Innholdsfortegnelse for #50 i TheKiteMag

I know, I can’t quite believe it either… I must say that I am equally proud and stoked to be introducing the half-century edition of the TheKiteMag. From a very small beginning, where I put together a 24-page ‘sample’ of TheKiteMag which I lovingly packaged into envelopes and sent off to the main kite brands, followed by a lot of phone calls, and then a mini-tour around Europe to meet the brands geographically closest to me and try and persuade them that TheKiteMag was worth getting behind… To now… Fifty issues on. And it feels like a whole lot of water under the bridge since then, and a lot more than that under assorted boards too… I was thinking about how many sessions I squeeze in between each issue, and…

The GKA Hydrofoil-Freestyle World Cup Brazil was a one-off, winner-takes-all event. As a relatively new discipline, the fleet was kept tight at 13 of the best riders in the world. Showing exactly why hydrofoiling is taking off around the world, the riders were sending big tricks in as little as 14 knots at times. It almost felt like we were back in 2006, with double and triple frontrolls, huge board-offs and handlepasses, but now mixed with kiteloops and more foil-specific moves like ‘around the worlds’. Riders were able to fly 10 to 15 meters high without needing as strong wind as on a twintip.…

"IT WAS THE PERFECT PLACE TO PUT HER ON MY SHOULDER AND SEE IF SHE’D LIKE IT… WELL, SHE LOVED IT!" Brazil will always hold a special place in my heart as the country where my kitesurf adventures really took off. Two years ago I visited Brazil for the first time, with my boyfriend Giel Vlugt, and landed my first kiteloops which helped secure my sponsorship deal with CORE. Brazil inspired me to push my level in Big Air as much as possible and see where that would lead to. So it was awesome to return this year, to explore some of the best kite spots and flat water lagoons in the world, with consistent wind, warm weather and no need for a wetsuit. This time I traveled with my…

French Polynesia has been a dream location for me ever since I started my kiting career. Last year, with endless support from Airush, we finally made it happen. 30 hours traveling and I finally landed in the dreamiest location any water sports addict could dream of. After a blissful week of spending four or five hours a day in the water, riding boards of every discipline, reality came crashing back… I’d left Europe during a massive Covid wave that hadn’t really affected Polynesia yet. Unluckily for us, the Polynesian government took the strong decision to close the borders and also beach access for sports practice. It was such a massive disappointment for me, and despite the conditions firing in front of us, we took the hard decision to fly back…

Nestled pretty much halfway between Squamish, BC and Hood River, OR, the Puget Sound region of the Pacific Northwest is home to many amazing kite spots that allow for year-round kiting. Fall, winter and spring months bring southerly winds at a near consistent pace with anywhere from 15 to 35 knots, which is perfect for Seattle-based kiters to get out and enjoy kiting right in their backyards, at popular spots such as Golden Gardens Park in Seattle, Edmonds Marina Beach just a few miles to the north, or Iverson Beach a bit further north on Camano Island. Another really popular spot during southerly storm winds is Double Bluff Beach on Whidbey Island. Just a few miles drive after the short 20-minute ferry ride from Mukilteo to Clinton on Whidbey Island,…

Following earlier events this year in Colombia and Saudi Arabia, the GKA Freestyle-Kite World Cup Brazil event was one of the most hotly contested and thrilling encounters ever seen in kiting between the world’s top riders, at what is most likely the best freestyle spot in the world. Over the course of three days of action we saw world-first maneuvers dropped in competition for the first time, while the general level of riding at this event was at a jaw-dropping level throughout. Brazilians Manoel Soares and Mikaili Sol were in the driving seats for the male and female titles respectively coming into the event. Having won both previous events this season, Manoel needed only to reach the semi-final stage for his first title, while Mikaili was looking for a top…

1 // RRD Passion Y28 The 14th version of this high-performance kite delivers superior handling that will impress both new kiters and experts. The responsive steering and superior drift make it ideal for anything from freestyle to freeride, and the big boosting ability and ease of use will make it your go-to for Big Air. Plus, the Diamond Grid Technology evenly distributes the load across the kite, meaning a predictable and insanely fast kite. 2 // Eleveight Curl+ and Escape+ Eleveight has you covered for all surf conditions with these ‘plus’ level performance boards, both of which are hand shaped in Portugal with top level CFT construction. The classic surf-board-shaped Curl+ delivers a pure surf feel for smooth carves and aggressive maneuvers in medium to big waves, while the Escape+…

In July, Duotone once again held their Young Blood Camp, an initiative founded in 2006. The concept of the camp is to offer a platform, provide the tools, and prepare the next generation for what it takes to become a professional rider. Topics covered included mental and physical training, kiting technique, social media, knowledge about the brand’s products and how to be part of a successful photo and film shoot. Many of today’s accomplished riders like Reno Romeu, Tom Court and Marc Jacobs came out of previously held Young Blood Camps. Having been part of the first camp in 2006, and joining this camp now to share his knowledge and experience as a pro rider, Reno was able to add a true insider perspective on how the industry has changed…

Barrel riding is the holy grail for wave lovers, and backside barrel riding or “pig-dogging” is probably the most challenging but arguably the most stylish way to spend time in the greenroom. The term pig-dogging is used globally in surfing circles and was born from an Australian hunting slang referring to a frightening breed of dog, the bull terrier aka “pig-dogs”. They are used to flush out wild boar from dense scrub. The pig-dog then uses its vice-like bite to violently and mercilessly hang on to its victim until the hunter is able to make the final kill. So in surfing terms it basically means “hang on for dear life”! This technique is used the majority of the time when surfers or kiters go hunting backside barrel rides – in…

CW: This trip was wild! Pretty much everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong. The waves were tiny the whole two weeks, so it was super hard to make the movie we went there to make. It was quite stressful for us (especially Ozzie) as Airush was expecting a nuts clip. We only really got one okay day for wave riding, and in that session there were a heap of surfers out who weren’t too impressed… This trip was so different to all the other times I have been to this spot – usually the wave is too gnarly for surfers to be out at the same time, but because the swell was so small, we were generally dodging surfers in our sessions. Other than that the trip…

In November, Jeremy Burlando took part in his first Red Bull King of the Air competition, and is also about to compete in the Big Air Kite League’s Final Stop in Cape Town. We found out more about what he did to prepare and the gear that helped catapult him to high heights. When we first arrived in Cape Town there was not much wind, but then it started picking up so I had some good sessions with proper wind at the main event site. We also had a car so when it was light at the event site we drove around to find more wind so I could keep training. We had the full Slingshot Big Air team in Cape Town so it was fun to train and push…

The GKA Kite-Surf World Cup Brazil was round two for the wave and strapless freestyle riders, round one having ran in Dakhla, Morocco in early October. 28 male and 16 female riders competed at the Brazil event, with the first four minutes dedicated to freestyle tricks and the final eight minutes of each heat all about wave riding. Time and again we saw more regular tour riders leading with their strapless freestyle tricks, but then the local Brazilians would really turn up the heat and come through to take the wins with super fluid and action-packed wave riding.…

Warm water was obsolete, sunshine was a memory left in a rainy haze, and dry wetsuits were an unspoken dream. This trip was not about comfort or serenity, more like endurance and extremity. It was about braving conditions that would help dignify our ego. It was about the cold, it was about Iceland. For a few months we had been eager to do a proper cold-water mission. We always brave the storm and yes, we climb out of the comfort zone. But riding in sub-zero water temperatures with gale storms above our heads felt like the new order. The idea was to head north of Europe, to the Arctic Circle. At the beginning of May we saw that a massive storm was due to hit Iceland. We booked tickets, made…

This was never going to be a mere trip into the desert. It would always be a mystical journey of self-reflection and reliance on our collective strengths. The Namib demands an element of knowledge and total respect, not dissimilar to the ocean’s lack of compassion. Having spent time in this amazing country as a young lad, never in my wildest dreams did I consider a kiting mission to this massive sand pit. Could we capture enough Big Air content to put a decent production together? When we got the go-ahead for the project, the pressure hit as quickly as a south-easter on a summer’s day in Cape Town. Was I being ‘uncharacteristically’ a bit too enthusiastic (head in hands emoji)? Although this was primarily a kiting mission, the sincerity of…

THE BANDIT IS ONE OF THE MOST ENDURING PRODUCT LINES ON THE MARKET, AND THE BANDIT S HAS QUICKLY BECOME A BENCHMARK IN WAVE KITES. HOW DID THE EVOLUTION HAPPEN? Our thinking has been that the Bandit should be developed as a wave riding kite in the small sizes ever since the Bandit VII. So the Bandit VII was designed for the 4m to 8m to have a feeling more oriented to wave riding, while the 9m to 14m sizes are dedicated for twintip riding. The transition was made with a new wave kite and the famous S. Over the past few years this range was separated with the Bandit for the bigger sizes and the Bandit S for the smaller ones. The Bandit S is totally developed and dedicated…