The Kiteboarder Magazine Vol. 11, No. 1

VOL. 11 NO.1 BOOZER, BLAIR & BEER RIENSTRA IN THE WIND

THE LAST SUPPER 14 YEARS OF NAISH

$9.99US

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Marina Chang, Publisher marina@thekiteboarder.com Brendan Richards, Editor brendan@thekiteboarder.com Shana Gorondy Art Director Alexis Rovira Editor At Large Gary Martin Technical Editor

ALL NEW BOARD RANGE

Amy Robb Online Media Manager amy@thekiteboarder.com Paul Lang Senior Contributor/Photograper EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS Neil Hutchinson, Stefan Ruether, Rick Iossi, Toby Brauer, Brendan Richards, Matt Sexton, Kevin “Irie Dog” Murray, Kinsley ThomasWong, James Brown, Ginette Buffone, Maui Mike, Members of the Central Coast/ Santa Barbara CKA

CONTRIBUTORS Eric Rienstra, Stephen Whitesell, Gavin McClurg, Roberto Ricci, Jeff Howard, Dan Schwarz, Neil Hutchinson, Tracy Kraft Leboe, Bruno Legaingnoux, Karmen Brown, Gosia Rosiak-Brawaska, Andre Phillip, Greg Kish, Kristin Boese, Lia Ferianek, Brian Ready, Marc Schmidt, Julien Fillion, Jason Slezak, Mike Husky, Jason Wolcott, Melissa Gil, Joe Cool

PHOTOGRAPHY Brett Phillips, Billy Sullivan, Toby Bromwich, Triple-S, PKRA, Gustav Schmiege, Mystic, Isaiah Downing, Brandon Scheid, Jim Stringfellow, Zach Wilson, Vincent Bergeron, Bernnard-Biancotto, Lance Koudele, Rienstra Family Archives, Josh Pietras, Christian Black, Alexandru Baranescu, Stephen Whitesell, Jody MacDonald, Andrea de Maria, Fixmykite.com, Neil Hutchinson, Nobile, TracyLeboe.com, Slingshot, Kristin Boese, Helen Trotman, Ydwer.com, Bryan Elkus, Gregg Tekko Gnecco, Franck Berhout, LiquidEye.com, Hugo Valente, Bertrand Beauchet, Rich Gardner, North Kiteboarding, Trent Hightower, Mario Cote, Tom Murphy, Benjamin Skaggs, Dmitry Kraskovsky, Robin Taylor, Uri Magnus, Vani Keil, Pam Rolph-Romeril, Joe Mullen, Patrick Rebstock, Joe Cool, Peter Sterling, Scott Dickerson, Vitor Sousa, Cabrinha, Sully Sullivan Thanks to all editorial and photography contributors for supporting this magazine!

VISIT US ON: www.thekiteboarder.com www.thekiteboarderschool.com www.twitter.com/the_kiteboarder www.facebook.com/thekiteboardermagazine

ADMINISTRATIVE/ADVERTISING OFFICE

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1356 16th Street Los Osos, CA 93402 (805) 459-2373

SUBSCRIPTIONS subscriptions@thekiteboarder.com store.thekiteboarder.com (805) 459-2373 Have you got an idea for an article you would like to see in The Kiteboarder Magazine? Send your submission to editor@thekiteboarder.com

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© 2014 Boardsports Media LLC. All rights reserved.

PROUDLY PRINTED IN THE USA

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CONTENTS

Mika Fernandez throws a heated kite loop as Paul Lang captures the day’s last shot on the island of Mauritius. This cover is a worthy salute to ex-editor Paul Lang, whose editorial and photographic skills have guided the magazine’s direction over the last five years. Paul will continue to leave his mark as a contributing staff member for years to come.

FEATURES:

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12 AN UNFUNDED DOCUMENTARY

44 14 YEARS OF NAISH

22 RAPHAEL SALLES

50 THE LAST SUPPER

30 IN THE WIND

58 RETROSPECTIVE

Best team rider, Nuno ‘Stru’ Figueiredo, goes under cover at Superturbos in Portugal. According to Stru, the rarity of wind strength, direction, wave height, and period coming together for kiting makes it hard to get, but when it does, Stru is all smiles. Photo Vitor Sousa

DEPARTMENTS: 10 FROM THE PUBLISHER

70 EXPOSED

82 ROOTS

18 THE SCENE

78 WISH LIST

84 VIEWPOINT

40 PROFILED

80 15 MINUTES

86 PARTING SHOT 9

FROM THE PUBLISHER Ten years ago, Ryan Riccitelli started The Kiteboarder Magazine out of his humble two bedroom apartment in Carlsbad, California. After his first issue, Ryan’s partner wanted nothing to do with publishing which was fortuitous because I had just returned from four years in the Dominican Republic and had little interest in reclaiming my corporate career. A new partnership was quickly formed and Ryan and I rolled up our sleeves building a thriving magazine.

In 2004 kiteboarding was still relatively new with fresh innovations developing at a fast pace. The industry and enthusiasts were all tweaking gear for performance and greater safety. It was an exhilarating time to have a front row seat to witness the rapid progression in gear and riding levels, the camaraderie amongst kiters, and the plain stoke of the growing kite communities around the world.

Today we see this same energy in the emergence of foilboarding.

Kiteboarders are using foilboards to race, go long distances, ride waves and explore what we thought was static. Just like when kiteboarding was in its infancy, riders are again flocking to forums for discussion, and DIYers are building and modifying gear in their garages. Driving innovation, the industry continues to unveil changes both big and small: Strutless kites, new inflation systems and binding systems are just a few in the past year. Even though many aren’t rushing out to add a strutless kite or foilboard to their quiver, you cannot help but be caught up in the energy of progression.

This spirit is what The Kiteboarder has tried to embody in its pages since its inception: The passion and drive that inspires us all to kiteboard, progress, explore and innovate. Through in-depth stories and impactful imagery on the people and companies who make up kiteboarding, our goal has been to produce a timeless archive of our sport that will still have relevance and bring a smile to your face many years from now.

The magazine has been a labor of love for many over the last decade.

Founder Ryan Riccitelli had the vision and guts to start the magazine, but longstanding staff, Gary Martin and Alexis Rovira have been contributing their extensive surf and technical expertise to all aspects of the business since day one. James Brown served as the magazine’s first creative director and Jim Semlor helped elevate the publication with his talented photography and design skills before our current creative guru, Shana Gorondy took over the reins. Online media manager Amy Robb joined the team last year and is doing a knockout job keeping our digital print timely, entertaining and informed on our websites and social media outlets.

Last but not least, former editor Paul Lang was with the magazine for 8 years. His dedication, creative finesse, and focus on the big picture helped launch our new format in September 2011 with an emphasis on long form journalistic storytelling that can be found nowhere else in this industry.

Paul’s editorial and photographic contributions to the magazine cannot be overstated, but starting this issue, the editorial torch has been passed to Brendan Richards. His extensive background in winter sports media has helped him develop a unique voice for telling stories. I know Brendan is excited to share both the historical and contemporary heartbeat of kiteboarding with you as we move forward.

The common thread in this issue’s features is one of looking back and on page 77 you will find our best attempt to thank the many companies and people who have helped us along the way. Equally important, we would also like to thank our readers, the everyday kiteboarders who have joined us at an event, met us in our travels, or know us solely through the pages of this magazine. Hearing how these stories impacted you and sharing your deep-seated passion for this sport is what keeps us going. We are very much like you, a small team of dedicated kiteboarders, and we appreciate your support.

An Unfunded Documentary

By Brendan Richards

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SULLY SULLIVAN

t seemed oddly cliche that I would be waiting around for a director named Adam Boozer to roll himself out of bed for our meeting under the palapa of a southern Baja resort. I can’t blame Adam nor Davey Blair for their late arrival or for that matter, their groggy disheveled appearance. After all, the boys had flown into Cabo the prior evening just hours before they premiered their feature length documentary, With a Kite. If I had to stand in front of a crowd as it judged three years of blood, sweat, debt and personal sacrifice, I’d dull the risk of a total bomb with a couple of Mexican cervezas as well. As the huevos rancheros arrived at our poolside bar the morning after, Adam and Davey were tired but relieved. In fact, their 119 minute documentary about the history of the US’s biggest and most prestigious kiteboarding contest, the Triple-S, was a total hit with the Los Barriles crowd and would go on to sell out multiple theatres in North America in the following months.

For Davey Blair, the film is very personal. Davey serves as the narrative glue pulling the cast of Triple-S characters together, and has been at the forefront of the east coast wakestyle scene as well as a fixture of the Hatteras event since day one. Adam Boozer on the other hand doesn’t kite. By day, Adam hops around the advertising world directing commercials for corporate America and in his spare time wakeboards, skates and snowboards. The two became fast friends after a chance meeting at a wakeboard contest and their

partnership emerged when Davey convinced Adam to produce a short Naish TV segment called Welcome to Chucktown for internet release. The nature of Adam’s day job is telling visual stories about products that appeal to broad audiences. He and co-director Tim Tewell had been looking for a side project but it wasn’t until Adam’s first visit to the 2011 Triple-S that he found the engaging characters and a storyline that he and Tim had been seeking.

To Adam, the discovery of the slider park in Hatteras felt like he had stumbled onto an underground scene, but to those in the kiteboarding world the Triple-S is no secret. The event’s three pronged approach to kiteboarding; surf, slick and slider heats, has received ample coverage in web videos and magazine articles since its humble beginning in 2006. From Adam’s outsider yet broader boardsports perspective, he felt the true colors of the wakestyle progression hadn’t been adequately explored. “We wanted to make something with more substance and depth. We wanted to tell a more robust story about these incredible characters that are drawn to the Triple-S every year,” said Adam. The boys dreamed of making a full length documentary that told the story of legendary kiters like Jason Slezak, Billy Parker, and Eric Rienstra, in the context of the evolution of the Triple-S. They knew they had a viable concept, they had the access, the passion and the documentary skills, but the missing ingredient was money.

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BRETT PHILLIPS

Adam Boozer and Davey Blair are all smiles at the Boston premier of their movie. Photo Brett Phillips

The money challenge had much to do with the way in which the general kite population accesses their kite entertainment, which has changed drastically in the last 10 years. Not too long ago kiteboarders received their kite entertainment from feature length DVDs from major players like the Tronolone brothers or Elliot Leboe’s ACL Productions, but the DVD is on the verge of going archaic. Nielsen’s Law of Internet Bandwidth growth as well as social media’s widespread popularity has created an entirely new distribution pipeline for video content. Shorter videos are cheaply distributed to Facebook’s hungry eyeballs for free and athletes have learned how to use relatively inexpensive DSLR and GoPro video cameras to create an endless supply of short form video content. The prominence of the feature length kite video has been cannibalized into a hundred 3-minute team rider videos. The kiting public for the most part no longer buys DVDs because video updates of our favorite riders and brands are streaming straight from the internet to just about any device, everywhere.

Both Davey and Adam felt even though there was so much short form video content surrounding kiting, it could never touch the richness and the long term progression of the sport from within the confines of a few minutes. In this void there was an opportunity to do something new. Adam and Tim had the skills to tell the broader story and so the boys conceived their audience in terms of three concentric circles. The inner circle is core kiters, the second is boardsports enthusiasts and the third is the average member of the public. The goal was to meet the needs of all three: Mindblowing action shots for the core, kiting painted broader for the tempted wakeboarder, and finally a story hook that could keep non-kiters glued to a compelling human narrative from beginning to end. Before Adam could worry about the intricate balance job, he needed the underlying shots that would satisfy the three circles. He wanted seven cameras, one for each athlete as well as full coverage of the event. He knew his storytelling skills and professional grade cameras were the key to setting his project apart from the 3-minute kite videos. The problem was Adam didn’t own these cameras, and if he wanted to rent them, the going price was $2,500 a day. Throw in travel and unexpected expenses and it was clear With a Kite done right would require a sizable budget and sponsors.

Maybe it was an issue of poor salesmanship, the absence of a proven track record, or simply just the notion that funding a big broad kite documentary was like swimming upstream against the economic and social dominance of the 3-minute kite video. Regardless, early on it was clear the boys would not secure money from within the kite industry.

The farther Adam and Davey pushed the project uphill, the greater their passion and their belief in its potential grew.

The breakout moment for the film was when the boys turned to crowdfunding. New websites like Kickstarter.com allow little guys like Adam and Davey to pitch their ideas to the internet at large and let the concept, on its own merits, solicit donations from a broader base. Adam and co-director Tim reached out to all the athletes and created an engaging Kickstarter teaser to help sell the project. It almost worked. They came within 90% of funding all the cameras, travel and aerial photography they needed, but there was a catch. They chose an all or nothing crowdfunding

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platform and failure to reach their financial goal by a specified date meant that they had to hand all of it back.

The psychological mind f#$% of watching your funding incrementally climb toward your goal only to have it disappear into thin air is probably worth more than one loudly spoken expletive and for most, would mean it’s time to throw in the towel. Even in those dark moments, the strength of the documentary’s siren song coerced Adam, Tim and Davey to move forward with the caveat that funding for their movie would be coming directly out of their pockets. All three were willing to continue even if it required an unprecedented amount of bootstrapping.

Seven cameras became one and travel became organized around sky-mile blackout dates. Narrower and fewer filming windows required the boys to rely on lady luck to corral athletes, wind and favorable lighting, all into the same time and place. The money draining from Adam’s pockets forced him to get crafty. The single camera was piggybacked on corporate jobs, two days here, two days there. Adam leveraged his relationships with his camera rental company for free days and paid where he had to.

The production values missing from most 3-minute kite videos are high-resolution cinema cameras, pre-drone aerial photography, and the silver bullet – high frame rate slow motion. Slow motion cameras shoot at over 1000 frames per second yielding moving pictures so slow you can see every bead of water and every nuance of the riding that makes kiteboarding so dynamic. Adam shot commercials all day long with the Red Epic, a $30,000 digital cinema camera with a high resolution sensor, but slow motion required a more expensive camera called the Phantom Miro. Even just one day with the Phantom was well beyond their bootstrap budget so Adam struck a deal with a wakeboard production company, bartering a week of his time on one of their movies in exchange for a week in Hatteras with their slow motion machine.

It took three years from Adam’s first Triple-S to gather enough footage to safely land in post production. They had filmed three Triple-S events, interviewed over 25 athletes and followed Billy Parker to his humble small hometown where they made his mother cry on camera out of pride. Adam chased Jason Slezak as he moved his life from Hatteras to Hood River and bit by gigabyte, the boys were getting what they needed to tell the deeper stories of Triple-S, but not without hiccups. For one shoot, Adam and Davey flew to Travis Pastrana’s Nitro City resort in Punta Chame, Panama, to document the backstory of Eric Rienstra. As bad luck would have it, neither the wind nor Eric’s sponsorship obligations chose to cooperate. After a day and half of filming, Eric had to get on a plane leaving the boys in Panama scratching their heads. A good bootstrap operation requires flexibility and since Triple-S competitor Craig Cunningham happened to be staying at Nitro City at that time, he stepped up and into the movie.

The morning after the Baja premier, we sat poolside laughing as Adam and Davey walked me through their filming adventures. It was

Movie star Jason Slezak grinds the Liquid Force box at the 2013 Triple-S. Photo Triple-S Invitational | Toby Bromwich

important to them that the retelling of their uphill battles not sound like sour grapes. They’re proud of what they have accomplished and each challenge they faced is a testament to their passion for the sport, its athletes and the film’s commitment to telling a broader story. Adam is the first to acknowledge they didn’t do it without help.

Trip Foreman and Matt Nuzzo at Real Watersports had donated all the historic kite footage. Hookups like a helicopter for filming aerial shots at Hood River’s KB4Cancer event came from friends like Matt Elsasser, who believed in the cause. Davey was able to use his connections to enlist Sir Richard Branson to lend a commanding voice to the film’s introduction. Multiple artists hand-watercolored prints for the initial narration which recounts the story of a 6th century Chinese Emperor who experimented with kites and early manned flight by pushing prisoners out of a tower with makeshift wings. Adam and his team felt the intro was of monumental importance. “We needed to immediately set the tone of the film, and let the viewers know they were sitting down for more than just kite porn.” Perhaps conjecture, but Sir Richard Branson might have shared that exact concern. After all, he generously contributed his voice with the only requirement that he see the final version prior to release.

Adam approached the project as a test case for the future of documentary action sports cinema. “We never once kidded ourselves that this film would generate much money for us, although we thought if it broke even that would be great.” It’s rare for such an immense project to have such low financial goals, but maybe that’s what has allowed Adam to experiment with new distribution methods. A quick survey of kite shops indicated that lukewarm demand for DVDs wouldn’t be worth the effort. Instead, Adam turned to Tugg.com, a crowd-promotion tool that allows any shop or kite club to organize a premier. Tickets are sold in advance and the logistics of theatre size and location are arranged

by Tugg.com. Additional premiers have been organized in Hood River, San Francisco, Boston and St. Petersburg. The screening in Florida has outgrown the designated theatre size three times to

date. It’s great all around because local communities get an event to pull its members together and the boys get some of their money back. For those that want to watch the film in the privacy of their own home, the film has been released through Vimeo on Demand, a pay per view internet streaming service. As far as internet distribution goes, Vimeo’s 90/10 revenue split is generous compared to other platforms and the film can be viewed throughout the world without restrictive territorial requirements. Despite the early dissapointment in crowdfunding, the boys are ultimately relying entirely on internetdriven technology to distribute the film.

It’s clear that as the With a Kite project continues to work its way out of the red, the real goal for Adam and his crew was to set a precedent. “If we could produce a feature length documentary on kiting it would open the door for future projects of this caliber,” says Adam. Skeptics of wakestyle riding may focus on the irony of making a broader audience documentary on what some may perceive as a niche aspect of the sport, but in all honesty, Adam seems to pull it off. With a Kite isn’t just the Triple-S crew patting themselves on the back. It’s a film that reaches for the outsider. The surfers of our world as well as old school big air kiters are invited to follow the development of the Triple-S from a casual jam session to a worldrenowned professional event. Its characters, rather than glorified, are pulled to our level to explain their part in the building of a competitive institution and the progression of wakestyle to an audience that may never strap on boot bindings, unhook or hit a kicker.

When Adam and Davey recounted how each showing had been different, some audiences rowdy and others more reserved, it was the similarities that told them they had achieved their larger artistic goal.

At each premier the crowd had laughed in all the right spots and had grown silent with awe as their characters grinded through dramatic moments. Standing behind the Baja audience as the credits rolled, to Adam and Davey these were signs that they had hit their mark and it was time for one more celebratory beer.

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THE SCENE

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1. Foils and shallow water don’t mix, so Adam Withington improvises. PHOTO TKB STAFF 2.

Adam Koch flies high with his foil taking home hang-time bragging rights in Los Barrilles.

PHOTO TKB STAFF 3. Paul Porter, Marina Chang, Grom Gormley and friends enjoy some late night laughs at Baja Joes. PHOTO TKB STAFF 4. The next generation - Ewan Bascunana Dulac ready to roll in Reunion Island. PHOTO GUSTAV SCHMIEGE 5. We are the champions…

Lord of the Wind 2014 Winners lineup. PHOTO TKB STAFF 6. Davey Blair scratches his head and ponders jib hits in his near future. PHOTO TKB STAFF 7. Bryan “Bernie” Lake moonlights as a tamale cook-off judge in Baja. PHOTO TKB STAFF 8. Alex Blochinger presides over an army of Slingshot kites in Los Barriles. PHOTO TKB STAFF 9. Ike Frans, Dennis Gijsbers, Filippo van Hellenberg Hubar, Camilla Ringvold and Max Blom pose somewhere in the middle of their epic Atlantic crossing. PHOTO ENABLE PASSION 10. Hitching a ride: Blake Olsen and Charlotte Mk Schou horsing around on an Axis shoot. PHOTO ISAIAH DOWNING 11. Brandon Scheid scores a rare snowkite session on the sandbar in the Hood River. PHOTO GOPRO SELFIE 12. Can you still call this a ‘walk of shame’ when you are on your honeymoon?

Congrats to newlyweds Will and Ashley Burnside for tying the knot in La Ventana. PHOTO JIM STRINGFELLOW 13. La Ventana home team posing before the Foiling Gold Cup at Playa Central. PHOTO TKB STAFF 14. Rules are rules at the annual Beer Pong Championships at Palapas Ventana, La Ventana. PHOTO TKB STAFF 15. Zach Wilson of Explore Sports cruising the Saskatchewan prairies. PHOTO GOPRO SELFIE 16. Laura Meyer gets some last minute coaching from Mike Olness before heading out to her heat at the Lord of the Wind. PHOTO TKB STAFF 17. Hope Levin, pictured here in Los Barriles, joined the Naish International Team after storming the Lord of the Wind 2014. PHOTO TKB STAFF 18. TKB Editor at Large, Alexis Rovira tests the buoyancy of the 2014 Freeride gear. PHOTO TKB STAFF 19. Sensi Graves is all smiles in shore pound. PHOTO VINCENT BERGERON 20. In good company – Industry reps, Dave Tyburski, Jake Cook and Dan Schwarz comparing notes in Baja. PHOTO TKB STAFF 21.

Evan Netsch and his dad pose for girlfriend Ayla in southern Baja. PHOTO TKB STAFF 22.

Rachel Callahan and Jake Cook guide a blindfolded Billie Kipling to his next beer via radio.

PHOTO TKB STAFF If you have a photo you would like to see in The Kiteboarder Magazine, send it to editor@thekiteboarder.com.

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Fly

Trip

Light Wind Freeride

Travel/ Freeride/Wave

Size: 15 The Fly is an exceptionally lightweight, freeride kite designed specifically to provide a smooth yet powerful ride in light to marginal wind conditions.

It has amazing low-end power due to its proven two-strut, easy-handling design, which also provides superior turning and control, allowing riders to practice their maneuvers no matter how light the wind is.

The Fly’s new reduced leading edge taper adds rigidity to the wing tip, moving the axis of rotation closer to the center of the kite, resulting in sharper turning and a more precise bar feel.

In addition, the Fly utilizes a swept back wingtip and anti-stiction window, improving water relaunch.

Sizes: 8, 10, 12 The Trip is a cutting-edge, strutless kite that is ideal for intermediate-to-advanced riders who want a versatile kite that surpasses expectations.

Its simple, no-strut design delivers the wind range of a larger kite while retaining the fast, precision turning of a smaller kite. It provides incredible low-end, yet manageable power, while its immediate and direct bar feel allows effortless jumping, wave riding, and cruising.

In addition, the Trip packs up 30% smaller than a kite with struts, so it makes the perfect travel companion.

Now available in 8, 10 and 12m sizes to accommodate different rider sizes and weights.

Recommended Control System: Universal Control System

Recommended Control System: Base Control System reduCed Leading edge taPer

evoLutive ProfiLe

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StrutLeSS deSign

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SwePt ComPaCt C

Low drag wing tiP

ComPaCt Storage

ComPaCt C

Low drag wing tiP

anti-StiCtion window

Power foiL CanoPy

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Power foiL CanoPy

oCtoPuS infLation SyStem

mini-BattenS

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anti-StiCtion window

Pacific Boardsports LLC • info@pacificboardsports.com • (509) 493-0043

Introducing the 2014/15 NaIsh KIte ColleCtIoN

ride

draFT

All-around Freeride Sizes: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14

High Performance Freeride/Big Air/Race

The Ride is for everyday kiteboarders looking for ease and simplicity.

Sizes: 7, 9, 10.5, 12, 14, 17

The incredibly lightweight, two-strut design provides superior low-end performance due to its fuller center section, creating a drifting effect while maintaining smooth power delivery throughout turning.

It also has a slightly flatter arc compared to other kites, which gives it more punch when sheeting-in and provides easy jumping along with that nice “sheet-in and go” feel.

The Ride has a new wing tip shape with increased leading edge curvature, which reduces the surface area allowing the kite to rotate with less drag on the water, resulting in an even easier water relaunch.

In addition, the Ride also features faster inflation and smaller packing for easy transport due to its fewer amount of struts, so it can travel anywhere and be the first kite to get out on the water.

Recommended Control System: Base Control System

The Draft is a high performance freeride kite that generates powerful lift for boosting big airs and long gliding jumps.

It features a state-of-the-art airfoil design that excels at hooked-in riding, upwind performance, and competitive speed. The Draft’s new reduced leading edge taper adds rigidity to the wing tip, moving the axis of rotation closer to the center of the kite, resulting in sharper turning and a more precise bar feel.

It has five struts on the 7, 9, 10.5, and 12 sizes for optimum performance and added control in strong winds & three struts on the 14 and 17 sizes for light wind performance, smooth power delivery, and faster turning.

Recommended Control System: Universal Control System & Race Control System

two-Strut deSign

radiaL Segmented arC

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reduCed Leading edge taPer

evoLutive ProfiLe

SoLid frame ConStruCtion

SwePt ComPaCt C

Low drag wing tiP

anti-StiCtion window

StatiC BridLe PLatform

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Power foiL CanoPy

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SwePt oPen C

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3 StrutS

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5 StrutS

>Naishkiteboarding

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naishkites.com

MANY KITEBOARDERS IN NORTH AMERICA LIKE TO THINK THAT MOST OF THE SPORT’S EARLY DEVELOPMENT HAPPENED HERE. While a lot of groundwork for what would eventually become the sport of kitesurfing was laid in the US, as much or more of kiteboarding’s early development can be traced to France. Raphael Salles, owner at F-One, was a large part of kiteboarding’s initial push when he introduced the sport’s first production kiteboard in 1997.

Named after Raph’s windsurfing sail number (FRA-1), F-One has made a big name for itself with the Bandit, the first delta kite, and with a series of stylish kitesurfing movies distributed for free online. Having never taken investor money, Raph remains the sole owner at F-One and leads the product development efforts at the company. Lovingly referred to as “The Boss,” Raph has developed a reputation for not letting anyone else tell him how to run his company. Those who don’t know him or French culture well, might chalk that up to French arrogance, yet Raph’s leadership at F-One is anything but. Each decision he makes is well-thought-out and he is the first to admit that he has made mistakes.

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Relatively soft spoken, confident, and quick to laugh, Raphael Salles now runs a globe-spanning company with a wide range of kiteboarding, SUP, and soft good products. Raph is personally involved in the development of each product sold by F-One. I sat down with Raph in Mauritius during the 2014 F-One dealer meeting and asked him to take me back to the beginning.

s nd Photo Words a Lang

By Paul

Raphael commits to his rail in this bottom turn at Anakao, Madagascar in 2009. Photo Gilles Calvet

Raph at the wheel with Mitu, F-One photographer Gilles Calvet, and Celine Rodenas buried in back.

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Raph in 1999 on the 215, the first production kiteboard ever. Photo Bernard-Biancotto

When and how did you begin kitesurfing?

In 1996 I had already been windsurfing for 20 years. I had been on the world tour and had been doing windsurfing competitions since the early ‘80s. Then I had to stop my windsurfing career. After living the life of a pro windsurfer I was suddenly stuck in my hometown of Montpellier, on the Mediterranean in the south of France. It was a big change from having spent three months every year in Maui. We get strong winds in Montpellier but no big waves and I really missed the action. I was looking for something new when I heard that Manu Bertin was kiting.

Manu was an ex-pro French windsurfer and we used to be on the same team. I got together with a guy who owned a power kite shop in Montpellier and said, “OK, I know a lot about windsurfing. You know a lot about kites. Let’s try to go kitesurfing.” I had never even seen a kitesurfer. I had only seen a video of Cory Roeseler kiting on skis. I shaped a few prototype boards and started kiting. That was in the summer of 1996.

Why did you stop your windsurfing career?

Because that was the end, you know? You have to stop sometime after doing it for so long.

Also, the windsurfing industry was declining in the ‘90s and it was getting more and more difficult to find a sponsor. Early in my career I was focused on getting good results. In 1985 I was ranked number three overall on the world cup tour. Robby Naish was first, Alex Aguera was second, and I was third. Later in my career, I really wanted to become a product manager, but I couldn’t find any open positions. So, I started my own company and made my own windsurf boards. I was making custom boards and five different models of production windsurf boards. That is how F-One was started, but by the mid-‘90s I had no chance to grow F-One as a windsurfing brand due to the decline of the industry. Because I was already making boards at an overseas factory, it was really easy to make a production kitesurf board. In 1997 we became the first company to make a production

kitesurfing board. At first we were making both windsurf and kitesurf boards, but the demand for kitesurf boards was huge, so I stopped making windsurf boards. I wasn’t really windsurfing anymore anyways. I was fully into kiting.

Do you remember when you decided to really focus on kitesurfing? At first our only goal was to go upwind. I told myself that I would really dedicate all my energy to kitesurfing if we could get upwind. It took us seven months to learn how to do it.

Can you tell me about the first F-One production board? It actually doesn’t look all that different from surfboards kiters ride now.

Our first production board was the 215. I bet if I had one here I could take it out at One Eye. It was really close to a surfboard but with a flatter rocker line to get on a plane and go upwind easier. Then we moved away from the surfing spirit. The mutant came, then the twin tip, but we’ve had a directional surfboard in our range every year since the beginning.

Not many riders in North America were aware of F-One until the introduction of the original Bandit, the first delta-style kite.

Where did the idea come from? That was a huge moment for F-One. With Sylvain Peretti, our kite designer at the time, we were trying to figure out how to design a kite that would have a lot of depower but stay stable. We also wanted to keep the C-shape of the kite and not make the kite flat. We tested different things and we were really surprised when we tested the first delta. Relaunching was incredible, stability was incredible, and the wind range was huge. We had a new design that seemed so good for so many things that I decided to concentrate on it.

We took a big risk as a company and decided to only offer one kite model the year we released the first Bandit. Everyone at the office was really scared and they asked each other, “What’s Raphael doing?” After a few months the Bandit was such a great success that we were really happy about our decision.

Delta is a term that gets thrown around a lot. How do you define a delta kite? The main thing is the angle of the kite at the center strut.

The delta angle has to start at the center strut. If the leading edge is straight and the tips have a lot of curve, that isn’t a delta kite to me.

There’s been a trend lately towards bridles with no pulleys, but the Bandit bridle still uses pulleys. What is your opinion on this?

The balance we have on the Bandit with the pulley bridle is super difficult to manage and get right. I know some people don’t think so, but it’s actually easier to make a good bridle without pulleys than with them. We’ve tested many bridles with pulleys and without. A bridle with no pulleys takes us one-tenth of the time to get right as a bridle with pulleys but we haven’t

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been happy with the end results. To design a delta kite with a pulley bridle takes a huge team and a lot of time. We are completely focused on it and still it’s incredibly difficult to get the balance right.

The extended F-One family at Beauduc near Marseilles in Southern France.

Can you describe your design and testing process? Mika Fernandez and I work together on testing. Mika is an amazing rider and he’s passionate about it. When we go on the water we love to test all day. To find a high-level rider like Mika who also loves R&D is very unique. We have to prepare for our testing season like you would prepare for a world championship. It takes a lot of training and time on the water to develop the sensitivity to feel the differences between kites. We mainly test kites in the 9m size at the beginning and we try to push them to limits beyond what our customers will do. We use them in 10-12 knots to see what we can do with the low end and we also push them to 40-45 knots in the south of France where the wind is super gusty. By pushing those extreme limits we see what we can do to the kite to improve it. With our kite designer Robert Graham we try to get a set of prototypes every week. We typically get a new set from China every Friday, get in the van, and drive to where it is windy. We test Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday. By Sunday afternoon Robert is working on new designs to send to China so we’ll have them by the next Friday. Last year the weather was great and we were able to find wind to keep up that pace for two months straight. It was really tough during that time. There was no family life, only testing.

Do you find it hard to stay motivated during the testing process? I love kitesurfing, testing, and R&D. I’ve managed to find a way to mix all my passions together in the same activity.

Every time we get a new prototype we can’t wait to get to the beach with it to see if we made good design changes or not. The process is intense, but as soon as we know we are done and we are happy with what we accomplished I go on vacation and don’t touch a kite for one or two weeks. Then when I come back it’s time to start preparing for our annual dealer and importer meeting. That’s a lot of work in the office so I don’t get to kite then either. At the meeting I get to go back on the water while using the final products and have fun sharing them with our distributors, dealers, and team. But, after three weeks of using the same product everyday at the meeting, I feel a need to test again.

Some riders think that people who work in the kiteboarding industry have easy jobs. What are some of the big challenges in running a kite company? That is a difficult thing for us because it’s hard to always know what the consumers are thinking. At F-One I am the boss. I own 100% of the company and don’t have to answer to any investors. I think that gives me a different position compared to other brands. I go to the beach and see my customers everyday. The French market is huge, maybe the largest in the world. I feel like I have a good understanding of what kitesurfers are doing and what they want. But it’s hard to know what they really think about us sometimes. France has a different mentality than many other countries. If you have a lot of success here, sometimes people aren’t very happy for you. If you make a lot of money in the USA you are a star. If you make a lot of money in France there’s an assumption that you got it unfairly.

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I think some consumers think we just make a drawing on paper, send it to China, and get a perfect product back that makes us a lot of money. It’s not true, but how can we explain what we do? We work with our kite factory as a partner. We’ve had the same one since the beginning of F-One. I really believe that good business is not screwing other people. If my producer

is not making enough of a margin to get by I will suffer and so will our products. For that reason I feel like I can’t be really demanding with prices. It’s the same with our distributors. If you take the price of a kite in Europe, the one who makes the biggest margin is the government with their VAT (Value Added Tax). They take 20% of the final price. That’s more than the factory, F-One, the distributor, and the dealer get. Other sports like snowboarding and mountain biking have similar problems, but in kiteboarding it seems consumers are more demanding regarding price. The same person might spend a few thousand euros on a mountain bike without question but then ask us to explain why kiteboarding gear has to cost so much. It’s true that maybe we need to educate the market more about why a kite is so expensive.

You mentioned that you still completely own F-One and don’t have any investors to answer to. Do you think this puts you in a different position than other companies?

We are like we are and we can’t change it and can’t plan it.

My freedom when I wake up every morning is much more

important to me than making more money. My wife Sophie is involved in the company. She takes care of all the accounting and many other things. Together we’ve always been careful to not try to grow too fast. When we made the first production kiteboard I said to my Sophie, “We need to still be here in 15 years.” It’s hard to do that if you let the company double in size every year. We’ve had really slow and controlled growth while maintaining our freedom. That’s very important to me – I definitely have a personality that doesn’t like to be told what to do by other people. Let’s say I played the lotto and won millions of euros. If that happens I will have a design team only for myself. I will keep doing R&D because I love it so much and not even worry about selling what I develop. What I am doing now is what I like. Then I try to sell products mainly because I need money to keep doing the R&D. How do you decide what products to develop? I try to only develop kitesurfing products that are necessary for our sport.

That’s why the Bandit is our one main kite model. If I don’t think I need three different models of kites to go kitesurfing I

Raph enjoying the break in R&D with the camaraderie of Gauthier Pheby, F-One’s Export Manager and US Importer Nico Osterman.

Mika and Raph dueling on early Bandit 7 prototypes.

accessories, so it’s not much more work for me to test these things. But there is a lot of work in the design and production of these products. We moved to a new office last year and that gave us the space to hire the people we needed to do this work. In our old office we just didn’t have enough room to add people to the team. Now our team has almost doubled in size and we have enough room for everyone.

The new Manera line includes just one harness model. Is the Manera design philosophy similar to F-One’s? Yes. I always try to focus on one thing and make it the best.

For a harness it’s not too difficult to make one and make it good for all disciplines. We could have easily just made another harness similar to most harnesses out there but with our logo on it.

But that isn’t fun for me. I always feel the need to improve products the best I can. Basically, I designed my own harness because I could never find a harness I really liked. We decided to make a harness our own unique way and bring something new to the market. That’s much more interesting to me than just releasing a harness that offers nothing new.

won’t develop them. But sometimes I’m wrong. We invested a lot of time into the Source, a two-line kite to use with a SUP board. I had so much fun with that product, but it wasn’t a success on the market. I don’t really like to follow the trends. I like to try to create the trends sometimes, and that’s the best you can do in product development. The customer doesn’t ask for it, but you imagine you need it for yourself. Then you imagine that other kitesurfers will need it. Then you create it and customers buy it. That’s when we’re doing our job really well, but it doesn’t happen everyday.

F-One has just one main kite model, the Bandit. Why not offer more models? I am often asked this question and my response is this: Why do you need more? That’s the important question to me. If you have a kite with huge range, enough power and depower, incredible bar feeling, and good turning abilities, what discipline can you not do? I don’t know. Maybe the extreme ends of full unhooked tricks and racing. But the rest, wave riding, strapless, hang time, freestyle, and freeriding, you can do with one kite. It’s hard to get all the right qualities into a kite, but it is possible. We spend so much time and energy into putting all those qualities into the Bandit that we don’t think we need more than one kite model.

You recently launched Manera, a new brand for soft goods. Why not release these products under the F-One brand? F-One is boards and kites – things far away from the human body. Manera products are things that touch your body like harnesses, wetsuits, sunglasses and sunscreen. It’s a new set of products for me and it has been an interesting challenge. If I go to the beach I need a harness, wetsuit, and all the other

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I’ve had the chance to travel with you and the F-One team a number of times and each time we get together it feels like a big family. How have you managed to keep that sense of family with your business? It’s a family business. I’m here and my wife has been here since the first day. Now my son has joined the company. That was a surprise for me, as I didn’t know if he was interested in working with his mom and dad. As a family business since the beginning, we really consider our distributors to be part of the family too along with our pro riders.

That’s the way we want it, you know? To get on the F-One team you need to grow up with us like a kid. That’s why we have our Next Generation team. Sophie and I really try to keep that family feeling. It causes problems sometimes because it can be hard to handle business with friends and family if there is an issue.

We want to do business and have a good company, but it’s very important that we maintain a nice attitude and good feelings with the people we work with. Sometimes people try to force us in a direction we don’t want to go and they think they can get their way if they just bring us a certain amount of business. Sometimes in this situation we stop doing business with those people. For Sophie and me, no matter what it costs us, we won’t be pushed in a direction we don’t want to go. Frankly, we could have grown faster as a business if we accepted terms we didn’t want. All that freedom we talked about earlier is very important to us. Right now F-One is strong and we feel very safe. Money can’t bring you happiness, but it can give you the freedom to choose what you do. I’ve never really wanted to make more money with F-One, but I do wish I could find a way to have more time.

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Close is good, too close not so good. Reo Stevens pauses to admire nature’s wonders in Southern Chile. photo: Tim Davis

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©2014 Patagonia, Inc.

Van living - I don’t have to mow the lawn in my backyard, just launch my kite. Photo Lance Koudele

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By Eric Rienstra

THIS GYPSY LIFE I LEAD STARTED THE MOMENT I STEPPED ON STAGE TO RECEIVE MY HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA. Aside from not tripping, all I could think about was my family’s camper van in the parking lot. The thing was sick, the roof was bubbled out so you could stand up, it had a huge water tank for showers, a small but functional kitchen, pull out queen beds, and a heater. Imagine all that jammed into the footprint of a regular parking spot. It was dad’s ingenious design and now it was mine. All my kite gear was packed and I had my board shorts on underneath my dorky graduation robe. In just hours I would drive off into the wind, not that I hadn’t been following it all my life. Being the son of two windsurfers, my family was no stranger to chasing wind. We had already followed it to places like the Gorge, Baja, Hawaii, and all over California. Only now it was just me. My path would be my own and I would travel it alone.

Since that day I have never looked back. It has been a trend of mine to always travel forward. By that I mean never returning to the place I was immediately before. My life has been a series of one-way tickets, a steady migration, chasing the dream of endless summer. Everything I possess fits in my travel bags. On some level, my kite bags are a ball and chain.

Yet I am as free from the bonds of material possession as anyone can be and therefore I can pick up and go wherever I want at any time, and

that is exactly what I do. I rent short term apartments, crash on friend’s couches, live in vans, get hotel rooms, camp, and sometimes sleep on my board bag at the airport. My concept of home is more than just a place; it’s a state of motion, a constant blur of riding, exploring and connecting with people from all walks of life. In that spirit, I’m going to share with you some of my experiences from this last year starting with Hatteras in the month of June.

I tossed a peace sign to the cheering crowd as I stood on the podium next to my Slingshot teammates Sam Light and Alex Fox. We had just swept the 2013 Real Triple-S Invitational Slider and Overall Divisions. Some might call the win bittersweet, as I had crushed my leg riding a few hours earlier.

Hobbling onto the podium in the midst of a raging awards ceremony kept my mind in the present, running interference on the disappointment of having to bow out on the video shoot I had planned with Nate Appel the

According to Eric, “The van seemed a lot bigger back then.” Photo Rienstra Family Archives

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No speed limit at Nitro City.

Photo Josh Pietras

week after the event. Injuries, as much as they suck, couldn’t get me down in that moment. In this line of work, we push our bodies to the limit. Torn muscles, broken bones, and superficial lacerations happen in extreme sports and if they don’t then you have to ask, hopefully before your fans and sponsors do, whether you are pushing your envelope. Sure, in hindsight this one could have been avoided, but that requires looking back. I only move forward. Right then I was on top of the world with my friends all around me.

I’d have plenty of time to worry about my leg later.

Just because you are injured doesn’t mean you are useless to your team; you can still help out behind the lens. After a month of playing camera man on California’s Central Coast for Slingshot’s surf ripper Patrick Rebstock, my leg was feeling better and I was ready to get on a board again. So I hopped in the camper van and headed up to the Columbia River Gorge.

The scenery and plethora of activities available to kiteboarders make it one of my favorite places to visit, particularly in my van. Waking up on beachfront realty with the trees rustling and the Slider Project Kite Park just out my door, empty, just waiting for me, makes it my personal heaven.

Most people have to drive to the beach, franticly clearing their desks and dropping off the kids in a race to beat the crowd and catch the wind before it dies, all the while wondering if they grabbed everything they need. Not me. I’m already at the beach, every earthly possession within arm’s reach and ready to score the best that these summer Gorge days have to offer.

Sure van living can get a little claustrophobic at times but I don’t actually live in the van, I just sleep in it. When I’m not at the beach I spend all my time at restaurants, bars, coffee shops, friends’ couches and the Slingshot HQ office. It’s mostly about the people, but these just happen to be great places to poach internet and bathrooms as well.

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My days are spent at the Kite Park or crashing one of the Gorge’s ample events like the Huckfest, Bridge of the Gods, KB4C, or the Blowout. As a Slingshot team rider, hanging in their backyard makes the job easy. When the team comes to town for product R&D and next year’s marketing, I’m already there sans jet lag and ready to go. In July, I spent a couple weeks filming Slingshot’s web video “The Gorge,” along with Alex and Sam. All around cinematic bad ass Patrick Weiland had just been hired as Slingshot’s staff camera man and it was my first time getting to shoot with him. In the end, the retro style clip was one of the best videos I have ever been a part of. The boys stomped all four 720 variations and I landed one of the best Pete Rose 540s I have ever done despite my leg not being fully recovered!

After wrapping up the shoot, I was supposed to head over to Russia for the Rail Masters event.

However, my leg was still bothering me when it came time to book the flight, so I decided to save my money and hang around the Hood building new features and taking it relatively easy.

As the season started to wind down in the Gorge, Real Watersports invited me back to Hatteras to host a few freestyle/park camps during the month of October. So I hopped on a plane to North Carolina. I crossed the bridge onto Hatteras Island in the dead of night where the air was conspicuously empty. Between the two villages of Nags Head and Waves there are almost no buildings, no towns, no lights; only wilderness, only darkness. From the top of the bridge the moonlight could be seen glimmering off the smooth glass of the slicks to the west, as well as the lines of swell breaking to the east. Moments of beauty and solitude while on the road are awesome, but too much tranquility defeats the purpose of my travel.

That’s why I was disappointed to pull up to the A-frame apartments and not be greeted by

JOSH PIETRAS

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VINCENT BERGERON

Eric with Slingshot crew Sam, Alex, and Victor, getting ready to shoot with Patrick Weiland in Manta, Ecuador.

Photo Christian Black

one of the usual frat like parties that Real’s employee housing is known for. It was now fall season and everyone was back in school, a placid contradiction to the craziness I had left behind at the Triple-S Invitational. This late in the season the perfect southwest winds that light up the Real Slick are rare, giving way to more northerly breezes. Although riding in the slick is my passion, Hatteras is a diverse place and the ocean side of the island goes off in the fall. If I am really desperate to lace up my boots, I can still set up the park and ride flat water on the backside of the Real Slick.

Places like Hatteras are essential to my lifestyle. Coaching for Real allows me to ride in an amazing location while making a few extra bucks passing on the skills I have learned over the years. Inspiring and teaching others is a great feeling, especially when they are young kids that will become the future of our sport. I would shred with the campers all day, stopping only for a burrito from Waves Deli. After all the lessons and camps were done and the offices closed for the day, the whole Hatteras crew would take to the water, dancing in the slick under the fiery sunsets Hatteras is renowned for. Then, as the last sliver of sun disappeared over the horizon, the other slider park rangers and I would tow the park features back to Real’s boat basin and head to Waterman’s Bar and Grill to grab a drink and revel in the adventures of the day.

Normally I would stay put for at least a month, but after two weeks in Hatteras, Slingshot decided to send the team to Ecuador for 10 days to shoot some of the 2014 product line.

The team met up in Miami and we all got on a plane. John Pereira, Slingshot’s ambassador for South America, arranged for us to stay with Davo Hildago, the local Slingshot distributor and owner of Ocean Freaks Kite School in the city of Manta. After a 3-hour drive from the airport we arrived at Davo’s house and broke open the rum we had bought at duty free.

Liquor is a lot more expensive in Ecuador so we made sure to stock up. The Slingshot team has always been notorious for being a little

wild when they get together and the crew was ready to live up to our reputation.

We awoke the next day a little rough around the edges but ready to shred. After checking out Davo’s school and meeting some of the local crew we pumped up and hit the water. It was warm, the wind was smooth, and there were some nice kickers rolling in. We had Weiland shooting video and Christian Black in the water shooting photos. Riding with your whole team in a photo/video shoot is a one of a kind experience.

Everyone feeds off each other and we get amped every time someone stomps a sick trick for the camera. At the end of the day you feel a sense of accomplishment and camaraderie far greater than anything you might get from riding alone.

There’s a good feeling about being a piece of a much greater puzzle, especially when that puzzle is a top kiteboarding brand like Slingshot.

During team photo shoots our days are committed to a rigorous schedule, but the nights offered plenty of time to hit the town and show the Ecuadorians how the Slingshot team throws down off the water. After getting kicked out of a few clubs and narrowly escaping brawls with the bouncers, we limped back home and rested up for the days of shooting that lay ahead. On one of our last nights, Davo set up a music stage and bar at his school and threw a huge beach party for all the local riders called Fly Fest.

We performed a little riding exhibition for the partiers and raged well into the night. Sorry I can’t share many of the details; what happens on a Slingshot trip stays on a Slingshot trip.

Photo shoots are important for exposure, but the real progression in my riding comes from riff sessions with friends off the record. For this purpose, I headed to Brazil after Ecuador. I had been there last year and was frothing to shred the perfect lagoons once again. The NA Blend Captains, Brandon Scheid, Sam Medysky, Craig Cunningham and I, rented out a few rooms in an apartment building just upwind of Taiba Lagoon.

It was perfect. From the top floor you could see the kites in the lagoon and we had a fortress wall around us; some sketchy stuff happens in

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Brazil, just ask Craig. Having the crew together in such an amazing spot was the perfect recipe for progression. Every session basically turned into a big game of “Monkey-See-Monkey-Do” or “One-Up.” Every time one of us would come up with a new variation or add another 180 the rest of us would get amped and go for it as well.

The only wrinkle this year was that the boys brought girlfriends, effectively killing the late night energy. WwuuuChhhhh, whipped! Wild animals being tamed by domesticity is hard to watch, but in all honesty I’m happy they have someone. When you’re always on the road it is hard to make room for much else, let alone long-term commitment. I’ve had my share of long distance relationships, but it amounts to a whole lot of talking to a computer screen and just doesn’t feel right. The opportunity to travel is both unique and fleeting. My job is to explore the people as well as the riding, and talking to the glow of a screen for hours each night is no replacement for real personal connections and experiences in the present.

I could die tomorrow, so I live every day like it’s my last and hold nothing back. Sure there is no guarantee that I will find connections far better than a familiar face on Skype everywhere I go, but when I do connect with someone, it is truly an out of this world experience. There’s no substitute for pushing the boundaries of the fleeting present, the meaning of life becomes clear as the past and future melt away for the most intense appreciation of the moment. Just as mortality makes life precious, the mortality of my connections makes them far more precious to me.

After a couple weeks of messing around in the flat water of the lagoon, our photographer Vincent Bergeron arrived and we started building some pipe rails. The local Brazilians steal anything left unattended so we designed portable rails that allowed us to set up lots of different combinations, but more importantly, we could transport our rails back to our compound. We set up in the shallows downwind of the lagoon so that we could have some privacy. Yes, it’s a little sketchy riding in such shallow water but crowd control is vital to photo shoots. By the end of the trip, Craig had a broken finger, Brandon had a broken hand, and my knee was tweaked again. You have to pay to play and injuries are a part of the game. But hey, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. The saying is a cliché, but so true.

The life of the traveling pro is a careful balance of minimizing expenses, staying a hair short of wearing out welcomes, and finding ways to keep it fresh. Panama has become a huge piece of that puzzle for me, although the place always tests my limits. Just driving through the city is a death defying gauntlet that you as a passenger have absolutely no control over.

Their local driving saying is “voy por que voy” or “I go because I go,” which to me sounds a lot like Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan. You need to switch lanes?

Just Do It! Need to stop in the middle of the road to talk to someone? Just Do It! Need to pass when there is no passing lane? Just Do It! It felt like my driver got us out of the city by the skin of our teeth, but for me the trouble had only just begun as we pulled through the gate of Nitro City Action Sports Resort. Nitro is the first resort of its kind. You can kite, wakeboard, skate, dirt bike, four-wheel, jet-ski, and shoot people with paintball guns all in one location. The trouble with all those possibilities is that I couldn’t pace myself. After the first 4 days I was so sore I could barely get out of bed.

There are no rules at Nitro, so you can get away with any kind of risky stunts that come to mind. When Travis Pastrana stops by with his crew we have a weeklong Nitro-style drinking marathon, aptly named Nitrothon. After countless zany challenges, the kite/wake team, Brian Grubb, Susi Mai, Batman, and I, took the title for the second year in a row! Then, after Pastrana’s Nitro Crew cleared out, Craig showed up with his new Phantom drone and we used it to film some wacky stunts like kiting in the pool, climbing the wall of the restaurant with a kite, jumping off the roof, and chugging a beer while doing doughnuts on an ATV (smart kids shouldn’t do this at home, do it at Nitro City where you can get away with it). Reckless stunts aside, it’s nice to take a break from

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Making the rail portable meant keeping the legs relatively short. Short legs require shallow water and crashing on this setup meant you had to be ready to tuck and roll. Photo Vincent Bergeron

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The NA Blend Crew trading off as operator of the Nitro City Cable Park in Punta Chame, Panama. Photo Josh Pietras

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the usual routine of learning new tricks and pushing your body to the limits. Instead, we just have fun chilling out and goofing around with friends. It is kind of like a reboot, and afterwards I’m always more amped than ever to get back on the water and push myself.

As my professional kiteboarding career has evolved, the one thing that I enjoy more and more is the last minute opportunities that present themselves. After a few months in Panama, I flew to the Cayman Islands to attend my first event of 2014, The Rock International Open. This is the Rock’s first year and regional events like this rarely offer enough prize money to cover the expenses of the trip. This places everyone under a lot of stress to perform well. But I’m not there just to win, that is not why I go to events. I’m there to make new friends and have a great time. If I had to worry about winning the event to keep from going broke it would be no fun at all. So in order to cover my expenses I arrived a few days early to host a freestyle clinic for the local riders.

Unfortunately there was no wind, so there was neither clinic nor prize money. You can’t sweat these things though, just reframe it and find the silver lining. What better time to be stuck on a tropical beach than when it is full of people dedicated to having a good time?

Amongst all the Cayman dinners and parties throughout the week, they premiered the feature length documentary With a Kite that I had been working on with Adam Boozer and Tim Tewell over the last year. I had not seen it yet myself and was tripping at the thought of being on a big screen. Walking out of the theater afterwards was surreal; I totally felt like a movie star signing autographs and posing for photos. Seeing all the younger riders inspired by something I was a part of made all the hard work and injuries worth it and made me proud of myself and all the boys who helped make the project possible.

The movie was the highlight of the week until the wind filled in all of a sudden on the last day.

With a sliver of a window for the competition, they had all the riders go out at once in an hour long jam format heat. Everyone was throwing down hard and stomping tricks left and right as the crowd cheered us on from the beach. Everyone was in a frenzy trying to one up the rider in front of them and everyone’s commitment was evident by some of the big and nasty crashes. In the end I was stoked to land a couple tricks I never have before and share the podium with my good friends Chris Bobyrk and Billy Parker. I didn’t make any money from the trip or ride a ton for that matter, but the experience was worth its weight in gold.

The cross training benefits of being able to kite and cable in the same location dramatically increases your rate of progression. Whether you are getting pulled by a kite or a cable, it’s the same kicker. Photo Josh Pietras

I don’t weigh the value of these experiences in prize money or podiums and I’m lucky because I don’t have to. My roots are in the freedom to think, to choose and to wander. These years of travel have been a mild rebellion against society’s oppressive conventions. Vagabond, gypsy, nomad, it doesn’t matter what I call myself, it’s the essence of living for the moment and the freedom to choose the immediate future that puts me at rest. This is an exciting time of the year for me.. The Triple-S is just around the corner and the cycle will start all over again. If you’re wondering whether I get exhausted from all this travel, if I crave some fraction of normalcy, a house, possessions greater than my kites and a computer – I don’t.

My sense of home is abstract; it’s shattered and spread all over the globe. Each of my friends and family hold a piece of my home in their hearts. So if home is where the heart is, my heart is in the wind.

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PROFILED

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AGE: 28 YEARS KITING: 4 years FAVORITE SPOTS: Cape Hatteras and the Lagoons of Brazil SPONSORS: Axis, RRD, Mystic, Reflekt Polarized

Adam Super got his first stunt kite when he was 11-years-old and it was love at first sight.

As the years progressed so did his passion for kite flying and he eventually moved up to a 2-line 5m power kite with wrist straps. Little did he know that this was to be the foundation for his training as a kiteboarder which would later lead him to get sponsored by RRD and Axis along with landing an industry job with Deep Blue Sports.

Adam took one water lesson in 2005 but it wasn’t until the winter of 2007 that he learned it was possible to kite on the snow too. An avid skateboarder and snowboarder, he took a snowkite lesson with Eric Gustafson in Utah.

Persistent, Eric finally gave him a kite and told him if he could make it to a bush and back, he would only charge him for the kite rental and teach his girlfriend, now fiancée Heather Sluka as well. Adam did it without knowing he had just achieved his first upwind ride. Eric looked at him with full sincerity and said, “You really need to kite and should get into the sport anyway you can.” It was just the motivation Adam needed.

It wasn’t until the spring of 2009 that Adam finally experienced kiteboarding on water. He had met James Ropner while snowkiting in Utah and was helping to deliver a car to him that he had left in Salt Lake City. Looking at the surf at Pismo Beach as he put on a wetsuit for the first time, Adam was petrified. He had very little ocean experience and had no frame of reference as he had never wakeboarded before.

He flailed through a few waves but thinks the notion of being eaten by sharks got him back to the shore. Adam says that this was one of the most exciting days of his life. All his previous kite experiences had come together for him on the beach that day.

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ISAIAH-DOWNING

That May Adam moved to Hatteras. He had no money and no home, but he packed his bags and was determined it would work out. Adam set his sights on working for Kitty Hawk Kites and walked straight into the store and met with manager Chris Moore. After countless sessions progressing his riding and much persistence, he got a job with Kitty Hawk weeks after completing his PASA instructor certification course.

Adam said, “Working at Kitty Hawk Kites built the foundation for me to take my current position at Deep Blue Sports (DPS). Chris Moore’s drive for professionalism and his ability to teach was very inspirational to me. Working so closely with him opened all of the doors that led me to where I am today and what he taught me will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

Now the technical representative at DPS, Adam is excited to see what the future will bring.

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PROFILED

PAULA ROSALES

AGE: 24 YEARS KITING: 4 years FAVORITE SPOTS: Seco Island Philippines, Cape Hatteras Slick and Paula’s home spot, Boracay Island SPONSORS: Roxy, DC Shoes, Tribu Outdoors, The Headware, GoPro PH, David Salon, and BEST Kiteboarding “Strive for excellence even if mediocrity is required.”

This is how Best Kiteboarding team rider Paula Rosales approaches life and it shows in everything she does.

Four years ago, Paula began the transition from wakeboarding to kiteboarding at a time when the Philippines was earning a reputation as an international kiteboarding destination. Paula was just starting to jump when “The Triple-S Gang” inspired her to incorporate her wakestyle roots into her riding. Influenced by pro riders like Mauricio Abreu, Moe Goold, Susi Mai, Tom Court and Andre Phillip, she was hooked and began her journey through competition and traveling with the goal of promoting the variety of conditions and unrivaled beauty her native country has to offer.

Paula was on Boracay when Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) hit in November of 2013. As a kid, she remembers the excitement of an approaching typhoon. It meant she could stay at home, play in the rain before the storm hit, then retreat to her family’s house to watch the chaos from inside while playing card games and reading books by candlelight. A category 5 storm was something completely different from anything she had experienced as a child. Always the optimist, Paula said Typhoon Yolanda’s raw energy scared the crap out of her but in the end, it lessened to a category 3 and reminded her what mattered most was that all her loved ones were alive. “It is amazing how Mother Nature teaches us lessons to live well in a new perspective, and she does it through all her beauty and fury. It truly cleanses away all the unnecessary if you look at the big picture.”

Paula stepped into immediate action after the typhoon hit and teamed up with Best Kiteboarding and the American Red Cross to spread the word and solicit help for victims of the storm. To this day she has a few ongoing projects with her sponsors for long-term relief efforts that help survivors deal with the mental and emotional after effects of Yolanda. Paula worked with sponsors such as Headware to come up with a limited edition Philippine’s flag headband for which the sale proceeds benefit ongoing Red Cross efforts. Other sponsors, Roxy and Quicksilver, have also been helping to rebuild towns with a focus on the surf and kite spots.

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ALEXANDRU BARANESCU

Another passion of Paula’s is her Girl on Fire Camp on Boracay Island, which she started two years ago.

She says, “The Girl on Fire Camp is about women empowerment. I’ve always been the only girl around in most of the sports I’ve done, not because others don’t want to do it but they just lacked confidence. The camp has opened its doors to local and foreign girls alike to communicate and inspire each other to have fun in and out of the water and includes girls that have inspired me and met in my travels as well as local girls from here in the Philippines.”

So far, 2014 is off to a great start for Paula. With one more stop to go she is currently ranked 3rd place overall in freestyle on the KTA tour and 1st on the Philippines Kite Tour (PKT) circuit. We’re excited to see what the rest of the year will bring this free-spirited, talented rider from the Philippines.

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YEARS OF

NAISH KITES Photos and Words by Stephen Whitesell

As the door rolls up, allowing the light to filter into Robby Naish’s man cave, it becomes obvious that this space is more than just a garage. Discounting the shiny new truck sitting front and center, you realize it is more of a time capsule. There is a ‘70s vintage Porsche 911 sitting near a dusty old tractor.

Windsurfing trophies and paraphernalia from Rob’s formative years are stacked haphazardly. In the back you’ll find the main reason for the time capsule analogy — row after row of boards.

Surfboards, windsurfers, tow boards, and kiteboards. Robby has kept virtually every kiteboard he ever rode or that Naish has produced. With all this gear at their disposal, Robby, Shawn and Jesse Richman, Kevin Langeree, Des Walsh (Naish R&D) and Lars Moltrup (Naish Product Developer) decided to take a look back at the gear that started this whole kite thing. This might be the only quiver in the world that could fully demonstrate the entire evolution of kite design, and the boys were excited to see how far the sport had come since the first Naish two-line kites hit the sky 15 years ago.

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Kevin Langeree boosts the X2 while grabbing a handful of mutant tip.

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Jesse Richman has his eye on Robby’s speed ski.

At the beach, with the team assembled and all the gear laid out, it was apparent that back in the day design concepts were all over the map. We were looking at old pickle forks, beefy directionals, twin tips with single fins at both ends, and mutants. It was amazing to see how refined today’s boards look in comparison.

Picking up a vintage twin tip, Lars Moltrup explained how the designs have changed over the years.

“Today’s boards are designed much smarter for the sport. Bottom shaping was pretty much non-existent back then. In the past few years, a lot of attention has been paid to the deck in order to reduce weight and controlling flex with strategic placement of carbon and glass. Of course, this is mainly with twin tips. The directional boards moved away from windsurfing-type rockers and shapes pretty early on and now more closely follow surfboard designs.”

Looking at the kites pumped up, the early models looked weak and primitive, but others didn’t look all that different from a modern C-kite. The X2 (2002), for example, was clean and refined. The construction looked as solid as a new kite. Having a master of R&D standing next to me, I asked Des what he could tell me about the differences between the X2 and a modern kite. He pointed out how the flying lines attached directly to the tips of the X2, and the length of the tips were narrow. “That caused the bar pressure to be very high,” he explained. “With the bridle systems now, even the minimal ones, it lightens up bar pressure feel and also allows for the tips to be angled back. That lets the kite relaunch much easier.”

While talking to Des the guys each grabbed something to try. Shawn Richman chose an X2 kite and a mutant board, and launched. It was immediately apparent how far kite design has come in just a few years. One second he was dragged towards the water, and the next the kite threatened to fall out of the sky in Maui’s gusty Kite Beach wind. By contrast, a tourist with a Naish Park was standing with his kite in the air, casually talking to his girlfriend with one hand on the bar, totally oblivious to the high drama of Shawn’s launch. Out on the water, it was obvious that Shawn was riding on the maxed-out side of the X2’s limited C-kite range. After a few big boosts that were reminiscent of the early years, he was back to the beach and handing off the kite to Kevin, who was taking out a pickle fork twin tip with boots. The hand off was a comedic affair with both riders being held down while two additional kiters manhandled the transfer of the kite. I asked Shawn his reactions to the kite. “It’s been a long time since I rode anything that old, but as soon as I launched the memories came flooding back. Even with Jesse holding me down, I was being dragged toward the rocks down the beach. Those old kites demanded a lot of respect. Man, I was actually scared a bit and that’s how it always was with those first kites. I haven’t been that out of control in a long time, a very long time.”

One of the more unique artifacts to come out of hiding was a single narrow ski that Robby used to set a world kiteboarding speed record in Grand Canaria back in 2003.

Robby saw the potential for pushing the speed envelope early on and way back then put down a speed record with the X3 kite that would stand for nearly a year.

According to Des, “The ski was really fun to ride but to go fast you really needed flat water.” The only record Des claims to have set that day was for the all time best face plant in Kite Beach’s choppy water.

It’s been said that nostalgia is a powerful emotion. We tend to look back on things from our earlier years through rose-colored glasses. When Robby called to tell me about this idea to fly the old gear, I was pretty sure that despite the improvements in modern kites, the old kites still jumped higher. And jumping higher was what got

me into kiting in the first place. Well, that bubble was burst as soon as Kevin Langeree got back to the beach.

“Man, I don’t really know what guys were trying to do when they made those kites,” he said. “They had so much power and turned so slow. It was mostly about boosting, I guess, but I really expected to go much higher.” Kevin was having a hard time holding his edge and with the kites turning so slowly he was finding it impossible to get some solid height. To our surprise, even those few things we thought the old equipment could do better proved to be much more challenging than we had thought.

Robby was next to go on a 1999 two-line AR 3.5 - his company’s first kite. For a board he chose a prototype to the 7’2” Sky Pirate. Watching him, it was apparent how much the early gear shaped riding styles. He was throwing big tabletops, donkey kicks and floating jumps. The heavy boards with sandwich construction, heel reinforcements, and thick glass jobs combined with slow kites makes early kiting look more like the offspring of windsurfing than of wakeboarding. The boards were big, heavy and took a lot of leg and ab strength to do any tricks in the air. The two-line kites were pretty easy to fly but lacked pop unless they were whipped up from very low in the window — much different from a modern kite.

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Robby takes a step back into vintage 2006 with a couple runs on the Shockwave.

As Robby explained it, the differences weren’t just in how the kites and boards felt. “The safety aspect has come a long, long way. Back then the bars were just an aluminum pipe with kitchen knobs attached to wind the lines around.” Looking back, Robby shakes his head at how dangerous it was in the very beginning. “The kites had so much power and the situations we got into were nuts. The wind range and the amount of depower of modern kites coupled with the quick release system allows so many more people to get into kiting easily and safely today.”

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Des Walsh summed it up nicely. “For anyone kiting in the early days, it was all about the stories.”

We all agreed because everyone who kited in the early days had a story because the kites were so powerful. According to Des, “You were guaranteed that something crazy could happen at any moment.

The kites demanded your respect and no matter how careful you were, the slightest mistake could have big consequences.” One of the major safety innovations in early kite equipment was the introduction of a push away safety system in 2002. Prior to this innovation, riders had to manually unhook the chicken loop from their spreader hook to engage the safety system. The X2 came with the quick release as well as a center safety line that replaced the bulky wrist leash. To Des, it was a whole different game. “Nowadays you can go out in 30 knots, ride around with fingertip control and not even get your hair wet. With the power from the old kites you needed big safety zones.“ Des pointed to the landscape of Kite Beach, “Today people ride close to each other, rocks, and objects without a single thought. Back then you had to have a stopping plan.” To the early kiters like Des, the older equipment brought back both a sense of excitement as well as a small dose of fear.

Des Walsh has been working at Naish since 1987, well before kiting was on the radar. This time machine ride on an AR 3.5 reminded Des of what an adventure it was to just go out and ride around.

The gap in performance and ease of use between the kites of 1999 and 2013 was mind blowing, yet the changes that occurred between model years was often remarkable as well. As we shifted our attention from the early years to the models that first featured the supported leading edge bridle, we found the depower to be vaguely familiar to their modern counterparts, but the bar pressure tended to be higher and the turning speed couldn’t hold a flame to the 2013 Ride we were passing around. While holding the 2006 Shockwave bar, most notable for its 2:1 pulley system, Des explained how this was the height of the ‘pull the bar in and jump without moving the kite’ days. “It was a very notable time in the development of kites, but I’m glad kite design has progressed to where it has today.”

It’s not every day that such a large and complete collection of kiteboarding antiquity can be carted out on the beach for back-to-back comparisons. After a full day of kiting down memory lane it was clear that whatever nostalgia we had harbored for the older equipment, it was no match to the versatility and userfriendly products Naish offers today. The older gear highlighted the true spirit of the early kite pioneers. As Robby recalled, “If you weren’t a full blown athlete or crazy, you didn’t want to try it.” The modern day learning curve is almost boring juxtaposed against the laundry list of hazards early pioneers encountered: Lofting, broken bars, frequent swims and the endless untangling of lines. However less adventurous, the steady improvements in wind range, depower and quick-release systems have been instrumental in the steady growth of the sport. Robby will likely keep collecting and when he looks back in another 14 years with the next generation of kiters at his side, who can say what they will think of the seemingly primitive performance of the Naish AR 3.5. Even if the barbaric challenges of two-line kites are lost on future kiters, for those that lived those early days, it will always be a badge of honor worth wearing.

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THE

LAST SUPPER

By Gavin McClurg | Photos Jody MacDonald

We’d given ourselves a year to pull it off and our time was up. Between the two of us we had $186 dollars. No car, no house, no dog, no job. And that’s what was so great. We had nothing to lose. We’d raised nearly a million dollars from people we’d never met for a boat that didn’t exist. But it wasn’t enough. We hadn’t met our goal. We had to give all the money back. The proverbial smoke but no cigar.

I looked across at Jody, poured her a glass of wine and we made a toast to one of the best years we’d ever lived. That fateful night came to be known as the Last Supper. It was the last week of October 2006 in Seattle, Washington.

Coincidentally, it was exactly one year prior to this night that we’d been walking on a beach in Thailand. We had a broken boat we couldn’t afford and 8 years of wandering the Pacific in our wake and all we knew was that we weren’t done. But we also didn’t know how we could continue. What we wanted seemed like an absurd proposition.

To sail and explore the world totally on our own terms; with a modern luxury yacht with cool people we wanted to spend time with; and get them to foot the bill!

We hatched a plan but had no idea how to execute it so we just purposefully stumbled along. The first order of business was selling the boat we had. After paying off all the debts we banked $35,000. With that money we figured we could move back to the States, live for a year, develop a website, create the contracts, get sponsors, set up the business and live our dream.

Our dream looked like this on paper: Our company, Offshore Odysseys, would buy a big catamaran with other people’s money. These people would in turn own shares in the company, giving them access to the boat each year for a planned 5-year expedition to circumnavigate the globe. Our theme would be kitesurfing. Kitesurfers only need wind to have a good time, and I knew a great deal about where to find wind.

My dad always told me that two things motivate people. Fear of loss, and need for gain. So we used them both. While we were desperate to sell the shares we made it look like gaining access to the expedition would only be made available to people who could prove they were worthy, and that only a

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Rob Born, part boat owner, scores a kitesurfing session in the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa.

very limited number of shares were available (fear of loss).

And then we appealed to a dream that many people share.

To sail the world. Time on this earth is limited and if you don’t do it now, you won’t do it (need for gain).

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By May we’d moved back to the States, the website was built, the contracts were ready and we were open for business. And not much happened. Every few weeks we’d sell a share, but we needed to sell a few every week to make our goal. We pressed on. We edited a video showing what people could expect, signed on sponsors, and spent a large chunk of our rapidly depleting funds on magazine ads. We worked insanely long hours and did a lot of headscratching but every aspect of what we were doing was entrepreneurial and creative and totally new which meant every day held a surprise. I remember trying to sell a share while hiding under a kite in 35-knot winds on the beach near Hood River, Oregon. The potential client said, “Well I’m pretty much ready to sign on, I just have one more question….what happens if you die?” I told him I’d have to get back to him on that one. But I never did, as I never figured it out. The truth was we’d be in a lot of trouble. But he bought the share.

And there we were, at the Last Supper. I looked over at Jody and confessed that we didn’t have enough money to live more than a few more days, that our year was up, that our dream was dead, that we needed to get real jobs. No disappointment registered in her eyes, and I know that none did in mine either. We’d had a stupidly good year albeit filled with mistakes and wrong turns but what story of success isn’t? I’d never sold a single thing in my life and we’d raised nearly a million dollars. No big deal for the guys on Wall Street, but a pretty big deal for us. To do it I learned I actually didn’t need to say anything when a potential client would call. Inevitably they would talk themselves into it. Selling dreams turns out to be pretty easy.

I emailed one of our investors who had become a close friend, and who was planning his retirement around the expedition. He asked me how many shares we needed to sell to make our goal.

It wasn’t many so he just bought them. Six days later I was on a plane to Europe and signed the contracts to buy Discovery, a 57 foot catamaran priced at nearly $1.2 million dollars. A month later I returned to Europe and closed the deal on the 20th of December, a few scant hours before Europe pretty much shuts down for a month. Nine hours later armed with a Leatherman, a month’s worth of food, not a single spare, no tools, no bedding, a single pot in the galley, and two crewmembers who had never sailed offshore, we

left Italy and sailed 4,600 miles across the Atlantic to begin The Best Odyssey.

I’ve told this story to a lot of people over the years but it still blows me away. I couldn’t believe it was happening at the time, and now that we completed it I sometimes wonder if it actually did.

Neither Jody nor I consider ourselves planners, but somehow we planned what is certainly one of the most complex expeditions that ever happened. If someone died, got hurt, or got ill the show had to carry on. No calling in sick, no taking a day off. At times I felt like I was living inside a pressure cooker that had no relief valve. More than once Jody and I had long, tearful, serious talks about pulling the plug.

But always these times would pass and be replaced with some of the most precious and happiest moments I’ve ever lived. I’m humbly proud of what we’ve achieved and at the same time scared that what we’ve achieved is only human, which succumbs like everything…to history.

I think our success hinged on three things. One, we never did it for the money. That was actually never even part of the equation. In fact all those years of the Best Odyssey my salary always just went right back into the boat as we were forever underfunded. If our priority was money we would have quit the first year. Our motivation

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A SHORT LIST OF SOME OF THE HIGH (LOW) LIGHTS:

• Total miles sailed: 54,000 (the distance of nearly two circumnavigations) • Circumnavigation completed: December 10, 2010 (near Cape Verde) • Countries visited: 50 • Total trips operated: 90 • Days with guests on board: 986 • Documented virgin kite locations: 148

Guilty as sin. There’s a law against kiting in the Panama Canal and apparently the canal cops take it seriously because they’re chasing down a rebellious Moises Niddam.

was always to see and share this precious earth with folks who brought their own unique gifts and passions to the expedition. Two, we appealed to the child in all of us.

Children have a natural wanderlust to experience the world that is all around them.

This curiosity is inevitably squeezed and diluted by the demands of the society in which we inhabit. Three, an unrelenting totally audacious work ethic. I think people who were not intimately familiar with the Best Odyssey imagined that Jody and I were firstly pretty well off. And secondly, that we were “living the dream.” The first I’ve already dispelled -- we were broke when we started and we weren’t much better when it all ended. The second was true, we were living the dream but even now as I write this more than 2 years after we finished the Best Odyssey I know I haven’t recovered from the output that was required for the expedition to run its course.

Those 5 years at sea filled my soul with moments too many and too precious to even catalog, but they also nearly broke me. The exhaustion, the stress, the pain that I went through to pull it off was something I thought would ease with time. It hasn’t.

But would I do it all over again? Of course!

I believe to provide a truly unique and special experience you have to walk a very fine line on the risk spectrum. There’s a reason there are so many boats in the BVI’s and the Mediterranean. I’m not knocking those places, but that was never our gig. We promised adventure, real adventure, the kind that takes imagination and confidence to go places that very few ever have. We could never promise what was going to happen because we had no idea ourselves. And it meant things were going to go wrong, which was kind of a double-edged sword. When things went wrong it made my job infinitely harder, but it would have been awfully boring if everything went right.

When the Best Odyssey ended in October 2011 Jody and I got on a plane to India to paraglide for a few weeks and get as far away from the ocean as we could. We were finished; we’d completed what we set out to do. We’d never once spoken or even thought about what was next. We never considered that Offshore Odysseys was much more than a name, let alone a company or a brand. When we got back from India, Pete Cabrinha called out of the blue and asked what we were doing next.

We had a boat that needed an awful lot of work before we could sell her, and the market for boats was dismal. The company had a ton of debt; we were wracking up a bill we couldn’t pay in a Spanish boat yard. Things looked pretty bleak and I didn’t have an answer. “Why don’t you guys do it again?” Pete questioned.

And just like that our whole perspective shifted. We’d built something without even realizing it. All the media, press, videos, articles and captain’s logs I’d written after all those trips gave us access to even more people with the dream of disappearing over the horizon.

• Dinghies destroyed: 2 • Trips cancelled or delayed: 0 • Money spent on food: $123,321.00 USD • Approximate bottles of beer consumed: 4,320 • Staff infections suffered by Jody and Gavin: 23 • Reefs Gavin planted on: 3

• Number of reef plants causing emergency haul-outs: 2 • Number of toilet rebuilds causing massive profanity: 24 (exact number of rebuilds for Gavin) • Number of people kicked off boat. 1

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The Best Odyssey taught us a few things so we tweaked the structure a bit, made it a membership program instead of selling ownership shares and simply made an announcement and a few changes to the website. No advertising, no hunting for sponsors, no scratching our heads. We sold out of memberships in a few short months.

All the debts were retired. We got paid for all those years of work; we purchased Discovery outright so now we own the boat free and clear.

Discovery sat on the hard for 10 months and received $200,000 of upgrades (most of them aimed to “green” our vessel to operate with a greatly reduced carbon footprint), all overseen by her new skipper, an Aussie named Seon Crockford. Like me he’s got salt water in his veins and in his eyes I see the same passion and wanderlust that drove me for all those years. The Cabrinha Quest was born.

Emergency floor triage after Gavin breaks a rib, courtesy of his SUP.

These days my office is a long ways from the ocean. My window looks out on the White Cloud mountain range in Sun Valley, Idaho. It’s an inspiring view, one I’ve grown to love as much as all those endless horizons at sea. Jody and I run what we call the back end: The social media, the books, the sponsors and the members. I spend the rest of my days paragliding all around the world and go out to run Discovery from time to time to keep the skills honed and give the regular crew some time off. We’re currently designing another yacht to add to the Quest, an 80 foot environmentally responsible beauty that I suppose we’ll name “Discovery II”. As long as people keep dreaming, we’ll always have a business.

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School teaches us that to be a successful entrepreneur or have a successful business you must identify a market need, real or perceived, and fill it. School doesn’t teach us to follow our passions.

We are trained to fit in, to follow the rules. We asked ourselves what our dream was and did our best to live it. On our own terms. At times the stress of it was as suffocating as drowning, but to witness the smiles and hear what the expedition meant to those who joined was more reward than I could ever get from a paycheck. Even in the very dark times I knew my time on the boat was something I should never take for granted, and hopefully I never did.

The Cabrinha Quest is currently in the second year of a planned 5-year voyage. Discovery has been sailing the fjords of Patagonia, Chile the last few months where calving glaciers, hot springs, and unexplored coastlines have made for some exciting travel. You can follow their stories on facebook.com/OffshoreOdysseys and find spectacular photography on instagram.com/cabrinhaquest.

Robby Naish and Pete Cabrinha at a Kailua gas station circa 1982. “We were friends and competitors on the windsurfing pro world tour, some 16 years before we began kiteboarding together at the sport’s infancy.” — Robby Naish. Photo courtesy of Cabrinha

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RETROSPECTIVE. A

s The Kiteboarder Magazine celebrates its 10-year anniversary, we asked the pioneers of our sport – the early industry visionaries, photographers, athletes and rogue kite designers – to share their personal stories of inspiration, adventure and innovation that have laid the foundation of kiteboarding as we know it today.

Our list of contributors is by no means exhaustive, after all, it’s been a 10-year juggling act to cover just a fraction of the sport within the pages of the 59 issues we have created since 2004. The following pages seek to shed new light on the major inflection points of change and our most memorable moments within the kiteboarding industry. It is our hope that the following stories will also speak to the collective passion that unites us all and keeps us constantly searching.

Moving forward, it’s hard to predict what the next 10 years will bring for kiteboarding, but in an industry with so many characters, emerging technical possibilities and unexplored exotic destinations, it’s sure to be a good ride.

-TKB Staff

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The Era of Innovation Begins This photo was taken in August of 1998 in Marina di Grosseto, Italy, my home beach. Andrea de Maria, the photographer, was taking the photo from a “pattìno” which is a classic wooden catamaran rescue boat that lifeguards use on our local beaches in Italy. I remember that he was shooting without a water housing and every time I was jumping over him he was hiding his camera, so he didn’t risk getting it full of salt water spray. In the end the timing between the two of us got better and we managed to get some good shots.

The funny thing about this photo is that I was using a 4-line kite without a depower rope, so the depower was not there. But I could trim the power of the kite by changing the knots on the red rope before flying the kite. The board was a 5’8” twin fin that I had developed for Flash Austin at that time. We all loved that board so much that we ended up using it all the time in any conditions.

The first front rotations were the big moves at that time and I remember feeling so cool doing them over and over. At the time, all I could think of was, “We can finally jump high and do front rolls every day without needing to go to Maui.” To me, this sport really is the future today — endless possibilities, anywhere on the planet.

– Roberto Ricci, RRD

ANDREA DE MARIA

DIY Improvements In 1999 I received my first full set of Wipika Free Airs from my sponsor.

I immediately took them upstairs to the sail loft and went to work, cutting and modifying the tips permanently to a 4-line only setup. This process took more then a few steps to remove and cut the tip straight across, shorten the leading edge casing as well as bladder and last but not least, install the magic to it all, a pocket and stiffener along the wingtip, from leading to trailing edge, or from the front pigtail to the back. I had no idea this process would start a very successful kite repair business that’s still running today. From that point on I had people sending me their kites from all over the world to modify, as well as install battens and pockets to existing 4-line kites.

FIXMYKITE.COM

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Word of the wing tip batten spread and I was being contacted by start-up and existing brands asking if I had a patent on the design! I remember at one of the first events here in Corpus Christi I modified Cabrinha’s first production kite, the Black Tip, with battens to increase the turning response. Martin Vari, their top rider at the time noticed my wing tips were not squeezing together under high load and asked me about my kites. The next day he told me he called Pete to let him know, and from that point on all their kites had battens. When we sent out the first prototypes to a select few riders, their response was that the kites were far too fast and should be slowed down. I told them to give it two weeks of riding and call me back! Let’s just say my next responses from all riders was overwhelming love for the kites and most of them telling me of new tricks they were learning because of the kite’s enhanced performance. Ride on!

— Jeff Howard, Fixmykite.com/Kiteboarding.com

COURTESY OF NORTH KITEBOARDING

Leap of Faith As the sport of kiteboarding was at its earliest stages of becoming a legitimate industry, the company that ran North Sails windsurfing rejected the idea of starting a kite company. Too much nuisance they said. Too much cost, too much risk -- an understandable response from a company doing very well producing the industry’s top windsurfing gear. It was only when the man in charge of their windsurfing operations in North and South America, Dave Johnson, offered to risk his own time and money to start the brand on a shoestring, that he was able to get the OK to do so.

Living in the Gorge, one of the birthplaces of kiteboarding, and working with Naish kiteboarding at the time, Dave saw both the growth potential of the industry and the room to improve on what was currently available on the market. With almost no budget, Dave had to mine his connections and friends to find a team capable of designing and building gear that could significantly improve on what was currently offered. His first decision was to partner with longtime professional windsurfer and sail designer Ken Winner; the second was to call up a guy in Spain named Jaime Herraiz.

Ken was originally supposed to manage

the kite design team, while Jaime was looking to get involved as a tester. After Ken’s first designer quit and the second couldn’t seem to make a decent kite, Ken decided that management was not up his alley. Ken rolled up his sleeves and taught himself how to design kites.

Since then he has designed some of the bestselling and longest-lived models of all times, the Rhino and Rebel. Jaime was and still is involved in R&D, but the aforementioned budgetary issues forced him into becoming North’s first team rider,

and his long-running success ever since as a competitor and as an ambassador for North is second to none.

In the 13 years since spring 2001 when this all went down, Dave, Ken, and Jaime have remained great friends and business associates, and all three are an integral part of building North Kiteboarding from literally nothing into one of the largest kiteboarding manufacturers in the world.

– Dan Schwartz, North Kiteboarding

First World Record On December 21, 2001, a team of five kiteboarded from Key West to Cuba. With today’s modern equipment this sort of distance is not monumental but back then it was a different story.

We set off at daybreak that morning with 15-20 knot offshore winds. Early on, one team member crashed his kite into a support boat and would now be taking a boat ride to Cuba. An hour into the crossing, the wind unpredictably picked up to 30 knots and the seas increased to 15 to 20 feet. This was turning into a hard ride with my 13.5m C-kite. In the midst of the crossing our lead boat realized that they were leading us to Havana when in fact we had to land at Varadero for visa requirements. This mistake meant the rest of the trip would be upwind tacks. Three hours into the trip I discovered the feed tube coming from my CamelBak had been dragging in the ocean behind me meaning I had been drinking salt water for a portion of the past hours. On around the fifth hour one of our team of riders passed out from dehydration and had to be rescued by a rescue swimmer from our support boat. Eight hours, 46 minutes later, the sun had long set and with glow sticks in our mouths and hands, three of us reached the shoreline of Varadero, Cuba. One rider had no skin above his ankles due to wearing boots, another had skinless feet from his surfboard straps and I could not walk due to muscle fatigue. We had made the Guinness Book of World Records for trying something that had never been done before and that many had claimed impossible.

This was one of the best days of my life and one I will never forget.

— Neil Hutchinson, Athlete/Slingshot Sports PHOTO COURTESY NEIL HUTCHINSON

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Wakestyle’s New Progression The Autofocus mission was an all-time classic trip, mainly due to the size of the crew and the antics both on and off the water. Looking back, a project this ambitious had the makings of an insane reality show, but most importantly the Autofocus DVD documented the progression of the sport by dropping riders into one spot for an extended period of time to live together, build rails and push each other’s riding levels.

At the center, Elliot Leboe / ACL productions brought eight all-star riders to Antigua, living right in Mamora Bay for a month and a half, before moving the crew on to a slider park in Coche, Venezuela for a few more weeks. In Antigua, the guys built a quiver of rails and kickers from scratch, and then spent every day riding and pushing each other to new levels. The rail/kicker riding showcased in the DVD was ahead of its time for our sport, and despite its success, no one would have guessed this would be the one and only project of its size.

I think if you watch the DVD even today, it still stands level-wise to what’s currently happening in wakestyle riding, even being almost a decade later. Beyond the DVD’s immense success and critical acclaim, the photographic reach went on to receive over 100 pages of editorial coverage, five covers, and more than eight sponsor advertisements.

— Tracy Kraft Leboe, Photographer

TRACYLEBOE.COM

Roots of the Bow Kite 2004 was a pivotal year for the sport. It was the year we patented the bow kite concept, which in August of 2005 took the market by storm with the Cabrinha Crossbow and the Takoon Nova reaching shops.

In 2001 my brother Dominique and I had started a 3-year development program aimed at designing an inflatable kite that was capable of fully depowering. In 2004 we designed and tested the final prototypes in the Dominican Republic; the process had taken us 3 years, partly due to the time it took to modify our C-kite software to accommodate the new shape. Each change we made in the prototype process taught us what had to be modified in the software.

COURTESY OF BRUNO LEGAIGNOUX

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We had already presented the concept to the Takoon team but although it was my own company, there was some internal resistance and the Nova had not yet reached the market. I gave them a deadline before disclosing the concept to my C-kite licensees. In December 2004, Takoon presented their model at the Paris Boat Show but the mass production had not yet started, so I went to Hawaii in early 2005 to present the concept to Cabrinha and Naish. Pete Cabrinha and his designer Pat Goodman immediately believed in the bow kite concept and we started a narrow collaboration. Incredibly, they started mass production six months later and reached the market with the Crossbow even before Takoon. In 2006, the number of bow kites sold outnumbered C-kites. Kitesurfing was technically ready for an era of new growth.

– Bruno Legaignoux, Inflatablekite.com

The Age of Depower Every sport has a turning point when a single technological development draws a line against the past and defines its future. At the end of 2005, the 2006 Crossbow was born and kitesurfing changed forever. Coming from a world with no depower, where kiting was dicey, riders of all skill levels embraced the revolutionary bow kite. Safety, performance, and handling were defiantly wrapped up and delivered with the Crossbow and Override control system which utilized a 2:1 bar that introduced what we called, Depower On Demand. DOD allowed you to stand on the beach with an 8-meter kite in 30+ knots of wind and feel almost no power when your bar was sheeted out. When you were ready to go, you sheeted in and BAM . . . you got the power back.

Back then, it sounded like magic.

The Crossbow with its flatter arc and high performance profiles had more power per square meter than the others. The wind range was huge compared to its C-kite predecessors. Although a giant step forward, the first version of the Crossbow kite was raw and came with a lot of bar pressure. It took some getting used to. The evolution of the bow design is seen in each generation of Crossbows with subtle yet important refinements made each year. Today our Velocity kite demonstrates years of development, and takes the claim of being one of the most efficient, highest performance bow kites on the market.

— Karmen Brown, Cabrinha Kites

COURTESY OF CABRINHA

Kiteboards Adopt Snowboard Tech Nobile founder Dariusz Rosiak owned a snowboard factory when he started kiteboarding in 2001. Like many kiters of that time, he was using a directional foam-cored board.

Also an avid snowboarder, he got the idea of developing a kiteboard that would work like a snowboard in terms of flex and comfort. In 2003 he built his first kiteboard prototype utilizing the snowboard technology he had learned from his business. Dariusz’s first prototypes were made in snowboard molds and featured a snowboard shape which his team tested by floating them in the factory’s fire protection water reservoir. After successful tests on a lake in Polish Hel peninsula, he still wasn’t ready to launch his own kite brand.

Instead he presented his idea to Boards&More who brought his technology to market. The revolution began, and soon no one wanted to use the old kiteboards anymore.

COURTESY OF NOBILE

Nobile’s first branded kiteboards were released in 2004 and built in Dariusz’s snowboard factory featuring technologies further developed by Nobile R&D. By introducing snowboard technology to the kiteboard market, he helped the industry develop the modern, performance-specific kiteboards that we enjoy riding today.

— Gosia Rosiak-Brawańska, Nobile Sports

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Broadening Horizons Growing up on a small island like Antigua explains my love for the ocean at an early age. My home is surrounded by water and with 365 beaches, there isn’t much else to embrace but the ocean. Watersports played a huge role in my childhood so finding kiteboarding was inevitable, except that I was lucky enough to get into the sport in 1999 when it was quite young. Alex Portman owned the kiteschool on Antiqua and helped me travel to my first contest on St. Martin, which I won. In those initial contests I was exposed to some of the best kiteboarders in the world. Suddenly, I was sponsored, competing, traveling and experiencing lots of things I never would have had kiteboarding not come into my life.

The sport has taken me all around the globe and introduced me to many great people along the way, some of who I would consider best friends. Kiteboarding allowed me to witness different cultures and has helped me to learn and grow from all those experiences. Even though kiteboarding is an individual sport, the biggest progressions in my riding came from traveling with the top riders of the time. We all shared the same visions of what kiteboarding meant to us and this guided our push, both individually and collectively to innovate our style of riding.

– Andre Phillip, Athlete

TRACYLEBOE.COM

Single Point Inflation Is Born Slingshot was founded on the principles of innovation and continual improvement while its R&D efforts have always focused on striving for “Rider Simplicity.” An excellent example of the innovative simplicity to come out of Slingshot’s design philosophy is the patented One Pump single point inflation system you see everywhere today. The concept was developed in 2003, with the finished product delivered to the market in September of 2004 and it’s been wildly successful ever since.

According to designer Tony Logosz, “The idea came from both necessity and laziness!” Tony was pumping up in excess of 10 kites a day, which amounted to 70 plus struts. For Tony, “Pinching the valves got pretty old fast” and at the same time Tony noticed the kites always flew better if they had the same pressure in all struts. Tony modified his test kites and after a 1-year test cycle to work out any bugs, Slingshot brought One Pump to the market.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SLINGSHOT

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After patenting Tony’s innovation, Slingshot has licensed the technology to every major kiteboarding brand in the world and it has become a standard industry feature on kites produced today.

Since 2004 Tony’s One Pump has been flying quietly along with all major achievements in our sport.

— Greg Kish, Slingshot Sports

KSP Tour: Labor of Love Looking back at this fall of 2011 picture, it serves as a reminder of the many challenges we had to overcome when pioneering the KSP World Tour. Sky and I were live streaming the World Championship event in Peru from the backseat of a pickup truck parked right in front of the break at Pacasamayo. Implementing different action angles and heat advancement interviews, screen overlays and live scoring seemed pretty impossible – especially since we had no background in live streaming technology, broadcasting, or anything closely related. Endeavors like this may seem impossible, but it’s not until you are crazy enough to try and find yourself in the moment that you will discover the truth. Sky and I will never forget those hours spent in that pickup truck, cold and in our wet wetsuits, rotating between our heats but making sure the stream was always up and running. Using hand signals to communicate with Brian on the action cam and Pete running the live scoring system was no easy feat, all the while trying to come up with words that sounded somewhat like an informative commentary.

When launching a World Tour on a budget that doesn’t cover its operating cost yet striving for the highest standards of a professional surf tour, you end up with everyone working five jobs, triple shifts and little time for the luxuries of sleep. But it is exactly that dedication and commitment that brings a team together and makes it all happen. I would love to take this opportunity to thank everyone that I have been able to work with during the two years I managed the KSP World Tour.

I would also like to thank the KSP’s new tour manager Nicholas Thiede and the team around him for taking over what we started and wish them all the very best with all my heart.

— Kristin Boese, Athlete

PHOTO COURTESY KRISTIN BOESE

A Team of Champions Looking back at Best’s history, some of our greatest achievements are seen through the outstanding performances of our team riders. Most notably, Best team rider Gisela Pulido celebrated her 9th World title in December of 2013. At the age of only 20 years old, Gisela has been on the tour for over 12 years now, winning her first world title at the age of 10 in 2003 – making her the youngest world champion in the history of our sport. Our team together has earned 20 World Titles between the combined efforts of Gisela, Kristin Boese and Youri Zoon.

PKRA / TOBY BROMWICH

Best’s competitive achievements are a testament to our athletes as well as our design team’s commitment to developing only the best gear for both our team riders and our customers. As we continue to build innovative and performance driven kiteboarding equipment, our team will continue to push the boundaries in the competitive realm while we strive to make all of our kiteboarding dreams become a reality.

— Lia Ferianek, Best Kiteboarding

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Big Air Small Gear A pro rider from the early days, Dimitri Maramenides quickly earned a reputation for his massive jumps, huge handle passes, gigantic kite loops, stylish boards off with big hang time and last but not least, daring stunts. Dimitri is passionate about pushing kiting in all disciplines, but proclaims big air is here to stay because, “Big air is what attracts people to the sport, it’s one of the most extreme directions you can push a kite.” Dimitri intends to push the boundaries with his blend of old and new school tricks at next year’s South Africa Red Bull King of the Air contest and may very well be the oldest contender in the field.

Early on, Dimitri earned his reputation as the original stunt kiter. Attracted to risky yet calculated stunt jumps, Dimitri has used his kites to jump boats, piers, and houses and although not all successful, and sometimes controversial, Dimitri has been pushing the boundaries of big air kiting since day one.

HELEN TROTMAN

In recent years, Dimitri’s new passion is exploring the possibilities of kiting with his young son, Cameron Maramenides. The pair can be spotted enjoying water time together whenever the wind is up in the Outer Banks as well as all over the world. A priority for Dimitri has always been to ensure Cameron’s safety. As co-founder of Epic Kites, one of Dimitri’s most personal and greatest contributions to the sport has been a specific line of products built for kids to better and more safely bring young groms into our sport.

— Brian Ready, Epic Kites

Race Tech Reaches The Masses Airush began its humble beginnings on the Island of Maui 15 years ago. Starting with the design and manufacture of accessories for kiting, Airush developed over the early years into a full fledge kite brand offering a broad range of kite products. Choosing a pinnacle moment for such a long standing kite brand with both the typical highs and lows is challenging, but in the most recent years we feel that the widebody revolution of the Sector brought something entirely different and new to what kiteboarding is today. In its fifth evolution, the Sector is a name synonymous with fun and freedom.

Before, the idea of riding a board 60 cm wide was associated with words like “cumbersome, advanced and impossible.” These words have now been replaced with “amazing, fun and responsive.”

The Sector’s evolutionary importance is that it was the first board to pull technology developed for kite racing and bring it to the broader market. The Sector gives weekend warriors a chance to double their days on the water and as kiters, this is ultimately the goal we strive for; to chase that feeling of riding on a day to day basis. The Sector gives freeriders a light wind alternative for a fun and loose carving feeling with endless upwind ability.

– Marc Schmidt, Airush Kiteboarding

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YDWER.COM

Say Goodbye to the 9mm Once upon a time, there was this tiny little 9mm valve which made the kite so hard to inflate. You would go to the beach and waste half your riding energy pumping up kites. It was a priority for us to address this major issue and help kiters focus on riding instead.

In 2008 one of our product engineers left Liquid Force to start his own product manufacturing business. His main goal was to develop an inflatable baby crib with a reliable valve system that would make set up and break down quick and easy. After watching the cribs take shape and how fast they could be inflated and deflated, we made some sample kites with the new valve and the results were amazing. Right away we saw its potential and none of us who tried it ever wanted to go back to the standard 9mm valve.

At Liquid Force we pride ourselves on our relentless innovation and the highest quality product designs. MaxFlow took us more than 12 months to refine and perfect from the original design and is now offered on every Liquid Force kite.

— Julien Fillion, Liquid Force

BRYAN ELKUS

A True Professional There have been more than a few highlights and defining moments within my career as a kiteboarder. My time as a coach for REAL Watersports, the co-creation and execution of the longest running North American kiteboarding event, The Triple-S, and helping to create amazing kiteboarding products with the design team at Liquid Force for the past 10 years, all rank super high up on my long list of unforgettable moments.

But the one defining moment that helped to solidify my continued involvement in kiteboarding is developing a relationship with the outstanding people at Patagonia. Although it was a monumental career step for me, in being brought on as a Patagonia Ambassador, I also feel that it was a great step for the sport of kiteboarding as well, showing that kiteboarding has matured and is gaining recognition as the beautiful and dynamic recreational activity that it is. Patagonia is helping to expose this imagery with a much larger reach than ever before.

REAL I GREGG “TEKKO” GNECCO

The imagery, travel and exposure are only part of the equation.

Patagonia’s drive to produce quality, long lasting product is crossing over into kiteboarding as well with wind resistant wetsuits, drysuits, and functional travel gear that makes adventurous travel more comfortable and sessions more enjoyable. I am so thankful to have been brought into such a great group of people who love to make quality gear, travel and explore the world, and most importantly…take as many sessions and have as much fun as possible along the way!

— Jason Slezak, Athlete

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Legend Creates the Rabbit From Wainman Hawaii’s inception, it’s line of kites was marketed as The Rabbit Series. We did something different because we wanted to generate curiosity, but the ad hoc rumors on where the “Rabbit” theme came from quickly exceeded our expectations. Although most of the speculations are quite funny, the real story is not bad either.

When the first bow kites were in the development stage, many riders questioned whether this was the right direction for the freeriding aspect of the sport. Although we appreciated the progression of kite development, we were relatively skeptical after flying the first “modern” shapes. We couldn’t imagine riding kites that we felt lacked soul, responsive turning ability and were burdened with clunky design.

Instead, we combed eBay in search of leftovers of the low aspect C-kites that we appreciated the most. When that resource completely dried up we realized that we had to do something. Amongst these people were myself and Lou, so we founded Wainman Hawaii with the objective to combine our beloved bubble shape C-kite with the new LE innovation to build the perfect modern kite.

When we got to the stage of prototyping our first designs we hadn’t put any thought into kite names; it just wasn’t important. It wasn’t until our software coach asked us to throw out a file name to label our first draft that we encountered this problem. Lou gave me the big eyes to choose prior to saving that file. I was so full of adrenaline that I instantly shouted: “Rabbit.” “What?” was Lou’s response. I tried to explain the context – We had taken our beloved

FRANCK BERTHUOT

C-kites and injected the SLE virus. The prototype before us was like a poor experimental bunny tortured in a medical laboratory.

Maybe it would survive, maybe not. Lou made the call, “That’s funny, let’s save it.” Neither of us could have known that day’s random click of the ‘Enter’ button would be immortalized on our kites ever since.

— Mike Husky, Wainman Hawaii

Turning Heads in the Surf I have been shooting surf style kiting since 2004 with many of the best kitesurfers in the world. I have witnessed the kitesurfing progression shift from wakestyle boards to strapless riding on epoxy foam thrusters that even a pro surfer would not feel out of place riding. Riders are pushing the sport on a session by session basis now, trying to go bigger, more technical, and most of all, to achieve the feel of top level prosurfing, albeit with a kite bar in their hands. The fact that some notable pro surfers have started kiting is a testament to what is now possible with a kite. You see, before, they called us rollerbladers of the sea, and other slanderous monikers reserved for the utterly uncool. The simple fact that high caliber surfers are taking up the sport, demonstrates how far we have come.

The question I can’t help but ask is what’s next? I think the answer lies in riders like Patri McLaughlin who are well-rounded surfers and have no fear of the pain and frustration that comes with pushing their limits. Patri’s videos had impressed me but on a recent shoot with him in Indonesia, he opened my eyes a little wider to what’s possible in onshore conditions, throwing huge powered rotations over the shallow, jagged coral below, all in the name of progress.

LIQUIDEYE.COM

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We are standing at a hallmark moment in kitesurfing. The future is an open canvas, a blank page, an unknown. Kite and board technology seems to be Innovating at an exponential rate and the people who use them are getting better so fast it’s hard to imagine what’s next. But I will guarantee you this. I’ll let you know.

— Jason Wolcott / Photographer

The TKB Staff would like to thank our partners and friends who took a break from their day to day businesses and lives to dig deep into their vaults to share highlights from their companies and careers.

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R

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EXPOSED

OFF THE BEATEN PATH Evan Netsch escapes the crowds in this flat water oasis tucked between the cactus forests of La Ventana, Baja. Photo Brendan Richards

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EXPOSED DANGEROUS RAILS When the NA Blend boys talked about building a rail in their favorite Brazil lagoon, Sensi Graves was in the “I’ll believe it when I see it” mindset.

According to Sensi, the rail proved extremely fun yet highly dangerous in the shallow waters of Brazil.

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Photo Vincent Bergeron

FLIPPING THE SWITCH Mellisa Gil drops in switchfoot at One Eye, Mauritius. “My heart was pounding as I felt the raging power of the wave and amidst all the energy and fury there was a moment of peace and awe when everything became silent and all I felt was appreciation and gratitude.� Photo Hugo Valente

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EXPOSED

ON THE RADAR It’s been one year since French rider Victor Hays landed on the Slingshot International team. Powered riding and smooth style makes him one to watch for 2014. Photo Bertrand Beauchet

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TOW-IN FOILING ON THE CHEAP Damien Leroy’s early experiments with foil surfing proved much more fun without the kite. Ditching his kite after the tow-in part but before the surfing wasn’t practical, so now he’s training a tow-in team for taking turns in the next big swell. Photo Rich Gardner

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WISH LIST

1. CABLZ

2. LIQUID FORCE

3. MANERA

4. MURRAYS MARINE 5. MYSTIC BOARDING 8. PROLIMIT

6. PATAGONIA 7. PKS DISTRIBUTION

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MSRP: $14.99 cablz.com

2. LIQUID FORCE SUPREME WAIST HARNESS – Check out Liquid’s totally redesigned waist harness and “locking cam strap” spreader bar system. MSRP: $199.99 liquidforcekites.com

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MSRP: $49.99 bayareakiteboarding.com

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Super clean and easy to install on your Gath helmet.

MSRP: $12.50 murrays.com

5. MYSTIC BOARDING KITE WINDSTOPPER – Water and wind resistant with reinforced hole, adjustable wrist straps, neck/wrist seals and elastic waist. MSRP: $73.95 mysticboarding.com

6. PATAGONIA WOMEN’S BIKINI - Patagonia’s Tuhuata top and Telu bottoms look good, feel good and are born for the sea. MSRP: $100 patagonia.com

7. PKS DISTRIBUTION FLYMOUNT UNIVERSAL GOPRO FIN MOUNT – A simple fin mount that makes changing the angle of your video easy. Fits any brand of kiteboard with leash attachment. MSRP: $34.95 flymountUSA.com

8. PROLIMIT HYDROGEN LT DRY STEAMER – This suit combines the protection of a drysuit with the flexibility of a wetsuit. MSRP: $550 prolimits.com

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15 MINUTES

Jake Lahr frontside air in the Gorge takes the cake. Photo Trent Hightower

This issue’s winning photo (above) takes home a Lined Beanie from Patagonia. Send your photos to editor@thekiteboarder.com to get your 15 minutes of fame and a chance to win something from Patagonia.

Christina Schoelch scores her first jumps while on vacation in Cayo Santa Lucia, Cuba. Photo Mario Cote

Carl Ferreira in SA’s Milnerton Lagoon after a big rain. Photo Robin Taylor

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Jerry Shalhoob, at 71 years of age, makes foiling look deceptively easy. Photo Tom Murphy

Kelly Watermeyer throws an unhooked ralley at the sand spit in HR. Photo Benjamin Skaggs

Yuval Arad grabs rail in Israel. Photo Uri Magnus

Doug Bixel unhooks his Crazyfly in Puerto Rico. Photo Dmitry Kraskovsky

Shane Keil scores a solo session in the Turks and Caicos. Photo Vani Keil

Craig McDowell goes big in Cuba.

Photo Pam Rolph-Romeril Jim Stringfellow is usually the man behind the camera, but when the water at Rooster Rock drops below 40 degrees, friend Joe Mullen is happy to switch places. Photo Joe Mullen

Pike Harris representing Blade Kites on the West Coast.

Photo Patrick Rebstock

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PETER STERLING 1988/COURTESY JOE COOL

ROOTS The first kiteboarding contest that comes to most people’s mind is the Red Bull King of the Air which was held in Maui from 1999 – 2005. But the truth is, prior to the Red Bull event, we staged the Kitesurfing Worlds in 1998. Not that kiteboarding was really a sport yet as most riders back then couldn’t even stay upwind. The name was a word game tactic and the event was little more than a smoke and mirrors trick to corral a bunch of enthusiastic kite flyers high on the adrenaline rush of this potential new sport. Pretty much everyone involved was a windsurfer who was looking for the next level of jumps and wave rush, including Cory Roesler, who I consider one of the first true believers with his KiteSki, as well as Flash Austin with his ram air kites and skimboard.

The landmark in my mind was not just the event but that Flash made a huge step for the growth of the sport by being able to stay upwind. Cory no doubt had laid the groundwork with his water skis and flat single surface kite with fiberglass frame. But Flash’s surfboard-style shaped board combined with Bruno’s Legaignoux’s first 2-line inflatable Wipika kite which didn’t sink when you crashed, a first, made the sport look somewhat ‘cooler’ and non-believers and critics started to dream themselves. The 1998 event was a big success and soon big sponsors were knocking at the door.

One of those big players was Red Bull. My partner Mike Waltz and I worked with them for seven years which is unusual as Red Bull normally only does short lived events. With their expertise and fire power, e.g. money, we pushed the sport to a worldwide audience. The first years when we would run into a situation organizing the events, we would ask for Red Bull’s help and they would solve the problem immediately. Mike and I would just look at each other in amazement and laugh and say, “Man, is it amazing what you can do with money.”

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The biggest impact Red Bull had on kitesurfing was the decision to beam semi-live contest footage to a satellite so any network could grab it. On the first day, this promotional tactic was a complete failure. A famous golfer had died in a private airplane crash and the world couldn’t care less about kitesurfing. Red Bull decided to roll the dice and try one more time with this extremely expensive marketing strategy. The next day was a slow news day and as a result, tens of millions of people throughout the world saw kitesurfing for the very first time.

– Joe Cool

Joe Cool at the first event, surrounded by fellow instigators of modern kiteboarding. Photo Joe Cool

“ To me, Maui is the birthplace of modern kiteboarding/kitesurfing development.

A lot of hard working windsurfers had the passion and vision to help develop a laughable water stunt into a viable sport that continues to grow.”

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TOBY BROMWICH/PKRA

VIEWPOINT ROOTS Racing hydrofoils is getting a lot of attention right now, but mark my words, foiling isn’t going to eliminate the formula course board just quite yet. I say this for two reasons. First, from an availability standpoint, there’s far more formula equipment out there compared to the thin supply of foils trickling out of France at the moment.

Second, the competitive strength of an established class is not something that can be built overnight, particularly when most racers are still learning how to tack without exploding. My best guess is that serious racers will keep their foot in formula, but this year will be interesting to watch as crossover athletes begin building the basics of a dedicated foil racing class.

While all the attention foiling is bringing to racing is great, I think it’s important to step away from the hype and ask ourselves why we race. Regardless of whether you race or not, the reason we all kiteboard is because it puts a big smile on our face and makes us happy. And for that same reason so many riders are flocking to the race course. It’s truly a lot of fun to be going as fast as you can while crossing tacks with all your best buddies. Yet at the same time, you can get lost out there if the course is big enough. While the competitive aspect of sparring with friends keeps you on your toes, what engages me the most is that no two races are alike. The only thing constant is change. I might end up in first place at the top buoy with 100 kites behind me - wow what a feeling! I might also end up in the back, battling for 85th and 86th place against my biggest rival. This year alone at the Kiteboard Racing Formula World Championship in China there were there were over 120 competitors.

That’s a big fleet and a lot of competitive action.

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Racing’s strongest allure is in its objective simplicity. You truly get the score you deserve in kiteboard racing. You’re crossing a line in a discrete order, not just given a score by a grab bag panel of judges harboring more personal bias than an ‘80s Olympic figure skating judge. Sure there’s the protest, getting called over the starting line early and other arguable cracks seeping subjectivity into racings’ clear cut world of hard and fast results, but it’s the exception rather than the rule.

Racing is synonymous with R&D. Racing pushes equipment to evolve and the results find their way into production in some way or another. My first kiteboard race was the boarder cross at the Gorge Games in 2003 where my Cabal skimboard with makeshift footstraps screamed upwind compared to the standard twin tip of those days. I’m not claiming my skimboard is the seed from which sprung the modern day raceboard, but it is undeniably true that when a different design is out front winning it raises the bar and shifts the playing field. In 11 years that field has shifted radically. In 2014 we now have race, formula, slalom, speed and foilboards that will get you planing in as little as 6 knots and will allow you to triple the speed of the wind. The kites have evolved into lightweight, full power, efficient racing machines. There’s no denying that race equipment evolution has had a direct influence on all aspects of kiteboarding. Basically, without kiteboard racing the equipment wouldn’t be as good as it is. With modern race kites you only need a light breeze and you’re off shredding at your local beach while most guys are waiting for some whitecaps. Tripling your water time is a tough call for some, but not for most. If you haven’t tried a race kite you should. After all, they jump higher, stay upwind easier, and transition through puffs and lulls better. All these ingredients even help you catch more waves, but last but not least, they go FAST. With this year’s race schedule already out and lots of organized events to attend for all disciplines of racing, it should be a very busy and interesting season. Keep your eye on foil development but also take a moment to step back and think about racing as a whole. Try a friend’s race kite, enter a local competition, or just open yourself up to the fun of going fast.

See you on the water, Bryan Lake

THANK YOU to all our advertisers, supporters, riders and photographers who helped us build The Kiteboarder as we celebrate our 10-year anniversary in 2014. This milestone would not have been possible without your support, vision, passion and talent.

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PARTING SHOT 86

Tom Fredericks has no problem boosting over ice chunks in Alaska’s Turnagain Arm. Sure spring may be just around the corner, but why wait when you have a Patagonia dry suit. Photo Scott Dickerson

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