with super short lines.

Alex is like the unofficial mayor of Cumbuco. He knows everyone, is super nice, and he is also an epic rider. You can see him riding anything – freestyle in the lagoons, ripping the waves or foiling when the wind drops. If you haven’t met him in Cumbuco you will have seen his beach buggy – he has the coolest looking buggy in town…

H O W D I D Y O U S TA R T K I T I N G ?

H O W WA S G R O W I N G U P I N C U M B U C O WAT C H I N G A L L T H E P R O R I D E R S ? I S T H E R E A N Y O N E I N P A R T I C U L A R T H AT I N S P I R E D YO U M O ST ?

EA: I started when I was 11, thanks to my Cumbuco friends, mainly Yago Morais. He and his crew were some of the first locals to start kiting around here. He let me use his gear and taught me some basics.

It started as a bit of fun and grew into a love for the sport. My story is similar to a lot of locals’ stories. Every day I would go to the beach and help the tourists with whatever I could. Even though I couldn’t speak any English, I tried my best to help, and that way I met some nice people who would leave behind some gear so I could kite.

AN: I’ve been surfing since I was quite young, and back in 2006 some of my surfer friends learnt how to kite and then got jobs teaching at a kite school in Cumbuco. The Swiss owner gave me permission to have lessons with my friends, and I’m so grateful to them for teaching me. I learnt pretty quickly, achieving backrolls and frontrolls in the first month. In the beginning I didn’t have my own gear so had to borrow from the school and could only ride on the ocean in front of the school. Back then Eudazio da Silva and Set Teixeira already had their own gear so could ride wherever they wanted. As soon as I got my own gear, I started to ride with them at the lagoon and my riding evolved a lot.

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EA: I feel very blessed to have grown up here. Not many people can say that their home town is known around the world as one of the best places to kite. It is unique because everyone here has some involvement with kiting. To grow up around this strong kiting culture, and ride with the best in the world, really helped my riding evolve. My main inspiration was Aaron Hadlow. He has so much style and makes it look super easy – I still watch his videos today. But now we also have a sick new generation of riders like Carlos Mario, Adeuri Corniel and Valentin Rodriguez.

AN: I’ve always watched the videos and took a lot of inspiration from the older guys on the tour. All of them were really important for the evolution of the sport and the current level of the tricks that we do. It was inspiring to be able to ride with them when I was growing up. And it’s super cool to be able to compete with them. So for me it’s a dream and I’m really grateful to be able to live my dream and do the thing I love.

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Y O U ’ V E B O T H P A R T I C I P AT E D I N E V E N T S H E R E I N B R A Z I L A N D A B R O A D . H O W I M P O R TA N T W E R E T H E E V E N T S F O R Y O U R EVOLUTION AS A RIDER?

AN: Really important, they made a huge difference. In 2011, I met the Austrian sales rep for Liquid Force and had the opportunity to go to Austria to help on some demos and to ride a few European events; I also got to compete in a World Tour event. In 2013 I got a deal with Best, which meant I was able to travel and ride the entire tour. And in 2014 I finished fifth in the Freestyle World Tour.

EA: Every contest is a good opportunity to progress the level of the riders and create some extra motivation – the youth events for kids in Brazil are a good example. I miss the days when we had more local events – they really helped me improve my riding. In 2011 I participated in my first ever Brazilian Championship and came second in the amateur division. In 2016 I came second in the Brazilian Championship again but this time in the pro division. It was a really important event – Alex Pastor also participated and I beat him! It was then that I realized I had the level to compete with the best guys out there. In 2018 I participated in the WKL event here in Cumbuco, my first time competing at a World Tour level. It was my dream – I came third in that event and this allowed me to travel, to get to know new places and people. Now that I’m part of the elite, my dream is to be world champion…

H O W WA S T H E G K A T O U R F O R Y O U L A S T Y E A R E R I C K ? W H Y D I D Y O U D E C I D E T O R I D E W I T H 1 8 - M E T E R L I N E S , T H E O N LY RIDER ON THE TOUR TO DO THIS?

EA: I’ve always dreamed about going to Morocco and finally got to go there. It was an epic experience and I couldn’t be happier because I won the best trick event. It was definitely a very unique experience.

At home I came fifth in the Cumbuco event. When it comes to gear, I think everyone has a different taste. I really like to test different set ups – when I got my CORE quiver, I tried all the different possible options. When the wind is good, I feel like the 18-meter lines give me a more stable kite and make the handle passes easier. But when the wind is lighter, I have to go back to longer lines.

TOP LEFT

Here’s Alex back in his Best days.

MIDDLE LEFT

And with RRD...

BOTTOM LEFT

Erik lining it all up nicely for his sponsor...

RIGHT

Alex has done a few sundowner shoots with Andre and has Andre’s chat about which moves look best. It can be summed up in one word: grabs...

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H O W WA S T H E 2 0 1 9 S E A S O N F O R Y O U A L E X ?

AN: 2019 was epic – I changed kite sponsor and am now riding for Duotone. I’m happy that I feel comfortable on the new kites already which is important for any athlete chasing top results. I was also able to travel to a few stops on the World Tour and did a coaching project. Later in the year I worked on a video project with Volkswagen, alongside Alina Kornelli, Fernando Fernandes and martial arts legend Rodrigo Minotauro.

Overall, it was a very successful season. Plus I had some great sessions in Cumbuco, a lot of downwind trips with my friends and of course lots of freestyle sessions in the lagoons! As well as that I’m also wave riding and foiling.

H O W WA S C O M P E T I N G AT H O M E ?

AN: It is always awesome to compete here with the home crowd cheering for you. I wasn’t able to prepare as well as I would have liked because I was busy with a few other projects, but I was happy that I got through to the semis. The event wasn’t easy for anyone; the level is super high right now and it makes every heat very intense. I’m super happy that I had the opportunity to do my best and defend the Brazilian flag.

EA: Having my friends and family close by definitely makes everything easier!

I S E E YO U R I D I N G O N T H E O C E A N Q U I T E O F T E N E R I C K , E V E N T H O U G H T H E L A G O O N I S R I G H T T H E R E . W H Y I S T H AT ?

EA: I love the ocean. I grew up doing the downwinder to the lagoon every day – a four kilometer downwinder from Cumbuco village to the Cauipe lagoon. The lagoon is epic and having it right there helped my riding process much quicker. The wind is so consistent and having the flat water draws riders from all over the world. But it was on those downwinders that I realized I also love to ride on the ocean for the variety and openness that you don’t get in the lagoon.

H O W ’ S T H E W I N D O V E R T H E R E T O WA R D S T H E E N D O F T H E S E A S O N ? I ’ V E H E A R D T H I S S T O R Y T H AT O N D E C E M B E R 1 S T T H E W I N D S H U T S D O W N A N D O N LY T U R N S B A C K O N O N J U LY 1 S T…

AN: Ha, that’s a myth! In December it rains sometimes and the wind is a bit up and down until June or July, but we do have windy days in the off season. If it’s not good enough for freestyle there’s definitely enough to wave ride or at least foil. Last year there was a lot of wind in December.

Let’s hope this year is like that too.

H O W ’ S T H E C O V I D - 1 9 S I T U AT I O N I N C U M B U C O ?

AN: Since the start of the pandemic we have been staying at home. The situation was a bit scary in Fortaleza, and as Cumbuco is close to Fortaleza we had the same restrictions as them, even though we had very few cases here. When things improved, we were allowed to kite a bit as long as it was by ourselves. When I saw other sports canceling events, I realized the same was going to happen to kiting. The situation has improved now, and we have some tourists from southern Brazil and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that a few foreign tourists will come later in the season.

EA: I thought 2020 would be the year I would start traveling more, but as soon as everything started closing down and the events got canceled, I realized that wouldn’t be the case. In the beginning it was really scary here – Cumbuco was so empty – it was weird to see. Even buying food was hard for some people because a lot of jobs were lost. Although we can now kite and surf again it’s been a weird off-season, not only because of the pandemic, but also because it’s harder to stay motivated without all the pro riders here. The locals haven’t been training that much. Carlos Mario is coming back from his injury and Set Teixeira has been busy with other things. I have definitely missed the good vibes of everyone riding together. Now that things are opening up again, I am keeping myself busy with training and coaching, and the tourists from southern Brazil keep the coaching side busy. ■ CUMBUCO CREW

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If anything is going to bring out your jealous side while you’re stuck at home under lockdown, this story is it. 2019 Kite Park League champion Ewan Jaspan and fellow Naish riders Katie Potter and Peri Roberts managed to escape to the beautiful turquoise waters of Australia’s famous Barrier Reef and Whitsundays…

There were the predictably stunning consequences, but more than their fair share of mishaps too.

WORDS PERI ROBERTS

If you think about escape, what comes to mind? Breaking free from the confines of a tricky situation? Escaping havoc to re-define your way of day-today living? Or do the images of a simple paradise flood your imagination with the beauty and good vibes an island retreat might bring you? Put them all together and you get a 2400-kilometer car trip, three state border crossings (Australia is massive), lots of coffee and three wind-hungry kiters searching for the ultimate escape from some of the toughest Covid-19 lockdowns regulations on the planet.

After restrictions in our home states worsened, Ewan, Katie and I decided to travel north to catch

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some wind and warmer weather.

The Naish duo are from Victoria and I’m from New South Wales, both states that were dealing with some pretty harsh lockdowns.

Ideas were passed around about the possibility of kiting the ultimate paradise in the Whitsundays – known in Australia as the home of the rich and famous. Think desert islands, crystal clear waters, white sands, tropical reef, blues of every shade as far as the eyes can see, and wind… Lots of wind. Situated near the southern Great Barrier Reef, we knew that kiting at any of the 75 islands would be hard without a boat to access them. Luckily kiting brings the like-minded together and Katie has a friend that could help us out…

“

WE WERE GREETED WITH BLUES IN EVERY SHADE YOU COULD IM­AGINE, SAND BARS TO BOOST OVER AND BUTTER FLAT WATER TO SLIDE THROUGH

PARADISE JINXED

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Let me introduce you to Captain Dave, a pirate fanatic and speed demon, his Cal 48 called Malaguena, a yacht built for speed, and his two rum-loving French yachtsman, Marc and Alex. Add into the mix us kiters and what felt like an eternity of dingy trips packing bags upon bags of kite gear, camera gear, food, coffee and rum. A quick word of thanks here to Alex the cook for keeping us fueled up. What do you imagine us hungry kiters ate for breakfast on the yacht? Nutella crêpes – every morning. Yum, but us Aussies did wonder how the French don’t put on excessive amounts of weight after eating mainly butter, sugar, cheese and pastries their whole life!

And so we embarked on our journey away from reality and into the ultimate escape. However, no great trip comes without a few bumps in the road, or should I say, a few peaks and troughs in the sea. Ewan was stressed about the seasickness he was about to face, while I adamantly swore I didn’t get seasick. We all laughed at his very vocal complaints, but after a few nautical miles out to sea, doubt began to set in. Suddenly I didn’t feel so confident and found myself eating my words – sea legs are real. A trip that was supposed to take only two hours from the small island we docked at on the first night, turned into four, then five, then “only half an hour more” about three times. As we were sailing out of the protection of the Whitsunday Islands, rough seas met us for the journey to our second destination, Hook

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Reef. The thing about sailing open ocean is that not only do you have to calculate tides, wind speed, direction, tacking and how many sandwiches it’s going to take to get to your destination, you also have to factor in the ocean current. That day, we foolishly neglected to do the latter, adding an extra five hours onto our trip, which meant five more hours of Ewan groaning.

The phrase ‘man flu’ comes to mind… but let’s not go there.

Eventually we docked the yacht in a safe haven, positioned between a host of four coral outcrops. We watched the sunset with a beer and excitedly made plans for the days ahead.

For us first timers, the famous Great Barrier Reef lived up to its reputation. At school we’re taught that it is the only barrier reef that can be seen from space – a fact we gleefully tell foreigners over a beer to boast about our cool country. But it’s not until you see it, and sail and swim over it, that you truly understand how insanely beautiful this reef is. The next morning, with a picture-perfect day warming up in front of us, we set the boat up with all the gear: kites upon kites, foils, twintips, surfboards, even a wing. We took turns kiting and taking drone shots from the boat. We were stoked with the outcome, as you can’t quite grasp the vastness of the reef until you see it from above. We even came across a family of humpback whales circling near the boat, on their annual migration north.

PARADISE JINXED

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“We learnt two things that night: first, never jinx the night sail, and second, something always goes wrong on a night sail.”

The problem with going on a kite trip with no photographer is that you are responsible for everything. When it was time to swap the SD cards and load footage onto the hard drive, we double checked all was downloaded, and Katie formatted the cards to set up for the next activity.

Except this time, the double check wasn’t enough and all our drone shots had vanished into thin air. Luckily, a restage fixed the issue and we even caught the whales a second time round. But a slightly bad streak of luck had begun. Not to say that things got really bad, but there were a few more adventures to come... First a storm rolled in and we had to set three anchors to stop the yacht from banging into any of the outcrops surrounding us. Then Captain Dave’s foot got severely infected from rope burn and coral bacteria, a nasty cocktail which meant his foot pretty much doubled in size. Next, I needed rescuing from a two-meter lemon shark downwind of our anchor, then we nearly lost the drone as it ran out of battery, and then Katie lost a GoPro in the ocean – I tried to help her find it, and instead copped my foil mast to the eye. But surely that was the end of our unlucky run?

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Well. No… The run of mishaps continued – a few rums at sunset turned into a night sail, despite Dave telling us something always goes wrong on a night sail. We learnt two things that night: first, never jinx the night sail, and second, something always goes wrong on a night sail.

Within a minute of Dave’s helpful (and unheeded) advice we snapped the tiller… Patience, expertize and a few more rums later, the tiller was fixed and we sailed to our final destination: Whitehaven. Known for its blinding white sands and turquoise waters, Whitehaven Beach is quite the tourist attraction, but luckily for us, Covid restrictions meant the beach was practically untouched.

We were greeted with blues in every shade you could imagine, sand bars to boost over, butter flat water to slide through, friendly stingrays to glide over, and water so warm, bikini kiting became a thing. While temperatures dropped to 0°C at home, we were struggling to keep the sweat at bay in Queensland – and this was supposedly their winter. This was paradise.

A crazy couple of days kiting this place would have you questioning the meaning of escape. Hopefully the photos do it justice, or you’ll just have to taste our slice of northern Aussie paradise for yourself one day. With maybe a few too many sandbar crashes, too much sun, and bellies full of homemade sushi, we packed our ever-deflating dingy for the last time and headed back to

the yacht for another sunset sail home. You can bet we ran into mishap yet again as the sky turned from pink to black and we hit a squall which set our yacht into race mode. Rain drenched our dry clothes and two-meter waves joined the party, just to make sure we were properly wet. We even thought we’d lost Alex overboard for a minute. What’s that saying? You don’t find the rainbow without a bit of rain? One thing’s for sure, the rainbow, be it metaphorical or not, is always worth the shower.

Amongst all the craziness in the world at the moment, and the havoc and unease caused by a pandemic, we managed to escape and find our own little paradise for a while. Whether you’re reading this between sessions at the beach, or are locked in your bedroom after Netflix series marathon number 27, remember to never cease to let your imagination escape reality. And one day you might end up sailing to paradise.

A last word of advice before you do set sail on your own ultimate escape: quadruple check your content is downloaded before formatting any SD card; don’t tell stories of how things go wrong at night, because you’ll most likely jinx yourself and exactly that will happen; don’t worry that you’ll capsize, no matter how far the yacht tilts sideways, but know that, yes, you will get seasick; And finally, if you think you’ve definitely got enough snacks, think again… ■

PARADISE JINXED

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The Dark Side Many of us have kited in Cape Town’s endless summer – consistent winds, dependable waves, beautiful scenery, delicious food – there’s a long list of reasons that draw Europeans there to escape the Northern Hemisphere winter. But local resident and GKA competitor Aron Rosslee and friends want to show us the other side so have spent the last few months filming a video to entice us over there in their winter. Just make sure you take your raincoat...

WORDS ARON ROSSLEE P H OTO S N I C H O L A S S P I LS B U RY A N D DY L A N O S B O R N E

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Growing up in Cape Town has taught me a thing or two that outsiders might never understand fully – being able to read the forecasts correctly and figuring out where the best conditions will be. In summer it’s easy – wake up, look at the mountain, wait for the tablecloth to come down, give it twenty minutes and then head to your closest beach for a session. The only stressful part about this is finding a parking spot, as in summer it’s like bumper karts in the car parks.

But after the summer you get our winters, which dish up the complete opposite to our summer sessions…

“When the wind does come through, we have to make the most of it, and when it all lines up it’s perfect, and the sessions we do have are so much more rewarding.”

Cape Town’s winter has always been a tricky one when it comes to kiting. Things slow right down. We don’t get wind every day, and when it does come, you really have to make the right call when reading the conditions, and time your sessions right. With its unpredictable winds and stormy weather, it is hard to have the perfect session. We’ve had days when we thought the forecast looked promising at a particular spot. We would drive two hours to get there expecting conditions to be insane, only to pull up to hardly any wind, and rain bucketing down, and we would then struggle to get going in the big swell and rain hitting our faces. Not to mention the hardship of getting out of your toasty warm car to the icy winds and gnarly swells. So, when the wind does come through, we have to make the most of it, and when it all lines up it’s perfect, and the sessions we do have are so much more rewarding.

The van we use for our winter missions has been in my family for a few years and is the vehicle that we throw all our gear into, from kiting equipment to my dad’s motorbikes – it’s a pure adventure machine.

When my dad handed it down to me, the idea came to me to convert it for long journeys to find new and different spots, sleeping in the van and working remotely if needed. We started building, stripping the van inside to then be rebuilt from the ground up. At the same time, we cooked up a video project to show the true beauty of winter in Cape Town. All people know of it is that it’s cold and stormy, and we wanted to change that perception. We went into this journey with high hopes, minds filled with creativity and vision, and bodies filled with energy to get out there in the elements and capture the beauty of winter. We thought we were on to something new and exciting to bring to the kiting world. All three of us have Cape Town as our back yard but we hadn’t explored it fully until now. We didn’t know what we were in for – we thought maybe a little bit of rain here and there, but we were wrong.

This was my first time converting a van to travel and sleep in, to be at the right spot at the right time. It was a great experience driving around new and remote spots in Cape Town that no one has captured before. The ability to go to a faraway spot and not mind being skunked by the weather, because we could sleep in the van and wait for better conditions, helped us a lot – we didn’t need to drive all the way back 130

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the next day for only a 50/50 chance of a good session. This made the journey so much more worth it and memorable. There was one day when we had the conditions we needed, got the shots and all had smiles from ear to ear. Packing up and sitting around the campfire with your friends having a good time and reminiscing about the day is what it’s all about.

At the start of the project we traveled all the way up our west coast then around to the dark side of Table Mountain. I personally saw a new side to Cape Town that I haven’t seen before, and it just shows what new things you can discover when you venture out of your comfort zone. But then, from the beginning of March, we were faced with the Covid-19 lockdown. This made the whole journey really complicated as we couldn’t film, and more importantly the beaches were closed and all watersports were banned. Getting around these challenges was next to impossible, with a high chance of getting arrested if we were seen in the water. After a few calls we were able to get around the politics and obtained special permission to get out there and film. Even then we still faced a few challenges with roads closed and not being able to get to the right spot, but nevertheless we overcame it and got what we aimed for.

One adventure of making the video was the rail section. We thought we were going to rock up at the beach, set up the rail with ease and get riding straight away. Oh, were we wrong! It took two hours just to set it up, because it was beyond heavy and with only three guys it was such a struggle. But finally we could spend the rest of the afternoon hitting the rail and having an experience I never thought I would have in Cape Town as there isn’t a huge park scene here. Surrounded by mountains and the odd rainbow, you could say the session was perfect.

But then we still had to pack up… After such a session you can imagine how exhausted we were and the two hours of setting up turned into three hours packing away, carrying the heavy metal rail through the water well past sunset, tired and starting to get cold. We ended the day with a hot meal and reviewing the day’s footage which luckily was well worth it.

“Getting around these challenges was next to impossible, with a high chance of getting arrested if we were seen in the water.”

This journey has been a complete joyride for us, and despite some downsides, it was 100% worth it. I’m so used to traveling around the world to find the next adventure, and until now I never thought that I could find it in my backyard. I am so stoked that I had two of my close mates on this project with me and even more stoked to share it with the world. ■ CAPE TOWN: THE DARK SIDE

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BIG PICTURE

North are a brand with wave riding at their core.

They have just released their new surf products range, with full updates all round for their surf-specific Carve kite, the Navigator Control System and their entire surfboard range. We dug a little deeper with the North team…

P H O T O S F RA N K I E B E E S A N D C A I O PAC H ECO

HOW HAS THE CARVE SURF / STRAPLESS FREEST YLE KITE A N D I T S P E R F O R M A N C E E V O LV E D T H I S Y E A R ? I B E L I E V E Y O U ’ R E U S I N G S O M E N E W L I G H T W E I G H T C A N O P Y M AT E R I A L .

For 2021, the Carve has a fresh evolved design with a more playful feel, primarily due to construction and bridle changes. It has a much wider wind range, better depower in strong winds, more power control when riding waves, and a noticeably better high end. We wanted to maintain the surf tough construction but keep the weight down, so we’ve replaced the Dacron panels with a new 75g heavy-duty canopy reinforcement material. This reinforcement helps to protect the lighter inner main canopy body, while allowing the kite to be more responsive in the steering and depower, with a much smoother and cleaner entry. The new lighter material in the profile transition panels along the front of the kite is softer and a little more forgiving than the heavy-duty Dacron, so when you pump up the leading edge, the tension from the elongation doesn’t migrate into the canopy.

For 2021 we’ve made changes to the dynamics and biasing of the bridling, and added new low-drag, no-pulley bridle lines. The kite

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THE BIG PICTURE

maintains good power delivery and you can still ride it a size smaller, but we’ve traded a little off the bottom end for a considerable amount more top end. You’re able to maintain the drift when you’re sheeted in, the kite is more responsive, and it goes down the line nicely.

There’s also now a lot more reaction from the kite when you sheet out, and its ability to fly forward is greatly improved. Now that we’ve improved the top end on this kite, you can experience bigger jumps with better hang time in stronger conditions. This gives strapless freestyle riders the ability to choose a bigger size kite than they’d use for wave riding, and still have the control and manageability they need for jumps and the hang time to do the tricks.

A N D H O W D O E S T H E S H A P E A F F E C T I T S F LY I N G C H A R A C T E R ISTICS?

The Carve’s responsive two-stage arc enables tighter turns without excessive amounts of power. As the arc shape becomes narrower, the kite uses less of its projected area, giving it a smaller turning radius for tighter turns, and less pull or power in turns. The lower aspect design with swept leading edge is very efficient for its size, and more importantly, the

relaunch is super-quick. There are only small sections of the kite on the water at a time – it doesn’t lay flat on the water – so in most cases you don’t have to pull the rear line – simply rotate the bar. This really helps if you’re riding waves and drop your kite as a set’s coming.

The Carve is the largest LE diameter kite that we offer. Optically people tend to think a smaller diameter looks prettier, but you don’t want your wave kite to be too efficient or it won’t drift. The high volume of air in the leading edge ensures the kite stays on top of the white water, and is not easily crushed by the waves. Then the kite sits a little further back in the window, so that it will run with you as you steer towards it, rather than stop moving or flying forward and front stalling. Overall, the Carve is a statically balanced, stable kite that resists nose-diving when riding the wave.

IT SOUNDS LIKE THE CHARGE SURFBOARD HAS HAD QUITE A R E W O R K I N G . W H AT ’ S C H A N G E D ?

By popular demand we’ve introduced a smaller 5’5/23L Charge, ideal for lighter weight (65kg) or more advanced riders. Then the Charge has a subtly refined performance surfboard outline for 2021, the hip width

is reduced for a faster rail-to-rail transition, and we’ve made it more responsive by narrowing the tail slightly. Designer Jaimie Scott likes to think of it as a refined version of the previous model, just super finetuned: “I’ve tried to smooth it out and add some more drive, so it feels a little faster and snappier. I’ve done this by tuning the low-entry surf rocker for faster acceleration, and tuning the rocker under the back foot to add drive and speed.” Jaimie has also slightly tweaked the deep single to slight-double concave bottom, allowing for a fast driving bottom turn and responsive pivotal top turn with easy release.

The Charge is our pick of the boards for down-the-line wave riding in medium to large waves. It is a high-performance surfboard that when coming off the bottom, pulls you vertically up the face of a wave effortlessly, allowing for radical surfing tight in the pocket, through and above the lip. Being a high-performance surfboard gives the Charge the ability to mix it up on the strapless freestyle platform, great for a rider that prefers more length, or the look of a pointy nose, or has just one board for surf and strapless. Performance-wise the Charge is designed to grip and release, turn sharply and aggressively, and pop on demand for air – all you need to boost strapless freestyle and shred in the waves.

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A N D W H AT A B O U T T H E C R O S S A N D C O M P S U R F B O A R D S ?

The Cross surfboard has undergone a full redesign for 2021 to handle a lot more top-end speed, with a new quad concave bottom that feels livelier and quicker to get going. Jaimie says that, “The quad concave shape breaks up the surface a bit more, like four little bows of boats.

That makes the board feel really smooth, so you feel like you’re in control and can really give it heaps”. The Cross is more of an all-round crossover board, blending the line effortlessly between surf, strapless freestyle and freeride. We’ve kept the user-friendly size and volume of the 2020 version, but we’ve changed the design considerably to incorporate a lot of the great crossover features of our Comp strapless freestyle board into the Cross. All the changes are subtle, but new for 2021 is the increased tail rocker with a smoother, progressive nose-to-tail curve. Reduced nose and tail width add control at the top end – from between your feet to the very tip, the tail has been made narrower by about 4mm each side. The outline curve is one of the big factors in the design of the board – the new outline fits into waves a little better and turns more sharply and easily.

Refined in 2021 for increased top-end, grip and control, the Comp strapless freestyle board has a new narrower compact outline with narrow, sharper rails for added speed and response. The new tail channels give responsive grip and assist with hard and fast landings, while the new smooth progressive rocker line is designed to stick with you through maneuvers and helps the board to pop on-demand. Camille’s go to board is the Comp 5’0: “What I really like about the 2021 edition is the added carbon reinforcement, which has made the board stronger, and the new channels in the back so the board goes faster and has more pop. Another little spec I really like is the new fins – you don’t have to put the little FCSII infill adaptor in anymore, just plug the fin directly into the box.”

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SO QUITE A REWORKING ALL ROUND?!

Yes. In all our 2021 surfboards, newly added reinforcement has been kept to high stress areas in order to maintain the board’s overall flex.

DualShock EVA inserts under the deckpad provide comfort and impact resistance underfoot, and the Carbon Innegra Futurelite wireframe forms a structural skeleton to support the laminates. This maximizes strength without losing flex and allows the board to load and release power on demand for more drive and responsiveness, which is key for charging big waves as well as absorbing impact when landing strapless freestyle tricks. To the Charge and all North surfboards in 2021, we’ve added a new VectorNET carbon fiber diamond weave that helps boost impact resistance while maintaining flex. And all boards now feature new industry premium FCSII Fin Boxes, which allow more rake on the fins and a stronger, cleaner integration of the fin boxes into the board.

The new North Hexcel Coremat Fins have been designed with an extended tab to cover the gap where you might normally need an infill plug. Our Free Surf straps are even more comfortable and durable, thanks to the new KnitFlex softer lightweight neoprene material, and a new screw hole reinforcement on the underside of the strap.

W E H E A R YO U R D E S I G N E R H A S M A D E OV E R 2 0 I M P ROV EM E N T S T O T H E B A R S Y S T E M ! TA L K U S T H R O U G H T H E M A I N ONES AND HOW THEY IMPROVE THE RIDER EXPERIENCE.

We listened to all the feedback from last year and yes, Hugh Pinfold, our Director of Design and Engineering, has been very busy, so busy we can’t list it all! One of the refinements is a new omnidirectional grip pattern offering increased resistance to slippage, designed with a comfortable natural grasp and tactile offset finger bar so you can feel when the control bar is oriented correctly. The nautically inspired grip, leader tubing and line retainer pull tabs give a nod to our sailing heritage, port (red) and starboard (green). For 2021, we now offer a new smaller sized adjustable bar (38-43cm), recommended for freestyle and when using a smaller wave or freeride kite. Our team riders requested this and have been testing it over the last year. We’ve removed the holes on the side of the cleat base and have added a spherical lower section – this makes kiteloop bar spins easier and reduces the amount of sand entering the mainline cavity of the multi-bore tubing, resulting in less internal wear.

New internal geometry on the bar centerpiece also means less re-

sistance and wear. We’ve added a swivel to the newly elongated leash pin ring on the quick release, making connection quicker and easier. Finally, the Navigator Control system comes with premium 100% Dyneema SK99 flying lines, which are pre-stretched, have a strong, thinner profile for less drag and a more direct performance.

H O W I N V O LV E D W E R E Y O U R T E A M R I D E R S I N T H E D E S I G N P R O C E S S A N D W H AT H A S T H E I R F E E D B A C K B E E N ?

We have a close-knit product development team that is constantly working together to develop the best quality products available on the market. All our riders provide vital feedback for the development process. Whilst this year with Covid, we’ve been unable to bring everyone together to provide feedback in person, we did ship the relevant gear to Jesse Richman in Hawaii and have him test it in the range of different conditions available on his doorstep. We also shipped gear to Camille Delannoy in Brazil, who was lucky to be able to ride whilst most of the world was in lockdown. Camille provided feedback on our Comp strapless freestyle surfboard directly to Jaimie who is based in New Zealand.

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Surfboards

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CARVE KITE “I’ve had some really sick sessions with the new Carve, particularly the smaller 5m and 7m kites.

I gave Uli and Pat feedback on last year’s Carve, and it is exciting to feel the difference. They have adjusted the power delivery on the top end, so when you’re hitting the lip in stronger winds, it feels more controllable. It drifts well, turns direct and is more reactive. Sweden has been the first trip I’ve taken my new kites on, and I’m LOVING the gear, especially the new Charge. It feels even more surfy than the previous year, it’s very fast and responsive in the turns, and I feel like I can turn even sharper than I used to. The feeling of the board itself just makes it a good session every time I take it out.”

- Jalou Langeree

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"

The Charge is a bad-ass, high-performance down-the-line board that gives you the ability to control your speed in big and pretty crazy conditions. It eats up chop, absorbs everything that you’re riding over, and although lightweight, is very strong – a necessity when you want to give each turn or aerial everything you’ve got, and not worry about damaging the board. The recessed DualShock EVA deck pad under your heels allows you to push on this board super hard, go at incredibly fast speeds and still have that control you need. You don’t come down and buckle the board or hurt your feet.

With the kites, we have infinite power on demand, so your board needs the ability to go fast. You often want to hit the section that’s way ahead of you, or you’re trying to get super deep; when you’re going super-fast, that’s when a lot of boards start to skid and get unstable. The Charge has become my best friend in the surf because it has so much control. You’re still able to do big turns and cut tight turns in the pocket because it rolls from rail to rail so smoothly. But when you’re going Mach-10, it’s very stable. Being able to control your board in

the surf is the first step to allowing your body to do what you want to do. With the Charge, I know I’m going to figure out how to ride any wave some crazy or unique way. I look at it as my blank canvas: ‘How do I want to draw on this? What do I want to do? How do I want to explode myself all over this wave?’ Having this board under my feet allows me to do whatever wild things come to mind. The Charge crushes it in the wide variety of conditions we find here on Maui. Still, my favorite would have to be double overhead, perfect clean waves (hopefully a right, so that I’m riding frontside) with a little barrel section.

There’s nothing like the feeling of surfing a wave strapless, and with the Charge, I can take the straps off when it’s perfect conditions, but I can put them on when the conditions are a little bit more bumpy and funky. Then I can start playing around with tricks and maneuvers and ways to ride in ways that no one else has ever done. The new 5’5 is such a compact board – I love how fast, snappy and wild it feels under your feet. It has such a quick rail-to-rail response. Even when the waves are small or super steep, this board is so tight you’re able to fit into little places that you might not have on a bigger board.

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H OW D O YO U S E E YO U R EQ U I P M E N T D E V E LO P I N G FO R T H E SURF DISCIPLINE?

As our riders dare more greatly, seek heavier waves, and push strapless freestyle to new limits, they push the equipment to another level.

Our development team are constantly exploring ways to stay ahead of the game, to give riders that confidence in the gear that enables them to keep defying gravity. “The team riders really put a kite to the test, so the kites must be stable and do as they are expected to in extreme maneuvers,” says Chief Kite Designer Pat Goodman. Our core surf products – the Carve Kite, the Navigator Control System and Slide Surf Loop, the Charge, Cross and Comp Surfboards and the Free Straps – will continue being refined for a more intuitive, comfortable and high-performance ride.

Jaimie explains: “Surf kiting equipment will evolve with the performance of the riders. I can already see progression in our riders from our 2020 boards to our 2021 boards, and as they push 2021 to the limits we’ll see where we need to adjust again to enhance or improve in the directions they are heading. It really takes riders pushing next level performance for designers to observe and develop. We have some firm direction mapped out ahead to create the ultimate kite and powered, wave riding boards.”

W H AT E L S E I S N E W F O R N O R T H W I T H T H E L AT E S T L A U N C H ?

The 2021 Surf collection dropped on 2nd September 2020 alongside our new Big Air and Freeride collections. Like the Carve, our iconic King of Big Air kites, the Orbit, has also undergone changes to the bridle and replacement of the heavy Dacron with lighter weight reinforcement material. The feedback on this from the market has already been phenomenal. You’ll notice the Orbit is even lighter in the steering impulse and more playful feeling. The stability is improved, making it even easier to fly, yet it maintains high-end performance and kiteloop recovery. We’re confident this kite will rocket to the podium again in 2021. In Freeride, we’ve added two new Reach Performance Freeride lightwind sizes (15m and 17m) for twintip riding long after everyone else has gone home. And we’re also excited to launch our new board for lighter riders – the Astra Freeride / Big Air twintip. The Astra is modeled after the Atmos, with a hybrid basalt technology laminate layup to give the board a slightly more forgiving flex, combined with narrower stance and smaller sizes to make this the ideal board for lighter weight riders. ■

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THE

BIG PICTURE

Now in their 20th year, Cabrinha have just released their new surf and foil range, with a strong nod to the growth in surf foiling and wingsurfing. We got the lowdown from marketing and team manager, James Boulding.

PHOTOS CHUCK HARLAN AND JAMES BOULDING

Y O U R L AT E S T S U R F B O A R D R A N G E L O O K S G R E AT, A M I X T U R E OF SOME CABRINHA CLASSICS AND SOME NEW DESIGNS.

We’ve given the whole surfboard line an overhaul with all new constructions, and some shape and outline tweaks. We’re also offering the Spade and X:Breed models in a new ultra-light pro construction.

We’ve switched up the fin boxes to a Future style fin box to give a more positive feeling and more security. Furthermore, all our surf and foil boards now ship with Flexi Hex packaging to reduce plastic use.

G I V E U S A Q U I C K S U M M A RY O F T H E M O D E LS A N D T H E I R I N TENDED USES.

The S:Quad is the classic down-the-line surfboard. When the waves are firing this is the go-to board. It’s Keahi de Aboitiz’s main board for powerful waves. It’s a quad setup for speed and drive. The Spade has been narrowed and bottom channels added. It’s incredibly versatile and the perfect all-rounder. It is now available in both standard and pro construction. The Cutlass has a wider outline so is great for less than perfect waves and its wide outline and tail also make it excel in

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lighter winds. The X:Breed is your go to freestyle board. Its parallel rails and cut nose design make punting airs easy. We’ve added some channeling in the tail for grip and early planing. This thing gets up to speed fast and pops hard to get you airborne.

TA K E U S T H R O U G H T H E C O N S T R U C T I O N D I F F E R E N C E S O F T H E T WO N E W P RO B OA R D S CO M PA R E D T O T H E O T H E R BOARDS; IS THERE MUCH WEIGHT DIFFERENCE?

The new Pro boards, the Spade and X:Breed, are super lightweight.

We’ve gone with a new technology construction without inserts and added a carbon stringer as well as honeycomb reinforcements under the foot positions. These boards are ideal for working on your air game as well as being incredibly responsive while on the wave.

T H E S PA D E I S A C O N V E R T I B L E Q U A D F I N O R T H R U S T E R S E T U P. W H AT C O N D I T I O N D O Y O U U S E E A C H C O N F I G U R AT I O N I N ?

This really supercharges the Spade and offers one board with two personalities. The quad fin setup offers you a bit more speed and drive,

especially in less powerful conditions, whereas the thruster option gives you a bit more control and is more user-friendly and predictable.

Having two options in this incredibly versatile surfboard really adds to its positioning as being the ultimate all-rounder in the range.

N O T A L L O F U S A R E L U C K Y E N O U G H T O R I D E I N H AWA I I A N CO N D I T I O N S, W H I C H B OA R D WO U L D YO U C H O O S E FO R O N SHORE EURO MUSH BURGERS?!

This is one area where the Cutlass excels. The quad fin gives it lots of speed and drive, especially in lighter winds and less than perfect wave conditions. The wide tail and outline really help maximize performance in less than perfect conditions.

W E ’ R E LOV I N G T H E LO O K O F T H E S P EC I A L AG E N T FO I L B OA R D. H OW D O E S I T D I F F E R F RO M YO U R P R E V I O U S D O U B L E AGENT?

We took the Double Agent and specialized it into a dedicated foil board.

We were able to shave length from the bottom and nose while keeping

virtual volume in the wider nose, so although the board is smaller it has lots of the same characteristics as the much-loved DA. The new stiffening channel and unidirectional carbon make it ultra-stiff, while at the same time offering a nice deck bevel so your feet can always find the right spot. New adjustable tracks allow you to fine tune the mast position. All in all, this is a seriously fun foil board. And we’ve added a Y-strap configuration so you can customize your strap position exactly how you like them.

T H E AU TO P I LOT C RO S S E S OV E R TO W I N G I N G A N D P RO N E S U R F I N G . H OW D I D YO U G UYS G O A B O U T F I N D I N G T H E M AG IC VOLUME AND SHAPE FOR CROSSING DISCIPLINES?

In the new Autopilot we’ve upped the volume to enhance its versatile skillset. One of the clever bits of design magic is its forgiving convex bottom shape and kick tail design. These attributes make it incredibly user friendly for all types of foiling. The kick really helps pop the board back up when it drops down onto the water, and the bottom shape really helps recovery when the nose hits down. In a nutshell it’s turned into one foil board for three sports. Our team riders like AnCABRINHA

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nelous Lammerts and Keahi have been progressing their kite, surf and wingsurfing on the same Autopilot. It’s been really exciting watching this happen. When travel opens up, it will definitely be the first item to be packed!

K I T E- W I S E YO U ’ R E A CO U P L E O F S E A S O N S I N TO U S I N G T H E N E W N A N O R I P S T O P M AT E R I A L , H O W H A S T H E F E E D B A C K BEEN?

The Nano Ripstop canopy has been a huge hit. We’re constantly hearing from customers recently whose kites are still crispy and new-feeling even after countless hours on them. This added durability and performance has really given customers peace of mind when buying new kites.

YO U R FO I L SYST E M LO O K S L I K E I T ’ S H A D A M A J O R OV E RH A U L P A R T I C U L A R LY W H E N I T C O M E S T O T H E C O N N E C T I O N S B E T W E E N C O M P O N E N T S . TA L K U S T H R O U G H T H E N E W S Y S TEM.

The Fusion foil has been completely redesigned from the ground up. We took the decision, with so much progression in foil related sports, that we wanted to design a state-of-the-art system that was 144

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future-proof whichever direction the wings and fuselages develop in. The new system is incredibly stiff. We’ve looked at every connection on the foil system to make sure it can handle immense amounts of force and torsion. This led to a new screwless front wing integration with the fuselage and indexed fuselage section.

The mast firmly locks into the fuselage. There are some really high forces involved in foil sports these days, and this new system nods to that with an incredibly high-performance solution. What’s really cool with the Fusion system is that it is all modular. You can use any wing with any mast (hybrid or carbon) and fuselage, and you can mix and match and add wings and fuselages, which allows you to customize your foil setup for the relevant sport. For prone, we see riders choosing to ride the shorter fuselage, whereas for winging they like the longer fuselage, so you can tailor your fusion to each individual foil sport.

H O W H A S I T B E E N D E V E L O P I N G A F U L LY C A R B O N S E T U P ?

This setup has got everyone in the R&D team losing their minds! It’s insanely stiff and with the new Fusion design it is also incredibly hydrodynamic. This translates to the highest performing foil components in the range.

Surfboards

“We’ve given the whole surfboard line an overhaul with all new constructions, and some shape and outline tweaks.

We’re also offering the Spade and X:Breed models in a new ultra-light pro construction. We’ve switched up the fin boxes to a Future style fin box to give a more positive feeling and more security.

Furthermore, all our surf and foil boards now ship with Flexi Hex packaging to reduce plastic use.”

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Foilboards “In the new Autopilot we’ve upped the volume to enhance its versatile skillset. One of the clever bits of design magic is its forgiving convex bottom shape and kick tail design.

These attributes make it incredibly user friendly for all types of foiling. ”

“We took the Double Agent and specialized it into a dedicated foil board. We were able to shave length from the bottom and nose while keeping virtual volume in the wider nose, so although the board is smaller it has lots of the same characteristics as the much-loved DA.” SPECIAL AGENT 146

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Foils

“The Fusion foil has been completely redesigned from the ground up. We took the decision, with so much progression in foil related sports, that we wanted to design a state-of-the-art system that was future-proof whichever direction the wings and fuselages develop in.”

FUSION

FUSION

CARBON

HYBRID

WINGS

S TA B I L I Z E R

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DUOTONE SLS

Constantly striving to innovate, Duotone have made it their mission to create dream gear and guarantee that every session is the best. For the first releases of their 2021 line up, they’ve introduced a new concept – SLS. We got the lowdown on what this is all about and what it means for their latest products.

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D U O T O N E S L S

D U O T O N E S L S

D U O T O N E S L S

DUOTO

D U O T O N E S L S

D U O T O N E S L S

D U O T O N E S L S

DUOTO

W H AT D O E S S L S M E A N ?

It stands for Strong, Light, Superior, and is all about light weight and performance, and using the most innovative and best materials.

But more than just that, it’s the gear we want to ride, the products which leave a big smile on your face after a session. It’s made for experienced, enthusiastic and progressive kiters who expect the most from their gear and want to have the most fun.

HOW IS SLS YO U R K I T E S ?

BEING

INTRODUCED

IN

SLS kites will use Penta TX for the leading edge and center strut. First off we have launched the Neo SLS and the Evo SLS – we think these kites will attract the most fans to start with. They are lighter, giving you a faster kite that will fly in less wind. And they have higher tear resistance so will last longer and be more durable.

W H Y W I L L T H E N E W K I T E S H AV E ‘ F L E X STRUTS’?

They’re beneficial and actually very necessary as Penta TX is quite a stiff material. You couldn’t just take a Neo or Evo and produce it with new material – the whole kite had to be redesigned to get the most out of Penta TX, to ensure that it was not an uncomfortable kite to fly. Flex Struts allow the kite to bend and twist when necessary, so it turns more dynamically.

SLS products are a Formula One car, which you can still go shopping with!

AND TO GO WITH THESE NEW KITES, A R E YO U C H A N G I N G A N Y T H I N G B A RWISE?

Yes, the Click Bar has a couple of new small features like a comfier and stickier grip, and a redesigned floater, but the biggest innovation this year is the FLITE99 lines. We had quite a bit of feedback on lines wearing out too fast, although we always knew the old lines were the best compromise of performance and flying characteristics. The new FLITE99 lines are thinner, stronger, and more reactive.

MOVING ON TO BOARDS, HOW ARE YO U R S LS T W I N T I P S G O I N G TO B E D I FFERENT?

SLS twintips are now equipped with new materials like Textreme Innegra carbon.

They’re lighter, more durable, and noticeably smoother and more responsive. Their performance and durability will be enhanced with-

out adding weight – it’s the lightweight fiber Innegra that makes it possible. The boards have incredible dampening performance and are much smoother in chop, allowing cleaner edging and resulting in less knee and back fatigue.

AND DO THEY PERFORM BETTER?

Yes, the pop is more controlled and explosive, due to less vibration compared to normal carbon boards. A carbon deck provides better impact resistance, especially great when riding in boots. All in all, with the SLS logo you can expect the best materials and performance.

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S L S

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TECH AND MATERIALS

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DUOTONE SLS

D U O T O N E S L S

D U O T O N E S L S

A N D W H AT A B O U T Y O U R S U R F B O A R D S ?

SLS surfboards offer the predictable feel of a polyurethane surfboard in terms of liveliness under your feet, but they also offer incredible durability, dent resistance and light weight.

This weight reduction is achieved by replacing fiberglass with Innegra. The new innovative Innegra Shield makes SLS boards strong and resistant against dings and heel dents, and provides a comfortable ride even in the choppiest conditions. SLS surfboards are always predictable yet have a lively flex for maximum rider confidence in any conditions.

H O W H AV E Y O U R T E A M R I D E R S F O U N D THE SLS PRODUCTS? HAS THEIR FEEDBACK INFLUENCED SOME OF THE DESIGN DECISIONS?

Team riders are always involved in our product development; we highly value their feedback, as well as the feedback of ‘normal’ riders and testers. Everyone who tried an SLS kite had a complete surprise and were astonished with the sensation of how the kite feels and reacts. They were kind of shocked at first, then couldn’t stop smiling!

C A N Y O U TA L K U S T H R O U G H Y O U R R E LEASE SCHEDULE OVER THE COMING MONTHS?

Due to Covid-19 we had to shift quite a lot.

D U O T O N E S L S

DUOT

“EVERYONE WHO TRIED AN SLS KITE HAD A COMPLETE SURPRISE AND WERE ASTONISHED WITH THE SENSATION OF HOW THE KITE FEELS AND REACTS. THEY WERE KIND OF SHOCKED AT FIRST, THEN COULDN’T STOP SMILING!” The Neo and Evo SLS, the Dice and Rebel, our surfboards, twintips, Click Bar and Trust Bar have all just come out. Then there will be another big launch in February or March with the Juice and Mono, the foil range and a little bit of a secret – a Vegas SLS which is guaranteed to turn some heads...

O N A D I F F E R E N T N OT E , YO U ’ V E B E E N L O O K I N G AT R E D U C I N G Y O U R E N V I R O N M E N TA L I M P A C T F O R A F E W Y E A R S N O W. W H AT H AV E Y O U B E E N D O I N G ?

It’s an ongoing process, and everyone in the company has a desire to play their part. Employees can participate in a bike-to-work scheme for example. Our industry is not the most environmentally friendly unfortunately, but we’re trying to do our part through saving energy, using solar energy, recycling and using recycled materials whenever possible, and just reducing our environmental footprint in general. Some of these achievements are only

small things, but hopefully make an impact overall. The latest improvement is in our kite bags where, in collaboration with Waste2Wear and as part of our Save our Playgrounds campaign, our complete 2021 kite portfolio will come in recycled bags, a small change but one that will make a difference. Responsibly sourced and ethically made, each bag is made from 20 to 24 recycled plastic bottles, with the production process using way less energy and water, resulting in a significant reduction in carbon footprint. ■ DUOTONE SLS

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HARLEM BOOOMTAG Harlem Kitesurfing are pioneering some cunning trickery for the kite industry – they’re the first brand to integrate an NFC Booomtag in their products. It’s an ingenious bit of tech that means losing your precious equipment – and having that awkward conversation with an uncooperative fisherman claiming salvage rights on your misplaced board – could be a thing of the past.

W H AT WA S T H E I N S P I R AT I O N F O R T H E B O O O M TA G ?

Many of us have experienced the scenario where you’re having a great session, when your board comes off your feet, then you can’t spot it in the waves. You body drag back to shore and after searching for ages, you go home without it, feeling sad. If you’re lucky an honest person finds your board and calls the phone number you wrote on it. That’s if you wrote a number on it, and if it is still readable... Since there are so many boards lost in The Netherlands and endless lost and found messages on social media, Harlem founder Alex Morgenstern and the Booomtag founder Rogier Dekker brainstormed to solve this problem. The idea was to find a better solution to keep track of your gear, and so a partnership developed between Booomtag and Harlem Kitesurfing.

S O E N L I G H T E N U S , W H AT I S T H I S N E W TECH?

Losing your board is no longer a problem if it has an embedded NFC (Near Field Communication) Booomtag. With this embedded tag, it’s much easier for your board to find its way back to you. When someone finds your board, they see a feature icon and the text ‘Lost Scan Found’ on the board. When they scan this tag with their mobile phone, they create a direct connection with you, so you can arrange for your board to come back to you – like a boomerang.

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H A R L E M B O O O M T A G

H A R L E M B O O O M T A G

HARLEM BOOOMTA

H A R L E M B O O O M T A G

H A R L E M B O O O M T A G

HARLEM BOOOMTA

W H AT O T H E R B E N E F I T S A R E T H E R E ?

It’s great for search and rescue services. Your Booomtag enhanced product can help prevent them searching for you unnecessarily, when you get separated from your gear. They can do a quick scan to find out if you’ve logged that you’re safely back on shore. Furthermore, the registration form allows you to save various emergency phone numbers which are then visible to the person scanning the tag. This is handy if you’re unconscious or can’t communicate after a crash for example. You can also log important medical information like blood type, allergies and your doctor’s name for the emergency services. We’ve informed the emergency services in The Netherlands about this new tag so they will recognize it. But hopefully this can grow for other countries too.

SUCH A COOL IDEA! ANYTHING ELSE?

The tag can help prevent theft. If your gear is stolen, the Booomtag is still registered to you.

This makes your lost or stolen gear harder to sell, because ownership cannot be transferred without your consent. When you buy a new Harlem kiteboard and register the chip online, you maximize the value of your product.

You can get product information, order spare parts or accessories, build up a maintenance record, learn about events, and access the service and warranty information. You only need one account for all your Booomtag-enhanced products and brands, and the account offers you a direct link to Harlem Kitesurfing, so you have full control over the privacy settings.

A R E T H E R E A N Y P R I VA C Y I S S U E S ?

All this communication goes through the secure Booomtag gateway, so none of your personal data is visible to the person that found your board. This is a big privacy improvement over the name stickers many people use.

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We believe that the Booomtag feature icon isn’t out of place on our beautiful products and we think they look much better than stickers!

W I L L W E S E E T H I S O N A N Y O F YO U R OTHER PRODUCTS?

We are busy integrating the Booomtag into our kites, bars and wings as well. These items will be available over the next few months. Harlem is leading the way with this new innovation, but hopefully every player in the industry will join in, so we can make every kiter’s life easier. ■

HARLEM BOOOMTAG

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Blind Judge 5 RIDER JEROME CLOETENS PHOTO SAMUEL CARDENAS

The Blind Judge 5 or Backside 315 is one of the most fun tricks in freestyle for me. Even though it is a hard maneuver it feels quite a natural movement. The 540 rotation of the double handlepass comes loaded with energy from the Raley. When you do this trick, you have to hold your edge as long as you can, and then pop really hard so you can transfer all the energy of the pop into your Raley, and then unleash on the double spin. The tricky part of this one is to slow down at the end and land blind without putting your butt in the water. To land this one you have to be in control of your body rotation and the power you receive from your kite, since you have to slow down at the end and pull it together to land smoothly with your bar behind your back.

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TECHNIQUE

STEP 1

Get a good amount of speed but not too much, as you want to be fully in control of your pop. Put your kite at an angle of 45 degrees, not too low or too high. If you want to spin quickly and smoothly your kite cannot go in the opposite direction to your rotation i.e. you cannot pull your kite up while you are in the middle of the trick. Doing this will slow down the rotation and take the bar further from your hips. If you want to send your kite up to go a bit higher, remember to do it before you take off the water and then slowly pull it back down and not vice-versa. If you do it vice-versa it will be twice as hard!

STEP 2

Load your pop and get ready for takeoff. Edge as hard as you can and wait a bit longer than usual to get your board out of the water. If you don’t understand what this means just focus on having a huge spray. If you have a big spray it means you did a proper pop. A proper pop will give you the energy and speed to rotate easily and smoothly.

STEP 3

Do a proper extended Raley – the bigger the Raley the more speed you will gain going into your rotation. Plus little shifty Raleys just look bad! I tend to pull down a bit on my kite at the end of the Raley to gain extra slack for the double spin.

STEP 4

After the Raley you have to commit to the double handlepass.

It is normal at the beginning that you won’t put your hands back in the middle of the bar after the first handlepass – you have to work on that by doing thousands of attempts. Even if the rotation doesn’t go perfectly it doesn’t matter as long as you commit to the double spin at the beginning, because with the speed you generated you will keep on spinning to 540. In this photo I was very underpowered on an 11m and didn’t manage to put my hands back in the middle of the bar, but as I already had the speed and energy I received from the pop, I went straight to 540 and landed it, even if it was a small, not well-executed Backside 315.

STEP 6

Always try to keep the bar as close as possible to your hips, and use your head and upper body to lead the rotation.

STEP 7

Lastly, try to land with your board facing downwind. The more downwind you land, the easier it will be to stick the landing!

STEP 8

Try it a thousand times and commit. You won’t make it by doing a thousand Blind Judge 3’s and only trying the Blind Judge 5 when everything goes perfectly. You have to try rotating to 5 all the time.

STEP 5

Now for the most important rule if you already have a controlled Blind Judge 3 – do not think that you can look down after you finish your Blind Judge 3 to see if you have enough height and then go for a Blind Judge 5. This is the hardest way to land this trick – you have to commit from the start! A double handlepass is not two movements; you don’t stop in between to analyze the situation and go for the next handlepass! If you are scared to get hurt, trust me you will get hurt if you have doubt mid-trick, but not if you fully commit from the start.

BLIND JUDGE 5

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Strapless Backroll off a wave RIDER AIRTON COZZOLINO P H O T O S S V E T L A N A R O M A N T S O VA

This trick is really satisfying to do. It works best in onshore conditions, as you can eat the lip easily! It’s good to be nicely powered for doing this move, and a bigger kite will help with hangtime.

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TECHNIQUE

STEP 1

Go into the move at medium speed. Keep the kite fairly high.

STEP 2

Lead the movement with your shoulder and open your chest before you take off. Before you leave the water, start to turn the board into the wave, so at the moment of taking off from the water, the bottom of your board is already facing into the wind.

STEP 3

The moment you leave the water, look over your shoulder and start the rotation. Bring the board up over you, while keeping the bottom of the board facing into the wind. Use the wave to help you with the pop.

STEP 4

Be sure to keep your knees bent as much as possible during the rotation to keep the board connected to your feet. Try to grab it to make it even more stylish!

STEP 5

As you start initiating the landing, make sure you land downwind of the wave. It is best if you land directly on the lip of the wave. Keep looking over your shoulder until you land.

STEP 6

As you land, start to straighten your legs whilst using the wave to land and then bend your knees to soften the landing. Point the nose upwind and ride away.Â

STRAPLESS BACKROLL OFF A WAVE

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CORE Bolt 4

CORE recently released a new version of their wakestyle and park riding focused Bolt. If, like Triple-S competitor Rick Jensen, hitting features and busting low powered tricks is your thing, then this could be the weapon for you.

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W H AT A R E T H E M A I N C H A N G E S F R O M E A R L I E R V E R S I O N S ?

This is our fourth version of the board. During the development of the new Bolt we focused on improving the overall performance and riding comfort, even though it’s a pure wakestyle board. The result is new features like the Tucked Under Rail, the Beveled Deck and the Katana Channels.

T E L L U S M O R E A B O U T T H E K ATA N A C H A N N E L S .

For the perfect combo between flex and stiffness, we’ve continued the same contours of the bottom tip channel into the top deck, so it now resembles a Japanese Katana sword! The new contours add tip stiffness to store and release the energy better than you generate when loading the edge.

T H E N E W R A I L D E S I G N L O O K S R A D I C A L LY C H A N G E D . H O W DOES IT COMPLEMENT THE CHANNEL DESIGN?

The Bolt 4 debuts unique top and bottom rails. We beveled the top deck between the boots by approximately 2mm in thickness. The edge gained a new 60/40 tucked under rail between the pads that transitions into a flat box rail and then thins out to a sharper edge at the tips. The tucked under rail softens the ride and improves water flow, whereas the sharper tip edges add more bite. In combination with the channel design, it improves the overall performance (speed, edging and pop) while making the Bolt more comfortable to ride. We will have wakestylers’ knees thanking us!

W H AT D E S I G N F E AT U R E S M A K E T H E B O LT I D E A L F O R WA K ESTYLE?

The aggressive pro rocker offers balanced power flows and intuitive handling. We optimized reverse flex and worked on the channels – it is much more forgiving with the same stability after messed up landings.

W H AT I S U N I Q U E A B O U T Y O U R C A R B O N F I B E R M AT E R I A L ?

Cartan Carbon is our proprietary 30° biaxial carbon fiber weave. It optimizes board torsion and reduces reverse flex in a way traditional 90° carbon fiber cannot. We originally developed this 12.000 filament, low resin carbon fiber for Carved. Nowadays, this high-performance carbon fiber powers every CORE board too and is responsible for CORE’s signature board feel.

T H E B O LT H A S B E E N D E S I G N E D P A R T LY W I T H P A R K R I D E R S I N M I N D . H O W H AV E Y O U E N S U R E D T H E B O A R D I S T O U G H ENOUGH?

There are heavy-duty thread inserts for boots which are laminated in a massively reinforced base plate deep within the board. Furthermore, the top and bottom of the Bolt gained an extra lamination of our Cartan Carbon, so there are now four layers in total. The snowboard-inspired Pro Fix Grindbase completes the ‘park package’ and makes sure the Bolt is ready to hit any kind of obstacle, whether it’s in a park or a natural one.

W H I C H O F Y O U R T E A M R I D E R S W E R E I N V O LV E D I N T H E D E SIGN AND TESTING PROCESS?

Thanks to Rick Jensen (who is responsible for the new Sensor 3 bar), we have the perfect addition for our R&D team on Fehmarn. Rick competed in the Triple-S and is one of the big names when it comes to wakestyle and park riding in Germany. He also had development support from the US park legend, Eric Rienstra. ■

CORE BOLT 4

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Ride Engine 2021 Harnesses

Ride Engine’s innovative harnesses flipped the soft goods sector upside down. Their new range is now out and includes updates to their previous models as well as some completely new ones. We got the lowdown on the range and the brand’s philosophy.

T E L L U S A B I T A B O U T Y O U R H I S T O R Y, P H I L O S O P H Y A N D WAT C H I N G T H E C O M P E T I T I O N A L I G N T H E M S E LV E S …

2013 marked the time that harnesses would be looked at very differently – Coleman Buckley, Ride Engine founder, made his first custom hardshell harnesses for other people. His goal was simple – to make a harness that solved issues like lack of support, pressure points and movement on the body. The other harnesses out there were trying to address fit by over-building and adding more padding and robotic-looking shaping. Coleman decided a simpler way was to form a hardshell that would lock the harness into the ergonomics of the body. This initial design and engineering shaped the philosophy of the product that we make – minimal, simplistic design that is 100% about pure performance to the highest level. Ride Engine, from this point on, set the bar high and became the benchmark in harnesses for kiting and windsurfing. There is no doubt that the competition has provided the market with designs that are highly inspired by the Ride Engine hardshell invention, and has pushed us to look at the function and performance of the harnesses for these sports even deeper.

Y O U R L O N G - S TA N D I N G E L I T E C A R B O N M O D E L L O O K S L I K E IT’S HAD A MAJOR OVERHAUL WITH THE UNITY DIRECT CONN E C T I O N . W H AT I N S P I R E D T H E D E S I G N ?

We are very excited to bring the Unity Direct Connection to life in the Elite Carbon and the Saber harnesses. One of the weakest links we have found in a harness is the connection of the spreader bar to the 160

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rest of the harness. The Unity Direct Connection unifies the entire harness so offers an unparalleled connection to the kite, eliminates spreader bar slip, and is a true, one time, set it and forget it adjustment. We were very inspired by looking at snowboard binding closures and ski boots. With this inspiration we also recognized that we wanted to simplify the mechanism. We all use our equipment in some of the harshest conditions on this planet – saltwater, sand, heat, cold, along with being stored wet in our cars. As a consequence of this, we built the Unity Direct Connection with the least amount of moving or mechanical parts for longevity and reliability.

W H AT O T H E R U P G R A D E S A R E T H E R E T O T H E E L I T E ?

In the construction we have eliminated any excess panels and stitching, both in the internal of the foam support and the external in the neoprene skin. This adds durability and comfort overall. We also improved the inner belt construction that reduces stretch, increasing longevity of fit performance.

H OW D O E S T H E S A B E R CO M PA R E ?

The Saber is our second hardshell harness in the line. We ensured full retention of Ride Engine’s legendary hardshell features, like the data-supported Lumbar Lock fit, and dispersion of the frontline pressure in the spreader hook or sliding rope. We achieved this by engineering what we call a Structurally Engineered Shell: a combination

of an injected composite material with computer analysis generated contours that support the hardshell shape. This also allowed us to tune the vertical and horizontal axis flex to remain stiff while the torsional axis has some give. This is great for riders that are looking for advantages of the classic Ride Engine hardshell fit and support, but feel they want a bit of flex or freedom.

THE MOMENTUM IS THE FIRST SOFTSHELL HARNESS WE’VE SEEN WITH A RIDE ENGINE LABEL. HOW DOES IT FIT IN WITH THE REST OF THE RANGE?

We know there are riders out there that are just not apt to wearing a full hardshell harness. We have talked to these riders – some feel the hardshell support is simply too restrictive. Our challenge was to bring the Lumbar Lock fit of the hardshells into the Momentum softshell platform. This challenge was met head on and accomplished using an internal molded plate that holds the Lumbar Lock fit, providing the high-performance Ride Engine support and fit. Now we have a harness to meet our fit and performance standards for the softshell advocate.

I S T H E U N I T Y S P R E A D E R B A R S Y S T E M B A C K WA R D S - C O M P AT I B L E W I T H YO U R P R E V I O U S SYST E M S ?

Yes 100%! With the Unity Webbing Conversion clips, converting a Ride Engine 2018, 2019 and 2020 harness is easy. This conversion can be done to any brand harness that uses an internal waist belt and dual webbing.

MOMENTUM

Seat harnesses are interesting – we found out there are a lot of seat harness lovers out there who are highly dedicated to this piece of equipment. We also found that the majority of them had criticism of how their seat harness fits and performs. Common complaints were that they could not find a seat with comfortable leg loops integration, and they wished they had more freedom of movement, and wanted a seat harness that was less obtrusive. At first, we thought that engineering a hardshell seat was the way to go but this quickly presented issues that inhibited the performance goals that we set. We did take note of an interesting material used currently in harnesses and other high-performance sporting equipment called CURV. We ended up testing this material and found that it provided some interesting opportunities for us to solve some of the common seat harness issues. CURV, when molded logically, can provide a level of stiff support while at the same time offering give under stress. This made it perfect to create a sacrum adjustment plate that tightens and supports the back of the harness, closing the ever-so-common gap between the harness and the hips.

With this, support is distributed across the entire harness, making for a shadow-like fit. The Contour also has a compact shape that promotes more mobility.

CONTOUR

T H E C O N T O U R I S Y O U R F I R S T S E AT H A R N E S S . W H AT D E S I G N E L E M E N T S H AV E Y O U I M P L E M E N T E D T O M A K E I T B E T T E R THAN OTHERS ON THE MARKET?

W H AT E L S E D O Y O U H AV E C O O K I N G AT H Q ?

We have the oven on full bake here – we have a ton cooking! Stay tuned…. ■

ELITE CARBON

The team drives a lot of our design and engineering direction, along with just talking to kiters. We utilize the team for testing in some of the most demanding situations and conditions. But equally, we will also use kiting enthusiasts that are not necessarily throwing megaloops but offer a different user experience to a top professional. We are proud to have such a diverse test group of athletes to tap into, from some of the best kiters, Big Air riders, hydrofoilers, and windsurfers.

SABER

W H AT I N P U T D I D Y O U R T E A M R I D E R S H AV E I N T O T H E D E SIGN?

RIDE ENGINE 2021 HARNESSES

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Ocean Rodeo Shift Bar Ocean Rodeo recently released a new version of their Shift bar, aimed at wave riders and freeriders, whereas their Pilot bar is aimed towards freestyle, Big Air and wakestyle. We spoke to Richard Myerscough, Ocean Rodeo CEO and founder, to find out more.

W H AT I S T H E A D VA N TA G E I N H AV I N G T H E T W O S E P A R AT E CONTROL SYSTEMS?

Both front and back-line trim currently have a place in the sport, however for the vast majority of riders, back-line trim allows more access to the entire sheeting range of an SLE kite and the new reality of precision tuning performance from their kite with macro adjustments. Back-line trim wins for freeride, wave riding, strapless freestyle, foilboarding and Big Air, because it allows a massive sheeting range. Front-line trim is great for handle passes and unhooked moves – the trim line can be sheeted in rapidly, just prior to initiating a handlepass or an unhooked trick. If handlepassing isn’t your thing, the Shift back-line trim will deliver much more overall performance for all wind ranges and riding styles.

So with back line trim, there’s no cleat to limit your sheeting range. Plus your sheeting control system is right on the bar, so your hand never has to leave the control zone. The back-line trim winder allows for easy fine-tuning, allowing precise trim control as well as larger fast sheeting movements due to the one-to-one pull ratio of back-line trim (front-line trim is twoto-one, so for every 2cm of trim line pulled, you only get 1cm of trim.

Back-line means 1cm of trim equals 1cm direct to the kite). The Sidewinder adjuster delivers a 1:1 total trim adjustment of 21cm, or 42cm of traditional 2:1 cleated pulley line depower as found on most front-line trim bars.

THE SHIF T BAR IS NOW IN ITS FOURTH VERSION. HOW HAS I T E V O LV E D ?

The Shift gets more and more refined each year, from the grip texture and 162

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diameter (there’s a smaller diameter grip this year) to how the Sidewinder feels with each click of the knob. Back-line trim is such a clean and simple riding experience, we are now only looking at ways to simplify the design.

The performance has always been remarkable in strong winds, however with the success of our A-Series kites with the ALUULA airframe, we’ve also worked hard on the Shift’s performance in ultra-light winds. For example, we have the Helix Force Tension system that forces line out when there is no pull on the back lines. This is a key feature in ultra-light foiling conditions – when tuning the new generation of composite kites for such light winds, you know your trim settings are being delivered with precision, immediately upon input, as the trim is literally forced out of the winder.

The bar is still an ultra-light and super strong injected carbon fiber polymer blend.

HOW DOES THE BACK-LINE TRIM SYSTEM IMPROVE THE USER EXPERIENCE?

Back-line trim is simple, easy to use, and moves kite trim control directly to your hands. The winding knob is right there, all the time. You can trim in new situations, like wave riding while on the face – you can trim your kite without changing your stance. Foiling is the same, it’s simple to tune with no motion of your body to throw off body trim. The Shift is very light and strong and floats like a cork – there’s no heavy cleat or sinking bar, so you won’t find many Shift bars wrapped up on your local reef as they stay on the surface and drift over underwater hazards during self-rescues and rider ejects. Also, the super long throw with an adjustable stopper lets you get the most out of any kite it’s used with.

THE GEN 9 PUNCHOUT SYSTEM HAS HAD A CONSIDERABLE R E D E S I G N . TA K E U S T H R O U G H W H AT ’ S C H A N G E D .

The new ISO safety standards have come into play this year, and Ocean Rodeo was early to participate in the committee that developed the new regulations and testing procedures, along with several other leading brands and sailing federations. The Gen 9 Punch Out exceeds all the ISO requirements, with a few extra features to make the rider’s experience even better than Gen 8.

First we shaved 2cm off the height, delivering more bottom-end sheeting range. There’s the single-handed reset after eject – push until the cuff snaps down, and then you’re good to go. Our push release cuff stays up after an eject, which we believe is key as it gives the opportunity to flush sand and debris from the cuff after every eject. That’s a tricky piece of engineering that we have patented. We also have three trim loop options: freeride, freestyle and rope slider. All are simple and quick to swap in and out with a fin key. The trim loop retainer has also been refined to reduce the chance of false hooking after slackline moments. We use stainless steel bearings for super smooth line spinning management, combined with a self-centering leash clip bottom that provides super smooth flag and leash performance, and the leash is also ISO certified. The big news with the leash is that weight has been greatly reduced with our new i3 carabiner, so there’s no need for a line snag float cover. There’s so much to cover on these new parts I could write a book, but I’ll save you from that…

T E L L U S M O R E A B O U T YO U R N E W A -S E R I E S K I T E S ! H OW D O THE NEW BAR SYSTEMS ADD TO THE EXPERIENCE OF USING THEM?

I’m not sure I can say much more than what our customers have already said! Kites that are 50% lighter than the status quo really do leave an impression after using them for the first time. Every aspect of the sport just gets better – high wind, light wind, jumping, foiling, waves, water relaunch, speed… The list goes on and on. As I mentioned, we’ve really tuned the Shift bar to let you get the most out of all kites, in all conditions.

However, with the ALUULA airframe kites, we’ve tuned up the light wind, tactile side of the Shift. 50 knot storm riding, hollow Ponta Preta or five knot foil boarding on the lagoon, the Shift bar delivers more now than ever before…. ■ OCEAN RODEO SHIFT BAR

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Slingshot Super Natural v1

Slingshot have just released a new board in their lineup, the Super Natural v1. It’s great to see the classic mutant reborn, particularly with the current trend in old school boosting, although the Super Natural looks even more versatile. “Is it a twintip, a surfboard, a skim board or a skate board?” we asked ourselves. Then we asked Sam Light…

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T E L L U S A B O U T T H E B OA R D, I T LO O K S L I K E A R E F R E S H I N G BREAK FROM THE NORM.

We are super excited about the Super Natural. It is a multi-functional freeride twintip with a six-fin configuration, designed to give maximum grip and drive to help boost and throw buckets of water! It’s a mutant style board that is fun to use directionally without compromising riding in both directions. We have had amazing feedback from our team so far in all conditions from waves to flat water.

HOW DOES THE SHAPE AND DESIGN HELP IT PERFORM IN M U LT I P L E D I S C I P L I N E S ?

The deep molded channels provide a huge amount of grip, and the outline gives a surfy locked-in feel when laying into a carve, whether you’re on flat water or a wave. The longer length and flatter rocker provide speed and incredible upwind performance in all conditions from light-wind cruising to high-wind boosting.

W H O I S Y O U R TA R G E T R I D E R ?

The Super Natural is designed for the everyday freerider who wants more from their twintip. It has a massive range and would suit riders that are looking to cruise in light wind as well as throw some gnarly big airs.

W H AT H A S I N S P I R E D T H E S U P E R N AT U R A L A N D W H I C H O F Y O U R T E A M W E R E I N V O LV E D I N D E V E L O P I N G I T ?

The Super Natural was inspired by the urge to soul carve through that jibe, throw some spray and then send it off that very same wave! We took input from both wave riders and twintip riders such as myself and Fred Hope to find the ultimate multi-functional board.

IT’S A WHILE SINCE WE’VE SEEN A BOARD WITH SIX FINS A N D M U LT I P L E C O N F I G U R AT I O N S . . .

Once you feel the extra grip of six fins it’s hard to go back, especially for carving turns and big air when you can never have enough grip.

The beauty of this board is you can mix up the feeling depending on what you fancy on the day.

TA L K U S T H R O U G H T H E L AY U P A N D M AT E R I A L S O F T H E BOARD.

The Super Natural has a vertically laminated atomic wood core to provide stiffness and flex in the right places for best performance, and the deep angular channels also provide a lot of stiffness in the tips. It’s got carbon bedrock inserts for super inserts to add your accessories as well as a single shot fusion sidewall for the ultimate combo of durability, performance, flex and speed.

W H AT E L S E H A S S L I N G S H O T G O T I N T H E P I P E L I N E C U R R E N T LY ?

What haven’t we got in the pipeline – everything from new foils, bar, kites, twintips to surfboards. We are very excited about our new products coming out soon, watch this space… ■

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F-ONE Magnet Carbon S U R F B OA R D TE ST BUILD QUALITY

ONSHORE

DOWN-THELINE

STRAPLESS FREESTYLE

FINS

F-ONE have always been a brand led by their hyper-talented team riders, and strapless freestyle has seen a huge evolution in the last few years with the GKA pushing the discipline in competition. From a performance perspective, this has meant higher jumps, more powered freestyle-derived moves, and the inevitable hard landings that come with that. Feedback suggested the discipline was beginning to demand a board that is quite far from a traditional surfboard construction, their design scope and intended use. The riders asked for a more compact shape, far slimmer, lighter, and with more pop for flat water take offs, and more comfortable for hard, powered landings. The Magnet Carbon is F-ONE’s extremely concise answer.

It comes in two sizes of 4’11 and 5’1, with a rider weight of 80kgs as tipping point when choosing between the two. The construction is all-new, and unsurprisingly F-ONE aren’t giving away a whole lot about the finer details, other than it involves carbon. The Corduroy EVA deck pad is suitably grippy and comfortable, and a front bump in the footpad ensures it’s really easy to work out where your feet are and prevents doing the splits on a hard landing. The outline is derived from 2020’s popular Slice, but that’s more or less where the similarities end. Immediately you see how slim and light the board is. A large double concave with a soft central V shape runs through the majority of the flatter section of the board, fading into a flatter section in the tip. A cheeky final flip in the nose will overcome chop well.

On your inaugural session, what immediately strikes you most about the Magnet is how light it feels both to handle and under foot. From a simple practical perspective, the thumb grip running along the rail makes it dead easy to carry one handed, but this obviously translates into an ultra-obvious grab area to aim for when airborne. The grip and power loading you can garner when riding powered is truly impressive. The combination of a stiff Futures fin system, ultra-thin rails and boxy rear outline work together

WEIGHT

seamlessly. You can push a kite forward in the window as well as you can with a twintip, and you can feel the flex and response in the deck making the power release simple, consistent, and, most importantly, predictable. This is where it runs rings around traditional surfboards.

Once you’re in the air, it’s most definitely Magnet by name, Magnet by nature. It’s so light and flat it sticks exceptionally well to your feet, even if you are a little more clumsy than twinkletoes Mitu. Coming in hot, the bottom shape of the board and flex combination disperses the water on impact admirably. Where you’d normally land with slap and bounce out, the Magnet just seems to take it in its stride. When riding the Magnet in a more traditional wave riding scenario, you need to remember you’ve not got much volume, so as long as you ride powered and kite led, you can achieve a decent and very grippy set of turns, throwing a rooster tail of consequence. It’s reminiscent of an old school Mutant and definitely brings a smile. What is great about the Magnet is that whilst designing a board for their pros, F-ONE haven’t forgotten the average rider with the Magnet. It pushes the boundaries of what’s possible construction-wise and redefines the limits of what the average human can do on a strapless board.

IN A SENTENCE: The Magnet will massively aid the initial stages of strapless freestyle with its ease of use, opening up a plethora of tricks, and anyone with superhuman abilities is going to trick even further than before.

CORE Choice 4 T W I NT I P

LANDING

POP

COMFORT

EDGING

ACCESSIBILITY

CORE have never been shy of producing a top shelf twintip, and the Choice sits in the range as a board that lends itself to a multitude of disciplines, hence the name. Boots or straps, freestyle or Big Air, it’s designed to give you a decent option for all of it. Build-wise, V4 has had quite a rethink but continues to integrate luxurious Cartan Carbon into the build, which is a material mainstay of their sister brand, Carved. This sandwiches a familiar Paulownia wood core. All-new Katana channels are present, visible in the tips and resembling the infamous Japanese sword. These help increase and control the flex and release in the tips, and improve water flow into the channels in the base. It is mirrored in the deck of the board as well. The rails have been tucked under with a 60/40 bias between your stance, which fades into straight box rails as it thins out into the tips. A 2mm bevel has been sunk into the deck to increase flex in the mid-section and make it all a little more forgiving.

We tested the Choice in both wake boots and the supplied Union Pro 3 straps, and it genuinely functioned admirably with both options attached.

Sizing will depend a little on your style, but if you favor boots for the majority of the time, we’d take a more generous size than if you were more strap biased. In the water the Choice feels instantly smooth and responsive.

There’s zero splash from the tips and it cruised through dense chop without getting flustered. The edge and release characteristics remain super easy to access and don’t require too much loading technique or board speed 166

TESTED

WEIGHT

to receive a decent consistent pop. It seems to let you deliver your trick routine with an instant familiarity and with zero fuss. From a swing weight perspective, it probably sits exactly in the middle of the market, which only adds to the predictability helping you come out of your rotation. On balance, the Choice probably has more of a bias towards powered low tricks, soaking up hard landings with style. The tips are thin enough to hold a decent amount of power in a high wind, overpowered scenario if you want to go boosting and looping. It feels instantly familiar regardless of what situation you seem to throw it into.

IN A SENTENCE: The Choice has been updated intelligently and is a beautifully crafted high-end all-rounder with true cross-discipline credentials which also manages to be a comfortable ride…

TESTED

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Naish Dash LE 10m AL L- R OUN DE R TE ST

RANGE

BOOSTING

TURNING SPEED

FREESTYLE

ACCESSIBILITY

The Dash has been a mainstay in the Naish camp and sits alongside the Torch as a modernized freestyle-oriented performance kite for higher level or aspirational and unhooked riders. Season 25 from Naish has let them indulge in a little graphical nostalgia with the kite range, with the Limited Edition (LE) Dash sporting a massive skull and crossbones on a black canopy, harking back to the early Naish Series 25 years ago. If you don’t remember the original Sky Pirate directional, look it up – it’s a lesson in aquatic badass. People will automatically give you preferential right of way on this kite without a second thought. Construction-wise, it’s easy to get distracted by the striking limited edition graphics, but all the usual Naish bells and whistles continue to be there in force. The trailing edge Shark Teeth run reinforcement up every canopy panel intersection and make for a super controlled and long-lasting leech. Naish dispensed with the long running (and opinion polarizing) Octopus system last year, and you now have a simple to service high diameter external system more in line with other brands, coupled with an iSUP valve for easy inflating. The Quadtex canopy material remains unchanged along with the hefty 11.5 PSI inflate pressure, making the airframe extremely rigid. Some new settings have been implemented on the leading edge hang points to span the arc out for more lift and hangtime or make it more C shape for unhooking. We had a good play around with this and it makes a tangible difference in the kite’s bar feeling and performance, so it’s definitely worth a few seconds changing the simple pigtail before you launch if you are looking at a perfect lagoon or some strong wind and kickers.

The Dash has superbly rapid steering and a powerful strike of power is produced across the window. This is no park-and-go family saloon; it’s a manual sports car and a little rider input is required to get it up to speed. The Dash thrives on board speed and once you have some, it really lights up. Bar feedback has been dialed in perfectly, and particularly when you are in unhooked mode on the bridle, it gives you no surprises and has all the intuitive benefits of a ‘real’ C shape kite without giving you instant tennis elbow. The purist can slow the kite right 168

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down with the rear steering hang points. Bridle set to boost mode, and the top end of the Dash in the Big Air and loop department is truly impressive. You need a little more technique and timing than with the Pivot to go massive, and can’t just rely on pure sheeting, but when it all aligns the upward lift is quite intense, and the loop has some serious whip with the Dash turning more on its wingtip. With a skilled rider on the controls it’s a mean and controllable kiteloop and the climb is rapid and predictable; it’s not for the faint-hearted. What’s also noticeable, particularly with a kite that likes to be thrown around, is how tight the canopy remains. There’s a zero flap policy being adhered to in all positions in the wind window and smooth feedback through the bar. If you used to use C shapes and then steered away, this could be a great renaissance kite for freestyle as it’s forgiving and has the benefits of extra wind range and depower, and it’s really easy to chuck around, plus the very reassuring bar feedback isn’t going to cause you problems. There are obvious choices and comparisons to be made against the Pivot and we would summarize that the Dash has more punch in the turns, more unhooked application and an almost equal top end.

IN A SENTENCE: The Dash is far more versatile than you would expect and a very satisfying ride, and with the limited edition, psychologically the Pirate livery boosts the kite 35% in all performance criteria…

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A founder and family-run business that is not ruled by investors. We provide European handicraft and not the Asian or American mass production. We develop jointly with our dealers, team riders and end users, not just product managers. We guarantee durable premium products instead of simple and cheap disposable goods. Our motto is more fun through strong performance, instead of more sales through low prices. We prefer timeless wood designs that have already won 5 design awards, rather than short-lived trends. When we started 10 years ago, we only had long and hard boards. Now we offer boards for kids, teenagers, women and men. We focus on sustainable and healthy growth rather than on overproduction with profit optimization. We do big tours for testing with competent consultancy on 180 days per annum, instead of expensive advertising with lots of marketing promises. Sold only through selected, ownermanaged stores and not with stock-listed chains or also through our own online shop. True ecological and social commitment, not just glossy numbers for investors.

WAKEBOARD FLY The FLY is a board for demanding wakeboarders.

In the Flex we combine a harder middle part with softer Tip & Tail, the edges are sharper, the underwater ship has 8 channels and the surface is 3D shaped.

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SNOWBOARD WOODEN The WOODEN is not for nothing our most sold board. The optics with red-core ash in the topsheet make it unmistakable and unique.

With the incomparable performance and precision, you will have the Ride of your life with the WOODEN. For this we combine two types of wood as core, triaxial glass, basalt and carbon-kevlar power stringers. The WOODEN is an all-mountain board and is available in 4 widths between 253 and 286 mm and in the lengths 156M, 159M, 162W, 163XW, 167XXW.

KITEBOARD SNAKE Nature is the best role model in terms of construction and aerodynamics. The humpback whale can glide through the water faster and better than any other whale due to its tubercles on its fins and tail. This is the basis for our GOODkiteboard SNAKE with its anti-chop technology.

In fluid mechanics, fluid dynamics tests have shown that the humpback whale’s tubercles reduce water resistance but at the same time increase lift. For our SNAKE with its wavy outline, this means that the flow between these waves is channeled and does not stop.

The current always stays on the board and helps to maintain or increase the buoyancy on the waves and thereby makes it smoother.

Smooth edges are therefore not perfect and that is why the SNAKE offers the following advantages!

Less stress on the knee load Longer kite sessions Easier turning and upwind Less splashing water Lightweight 137 cm 2,5 kg, 141 cm 2,6 kg Unique look 169

T E S T E D

RRD Universal Foil F O I L T E ST GETTING UP

STABILITY

UPWIND

CARVING

SPEED

In the brave new world of foiling, it is very difficult to produce a foil that you can genuinely say is relatively ‘future proof’. There is such rapid development and foils head in such a huge number of different directions in terms of design that – to anyone just starting out in the world of foiling – if you lined up all of their options, it’s pretty likely their head would explode.

RRD have acknowledged that and want to make your life simple: they have their Universal Foil. Which – helpfully enough – can also be used for wing foiling and surf foiling. It’s a Universal Foil, get it? Aside from its adaptability, the price point is also a big selling point. You can get up and riding on the Universal Foil for the cost of a replacement front wing of many of the top end foils. Build wise and the wings are built with carbon and PU, providing a good balance between strength/stiffness and durability/cost.

They are, of course, finished in RRD orange ensuring that if you forget to tighten the screws and your foil falls off, you have a good chance of spotting it against the seaweed at low tide… The profile of the front wing is super thick – thicker than any kite foil we have tested – and the thickness is maintained throughout the foil. The mast is aluminum but with plastic ends to slot in at either end, thus eliminating oxidization. Once assembled, you have an impressively rigid set up. Certainly not the lightest foil on the market, but it is not trying to be.

On the water and it is best to assess the Universal Foil from two different perspectives. Firstly, if you are a beginner and are about to embark on the addictive pathway that is ‘foiling’… With this in mind, we would say that the Universal Foil comes in as simply one of the easiest foils we have ever ridden. The relatively large wing coupled with the thick profile ensure an

ACCESSIBILITY

incredibly smooth and predictable lift initially and then gives you enough time to engage that all important front foot pressure. If I look back on the hours I spent learning to foil eight years ago, I think you would have reduced the frustration by about 95% riding this. It is as easy as foiling gets and for an intermediate kiter, you would expect them to be getting their first few decent runs in within a couple of sessions. This lift and stability are also what ensure that the foil also works with surfing and winging, but don’t count this as a negative for kiting… For more experienced riders, the Universal Foil may initially feel like a step back, but in this new world of foiling with blurred lines between the different disciplines, we didn’t find that. The lift and stability mean that you don’t just need to stand there, you can get the foil up and ride it with a kite a couple sizes smaller than with other foils, and can then really enjoy carving the foil around (especially if you have some swell to play with) and can also pump through lulls or flat sections in the surf. If you are working on foiling transitions, then you buy yourself (at least) an extra second of float to get your feet switched and turn the power back on and gives you the confidence to really push the limits of what you can do with your foil riding.

IN A SENTENCE: The Universal Foil provides the perfect platform for starting off on a foil but also provides a well-tuned and super fun platform to take your foiling skills to the next level.

CrazyFly Pure F O I L B OA R D TE ST

STIFFNESS

DURABILITY

RESPONSE

WEIGHT

ACCESSIBILITY

Here’s a fact: CrazyFly love creating things to put your feet on and get powered by a kite with. They live and breathe board technology and we could tell right away that the Pure board was something that – even with all their experience – they were pretty stoked about. So, what do we have?

Well, when it arrived at TKM HQ we thought maybe it was some A1 promotional materials we had been expecting. Tiny box, weighing nothing…

When we opened it, what emerged was one of the stealthiest and most insane looking boards we have seen. At 88 x 43cm the Pure weighs in at 1.58kg. And that is with the deck pad, which we’d guess has to be 250g or so. It’s all black and unmistakably all carbon but there is much more to it than that.. The Pure board is packed with more tech than a first glance would suggest. First up there is the ‘air inside’ core. Initially utilized on the mega-light Elite II twintip, the wood core has holes CNC’d into it before it is finished. These hollow spaces inside reduce weight and increase buoyancy and don’t impact on the stiffness of the board. Weight has been further reduced through building the board without a top or a bottom sheet, so what you see and feel is the outer layer of carbon. This is very impressive both from an aesthetic perspective but also from a build perspective – to lay up this board so precisely requires some pretty extraordinary board building skills. We were quite impressed with the Pure board, although it is of course worth mentioning that with this kind of premium build, comes a premium price tag. But you probably guessed that already…

Your foil is screwed into four inserts, the same as you have for foot straps, and we initially rode the Pure with the front but not back straps. For this

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test we rode the Pure with CrazyFly’s Up foil. We were mainly riding in gusty offshore conditions so were pleased to have the straps to get up and going, but once you are away (and in more forgiving conditions) you are fine riding the Pure strapless, particularly with the subtle concave in the deck and full deck pad which keeps you nicely locked in. The downside to these super thin pocket boards can lie in the amount of flex you get, but as soon as you pop up it is clear that this is not an issue with the Pure. The board is very stiff and gives you a uniquely connected feeling – pretty much like you are standing on the mast plate! Every slight movement is immediately dialed in to the foil and the smallest movements are transmitted.

For transitions or in choppy conditions there is not much forgiveness and ideally you want to keep high on the foil. There is a nice amount of kick in the nose to help you bounce back up with slight touch downs and if you need to put the board on the water for transitions you may have a second or two, but essentially the Pure isn’t a board that wants to be too close to water, aside from at the start and end of your session – it’s a board that wants to fly and it does that very well indeed.

IN A SENTENCE: You can’t help but be impressed by the Pure from a technological point of view, and the good news is: it’s very impressive on the water too.

dakhla lassarga the ultimate location

SPACE Discover the space! Whether you are a beginner or experienced, you will feel and enjoy the space around you! Ride or learn with freedom and safety at Lassarga’s 2 main spots. Lassarga lagoon side beach has flat water, protected from waves, with endless space and shallow water during low tide. Lassarga main beach in front of the bungalows is ideal for experienced riders or those wanting the possibility of waves!

WIND All year round, consistent wind, predominantly offshore at Lassarga main beach, and side shore on Lassarga lagoon side, with safety boats at both spots, and an experienced ION CLUB team, instructors and coaches!

ALL LEVELS Beginner, intermediate, experienced, expert, freestyle, strapless or wave! Lassarga is the ideal place for all levels.

ALL RIDES Kitesurf, windsurf, surf, paddle, foil, wing foil. Choose your ride each day depending on the conditions, and maybe try something new!

booking : oceanvagabond.com

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Naish Hover 112 + Kite 810 Hydrofoil F O I L B OA R D TE ST

STIFFNESS

DURABILITY

RESPONSE

ACCESSIBILITY

WEIGHT

COMFORT

CARVING

SPEED

ACCESSIBILITY

F O I L T E ST

GETTING UP

STABILITY

UPWIND

The Hover 112 is an exercise in freeride foil minimalism. It’s small but tough, and has quite an aggressive deck grip, leaving no risk of slippage whatsoever and complete control of those hydrofoil-essential fine motor skills. The edges of the board are nicely rounded and feel comfortable when handling, and aren’t going to hunt you down in the water if you stack it. The matt Durafinish paint job survived a few weeks in and out of the sandy van without so much as a scuff. A set of foot strap inserts set out in the standard Y shape are well positioned, and boosting with the tiny Hover is super fun with a low swing weight, particularly with a fast foil. The low volume means you may need a little more power to board start than something more generously proportioned, but the trade off when flying is absolutely worth it. Throwing the board into a tack, you immediately feel the lack of weight and drag as you face directly into the wind and it makes rotational maneuvers far more snappy. We paired it with both the Kite 810 and Jetfoil 1250 Naish foil setups and it makes both feel equally dynamic; swapping onto a larger and heavier board dulled the all-important feedback noticeably.

The Kite 810 foil is an all-new wing to the range and sits somewhere between mid and high aspect with quite a bit of delta remaining in the shape along with some swept out flat wingtips. It’s constructed from a tough but lightweight-feeling chopped carbon and pairs with a rede-

signed 95cm mast and the high aspect HA280 stabilizer. Weight-wise, things have dropped quite a bit through the mast and fuselage, and there is barely any torsional play in the system. Naish have most definitely upped their game. It’s as quick as a ballistic missile in a straight line but has a wide enough speed range to let you go into your transitions without having to be at breakneck speeds, and it has a fairly wide sweet spot. For a foil with this much speed potential, its ease of access is impressive and it retains a playful carving ability for rapid and smooth arcing turns.

IN A SENTENCE:Pair the dinky, slim profiled Hover 112 with the Kite 810 hydrofoil, and you’ve got an excellent setup for the ambitious intermediate to expert freeride kite foiler.

Reedin Super-E T W I NT I P

LANDING

POP

COMFORT

EDGING

ACCESSIBILITY

Alongside the Kev-Pro, Reedin have produced the Super-E as a more accessible board for mere mortals. A similar outline and channeling system have been implemented but with a different flex pattern for more of a focus on ease of use and comfort. Reedin are producing the Super-E in Poland, and the European production standards are immediately apparent. In the hands it feels well detailed, particularly in the finish and it is extremely light for its size. The base has a full concave divided out into three defined channels running right out to the tips. This is designed to get as much grip as possible under your back foot. There’s also an additional edging channel running along the inside of the rail. The board’s tips are relatively thin, with more thickness in the center of the board. It’s a grippy 90-degree box rail throughout the entire length. Proudly recessed thumb grabs in the center for easy board-offs confirm that this is a board from Kevin Langeree, as it’s his Big Air trademark. Straps are separated micro adjustable front and back and are well integrated into the footpads. The horizontally ribbed EVA foot pads are reassuringly grippy, preventing your feet sliding backwards and out of the strap on harsh landings, and provide good feedback from the board without feeling too harsh. The screws are stored in a tiny pocket integrated in the strap, and the duck angle is adjustable on a circular-toothed system, much like a snowboard binding.

What’s most surprising about the Super-E is the extremely predictable pop you can generate without having to ride at crazy board speeds with

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loads of power. It’s extremely forgiving for the average rider, and whilst learning new tricks you are not going to have to go in so committed and get so beaten up if you stack it, and consequently it is going to make it far easier to expand your trick repertoire. Immediately it feels flexible and grippy with performance on tap, and we felt that it probably biases more towards strapped riding rather than boots. The flex pattern maintains enough forgiveness to deal with harsher, choppy conditions and maintains grip without being too harsh on the knees. For traditional strap-based freestyling it’s an aspirational weapon and is guaranteed to provide the qualities you need to confidently take your riding up a notch. Kevin has been riding and developing twintips for many moons and he has ticked all of the boxes for the sector of the market that the Super-E is geared towards.

IN A SENTENCE: Reedin tout themselves as a brand who only design equipment they like to ride themselves, and Kevin and Damien’s personalities and riding styles are stamped all over the Super-E: it’s an entertaining ride for a crowd-pleasing playful freerider.

WINGSURFING

NOW COVERED IN

BKSA MEMBERSHIP! Wingsurfing & wingsurf foiling is the latest new watersport to hit our shores.

It’s a fantastic combination of wind, foil and kite sports.

We are delighted to be able to cover this new discipline as it emerges and grows in popularity.

We have now delivered the WORLD’S FIRST instructor training course for safe lessons and instruction in conjunction with BSUPA and RYA. Visit the website for more info on where to learn.

LEARN

•

TEACH

•

www.britishkitesports.org

TRAVEL 173

T E S T E D

Ion Riot Curv 14 harness Ion have produced some intriguing lightweight high-end hardshell harnesses this year all with different flex characteristics demarked by their flex index number. We tested the Curv 14, the stiffest in the range, which has a lower cut backplate for more freedom of movement and minimalistic approach. Getting the harness on is a simple process – an initial Velcro belt fastens over, and then the C-Bar 3.0 clips over solidly with two hooks engaging into the webbing. The webbing has some vertical grooves, and two sprung clips on each side make adjusting in tiny, but very positive increments a simple process. The webbing tails tuck behind an elastic pocket keeping everything neat and tidy. A generously thick foam pad sits behind the spreader bar that protects the ribs and compresses well without being too harsh. The final closure lever cinches the harness up another few millimeters and makes an extremely tight fit if required. Once it’s set up to your waist size, we found you can generally leave the webbing system alone, and just crank it on with the lever system, which is great for a fuss free start to your session. A cunning small webbing tab on the end of the closure lever allows you to lift it enough to be able to get your fingertip behind the lever to release it, which is important, as if your hands are cold it could be tricky to get your fingers behind and gain the pressure required.

The C-Bar 3.0 is a flexible composite affair and comes with various options for connecting your kite. A standard steel kite hook can be bolted in with three simple Torx bolts, and works great for unhooked work. For the sliding spreader wave option, Ion have pulled something quite unique out of the bag and have gone for a flat ‘climbing sling’ style webbing rather than the usual round Dyneema rope. This should wear better and orient itself well to the chicken loop. It feels more frictionless than some systems we’ve used and is a masterstroke carried over and implemented well from another sports industry. The final option is a closed fixed aluminum

Quicklock system designed with the purely hooked-in freerider in mind. A small tab lifts a sprung gate system underneath the smooth molded hook and locks in completely, and as a bonus this is achievable one-handed.

This has a great safety application and could be a nifty system to use in school and underpowered situations where a standard chicken loop can twist and pop out. For the strapped, the system makes a lot of sense and you can dispense with your chicken loop retainer completely. Ion have kindly provided the relevant Torx tools and swapping between the different modes is not a difficult procedure.

The slim profile back plate is great for waves and smaller people’s back profiles. It tucks into the arch of your back very well. As with any minimal hard shell harnesses a try before you buy fitting is advised to make sure it’s compatible with your body shape. The Riot Curv 14 is a great harness, you can get it so tight it will literally crush your organs; there was no discernible ride up whilst wearing a wetsuit, and the flexibility in the webbing would allow you to adapt for wearing a rashie.

PARACAS-PERU Pro Kite Center Beachfront Facilities Incredible Kite Spots Diverse Conditions

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the committed Javier Fernandez Palos PHOTOS SAMUEL TOMÉ

Always looking for new perspectives on the best sport on the planet, this issue we’ve decided to start a new regular slot celebrating riders who have truly, 100%, no-doubtabout-it decided to completely commit their lives to kitesurfing…. This issue we kick off with Javier Fernandez Palos. Before kiting he was a computer technician but turned his life upside down and became a pro rider at the age of 40, and is now the main man for RRD in Spain. We found out how he made his dream a reality.

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THE COMMITTED

I T H A S TA K E N Y O U S O M E T I M E T O A C H I E V E Y O U R D R E A M !

W H E N D I D YO U F I R ST K I T E ?

Back in 2003 the first kites appeared where I live in Huelva, close to Tarifa. Friends flew them on the sand, without a board. I was 27 years old, and watching them blew me away. A year later I sold a computer to a company whose owner kited, and I exchanged the computer for a Rhino 9m. That same year I separated from my wife, leaving behind the lifestyle for which I had worked so hard. Aimless and homeless, I found peace and meaning (as well as some adrenaline) in kiting. I sold my house so my financial outgoings were reduced and I pondered what I could do next with my life. The answer came easily – I wanted to spend more time at the beach kiting and surfing, and less time working. I went to live with my parents and later ended up living in the back room of my computer store, with just a bed, shower and microwave, and all my kite equipment – everything I needed to have more free time to kite.

D O YO U L I V E O F F K I T E S U R F I N G N OW ?

I usually say that I live badly, but I do live near the beach, so am treated to endless sunsets! I’ve had to learn to tighten my belt and reduce my expenses as much as possible, but that wasn’t a hardship as I get so much from kiting. Luckily my kite equipment is provided by RRD, the car was already paid for, and now if I have to go to Tarifa or Portugal I usually camp and spend maximum time on the water!

H O W H AV E R R D H E L P E D I T T O H A P P E N ?

Thanks to Abel Lago who I met during a kite camp in Tarifa, I was put forward as a national rider about seven years ago. Since then, my work, passion, dedication and my desire to improve, both in and out of the water, has exploded, and at 35, it was perhaps the last chance to be a professional athlete. This motivation prompted me to be an international RRD team rider and RRD national promoter.

W H AT A R E Y O U R R O L E S N O W ?

As a national promoter, I have been in charge of doing demo tours

in Spain for the last four years, visiting RRD schools and introducing new kit to the school owners and general public. I really enjoy doing this! Then, as a rider, I have helped Abel and Werther test new prototypes, giving them my feedback on their evolutions. I have also been lucky enough to participate in the Cape Town season for the last four years. I have been doing photography and many of my shots have been printed in magazines and used by RRD for their promotions. I like editing photos and videos; it has got me hooked over time. Having been lucky enough to work next to some of the best photographers in the kite industry, my partner Ana Sanchez and I have picked up a lot of pro kite photography techniques which we can now use ourselves.

W H E R E A R E T H E F AV O R I T E S P O T S Y O U H AV E K I T E D ?

I like wind from six knots up to 45, but generally enjoy the stronger, more extreme conditions with big waves and wind, preferably offshore or cross-off. Close to home I like Balneario, Conil de la Frontera and Traba in Galicia, then Guincho, Viana do Castelo, and Supertubos in Portugal, and Scarborough and Platboom in South Africa.

YO U M U ST B E O N E O F T H E O L D E ST G UYS TO AC H I E V E P RO R I D E R S TAT U S . H O W D O Y O U F E E L ?

Well, I feel better than ever! I kite for the same time as my teammates aged 19 and 20, although I then go to bed while they go out for a beer!

Some of the younger guys love to point out my grey hairs, but after three or four hours kiting with me in the harshest conditions, they soon shut their mouths! I avoid nights out, follow a healthy diet, do physical training without overtraining, and do stretching and yoga, so that helps me to kite as well as the younger guys. I was quick to stop doing freestyle so have avoided injuries.

Kiting-wise I still feel I’m improving, constantly thinking about technique. It helps that RRD team riders Abel and Franchi have given me a lot of advice. In my first year in Cape Town four years ago, the first wave at Scarborough almost killed me. This year I put in seven turns on the same wave and managed to do floaters and nice cutbacks in super gusty 45 knots. So I see a long life for me kiting, and a lot more great sessions ahead. ■ JAVIER FERNANDEZ PALOS

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How kiting changed my life WORDS GAB I ST E INDL PH OTOS STEPHAN K L E INL E IN / OC E ANB LU E S KY.COM

I was recently asked how kiting had changed my life, and for the sake of a short answer, I replied: “It set me on a journey in which more dreams have come true than I could ever have wished for, a journey that showed me that whatever you dream of you can achieve.�

The truth though is that I could write a book about how kiting has changed my life. It has taught me more about myself and the opportunities we are given in our time on this planet than any university or personal development book ever could.

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REFLECTIONS

GABI STEINDL

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I was born in landlocked Vienna, into a conservative war-generation family, but as a little girl, I dreamt of windsurfing, surfing, and living alongside the rhythms of the ocean. Caught up in the expectations of society, that dream was put on hold during my teenage years, throughout university, and afterwards as I climbed the career ladder to a top management position in London and Hong Kong. In my early twenties I had an office on the 25th floor of an impressive piece of modern architecture, an apartment with a spectacular vista over the skyline of Hong Kong, a decent salary and a secretary twice my age...

In Hong Kong, you live to work. I was drawn into the mentality that often comes with success: more, higher, faster. Life was intense and exciting; I can’t deny enjoying it for a few years, but eventually I kept waking up with a nagging feeling every morning.

I came to realize that regardless of my success in business I felt unfulfilled, empty and unhappy, fully engulfed in the rat race and trapped in the career that I had worked so hard for. Realizing I had created an existence that did not resonate with me was a difficult insight and an interesting, yet confusing and challenging time in my life. Instead of surrendering I took the bull by the horns, stepped into the unknown, and have never looked back. Kiting had only just come on the scene back then – it became the catalyst for me to break free and commit myself 100% to the new sport. It has come a long way since then, however the lessons I learnt on my journey are timeless and independent of any industry or career path.

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1. A L LOW YO U R S E L F TO D R E A M , A N D FO L LOW YO U R HEART

When I quit my job in Hong Kong, I had no plan B. I knew I had to get out of the city and I wanted to learn to kitesurf. A two-month stint in Morocco followed in which my kiting progressed quickly and I came up with a new master-plan for my life – to see how good I could get and to compete in the World Cup the following year. So I did. And came seventh in my first event! That was the beginning of my journey in a pro kiting career and ultimately of me living out my dreams. Fast-forward 17 years and I’m still doing what I love, albeit in an adapted version as a freerider and writer. Following my heart and turning my passion into my profession was the most daredevil and frightening thing I’ve ever done. However, it has also been the most rewarding and fulfilling step in my life.

2 . D A R E TO ST E P O U T S I D E YO U R CO M FO RT ZO N E

Modern society teaches that it is best to stay in your comfort zone.

Outside that zone life gets risky, scary and uncertain. But is it really worthwhile choosing security over personal fulfilment and happiness? Without doubt, change and the unknown feel daunting, yet that’s the very place where life’s magic happens.

3 . D O N ’ T L E T F E A R H O L D YO U B AC K

Why is it so hard to step out of the comfort zone? Primarily, it’s fear

that holds you back – fear of failure, change, or what your peers, family or society will think. Fear is mostly self-created – it’s an illusion and an emotional reaction to thoughts about losing or not getting what is important to you. As such, fear is the catalyst for inaction. Freeing your mind from your fears is crucial when you embark on your journey of fighting for what you want. Nobody approved of me quitting my career in Hong Kong – I was declared a total nutcase by friends and family who suggested I was ruining my life. Not one single person supported me in my decision. Looking back, I sometimes wonder how I had the strength to take the leap. One thing I know, is overcoming all sorts of fears (existential fears, fears of losing in a comp, fears before a trip to remote corners of the planet and so on) have been a crucial part of my journey. So, feel the fear and do it anyway!

4 . THINGS IN LIFE DON’T COME DOWN TO LUCK – HARD WO R K W I L L G E T YO U T H E R E

I often hear “oh wow, you’re so lucky” from people when I tell them what I do for a living. However, I consider luck a minor factor in achieving your goals. The only part that was luck on my journey, is that I was born healthy, in a developed country – everything else I created.

I’ve had to accept huge risks, was on my own for most of the way, and have fought with sheer determination to achieve my dreams. I’ve faced victories, defeats and burnouts, as well as major injuries that could have meant the end of my career, but I never gave up.

NO!

5. DON’T ACCEPT ‘NO’ FOR AN ANSWER – PERSISTENCE IS KEY

In my first World Cup event, I had it mapped out in my head: I was determined to secure sponsorship with my favorite kite brand. They were already market leaders and I wanted to ride for them and no one else. I knew I was good. I had a promotional video on a VHS tape that I’d produced in Venezuela, and my selling and marketing skills were solid thanks to my experience in the business world – what could possibly go wrong? Well, unfortunately, things didn’t turn out as I hoped! The brand told me they didn’t need another female in the team as they already had the multiple World Champ Cindy Mosey and the market was predominantly male. Instead of heading away with my tail between my legs or trying another brand, I didn’t give in. It took a few more meetings but eventually the brand offered me sponsorship, leading to a now 17-year relationship. This is just one example, but if I had to name three factors that are the key to success, they’d be persistence, hard work and commitment.

6. I T ’ S I M P O S S I B L E TO B E L I K E D BY E V E RYO N E !

When I first started to compete, the group of girls in the World Cup were a tight-knit community. I arrived on the scene and have to admit, I wasn’t too warmly welcomed; before I’d even met them, I already felt strong vibes against me. After a while, some of the girls warmed to me; others didn’t give me a chance. It wasn’t a good feel-

GABI STEINDL

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I realized that becoming World Champ was not why I quit my business career, rather it was my passion for the ocean and the childhood dream of a life built around it. ing, but I had experienced it before in the business jungles of Hong Kong and London, and knew not to let it bother me. When people feel threatened (and that mightn’t have anything to do with your actions or personality) they can turn mean or unreasonable. And even if it’s not due to feeling threatened, we all have distinct personalities, opinions and tastes. You have to get used to the fact that you won’t be everybody’s cup of tea – the sooner you accept that and let go of the illusion of being universally liked, the better. Don’t take it personally, be the best version of yourself and don’t allow your happiness and self-esteem to be determined by a popularity contest.

7 . S O M E T I M E S T H E S E E M I N G LY B I G G E S T ‘ D I S A S T E R ’ CAN BE A BLESSING

When I tore my ACL ligament while training, it could easily have been the end of my career. Back then kiting progressed with lightning speed and new tricks were born every day. The news of surgery, a super tough rehab, and over six months off the water before I could compete again, was devastating. Today I regard this injury as one of the best things that ever happened to me. I was too caught up in chasing a world title; the pressure I was putting on myself at each event nearly broke me and I was close to a burn out.

I wouldn’t have stopped, but the injury forced me to. It was time to reassess and regroup. And what I learnt in my time off the water was priceless, where – working with a sports psychologist – I came to recognize multiple mistakes in my approach to training and competition. I realized that becoming World Champ was not why I quit 182

REFLECTIONS

my business career, rather it was my passion for the ocean and the childhood dream of a life built around it.

In my time off the water I started to write articles, which were greatly received by the magazines and readers; suddenly my media portfolio tripled. By the end of my rehab, I was the fittest I’ve ever been and clearest about what I wanted. 15 months after my last comp, I went to one more World Cup event and won it. After that, it was time for me to quit comps, to follow my heart yet again, and fully commit to my path as a globetrotting freerider and travel writer! When my sponsor promoted me onto the international team a year or so later – something I had always aimed for through my competition results, but hadn’t achieved – I knew I was on the right track.

Living in Margaret River in Western Australia today, married to my soul mate (a mad Aussie big wave windsurfer), and having created a home on one of the most amazing coastlines in the world, with the Indian Ocean almost at my doorstep, I am living my ultimate childhood dream. Today, I truly believe each and every one of us has the power to realize our dreams. The secret formula to live by: dream, believe, commit, become. I would encourage you to discover your personal path by listening to your heart and to follow it with no fear, to pursue and fully dedicate yourself to your special talents, and to make your personal aptitudes and passions the center of your life…. ■

LOCk & go

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