Table of contents for #72 in Kiteworld Magazine

DREAM N. {1} ASPIRATION, DAYDREAM, DAZE. {2} DELIGHT, FANTASY, JOY. {3} PLEASURE, TRANCE, VISION. {2} DELIGHT, FANTASY, JOY {3} PLEASURE, TRANCE, VISION…

Cornwall in the southwest of England has always been the most recognisable area for British surfing. I grew up in a small Cornish town a couple of minutes from the ocean and this was largely responsible for kickstarting my kitesurfing career. The conditions in the UK can be amazing. The regularity can be intermittent because of the frontal weather systems, of course, and yes there can be plenty of rainy days too, but I get fed up with the country always getting stereotyped for its cold, grey climate. The fact is that when it’s good there are some world class conditions to be found up and down the country. A recent trip to Watergate Bay for North’s dealer meeting really brought memories back from the depths and once again got…

My dad was amazing. He’d drive me to every BKSA event, but he was never going to just give me a grand and say, ‘go travelling.’ I saved up for my first kite and did all sorts after that. I laboured for £70 a day, which I thought was amazing, and it taught me to just get on with stuff. I’d get a shock if I had to do it now though! I was always trying to make money. I’d buy a cheap van, change the seats, put a bit of ply lining in there and sell it for £500 more. The work ethic and understanding of how to make money has really helped me. There’s still a scene for the UK competitions. Jake Kelsick from Antigua is here with…

You travel to some very remote places. How do you manage with all your family and equipment and how quickly do your children adapt to different environments? It can be challenging, but I quickly realised that our children have no fears until we communicate ours to them. We are brain washed by the TV and by the belief systems passed on to us when we are young. Things like, ‘You will get sick if you go to India’; ‘You should be scared if you stay in remote villages with no electricity’ etc. Of course there are risks, but to me it’s much less stressful staying in a tent in Papua for a few nights listening to the sounds of the jungle than trying to get some peaceful sleep in New…

THE VISIONARY, TAMATOA GILLOT I have been kiteboarding for 12 years, firstly on foil kites and then inflatables. I’ve been through the no-foot movement, the kite loops and the handle-passes and my latest adventure is with tandem kiteboarding. I first explored the idea in March 2012 with my friend Karen on Moorea at home in Tahiti. She was learning to kiteboard and was ready to learn boardstarts. I connected the two harnesses together, put double straps on a board and managed to successfully take her for a ride, giving her the feeling of waterstarting. It was such a new experience to be able to talk while riding, as well as sharing the same experience and even popping a few tricks. We caught some waves as a joint crew, able to…

IMAGE #01: GEAR Having the right gear can make or break your session, so make sure you have enough toys in your man cave. I am riding the new 2015 Liquid Force Envy kites. Totally re-designed from the ground up this year, a huge amount of development has reduced the weight, leading edge diameter and struts which has made the kite very light and precise. Paired with the new LF bar we feel that we have made a fantastic product for the 2015 season. I have several board options to choose from. Most sessions are on the Echo, the middle twin-tip in the shot, which is my new LF pro model for 2015 and represents the highest technology achievable in our profiled wood core construction. Triple concave to quad channeling…

It generally feels like time is speeding up all around us. Talk to older people; they’ll tell you that life passes by all too quickly. Talk to a youngster and you’ll catch yourself saying the same; a glint of wisdom passed down automatically through the generations. A warning, but does anybody listen? At least with kiteboarding it’s like time slows down for every little moment. Sometimes in the key moments of a session I can feel my eyes are open so wide as they try to absorb all that wonderful ‘time’ going on around me. I hope they don’t eventually pop out, but I can remember in detail some experiences that, in reality, passed by in seconds. It tends to work the same way when things have gone wrong; each…

BEST: The Humanoid Howl boot offers skate-style simplicity combined with the new V fly dual zone Velcro tightening straps for a fully supported and locked-in feeling. Easy entry and exit make the Howls ideal for kiting in tough conditions. Also featuring swamp foot drainage system, moulded flight foam anatomically contoured foot beds and crash panels to minimise aches, pains and pinches. www.bestkiteboarding.com LIQUID FORCE : The Liquid Force Foil Fish is very soon to be released and was built with three key objectives: 1. It had to be easy to use. 2. Built for progression. 3. Affordable. The Foil Fish is two boards in one, as the foil is modular, it breaks down to fit in a handy padded bag and simply fixes onto the bottom of the LF Kite…

Hold tight!” Nico yelled to his son as he swooped in and grabbed the fishing rod from Ewan and started reeling in the line. “It’s a barracuda!” shouted Ewan. The fish fought for a while but Nico soon managed to swing the wriggling body in over the side of the boat. Holding the fish in one hand he clubbed its head with a few swift strokes of his homemade baton. “It’s more humane to kill them quickly,” he explained. I cringed at the sight of blood and guts covering the bottom of the boat, but Nico had just ensured that we’d have a delicious meal that night. We had started the day much like many others on Union Island; waking up to a room already billowing with sunlight, we’d crawl…

Aruba PRO Xtremewinds +297 733-5483 fernando@xtremewinds.com www.xtremewinds.com Australia PRO Surf connect wind Kitesurf School +61 731 370 500 school@surfconnect.com www.surfconnect.com PRO Kite Republic Schools +61 418 583 233 info@kiterepublic.com.au www.kiterepublic.com.au Belgium PRO KSS Kitesurfschool.be +32 (0) 476 70 27 51 info@kitesurfschool.be www.kitesurfschool.be Brazil PRO Pura vida Club Brasil +55(85) 4062-9820 pousada@puravidaclub.com. www.puravidaclub.com.br Cape Verde PRO Paradise Kite School +39 393 213 7174 paradisekitesurf@gmail.com www.paradisekiteschool.com Dominican Republic PRO Kite Club Cabarete +1809 571 9748 info@kiteclubcabarete.com www.kiteclubcabarete.com Egypt PRO Tornado Surf +20 1097 502639 safaga@tornadosurf.com www.tornadosurf.com PRO Redseazone +201011108081 info@redseazone.com www.redseazone.com PRO Kite Junkies +2 01220106831 info@kitejunkies.com www.kitejunkies.com France PRO Accrokite +33 6 84 74 67 45 vincent@accrokite.com www.accrokite.com PRO SNK Sport Nautique and Kite +33 685 953 334 sajonzzie@gmail.com www.snkite.com…

Keeping the rider well positioned in the shot throughout their manoeuvre takes some skill. I’ve had many friends film me with varying results as it takes a lot of practice and a good understanding of the sport in order to track the rider properly. Once you start to understand the sport well you will be able to predict how the rider is going to fly. Throughout the shot remember to stick to your style and keep to the law of thirds in terms of your composition (see last issue for more on that). If the rider moves their kite upwards before they jump, you know they’re going to go quite high. If their kite remains at 45° when they load up then they will stay much closer to the water…

I made my learning phase even harder by having long gaps between my initial lessons with different instructors in different (sometimes challenging) locations. I think most kiters start out experiencing the standard package of up to ten hours of intensive lessons and then it’s fight or flight (literally) to see if they have the passion to continue with the sport. For most, like me, it’s not very easy to reach an intermediate level and we don’t take up enough support by learning through ‘proper’ channels. Once beyond the boardstart stage, most kiters rarely take any more lessons. We tend to pick up bad habits without realising it and usually do not improve as quickly as we’d like, but we don’t really know the reasons why. In fact, if you’re up…

The brand new Pivot arrives on its own terms, in a class of its own. This accessible, all-around freeride kite delivers quick and easy turning, intuitive steering and predictable power development so you can take advantage of every opportunity with complete control and confidence. Interlacing the past, present and future, we’ve taken a proven design and honed it even further to bring you the 2015 Park. With performance in mind, this year’s Park provides an even easier ride, the power to boost and outstanding freeride and freestyle performance. Play matchmaker and combine your kite with any one of our 35 test-winning twin tip or directional kiteboards and you’ve got yourself the perfect ride!…

VIRGIN KITESURFING ARMADA As you probably all know by now, as a group of kiters we didn’t quite manage to set a new world record at the Virgin Kitesurfing Armada that took place over the weekend of 11th/12th October, but a new UK parade record was set with 344 riders completing the mile from CBK beach at Hayling Island. The world record set in Tarifa earlier in the summer - also by the Virgin Armada team - was 352, so it was mighty close, and with a better forecast it would surely have been smashed. An impressive new SUP parade world record was set, however, with 258 paddlers completing a mile course, which was great. The standout element for us though was the atmosphere over the weekend. Motivating hundreds of…

People sometimes ask me about the ‘good old days’. In the time before pixels and social media, it was exactly the same, except it was completely different. Photographs were taken before Instagram, and people took water shots before the GoPro. There were just so very damn few of us taking them. We used a precious metal and many toxic chemicals to make images. The futuristic machine used to process our Kodachrome film had to be run by an organic chemist, and it wouldn’t fit in your garage, let alone your pocket. Photos were actually expensive, too. Each roll of thirty-six shots cost about ten dollars, and then about fifteen more dollars to process. This means that every time I load my 16GB card with 602 shots on it today, I…

We had talked about going to Christmas Island for a couple of years. My daughter, Lou, is 8-years-old and loves to sneak into our conversations, so has been very excited about visiting the ‘Island of Santa Claus’ since we first mentioned it. The temperature is vastly warmer than the North Pole, so she thinks that it must be his vacation island retreat. The story looked a little different to a beautiful ‘Christmas Carol’ for us, though. The largest coral atoll in the world is also one of the poorest places on earth and the whole Nation of Kiribati (pronounce Kiribass) is steadily vanishing into the Pacific Ocean due to a rising sea level. It is believed that at the current rate these islands are going to disappear from our maps…

Crystal-clear tropical waters, islands and bays with protected lagoons and good waves, Zanzibar has been widely acknowledged by many as the perfect destination for most riders. Less publicised than Mauritius and with lots of peaceful, remote, small islands, the potential for downwinder discovery is massive. There are at least 25 stunning white sand beaches in Zanzibar, which measures just 90 miles long and 40 miles wide. 25 miles from the Tanzanian coast, you’ll find yourself easily at home in the transparent waters along with the dolphins. On the southeast coast, Paje is the main kitesurfing spot on Zanzibar’s main island of Unguja, but just eight years ago was merely a small fishing village, to kiters and probably not many others for that matter. Jan Neubert started the Airborne Kite Centre…

PART ONE: IS THE WIND OKAY AND IS THE SPOT SAFE? Whether you are an advanced kiteboarder or new to the sport, there are several factors to consider before starting each and every kiteboarding session anywhere in the world in order to progress in the sport with confidence and a lower risk. These are the first basic assessments you should make: IS THE WIND OKAY? As the saying goes, it is better to wish to fly a kite, than to wish you could stop flying a kite. Correctly assessing the wind and being aware of the expected weather patterns for the day will allow you to be safe and confident. Always check two different forecasts as they often use different algorithm or data sources. Look out for any predicted change…

{#04} MOVE > UNHOOKED BACK-TO-BLIND RIDER > COLLEEN CARROLL PHOTOS > TOBY BROMWICH This next trick is one of my all time favourites. Technically, it’s relatively easy to overcome by carefully following the steps, reviewing a few pointers and then plenty of trial and error. Make sure that you’ve got your unhooked back roll from last issue well locked in as well as your raley-to-blind. Come in to the trick with good speed and comfortable power. Set your kite at 45 degrees with your hands placed in the centre of the bar. Stand tall, bear off downwind slightly to build up your board speed. With strong arms and elbows kept in towards your ribs, load your edge with shoulders back and hips forward, carving upwind to release from the water,…