The Kiteboarder Magazine Vol. 15, No. 1

THE WINDS OF CHANGE Kiting Comes to Saudi Arabia

THE NIAGARA FILES The Secret of Great Lakes Surf

A FAUSTIAN BARGAIN The State of the Wave Tour

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FREESURF

FROM THE EDITOR

Different strokes for different folks; Tkb’s graphic designer takes a break from magazine layouts to charge spring’s opening day on Santa Cruz’s North Coast. // Photo Brendan Richards

It’s time to wake up; spring is upon us and summer is just around the corner. If you’re a fair weather kiter it’s time to put the gear back in your car, check your pigtails and chicken loop for wear, upgrade to that shiny new directional you’ve been promising yourself, or better yet, finally commit to learning how to foil. If you’ve been hiding all winter, be forewarned, that big kite might feel slower and that small kite might feel faster. It’s going to be cold no matter where you are but just shake it off, let those first sessions sting and let’s get back to business.

In this magazine we tackle a diversity of issues from risky travel propositions in Bermuda (PG28), to rampant trash problems in the Philippines (PG40). In an attempt to bring kiteboarding to an otherwise culturally restrictive country, a group of Cabrinha boys report on their travels to Saudi Arabia (PG68) and we talk with GKA Kite-Surf World Tour judge Mallory de la Villemarque (PG20) to get a sense of why surf tours have historically been so challenging to sustain.

We published an opinion piece by a women’s group (PG112) which extols the benefits of connecting women within kiteboarding. As a majority member of a male-dominated sport, I can attest to the simple fact that it’s really easy to discount the challenges and the various needs of minority groups such as women trying to enter and enjoy the sport of kiteboarding. It doesn’t help that here at the magazine I’m surrounded by strong, stereotype-shattering female kitesurfers; our publisher learned to kite in the hard-knock early days and has since been an integral member of the North American kite industry and our graphic designer charges overhead surf with style and aggression that puts 98% of kitesurfers to shame. The founding culture of kiteboarding is one of risk-taking and extreme adrenaline seekers, yet these days as kiteboarding grows and evolves, we have groups of all ages, gender and ethnicities, who more often than not are drawn to the good, clean, fun and the safer side of things. Perhaps we have a mild culture clash underway, but just keep in mind that while you’re pushing grandma to try a kiteloop, she might be just as happy cruising with the wind in her hair, nailing a simple transition and joining the kite community. Despite our differences, it’s good to remember that we are all united by the intoxicating pull of our kites.

Keahi de Aboitz James Boulding

In this magazine, you will also read about kiteboarding in the eastern Great Lakes as documented through the lens of a bird photographer. Finding his way into the Great Lakes kite scene through a fascination with all things in flight, Niagara Mike has been sending visual dispatches of short interval lake surf for many years, and while the proof of surf potential in the Great Lakes is undeniable, on PG98 you will find the visual story of tenacious characters locked into an endless pursuit of kitesurfing’s fickle perfection.

Change is in the air and it’s not only in the season that lays ahead of us, but in the people, the places and the culture of kiteboarding as a whole. Dust off your gear and head to the beach. Make connections, stay informed and embrace the change that lies ahead; it’s going to be a great year both on and off the water.

See all the new gear at cabrinhakites.com 10

WHO BROUGHT THE BEERS? R I D E E N G I N E W E T S U I T S : B E C AU S E YO U C A N ’ T E N J OY A CO L D B E E R I F YO U A R E S H I V E R I N G . W I T H I N T E R I O R F L E E C E L I N I N G S A N D N E W W I N D S K I N C H E S T/ B A C K PA N E L S YO U ’ L L B E WA R M D U R I N G A N D L O N G A F T E R T H E S E S S I O N .

STEFFEN VOLLERT

L E A R N M O R E T O D AY A T : W W W. R I D E E N G I N E . C O M 11

20 Kitesurfing’s Faustian Bargain Balancing riders’ interests against tour sustainability has always been a struggle but the GKA seems to have it dialed. Tkb interviews GKA Kite-Surf World Tour judge Mallory de la Villemarque about the current state of action on this year’s tour.

28 The Bermuda Bet

Sensi Graves joins Laurel Eastman, Therese Taabbel and Melissa Gil on a travel junket to the unknown kiteboarding paradise of Bermuda. Perched off the Atlantic seaboard, they discovered that this tiny island might just be a foilboarder’s paradise.

40 The Island of Palaui

When the missteps of progress surround an otherwise pristine island off of the northern tip of the Philippines with trash, Jesse Richman, Ewan Jaspan and Paula Rosales step in and engage with the next generation of islanders on the importance of environmental stewardship.

68 Kingdom in Transition

Damien Leroy, Mark Miedema and Evan Netsch are invited to a kite festival in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that challenges the strict codes of Saudi culture.

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Premiering Down Under

From the Editor

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Frontside

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Profile:

Ando Flores La Ventana’s resident board shaper . . .

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Profile:

Lori Koprowski The fine art of lifestyle products . . .

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Exposed

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Method

The drop wallet by Ben Wilson.

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Wish List

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Viewpoint

In the final stretch of their world premier, Colleen Carroll, Noe Font and Craig Cunningham take their Bubble film for one last spin in the land of Fosters and kangaroos while touring the Sunshine Coast in style.

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98 The Niagara Files

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The eastern Great Lakes region is home to a raging confluence of three large bodies of water and a sizeable population of hardy kiteboarders. A bird photographer with an infatuation with shooting kiteboarding has documented the burgeoning kitesurfing scene for years and finally puts pixels to paper.

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Collecting momentum.

Atmosphere

The North Pacific High.

Roots

Hard lining.

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Parting Shot

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On the Cover

Warping the physics of backside riding, Slingshot rep Jeff Trauba

commits to the inside section.

Undeterred by cold water, apex

predators and a bumper crop of bull kelp, this Santa Cruz local scored

more than his fair share of waves this

winter. // Photo Brendan Richards

YOUR QUICKEST PATH TO FOILBOARDING PROGRESSION Marina Chang, Publisher marina@thekiteboarder.com Brendan Richards, Editor in Chief brendan@thekiteboarder.com India Stephenson, Designer/Editor india@thekiteboarder.com Seth Warren, Senior Contributor elementsmixedmedia@gmail.com Alexis Rovira, Editor at Large alexis@thekiteboarder.com Gary Martin, Tkb Ambassador gary@thekiteboarder.com

From the basics of understanding the right gear to purchase to getting your first couple of rides and advanced freeride foilboarding moves, Tkb's Foil Instructional Guide is full of information and tips that will help speed up your progression.

The Tkb Foil Instructional Guide includes topics on: • Choosing the Right Gear

• First Ride

• Types of Foils and Constructions

• Steering Control on your Foilboard

• Setting Up Your Foil

• Speed and Power Control

• Placement of the Foil

• Carving Turns

• Variable Length School Masts

• Foil Jibe

• Getting Started

• Foil Tack

• Five Mistakes to Avoid

• Foil Duck Tack

• Choosing the Right Kite and Ideal Location

• Jumping

CONTRIBUTORS Sensi Graves, Ben Wilson, Joe Winowski, Colleen Carroll, Niagara Mike, Shea Gibson/iKitesurf, Laurel Eastman, Elea Faucheron PHOTOGRAPHERS Andre Magaro, Ludovic Franco, Ywder van der Heide, Bermuda Tourism Authority / Nhuri Bashir / Johnnie Singleton, Frankie Bees, Lori Koprowski, Vincent Bergeron, Thomas Burblies, Hardy Brandstötter, Svetlana Romantsova, Stu Gibson, Justin Bruns, Noe Font, Niagara Mike, Surfin Sem Fim, Darrell Wong, Håkon Maeland, Toby Bromwich Visit us at: thekiteboarder.com twitter.com/the_kiteboarder • facebook.com/thekiteboardermagazine ADMINISTRATIVE/ADVERTISING OFFICE 1356 16th Street, Los Osos, CA 93402 805.459.2373 SUBSCRIPTIONS orders@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 © 2018 Boardsports Media LLC. All rights reserved.

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RIDERS: The A Team LOCATION: Mauritius PHOTO: Ydwer.com

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FRONTSIDE

When F-One’s David Tonijuan shows up on set, photographer Andre Magaro turns darkness and light into a work of fine art that envelopes this stylish seatbelt grab. // Photo Andre Magaro

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FRONTSIDE

Bruna Kajiya coerces her Diamondbranded Airush equipment into a fierce 313 somewhere outside of Tarifa, Spain.

This Brazilian powerhouse is one of the few athletes to bridge the gender gap with unparalleled style and intensity. // Photo Ludovic Franco

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COMPETITIVE KITESURFING’S

FAUSTIAN BARGAIN Interview by Brendan Richards | Photos by Ydwer van der Heide

Three years into its existence, the GKA Kite-Surf World Tour is turning into a grueling surf battle between Airton Cozzolini and Keahi de Aboitiz—each unloading fierce hits in the pocket and unrivaled technical airs. Cabo Verde’s Matchu Lopez, Portugul’s Paulino Pereira and Brazil’s Sebastian Ribeiro are all wildcards capable of an upset and with the podium anything but a given, the best seat in the house belongs to Mallory de la Villemarque. The Tarifa-based Frenchman is perched up in the judging tower, assigning a single numerical value to every wave ridden since the GKA reincarnated competitive kitesurfing. Mallory himself is no stranger to competition; holding multiple freestyle French championships and after a stint on the PKRA, he later earned his bachelors and strapless surf pedigree while attending college in the Hawaiian Islands. Looking back on the state of competitive kitesurfing, Mallory recalls a PKRA wave stop in Mantanzas, Chile in 2007. The winner back then was Martin Vari and all the boards had footstraps—the biggest difference between then and now, he says is, “these days the tour actually looks like surfing.”

We interviewed Mallory to assess the state of the GKA Kite-Surf World Tour and survey the competitive terrain that lays ahead.

WHILE THE GKA IS FAR FROM THE FIRST KITESURFING TOUR TO GRACE KITEBOARDING, WHY ARE WE NOW JUST SEEING LEGITIMATE ATHLETES FROM THE MAINSTREAM SURFING WORLD CROSSING OVER INTO KITESURFING? Sebastian Ribeiro is a great example of an athlete that has come to the tour from a professional surf background—actually, there are a number of really talented Brazilians coming into the sport, but the difference in style you see in dedicated surfers is definitely there. If you watch Sebastian you’ll notice a particular way in which he links the sections of a wave; the board is never flat, there’s not a second of waiting or hesitation—he’s always working the wave, always turning. If you watch some of the strapless freestyle guys on a wave, you’ll see one turn, then the board goes flat before setting up the next hit, but the kiters with surf backgrounds are rail-to-rail with aggressive turns in the lip and always finding the critical sections. Typically, they have 22

a ton of speed and they don’t use the kite when it comes to turning; it’s as if their kite is not connected to them, yet they use the kite to accelerate past sections and line up the next hit. For the crossover surfers, sometimes if you just remove the kite in your mind, it’s almost as if you are watching pure surfing.

Kitesurfing these days really compliments surfing—if it’s perfectly glassy you surf and if the wind picks up you kite. The side-shore conditions you wouldn’t want to surf can be a blast with a kite. There’s more surfers coming into kitesurfing in general, and there’s some WSL guys, like Caio Ibelli from Brazil that compete on the surf tour but also kite, and there’s guys like Stephan Figueiredo and Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker that charge Pipe but also kite Mokuleia. So, it’s really just starting and there’s no doubt the latest additions to the tour make kitesurfing look more like high-performance surfing; this in itself will attract more people from the surf scene.

LEFT: Mallory de la Villemarque has been judging the GKA Wave Tour since its inception and now judges the GKA Freestyle Tour and is also slated for the upcoming Big Air panel. RIGHT: Kite-Surf World Tour leader Airton Cozzolino sets up a laid back snap at Cabo Verde’s famed Ponta Preta surf break.

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WHILE LONGSTANDING KITESURFERS LIKE KEAHI AND AIRTON SEEM TO HAVE THE UPPER HAND OVER THE NEW BREED OF SURFER CROSSOVERS, HOW DO THEIR STYLES AND APPROACH DIFFER? WHAT KEEPS KEAHI AND AIRTON ON TOP OF THE PODIUM AT EACH STOP? You can see Airton and Keahi come from a kiting background; you can see it in their consistency, but surfers like Sebastian Ribeiro and Filippe Ferreira are a little behind but learning quick. Airton is super aggressive overall and attacks the lip so hard with so much speed. Keahi is known for his flow—he makes everything look so easy and smooth yet he destroys the wave while fitting in 10 turns. At the first event of this season, Airton started doing these massive windsurf-style airs with a board grab that we’ve never seen before. Both Airton and Keahi really understand how to use the power of the kite in riding waves. The GKA is looking for the most complete riders and right now it’s guys like Airton and Keahi that can do everything.

HOW DOES GKA JUDGING WORK AND HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN OBJECTIVITY? Judging is constantly changing; it’s an ongoing discussion because we are learning at every event. We have five judges from different nationalities—some judges come from surfing and some come from strapless freestyle backgrounds; it’s good to have different visions as this makes everything more 24

complimentary. Standards are changing. Back in the day there was this obsession with not using the kite, but today this is not the case. It depends on the conditions; sometimes athletes really use the kite and other times they’re just making use of the speed of the wave and the board while hitting the lip. Some judges are looking for pure surf and others are stoked to see technical airs in the waves. It’s all new, because now we’re seeing new airs and back rolls off the lips, but the question is how to score these for style. At the last event, I remember a conversation with fellow judge, Fadi Issa. He was a professional windsurfer and kiteboarder in Maui, but these days he lives in Fuerteventura.

Fadi stressed the importance of landing an air on the front of the wave because that’s more critical, and that sparked the debate on whether landing an air on the back of the wave would be scored—we have to draw thin lines and that is constantly evolving. This year we’ve also changed how we score each wave; the judges with the low and high score for each wave get tossed.

This hopefully rules out the judging bias—making it difficult even if a judge wants to help a rider.

KITESURFING HAS HAD A LONG HISTORY WITH UNSUCCESSFUL WAVE TOURS. WHAT ROLE DOES SPECTATING PLAY IN THE FEASIBILITY OF THE TOUR AND WHAT ARE THE ECONOMICS BEHIND SITE SELECTION? It really depends on the location; take a stop like Mauritius— the wave is far offshore and for spectators it is useless, so the

LEFT: The judging criteria for the surf tour is a work in process; every year the criteria gets tweaked based on the concept of fairness and the progression of athletes. TOP RIGHT: Sebastian Ribeiro grabs rail at One Eye in Mauritius. // Photo Toby Bromwich LOWER LEFT: Keahi delivers a heavy hitting technical air game at the Cabo Verde tour stop. LOWER RIGHT: Airton tucks into one of the few barrels to be seen at the Ponta Preta Cabo Verde stop.

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UPPER LEFT: Keahi demonstrates Hawaiian power and control as he takes the top off a wave at the Westpoint Hotel Dakhla stop. UPPER RIGHT: Political meet and greets are a telltale sign of a tour stop funded by government money. ABOVE: Airton Cozzolino busts a strapless front roll for the massive crowd of spectators in Tarifa, Spain.

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“The reality is that regular surfing contests are easier— they only need waves—but we need wind and waves, which makes it much more complicated.” organizers struggle because it is not easy to put on an event in Mauritius. But then you have a stop like Cabo Verde where Mitu Monteiro and his business partner Djo Silva organized the entire thing by themselves on top of competing on the tour.

It was the first time for this spot, but it looks like we will have it for another year because in this location, the government put up the bulk of the money and seemed to be very happy with the results. There, you have the wave five meters from the beach and the spot is packed with crowds cheering for locals.

Then there’s a location like Dakhla where there is no one on the beach. The organizers from Dakhla rely entirely on government money to host the event. You’ll see the local governor drop in for some photos and a brief showing, but after that, there’s few people coming to watch. But if you come to Tarifa, the beach is completely packed.

The reality is that the wave tour is limited to maybe 10 to 20 spots that are possible options. It takes money to put on an event and most of the time event organizers rely on tourism money from the government, yet in some places the money comes from all private sponsors and sometimes it’s half and half.

We have events hosted by passionate kiteboarders that want an event in their home spot. They do the best they can and maybe it’s not the most professional event, but then again you have an organizer, like the one we have in Germany, who puts on a massive event with corporate sponsors. The location may not be the best, but it’s good for the industry because it’s near a huge market of kiteboarders. But, the one thing we need to be careful of is to not kill the competition by only going to places where there is money.

SITE SELECTION IN TERMS OF WAVE QUALITY HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE THORN IN KITESURFING TOURS THAT PITS RIDERS AGAINST ORGANIZERS. SINCE THE GKA WAVE TOUR IS A STRAPLESS FREESTYLE TOUR AS WELL, HOW DO YOU BALANCE THE INTERESTS OF THE VARIOUS ATHLETES WHILE MAINTAINING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE TOUR? Right now we have a really good symbiosis between the riders and the tour staff. There’s quite a lot of meetings and the events have a really cool vibe which I hope will last for many years. If you recall the KSP tour from a couple of years ago, it tried to put stops only at locations that offered pure, perfect dream-like

kitesurfing conditions—but financially, at some point, it wasn’t viable, at least that’s what I heard. Going for only the perfect surf destination makes it more complicated. Sure the GKA goes to spots that aren’t perfect and riders will talk trash; you will always have these people, but overall the spirit is great and the riders understand the importance of going to places that aren’t pure surf. We’d love to only go to places like Mauritius, Hawaii or maybe somewhere like South Africa, but the reality is that there’s not so many organizers capable of bringing these kinds of events to those locations.

Now that we have the strapless freestyle scene this opens doors to more locations that can support a stop. Take Dakhla—we didn’t have great conditions last year so we combined 70% of the wave score, and for the time in between sets, we scored 30% for freestyle when it was flat. When the waves are average the athletes can throw some tricks, say a front roll off a wave, and when a solid set comes they can surf. We will always have pure wave riding locations but we can also have more average spots that will open doors to new tour stops that keep the tour going. Some people are going to criticize this platform, but the GKA organization wants to see the sport grow, reach more people and go to new places.

The reality is that regular surfing contests are easier—they only need waves—but we need wind and waves, which makes it much more complicated.

I think the perfect kitesurfing tour would offer at least two pure wave events with wind from both directions (this is very important for both goofy and regular-footed riders), but we also need two pure strapless freestyle events. At the beginning I was a bit of a skeptic; I knew some riders would only come if it were a pure wave event, like Hawaiian charger Patri Mclaughlin, or California’s Patrick Rebstock or Ian Alldredge, yet a core surfer like Sebastian Ribeiro showed up and is now doing the freestyle as well. The current format is opening doors and helping athletes become more versatile and more complete riders. Maybe when we have enough events and riders we can have two disciplines, with a pure wave world champ and strapless champ, but for now it’s not possible—it’s too early—we are limited with riders and event organizers, but maybe one day.

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LEFT: Media coverage is essential for a sustainable wave tour that is capable of attracting private and public investment. RIGHT: All surf tours confront an inevitable tour stop plagued with mediocre conditions. Sebastian Ribeiro makes the best of a dying swell in Dakhla.

THE GKA EVENTS ARE CURRENTLY USING VIDEO RECAPS PUSHED OUT AFTER THE DAY’S HEATS WHILE THE WKL (WORLD KITEBOARDING LEAGUE) HAS BEEN PUSHING LIVESTREAMING. WHAT’S THE IMPORTANCE OF LIVESTREAMING IN THE LONGEVITY OF A TOUR? You don’t see livestreaming in the GKA events for the simple fact that it is already expensive for an organizer to put together an event without livestream. It could be $30-40K for a proper livestream. The WKL’s freestyle tour has a great livestream, but that tour is struggling this year to organize more events because the livestream requirement makes it really expensive. If millions of people were following kiteboarding then we’d have Samsung sponsoring our livestream, like with surfing. Supporting a team of cameras and producers makes it complicated and the sport is just too young. Some organizers with bigger budgets like Germany could pull it off, but it hasn’t been a priority for the GKA. The GKA started as a grassroots tour, learning from the mistakes of other tours, and so far, video recaps from each day seems to be the better way to go. There’s people on the internet that are critical of that decision but we’ve seen previous tours struggle because of an obsession with livestream.

While kitesurfing is at a point where it is starting to really grow, the GKA is still at a point in between. Looking back at the PKRA, it had a livestream that was a one man show and the filming was shaky but probably fairly inexpensive. The WKL has a great livestream that gives a good image of the sport and makes a professional product out of the freestyle tour, but who is going to pay for that when your view count is only around a 28

thousand? A big sponsor is going to laugh at those numbers.

Maybe there’s a quality level we can find in between, a livestream option that is more affordable, maybe one that can be sponsored by the industry.

WHY DOESN’T THE GKA HAVE A TOUR STOP IN NORTH AMERICA AND WHY DO YOU THINK THERE ARE NO AMERICANS ON THE TOUR? Well we’ve seen Matt Elsasser come to a stop as well as Evan Netsch from the East Coast and even Reo Stevens from Hawaii, but Keahi is really the only consistent rider from North America on tour (Tkb points out that Keahi is listed as an Australian rider).

Right, but he represents Australia and Hawaii (shared laugh).

Kiteboarding competition just hasn’t thrived in North America the way it does here in Europe. We have the same mainstream sports; soccer is the same to your football/basketball, Formula One is your NASCAR, but for some reason our governments and corporate sponsors are more willing to help smaller sports like kiteboarding pull off events than they are in the US. The GKA doesn’t want to be just a European association, we want to be a part of the whole kite scene. Just recently there’s been talk of a stop in the states, I think the Gorge would be an amazing venue for strapless freestyle.

Sure a stop on the California coast would be awesome, like Santa Cruz, but you’ve got to start somewhere.

WE RIDE BECAUSE THE WIND AND WATER CALLS US.

JOIN US IN ANSWERING THE CALL.

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PHOTO: ALEXIS DOUBLIER BOARD: PLAYER’S DIAMOND 5'4" KITE: MR. FANTASTIC GEN4 DYNAMIC EDITION 12M

NOT JUST BECAUSE WE CHOOSE TO.

29 Engineering Freedom.

Words by Sensi Graves

When wind is your prime prerequisite during travel, booking a trip to an unbeaten path is a risky gamble. But when the tourism board for a country that isn’t known for kiteboarding sends out an invite to a beautiful place where the breeze is completely untested, it would be a foolish proposition to turn down. This is precisely what happened this spring when the Bermuda Tourism Authority contacted me about organizing a women’s kiteboarding trip to promote kiting on this tiny island floating in the Atlantic. I’d never heard of kiteboarding on Bermuda, a 21-mile long archipelago that sits all by itself 650 miles off the eastern seaboard of the United States.

And while exploratory travel can make for the best of trips, the chance of getting skunked on a comped photoshoot while the tourism board is watching over your shoulder is anything but ideal.

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Photo Bermuda Tourism Authority / Nhuri Bashir

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C

olonized in 1609 when a group of British privateers happened upon it by chance, the expedition party left Bermuda for other British colonies in Jamestown, but explorers found themselves longing for their island paradise and after a short period of time, turned right back around.

There were no native peoples living on Bermuda at the time and hence, it was a bloodless settling process. In the four hundred years following its colonization, Bermuda has become a haven for banking and insurance entities. With the island’s relaxed tax laws, the streets of Hamilton, Bermuda’s main town, are lined with insurance companies, re-insurance companies and small but highpriced banks. You could learn a lot about offshore tax evasion on these streets, but not without spending a pretty penny. Because Bermuda can’t supply much of its own food, it imports everything as many island nations do. Everything from a smoothie to an ubiquitous bowl of fresh fish chowder costs more than what we'd find on the mainland—Bermuda comes with a high cost of living, but for many, it’s a cost that’s well worth the price.

Picture tree-lined winding streets dotted with pastel-toned houses and picturesque beaches with light pink sand and the deepest blue water you’ve ever seen. Bermuda’s history runs deep and its labyrinthine streets are reminiscent of the English countryside.

The first motor car arrived on the island as late as 1946 and as a result, the streets are narrow, quaint and designed for a slower pace of life. With architecture that is unique to that found anywhere else in the entire world, the common feature of Bermudian homes is a terraced rooftop that collects rainwater into covered basins either under or alongside the structures. There are no freshwater springs on Bermuda and therefore the main water source comes from the sky.

Boarding a jet out of New York, it took 90 minutes to arrive at the lone land mass seemingly perched in the middle of nowhere.

From 39,000 feet, the profound blacks and blues of the deep ocean transitioned to light-infused turquoise and sapphire as the ocean floor of reef and sand rose to reveal the 181-island archipelago.

As the plane circled for its landing, I studied the 30 or so beaches that dotted the coastline, but the ocean looked glassy—without any evidence of wind, the possibility of kiteboarding remained unknown.

Our base was a Bermudian pink hotel nestled along a hillside overlooking Somerset Long Bay, one of the primary kiteboarding locations on the island. Upon rising on the first morning, the song of the Bermuda kiskadees, the birds that call Bermuda home, filled my ears. I gathered the rest of the girls consisting of kiteboarding legend Laurel Eastman, wave rider Melissa Gil and freestyle phenom Therese Taabbel before we were introduced to our guides

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TOP: Although Bermuda is often considered part of the Caribbean region, it’s located 1000 miles north of Cuba and is actually part of British North America. // Photo Bermuda Tourism Authority / Johnnie Singleton BOTTOM LEFT: The girls, each with a distinct kite skill-set that brought a unique component to the trip, pose for a selfie from the island’s Fort Scaur which was built in the 1800s for Bermuda’s protection. // Photo Bermuda Tourism Authority / Nhuri Bashir BOTTOM RIGHT: Therese Taabbel sampling the small waves and warm waters that the Atlantic has to offer. // Photo Bermuda Tourism Authority / Nhuri Bashir

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from the Bermuda Tourism Authority, Jamari and Jill, a threeman Bermuda-based camera crew, plus two marketing liaisons, Shannon and Sara. Flanked with a small marketing army, our first order of business was to get our bearings on the island.

Our handlers pointed us first to an extensive bike tour called ‘The Bermuda Shore Excursion,’ a bike trip down the famous Bermuda Railway Trail which was home to the tracks of the Bermuda railway in the 30s and 40s. The commuter and freight line was quickly made obsolete by the arrival of automobiles, but since the railway’s path was erected alongside the beaches to avoid 34

land acquisition costs, the rails now enjoy a second coming as an amazingly scenic biking and walking path surrounded by colorful flora, spectacular sights and panoramic views of the island. As we wound along the trail and through archways of lush green cascading vines, our guide recalled the island’s history. Despite the interesting story of Bermuda’s past, what struck me the most was how often Jamari stopped to wave and say “Good Morning” to complete strangers. “People will think you’re rude,” he explained.

“You’re not Bermudian if you don’t say hello.”

After our bike outing, we hustled everyone into the van and set

off on our first kite mission. One of the most popular beaches on Bermuda, Horseshoe Bay features a beautiful round cove of light pink sand with stunning rock features running along either side of the cove. With the wind coming out of the northeast on the first day, it set up perfectly as a side-onshore breeze filled into the bay. As we rounded the corner to the overlook, the turquoise blue water gleamed in the sun and it seemed almost too much to ask that it would be windy in this little paradise. I rigged an 8 meter and started making tacks to the outside. As can be expected when trying a new kite spot, the wind was not perfect. I had rigged a bit too small and the jutting rock formations created a wind shadow making it a little punchy on the inside, but the scenery was breathtaking. With the sun shining overhead, Laurel, Melissa, Therese and myself rode over small, breaking waves, traded tacks and dropped in on the bigger waist high sets. A successful first day on the water marked a great first introduction to what kiteboarding on Bermuda is like; rugged and exploratory, but with moments of serenity and extreme beauty. Looking up at the moss-covered rocks and lush cliffsides, I thought to myself, “Perhaps there is kiting destination hiding out here in the middle of the Atlantic.”

The wind on Bermuda blows from every direction, making most days kite-able on the island. However, the challenge isn’t having the right wind direction, it’s finding proper access. With such a small community of riders and diverse wind directions, there’s no official ‘kite spot.’ Kiting in Bermuda is an adventure in wind chasing. While there are a number of locations to ride, you have to be willing to switch it up and follow the wind to score the best sessions—yet on a 21-mile long island, chasing a session will only take you so long.

Our first evening on-island was spent at a BBQ hosted by Jay Riihiluoma, our local kiteboarding guide who has lived on Bermuda all of his life. He hosted us in his home overlooking one of many bays on the island where we were treated to dinner as the sun sank beyond the horizon, splashing pinks and oranges across the sky. The kiteboarding community on Bermuda is small, yet nonetheless a die-hard bunch. Some of the locals we met told us they had stashed a corrugated tube that they hoped to drop into the water in order to make their very own slider park feature.

Tired and windblown, as we clinked glasses at the end of that first day, I felt relieved—we had found wind, kited in a beautiful location and were in good company in the pursuit of finding new riding spots and solid wind.

Our second day in Bermuda dawned with robust wind coming from the perfect direction for a session in front of our hotel.

Somerset Long Bay is a potential flat-water paradise with much of its shallow water kept butter smooth by the low-lying cliffs

LEFT: Therese Taabbel cruises around the large rock formations that border Horseshoe Bay Beach. The wind was tricky on the inside and longer tacks were essential for staying upwind on a twin tip. // Photo Bermuda Tourism Authority / Nhuri Bashir TOP RIGHT: Founded in the 1600s, the historical town of St. George that once played home to pirates and privateers now serves as a colorful backdrop for another trip selfie. // Photo Bermuda Tourism Authority / Nhuri Bashir ABOVE RIGHT: The ladies biking over ‘the smallest drawbridge in the world’; the local Bermudians keep this bridge in working order so that they can hang on to its title. // Photo Bermuda Tourism Authority / Nhuri Bashir

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TOP: While the conditions in front of the hotel were light, Laurel Eastman managed to take full advantage of Somerset Long Bay on her foilboard. // Photo Bermuda Tourism Authority / Johnnie Singleton BOTTOM LEFT: Most beaches on Bermuda have a nearby parking lot. It’s only a two minute walk down a short path and through a tunnel of greenery to get to Horseshoe Bay. // Photo Bermuda Tourism Authority / Nhuri Bashir BOTTOM RIGHT: Not knowing what to expect on Bermuda, Sensi finds some waves to boot off of at Cooper’s Island Nature Reserve. // Photo Bermuda Tourism Authority / Nhuri Bashir

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to the northeast, the same cliffs that cradled our hotel. Since the wind in the bay typically blows side-onshore from the north/ northeast, the deep horseshoe-shape of the bay made finding a reliable place to launch difficult. With Cambridge Beaches on the east side and Daniel’s Head Beach Park to the west, the inner gut of the bay, where the narrow beach butts up against a grassy park, was likely our best choice.

My apprehension proved accurate as the wind struggled to fill in on the very inside of the bay, however it was enough to tempt us to get out there. Laurel rigged up a borrowed 17 meter and I pumped up my 10.5 Liquid Force Envy, the biggest kite I had brought along. Walking a short way out along the smooth, sandy bottom made it feel as though we were wading out in a pool. We carried our foilboards about 100 feet offshore and were soon up and cruising on our foils. If we ventured too close to the inside it could get dicey. On one such tack, Laurel dropped her kite in the water and couldn’t relaunch. I made it a little bit further towards the beach before mine dropped and we both ended up pulling our foilboards and kites along behind us as we swam back to the shallows. After a quick break, the wind looked good enough to try again and Laurel made her way back out, followed by Melissa. I wasn’t far behind and when I got to the outside, the wind felt a bit stronger. However, a wrong turn on my foil caused me to lose control of my kite and I dumped it right back into the water again.

It was just one of those light, flukey kind of wind days—wading back to the beach, we certainly got our swim practice in for the day.

The next morning we trekked to the northern end of the island, to a spot near the airport called Cooper’s Bay Nature Reserve. With our lackluster wind the day before, the ladies and I were raring to get on the water, however the weather was chillier on this side of the island with bands of rain passing in the distance. Piling out of the car, we perched on the cliff overlooking the moody blue water. The skyline was dark, grey and cloudy and we were bundled up against the cold, layering on every towel and jacket we could find. After much ruminating on kite size, we ascended our way down the steep, sand cliff and over the sharp pinecones that littered the beach. We quickly rigged our kites, eager to see if this new location would provide the session we were craving. Our photographer wanted us up close, so we spent most of our session jumping within 10 feet of the beach trying to get the best shots without overshooting the water and landing directly on the shore.

Since this was a tourism junket, the camera crew wanted a shot of the four of us riding in formation, tacking back and forth in the bay. The challenge of kiting together takes more effort than you might think but when you’re riding with friends, you build 37

off of one another’s energy. During that session, the four of us started whooping and hollering as we tacked back and forth in a tight group and by the time we pulled into the beach our faces were plastered with ear-to-ear grins. The energy was palpable— with good friends and fantastic scenery, this was true Bermudian kiteboarding.

Our final day on island was spent at a spot called Elbow Beach.

The wind blew side-onshore and the beach was wide open, long and friendly. The only dangers here were the underwater coral and rock formations that canvassed the aquatic seascape. I was excited about the beach but not so excited about the wind—it looked light.

Once again, Laurel and I rigged up our foilboards and prepared for another potential swim session. Much to our surprise, as soon as we put our kites up, grins spread across our faces as we could feel that the wind was perfect. As I made my first tack out, I was constantly peering into the immaculately transparent water to make sure I didn’t ram the foil into the coral. I became completely enveloped in the underwater scenery. Out on the water, the ocean looked like a limitless pool of tranquil turquoise blue. Gliding over the undisturbed water, the coral and rocks appeared in an infinite succession of edgy shapes emanating from the seabed, casting shadows into the depths. Cruising over these rugged formations served up one of the most stunning sessions I’ve ever had.

Every day we would end with a fabulous meal hosted in one of the many restaurants across the island. Our bellies were filled with fresh fish and wine, with the topics of discussion veering across the visual highlights of the day. The Bermudian experience is one of invitation and inclusion. From our first dinner with the kiteboarding community to our daily interactions with friendly islanders, we always felt welcome and often found ourselves in the homes of Bermudians sampling fresh fish and a rum swizzle.

These islanders rein as monarchs in the hospitality industry, and while tourism may play second fiddle to the established business sector, the vibe of the island is inclusive, welcoming and warm.

RIGHT: Therese Taabbel locks eyes with the GoPro for the ideal low-angle shot as she grabs tail over a Bermuda-based videographer at Cooper’s Island Nature Reserve. // Photo Bermuda Tourism Authority / Nhuri Bashir TOP LEFT: The women enjoy a dazzling blue water kiteboarding experience while riding in formation along the shoreline of Cooper’s Island Natural Reserve. // Photo Bermuda Tourism Authority / Johnnie Singleton BOTTOM LEFT: Laurel scores a foil session amidst the last bit of light in Somerset Long Bay. With butter smooth wind and endless bays to explore, Bermuda is the ideal foilboarding location. The locals were even heard whispering secret plans of circumnavigating the island on foil. // Photo Bermuda Tourism Authority / Nhuri Bashir

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We were allotted four days by the Bermuda Tourism Authority to explore everything the island had to offer, yet despite the island’s small size, we found there was plenty of terrain to cover and our time felt short. Bermuda might not be on your kiteboarding radar, but the places we explored and the sessions we scored during our short trip prove this island is rife with unique experiences that should plant the island firmly on your kiteboarding destination bucket list.

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The ISLAND OF Palaui Mending

the missteps of progress

Words by Joe Winowski Photos by Frankie Bees

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ushed by a tired workhorse of a diesel engine, a chartered coach chattering over the rough and winding pavement passed through the Cordillera mountain range, over lush passes laced with terraced farmlands and patchwork villages. Meandering through the large fertile territory that covers the northernmost quarter of the Philippine mainland, Jesse Richman peered out of a fogged window to observe from a distance the people of Cagayan Valley. From all appearances, these people lived a simple life; poverty by his western frame of reference, yet Jesse sensed proudness running throughout the community nonetheless.

Amidst the shanty of rusted corrugated roofs, the yards were pristinely manicured with decorations of the Christmas season. Villagers toiled hard in rice patties and fields of tobacco while their kids played blissfully in the streets unaware that better childhoods exist.

Accompanied by Australia’s Ewan Jaspan and native Filipino Paula Rosales, it was Paula who conceived the trip and was well acquainted with the region of Cagayan Valley, particularly their ultimate destination, the remote island of Palaui. Perched just a stone’s throw off of the northernmost tip of the mainland, Palaui is a prototypical icon of a remote paradise. Its surrounding waters have been declared a National Marine Reserve and its small villages and undeveloped shores have remained untouched and completely devoid of hotels or tourism infrastructure, so if you wanted to spend the night on the island you have to arrange a ‘homestay’ with one of the villagers.

The only way onto the island is by boat, so once the team crammed into a small outboard hired from the mainland they set their sights on Palaui. Jesse, Ewan and Paula watched as the island unfolded before them, expanding as a layered multitude of brilliant rainforest canopy surrounded by a ring of shallow aqua-colored bays with offshore reefs protecting long, glistening white beaches. Envisioning paradise, Jesse and Ewan were shocked to find an island-wide rash of garbage floating at the mean high tide mark. They had traveled to the end of civilization in the hopes of escaping the confines of globalization and technology, and instead, found the pervasive presence of discarded junk, wrappers and single-use plastics—the rubbish of a progressive society.

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LEFT: The island kids of Palaui would chase the kiteboarders around while offering to sell them exotic foods. RIGHT: While kiteboarding in formation, Jesse, Ewan and Paula explored the empty beaches of Palaui.

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Paula saw this coming—in fact this Naish trip was part of her long term plan to use kiteboarding as a vehicle to bring positive change to her native land. Having grown up under the influence of her mother, the head of communications at a government agriculture land bank, social consciousness has long been a part of Paula’s DNA. Paula was raised amongst the western comforts of a big city, but as a young kid, she would travel with her mother to the rural underserved areas of the Philippines to meet with local farmers in order to develop community-level agriculture policies and programs.

Learning the ropes of community outreach from her mom and having honed her event management skills while working for the governor’s office and tourism boards, Paula eventually dove head first into organizing the Blue Palawan park riding competition (a tour stop on the KPL). However, she did not do so without integrating an environmental or social component. One year she empowered the Blue Palawan athletes to educate locals on the importance of leaving mangroves standing on waterfront parcels for the sake of water quality and habitat. At another event Paula organized female camps to empower local women.

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Paula views Palaui Island as an excellent example of how quickly the trappings of our modern world can impact isolated and undeveloped societies. Like many rural fishing villages worldwide, Palaui has no electrical grid and no hotels, yet this otherwise pristine island has a rampant trash issue. Communities that were once based on local sustenance are turning to packaged consumer products and while disposing the waste of an organic fruit or fish-based diet on the ground is fine, the modern diet encased in plastic packaging comes with the added duty of disposal. In Paula’s experience, when small provincial communities are at the gateway to the outer world, the material and lifestyle privileges of progress come with problems that the locals don’t even know exist, and in turn, these communities are poorly prepared to handle them. Trash on land ends up in the ocean and plastics in the marine environment is a problem for the very ecosystem island villagers depend upon. Yet in one of the most remote and virgin places in the world, you will find single-use plastic scattered all over the coastal areas with little awareness as to the grave effects that throwing away plastics have on the ecosystem and consequently, our livelihoods.

LEFT: Paula Rosales spreading the stoke of kiteboarding, both on and off the water. RIGHT: Humbly subsiding on the island’s resources, some of the older children didn’t attend school and spent their days fishing in the shallow lagoons.

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Like many rural fishing villages worldwide, Palaui has no electrical grid and no hotels, yet this otherwise pristine island has a rampant trash issue.

For the first few days Paula put her philanthropic motives aside and guided Jesse and Ewan across the Babuyan channel to a small, sandy atoll off the southeastern shore of Palaui. Curiously named Crocodile Island, the crew laid out lines and launched their kites for an extended session of exploration across the interlocking reefs of coral and the expansive inner bays. As the team approached the village, the locals came out in awe to watch the kiteboarding spectacle. This would become a reoccurring theme throughout the week; crowds gathered as Jesse and Ewan put on a show, performing massive kiteloops and coordinating huge hucks in unison and in close proximity, like some kind of synchronized big air session.

When they finally landed their kites, the kids that weren’t in school would chase them on the beach, laughing and smiling while trying to sell the team duck embryos and other local delicacies.

The eastern side of the island was completely rimmed with reefs, and on the first no wind day Jesse eyed an endless horizon of perfect foilsurfing waves; powerful energy that would flop over and then turn into rolling swell for a half mile. Jesse spent a few of the glassy ocean mornings on the outer reefs—by no means were the waves big, but after the lengthy paddle out, as the swell rose above him, he’d paddle with the energy of the ocean towards the beach, and just as the wave crumbled, he’d pop up, pump his board into flight and steer out to the shoulder of the unbroken wave. Frictionlessly speeding out in front of the wave until the lump began to dissipate, Jesse would carve off the back, eagerly pumping back to the horizon in search of his next foil ride.

Halfway through the trip Jesse eyed some slabbing waves on the outside—from the beach it looked like insane barrels, but when he kited out on his surfboard he discovered large ocean swells imploding on dry reef with nothing resembling a kitesurfable wave. Unable to find a solid channel or reef pass, Jesse dropped in on one bomb that took him down in one swift violent motion. The reef was potted with dangerous holes and underwater caves and the power of the wave felt immense. By luck, Jesse got washed back into the lagoon and swore off the reefs as a bad idea.

LEFT: Ewan Jaspan throwing a back mobe in the protected waters of Crocodile Island’s lagoon. TOP RIGHT: Social activist and professional kiteboarder Paula Rosales has pioneered a number of kiteboarding projects that have brought meaningful change to her native country. BOTTOM RIGHT: Jesse Richman laying down carves far from the dry reef dredging breaks of Palaui’s outer waters.

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FAR RIGHT: Jesse and Ewan practice synchronized downloops for their audience on the beach. TOP LEFT: Jesse rolls up his sleeves and demonstrates the importance of keeping the environment clean. BOTTOM LEFT: Ewan takes time to explain the basics of kite rigging to the island kids.

Jesse and Ewan joined the Filipino children as they raced around the paths to the beach, filling giant sacks with the litter that pervaded the landscape.

In the weeks leading up to the trip, Paula had contacted Palaui’s local government officials and pre-arranged for the team to visit the only school on the island. A humble cinderblock building flanked with small garden beds and a colorful hand-painted sign, the primary school was brimming with the same energetic grade schoolers that had been eying the kitesurfers all week. Using the team’s hero status, Paula explained the gravity of taking care of the ocean and engineered a series of tasks that highlighted the importance of keeping the beaches and ocean free of single-use plastics. Jesse and Ewan joined the Filipino children as they raced around the paths to the beach, filling giant sacks with the litter that pervaded the landscape. The competitive game yielded a small mountain of trash that accumulated in the schoolyard and illustrated to these kids the importance of using less packaged products and mindfully discarding their trash. Jesse and Ewan followed the cleanup with a quick primer on kitesurfing. They showed the kids how to rig kites, and then threw them on their shoulders and kitelooped down the beach in the way that professionals like Jesse do. The kids hooted and hollered amidst the controlled chaos.

Children are the future—their dreams and aspirations are built upon their childhood experiences. Aside from showing them how cool kiteboarding can be, the team did their best to demonstrate how important it is to take care of the ocean. To a 6-year-old boy who one day may become a future kiter, doctor, fisherman, or mayor in their village, while it’s awesome to see Ewan and Jesse kitelooping through the air in their hometown, it’s way cooler when they come out to their school and start picking up plastic trash on the beaches.

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When Paula Rosales speaks about kitesurfing as a powerful tool to bring positive change, it’s not just a theory, but a proven catalyst for progress in her home country. The actions of traveling kiteboarders resonate throughout the places we visit, and the values we demonstrate can be a source of inspiration and information while the sport itself often lends to environmentally-friendly economic opportunities.

The trip to Cagayan Valley was a success; having explored some of the most remote terrain that the Philippines has to offer, the team also acted as a catalyst of inspiration, teaching the local kids not just about kiteboarding but of the importance of keeping plastic away from the oceans to preserve marine life and coastal cleanliness on the most basic and intuitive level. As members of industrialized modern societies, it’s our missteps that are being replicated in remote, impoverished and less educated parts of the world and as Paula would have it, we ought to do something about it.

it's not just a theory but a proven catalyst for progress in her home country.

Paula brings the message of environmental stewardship to the next generation of Palauans. The basic concepts of trash disposal and limiting single-use plastics is new to the islanders but will be key to the maintenance of their local fisheries.

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W H Y F A I R T R A D E ?

Because it supports the workers who build our gear.

The surf industry doesn’t like talking about what goes on behind the scenes.

There’s a simple reason for that: It’s a business that often puts its own profit ahead of the welfare of workers. But by making our boardshorts in a Fair Trade Certified™ facility, we’re helping change things for the better while ensuring that the people who make our gear are treated with respect.

Reo Stevens racks up tube time on a wind-whipped morning at Cloudbreak. Fiji.

STU JOHNSON © 2018 Patagonia, Inc.

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Fully immersed in Baja’s kiteboarding scene, if you don’t find Ando teaching lessons up by the Hot Springs, you’ll find him holed up in his shaping bay, planing templates, mixing pigments and laying glass on La Ventana’s only locally made kiteboards. // Words by India Stephenson / Photo by Brendan Richards

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PROFILED

ANDO FLORES Guadalajara, Mexico

La Ventana’s resident board shaper The sun casts shadows on San Francisco’s outer Sunset district as a young Mexican, cold and sopping wet from his last kite lesson of the day, rings the doorbell at 3725 Noriega Street. With a short build, thin dark hair and thick-brimmed glasses, Ando anxiously lingers outside Danny Hess’s San Francisco workshop, waiting to get a glimpse into the studio and maybe even some tips from his hero, an Ocean Beach board shaper famous for his sustainable methods and finely crafted, high-performance wooden surfboards. Danny answers the door and graciously invites the eager Tapatilo into his woodshop where the two talk board shaping late into the evening.

Beyond mere function, Ando’s shaping work is driven by an underlying fascination with materials and construction rather than simply the form of his end product. With a formal education as an industrial designer, Ando’s infatuation with board design began in university with an open-ended school project that charged students with the task of designing a product from start to finish.

Choosing to design and build a wakeskate as his thesis, Ando dove head first into the technology behind pressed board construction, researching the internet and trolling forums for insight. His first board was rudimentary; plywood layered with Home Depot epoxy resin and sealed with a homemade vacuum bag system. Essentially teaching himself the ins and outs of board design, at the end of his project, Ando turned in a pristinely manicured sandwich epoxy wakeskate. “It came out pretty nice, if you don’t mind heavy,” he chuckles, reminiscing about the defining characteristic of his first few boards.

Inspired to hone his shaping skills, Ando opened up a shop in his home city of Guadalajara, first making wakeskates, then sandwich epoxy kiteboards and eventually surfboards and kitesurf boards.

Pursuing the craft of board building in the heart of Mexico isn’t necessarily an easy occupation. Shaping materials in Mexico are scarce, if available at all, so Ando, striking a deal with a friend’s father who drove long haul trucks for Walmart, turned to smuggling the resins he needed from the States in order to practice his new trade.

Located inland, about five hours from the nearest ocean, Ando mostly surfed on trips, but since Lago de Chapala was only half an hour south of Guadalajara, most of his water time was logged behind a boat testing his wakeboards. It wasn’t until Ando’s boat

was stolen that he began to contemplate kiteboarding. Without a boat to pull him on his boards, he turned to the power of the wind in a restless desire to get back on the water. Ando bought himself some cheap gear and taught himself the fundamental skills of kiteboarding on a small dirty pond called Villa Corona and in the gusty conditions of Lago de Chapala. From there, he traveled around the mainland, searching for new kite and surf spots, but it wasn’t until he crossed the Sea of Cortez to Baja’s peninsula where he found the real deal in La Ventana.

Splitting his time between shaping in Guadalajara and teaching kite lessons for KGB kite school in both La Ventana and eventually San Francisco, Ando has honed his shaping skills and through sheer quantity and experimentation, has refined his art and developed his own style.

In Ando’s latest adventure, he’s abandoned his city life on the mainland and now resides full time in the southern end of La Ventana. Right off the main drag, he’s settled into a little purple structure enshrouded by black fencing and a collage of Liquid Force flags. In a deal cut with a crafty handshake, Ando pays reduced rent on his small abode in exchange for transforming its concrete skeleton into a place to live and work. His compound is a refuge of youthful activity in the largely predominated grey-haired La Ventana. Out back, there’s a yurt and an RV; stray dogs and kite instructors bounce in and out of the kitchen and glassing room while the hammock and BBQ enjoy frequent use in the yard.

Amidst the comings and goings, Ando remains focused in the shaping bay. His commitment to his work and casual, cordial demeanor emanates throughout the room as he discusses with a customer the nuances of placing a bevel in a kitesurf rail for strapless freestyle tricks. The floors of his workspace are littered with raw materials and the walls with the tools and notations of past work.

You will find a hint of order and compulsion in the chaos in the adjacent glassing room; messy jars of pigment, stacks of shaped foam and tubs of eco-resin—all-important supplies in his custom work as well as his swift side business in professional ding repair.

As a character in transition, Ando is an instructor, board builder and now full time resident of La Ventana, and well on his way to becoming a cultural fixture of Baja kitesurfing.

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CAPTION ME

Lori Koprowski standing in her Maui studio surrounded by her XO artwork that now graces a line of kiteboarding gear. // Words by India Stephenson / Photo courtesy of Lori Koprowski

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PROFILED

LORI KOPROWSKI Maui, Hawaii

The fine art of lifestyle products If Maui artist Lori Koprowski has been painting her XO butterfly icon in some form since childhood and fellow friend and Maui kitesurfer Pete Cabrinha has been marketing his XO branded line of female-specific kitesurfing products since 2011, then it was only a matter of time before the two would collaborate to visually incorporate Koprowski’s feminine motif into Cabrinha’s boards and kites.

memory mooring beside Swimming Pools in the early days of Namotu. When Lori wasn’t painting, she spent her days outrigger paddling, sailing, scuba diving and surfing. Always inspired by the ocean and its surroundings, when time came for her to lay down roots and establish herself within a community, she returned to the water-based lifestyle in Maui.

As a full-time artist with a stable stream of oil painting commissions, Lori’s imagery of exaggerated, contemporary female form and playful abstract butterflies have spawned a series of exhibits in global art markets. On the tiny island of Maui, Lori’s work is in its 15th year exhibiting at the Four Seasons Maui Artist’s Showcase and with her impressive list of international clientele has landed her coveted work on walls around the world.

Developing her own rich, contemporary style and creating textures within her pieces using oil paints, oil sticks, brushes and her fingers, over the years Lori has used the feminine form, drawing from her time in the ocean and the nature of her surroundings as her inspiration. “I’ve always painted butterflies since I was a kid,” she recalls of her signature XO design in which the X mimics the shape of a butterfly. And while she’s typically known for incorporating the feminine form intertwined with the butterfly design, the actual “XO butterflies are inspired from hugs and kisses, positive feelings of change and progression.”

Whether it be her college days as a competitive diver or her current status as a water enthusiast in Maui, Lori has always had a thirst for the ocean. In between figure drawing classes and portfolio reviews at Louisiana State University’s School of Art, she escaped the deep south for a semester abroad, seeking out the island lifestyle in Hawaii while experimenting with printmaking and the basics of windsurfing.

Falling in love with Hawaii, after graduating from LSU, Lori moved back to Maui to set about establishing a stable footing on the island.

In order to avoid the plight of the starving artist, Lori started with a job at an ad agency but soon moved on to a position illustrating designs for a prominent glass etcher who sold windows to the burgeoning luxury home market. With most of her artwork from that period etched into private glass windows, hidden behind closed doors and strewn throughout the high-end estates on the island, Lori eventually went solo, spreading her creative hand around Maui by conjuring up graphics and logos for friends.

Having met her husband on the island, Lori and company took off traveling to the great surfing destinations of the world. First Indonesia, then to Margaret River, Western Australia, touring around in a campervan while exhibiting her artwork on the go. Lori scored surf the world over, and when her husband signed up for a threeyear stint in Fiji, she would travel back and forth to establish herself in art markets as far away as LA and New York, only to return to the good life: frequent boat trips to the best surf spots, her favorite

Maui is a small island and for many years, she has crossed paths with Pete Cabrinha, in part through mutual friends of island life and in part because Pete is an established artist himself. While the two had talked loosely about collaboration in the past, Pete texted Lori out of the blue and the two set out to incorporate Lori’s designs into Cabrinha’s female-specific line of 2018 kites and boards. “Pete was going for a feminine feel,” Lori recalls, “so it was a natural fit.” Lori began playing with past and present kiteboards to get a sense of shape, scanning butterflies from a couple of her original oil paintings and layering them for a unique visual composition. Ironically enough, Lori has been staunchly opposed to the serial art reproduction of her work—partly in an effort to maintain the soul and spirit captured in her one-off original pieces. However, gracing Cabrinha’s products with her work is far from selling out. Kiteboarding is a sport she wants to be a part of, “it’s a lifestyle product,” she proudly explains of her work on the 2018 XO collection.

While Lori started to make the transition from windsurfing into kiteboarding, the art projects of this last year have taken precedence over kite lessons. While she hasn’t had the time to completely wrap herself around the sport, her goal for this year is to focus her attention on kiting. “My friends tell me I have no excuse,” she giggles “now that I have my own signature line of gear.”

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DARE TO DIVERSIFY

R I D E R : R E N O R O M E U / P H OTO : TO BY B R O M W I C H

THE NEW DICE

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SIZES: 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13

JAIME

JAIME TXT

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EXPOSED

Brandon Scheid lost in the giant expanse of Laurance Lake with the great Pacific Northwest’s forest carpeting the hills and fresh water from nearby Mt. Hood flowing underfoot. // Photo Vincent Bergeron

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EXPOSED

Joshua Emanuel puts everything on the line for the Red Bull King of the Air with this heated triple boogy loop. // Photo Thomas Burblies

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EXPOSED

For those dark slide fans out there, Heinar Brandstรถtter, surrounded by the landscape used for the filming of The Sound of Music, effortlessly slips across Lake Mondsee in northern Austria. // Photo Hardy Brandstรถtter

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EXPOSED

Longtime RRD rider Abel Lago lines up with the lip in South Africa at this off the beaten path break somewhere outside of Cape Town. // Photo Svetlana Romantsova

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METHOD

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THE DROP WALLET

WORDS BY BEN WIL SON | PHOTOGRAPHY BY S TU GIBSON

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S unshine C oast where the wind is predominantly side-onshore, the old-school drop wallet is a perfectly fun and timeless move. I often talk about using the power of the kite or the power of the wave, or some combination of the two. The drop wallet is a home on the

laidback snap under the lip that uses the full power of the kite while releasing your fins in the slash.

Start this move with the fundamental wave kiting principal; you must first turn your kite before you carve your board. If you carve your board through the turn before turning the kite you will lose line tension and your kite won’t respond.

As you head toward the wave, sheet your bar in all the way to generate speed and power as you approach the lip. Just before you hit the lip, you want to redirect the kite back across the power zone in anticipation of the top turn on the wave.

As you face the wave your weight should be forward on your board and the rail fairly flat. As the nose makes contact with the lip you’ll want to lay back and transfer your weight to your back foot to encourage the board to pivot around the fins. I always talk about the importance of lowering your center of gravity and this is essentially what you’re doing here. As you square up with the lip you’ll want to sheet out the kite and maintain pressure on your back foot to complete the board’s turn.

As the fins release you can lay back into the wave to stabilize the slide, and when you’ve stalled in the lip long enough, you can use the kite to reengage. Your kite should already be headed away from the wave. From there, sheet in, drop back into the wave and reset for your next bottom turn.

With this particular move, what really excites me is that you can go into the face with a huge amount of power and aggressively fly the kite while throwing yourself at the lip or an open wall, and see how hard you can push your turn in order to get various results. What I like most about the drop wallet is that every time I do it, it seems to be different. Depending on the shape of the wave and how much back foot pressure you use throughout the turn, sometimes your fins will release entirely and the whole board will slide, while other times you might hold a really strong, tight carve. Ultimately, the big layback snap is a crucial slash to have in in your bag of techniques; it’ll offer endless challenges and keep you having fun in the waves. .

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Words by Joe Winowski // Photos by Justin Bruns/Wavelength

ANTICIPATING THE STIFLING HEAT OF THE MIDDLE EAST, JUSTIN BRUNS OPENED THE GRAND GLASS DOORS OF THE LUXURIOUS HOLIDAY INN, ONLY TO BE GREETED BY A BRISK CHILL IN THE AIR AS HE STEPPED INTO THE FIRST HOURS OF DAYLIGHT. A QUICK SCAN OF THE HORIZON REVEALED NOTHING BUT A RISING SUN—STANDING NEXT TO DAMIEN LEROY, MARK MIEDEMA AND EVAN NETSCH, THERE WAS A STUMBLE IN THE EXCITED JABBER, A MOMENT OF QUIET AS THE GROUP TOOK IN THE VAST EMPTINESS OF THE SAUDI ARABIAN DESERT. WITH NO VISUAL LANDMARKS ASIDE FROM THE SAND DUNES THAT SURROUNDED THE MARBLE STEPS OF THE HOTEL ENTRANCE, IT WAS AS IF THEY WERE STANDING IN SOME KIND OF BIZARRE OASIS IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.

IN THE FALL OF 2017, SAUDI ARABIA BEGAN IMPLEMENTING AN AUDACIOUS SERIES OF ROYAL DECREES AIMED AT BREAKING THE COUNTRY’S COMPLETE RELIANCE ON OIL EXTRACTION AND EXPORTATION. WHEN OIL PRICES DROPPED TO ALL-TIME LOWS BETWEEN 2014 TO 2016, THE KINGDOM FELT THE CRUSHING ECONOMIC IMPACT AND SET ABOUT BUILDING A MORE DIVERSE ECONOMY, FORESEEING A FUTURE IN WHICH TRANSPORTATION NO LONGER DEPENDED ON INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES OR OIL. PRINCE MOHAMMAD BIN SALMAN BIN ABDULAZIZ AL SAUD, THE SON OF THE CURRENT REIGNING KING OF SAUDI ARABIA, IS SPEARHEADING THE SAUDI VISION 2030 CAMPAIGN WITH A SERIES OF PROGRESSIVE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL REFORMS AIMED AT MODERNIZING AND DEVELOPING A TOURISM INDUSTRY IN SAUDI’S DEEPLY CONSERVATIVE COUNTRY. CHOSEN AS KITEBOARDING REPRESENTATIVES TO A GOVERNMENT SPONSORED KITE FESTIVAL FOR THE VISION 2030 CAMPAIGN, DAMIEN, EVAN, MARK AND PHOTOGRAPHER JUSTIN BRUNS WERE INVITED ALONG WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF THE RECREATIONAL KITE FLYING WORLD TO SHOWCASE THE POWER AND BEAUTY OF KITES IN ORDER TO ENCOURAGE CHANGE, OPENNESS, AND DIVERSITY IN AN OTHERWISE CONSERVATIVE SOCIETY.

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ABOVE: Fresh off the Holiday Inn shuttle bus, the boys inspect a clean slate and get ready for their first session in the Middle East. TOP RIGHT: Damien Leroy puts his 13 meter Switchblade to work with a fancy no-footer. BOTTOM RIGHT: Mark Miedema bonks off of a an event barrier in the shallows of Half Moon Bay.

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urrounded by nothing but sand for as far as the eye could see and with no other visual landmarks on the horizon, the American contingent boarded the hotel’s shuttle bus for the short ride down a vastly empty highway flanked by shallow dunes. They arrived at the kite festival event site only to find an expansive track of desert scarred with fresh tracks from heavy dirt moving equipment—it soon became apparent that the Cabrinha team was standing amidst a massive cleanup project. Watching crews of foreign workers in the final motions of removing scrap metal, giant chunks of cement and rebar from the site, it quickly became obvious that the Prince’s kite festival was located in the middle of a dump, a tract of land overrun by discarded construction debris.

Since the wind was blowing briskly from the north, the boys circled their coffin bags in a pile and set about rigging big kites for their first session. Putting up a powered 13 meter kite, Damien began exploring the event site’s flat-water shoreline. With a hue more green than turquoise, Half Moon Bay is a tame, shallow body of water tucked between the Saudi mainland and the peninsula where the hotel is situated. It’s sandy-bottomed bay pulls northwest out of the Persian Gulf, creating a warm water inlet. As the team placed their boards in the water, they quickly found the debris, of which had been removed from the land, had not been removed from the water and remained as an underwater hazard to keep in mind. Shuffling his feet to avoid the occasional cinderblock, tire or mettle spike on an otherwise sandy bottom, Justin waded into the water with his camera sealed tightly in his water housing. Evan, Damien and Mark quickly set about jibbing off a metal event barricade that they found on the edge of the site and then arranged a series of flags to jump through. The event wouldn’t start until the following day but the team went about their objective, putting together a routine that would demonstrate the excitement of kiteboarding through a series of big air stunts and fun games.

While America and Saudi Arabia are technically allies in geopolitical matters, the cultural divide between the two nations couldn’t be larger.

Saudi is ruled by a royal family that presides over a Muslim culture that observes Sharia and some of the most rigorous Islamic laws in the Middle East. The boys were warned in advance of their trip that the extremely conservative laws of Saudi Arabia make the public practice of any form of religion other than Islam strictly illegal. They were also cautioned that the consequences of possessing alcohol are severe and can result in prison sentences, while smuggling drugs will get you the death penalty. Saudi Arabia’s laws might seem extreme, especially when it comes to women’s rights. Women are required to wear the traditional abaya, a black full-length robe, along with a facecovering niqab. They are expected to steer clear of single men and aren’t permitted to drive cars—although this restriction is expected to be lifted by royal decree later this year.

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ABOVE: The strict dress code for Saudi women requires coverage from head-to-toe in a black abaya robe. The stark juxtaposition between modern technology and cultural conservatism is a curious sight, and may soon become obsolete. The Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has recently lifted the law that states women must dress in the traditional abaya. In his first interview with an American television network he told CBS’ 60 Minutes, “The decision is entirely left for women to decide what type of decent and respectful attire she chooses to wear.”

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On this trip, the Cabrinha crew was traveling under governmentissued work visas because Saudi Arabia’s longstanding immigration policy does not issue tourist visas to Americans. To maintain the cultural strictness of Saudi culture, westerners historically have not been invited to the country except for the purpose of work, and those who do come to work in the Kingdom often live in walledoff communities separate from the general population. In the days before their trip, the boys were instructed to delete any and all provocative pictures off of their cell phones, as even a harmless photo of a girlfriend scantily dressed in a bikini could raise flags if customs demanded an inspection of their electronic devices. The event organizer also strongly urged them to take care with the social media content they accessed while in the Kingdom as it is commonly noted that wifi usage could be monitored at any time.

Nonetheless, the boys obeyed orders so they didn’t bring any more

attention to themselves outside of their western surfer looks and large board bags of luggage.

Damien, Evan, Mark and Justin settled into a daily schedule that started early at the hotel with some coffee and a brisk climb up the empty dunes across the street to watch the sunrise in silence.

Then they would meet up with the hotel’s bus driver, an immigrant from Bangladesh with a heart of gold, to make the short drive to the event site. As soon as the wind picked up to five knots, the skies filled with massive animal kites known as giant sky-show kites. These 30 meter monsters take the shape of squids, seahorses, dinosaurs, dragons and along with other windsock-style geometric shapes made for an impressive visual as an eclectic hovering mass that dominated the landscape. Other kiters launched small quadline, triangle-shaped stunt kites called revolution or ‘rev’ kites, that 77

could be carefully orchestrated into playful, staccato dances or driven across the sand flats in aggressive acrobatic patterns.

The festival turned out to be larger than Damien or any of the boys had expected. With the attendance of 10,000 people, the flats filled with tents and food trucks and the festival extended late into the evenings.

Damien organized a group of young children to stand in a line of knee-deep water as they waited for Mark to kite by on his twin tip and deliver a perfectly lined up supply of consecutive high-fives to the kids. Then, Mark and Damien took turns giving rides; mounting the young Saudis on their toeside rail in a standing position and having them lean back against the riders’ legs; the kids grinned from ear to ear as they were treated to the ride of their lives. Although the show kites could fly in just about anything, the wind for kiteboarding was often less than spectacular. Early in the trip the boys brought out their foilboards but quickly discovered that the construction debris in the water made foilboarding difficult, at least anywhere near the shoreline.

When there wasn’t enough wind to get out on the water, the team would nonetheless rig kites with short lines and entertain the crowd with stunts on the beach like ghost-riding kites to one another and rallying on three-wheeled buggies, towing each other around while mastering the art of steering a trike with your feet while flying a kite with your hands.

When there wasn’t enough wind to even get their kites in the air, they borrowed revolution kites from the other invitees and rediscovered the simple joy of stunt flying.

One of the facets of Saudi culture that the team read about in their briefing documents prior to the trip was that you should never turn down an invitation for coffee or tea because, as in most countries, refusing an act of hospitality is considered rude. As Justin shot photos in the crowd of spectators, he met a young man dressed in a full length white robe and struck up a conversation. Justin’s new friend was a chemist at the nearby Saudi Aramco oil research facility and as the two exchanged pleasantries, the Saudi was quick to show off photos of his personal collection of sports cars, including a vintage Ferrari and Aston Martin.

Justin learned the young Saudis’ name and offered to take Omar inside the marked off zone to learn the basics of flying a quad-line rev kite. In appreciation of the gesture, Omar then invited Justin to coffee the next day and while the two exchanged details, Justin followed Saudi custom and politely accepted, despite little intention of following through.

The Saudis that visited the festival were for the most part friendly and eager to experience the westerner’s kite flying spectacle. With wide eyes and gaping mouths, the spectators watched as the boys edged across the water and launched into massive airs by big kite standards. It became clear to the team early on that water recreation as a general concept seemed foreign to these people. However, beyond the strict constraints placed on women and other religious restrictions, one of the most eye opening cultural differences observed was that Saudis seem to have no cultural 78

LEFT: Mark Miedema stands on Damien’s shoulders for some double-decker kite flying. UPPER MIDDLE: With his GoPro, Damien captures some goofy pictures including Evan toe-tapping Mark on the head. UPPER RIGHT: Anything to stay busy, Damien takes the backseat on an adventureous trike train. MIDDLE LEFT: With foil in hand, Justin Bruns navigates the underwater hazards of the event site. LOWER RIGHT: Evan Netsch shares the magic of kiteboarding with a young Saudi boy.

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UPPER LEFT: The potential of kites left young Saudi boys with gaping mouths and excitement for the power of the wind. UPPER CENTER: While many of the male Saudi spectators arrived in more western-styled wear, this man came to watch the kite festival dressed in full traditional Saudi attire: a white thwarb (Arabic dress) and a red and white headdress called a keffiyeh. RIGHT: Despite the unassuming simplicity of the traditinal abaya dress, many Saudi women accesorize with flashy purses and cell phones. LOWER LEFT: A young Saudi girl in western attire; with political and cultural change in the wind, she may never be required to submit to a dress code. LOWER CENTER: The team’s Bangladeshi bus driver was a kind and gentle soul that routinely offered to come work for them in America.

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prohibition about haphazardly discarding trash in the environment. Justin watched as kids would throw trash in the water without flinching and people readily left garbage behind without any thought to pack their trash. Out of everything foreign about Saudi, this was the behavior that seemed most peculiar above all else.

As a freelance photographer, Justin reveled in the visual richness of Saudi Arabia’s culture. He’d often get lost in the crowd, taking out his small Sony camera with a mini lens to snap candid portraits of individuals and more often than not, people would smile and pose for his camera or even drag their friends in for a group shot. Justin took a photo of a girl in a full length black abaya. Her abaya may have been the same as every other woman, but her personal effects, like an iPhone and hand purse, were ostentatiously covered with fake gems and glitter. Struck by the girl’s brilliant eyes gleaming through a small slit in her head covering, Justin exchanged a few pleasantries with her that continued via a texting app on their phones. While her attire may have made her look conservative and submissive, her messages proved otherwise—surprising Justin with texts in a flirtatious tone, she eventually asked him to bring her to the United States, a curiously forward request that suggested that technology may commonly be used as a tool in order to allow the younger Saudi population to circumvent the cultural strictures of society.

As it would turn out, the festival was a minefield of cultural faux paus, the biggest of which the event organizers hadn’t anticipated. While movie theaters were never mainstream in Saudi Arabia, the few that did exist were shut down in the early 1980’s during an Islamic revivalist movement in which the government caved to conservatives and threats of religious terrorism. In the weeks prior to this trip, the Saudi Ministry of Culture announced that public movie theaters would once again be permitted, and as a result, the kite festival would host one of the first public screenings of a movie since the religious crackdown. The event organizers coordinated for the construction of a stage and large screen in order to show a public showing of a film for the first time in over 35 years. In a society that traditionally practices strict segregation of men and women, for the first time, the two sexes gathered together at a public viewing event to see Disney’s Moana, a film who’s main character is part Hawaiian Princess and part deity. Justin recalls a few people grumbling under their breath during the showing because of the nature of the content and others that were clearly uncomfortable with the open atmosphere.

The morning after the kite festival screening, the event organizers got some heat. However, aside from the occasional sideways look, the overall vibe of the crowd was fun and progressive.

Like most events, participating in the kite festival was an exercise of waiting: killing time at the hotel, standing around for the wind to pick up, and without alcohol or girls, the only vice to be found was an all you can eat dessert bar back at the hotel. The next day, the adventurous photographer within Justin grew tired of the limited terrain that lay 81

between the Holiday Inn and the event site. Following up with Omar’s invitation for coffee, Justin quietly arranged a taxi from the hotel’s front desk and headed 45 minutes north to an address in the city of Dammam.

The cab pulled up just outside the familiar arches of McDonalds amended with Arabic wordage beneath the logo. As a lone American in a crowded public square, Justin felt a bit vulnerable, however, with his full facial beard and full length pants, no one seemed to notice or pay much attention to him. Within minutes Omar showed up and brought him to a café where there were two entrances: one for men, the other for women and children. The café was divided by a head high wall that split it into two parts; you could hear the other side but visually, the two zones were distinct. Entering the men’s side, the two sat chatting while drinking coffee. They exchanged stories and after a bit, Justin offered to show Omar his photography drone. Walking down a side street into an open residential space, Justin launched his drone and demonstrated how it worked. After a few minutes of flight an older man approached, addressing Justin in a harsh Arabic tone. Omar stepped up and exchanged words with the agitated man—disarming the newcomer to the extent that the two were soon invited into the man’s house for tea and coffee.

Following Omar through a gated wall, Justin found a mini palace beyond the walled-off courtyard. They passed the main house and entered a separate structure at the end of the compound. Stepping inside, Justin discovered a windowless room filled with carpet and floor pillows in a lounge style setup. Designated only for men to congregate, the man’s wife brought in a special Saudi chai tea and the men drank and traded stories.

Outside the confines of the kite festival, in these exchanges, Justin gained a real sense of Saudi Arabian culture and found that the people he met were warm and inviting. However, when the event organizers learned of Justin’s trip to Dammam, they quickly worked themselves into a frenzy.

Advised to keep a close watch on the westerners they had invited to the event, they were not supposed to let any of the foreign guests travel alone, let alone meet up with strangers in cities far away. When Justin returned to the hotel without issue the organizers calmed down, and despite the tempory fall out, the adventure in Dammam was a valuable glimpse into the real culture of Saudi Arabia.

While the kite flying was intended to be the spectacle of this event, the real show was observing a conservative culture experiencing its first public movie showing in 35 years and the cross-cultural interaction between western kite enthusiasts and a population living under the rigid strictures of Islamic law. As the social freedoms of the Saudi Vision 2030 plan begin to play out, the cultural landscape of Saudi Arabia is sure to change. In the months following the kite festival, Saudi Arabia has began issuing tourist visas and has taken its first steps towards giving women unprecedented gender equality. Women are now permitted to attend mixed public sporting events and enjoy relaxed enforcement on 82

UPPER LEFT: Justin Bruns breaks free of the event for an undercover trip to Dammam where he discovered the Saudi version of McDonald’s. UPPER RIGHT: Getting the air high-five just right is a combination of commitment, proximity and luck; Evan and Mark practice high-fives with little success. LOWER LEFT: After reprimanding the boys for flying a drone in a residential neighborhood of Dammam, this local man invited them into his gated home for an authentic Saudi Arabian male tea party.

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the strict dress code of the abaya, and later this summer, women will be given the freedom to drive cars alone for the first time.

It is unlikely that the Kingdom can embrace tourism without drastically altering its cultural, religious and social landscape, however, it seems like the younger generation of Saudis and their government are ready for this change. Trying to modernize economic and social policies while presiding over one of the most religiously conservative 84

populations will be no easy task, but if the technologically driven political revolutions of 2010’s Arab Spring demonstrate anything, the Middle East is a volatile region ready for change. If the Cabrinha boys’ experience at the kite festival is any sign of the beginning stages of the transformation, then it’s conceivable that Saudi Arabia is ready for a quiet revolution that could quite possibly spur the growth of more kiteboarding in the region and open up a new chapter in culturally rich kite adventures.

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P R EMIE R ING W

e made a full length movie—a year’s worth of hard work wrapped up into a tidy package, all ready for the public’s viewing pleasure. The endless process of tweaking was finally finished; director Noe Font had put his final seal of approval on the project and since no more changes could be made to the feature length film, it was time to share it with the world.

Distribution in this day and age is typically as simple as uploading your film to a major online video hosting site and watching in anticipation as the ticker climbs

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with each view. But from the start of this project, we had taken a different approach, so we figured, why stop there? We decided that we wanted to take a more personal approach to showing off our hard work: a premiere tour, a mainstay amongst other boardsports videography, but a formality that has long been lost to kiteboarding culture.

Carefully planning a 14-stop schedule, Craig Cunningham, Noe Font and myself arranged a tour that would reach most of the major kiteboarding destinations around the globe.

Each premiere would ideally be in a theatre, have a proper

DOWN UNDER Words by Colleen Carroll | Photos by Noe Font

sound system and would have as many of the athletes from the movie in attendance as possible. The tour kicked off in Hood River, Oregon before venturing across four continents and wrapping things up with four stops in Australia.

Noe, Craig and I decided we wanted to be in attendance at all of the stops down under in order to meet the people from the other side of the world who cared enough about our movie to come out to see it. At the same time, we wanted to celebrate the completion of The Bubble project with a relaxing road trip. We outlined what seemed like a reasonable four week itinerary along one of the most

scenic coastlines in the world, with the Perth, Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne premieres along the way.

Noe arrived earlier than Craig and me to handle the Perth premiere on the west coast before meeting up with us for the Gold Coast stop. Once all together on the east coast of Oz, we loaded up an RV and set off to see as many kite and surf spots as we could possibly fit in between the three east coast premieres. Grossly underestimating how many epic spots we’d encounter, our initial schedule immediately went straight out the window as we quickly became lost in the land of Oz.

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Having just wrapped up the biggest project of his life, 18-year-old Noe Font was ready to sit back and (borrowing a quote from The Bubble), “feed his soul with what feels right.� To get a board back under his feet and clock some sessions after months of being on a

tight editing schedule, Noe started his trip early in Perth. Safety Bay, Western Australia delivers some of the most consistent winds in all of Oz. Coupled with a laidback lifestyle, Noe readily slipped back into a schedule focused on water time.

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In the days before Craig and I arrived, Noe met up with Alexander ‘Rowdy’ Lewis-Hughes to chase an incoming swell around the outskirts of Byron Bay. The duo got unusually lucky with swell and strong wind in Burleigh Heads. Here, Noe captures Rowdy’s frontside snap. After a few days touring the east coast and surfing their brains out, Rowdy escorted Noe up the coast to attend the Gold Coast premiere and then later hopped in our RV, as we made our way south to the Merimbula Wave Classic.

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A look into Rowdy’s board den at his home in Alstonville, New

South Wales. Rowdy is a pillar of kiteboarding, both in the land of Oz and on the internet. Known for his strong voice in the social media world, Rowdy keeps kiteboarding real.

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Only a short distance outside of the Gold Coast and freshly

loaded into our 24-foot recreational vehicle, we made our first

unscheduled stop at the pull off above Snapper Rocks for a surf check—we were already off to a slow start. The famed break

was uncharacteristically empty, and although the sun would

be setting not long after we unpacked our surfboards from the depths of the RV, paddling out was well worth the stop.

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Alex wasn’t our only Aussie tag-along. We welcomed close friend Ewan Jaspan to meet up

with us wherever he could during our month in his home country. Not only one to watch on the water, Ewan is rife with comic relief and always the first to volunteer to clean up the

leftovers. Taking a break in between sets at Cables Wake Park on the outskirts of Sydney, Ewan accepted the challenge of finishing the leftover popcorn from the Gold Coast premiere.

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In the days immediately following the Gold Coast movie premiere, we eagerly headed up to Keahi De Aboitiz’s home spot: Noosa,

Queensland. Not only is it renowned for its all-time surf, this spot offers world class flat-water inlets as well. However, the wind was

a no show and we quickly accepted that the chance for a kite session was null. After catching a few cheeky surfs and drooling over the unrealized potential of Noosa’s kite spots, we kept driving, figuring we were better off exploring Caloundra. Upon our arrival we were

greeted with solid breezes and a forecast that suggested we could ride both the flat water and wave spots with the changing tides.

Unlike our attempt at kiting in Noosa, we were scoring perfect conditions. After a few hours freeriding further upstream in the river delta, we switched twin tips for surfboards and scored fun chest high peelers at the river’s mouth.

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The first couple of weeks of the trip felt like a true vacation. We met heaps of cool people from kite spots everywhere from the Gold

Coast up to Noosa and all the way down to Sydney. We surfed when we could, stopped at every picturesque lookout we stumbled upon and ate expensive but delicious cafĂŠ fare. However, the kite sessions had been somewhat more sporadic than we had hoped for up until

this point in the trip. We were en route to the 37th Annual Merimbula Wave Classic which started the next morning. The sun was setting and we still had hours of driving when we noticed that it was windy. We had been told of a local spot near Ulladulla that had

promises of perfect flat-water conditions. Despite the implications of an improptu session on the long night that lay ahead, we steered

our caravan down a treacherous kangaroo alley to score this session. The wind was steady and warm and blowing perpendicular to an outstretched sandbar that blocked the breaking waves beyond. As was the common theme, it was well worth the stop!

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The picturesque landscape and empty lagoon at the spot we

stopped near Ulladulla was by far one of our favorite freeride sessions of the trip. With an outgoing tide, the water from the lagoon quickly drained from where we were riding. However, Craig, wanting to kite until he couldn’t possibly kite any longer,

hopped up on shore to keep the good times going when there was hardly any water left in the lagoon to land tricks.

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The last of the firsts, the Melbourne showing would conclude our premiere tour in style at a funky St. Kilda theater packed with a spirited group of Aussie kiters. They made it known in advance that they looked forward to voicing their critique, but lucky for us,

they largely approved and recounted their favorite parts late into the night at the bar next door. I remember sitting next to Noe as we

bellied up to the bar and he took this photo on his 35mm. With a sign around its neck reading ‘F***YES’, in a way, this moose head

embodied everything we were feeling in that moment. In between the showing at the theater and the after party at the bar, Noe, Craig and I ran the few blocks back to our apartment to hit send on the queued up email that would transmit The Bubble film off to all of our subscribers. We had taken an idea from start to finish, worked hard to pull it off, had a really good time along the way and so far, people seemed to like it. F*** yes.

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PE R FO RMAN CE

F REERIDE

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Based out of the town of Hamilton perched on the western corner of Lake Ontario, Braden Pentland chases windswell as far as two hours from his home to score the real deal.

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THE NIAGARA FILES A S T U DY O F T H E G R E AT LA K E S’ H A R D I E S T B R E E D

W O R D S A N D P H OTO S B Y N I AG A RA M I K E

Photography has to be a passion—I spend far too much time staring down the barrel of a heavy long lens in cold, blustery conditions or sifting through a seemingly infinite folder of identical images on a computer for it to be anything other. It’s not for the faint of wallet either; Expensive camera body upgrades are inevitable for capturing the perfect action-stopping shutter speed while large dynamic sensors are necessary for recording detail in high contrast conditions. For competitive results, you’ll need the brightest precision lens with a swift focus capable of snagging a fast-moving edge and let’s not forget the army of hard drives and the computer processor on steroids required for editing and cataloguing those huge files.

My digital SLR work started with nature, particularly photographing the birds of the eastern Great Lakes area. The diversity of bird species that make their home here is surprising. You will find a surpassingly large range of birds from small, very quick moving hummingbirds, finches and warblers to large modern pterodactyls like the great blue heron and even great egrets. We see plumes of almost every color—from the exotic shades of the indigo bunting and scarlet tanager to the camouflaged bodies of screech owls and female ducks, these by far the most difficult to photograph due to their high contrast darks and whites. However, it was well into that photographic bird journey that I discovered an even more elusive species taking flight in the freshwater shores of the Niagara region, a species known as kiteboarders.

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At first I thought shooting kiteboarders would be an easy transition from birds in flight as the required settings on my camera were in many ways similar: high ISO settings to allow fast shutter speeds that freeze action and a wider aperture lens to let lots of light in and thereby allow the camera’s processor to quickly and accurately grab a focus on these swiftly moving subjects. Although the mechanics of image capture are much the same, I quickly learned that chasing down kiteboarders for the perfect photo is in many ways just as tricky as photographing the rarer birds in remote marshes.

Through a process of trial and error I’ve learned that the kiteboarder is a wide-ranging breed which indeed is very picky in choosing its daily habitat. Kiteboarders in the eastern Great Lakes region often travel far and wide to get their kiting fix. No two days are the same as the wind is capable of changing direction and strength abruptly and yet, these hardy kiteboarding characters are just as adaptable as birds.

The photographer must quickly learn the difference between those who chase waves and the others that crave smooth flat water. While bird photography is generally shot on fair days in the early morning hours or evening hours when the side light is perfect, wind-dependent kiteboarding has to be shot when the wind arrives, often in the middle hours when the strong overhead light generates harsh shadows and silhouettes, or often when the sky is overcast and sometimes raining. These conditions require the use of a higher ISO, thus losing the battle for image detail against the photographer’s low-light enemy, digital noise. While the photographic conditions in kiteboarding may be challenging, the most committed athletes are tenacious and often rise to the occasion—often donning thick rubber suits to brave sometimes arctic-like conditions.

ABOVE: While most kite industry insiders are based out of Hawaii, the Gorge or the East Coast, Matt Aiken, Mystic rep and owner of kite accessory brand WMFG, is an anomaly. Based out of Toronto, Matt scores a solid number of days on the lakes and fills the difference with off-season travel. BELOW: Dr. Kent Ackerman and Jason Maloney, two of the regions most committed foilboarders, caught amidst the hunt for prime conditions. According to Dr. Kent, anything above 28°F is fair game.

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The eastern Great Lakes area is a confluence of large bodies of freshwater dotted with a myriad of beach parks ideal for kiting in almost any wind direction, so long as your subject is willing to drive. The bulk of kiteboarding happens within about a twohour radius from Toronto, with most of the greater Niagara kiteboarders living near the western rim of Lake Ontario and kiting there or driving to nearby spots on Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Simcoe. The kiteboarders I follow all seem to agree that fall is the best time of year in this region. According to veteran Steven Bourne, one of the earliest local kiters and one who claims to have flown his first kite in Maui as early as 1998 explains: “Fall is the best time here; the water is still warm and the frontal winds we get are plentiful.” Spring can be windy too, yet the water is still cold enough for dry suits and a good setup can be killed by ‘doming,’ a phenomenon where warm winds die close to shore

ABOVE: When it comes to capturing shots of the northern harrier hawk, a bit of patience and shooting from an open car window often work best. Niagara Mike waited for hours with the sun at his back to get this shot. The photographer triggered the shutter just as the bird stalled to possibly spot prey in the field below; you could shoot for hours and never see a bird like this one. BELOW: Brendan Schnurr captured snapping a backside off the lip at Pleasant Beach on the northeast corner of Lake Erie.

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LEFT: Jason Maloney is a magician and concert pianist by trade, but out on the Great Lakes he practices a different sort of magic with the help of his foilboard, a steady breeze and this spectacular sunset. ABOVE: The great blue heron is the largest of the three local herons; the other two are night and green herons. These birds are mostly skittish but if you move slowly you can develop trust and with good morning light and a bit of luck you can avoid dark featureless shadows and get crisp action shots with a fast shutter speed.

because of the cold dense air hovering over the cold-water lakes.

Summer can bring the doldrums and in the winter the water often turns to ice; so kiteboarding is not without its challenges. As kiter Jason Maloney points out, “The hot spot for winter riding is Port Weller on the south shore of Lake Ontario, as it’s often the last to freeze and is the only local spot to ride a northwest wind in the winter.” Because the kiteboarding range on the lakes covers a massive territory, the kiters in this region have to know the ins and outs of their beaches and the intricacies of the weather systems in order to get the most out of each season.

As a kiteboarding photographer, you can find the best places by doing a lot of often useless driving, or you can learn to use the same tools available to kiters. By listening to the conversations on the beach you’ll learn what conditions are best for each spot, and as it turns out, shooting surfing, windsurfing and kiteboarding are all interrelated. You can study wind maps and wave maps and as you begin to look forward into the week, you’ll watch as the forecast shapes up, and hope that the best kiteboarders will break out of work early and get to the beach while the lighting is still good. As a photographer, you quickly learn the very same lessons that kiteboarders inherently know: the Great Lakes forecasts can’t be completely trusted, and knowledge of site specific and seasonal nuances are essential to score a successful session.

Photography is an exacting study of a subject—capturing birds while foraging is an investigation in behavior, and by doing so, you learn to predict some of their motions. If you catch them in flight with prey or nesting materials in their beak, it’s a defining moment.

It’s much the same with kiteboarders; you have to learn their basic behavior patterns and anticipate when they might boost a massive air or carve a turn on a wave. Yes, we have waves. It was once a well-kept secret that under just the right conditions, the Great Lakes can be a hotbed of thumping surf, but these days, there’s a whole crew of kiters riding surfboards strapless. Because the Great Lakes’ wind-dependent swell is fickle, the waves are quick to show up and can be even quicker to abate. Kiters like Brandon Schnurr, Braden Pentland, Joel Nelson, Matt Aiken, Steven Bourne and Corey Treen yearn for the days when strong winds blow across the longer fetches of the lake delivering fairly clean overhead surf throughout the shores and reefs.

With varying weather and wind conditions there’s plenty of light wind days, so many of the riders have adapted and taken up foilboarding. Some kiters like Chuck Tatham have committed to foilboarding in all conditions; light wind or strong wind, he’ll foil through waves and boost big lofty airs on the outside. A similarly minded Jason Maloney, professes, “Hydrofoiling is next to Godliness.” Yet, amongst the surfers and foilboarders, 107

ABOVE: A couple of spectators watch as kiters snag a beautiful day at Sunset Beach on the southwest corner of Lake Ontario. BELOW: Perched at the mouth of the Niagara River, stormy conditions batter the French-built Fort Niagara.The violent systems that descend upon the Great Lakes are capable of whipping an otherwise calm lake into a churning caldron of short period swell.

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Toronto-based Laurie Williams is dedicated to freestyle kiteboarding on her twin tip, focusing on boosting airs, landing back rolls and integrating grabs. Yet, even Laurie, like many of the others in the region, has a long-term goal to master foilboarding with the hopes of reaping the most out of the fickle Great Lakes wind and exploring different kite spots across the lakes.

If birds communicate the business of food location, nesting and territory-defining via an intricate system of chirping and warning flights, it’s clear that kiteboarders also have comparably complex networks of communication and information sharing that maximizes both personal and group water time. Laurie Williams uses a WhatsApp chat group to keep tabs on conditions with 15-20 other kiters, “If someone is kiting at one of the local spots, chances are we all know.” Chat groups serve other important purposes in the community, according to Corey Treen, “The chat group is a great source of peer pressure, one-upmanship and a healthy dose of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out).” Joel Nelson describes his kiteboarding community as a large brotherhood that extends from Toronto around the southwestern edge of Lake Ontario to Welland. “There are at least 10 guys I see regularly on the water, and on a good day, this can easily double,” but as Joel likes to point out, “it’s always fun to remind anyone who didn’t make it how ‘epic’ the day turned out.” Other kiteboarders like Jason Maloney point to an ‘inner posse’ consisting of a “few hardcore riders that will do winter sessions in high and low winds.” Jason stresses, “Whatever Mother Nature brings, this posse will ride!”

Missing out on a fleeting Great Lakes session is everyone’s concern (this kite photographer included), yet there’s nothing more disappointing than driving and then trudging tons of photo gear down to the beach for a session in which the local talent doesn’t show. As you quickly learn, work is the most common reason for kiters to miss sessions, yet most of the regulars have built work lives that appease the wind’s poor timing. Braden Pentland is a manager at a call center and a part-time single dad, yet his boss understands the implications of a jonesing kiteboarding employee and often hands Braden a hall pass for the good days. As a scuba diver working off of small boats, Corey Treen is blessed with freedom and flexibility. “When it’s windy and the waves are up, we generally can’t work, making it pretty easy to book time off exactly when I want to and since we also travel a fair bit, I’m often working close to suitable kitesurfing locations.” Other locals like Chuck Tatham have office hours; as a software company executive Chuck can slip away when “the stars align,” but for the most part makes good use of summer’s long days and depends on the gamechanging range of foilboards for those light air evening sessions.

ABOVE: Early Great Lakes pioneer Steven Bourne is one of the pillars of the kiteboarding community. Equally as talented in the air as he is in the waves, Bourne has been kiting since 1998.

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ABOVE: Andrew Kirn has a house just up the road from Lake Erie’s main kiteboarding beach, Sherkston Shores/Pleasant Beach, but this year he bought a 40-foot catamaran and plans to start an eco/live aboard kite adventure charter in the Carribean. BELOW: Joel Nelson captured kiting at Sherkston Shores on northeast Lake Erie. From windsurfing to SUP surfing and just recently kite foiling and SUP surf foiling, Joel does a little bit of everything. RIGHT Corey Treen lays a strapless gauge just under the lip on a fairly solid day at Sherkston Shores/Pleasant Beach.

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ABOVE: Photographed at Sunset Beach, southwestern Lake Ontario, Torontonian Laurie Williams pushes her freestyle with back rolls, grabs, dark slides and one-foot board-offs.

All of these kiteboarders have to put food in their mouths, so work is a necessary evil, yet even those with conventional gigs have tricks to optimize their water time. Joel Nelson owns his own restoration company and typically follows weather patterns and forecasts to clear his work schedule as best he can, but as he says “it’s just never enough—two times a week in summer and three times a week in the fall.” Kristian Wolf sells English muffins for a living with a take it or leave it approach, “If it’s windy, people are just not gonna get their English muffins. It’s that simple,” he says. Toronto-based Matt Aiken works in the kiteboarding industry running North American sales for Mystic Boarding while owning and operating WMFG, a small kiteboard accessory brand. According to Matt, “It’s understood and kind of expected that I go kitesurfing on the good days and balance work around that, however, if work is super busy in the spring and summer, I might miss a fair number of days.”

Jason Maloney is a semi-retired cruise ship magician and fits his sessions between his hobbies as a concert level classical pianist with a specialty in Baroque music and magic gigs. According to Jason, his WOO stats for last year indicated he rode more sessions than anyone else in the world. “I ride multiple times per week all year long unless we have the occasional week in January with sub-zero temps,” he says, but for other kiters, seasonal migrations to warmer and windier destinations are quite common. Many of the Great Lakes locals including Braden, Joel and Matt all escape at least once or twice to winter destinations like, Hawaii, Costa Rica and the Caribbean. And while most Great Lakes kiteboarders often travel 112

in the winter, you will still find the non-migratory subset chasing wind around the lake despite unbearable wind chills, so long as there are spots with unfrozen water and no ice clinging to their lines.

The photographic study of Great Lakes kiteboarding is often no easy proposition; great lighting rarely lines up with episodes of strong wind and good waves, and when it does, the best conditions can still threaten to fill every nook and cranny of high-priced sensitive digital photo gear with damaging sand and water. Taking photos of kiteboarding is a labor of love and a continuing learning experience; part technique (like purposely over-exposing the subject against bright water) and in part an almost ethological study of the athletes. At the end of the day when the photographer finally loads massive quantities of image data onto a straining hard drive, the monotonous search for the standout shot continues until the single image that combines a perfectly sharp, well-exposed frame with the kiter caught in best form flashes across the screen and elicits a slew of celebratory profanities that may even be heard a few houses away.

Even if most of the technical aspects of shooting a subject could be mastered, I envision that I will forever be a student of this diverse and skilled species passionately dedicated to the single-minded purpose of riding and conquering the eastern Great Lakes’ wind and waves.

Niagara Mike shoots with the newly re-designed prime Nikkor 400 mm f/2.8 FL series lens and the full frame Nikon D810 and D850 bodies for capturing highly detailed results under varying light conditions with high frame rates. To see more of Mike’s work check out @NiagaraMike2000 on Instagram.

ANDRE MAGARAO

CARLOS MARIO | WORLD CHAMPION 19 YEARS OLD | BRAZIL

ANDRE MAGARAO

Learn more today at SLINGSHOTSPORTS.COM

SLINGWE’RE ALL SHOT HOOKED SAM LIGHT | KPL WORLD CHAMPION 27 YEARS OLD | UNITED KINGDOM 113

NPSURF / Gravity Seat Got back problems or are you ready to jump into the foiling? With a laminated EVA inner that’s split into three segments, NP’s Gravity Seat Harness provides you with excellent support where you need it while its pre-bent shape allows the harness to completely wrap around your hip and seat area. Light yet supportive, the Gravity Seat leg straps are also uniquely angled for an exceptional fit and freedom of movement, especially for big air/airstyle type moves. $149.99 // www.npsurf.com

PATAGONIA / Worn Wear Did you know that you can trade, sell and buy secondhand Patagonia goods? Worn Wear is basically Patagonia’s own thrift store. You can trade in any item of clothing at your local Patagonia store; staff will tell you how much it’s worth and do the washing too! Patagonia pays up to 50% of the price they will sell the item for and you’ll get a credit toward more Patagonia goodness, either used or new. For example you can find anything from this lightly used men’s large Nano Pullover for $90 to older cool vintage pieces! // www.wornwear.patagonia.com

RIDE ENGINE / Empax Vest Protection when and where you need it with no regrets! The newly released Empax Vest fits seamlessly with your harness without compromising your range of motion. Its no-slip wind skin waist locks your harness in place and prevents it from riding up while strategic 20mm foam panels provide flotation and true impact protection for all levels of riding. $125 // www.ridengine.com

ION / CS Freeride Harness The CS Freeride harness finds the sweet spot between stiff and flexible composite materials to give you outstanding back support while still allowing for maximum freedom of movement.

Lock in the perfect fit with ION’s new C-Bar, making it easier than ever to get in and out of your harness all the while achieving that perfect tightness. To top it off, you’ll enjoy what ION believes is the most comfortable blend of 3D EVA with their new Hyper Foam for an ideal ergonomic fit. $349.95 // www.ion-products.com

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MANERA / Union Harness A brand spanking new product from Manera to compliment their popular EXO model, the UNION utilizes advanced manufacturing processes allowing it to be far lighter than many other harnesses on the market. Based on the same core principal of load dispersion as the EXO, the UNION offers great comfort, reliability, durability and unrivaled weight characteristics at a price that won’t break your wallet. $209 // www.manera.com

WATERLILY / Turbine WaterLily turns water or wind into electricity for charging your favorite USB powered devices.

Built to run 24/7, WaterLily allows users to create electricity by placing the turbine in moving water or wind to effortlessly charge it up. GPS, GoPros, cell phones or cameras can all be charged with this ultra-portable power solution with a 5v output. With customers in more than 40 countries, WaterLily is quickly emerging as the go-to portable energy solution. Tkb readers can save 10% by using promo code KITEBOARD10 on the WaterLily website. $199 / www.waterlilyturbine.com

DAKINE / Cyclone II Dry Pack 36l Backpack The ultimate surf pack has been updated with all new features for 2018 sealing its place as the ideal fully waterproof pack. A roll top closure and welded construction make for a total waterproof seal in the roomy main compartment, while PU coated zippers provide water resistance in the dual outside pockets. You’ll appreciate clever details like the two-way purge valve for inflation (to make the bag float) or space saving compression, and integrated board carry system. The breathable back panel, sternum strap and laptop sleeve are the finishing touches for easy-style traveling on your next kiting trip or whenever you need total waterproof protection. $150 // www.dakine.com

UBCO / 2018 2x2 With a motor in both wheels—no clutch or drivetrain, no emissions, petrol or noise—the fully electric road-registerable 2018 2x2 is the smartest, quietest and most efficient way to get around both on and offroad. Designed to perform in all terrains and conditions with excellent handling and instant torque, the 2x2 is ready to take on whatever you throw at it—and with the UBCO accessories, you’re in for one epic adventure. With a top speed of 30 mph, weight of 139 pounds, 6 hour charging time and 75 mile range, the 48Ah Lithium-Ion Portage Battery System not only fuels the vehicle, but also powers all your tools from your phone to your drill (at the same time). $6999 // www.ubcobikes.com/us 115

These days, if you’re the only woman at your beach you can connect online or in person with The Kiteboarding Collective’s networking group. With the growing demand for female-specific kite camps, clinics and destination travel, organizations like Surfin Sem Fim are beginning to offer women’s travel experiences that offer positive learning experiences and fun kiting environements in some of the most beautiful places in the world. // Photos courtesy of Surfin Sem Fim

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VIEWPOINT

COLLECTING MOMENTUM Words by Laurel Eastman & Elea Faucheron

While a single woman sharing her story is powerful, world champion Cindy Mosey demonstrated in 2004, when she started her women’s kiteboarding island retreats, that a collective of women’s experiences make a monumental difference. The ladies on these trips valued learning, pushing one another and forming friendships with other female kiters from around the world.

In 2010, the torch was passed to 9x world champion Kristin Boese who founded the nonprofit, KB4girls Foundation. Kristin circled the globe, hosting women-only events focused on teaching technical kiteboarding skills and leaving a positive impact on local communities. Inspired by a network of female kiters to learn from and share ideas, the momentum of women’s kiteboarding has grown.

Today KB4girls has rebranded into The Women’s Kiteboarding Collective. The nonprofit is driven by the leadership of a diverse board of directors comprised of female kiters dedicated to building education programs, connecting women around the world and inspiring our members to embrace all aspects of kiteboarding.

While the importance and impact of in-person events is undeniable, these days, utilitzing a global online meeting place is the idea way to make the most connecions and create the biggest impact for women. Our vibrant online community supports one another, any time of day, in any time zone, in any country and in any language.

The Women’s Kiteboarding Collective is a place where female kiters of all levels and backgrounds guide ladies around the world through a safer, easier and more awesome kiteboarding experience! We’ve created global resources of female kite camps and events as well as a list of women-owned businesses and female kite instructors.

tremendous value not only for the women, but for the sport itself.

Since its inception, the kiteboarding industry has strived to expand its appeal to a broader base of participants. The recent introduction of female-specific products demonstrates that women represent a growing segment within our sport. While the equipment may be more user-friendly than ever, the need for inclusivity, support and encouragement for ladies at all levels of our sport is still required.

The Collective intimately knows the struggles of learning how to kiteboard, making a living as a female in the kite industry and the challenges of being a strong and powerful woman in a field dominated by men. With so many obstacles along the path, the Women’s Kiteboarding Collective is helping women’s voices to be heard so we can continue to change and improve the landscape of our industry.

Now the Collective is actively advancing the dialogue on women’s issues. Important topics ranging from prize money and wage equality to industry opportunities. We’re creating an information exchange between professional athletes, industry leaders and users of all levels. The resulting knowledge becomes collective, global and (hopefully) viral.

We’re making excellent progress and building upon the global momentum of increasing equality. With dedicated women’s kite gear, more women’s-specific kite camps, a solid field of women competing on the pro tours and now a global meeting place to tie all these experiences together, we’re feeling motivated to push even further.

Our members share their gear experiences, get tips on progression and can even find traveling partners to any corner of the world.

One of the most important aspects of our community is providing a place for women to be heard, to share their stories, their struggles, and to offer support to one another.

Our goal is to inspire women kiters so that we feel empowered to advocate for improvements for our lives and the lives of others. By bringing more women into our sport at all levels, from the newbie on the beach to the brand manager/CEO in the kite company office, we’re making our industry better. By helping women to be brave and powerful on the beach we’re also creating a community of empowered women who will help make the world a better place.

The women of the kite community have spoken up and reached out to their peers; connecting female kiters across global lines provides

To learn more about The Women’s Kiteboading Collective visit: https://www.womenskiteboarding.org/

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ATMOSPHERE

THE NORTH PACIFIC HIGH Words by iKitesurf Meteorologist Shea Gibson

The North Pacific High, also known as the ‘NPH,’ is a climatic subtropical feature that West Coast and Columbia River Gorge kiteboarders know quite well. Hovering over the Pacific Ocean during the spring and summer, the NPH is a semi-permanent anticyclone with high pressure at its center and slow moving air rotating clockwise around its periphery. The NPH can be thousands of miles wide; it not only fuels Hawaii with the signature northeast and east-northeast trade winds, but it is also responsible for the persistent northwest and west flow along the Washington, Oregon and California coasts during the majority of the spring and summer months.

The strength of local kiteboarding winds often depend on where the NPH is located over the Pacific Ocean. In the winter the NPH moves southwards towards the equator which opens the door for storm systems to barrel down the West Coast, but when the NPH returns northwards to its typical position just off the West Coast it renews the coast’s reliable windy season. The NPH has a complicated relationship with coastal mountain ranges and therefore its latitudinal east to west location is key for wind strengths. When parked just off the coast it leads to strong pressure gradients against the mountain range and the winds along the coast tend to be strong. Forecasters typically pay close attention to the pressure gradient—by studying an isobar map we can estimate local wind strengths. If the NPH center extends too far inland in the form of an elongated ridge, temperatures tend to rise and winds tend to turn side-off in an unfavorable north-northeast direction.

The NPH also works with low pressure systems inland to create Venturi effects from west to east where the pressure difference can funnel wind through gaps in the coastal mountain ranges. When the jet stream dips down over the Sierra Nevada mountain range causing areas of low pressure to develop over the interior western 118

US (such as in the Great Basin) the interaction between the coastal NPH and these low pressure systems creates a strong pressure gradient. This can lead to the ‘Venturi effect’ in the Gorge. This same type of Venturi effect holds sway in many locations along the California coast where there are gaps in the coast range, resulting in thermally-induced winds racing through the mountain gaps and onto the various inner bays.

While the NPH is commonly known for its northwest flow, it is also the creator of the dreaded marine layer eddy. When the perfect combination of upper level northwest flow combines with sinking air and topographical features, the West Coast gets periodic pushes of south wind eddies near the ocean’s surface. You can view these sweeping eddies in satellite images where the marine layer (aka fog) becomes the fingerprint of this phenomenon. Oftentimes these eddies, with their own stubborn localized wind patterns, can cause problems for overall solid wind in the region. The common eddies we observe in the summer months have been given names like the ‘Golden Gate Eddy,’ ‘Monterey Bay Eddy,’ and the ‘Catalina Eddy.’

To conclude, wind forecasting can be very tricky when it comes to this kind of blocking pattern. iKitesurf ’s extensive network of weather stations allows for our West Coast forecasters to have the best tools to monitor the effects of NPH events. With a fair degree of accuracy we can now predict the arrival and departure of local eddies along with the strength of the pressure gradients key to coastal and inland kiteboarding spots. Understanding the NPH will help you know when to go and enable you to make the most of the glorious North Pacific High. Keep an eye on those sensors, watch the daily Pro Forecasts and maximize your time on the water this season.

RIDERS: JERRIE VAN DE KOP - KARI SCHIBEVAAG - PHOTO: SVETLANA ROMANTSOVA

“EXCELLENCE THROUGH PASSION”

PASSION MK9

The Passion mk9 is the benchmark of a high performance all-round kite, impressing everyone from entry-level riders to experts.

The MK9 still delivers pure, predictable power, paired with amazing stability. This ‘new best thing’ is a fantastic kite for all-round freeride, wave, big air, and freestyle progression that provides a perfect blend of turning speed, handling, and jumping ability.

• Redesigned Quick air flow valve with protection cap • 3-strut construction with additional reinforcements • 45 degrees leading edge reinforcements panels • Techno Force™ Double Ripstop • Leading edge seam protection • Bridle anti-tangle device • Radial reinforcements

NAME: PASSION MK9 PROGRAM: FREERIDE / FREESTYLE / BIGAIR / WAVE SIZES: AVAILABLE COLORS: 5•7•9•10.5•12•13•15•17 ORANGE/GRAY + CYAN/ORANGE + PURPLE/PINK

CYAN / ORANGE

PURPLE / PINK

ORANGE / GRAY

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w w w. ro b e r to r i cc i d e s i g n s . co m

SPECIAL FEATURES:

HARD LINING Words by Joe Winowski // Photo by Darrell Wong

When Dakine product designer Chris Gilbert started kiteboarding, the concept of depower didn’t exist and even when it eventually did, Chris wanted nothing to do with it. “I had no interest in dumping any power. I didn’t like the feeling of having the kite luff, instead I really enjoyed the feeling of taking everything the kite would give me and using the rail of my board to control the power.” Chris was one of the hard liners that ignored the invention of early depower and traveling throw and instead, built custom bars that featured a direct connect 4-line bar that was conspicuously missing the power adjustment strap. According to Chris, “the first production bars featured very large diameter grips, and had very wide lengths and a bunch of junk on them that I didn’t need.” Because Chris had been designing bars since the beginning, he built some thin diameter bars out of titanium bike parts that were very minimalist yet quite comfortable for that time.

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Chris’ bars had all four lines fixed to the bar with no sheeting adjustment or overall power tuning strap. “Opposed to flying a bigger kite high in the sky and using the depower, I think it helped me create my personal style of riding with the kite low and controlling the power by edging.” Chris was one of the original kiters to master the art of riding waves with early kites and wakestyle boards, “Sending the kite down the line with full power and following it while bottom turning in the flats and smacking the lip was very exciting,” he recalls. Chris eventually started using production bars when the grips became thinner but continued to remove the webbing adjustment strap and began adding a knot “now known as a stopper ball” to the center line to maintain his preference for a short throw. While Chris’ early control bar designs are collecting dust in his garage, he now spends his time designing a diverse array of kitesurfing and mountain biking accessories for Dakine.

Blue Chip Bar

PURE Unobstructed view

CLEAN Internal Sheeting

SIMPLE Nothing above the bar

PERFORMANCE The simplicity of a bar without depower with full safety and depower performance

“I’m all about simplicity - less is more when it comes to kiting. So although the Blue Chip bar is a high-tech piece of equipment, it’s the most streamlined and user-friendly control bar I’ve ever used. The ”clear view” system has tidied up the de-power mechanism and removed it from the line-of-sight, so now, when I’m looking down a wave, my focus is unobstructed and 100% on the wave. This bar gives me the ultimate feeling of freedom and lets me enjoy what I’m doing without distraction.” - Ben Wilson

BWSurf.com | Carpinteria, California

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Foilboarding tends to open up the range of conditions you can kite and often puts you into a different mindset. Instead of focusing on hunting down the next wave or putting an extra rotation into your back roll, it oftentimes puts you in the simple zen of pure kiteboarding through time and place. // Photo HĂĽkon Maeland

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Moona Whyte & Skylar Lickle James Boulding

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FREERIDE

XO SWITCHBLADE

XO

Performance Freeride / Big Air

Freestyle / Freeride

6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12

133 x 38.5 / 136 x 39.5

See all the gear at cabrinhakites.com 125

TKB DIGITAL GUIDES JUST A CLICK AWAY!

Instructional: Beginner, Int/Adv, Surf, Foil

Travel: Flat Water, Surf, Spring/Summer, Fall/Winter, International, North American

Gear: 2018 Buyer’s Guide, 2018 Freeride Reviews