Innehållsförteckning för #43 från TheKiteMag

GROWING UP… I was recently talking to a guy from the world of snowboarding about the nature of our respective sports. I guess we’re all situated under the same ‘Action Sports’ umbrella these days. So, what is an action sport? Or, slightly cringingly, an ‘extreme sport’. I suppose a key variable in all of the main players is that you are making use of what’s around you – if you’re skateboarding you’re using the street, if you’re snowboarding you’re using the mountain, if you’re surfing you’re using the water and if you’re kiting then: you are using the wind my friend… There also has to be a definite element of peril – ideally the risk of severe injury – to truly mark a sport out as a core action sport.…

“Wow…” Suus and I were flabbergasted when we arrived at the kite spot. After leaving Kralendijk, the bigger of the two towns on the island, we had driven via the coast to the far southeast point of the island, past pink salt lakes, numerous flamingos, sleepy donkeys, excited divers in full gear next to the road, and the most amazing emerald-colored water… This island gets to you in seconds. Originally afraid that we’d be spending our time with retirees seeking winter sun, we instead found a lively and entertaining surf vibe, amazing people, and perfect conditions. Bonaire was one of the hardest places to leave on our round-the-world sailing trip. This island is most famous for its dive spots that can be entered straight from the water’s edge. Just 10…

This issue Colin scrapes the back of his cranium with an extra-long Q-tip, resulting in the equivalent of a lateral flow test for his consciousness… He’s tested positive for industry cynicism as usual. What we received is borderline printable but we had a couple of pages spare, and a second chance is a wonderful thing… When you’re rubbing shoulders with kite royalty all the time like I am, it is easy to form a pessimistic view of kite culture and the status quo. Like any good monarchy, you see, those at the top aren’t all that keen to give up their place. Obviously they know that they’ve had it. They’re haggard. They know that they’ve got there for reasons that are no longer valid. But they won’t budge. And why…

JOZEF, YOUR CAREER IN WATERSPORTS STARTED IN THE WINDSURF INDUSTRY. HOW DID YOU THEN GET INTO MAKING KITEBOARDS? In 1999 I started my own windsurf factory in Trencin, Slovakia and we produced custom CrazyFly windsurf boards and boards for other brands. Kiting started soon after and the windsurf brands started asking for prototypes of kiteboards, which back then, were small directional windsurf boards in terms of production methods. For me, getting into kiting was a smooth transition, as in the early days it shared a lot with windsurfing, and was something I enjoyed as it was a new challenge. Luckily, I was able to build on my knowledge of windsurf production, so producing new molds and experimenting with new layups and machines for kiteboards was more of a daily routine.…

1 // Cabrinha Switchblade Perhaps the most iconic kite on the planet, Cabrinha’s five-strut bestseller has been ticking all the right boxes for a significant portion of the kitesurfing planet for many moons now… Now with a new Fusion wing tip shape, Nano Ripstop Canopy and High Tenacity Dacron, this is the pinnacle of performance and versatility… 2 // F-ONE Magnet Carbon If you thought you’d seen all that could be achieved in the world of ‘surf’ boards then think again. The Magnet Carbon has one thing on its mind: airtime. It is the skinniest and stealthiest surfboard we’ve seen and is F-ONE’s concise answer to the strapless freestyle discipline. It feels surreally light to handle and under foot, will massively aid the initial stages of strapless freestyle with its…

“LATER ON AS MY KITE CAREER STARTED TO BECOME MORE AND MORE SERIOUS I STARTED THINKING ABOUT MAKING IT INTO MAGAZINES MYSELF, GATHERING A BUNCH OF PHOTOS AND PUTTING OUT A STORY THAT WOULD MAKE THE CUT.” Stig: When I first started kiting, social media was still in its infancy and all the pro riders were known, not through their Instagram or Facebook pages, but through magazines and videos on YouTube and even DVDs. As a little boy I would ride my bike down to one of the local surf shops to go and read the magazines, because I couldn’t afford to actually buy them at that time. I would sit there for hours just looking at all the beautiful action photos. But from all those magazines there was always…

HOW IS THE RELEASE SCHEDULE LOOKING THIS YEAR AND HOW HAS PRODUCTION BEEN AFFECTED BY THE PANDEMIC? The release schedule is really late this year, about two months. It’s hard to trace exactly how the pandemic has affected production this year, but it’s safe to say that there have been production delays, and shipping delays. CAN YOU GIVE US A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE TRIAD, BOXER AND DASH AND THEIR INTENDED USES? The Triad is an amazing kite. You can ride a 9m comfortably when most people are on 7’s – so you can carry plenty of power for jumping, while it drifts great and goes upwind great, making it an awesome wave kite as well. The Boxer is our lightest kite, definitely a favorite for foiling and for large…

STEP 1 Build up a lot of speed. Unhook quickly and carve super hard to pop. STEP 2 Look over your back shoulder to initiate an S-bend with your head and shoulders, but don’t start the rotation too quickly. STEP 3 Pull the kite down to generate the most slack possible. STEP 4 Before you complete the S-bend rotation, pull the bar as much as possible towards your body to initiate the 720 pass rotation. STEP 5 Take your back hand off the bar and look aggressively over your back shoulder to do the double rotation. Pass the bar twice as quickly as possible. STEP 6 Get ready for the heavy landing!…

RIDER CAMILLE DELANNOY PHOTO SAMUEL CARDENAS LOCATION TARIFA SC: After two years without taking any photos together, Camille and I met in Tarifa to do a shoot at the famous Balneario spot. There was twenty five knots of wind from the east, flat water, a clear blue sky, and perfect light early in the morning. It is always easy to take photos of riders of this level in front of my camera! RIDER ARTHUR GUILLEBERT PHOTO PATRICK SCHNEIDER LOCATION SOUTHERN FRANCE AG: This was a session in the south of France, at the Barcarès spot near Leucate, where there is a large lagoon with very flat water. Looking up it was pure blue with not a cloud in the sky, and there was 30 to 35 knots of regular wind.…

We are all used to seeing beautiful photos of a perfect wave, with clear water and coconut trees on the beach. Often, however, the scenario is just not as dreamy as that, but as long as the conditions are on point, I’m on it! So while the water in these photos may be a bit on the brown side, I made the most of my sessions there. First, let’s talk location: Rio Grande do Sul is located at the bottom of the country, the most southern state in Brazil. The subtropical weather makes the summer feel really warm with temperatures between 30 and 35 degrees Celsius, while the winter can be quite cold seeing temperatures from 10 to 15 degrees Celsius. Torres is the city with the last rocky coast…

Can you remember the first time you got a kite in your hands? What was it and how did it go?! Totally! I was staying on Namotu Island in Fiji. Brett Lickle, Pete Cabrinha, Mike Waltze, Rush Randle, Dave Kalama and all their strapped crew were coming to the island each winter (their summer in Maui) to train for all the watersports they were doing, including kiting. Brett had a 5m Wipika Classic and he started teaching me how to fly it on the beach. He said if I could fly it with my eyes closed so I knew where the kite was just from the feel, he’d let me try in the water. I flew the kite on the beach every afternoon until I got it dialed and then…

It felt like an eternity that I had been at home over the UK winter, battling on the inside to keep my positivity consistent. People see the dreamy pictures and videos and think you have it so easy as an athlete, as if it is somehow not a ‘real job’. The reality is it is not a holiday – so much dedication and time is put into training to be the best you can be. The pictures and videos you see have had a lot of planning go into them and it’s not always smooth sailing. The logistics of planning a shoot can be difficult enough, without the added headache of Covid restrictions. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained. After quite some prepping, a plan of action was formulated. I was…

SO WHY THE SWITCH TO A DIFFERENT KIND OF DYNEEMA? Bio-based Dyneema® fiber boasts the exact same performance as conventional Dyneema® but with a carbon footprint that is 90% lower than generic HMPE (high modulus polyethylene) fiber. As well as its extraordinary strength, Bio-based Dyneema® excels in cut and abrasion resistance and has a high resistance to UV, a crucial benefit for its use in flying lines. Compared to generic HMPE, one ton of Bio-based Dyneema® means a reduction of 29 tons of CO2 (90%). HOW DO THE MATERIAL PROPERTIES DIFFER IN TERMS OF RESISTANCE, DURABILITY, BREAKING LOAD AND WEIGHT BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL HMPE FIBER AND BIO-BASED DYNEEMA®? The first stage of the process is to make the PolyEthylene. This is where we, in close collaboration with DSM, the manufacturers of…

Prolimit Pure Vapor Well-established Dutch soft goods goliath Prolimit have created a full-featured high-end ladies harness with the Pure Vapor. It’s a semi-rigid hardbacked harness, but features a generous amount of interior padding with some grippy EVA centered around the small of the back, and grip pattern on the wings of the harness seem to keep the harness well placed both on skin and neoprene. The Pure material featured on the harness is a new innovation that is fully recyclable and resin free. From a flexibility perspective the Vapor sits exactly in the middle of what’s available; there’s some controlled torsional flex, which helps spread the load comfortably across your back when your body is contorted, when riding blind for instance. The low profile rear shell fits well into the…

These salinas, lagoons where salt is produced, are on the island where I grew up, Isla de Margarita in Venezuela. They don’t always have water in them, so when I went back home recently for a few months, I kept my eye out for a suitable day to kite there. Although Margarita is a very windy place, with the well-known kite spot El Yaque, the salinas are tricky with the wind so you really have to wait for the right day. When I finally spotted a day that looked like it would work, I headed to the salinas with my 12m Nexus 2. On the first day conditions were perfect and I had an awesome session, so I headed back the next day for more, but there was only just…

The Levante wind that blows in Tarifa typically blows through the evening and into the morning. The day of the contest was no different, with the organizers and the fleet of 42 competitors arriving to the scene to be greeted with over 40 knots of offshore winds and shin-high kickers over the flat bay. This saw competitors pumping up their 7 and 8m kites. This is the second time that the Full Power Tarifa event has run, the first being in October 2018. Unfortunately due to health and safety restrictions the event had been unable to run again, until this edition. Collaborating with the BAKL, this event formed the second stop of this year’s BAKL World Tour, the first having been in Cape Town earlier this year. You can view…

“The spot is notorious for waves, but no one ever tries to freestyle or explore the islands for freestyle spots. That was my edge.” When you hear the name Cape Verde, what comes to mind? For most of us kiters, it’s waves… beautiful open-face waves… big barreling waves… dream waves… But when I boarded my flight from Lisbon to Praia, Cape Verde’s capital, I had something different in mind: freestyle. A far-fetched idea perhaps, especially since everyone I talked to about it, including local kiters, turned up their noses. It wasn’t an entirely implausible idea, as I saw it. The spot is notorious for waves, but no one ever tries to freestyle or explore the islands for freestyle spots. That was my edge. As my Grandma used to say: “Seek,…

Stiltsville is an iconic kite spot in South Florida, known for the now six remaining houses on stilts and its wide-open sandbar, attracting numerous kiters and schools to shred this flat-water spot paradise on the tip of Key Biscayne. Stiltsville has become sentimental to the local kiting community; as quoted by a friend, it is a “one percent kite spot”. Built in the prohibition era, the unique and beautiful Stiltsville houses have been ‘grandfathered in’ to the Key Biscayne state park to be protected and preserved for years, and have survived hurricane after hurricane, although unfortunately one has recently burnt down, which I believe was a bigger blow to the kiting community than the state park itself. I first began kiting at Stiltsville when I moved to Miami six years…

STEP 1 Build up a decent amount of speed. After unhooking, edge hard against the kite and pop a Raley. You have to pop into a Raley first, before turning your head to do the backroll. STEP 2 Coming out of the Raley extension, you look over your front shoulder in the direction of the sky, commencing your backroll movement, and ensuring you keep stability in your rotation. STEP 3 While you’re in a fully extended backroll, you’re going to start to feel a sharp pull that will generate a point of slack in your trick. When you feel that, begin to pull on the bar bringing it closer to your back hip. STEP 4 Take your front hand off the bar and look over your front shoulder to continue…

Rein and I have made it our mission to photograph kiting action in some of the most pristine landscapes on the planet. Reaching those locations and getting the perfect photo has led to adventures that reflect our friendship, professionalism and personality. Our path towards almost impossible pictures and goals inevitably leads to dealing with whatever nature throws at us, revealing perseverance and the intrepid nature of human beings. Together with the vulnerability of nature, these characteristics are at the core of The Last Line project, as well as the goal to energize people to follow their adventures, and to make people aware of climate change and motivate them to make informed decisions. Iceland was one of the most memorable adventures I have been on. With the main goal of kiting…