Kitesurfing Magazine, Fall 2018 #10

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OFF THE TOP Pro rider Ewan Jaspan always brings some magic to his riding sessions. Captured here on location for the 2019 Naish photo shoot in the Philippines.

PHOTORAPHER: FRANKIE BEES RIDER: EWAN JASPAN LOCATION: THE CAGAYAN VALLEY

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FEATURES 42 COCO CAM: Evan Netsch and Lucas Arsenault get creative.

54 SPOT CHECK: Willow-River Tonkin, one of the best known faces of One Eye, sharesdetails of his home island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.

60 GALLERY: Best photos of the 2018 Wind Voyager Triple-S. 68 WINNER WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER: Kitesurfing Magazine catches up with Wind Voyager Triple-S winner, Brandon Scheid to find out what it takes to win.

Volume 4 // Issue 2 // No. 10

74 DAHKLA: Behind The Scenes of the Kite-Surf World Tour with pro rider Reece Myerscough.

“Frontside Nose Press on the Hot Dog in some of the toughest wind we’ve ever had at the Triple-S. The wind was about 4-15 knots but Toby always makes it look money.

The event is growing every year, and not just from a riding perspective; the entertainment has reached levels never imagined by the kite world. Some huge names in the music world and Hollywood movie stars all come to the tiny village on the Outer Banks, all stemming from a few kiteboarders hitting some plastic over 10 years ago. Who would have thought?

Every year it is the event we all look forward to the most and when the slick is on, the progression skyrockets, leaving us all wanting more. Bring on 2019!”—Ewan Jaspan, Australia, Naish Toby Bromwich photo

UPFRONT 12 OFF THE TOP 18 EDITOR’S INTRO 22 ON THE COVER 24 BOARDSHORTS

DEPARTMENTS 24 COMPETE: KITE CLASH 28 GROM YOUTH JAM 30 SEND IT 32 OLYMPIC BOUND 34 TRADE SECRETS: TILL EBERLE 68 STUFF WE LIKE: 2019 GEAR PREVIEW

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Featured in the most recent Kitesurfing Magazine’s Peer Pressure feature, Tampa Bay local Billy Parker’s style is always next level!—Billy Parker USA, Eleveight, Axis. Toby Bromwich photo

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FIELD NOTES Board Silly

OK. I will admit I have a problem. I develop a personal attachment with each of my kiteboards, and never, ever, ever want to say good-bye. It was during a massive spring cleaning of my storage this year that I realized the true extent of my love/passion/addiction/problem. Over the course of my 20 years of kiteboarding I have established quite the collection of sick rides I never ever want to part with.

It would be easier for me to list the boards I have parted ways with. The ones I wish I still owned today. My first board was a Fox custom directional that I borrowed for a year, and had to give back to Steve Jarrett (he might have a bigger board collection than me). Then there was the 7’6” fiberglass Naish Sky Pirate directional board that I sold and would buy back in a heart beat. If I owned it today it would be hanging on my dining room wall. Staying upwind was overrated at the time, but I somehow managed to do it after a full season of walking/hitch-hiking in Cape Hatteras. That board and I met a lot of people on Highway 12 Then there was my first twintip. The Wikipa Franz Orly pro model. It suffered from a custom bright orange paint job.

That’s how badly I didn’t want to lose it. A full season of fun on that one until it cracked right under my feet. Repaired professionally, I threw it in with a kite to a friend. That one belongs in a museum, but is certainly too ugly for anyone’s wall.

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From that time on, I have held on to almost all of my boards (although I have given boards away to young local riders from time to time). The Doyle inspired Mutant boards still take up space in my barn. There are a couple of bombproof Liquid Force Pickle Forks. One even still has the Nice Bindings that Jason Slezak sold me at Windsurfing Hatteras.

If you look closely you will see the complete evolution of race boards. Plus twintips of every size, not to mention the ever-growing number of surfboards and the new about-togrow foilboard collection.

Do you have a board collection too? Send a photo to john@kitesurfingmag.com. I really hope I am not alone.

See You on The Water John Bryja / Editor-in-Chief

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MASTHEAD VOLUME 4 / ISSUE 2 / NUMBER 10 PUBLISHER / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JOHN BRYJA ART DIRECTOR DAVE AMOS TEST EDITOR SHANE THOMPSON COPY EDITOR COLIN FIELD WEB DESIGN KAI HULSHOF & ERIC FEQUET CONTRIBUTING WRITERS REBECCA ALDOUS, LUCAS ARSENAULT, BLAINE BAKER, PHILIPP BECKER, COLLEEN CARROLL, TILL EBERLE, NOE FONT, PHIL JANKE, EWAN JASPAN, CAMERON MARAMENIDES, JOEL MARTIN, REECE MYERSCOUGH, EVAN NETSCH, AXEL REECE, BRANDON SCHEID, WILLOW-RIVER TONKIN CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS BRIAN AIKENS, NATE APPEL, LUCAS ARSENAULT, BLAINE BAKER, TOBY BROMWICH, VINCENT BERGERON, ANALICE DINIZ, LAUREN HOLMAN, ANNA KUZMINA, LINDSAY MCCLURE, EVAN NETSCH, AXEL REESE, KYLE TOUHEY, JAY WALLACE, YDWER VAN DER HEIDE

Kitesurfing Magazine is an independent publication published three times per year.

—Spring, Summer, and Gear Preview —

by Kitesurfing Magazine Inc. PO Box 15, Leith, ON, N0H 1V0 Phone: (519)370-2334 Email: info@kitesurfingmag.com Website: kitesurfingmag.com SUBSCRIPTIONS 1 Year - 3 Issues $26.95 Phone: (519) 370-2334 Email: info@kitesurfingmag.com kitesurfingmag.com Change of Address info@kitesurfingmag.com ISSN 2369-3568 Kitesurfing Magazine Inc. Copyright Kitesurfing Magazine 2018, All rights reserved.

Reproduction of any materials published in Kitesurfing Magazine is expressly forbidden without the written consent of the publisher.

PRINTED IN CANADA Disclaimer: The athletes and activities described and illustrated herein are performed by trained athletes and could result in serious bodily injury, including disability or death, do not attempt them without proper supervision, training and safety equipment. Kitesurfing Magazine Inc, andthe publisher are not responsible for injuries sustained byreaders or failure of equipment depicted or illustrated herein.

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ON THE COVER | NOÈ FONT

Rider: Noè Font Location: Cape Hatteras, North Carolina Photographer: Toby Bromwich

“I think this might be my favorite photo this year. It was during our annual trip to Cape Hatteras when Craig Cunningham spotted this little marina on a downwinder. He saw the potential it had for photos so as soon as our photographer Toby arrived we knew our first shoot had to be there.

We launched our kites from a sketchy parking lot and carefully got in the water. The space in the marina was very tight so we took turns hitting these big pylons. We also hit the roof of a sunken boat for a bit but I fell and ripped my board shorts with the sharp fibreglass; we decided it wasn’t worth it and went back to the tall pylons.

We slowly got more comfortable and started trying different grabs and handplants on it. This Bonk-toMelon Grab felt really good. Toby shot the trick from a few different angles but this one turned out the best. It was the last one of the session and I love how he lined up the iconic Chicamacomico water tank in the background.

It’s not easy to find ‘street’ spots like this one for kiteboarding. So many things have to line up and the wind is always an issue. Which is exactly why photos like this one are so special.

So thank you Craig for taking me to this spot and Toby for snapping the photo. And Kitesurfing Magazine of course for running it on the cover.”— Noè Font

JIB BONK & FLY

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KTIE CLASH | FROM KITESURFINGMAG.COM Ewan Jaspan on top, Mark Koenig bottom.

WORDS BY REBECCA ALDOUS / PHOTOS BY BRIAN AIKENS Prince Edward Island’s Lucas Arsenault and Ontario’s Lauren Holman showed everybody what it takes to be crowned Canada’s best at this year’s Kite Clash.

With no wind for the first two days of the event, riders were itching to get on the water on the last Sunday. Arsenault was up against the reigning Canadian champion Sam Medysky in a high-action heat. Arsenault had successfully stolen the

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national crown from Medysky once before in 2016.

West Vancouver’s Jack Rieder and Winnipeg’s Daniel Koenig also gave Arsenault a run for top place.

But as Kite Clash MC and British pro rider Lewis Crathern said, Arsenault unloaded his arsenal with high-flying tricks, like his smooth KGB5.

“The talent this year definitely took a step up again,” Arsenault said. “It seems like every year you have to come into the event with a few extra moves to be in the top rankings. Everyone is riding great.”

In the end, 18-year-old Rieder landed second place and Medysky snagged third.

Both riders were in Kite Clash having just finished competing in the Wind Voyager Triple-S Invitational in North Carolina.

Watching seven-time national champion Medysky hand the torch over to riders like Arsenault and Rieder was a highlight for Kite Clash organizer Steve Tulk.

“I felt like I was watching a new chapter open in Lucas’s life,” Tulk noted.

All three kiters found themselves on the podium again after the Canadian Freestyle Championships. Arsenault rode into second place in the Open Freestyle Championship. The field was heated with Dominican Republic rider Luis Alberto Cruz throwing down some powerful Kite Loop 7s.

“Watching Luis do a Kite Loop Double Handlepass was unreal,” Tulk added. “The level of kiteboarding was amazing.”

Australian pro Ewan Jaspan answered to Alberto Cruz’s showdown with a few

smooth-grabbed KGB5s. The man from Down Under landed on top of the Open Championship podium, while Rieder squeaked by Alberto Cruz to capture third place.

The Men’s Open was incredibly close: top four riders were separated by less than four points, Kite Clash’s top judge Geoffrey Waterson said.

“The lighter wind played a part as the riders needed to time their tricks with the gusts, but some seriously impressive tricks were still thrown down,” he added.

Rieder also placed first in the Junior’s Open Freestyle. Hood River’s Vetea Boersma landed a solid second place, followed

by Ontario’s Shaymus Finlay.

Thirty-four competitors brought out their large kites as winds dipped to 18 knots for the Air Style showoff. Jaspan knocked reigning champ Seattle’s Philipp Schonger off the podium, taking first in the Men’s Air Style. Third place finisher at this year’s King of the Air came in second, completing the heat while on microphone and speaking to the crowd. Medysky snuck in a third place finish. Schonger had the highest jump in the light conditions, reaching 10.2 meters.

The women also put on an amazing performance in the Canadian Championship, despite the light conditions. Holman demonstrated why she’s Canada’s reigning number one with another solid final. The talent in the women’s pool helped push her to stick her tricks, Holman noted.

“It’s so inspiring to see all the ladies out on the water, motivating each other and progressing together,” she said.

“The heats were close and the competition was super tight.”

Toronto’s Sam Chilvers and Squamish’s Andrea Ross followed Holman to the podium. Both had solid rides, landing clean tricks, Waterson noted.

The Women’s Open Freestyle was packed with non-stop action. Holman was up against New Zealand rider Katie Potter, Dutch champion Annelous Lammerts and Chilvers. After a ten-minute final Lammerts’ point won her gold, with Potter claiming silver and Holman with bronze.

“It’s awesome to see the level shoot up every year,” Holman continued.

The women’s Air Style competition saw tricky conditions as winds dipped to 17 knots. However, Lammerts was able to put

Annelous Lammerts.

Lucas Arsenault.

Lauren Holman. Kyle Touhey photo.

kitesurfingmag.com

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KTIE CLASH | CONT. KITECLASH 2018 RESULTS CANADIAN FREESTYLE - MEN 1. Lucas Arsenault 2. Jack Rieder 3. Sam Medysky

CANADIAN FREESTYLE - WOMEN 1. Lauren Holman 2. Sam Chilvers 3. Andrea Ross

CANADIAN FREESTYLE - JUNIOR 1. Shaymus Finlay 2. Nic Farrar 3. Jordan Tulk

OPEN FREESTYLE - MEN 1. Ewan Jaspan 2. Lucas Arsenault 3. Jack Rieder

OPEN FREESTYLE - WOMEN 1. Annalous Lammerts 2. Katie Potter 3. Lauren Holman

OPEN FREESTYLE - MASTERS 1. Mark Koenig 2. Claudio Barbura 3. Scott Degelman OPEN FREESTYLE - JUNIOR 1. Jack Rieder 2. Vetea Boersma 3. Shaymus Finlay

BIG AIR STYLE - MEN 1. Ewan Jaspan 2. Lewis Crathern 3. Sam Medysky

BIG AIR STYLE - WOMEN 1. Annalous Lammerts 2. Lauren Holman 3. Marie-Eve Mayrand

Jack Rieder. Kyle Touhey photo.

on a good show earning her another gold. Her top jump measured 7.8 meters. A tight competition unfolded between Holman and Calgary’s Marie-Eve Mayrand. The heights of their top three jumps ranged between 7-to-8 meters.

Canada’s got a new power couple, Tulk says in regards to Holman and Arsenault. His son Jordan placed third in the Canadian Freestyle Juniors. Finlay stood on the top podium and Nic Farrar was second in the final.

On the other end of the age spectrum, Alberta’s Mark Koenig held his crown in the Open Freestyle Masters. He was followed by Claudio Barbura in second and Scott Degelman in third.

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Thanks to the competitors, volunteers and spectators, the event ran incredibly smooth considering three days worth of action was packed into one day, he adds.

Looking ahead, Tulk hopes to expand Kite Clash, involving more of the local community and growing the social aspect. This year Solterra Development Corporate jumped onboard as the main sponsor.

“I would love to see a big concert type event similar to the Triple-S and Kite Clash working with other promoters,” he says. “That is were I see the real expansion.”

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GROMS | PARK INVASION

“Why aren’t there any kids in the park?”

“Vetea! Come hit the park!”

“Why are there so many kids in the park?”

Aron Rosslee.

WORDS BY BLAINE BAKER / PHOTOS BY LINDSAY MCCLURE AND BLAINE BAKER

The landscape of the Hood River marina has been forever altered. In a short amount of time, the water level dropped significantly in the park, the temperature climbed and a massive influx of groms bombarded the slider park.

The marina is an intimidating spot to ride. On any given summer day, the best Kite Park League riders can be found going big and riding in a super tight rotation on the water. The wind is usually swirly and gusty, making launching and landing challenging. From the outside, the marina may not feel welcoming. However, give it a chance and you’ll realize the Slider Project welcomes every sort of kook and misfit–as long as you love and respect the sport.

Every summer, there are tons of groms shredding in Hood River, but few who hit the park or throw freestyle. Kite Park League riders have tried for years to re-

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cruit young riders into the park scene, but the groms have resisted.

I have a unique perspective of what style of riding the youth are into being the head coach of World Class Kiteboard Academy. I believe competition inspires and fuels progression. Throughout the school year WCKA hosts regular competitions. We vary the discipline based on the conditions; freestyle in Brazil, big air in Cape Town, wave riding in Peru. Students train for these competitions, even when it’s not their preferred riding style.

Watching our athletes progress has been inspiring, so the idea of hosting a

competition open to all junior riders was a natural extension. Because our homebase is in the Gorge, hosting a park competition seemed like a natural fit. So the Hood River Junior Jam, a park and freestyle competition open to anyone under 21, was born. When Lindsay McClure, WCKA marketing director, began planning the Junior Jam in March, WCKA was in Sicily. As soon as our riders heard about the upcoming Hood River Junior Jam, they got motivated to start training at Alby Rondina’s private slider park.

As a bonus for the first Hood River Junior Jam, the Patagonia Hood Jam opened up one spot in their event to the top finisher in the park competition. We were excited to get the information about the Hood River Junior Jam out to the people but were unsure if the young shredders would rally behind the concept.

As soon as registration opened, the entries began pouring in: Tom Seager from England, Antoine Mermet from New Caledonia, Anthar Racca from Mexico, Jack Rieder from Canada, Aron Rosslee from South Africa, Mikaili Sol from Brazil and Mark Cafero from the USA. Not only did it look like there was a good crew coming in for the competition, but some of the best young riders in the world were signing up. In the weeks leading up to the event the athletes started to pour into the Hood River marina. The stoke was unreal! The community was excited to see young shredders hitting the park and progressing every day. The KPL crew helped riders with their lines and tricks,

fueling the young riders’ progression in the weeks leading up to the competition. The crew would switch between training freestyle in the flatwater and practicing in the park, depending on the conditions.

The competition was epic. Head Judge, Alex Lewis-Hughes and his crew of judges of Ewan Jaspan, Alex Maes, Lucas Arsenault and Juan Pablo Tron not only judged the event but coached the riders on how they could score higher points in their heats.

Riders threw down in freestyle and on the features. During the freestyle event, the wind was howling. Riders were on 7, 8 or 9 meter kites in the final. For some of these riders, this was their first time throwing freestyle in such strong wind. Based on the huge tricks the riders were throwing, spectators wouldn’t know that the riders were venturing out of their comfort zone. Highlights from the freestyle competition were Mikaili Sol’s S-mobe 5,

Jack Rieder.

Mark Cafero.

PARK RESULTS: Under 21 boys 1. Mark Cafero, Florida 2. Jack Rieder, Canada 3. Xander Raith, Massachusetts Under 21 girls 1. Payton Bunch, Oregon

Antoine Mermet’s Backside 540 and Tom Seager’s consistently powerful riding.

The biggest tricks in the park competition were Vetea Boersma’s Crow Mobe, Tomas Aguirre’s Tantrum-to-Blind and Mark Cafero’s Toeside Backside 720. Spectators, coaches and fans were excited to see athletes going for and landing, tricks they hadn’t tried before.

Patagonia Hood Jam organizers were so impressed with the riding level in the Hood River Junior Jam they gave away two spots instead of just one. Because the top two finishers in the park event, Mark Cafero and Jack Rieder, were already qualified for the Patagonia Hood Jam, third and fourth place finishers Xander Raith and Aron Rosslee were invited to the Patagonia Hood Jam. Bigger than the actual competition was the shift in the mindset of the youth; watch out world, the next wave of park riders is here and stoke is already building for the 2019 Hood River Junior Jam.

FREESTYLE RESULTS: Under 15 boys 1. Tim Walsh, Maui 2. Robin Goetgebuer, Belgium

Under 21 boys 1. Aron Rosslee, South Africa 2. Tom Seager, England 3. Antoine Mermet, New Caledonia

Under 15 boys 1. Tim Walsh, Maui 2. Robin Goetgebuer, Belgium 3. Kaiki Mar, Brazil

Under 21 girls 1. Mikaili Sol, Brazil 2. Payton Bunch, Oregon kitesurfingmag.com

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SEND IT | THE KITEBOARDING MOVIE

Turning Real Watersports into a movie set. Skeeter Bowmen (Dylan Rourke) and Billy Johnson Jr. (Kevin Quinn) ponder when the rain delay will finish at the Wind Voyager Triple-S. Some familiar extras in the background. Nate Appel photo

Kitesurfing is getting a real life Hollywood movie. Shot around the Triple-S, the film includes an all-star cast of actors and riders. Joel Martin fills us in on the W’s of the movie.

Who is in the film? Pro kiters and actors?

Joel Martin: Send It has a star-studded cast headed with lead roles played by Kevin Quinn (Bunk’d) and Claudia Lee (Famous in Love). Supporting actors include Patrick Fabian (Better Call Saul), Denise Richards (Blue Mountain State), Yann Bean (Jackie), Dylan Rourke (Grey’s Anatomy), Weronika Rosati (True Detective), Martin Spanjers (8 Simple Rules) and Reid Shapiro (Scorpion). Also featured are cameo performances by 2 Chainz and Susi Mai as well as plenty of familiar faces from the Real Watersports family.

With Send It taking place in the kiteboarding world, the riding had to be top notch. Sam Light headed the kiteboarding and wakeboarding stunts and helped direct a stacked team of pros. Noè Font, Eric Reinstra and Brandon Schied played leading cast stunt doubles alongside Rita Arnaus, Colleen Carroll, Sensi Graves, Karolina Winkowska, Julia Castro, Sam Medysky and Craig Cunningham who played themselves.

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What is it about?

Send It is a drama-filled, boy-meets-girl love story set in the kiteboarding world. A young up-and-coming kiteboarder follows his dream of riding at the Wind Voyager Triple-S and discovers a lot about life and himself along the way.

When was it filmed and when is the release?

Filming started in the beginning of June and finished mid-July 2018. The release is planned for spring 2019.

Where did you film?

The Wind Voyager Triple-S at Real Watersports was the main setting for the film. The following three weeks were shot in Hatteras before a week of shooting around the Dallas area and Hydrous Wake Park in Little Elm, Texas. The final week of shooting was spent onboard Cartouche, Wind Voyager’s premier sailing yacht, in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

Keeping with the who, what, when, where, why, how theme: why is it called Send It, Trip Forman?

Well I guess you could say it is one of Trip’s most used phrases! Like a lot of the kiteboarding and action sports community and the whole Wind Voyager team, we’ve been saying, “send It,” for just about any situation for a while now. Don’t think about it, go for it. Send It. How did the film come about?

Charlie McKinney, the owner and founder of Wind Voyager, created Send It. By writing the screenplay, producing and helping to direct, Charlie is making another one of his kiteboarding dreams come true. His passion to grow the sport and spread the stoke is infectious and everyone involved is excited to see the response when the thrill of kiteboarding is shown to the masses.

kitesurfingmag.com

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CAMERON MARAMENIDES | OLYMPIC BOUND

Photos courtesy Dimitri Maramenides.

Cameron Maramenides is representing the USA at the upcoming Youth Olympics on October 6-18th in Buenos Aries. Kitesurfing Magazine tracked down Cameron the day of the official announcement.

What got you interested in Olympic kitesurf racing?

Cameron Maramenides: My step-mom Helen is the one that woke up one day last summer after having a dream about me going to the Youth Olympics. My dad and Helen asked me if I was interested in training. The first youth race competition was going to be in Italy 2017. I told them I had no idea how to race.

My dad told me not to worry, that we had twelve months to train, and he knew his friend Michael Gebhardt who lives in Dominican Republic could train me. Gebi was an Olympian in windsurfing.

How did this journey start?

I decided to give it a try. We left for the Dominican Republic ten days later. Once we arrived in the Dominican, I met my dad’s friend Gebi and also another kid, Tiger Tyson who was going to train with Gebi and represent Antigua.

We trained for two weeks and then myself, Gebi and Tiger left for Italy to compete in the European championship against 72 other kids.

My dad did not come because he had to travel to other places to promote his kite company Epic Kites.

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Traveling to Italy was a mess because of the airlines we took. The airline lost my kites!

I had no kites to compete with. My dad called his friend Matt who owns Ozone, and they sent me some kites to compete with.

I still remember the day of the registration; my kites were still not there. I woke up the next day at 4:30 a.m. went down to the hotel reception and asked the person for a taxi so I could go and find where the UPS warehouse was so I could get my kites in time. After three hours of driving around chasing UPS trucks, I was able to find three boxes of kites.

I ended up getting second place in the 2017 European championship. From there I started competing worldwide, and became number one in the world.

because he is the one I train with. But also my coach Gebi had a big impact on my training, on what to eat and what not to eat, and how to race.

What did you do training-wise to get competitive in the twintip racing discipline?

Twintip racing is a totally different dicipline, but the good thing is that I had the base of what you need to be a good racer because of all these years kiting with my dad. I had to spend a lot of time at the gym to get stronger and also on the water to get my timing right on the starts and know how to attack the marks. My dad and I had tons of tangles during practice

Who are the top competitors to look out for?

One of my really good friends Tiger Tyson is going to be a good competitor for me, we train and go to all of the events together. Also the kiter from the Dominican team.

Tell us about the racing format. It’s pretty new. How does it work?

The racing format is very easy because it is a downwind slalom that you have to start from the first marker and go through a course with marks and jumps. But it requires a lot of strategy and knowledge of what the weather, wind and competitors are doing compared to what you need to do to beat them. Also lots of willingness on how to take off and try to be the first one at the starting marker without being over the start line early.

What are your plans between now and the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aries?

Train, train, train.

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DUOTONE | WHAT'S THE STORY? Sky Solbach and Till Eberle. Photo courtesy Boards & More.

Interview with Till Eberle, managing director of Boards & More GmbH It’s true: Boards & More is bidding farewell to North Kiteboarding and will be launching its own brand–Duotone–in the summer. Many rumors have been swirling around over the last few weeks and months. Is it true that Boards & More is bringing a new brand to the kite market?

Yes, that’s true. We’ll be launching the new brand Duotone on the first of August 2018.

Will there be Duotone products for kiteboarding, windsurfing, surfing, or even wakeboarding?

That is possible. However, our current focus is on kiteboarding and windsurfing.

In specific terms, we’re likely to explore the foil sector. The major trend of foil surfing and the groundswell of wave foils, is very exciting.

What does the new Duotone brand stand for?

Duotone represents authenticity–being true–both in kiteboarding and in windsurfing. We will continue to offer high-quality products for all disciplines and will push forward as leaders in technology for the sports that we love.

What happened for you to give up North Kiteboarding after 18 years?

Boards & More and North Sails Group America, which is owned by Oakley Capital, have somewhat differing views about the future of the brand. This is what motivated us at Boards & More to come up with our own brand. We have some exciting ideas

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for the future and are ready to take full control over bringing them about.

Is the Boards & More Group getting a new owner?

No, at least not at the moment. But a few years from now this could certainly happen.

Will North Kiteboarding still be around?

That I cannot say. We, as Boards & More, will no longer be running the North Kiteboarding brand after a transition period ends.

So, you’ll be giving up North Kiteboarding.

What does this mean for customers? If, for example, a customer bought a new North Kiteboarding kite in the spring?

That is all taken care of. We, that is Boards & More, work with the dealer where the customer bought his kite and will continue our cooperation with the dealer. We absolutely guarantee any warranty claims within legal periods. Even better, if the customer has signed up for our warranty extension program, they will receive an extra six months on top of the original warranty period. Additionally, we will also continue to be accommodating beyond that. At Boards & More we have a reputation for being reliable and we will continue to honor the service and warranty for any of the products we sell. And of course, as Boards & More, we also want to get our new Duotone brand up and running.

We’ll do everything in our power to make our existing customers happy.

With the new brand name, is it simply a case of relabelling your existing products and now selling them under the Duotone moniker?

We’ll keep developing our products under the new brand, that’s for sure. All the engineering, the design of the kites, the entire know-how–that’s all knowledge acquired

by Boards & More over the years. All of the products were developed by our employees, all of the patents are ours and all of the product names belong to Boards & More.

For example, we created the Rebel and the Neo so there will still be a Rebel and a Neo available under Duotone, which will be identical in terms of flight characteristics and positioning to the Rebel or Neo of the past. We will also maintain our proven manufacturing setup to ensure that we are delivering the same superior quality to our customers.

So next year customers will still be able to buy a Click Bar, NTT binding, Twintips with the track system or a Neo kite?

Yes, they will. Customers will get everything they’re familiar with and even a little bit extra.

All of your developers, team riders and international distributors will be staying with you?

We asked the question to everyone beforehand: Ken Winner, Ralf Grösel, Sky Solbach, all of the team riders, and everyone is on board. All of our developers and internal team have signed on for the next few years and are excited to see this come to life. Initially, many employees thought it was a joke; that we couldn’t just create an entirely new brand. However, now that we are doing it, it is obvious that many new possibilities show up and our employees, especially many of the younger team members, are more motivated than ever to leave their footprint.

What new freedoms are you particularly excited about with your own Duotone brand?

Sometimes a change can really inspire you. The Duotone brand belongs to us; we can shape it as we see fit. We’ll position Duotone where we think it best fits and where it might be cool for our customers.

We have no connection to sailing anymore.

Where you come from and what you stand for is the brand’s new outlook. We can also develop Duotone in new areas, such as foiling or clothing if we so desire. Or if we want to bring surfboards to the market, that’s something we can do too. Now it’s up to us what we want to pursue.

Will the launch of Duotone affect the other brands of Boards & More Group, i.e. ION, Fanatic and Arrows?

No, not at all.

You own the ION brand from which ION Club is derived. Why is the new brand not called ION Kiteboarding?

This is something that we discussed internally at length. However, we came to the conclusion that from a brand positioning perspective it is better to keep ION as an independent brand; even Cabrinha kiters or Slingshot fans can identify with ION and purchase these products. Our principle, when we created ION was not to offer any hard goods under this name, rather to create a neutral brand, which specializes in accessories, as a complement to ours as well as other hardware brands. For that reason, ION isn’t a perfect fit for our original idea of creating a new kite brand.

Duotone is not a new name. There was a snowboard brand from Boards & More with this name back in the 1990s.

Why are you pulling this name out of the drawer again?

There was plenty of heated debate about the name Duotone in some forums. We think it’s very exciting because it’s a very emotional name with many meanings and interpretations. In the last two years, our kites have had this duotone effect in terms of their colour scheme; that’s how we stumbled upon it. When we were looking for a name for the new brand, we chose Duotone as the internal project name. The longer we worked with it, the more we realized that this name was a really good match for the new brand. On top of that, this name was already registered worldwide by Boards & More. And we really liked the double meaning associated with the name Duotone: wind and water combined form a better unit, just like lightness and stability. This interaction between two factors crops up again and again in the creation of products.

And the fact that the name was associated with snowboards from the 1990s?

Does that bother you?

No, the 1990s was a long time ago and

more importantly, Duotone was a very cool brand back then, high in quality and ahead of its time. That’s why we have few reservations.

Would you describe this new venture, for you personally, as more of a burden or a liberation?

I would say this is a massive opportunity.

We’re bringing something new to the table, something which no one else is doing. I get this feeling of optimism again. It’s a challenge, but very exciting, creatively speaking. I would put it like this: If you want to ride a big wave like Jaws and show zero respect to the challenge or consequence, then that’s not likely to have a positive outcome. A certain amount of respect is a good guide, so we’ve worked diligently to develop a thorough plan of action and welcome the new possibilities.

How do you plan to make the new Duotone brand known to the world?

Kitesurfing is a very tight community. There might be half a million kiters worldwide.

Word has gotten around already that the new Duotone brand is about to launch.

But naturally enough, we’re also planning a thorough marketing push from our end to ensure that the brand launch is a great success, which will also largely benefit our sales partners. Additionally, Boards & More probably has the best international distribution system in the wind/water segment which we will utilize to spread the word.

With the launch of Duotone, do you expect the price of second-hand North Kiteboarding kites to plummet?

I doubt it. Because a Rebel is always a Rebel and a Neo is always a Neo. The customer knows what he wants. He’s not simply after any old kite from a particular brand. From my experience, the specific model, the product name, is more important than the brand. And both retailers and consumers can be sure that there won’t be too many end-of-season, discounted sale goods from North Kiteboarding this year; we’ll be keeping a tight rein on overruns.

The best guarantee for a good resale value is a modest amount of closeout products at the end of the season.

When are the new Duotone kites and boards coming to market?

The Duotone brand will be officially launched on the first of August. Previously, the market launches of the Vegas, Rebel, Dice and Neo kites were spread from August to October. This year the Duotone Vegas, the Duotone Rebel, the Duotone Dice and the Duotone Neo will be available in-store in August. Our entire range of twintips and surfboards under the Duotone brand will also be available at that time.

The second product push will then follow in February 2019.

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Lucas gliding over the small grass spit grabbing Indy.

SHE PUT THE LIME IN THE COCONUT Project Cococam

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY EVAN NETSCH AND LUCAS ARSENAULT

Trying to get that shot is what it’s about for many pro kiters. The best shot stands out by being more creative and unique than others. You’ve seen a video or photos from many of the famous lagoons in Brazil. They’re a great place to ride and a great place to shoot. It’s easy to get up close to the camera and generally has a nice backdrop and great lighting. It is the full package. Mix in many of the best riders in the world and as you can imagine just about every shot has been done. Getting a unique shot that doesn’t look like a re-run from the past ten years can be challenging.

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Evan popping in the Brazilian ocean grabbing Roast Beef. Analice Diniz photo

Some of the best photographers can manage to get their work to stand out. They can capture a better angle, perhaps have nicer gear for a crisper image or incorporate a flash at night or even during the day. Many riders have experience using professional gear and are better than your average photographer. They travel with their own equipment and have the know-how to properly use it. We all know it is a small industry and for many riders, that means making things happen themselves; trading off behind the camera, sharing shots and producing content for their sponsors. It does force a new set of skills to be learned and I have really come to enjoy doing my own amateur work.

Lucas Arsenault and I met up in Taiba this year. I had just come from Saudi Arabia and was traveling with a lot of gear so I decided to ditch all my camera gear excect for my GoPro as it takes up no weight in my luggage allowance for the trip to Brazil. For the past few months, I had not been riding much, I was busy working at home

on the east coast and also plagued with a few minor injuries that had kept me out of the water. Finally healed up for the most part, I was looking forward to spending a couple weeks in Brazil and decided taking photos was not going to be a priority. Brazil is generally overshot and for a change I wanted to focus on riding, not getting any shots, but here I am once again drafting up a short article as we surprised ourselves and came up with a bit of a new perspective.

The lagoon in Taiba gets crowded, mostly with good riders better than myself, and it’s great to have people pushing you to improve on your own riding. I only had a few days in Taiba to ride and it is easy to spend an entire afternoon shooting and not really fully enjoying a session, so my plan was to ride as if I were on vacation, not for the purpose of working. That all changed pretty quickly. I showed up and Lucas had access to a ton of gear. We had cameras, water housings, gimbals, drones; you name it, nearly everything short of a helicopter and a Red Camera. We

decided that we would get up early one morning and just get a few shots before the crowds at sunrise.

Alarms were set for 4:45 a.m. with high hopes of getting the sun as it came over the horizon. Alarms went off and we opened the door to be blasted by Brazilian heat. It was 5 a.m., and you could have told me it was 9 and I would have believed it. We had totally missed the sunrise. Oh well, it was still early, the lagoon was empty and we could get some photos even if we did miss our intentions. We headed down just as some clouds started to roll in covering the sun low in the sky. We were playing around trying to get some cool photos over a bit of a sand hill that separated two lagoons. With the light fading in and out and trying to sort out a good angle, it just wasn’t happening for us. We ended up changing locations a few times, even got shut down by a quick blast of rain. It was a total flop, and not a single photo was half decent.

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Evan with more Roast Beef.

Lucas with the Seatbelt Grab.

Evan bonking off this awesome pole stuck in a sand dune.

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“That night we came up with a plan. We were going to keep it simple, no fancy gear; we would take down a Gopro, two batteries and a coconut to see what we could create. “

Evan hand dragging over a classic Brazilian boat. Analice Diniz photo

pastures and has the odd rock on the bottom to watch out for but the scenery looked nice. Not having a wide enough angle lens for Lucas’ Sony camera we decided to swap to a GoPro for a second and just see if things looked better. It was already getting later, nearing 8 a.m. and we had not gotten much after hours of work. Finally we decided it was about time to pack it up, and we noticed a cool sand wall that we thought might be interesting.

We decided to dig a little hole in the wall, stash the Gopro inside and snap a few photos. Pretty simple, and what do you know, the shots actually came out pretty good! We thought what else could we do? We collected some sticks, stuck them in the sand in front of our GoPro sand hole and attempted to bonk off of them at the edge of the water. It was all a bit different and had the photo perspective of

peering out of a little cave. Then it hit me, a coconut! We were already pretty tired and both needed a proper breakfast so we decided to go for round two the next day and try to expand on what we figured out.

That night we came up with a plan. We were going to keep it simple, no fancy gear; we would take down a GoPro, two batteries and a coconut to see what we could create. I made two coco cams, cutting the nuts open down the middle to put the camera inside. We gathered a few spare as well, brought a sharp knife so we could make some modifications if necessary and got to work.

We set the 4:30 a.m. alarms and woke up to no wind. While Brazil is consistently windy it really doesn’t turn on until the sun comes up. We slowly made our way down to the lagoon and around 5:30 the wind

was still dead but we took our time prepping for some shots. We went to our sand bank and made five or six holes for the camera. Since the holes were sideways they were pretty easy to collapse, one bad jump into the bank and the hole was crushed with the camera inside. We dug all our holes ahead of time so we could move down to the next one as we ruined them and made some adjustments to our coconuts. We waited with a 9 meter pumped up and ready to go with about 10 knots of wind.

All of a sudden a few clouds cleared and within minutes the wind was on, with a small kite rigged and ready to go.

Prepped and ready, Lucas and I traded off manning the coco cam for each other. We had the camera wedged in the coconuts and using the GoPro app on a phone we fired off 30 shot bursts at each pass by

the coconuts. We moved between the sand bank and our coconuts for hours laughing out loud at how cool some of these shots were looking as we got them. Not due to any crazy camera or riding skill, just something so silly and simple, yet so unique. Shooting 30 frame bursts the shots add up quick and it didn’t take long until we had a few thousand shots to sort through.

These are the fruits of our labors. A valuable lesson learned that less can be more. Keeping it simple and adding a little creativity was even more interesting than what we could have gotten with the highest end equipment. A coco cam derived from a trash heap on the side of the road on the way to the lagoon. While shooting with it may have smelled a bit funky and attracted a few flies, it may be my new favorite lens filter!

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Willow_river Tonkin getting hooped at One Eye.

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AXEL REESE WITH WILLOW-RIVER TONKIN

This issue Kitesurfing Magazine turns to pro rider Willow-River Tonkin, one of the most well-known faces of the world-class surf break One Eye. We also asked him about the other spots on his home island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.

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A thing of pure beauty; Tonkin shreds One Eye.

WHAT DOES ONE EYE LOOK LIKE ON PERFECT DAYS? When it’s perfect it gets super long with never-ending, spitting barrels and steep peaks!

Where does the name One Eye come from?

Willow-River: The legend says that way back in the ’70s, there was an old farmer that owned the land around Le Morne and he only had one eye. So when the Australian surfers came to Mauritius to explore and find some waves, on the way to the spot they ran into this one-eyed man before getting in the water. So they ended up naming that wave One Eye. What does One Eye look like on a small day?

On a small day One Eye can be very, very deceiving. Many people will go out thinking it’s small and nothing can happen. But when it is one or two or even three meters, it is breaking right on the shallowest reef. So when something goes wrong, you end up directly on the reef.

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And on small and medium days, it gets quite crowded in the lineup.

From four to five meters it becomes more selective, right?

Yes, on small days everyone thinks it’s super safe and nothing can happen, so when it is small it gets super crowded with people that don’t know the dangers of One Eye and don’t really know what they are doing. But as soon as it gets big, there are very, very few people willing to go out to charge some gnarly waves and score a couple stand-up barrels.

So what about you, when will it be scary for you?

Once all the channels start closing it becomes very scary because I know that if something goes wrong there is no way for anyone to rescue me and it’s impossible for me to get back to the beach against the current. So that’s why I

don’t really go out on days when it is bigger than seven meters unless there is a safety boat.

Your hardest wipeout so far?

To be honest I haven’t had too many bad washings. For sure I have had a couple gnarly wipeouts where I dropped my kite in the waves but I always keep myself as calm as possible and everything goes quite smoothly. The problems start as soon as you start panicking. If you panic, it will be a washing that you will remember for a long time.

What are the differences of the swell directions?

The best swell direction for One Eye is south or slightly south-southwest. If the swell is completely west, One Eye gets super fast and becomes a bit of a closeout.

Tonkin grabbing TK between waves.

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Tonkin boosting off One Eye.

“One Eye has to be the fastest wave I have ridden so far.”–Willow-River Tonkin.

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The sweet spot.

Does the quite offshore wind still allow for really round turns?

Yes, on the days the wind gets really easterly, it can be quite hard to do round turns, especially backside. But generally with south easterly wind, it creates the perfect side-offshore breeze to go full power into your turns.

When the wind turns more from the east then?

Yes, good question. When the wind turns easterly, it becomes more offshore on One Eye and there is more chance of the wind dropping because of the mountain. The more southerly it becomes more side shore.

Do you know a faster wave on this planet?

Ponta Preta in Cape Verde maybe? Ho’okipa in Maui?

No, I think out of all the waves and places I have traveled, One Eye has to be the fastest wave I have ridden so far.

And–by the way–the longest and cleanest as well.

Tell us something about rain fronts in Le Morne. What kind of influences have do clouds have on the conditions?

Good and important question. Usually if you see rain or even big dark clouds in the area, make sure you head inside the lagoon and back to the beach as the wind can die off if it starts to rain. And die means die. Within a minute!

How much misfortune happens at this spot? How many accidents take place there out in One Eye? And what kind?

Well if we’re talking about serious cases of people getting injured or going missing; not many at all. But for sure One Eye likes to eat a couple kites for lunch.

Is there a rent-a-boat-for-our-own-safety solution?

Yes, sometimes we rent a boat if it’s a really big day for safety reasons. But usually on big days we would rent a boat anyways to get some shots!

When are the rescue boats not good for backup?

When the swell gets around four or five meters all the

channels start closing out and no boats can go out to rescue people. So make sure if you see it’s really big, stay inside the lagoon because it’s not worth the risk!

The rescue boats cannot go out anymore, you drop the kite in One Eye, what options do you have?

How do you handle this situation?

When I drop my kite, the first thing I do is pull my safety and release my kite. Then I try to swim away from my lines and only keep the kite attached to my safety leash. Then once the waves have pushed me inside the lagoon, I check to see if my kite is fine and then try to recover and relaunch it. But just remember, the first thing you must do if you drop the kite in the waves is to release it as fast as you can and swim away from your lines. This will save you and your kite.

Let’s take a look at the other wave spots on your home island. Manawa!

Manawa is a much more chilled wave. If you’re new to wave riding, it’s a wave you should definitely try out before going out to One Eye. It’s really slow and smooth with big open walls. It’s the best wave to get your first proper feeling of kitesurfing.

Chameau?

Hmm, Chameau is actually just the beginning part of One Eye. It’s the same wave with a different name.

For the filming of the new Core Nexus kites, you were traveling in the south of the island and experienced the big day of the year.

During the filming for the new Nexus, we traveled all over the island to find some unknown places that no one really goes to. We managed to score a couple great days and one or two really big days with some solid barrels. All the time that we spent hunting for the perfect wave ended up paying off quite nicely! So we have definitely other good waves on the island–beside One Eye.

Drone’s eye view of Tonkin clearing the reef.

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CAPTURED

The 2018 Wind Voyager Triple-S Invitational from June 2nd–8th, 2018 was bigger than ever, with more riders, bigger bands and the biggest stage yet. Thirty-four of the world’s best wakestyle kiteboarders battled it out in Cape Hatteras, NC for their share of the $50,000 prize purse and a place on the Wind Voyager Triple-S perpetual trophy. This year’s slider park consisted of five sick features: the Wind Voyager Super Kicker, Liquid Force Kites Reverse Rainbow, KOA Resorts Kicker, ION Rooftop and John Wayne Mega Slider.

Even with an injured knee, Eric Rienstra pushed through to the finals to secure a qualifying spot in next year’s event.— Eric Rienstra, USA, Core, Dakine Toby Bromwich photo

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“In the lead up to the competition, the wind was pumping, delivering day after day of steady SW winds. However, once the event window opened up, our trusty side-onshore breezes were hard to come by and we ended up running most of the event in offshore winds, making it a challenge to get heats underway. That said, off the water, the organization and nightly concerts hosted by Real Watersports were off the charts, yet again showing they will continually step things up!”—Colleen Carroll, USA, Duotone, Ion

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TOP

BOTTOM

“Great to see such drive this year from all the riders to get heats run and completed! Here the judges, media and water patrol enjoy a breakfast burrito break in between hits during one of the Women’s heats on ‘The Dark Side’ of The Slick.”—Jason Slezak

Seven parties, seven bands. Hands down, the best nightlife in the Outer Banks happens during the Triple-S. This year was off the charts with the biggest stage ever and an amazing lineup of DJ’s and bands.

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TOP

BOTTOM

“I don’t always drink on the job, but when I do it is a Triple-S Lager.”—Gary Siskar. Toby Bromwich photo

Lineup: the legendary DJ Dice, DJ NO PHILTER Ky-Mani Marley & The Dubplates, Zack Mexico 2 Chainz, Coyote Lee, The Roots & The Dubplate.

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“This was probably the best session we had off the kicker the whole week; right before the opening ceremony with only a handful of us out there. I remember being very stacked on my 13 meter and going really big, so I’m stoked this Nuke Glide made it into the mag!”—Noé Font, Spain, North, Ion.

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MEN’S 2018 TRIPLE-S FINAL RESULTS 1 Brandon Scheid USA, Liquid Force $12,000.00 2 Ewan Jaspan, Australia, Naish $7,500.00 3 Noe Font, Spain, North $5,000.00 4 Sam Light, UK, Slingshot $3,000.00 5 Alex Maes, France, Cabrinha $2,000.00 6 Craig Cunningham, North, $1,500.00 7 Billy Parker, USA, Eleveight $1,200.00 8 Aaron Hadlow, UK, North $1,000.00 9 Eric Rienstra, USA, Core $800.00 10 Sam Medysky, Canada, Airush $600.00

WOMEN’S 2018 TRIPLE-S FINAL RESULTS 1 Karolina Winkowska, Poland, Slingshot $5,500.00 2 Julia Castro, Fuerteventura, North $3,300.00 3 Annelous Lammerts, Netherlands, Cabrinha $2,000.00 4 Sensi Graves, USA, Liquid Force $1,200.00 5 Colleen Carroll, USA, North $700.00 “This shot is taken during the first heats when the wind was perfect. It’s a Backside 180 Nose Press. It’s one of my favorite hits!”—Sam Light, UK, Slingshot, Ride Engine Toby Bromwich photo

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Interview with Brandon Sheid Kitesurfing Magazine’s John Bryja caught up with this year’s Wind Voyager Triple-S winner, Brandon Scheid for an exclusive interview about the event and what it takes to win.

Making the most of the last day’s wind. We had light offshore conditions, making it impossible to run competition heats. However, with a little bit of luck and tons of hard work some of the riders were able to get some amazing shots with Toby. Making lemonade.

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Locking into a Press during the only full south west day we had and trying to keep the crowd hyped up.

What were the biggest changes in the level of riding this year compared to previous years?

Brandon Scheid: I think the biggest change in the level of riding over the past thirteen years has been how good the whole field has become. In years previous there would always be one or two people in each heat that you could expect to breeze through. Hell, when Dre (Andre Phillip) used to ride hard, there was no one that could touch him on the water. Fast forward to today’s contest and there are no easy heats; every rider in the contest can make a big impact on the results of the heats and ultimately the final. I think that we all have been riding a lot together, pushing each other on the water and it is finally showing.

Did you make any changes to your training leading up to the event compared to previous years?

Going into this year’s Triple-S, my regiment was pretty similar to years past. I did however focus a lot on riding my snowboard in the terrain park this spring on Mount Hood. With the temps too cold in Hood River for the features, the mountain is the next best thing. It certainly is harder to get inverted on the snowboard, the rail riding takes a bit more effort and board control. I really think that snowboarding helped a lot going into the kite season. Following that I headed straight to the cable park for a week or so of intensive riding. The cable offers really consistent, con-

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trollable, and most importantly schedule-able sessions. This allows me to go put forty hours of time into my rail and kicker riding right before the contest. Finally I spent a month kiteboarding in the swamp of Hatteras at Real Watersports.

All that and plenty of organic whole milk.

Tell us about your favorite heat?

For me my favorite heat was the second park sequence in my semi round. The whole event went pretty hard the night before at the amazing Ky-Mani Marley concert, given the wind forecast didn’t look promising for the following day. Go figure, the wind threw the event a curveball and it was blowing south west with the sunrise.

Everyone was experiencing a collective hangover, slowing the morning’s rigging and warm up. Since I was in the first heat I was due in the water pronto and I certainly wasn’t operating at 100 per cent capacity. Given the fact that I scored a 0.2 on the kicker the previous day I really needed some big scores to get myself out of seventh place and up into third for finals contention. Wind up, pressure on, ears ringing and it was make or break time. I ended up posting some of the highest scores of the day and moving all the way up into an advancing position. Personally, I was really happy to shake the previous day’s disappointment and vindicate myself. It’s not often that someone can make it to the final with a zero in their score line. It was quite the come up.

After about an hour of slow hits and light wind I just started doing all kinds of weird stuff for Toby. In this particular case, Tuck Knee 50/50. I am always trying to keep it light on the water.

What does it take to win?

Winning is all about coming to the finals, or semis, or whatever task you’re trying to conquer with the proper preparation and mindset. Practice–both physical and mental–is essential. Not only do you want to be confident and comfortable with your tricks, but you also want to be mentally prepared to do it under duress and pressure. A winner is someone who can adapt with the situation and continue to find ways to improve their standings. Try to identify your competitors’ strengths and make them your strengths. Finally it takes a bit of luck; kiteboarding is such a dynamic sport that it does matter whether you get the gust or lull. I think the idea is best summed up with an old quote, “luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Seneca said that.

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How long were you in Hatteras for?

Did you arrive early? Stay late?

We arrived about a month early to Hatteras to prepare for the contest.

I think it is one of the best places for spring kiteboarding and I can’t seem to miss the wonderful month of May on Hatteras Island. Not only do you get to get adjusted to the location and shake off the jet lag, you also get to practice on the features you’re competing on. I think most of the riders these days show up early. With $50,000 up for grabs, everyone takes it pretty seriously.

How has your mental approach to competing changed over the years?

Historically I have been a really smart competitor, always calculating what I needed to do to advance in a heat, or out-score an opponent. I would pay a lot of attention to what everyone else did trick-wise, and constantly adjust my strategy to the riding. However, lately I have been adapting more of a go big or go home strategy. I know what tricks I want to do and I want to do them as fast, big and smooth as possible. This way I don’t have to stress about other people’s scores or tricks, I’m confident that my trick selection and execution will garner high scores from the judges. The only downside is that if you don’t land your tricks because you blow up, you really don’t place that well. So it takes a bit of mental control to be able to try the same hard trick three times, even if you’ve crashed it the previous two. I’ve also tried to take things a little less serious; I find that I ride the best when I’m having fun. So I am always trying to find ways to lighten the mood, and slip into the, “flow state.” That’s when I feel unstoppable.

What gear did you bring to Hatteras?

Boards, kites, boots, extra toys for freeriding? How did you get to Hatteras and how did you pack it all?

Everywhere we travel we always seem to bring two tons of gear and Hatteras is no exception. Luckily, Sensi and I share a quiver of kites, so that keeps the number

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of kites down to just nine. Add in three surfboards, three wakeboards, plenty of kiteboards, foils, bars, harnesses, etc.

Luckily I am able to draw on the resources of one of my long time sponsors, Real Watersports for some shipping help.

Prior to my arrival I shipped two 100 pound boardbags full of all the toys we would need, allowing us to just bring our wakeboarding gear to the cable prior to going to the island. Shipping is a great way to save on some baggage costs for the traveling kiteboarder.

On the social front, who did you stay with? Any funny stories?

This year with such a long stay we opted to live in a smaller house with some old friends from days past coaching at Real.

I think it helped a lot being surrounded by positivity all the time and just easing back into the pace of the island lifestyle.

As far as all the pro kiteboarders, we all got really addicted to Mario Cart 8 on the Switch. No wind days were filled with 48 race championships, and tons of banter.

We also must have consumed hundreds of burritos from Waves Market and Deli, as well as quite a few acai bowls from the newly opened Hatteras Bowls. It really was an amazing week, plenty of stressful days on the water, lots of late night concerts, tons of Triple-S lager, and great times in the swamp.

There is nothing l love more than sending the kicker.

I think it really brings excitement to the crowd and the feeling is like no other. Sending one to the moon for my favorite media team, Toby and Vince.

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Kite-Surf World Tour WITH REECE MYERSCOUGH / PHOTOS BY JAY WALLACE

What’s it like to compete on the kitesurfing strapless freestyle and surf Would Tour?

With most of the tour on the other side of the world, the experience for Canadian and American pro riders can be a little intimidating, expensive and full of cultural unknowns.

Vancouver Island’s Reece Myerscough is the top-ranked North American male rider on the tour this year. He shares his first-hand account from his trip to Dakhla, Morocco.

The cabins at Westpoint Dakhla Hotel. Unridden waves smash into the rocks as the sun sets.

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Laying into a carve on the inside section of West Point, a 30-second walk from the cabin at the hotel.

I arrived in Dakhla with photographers Jay Wallace and Andrew Irwin six days before the second GKA Wave and Strapless Tour event of the year. We showed up early to shoot wave footage for Ocean Rodeo as well as get some time on the water at the event site to prepare for my heats. Dakhla Town lies at the southern tip of the Dakhla Peninsula in Morocco and is surrounded by a multitude of wave and flatwater kite spots. The town is small and there are multiple military bases located around it to ensure the oil pipelines that run through Western Sahara remain in Moroccan hands. Don’t bother bringing your drone to film some kiting, not only are drones highly illegal in Morocco, you may unknowingly fly your drone over a military outpost (as we did), which has the potential to end badly. Despite all this, the wind and surf are awesome! I spent two weeks in Dakhla and kited for four hours a day on average.

Dakhla is always windy, and that’s good because there isn’t much else to do or see other than kiteboarding.

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Although Dakhla is in the Sahara Desert, it was surprisingly cold. It was overcast in the mornings and 15 degrees with the clouds burning off most afternoons and the temperature rising to around 20 degrees.

The water temperature was also surprisingly cold. I brought a 2 mm wetsuit with short sleeves because I was expecting desert bath water, but I was uncomfortably cold, especially when submerged in the water surfing. Next time I’m bringing a 3 mm full body wetsuit. The bottom is mostly sandy but there are some rocks that are sharp in the launching areas and lots of the riders cut their feet and toes up so much they had a hard time walking. I wore thin reef boots the entire time and my feet were fine.

The GKA Kite-Surf World Tour event in Dakhla was hosted by West Point Dakhla Hotel, which is conveniently located right on the water at a right-hand point break called West Point. The most common wind direction at West Point is sideshore to side-offshore which is ideal for wave

riding. It has a sandy bottom but there are several rocks scattered about that can be an issue on low tide. West Point peels down the side of a small, flat, rocky plateau that is about five meters above sea level.

The plateau is just high enough to stop the wind from touching the surface of the water leaving the waves glassy, and just low enough that it doesn’t affect the wind the kite is flying in. It seems like it would be the ultimate kitesurfing setup, except for the West Point Dakhla Hotel that was built right on the point directly upwind of the surf break. The hotel casts a wind shadow over the peak of the wave that makes the entire first half of the wave almost impossible to keep kites flying.

A ten-minute drive from the West Point Dakhla Hotel, at the very Southern tip of the Dakhla Peninsula, is a small fishing village called La Sarga. La Sarga has a right hand point break with a sandy bottom and perfect side-offshore wind conditions for wave riding. During the first three days I arrived in Dakhla, we were lucky to score

head-high set waves at La Sarga in 20-25 knots. I was having leg-burner rides that were over 400 meters long and lasting up to one minute and thirty seconds. Unlike West Point there are no structures blocking the wind (yet), so the steady offshore wind grooms the wave face, leaving them buttery smooth, perfect for sinking your rail into. The conditions at La Sarga were so good that I kited it for a total of 15 hours in three days. La Sarga provided some of the nicest kiting conditions I have ever had; I didn’t even know that such perfect waves existed for kitesurfing.

It was a good warm up for the event riding La Sarga with all the best kite surfers in world. Mainly it’s nice when everyone knows what is going on and there is no one dropping in or cutting people off, but I was also able to learn tons about riding side-offshore waves from watching. I have to make the most of these epic offshore conditions when I get them because it’s a completely new kite flying technique for me in the waves. We have epic wave

spots on Vancouver Island but they are mainly side-onshore wind conditions which require more kite movement to prevent luffing the kite over. If you send the kite too much in side-offshore wind conditions, the kite will just rip you right off the back of the wave, so it takes a little adjustment to figure out.

The GKA Morocco event was held at West Point when the wind and waves were stronger, but most of the heats were run at a little wedgy beach break section about 300 meters downwind of West Point. The wind was less gusty down the beach because it’s farther from the hotel wind shadow, and the wave picks up short period wind swell better than West Point.

The epic conditions that we scored earlier in the week significantly dropped for the event. The sets were shoulder high, and most people ended up riding 10 or 12 meter kites in their heats. Due to the smaller waves, the heats were scored as 60 per cent waves and 40 per cent freestyle.

When your heat score is almost evenly

split up between waves and freestyle, there is no downtime. If I’m not riding a wave, I’m throwing down some freestyle moves to rack up the points while waiting for sets. The heats were 15 minutes long and they went by quickly, so you had to be on the top of your game both on the water and off or it was easy to miss your heat. The event was run over the span of two days in double elimination format. So, if you lose a heat on the first day of competition, you get a second chance to win the event on day two, but it’s a lot of extra work to win your way up the ladder on the second day.

All my heats were run at the beach break downwind from West Point. In the single elimination round on the first day my first heat was in round two and the wind was light. I was on a 12 meter, but the swell had some decent size if you could get on the set waves. I ended up winning my round two heat getting one decent wave score and backing it up with a couple freestyle moves. I ended up unknowingly

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Warming up in the West Point beach break the evening before the contest. Lighter winds had most riders on 11 and 12 meter kites.

Although Dakhla is in the Sahara Desert, it was surprisingly cold. It was overcast in the mornings and 15 degrees with the clouds burning off most afternoons and the temperature rising to around 20 degrees. The water temperature was also surprisingly cold.

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Slashing a small wave at West Point.

cracking my fin on a hard carve near the end of the heat.

Winning in round two set me up against Mitu Monteiro in round three which was exciting because he was the defending champ from last year’s event.

I was sitting on the beach eating a sandwich and waiting for my heat while watching Mitu warm up when someone ran up to me and asked “Isn’t that your heat? Mitu is out there!” That’s when I realized that Mitu wasn’t warming up, and I only had five minutes left in my heat.

I was already changed so I launched my kite and got on the water as quickly as possible. I caught a decent-sized wave right away, but unfortunately my cracked fin from the previous heat buckled and snapped on the first turn which ended

whatever slim chance of a comeback I had. So obviously, I got knocked out of the single elimination in round three. Luckily, I had a second chance the next day.

In the second chance, double elimination round, I won my second heat of the year in round three which put me up against Ralph Boelen in round four. The wind was a little stronger than the first day, so I was lit on my 10 meter in the gusts but the swell had dwindled significantly overnight. There were very few set waves coming through the lineup and due to how gusty the wind was, it was difficult to get back upwind to the peak. I had one nice wave right after the start horn and I ended up in the bottom third of the competition area for the rest of the 15-minute heat. No sets came through for a good 7-8 minutes

after that, so I spent the rest of the heat doing freestyle and smacking any little lump of wave that came my direction down in the bottom corner. Even though I couldn’t back up my first wave with another good one, I had my best heat of the season so far. Unfortunately, Ralph had a good heat as well and he ended up getting the jump on me by 0.4 of a point ending my event in round four!

Dakhla was awesome to visit, but by the end of the trip I was ready for a cheeseburger. After two weeks in the desert I was sore, over tired from kiting too much, sick from the food and ready to come home. Although the conditions can be epic in Dakhla, next time I will only be going for one week.

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SNEEK PEAK

2019 gear preview

AIRUSH SHREDDER Making its first appearance in the Airush lineup, the Shredder is a directional wave-oriented twintip. Designed to let you shred waves and have an all-round good time without the complexity of having to ride the board the correct way. Great for standard twintip riding, boosting and stylish grabs. Fun in all conditions, onshore or peeling cross-shore waves and even flatwater hooked-in tricks.

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AIRUSH UNION V4 The Union V4 has been totally re-designed and now features a fixed bridle, to improve unhooked and high end performance. Delivering even more lift and hang time when going for big air, along with quicker and more responsive steering. The shape has been refined to sit slightly further forward in the window while keeping the light and ultra-responsive steering.

The improved wingtip design prevents back stalling, while the increased linear power delivery has made it even more suitable for freeriding, freestyle, and wave riders alike.

CABRINHA MOTO For riders who appreciate versatile, predictable kite performance, for any type of riding in a wide range of conditions. The All-New Moto kite from Cabrinha leads us into a new era of performance kitesurfing that smashes all conventional thinking. This versatile freeride/ crossover kite is light to the touch and provides a precise and linear power delivery. The lighter weight and quick response is made possible with its 3-strut hybrid plan form. The Moto performs its best in challenging wind conditions. Generous depower tames the gustiest winds and widens its wind range considerably. The Moto’s fast turning speed not only puts this kite into a performance category of its own, it enhances the kite’s amazing versatility. The Moto kite is a triple threat. It excels in three of the most exciting disciplines the sport has to offer; freeride, free surf and foilboarding. kitesurfingmag.com

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CORE CHOICE 3 The Choice 3’s chameleon-like ability to adapt to its rider and water conditions places the Choice 3 in a category of its own. One that provides a high level of freeriding potential without sacrificing freestyle requirements. A board that is equally comfortable in rough chop as it is in buttery smooth lagoons.

The new Choice 3 turns heads.

CABRINHA X:BREED For a rider who wants a board that crosses seamlessly between surf and freestyle (with the added ability to attach a hydrofoil on the foil version). The X:Breed slips nicely into Cabrinha’s surf range by offering solid surfing performance and exceptional freestyle abilities. The X:Breed crosses easily between surfing and freestyle, letting you flex your versatility muscles any time you please. The twin nose and tail shape draw a straighter rail line than a traditional surfboard of the same size. This means that the board has the feeling of a longer board in a shorter, more compact package. What makes the X:Breed Foil unique is its ability to attach any of Cabrinha’s Hi-Rise hydrofoils to it. The X:Breed Foil opens the door to the exciting world of foilboarding. The board comes stock with three RTM hybrid bamboo/soric fins and rear deck pad.

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DUOTONE REBEL Last year the Rebel had a significant overhaul that saw the design built around a four-line set up. The kite was a huge success and this year Ken Winner has been working hard to make the best even better.

Updates on the 2019 model include a smaller, reduced diameter leading edge and a flatter, center shape profile. The goal was to improve the handling and boosting capabilities of the kite. The thinner leading edge makes the new Rebel more efficient, but also allows it to twist, increasing the turning speed and making the handling very dynamic. The new flatter profile in the center of the kite adds power and improves the flying characteristics.

More importantly, the kite now jumps higher and floats for longer; massive airs are even easier on the new Rebel.

CORE GTS5 The wait is over. After ten years of iterative development, Core’s Universal+ Series GTS5 is here. The GTS4’s signature Future-C powered kiteloops, and unhooked confidence is legendary. The indomitable GTS5 is built with precision steering, a prodigious operating range and Core’s legendary linear power. Its fully adjustable handling lets riders throw the tightest loops (in waves) and the biggest Cape Town style Megaloops in total control. GTS5: freestyle ninja. Megaloop machine. And so much more.

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DUOTONE SELECT TEXTREME When it comes to freeriding performance, there is one board to rule them all, the Select Textreme!

Designed to be the fastest most exhilarating twintip on the market, its secret starts with the unique construction technology. Textreme Carbon and Biax Carbon weaves are combined to create an exceedingly light board. Not only that, the materials offer a dynamic flex that is soft for comfort but also provides plenty of energy and pop. Many riders say it’s the most responsive board they’ve ever ridden. Once you’ve tried it, you won’t want to ride anything else. If you want the fastest, lightest most progressive freeride board around, look no further than the impressive Select Textreme.

DUOTONE PRO VOKE The Pro Voke is a brand new breed of board inspired by the radical freestyle antics of team riders Airton Cozzolino and Matchu Lopes. The Pro Voke is 100 per cent optimized to meet the demands of Duotone’s team riders on the Strapless Freestyle World Tour. Offering aggressive edge grip, speed and above all the ability to land hard and fast without losing momentum or bouncing out. The deep double barrel channel splits the water to cushion and absorb landings.

A straight, narrow outline offers maximum speed and stability, while the rocker is optimized for speed. The shape is almost symmetrical which allows the board to spin predictably around a central axis when doing spins and Shove-its.

The Pro Voke provides maximum pop thanks to a straight rail line and optimized fin placement.

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NAISH MOTION The Motion is Naish’s number one board worldwide and a favorite for Naish’s team as a board that can perform in a variety of conditions. It has a full rocker that eats chop and a lightweight Pop Wood Core that gives a smooth ride but can still boost big jumps. Edging upwind is incredibly easy thanks to its beveled razor channels that hold an edge even in the choppiest waters. Responsive and balanced, the Motion is the perfect board for the everyday kiter.

ION STRIKE CORE 4/3 FRONT ZIP ION has two styles of fit within their range. If you are a little brawny, they recommend the STRIKE models because they are slightly wider in the biceps, hip, waist and legs compared to the ONYX line. New for 2019 they now offer STRIKE models with front zip so you have the convenience, comfort and stretch of a front zip suit without having to go to the narrow cut of surfer suits. The STRKE has the kite-specific features such as crash pads at the shins and ribs, glide skin back panel and leg loops.

2019 NAISH PIVOT The Pivot is one of the ultimate all around kites. It won the 2018 Red Bull King of the Air, and has ridden some of the biggest waves from Peahi to Nazare, yet is still a kite you can take a beginner on and have them up and riding in no time. It’s Quad-Tex canopy, HT+ closing seam thread and Shark Teeth trailing edge make this one durable kite. The Pivot provides plenty of sheet-in-and-go, predictable power, direct bar pressure, easy jumping and control in the air.

The Naish Pivot has built a reputation for its intuitive steering and tight, quick axis of rotation making it the ideal choice for kiters who want to do it all.

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ELEVEIGHT RSERIES The RSeries is Eleveight’s most versatile kite.

It’s a four line Delta-Hybrid kite with a medium-to-high aspect ratio. Hence it has a strong grunt, incredible big air performance and covers a massive wind range. A two-kite quiver is usually enough to cover almost all conditions.

Eleveight designed its turning axis to sit on the shoulder to balance tip and pivotal turning characteristics. Therefore, in surf you can whip it around in a tight loop to support your next hack into the lip, in big airs you can loop it in a wider circle to get that explosive forward momentum.

Whatever style you choose, the RS’ responsive and precise steering supports your riding.

ELEVEIGHT MASTER TWINTIP This board is easy to access and will provide joy and fun the second you hit the water. The Master is made for freestyle riders who don’t want to limit themselves. The board was designed

by Franz Schitzhofer in Austria. It is crammed with state-of-the-art technologies and the latest materials, such as heavy duty block plywood inserts that allow you to choose between straps and boots. The Master combines a super light Paulowina wood core with strong 330 gram carbon reinforcements. A 3D shape produces the needed combination of stiffness and flex; a pattern that generates big boosts while reducing torsional flex.

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F-ONE TRAX The Trax has a long heritage in the F-One lineup, and is one of the most popular twintips on the market. It’s billed as the ultimate freeride and freestyle board with a unique feeling on the water, offering both speed and comfort.

The complex shape of the HRD rail plays a significant role in the way the board handles, and that helps set it apart from everything else out there.

OZONE TORQUE V1 An all-round freestyle performance twintip with a square outline for an insane pop and amazing control, whether you ride with boots or straps. It provides excellent edge retention and strong upwind performance, allowing you to load massive pop even at lower speed. Featuring a quad concave hull that channels water, giving you a super smooth ride in the chop, with a medium flex and rocker. It is great for freeriding too as it’s fast and responsive. The stability and predictability of the Torque means it has never been so easy to boost high and progress with even the most advanced tricks, go send it and see!

F-ONE BANDIT 12 The 2019 Bandit is as close to perfection as a kite can get. Incredible control is coupled with a handling experience you will never forget. The gust handling and depower range of the new BANDIT means you’ll enjoy every session, regardless of the conditions. This year the BANDIT delivers extraordinary manoeuvrability and reactivity. It’s like flying a fighter jet instead of a passenger plane! The new BANDIT is an extension of your body that performs in harmony with you; this unique link means that as soon as you’ve thought about the turn, the kite is already making it with perfect feeling and control. The perfect fusion of all F-One’s knowledge, the latest materials and technology mean you can enjoy a kite that excels in all disciplines and makes every session one to remember.

OZONE ENDURO V2 Known as the ultimate all-round, do-it-all inflatable kite, the Enduro V2 offers the whole package.

With outstanding performance for freeriding, freestyle and wave riding. The easily adjustable bridle settings, allow you to customize the feeling and performance of your kite. The Enduro V2 gives you the confidence to progress.

It is extremely stable even at low angles of attack, thanks to the new strut construction that provides enhanced support to the canopy.

With this kite you’ll be ripping in all conditions. The latest Enduro V2 models come with Ozone’s new quick release system, the Click-in Loop.

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LIQUID FORCE NV V9 The NV gets a full redesign for version 9. Two years in the making, Liquid Force did not just change color or add flair for the purpose of saying new. The NV V9 underwent a complete redesign with performance in mind. Starting with a revamped airframe that is evident visually with a more squared wingtip shape. Not so evident enhancements include a profile adjustment from the leading edge to the trailing edge, and LE increased diameter giving the kite a supercharged feel without sacrificing stability. Most notable is material advancement in the use of triple ripstop for the canopy.

The NV surely will continue to inspire the progression at all levels of kiteboarding.

LIQUID FORCE ECHO Sure, the Echo has helped Brandon Scheid earn multiple Triple-S titles. And of course, the Echo has given Brandon the confidence to push his limits without worrying about what he is standing on. You too can ride the same board he does. Slightly exaggerated rocker profile, fluted bottom shape, 100 per cent profiled wood core construction, wrapped with Liquid Rails and a Grind base will transform your riding experience no matter if you are in the park, ripping slicks or hitting kickers.

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WMFG GROOVED TRACTION WMFG’s new Grooved Traction adds a new “surf” style look and feel to their line of traction.

Built with the highest grade of EVA foam and with a new corduroy pattern the new Grooved Traction is thinner than WMFG’s standard deck pad, offering the rider a more traditional, waxlike/surf feel for the board. The new Grooved traction is available in both the original Classic configuration and the new Stubby Shape as well as the Front Foot only set. MSRP $84 Classic or Stubby Six Pack / MSRP $52 Front Foot.

MYSTIC MAJESTIC The new Majestic wetsuits from Mystic set a new standard in fit, comfort, warmth and style.

Top-end 100% MFlex neoprene, with Polar Lining, full glued/blind stitched construction and high stretch waterproof taped seams combine with Mystic’s unique Aquaflush ankle drainage ports to make these the ultimate in kiteboarding wetsuits. The Majestic is available in 5/3, 4/3, 3/3 mm thickness in both front and back zip configurations. MSRP $349/$339/$329

2019 SLINGSHOT RALLY The Rally represents the evolution of kiteboarding. As the sport has grown and transformed over the years, so has the Rally. Slingshot’s approach with this kite has always been to let it evolve with riders and their needs. It started as a versatile freeride kite, then was adapted to perform better in the waves, then tweaked for better freestyle. For 2019, it’s all of the above, packed into one versatile shape and bridle configuration. The Rally is a crowd-pleaser, designed for versatility across all types of riders, locations and conditions and tweaked regularly as the sport evolves and demands change.

2019 SLINGSHOT MISFIT As their longest-running and most versatile twintip, the Misfit is a seasoned veteran and a persistent MVP of the Slingshot roster. But this OG of kiteboards isn’t the same old utility player it has always been. After undergoing major performance enhancing surgery, the 2019 Misfit is back and more badass than ever. Just one glance and you’ll see what we mean. The bright glowing tips of the Misfit are Koryod-a super strong, lightweight honeycomb material fused into the wood core.

This gives the board lighter, more responsive tips, smooth pop, soft landings and a forging flex that makes carving upwind and cutting through chop a breeze.

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THANK YOU! R I D E R S , S P O N S O R S & S P E C TAT O R S

TRIPL ESINVITATIONA L . C O M • # W I N DV O YAG E R T R I P LES

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•NAISH •NORTH •LIQUID FORCE •DAKINE •FIREWIRE

SURF SHOP sauble beach, canada est 1996

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Robert Kidney escapes the doldrums. Anna Kuzmina photo

Paula Rosales in the Philippines. Frankie Bees photo

“A wise man once said, ‘variety is the spice of life.’ I think he also said, ‘a change is as good as a holiday.’”

–Robert Kidney

2019 “Versatility” Gear Tests • The best winter kiteboarding destinations for every budget!

• Five transitions every kiteboarder should know.

• Plus Tools of the Trade, Trade Secrets, and more

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K I T E B O A R D I N G

THE

TRANSITION THE ONLY CONSTANT THING IN LIFE IS CHANGE. THE TIMES, THE CONDITIONS, EVERY THING IS IN MOTION. ONLY THE DESTINATION Everything becomes a new and at the same time remains 100 % unaffected and reliable.

Starting

August

Boards & More

2018,

kite

the

division

develops and distributes all products under the new name DUOTONE. The values with which we have built our reputation on – like advanced technologies, uncompared quality and continuous development – remain steadfast in guiding our new direction. Together with our complete R & D team, distribution network, production crew and ADVERTORIAL / 0 3 / 1 6

athletes, we stay committed to these core values.

So join us as we enter a new era.

We’re riding with high hopes under a new flag, ready to set the tone. Welcome to DUOTONE!

STAYS THE SAME; LIKE OUR AMBITION TO BUILD THE MOST INNOVATIVE EQUIPMENT FOR WIND AND WATER SPORTS.

04 / 16

I N T R O

D U O T O N E

T R U E

K I T E B O A R D I N G

JAIME HERRAIZ

NIKLAS VALENTIEN

MEET THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE IT ALL COME TRUE

TILL EBERLE

JOHANNA EBENHÖH

JEROME BONIEUX

ADVERTORIAL / 0 5 / 1 6

ANTONIO DESTINO

RALF GRÖSEL

FLORIAN PANTHER

MONICA LAUS

LAURENT HOMPESCH

T E A M

SKY SOLBACH

SEBASTIAN HERRIG

MAX PAJANK PHILIPP BECKER

THOMAS KAISER

MARCO MAY

DUOTONE is the sum of all peoA brand is meaningless

ple burning for the sport, con-

without the people standing

tributing all their knowledge

behind

All

and skills to the improvement

Boards & More personnel, who

of the best kites and boards.

have developed and shaped

Nobody leaves the shape room,

the sport of kiteboarding since

gets off the sewing table or

2001 stand united behind our

stops testing on the water un-

new handle, DUOTONE.

less all questions are answered

name.

and all wishes are fulfilled.

ELSA BERGER

PATRICK DUDEK

MANUEL ZWINZ JULIAN LANGE

LAURA ALEXY

KEN WINNER

06 / 16

the

AURÉLIEN MIERSWA

D U O T O N E

T R U E

K I T E B O A R D I N G

HISTORY

BY DUOTONE We were there when the first kites were seen riding downwind from Ho’okipa to Kanaha.

We got dragged over the beaches of Maui, the Baltic Sea or Tarifa, we tried directionals and twin tips, we experimented with two, four or five lines and we developed

H E R I TA G E & I N N O VAT I O N I N N O VAT I O N

BY DUOTONE There is not a single day without one of our engineers or team riders on the water testing new products. We call ourselves fortunate to have a team which yearns to push the sport to the next level. From the early days until today, we experienced incredible progression and yet there is no end in sight.

And this is what creates the excitement. Our R & D team does not respond to trends! We love ADVERTORIAL / 0 7 / 1 6

to start the trend, to set the tone and to explore new ways on the water.

C-shapes,

Del-

ta-shapes and safety bars.

Whatever comes to your mind regarding kitesurfing evolution in the past 20 years – we took part in it.

H E R I T A G E

A N D

I N N O V A T I O N

CLICK BAR

The unsurpassed bar with gear change and true adaption to your equipment and riding skills. Never before was it easier to power / depower regardless of the situation. With the push of a button, you can extend the back lines and a simple twist of the winder allows you to shorten them again. Tangled lines are a thing of the past and thanks to the Iron Heart V, any unwanted twisting of the safety line is eliminated. A 5th element upgrade kit is available.

5TH ELEMENT

With already 10 years on the market, the 5th Element bar still remains a benchmark in control bar safety systems and many kiters still swear by this bar today. Many of our kites can be flown with a four or five lines setup.

IRON HEART

The patented and long-term approved chicken loop and safety release system, now available in the 5th generation. Even under extreme stress only very little effort is needed to release the kite. This is the reason why so many kiters trust in our system.

NTT BINDING WITH TRACK SYSTEM

Our patented binding system provides simple entry, is ultra comfortable with even pressure distribution and offers an ultra tight foothold. On top it offers extremely versatile adjustment features for every foot

08 / 16

form and stand position. What else do you need?

D U O T O N E

T R U E

K I T E B O A R D I N G

TRUE

WA K E S T Y LE

ADVERTORIAL / 0 9 / 1 6

W A K E S T Y L E

/

F R E E S T Y L E

“ I ’ M S O M O T I VAT E D TO PUSH MYSELF A S M U C H A S E V E R .”

A A R O N

H A D L O W ,

U K

5 × KITEBOARDING WORLD CHAMPION 2 × RED BULL KING OF THE AIR WINNER

CABARETE, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC In case you want to experience how it feels to start a kitesurfing

career

in

Cabarete

–

after

approximately 16 hrs flight time from Europe and maybe one stop-over you land in Puerto Plata. The Caribbean island is a year-round destination, albeit the best time for wind is between December to February and June to September.

AARONS’ FAVOURITE GEAR: TS HADLOW

BY DUOTONE

In 2018, 8 of the 16 Red Bull King

The Aaron Hadlow signature

of the Air participants compet-

model is based on the Team Se-

ed with the Vegas. However,

ries and features the Slick Base

the Vegas is not only the num-

to withstand even the hardest

ber one choice of all big air

grinds and hits. The Biax car-

champions, it is the most solid

bon

C-kite to hit the market. It’s

maximum pop to get airborne

unmatched popularity, espe-

whilst the deck shape in combi-

cially amongst freestyle and

nation

wakestyle kiteboarders is war-

stringers eliminates all un-

ranted by it’s incredible pop

wanted negative flex at touch

and unhooked performance.

down. The Step Double Con-

With it’s competitive five strut

cave channels totally compen-

design, the Vegas is the king of

sate the absence of fins if

slack giving you what you need

they’re taken off.

for any trick that comes to mind.

construction

with

the

provides

reinforced

A

family holiday in Cabarete back in the year 2000 marks

the starting point for one of the steepest and most successful careers in the world of kitesurfing.

Well respected in the community, the 5-times world champion is one of the driving forces behind the evolution of the Vegas. Many riders have adopted the Hadlow-setup for their Vegas. Also in general, Aaron is amongst the most important influencers in the scene.

10 / 16

VEGAS

BY DUOTONE

D U O T O N E

T R U E

K I T E B O A R D I N G

RENOS FAVOURITE GEAR:

TRUE

FREESTYLE

JAIME / JAIME TEX TREME

BY DUOTONE

T

here is probably no spit of land on earth over which Reno would not jump. In 2013, he got the Guiness World Record for

the most spins in one jump and while Reno draws inspiration from wakeboarding, his team mate Matchu lives by the rythm of the tide pushing wave kiting like hardly any other these days.

Tried and test as the highest performing and versatile freer ide and freestyle twin tip on the market, for 2019, we dared to completely re-design the board. Especially adapted for freestyle in straps, the base Double Diffusor base allows

When it comes to choosing the right kite, they both grab the Dice as this kite is a fantastic performer in both waves and freestyle.

Additionally, the Dice beautifully harmonizes with Reno’s favorite board, the Jaime Textreme, as much as it does with Matchu’s choice, the Pro Whip.

ADVERTORIAL / 1 1 / 1 6

TARIFA, SPAIN Poniente from the right, Levante from the left, Andalusian hills in the back and Africa on the horizon. Tarifa is truly spectacular in every direction and on top of that one of the kite meccas world wide. You can fly in via Malaga or Jerez, followed by one hour in the rental car – which you will need anyway to reach the numerous spots on site. Check out Reno‘s facebook page to see how to jump over the harbour levee in Tarifa …

for super smooth landings while the Quad channels deliver amazing grip. Also available in our super light weight Textreme carbon construction giving the board even more reaction with increased pop.

F R E E S T Y L E

/

W A V E

“I IMPROVED MUCH FA S T E R THAN I T H O U G H T.” R E N O

R O M E U ,

B R A

T H E T R U E H I G H - F LY E R

RENOS’ FAVOURITE GEAR: DICE

shape comes with a subtly en-

BY DUOTONE

larged radius and slightly rein-

Ralf Grösel: “The 2019 Dice is

lots of pop for the take-off plus

an extremely versatile per-

great slack for all kinds of tricks

former

the

“on air”. The very responsive

smaller sizes are built for hard-

and

especially

kite qualifies for waves as

core conditions”.

much as for super high kite loops and can be used with four

The cross-disciplinary secret

or five lines according to the

weapon

rider’s preferences.

for

freestylers

or

wavekiters. The multi-talented

12 / 16

forced leading edge, delivering

D U O T O N E

T R U E

K I T E B O A R D I N G

REBEL

BY DUOTONE When it comes to incredible performance

and

superior

hangtime criteria, the Rebel, designed by Ken Winner, suits as a reference since its very

TRUE

FREERIDE

first introduction.

The latest update with a slightly flatter centre shape and reduced diameter once again increases the wind range, boosts higher and floats longer. The thinner leading edge allows faster turning and a more dynamic twist. The four line kite of course also works with a 5th El-

KEN WINNER, USA:

T

his guy is a legend. No one else has left a bigger mark on the

ement upgrade kit and both configurations are a perfect match with the click bar.

development of our kites. Meanwhile his designs are so

perfectly engineered that the most common request from our team riders is to change nothing. And indeed sometimes it is hard to imagine that there is still room for improvement. But until today Ken has succeeded every year to make our kites better and better.

His equally successful partner in crime is: SELECT / SELECT TEX TREME SKY SOLBACH, USA:

R

acing, foiling or strapless wave surfing – Sky feels at home in every discipline.

Together with Ken he has spent thousands of hours on the water or in the shape booth, developing, testing and refining hundreds of ADVERTORIAL / 1 3 / 1 6

prototypes from a piece of foam to the production stage.

BY DUOTONE The new Select replaces the well-tried but a little out-dated X-Ride. It is perfect for any aspiring kiters, thanks to the Space Flex technology it rides very smooth and forgiving. The grab rails on the sides in combination with the Mono Concave Bottom provide solid grip and great upwind characteristics. The carbon inlays deliver the required stiffness and flex.

Also available in super responsive and light Textreme carbon construction.

F R E E R I D E

“THERE IS NO B E T T E R F R E E R ID E KITE THAN THE N E W R E B E L .”

S O L B A C H ,

U S A

14 / 16

S K Y

D U O T O N E

T R U E

K I T E B O A R D I N G

TRUE

WAV E B

orn and raised on the Cape Verde islands, Airton was in

contact with the ocean since the day he was born. Initially impressed by local surfers he then discovered kite surfing and today he is one of the biggest influencers in strapless freestyle and wavekiting as well as on SUP boards. Whatever he does, Airton sets the tone.

We have no idea how he does it but there are rumors that he may have suction cups on the bottom of his feet.

CLICK BAR

BY DUOTONE ADVERTORIAL / 1 5 / 1 6

W A V E

P R O WA M

BY DUOTONE

AIRTONS’ FAVOURITE GEAR:

“MY ROOTS A R E D E E P LY BASED IN S U R F I N G .”

At first glance the board’s outline may seem rather traditio-

NEO

nal, but there is more than

BY DUOTONE

meets the eye. Shaper Sky Sol-

Ken Winner: “When working on the new Neo we always tried to incorporate the inputs from Airton, Matchu, Sebastian and Patri

with

the

focus

on strapless waveriding. Like wide bottom turns, aggressive off the lips, and over your head you

have

this

light

and

at the same time powerful kite, that does precisely what you want.”

The Neo has always been the number one choice in combination with directional boards.

bach squeezed a lot of power into the new Pro WAM, which is available in three lengths.

Sky: “Actually the widest point is set a little to the front and combined with the slightly fuller outline, it allows the board to plane faster and reach higher speeds. On top of that, it turns

A I R T O N

C O Z Z O L I N O

L O P E S ,

I T

on a dime in every kind of waves. “Shock absorbers made

2018 GKA KITE-SURF WORLD TOUR,

out of cork and a double con-

CAPE VERDE, 1ST PLACE

cave deck with grab rails com-

2 0 1 7 + 2 0 1 6 G K A WAV E & ST R A P L E S S

plete the powerful setup in

FREESTYLE WOLRD TOUR 1ST PLACE

every aspect.”

The 2019 model features flex segments in the front tube which allow stronger twisting kite not only impresses in

SAL, CAPE VERDE

waves but also while freeriding

One of the Cape Verde islands on the shore of West-

due

impressive

Africa, featuring challenging wavespots as well as

dynamics and drift potential,

flat water bays, perfectly suited for freestyling. Flight

paired with smooth handling

time from Europe is somewhere between 4 to 6 hrs.

and fast responsiveness.

Best travel time is October to Mai.

to

its

16 / 16

when turning. As a result the

LIVE FREE RIDE FREE

2019 J. Boulding

100 - KITESURFING MAGAZINE / VOL 4 / ISSUE 2

Visit CABRINHAKITES.COM to see the new collection