Innehållsförteckning för #64 från TheKiteMag

I’ve always believed that work and passion don’t have to be on opposite ends of the scale. For me, they go hand in hand – or maybe board in hand, to be more accurate. I just got back from a work trip in Sicily, a beautiful island with so much to offer. The project was intense but fulfilling, with so many impressions, so many hours on the water, and amazing smiles for many different people. But as always, while I was ticking off my to-do list, I kept one eye on the forecast. Not just in Sicily, but also on the route home. While driving towards the ferry at Palermo I checked the forecast once more. Sure enough, conditions near Pisa lit up… perfect for foiling. So I did what…

The GKA Kite World Cup Sylt returned to the north German island on the Baltic for another year. Again it featured two disciplines: the season’s second stop in Kite-Surf and the opening round in Hydrofoil Big Air. The German stop of the world tour is a long-standing fixture on Sylt’s iconic Brandenburger Strand. The conditions served up by the island in late August are unpredictable, though last year the athletes reveled in big breakers and winds that topped 50 knots. This year Sylt offered only marginal conditions, which were ideal for the Hydrofoil Big Air competition. Reigning world champion, France’s Charles Brodel, was absent through injury, leaving the field wide open. Sylt was the first Hydrofoil stop of the world championship, which will be settled in Abu Dhabi in…

01//Eleveight RS Pro V2 If you’re a freerider chasing top-tier performance, the RS Pro features the lightest state-of-the-art construction available for superior flight. Now upgraded with Teijin’s X6 ripstop, V2 is lighter and tougher where it counts. A rotated leading edge seam reduces snag, and triple-closing seams lock in durability. A refined arc boosts low-end power, while new bridle settings deliver even sharper bar feel. Plus the upgraded kite bag offers smarter, more compact storage. 02 //CORE Badger 2 & Badger Pro Designed for smaller swell and strapless freestyle, the Badger combines high nose volume with a classic fish tail, delivering ultra-snappy turns without sacrificing grip. The new version comes with an optimized coating that makes it a good 100g lighter. Meanwhile, the new Badger Pro, 25% lighter than the…

CAN YOU SUMMARIZE, FOR THOSE WHO DON’T KNOW ABOUT DIGITAL PRINTING, HOW IT DIFFERS FROM THE MAJORITY OF KITES ON THE MARKET. Traditionally kites use screen printing, adding weight and constraints to design and creativity and also imposing significant environmental burdens. Crafted at Brainchild Production, our entire kite and wing line-up features the innovative Digital Eco Printing technology – using non-colored fabrics and eco-friendly ink, it saves up to four times more water and energy compared to traditional methods. The new method allows us to minimize our environmental footprint, while also unlocking boundless design and customization possibilities. For local businesses and global brands, it’s a powerful way to put their logo on the water with huge visibility. And for kiters with an artistic streak, it’s a chance to express yourself…

Zara: I’ve been riding the XR since I joined CORE in 2021. I started with the XR6, learned my first loops on it, then moved to the XR7 when it came out and later the XR Pro. What I love most about the XR Pro is how high I can go and how extreme I can make it look. The power in the loop with the right kite angle gives me so much adrena-line. I love it! Giel: I started riding the XR five years ago, and historically they’ve only changed a little. However this year there have been plenty of changes and the XR Pro 2 has taken a serious leap! I love the XR Pros – I love the power, hangtime and boost that’s just unparalleled. Frank Ilfrich…

These photos were taken during a magical session in crystal-clear water, at Pointe au Sel on Réunion Island where I live. The weather gods delivered up perfectly formed waves reaching 3 and a half meters, as well as incredible light. I was in good company in the water with Antoine Martin, a professional surfer, and Pierre Godet, a local surfer, and behind the lens, Cédric, the photographer who had the courage and talent to position himself inside the wave to capture these moments. Hanging above a wave is a feeling that is difficult to put into words. It is both an incomparable adrenaline rush and a moment of total humility. I felt a certain sense of freedom, as if time had stopped, although without forgetting the power of the ocean,…

There’s an old saying in Greece: “the wind decides”. By the end of our 10‑day shoot across the Cyclades, we knew exactly what that meant. The North Big Air campaign was always going to be about raw conditions – spots where the riders could push and our gear could speak for itself. We chose Tinos as our base, with strike missions to nearby Mykonos and Rinia. But nothing ran to script, and the shoot quickly became a baptism of the Meltemi’s unpredictability and Tinos’ wild terrain. When the Meltemi wind wakes the Aegean each summer, the Cyclades transform into a kiteboarding mecca – and Tinos is where raw island spirit meets world-class conditions. Nestled in the heart of these sun-soaked islands, Tinos is often over-shadowed by its flashier neighbors Mykonos…

RRD ARE FIRM FANS OF CAPE TOWN. DID IT ONCE AGAIN PROVE THE RIGHT SPOT FOR REDESIGNING THE RELIGION? Every year, the RRD wave team heads down to Cape Town, South Africa – the ultimate playground for testing gear in real-world, hardcore conditions. It’s where wind, waves, and raw power come together, and it’s the only place that truly lets us push our kites to their limits. This year, our mission was clear: take the legacy of the Religion Y30 and raise the bar once again with the all-new Religion Y31. AND HOW MUCH HAS THE NEW VERSION CHANGED COMPARED TO THE PREVIOUS ONE? After the huge success of the Y30, we knew we had to keep the same DNA: the kite is available in two technologies – Aluula and…

Eleveight XS V6 ALL-ROUNDER If you got our last issue, you probably read our review of the latest Eleveight RS. Alongside it, we received the all-new XS V6, giving us a couple of months to test it in a wide range of conditions. We were big fans of last year’s model, so were stoked to have the XS at our disposal a couple of months to really put it through its paces. The Eleveight XS is a 5-strut, high aspect ratio Big Air kite. Wondering what “XS” stands for? It’s short for Extreme Series, and this kite really lives up to its name. It’s built to handle serious Big Air conditions. Eleveight has chosen materials specifically to withstand the harshest environments: traditional, trusted Dacron; a durable 4x4 yarn canopy; and…

Having Graham as a friend was one of the greatest privileges of my life – something I wish everyone could experience at least once in their lifetime. I was lucky to know him for over two decades. From a young age, we traveled the world together and shared moments so close it sometimes felt like we had merged into one person. People would often joke that we were like a married old couple, and they weren’t wrong. The knowledge I gained from Graham was beyond measure. He wasn’t just handsome and well-spoken, he was also one of the smartest people I’ve ever known, though always in his own unique way. He somehow always knew the right thing to do, which drove me crazy at times, especially when he’d remind me…

How does it start, again? Straight joy. Excitement, entertaining. How does it end? Burnout from doing it too much. Frustration from lack of progression. Boredom from doing the same thing. Tiredness from dealing with repetitive injuries. You keep going, until you can’t go anymore. Where was it? I grew up at our Sail Shop in Hatteras NC, surrounded by kiters and windsurfers. I was the youngest of our grom squad. Morgan Skiperdene and Evan Netsch were crushing it, progressing to be sponsored kiters competing at a high level. This was just past the era of two-line death buckets – inflatable kites with no depower or safety releases – which had an affinity for lengthy unintentional body drags to the shore or into hard objects. When four-line kites came, the kitemares…

Tic tac, tic tac, tic tac… Is that the sound of a ticking clock…? Well in this case it is a trick in kitesurfing, and these days a fairly standard trick, part of the average repertoire of every top rider in the strapless freestyle World Cup. I spoke to Camille in Prea, Brazil. Every day, with an endless wind of 25 to 30 knots, the Swiss rider practices various jumps on her strapless board and garnishes many of them with that very same tic-tac trick. Camille: The Tic-Tac is a jump where you grab the board and twist it 360 in the air. I first tried this around 2020. I was in southern Spain watching strapless pro Keanu Merten. He was doing this trick and it looked so cool! 1.…

TELL US HOW YOU HAVE BEEN ABLE TO PRODUCE SUCH A LIGHT BOARD! The ultra-light (sub-2kg) weight comes from combining a dual-density AirLite PMI foam core with a Paulownia wood frame. Higher-density foam reinforcement under the heels prevents core crush, while the Y-shaped frame absorbs slamming impacts and transfers loads efficiently. The board layup uses varying grades and weights of carbon – including High Modulus Carbon UD Tape – to reinforce critical areas and optimize stiffness and flex selectively. Additionally, we’ve developed a new printing method that shaves excess weight by eliminating weighty top sheets and printing directly onto the carbon. Weighing in just 1.8kg (138cm), the board feels truly alive under your feet. WHAT TYPE OF RIDER WILL THE ULTRA SUIT? IT’S NOT DESIGNED FOR THE HARDEST LANDINGS, RIGHT?…