Table of contents for Issue #93 June 18 - July 2018 in Kiteworld Magazine

Time can slip through your fingers very quickly. My favourite type of old people are like my gran used to be; they fill you with enthusiasm for life and, while they ensure that you understand it’s important to take care of your chores, you also need to let loose and have as much fun as you can doing the things you love. It’s easy to like the idea of that, but holding onto it and maximising fun can actually be quite difficult. Life gets in the way. High energies and ambitions slide. Nine months as a father has been an eye opening experience. All the best aspects of life and nature seem to be so much more apparent in the early months of parenthood as you nurture your young, but…

The Red Bull Ragnarok is often lauded as the toughest event in kiting by those who’ve done it and takes place in the harsh surroundings of the largest high plain in Europe. Competitors can race in either ski or snowboard categories, with skiers routinely logging the fastest times around the 100 kilometre-plus total course distance. The course covers exposed ridges, cliff drops and deep valleys where fickle mountain winds can die completely, leaving the riders stranded and having to pack down their kites and hike their way back out to higher ground. Competitors aim to complete five laps of the course. Last year the Ragnarok course was extended by 30 kilometres to a total 130 kilometre distance. Just eight of the 350 entrants managed five laps in blistering conditions. German…

MEGALOOP CHALLENGE The waiting period has begun and the line-up has been announced for the 2018 Red Bull Megaloop Challenge after a flurry of wildcard entry videos dropped over the last few months. Ten international riders had already been carefully selected for the event, earning their places based on their performances at previous editions of the event and their mega looping prowess! Alongside the pre-qualified riders, there were six places up for grabs for the riders with the most insane wildcard videos. Four of them have now been handed out with two more still to be issued closer to the time of the event. Here’s who made the cut. PRE-QUALIFIED: Ruben Lenten (NL) Nick Jacobsen (DK) Lasse Walker (NL) Joshua Emanuel (RSA) Steven Akkersdijk (NL) Ross-Dillon Player (RSA) Kevin de…

“ON MOST WAVES YOU CAN WATCH THEM BUILDING AND FOLLOW THEM IN, BUT AT JAWS THE SWELL HITS THE SHALLOW WATER AND A WAVE JACKS UP OUT OF NOWHERE AND SUDDENLY THERE’S THIS BIG WAVE THAT YOU’RE ON AND GAINING SPEED RAPIDLY.” When did you first decide you wanted to ride Jaws? I’ve been watching surfers out at Jaws for the past few years and have been getting increasingly interested in riding bigger waves. My boyfriend, Patri McLaughlin, is really into it, so over the years that’s become what we search for in trips - to find big waves. I first went out to Jaws about a year ago and I was kind of thinking about kiting, but I wasn’t really prepared and the conditions didn’t really line up. We…

Sarah McNair-Landry, an explorer whose adventures we’ve featured in the magazine before, had a new goal: to combine her ice cap and kite-skiing experience with Ben Stookesberry and Erik Boomer’s extreme kayaking experience – to create the most epic expedition ever! In August 2017 Ben, Boomer and Sarah unloaded their winter camping, kite-skiing and kayaking gear out of the small boat they had hired to drop them off on the east coast of Greenland. Ahead of them – a 1,000 kilometre journey they had dreamed up; combining kite-skiing and extreme kayaking. The first challenge was to haul their heavy loads, including 50 days of food, up onto the Greenland ice cap – through a maze of crevasses – before reaching an area safe to kite-ski. From there the team used…

TEST TEAM NOTES: The Lithium has been rooted at the core of Airush’s product line for as long as we can remember and in that time has received steady tweaks. Still one of the most popular and ideal beginner kites on the market, it has the ability to please advanced riders too thanks to having one of the most well behaved and balanced handling feels on the market. Airush had it right with the Lithium so early, which is why much of the developments each year have been focused on the construction and materials, rather than the shape of the design itself. As the Lithium is now bought and used by a wide spectrum of riders, Airush offer it in three different grades (and expense) of canopy construction, from their…

TEST TEAM NOTES: Peter Lynn may not be a brand that you’re overly familiar with, but they have a strong heritage that runs right the way back to early power kites, but they’ve also been making water kites since the very early days, initially with their twin-skin kites like the Guerilla, and of course then with tube kites. They have a very committed core following and that customer group is growing. The first and primary reason is that their kites have a great connection. Appealing to fliers who like a fast and clean response from their kite, we’ve really enjoyed Peter Lynn’s instinctive feel over the last few seasons, particularly on the Swell, which excelled for us as a wave kite in our 2016 Cape Town reviews. We’ve also seen…

TEST TEAM NOTES: We tested the 12 and nine metre Sculps this spring once back in the UK over several sessions and found there is a difference in character between the two sizes, but what an eye-popping duo. Bright, but not sickly, we always get good comments on the beach when out on CrazyFly gear. In the past we’ve saluted the Sculp and for several seasons tested the nine metre in Cape Town. An incredibly easy kite to boost and get good hangtime on, the 12 is a bit different. We rode the 12 in averaging 15 knots and flat water and found that it’s a very adaptable kite. Developing smooth power, the 12 is more sedate than the nine in the way it delivers power to you. There’s still…

TEST TEAM NOTES: Last issue we tested the North Jaime Textreme and likened it to a Golf GTI: you can drive it to the shops, park it in tight spaces, take care of the day-to-day missions but equally hold sure round corners and blast comfortably at 120 down the motorway without any wild moments. In terms of the effort need to put in for high rewards, it’s right up there. It’s a modern classic. If the Select was a car, it would be something more executive, no slouch but built for total comfort with a drinks cabinet in the back to entertain guests and when cornering the grip will be so smooth that you won’t spill your drinks. In terms of pure freeride quality, the Select is pretty much as…

TEST NOTES: The sandy coloured material look gives the Burning an earthy feel. The Flax used to create that is a natural linen material used to reduce the amount of glassing needed while still having a positive effect on the board’s strength-to-weight ratio. Indeed the Burning is very light and yet also doesn’t have that hollow and super-fragile feel that some surfboards do. The Burning is only available in this 5’10’’ size and it’s pretty thin and narrow, though Takoon state that it has a moderate volume of 24.7 litres, it feels a bit more sinky than that, though. All the Burning’s dimensions add up to being a fast, targeted high-power, high speed wave weapon, and it is. It’s fast and likes burning rail-to-rail. There’s a stiff feel to the…

“BY VISUALISING HOW THE TRICK LOOKS AND HOW YOUR BODY IS GOING TO LOOK AND FEEL AS YOU DO IT YOU START FIRING THE NECESSARY NERVE PATHWAYS IN YOUR BRAIN. YOU LAY DOWN THE BASIS FOR MAKING THE TRICK HAPPEN. WHAT THE MIND BELIEVES, THE BODY ACHIEVES.” Our common goals as kiteboarders are to find freedom, experience adrenaline and have fun. Sometimes we may however get caught up in what other riders are doing or berating ourselves for our own shortcomings, which can affect our enjoyment. Why do we get so caught up in all this negativity? Ego. Our ego is a powerful thing and, with the prevalence of social media and the interconnectedness of the kiteboarding community, our egos are in a constant state of comparison as they strive…

AIRUSH The Razor is Airush’s dedicated weapon for the rider searching for uncompromising freestyle action. Designed alongside former World Champion Alex Pastor, the kite is tuned for massive pop, elite level unhooked performance and unhindered kite looping. However, as we’ve seen over many seasons, it’s honestly very user-friendly for a C-kite. The bar feel is comfortable and the wind range is impressive, while the Dyneema load frame means the kite’s strength is increased without an increase in weight. RAZOR SIZES: 15, 13, 11, 10, 9, 7 and 6m www.airush.com CORE One kite to rule them all? The all-new Nexus is a high-performance hybrid kite designed to do the business for wave riding, freeriding or freestyling. A combination of the GTS4 and the Section 2, the Nexus offers customisable tuning: open…

HYDROFOIL PRO TOUR The HydroFoil Pro Tour will be in Montpellier, France, from 18th - 21st May at Festikite for the second event of the season. Olly Bridge and Dani Moroz will defend their early tour leads after winning the first event of the season in La Ventana, Mexico. The tour then returns to the infamous San Francisco Yacht Club at Crissy Field from 6 - 10th June where racers will compete under the iconic Golden Gate Bridge! www.hydrofoilprotour.com TT:R OPEN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS The Twin-Tip Racing discipline is steadily gaining speed with its Olympic debut drawing near at the Youth Olympic Games in October. This summer will also see one of the biggest TT:R events, the TT:R Open World Championships, take place at Hang Loose Beach in Gizzeria, Italy. Men…

BKSA / PROGRESSION FOIL COACHING PROGRAM The BKSA have joined forces with Progression’s Rob Claisse to develop a new foiling syllabus that will be delivered by BKSA coaches. Progression will also be launching a series of foil coaching clinics in the UK and in Europe this summer. www.progression.me/live-coaching BKC EVENTS The British Kitesurfing Championships (freestyle) has four events lined up this season. The tour kicks off in Skegness in May and will finish up at a brand new event in Ramsgate in August. Categories for men and women will include pros, masters, amateurs and junior boys and girls. Skegness: 18 - 19 May Hayling Island (Kitesurfing Armada): 22 – 24 June Westward Ho!: 14 - 15 July Ramsgate: 19 - 20 August There’s also the BKSA Wavemasters to…

“FOILING HAS THE GOLDEN FORMULA; IT MAKES THE MOST OF POOR CONDITIONS” As the Northern Hemisphere spring kicks into gear it’s just about the time when I feel I should write something motivational and encourage people back onto the water. I’m particularly enthused for kiting this year and feel well positioned to share some stoke! Unseasonably warm weather in southern Poland (my current domicile of choice) has led to warm waters and plenty of kite sessions already and, somewhat unsurprisingly, my weapon of choice is almost always the hydrofoil. Foils have been around for a few years now, but turning the focus away from race oriented foils to freeride foils is still in its early transition. There’s still clear progress to be made but the doors are opening the foiling…

“THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF EMPTY SPOTS PERFECT FOR KITING. MOST ARE STILL WAITING TO BE DISCOVERED.” I find my eyes slowly opening from a deep slumber. There’s a strange rattling on the roof as something makes its way across. Looking out the window it feels like we are deep in a jungle. The sound of birds and monkeys fill my senses with new sights and sounds. I’ve travelled to many different countries for kitesurfing over the last 15 years, but this morning we find ourselves waking up to a completely new experience. Arriving into Mombassa late the previous night my autopilot had kicked in and cruised me through the transfer to Diani Beach, a 90 minute journey and ferry crossing from the airport. Even at 3am there was still lots…

There have been more head turning / controversial new product launches when a brand believe they’ve got the next step cornered for innovation. Of course, most fresh in the memory are North’s Click Bar and Cabrinha’s Fireball bar / harness systems. Going further back we could highlight Slingshot’s One Pump system or the bow kite. So what is the Nexus? It looks remarkably similar to many other mid-aspect hybrid kites with seemingly no glaringly, new and defining design look. The three strut layout with quite minimal bridling is clean, but not ground breaking, while the squarish struts lean into that very current hybrid or ‘future’ C shape. However, it’s the ride feel and endless possibilities that the Nexus offers where the real big billing lies. When it comes to distributor…

TEST TEAM NOTES: This Spark review follows on from the Gaastra Pure review last issue, a kite which you may remember scored the highest Woo jump stat for Bully this season in Cape Town, with a recorded boost height of 19.9 metres and 8 seconds of air time! An intriguing follow up, for sure... A quick re-visit of the bar and build: Gaastra’s X4 bar system is extremely light and streamlined. The grip diameter is just 23mm and the rubber is a medium grip grade, so is comfortable without being slippy. The quick-release is new and conforms to all the most stringent French norms, so can be released with very little force at all angles. The trimming cleat and rope are smooth with a Velcro fastener to prevent trimming dangle…

TEST TEAM NOTES: The Misfit has been in the game for as long as we can remember. Initially a fast, stiff, high-end product, the Misfit remains in the Slingshot empire as their entry-level freeride board. It’s not like other common twin-tips though and has maintained some of its stiff heritage. It’s also still bomb-proof and after a nuclear holocaust all that will remain are Misfits scattered around the world in the remains of kiteboarders’ homes. This year Slingshot’s new Air Core Misfit has a new lightweight material called Koroyd that’s more often found in the highest spec bike helmets. Slingshot have employed it in the tip, tail and lengthways underfoot to make this the lightest Misfit ever. That said, this isn’t what we’d class as a super light board, but…

TEST TEAM NOTES: What do we like about Slingshot? Well, they always just do things their own way, and it’s usually pretty different. You won’t currently find a wave-inspired kite like the SST. Primarily geared to ride on slightly shorter lines (20 metres – though the standard 20’’ bar comes with three metre line extensions to give you more power, better low end and more jumping height), the SST is one of the deepest sitting wave kites on the market. Most current designs are all about fast forward flight, edge of the window performance and light, fast handling. The low aspect shape combined with the deeper window position makes the SST incredibly stable. The steering feels direct while the condensed version of IRS bungee bridle that Slingshot use on the…

Hervé Bouré was amongst the early pack of French kitesurfing pioneers who then took kitesurfing legitimately into the waves. He was also twice a wave World Champion and now continues to push forward with his brand HB Surfkite, which is dedicated to strapless riding. In a time when harnesses are seemingly becoming more paired down and minimal, the Legacy harness is one of the most cushy harnesses we’ve ridden recently. While it’s still quite compact, it’s a little deeper than the really low profile harnesses on the market right now, and where those can feel rigid, the Legacy is like wrapping a fluffy cloud around your waist. Remember the HB products are built with strapless riding in mind, so there’s no need for the super locked and tight support of…

My sister, her husband and I wanted to go on a kiting holiday together somewhere that all three of us could improve our skills. My sister and I were already comfortably riding upwind and attempting our first jumps, while my brother-in-law was trying his first tricks, so we were looking for somewhere we could log some serious water time and make real progress. We’d already agreed on going somewhere in Europe so, having already recently visited Greece and with a ten day slot in August pencilled into our diaries, we’d narrowed it down to a choice between Tarifa, the Canary Islands and Sicily. Some friends had recommended Lo Stagnone and it sounded awesome, so we got in touch with a kite school there, booked an apartment and we were off.…

surf and her singles win was testament to how much she’s improved her backside riding since the last event in Cape Verde. Airton’s riding was nuanced and faultless. He hasn’t always shone in light winds in the past, but on that day he rode well, expertly shifting his weight forward to keep his planing speed as he sighted up sections before jumping into surf stance and hammering the lip with a barrage of fast turns. With the singles done, it was straight into the doubles on day three and tensions started to build. The riders who’d done well so far would have to wait until day four to defend their positions with stiff competition coming their way. The DR’s Jan Marcos Riveras put on his best performance to date, beginning…

BORACAY BLOCKED The popular kite destination in the Philippines is now closed to tourists and travelling kiters due to a decree from the Filipino President, Rodrigo Duterte. This is in response to the high levels of raw, untreated effluent which has been pumped into the waters around Boracay - a situation that had been exacerbated by the rapid growth in tourism. Many structures have no way of treating the sewage they pump out and local businesses had been calling out for better regulation. Duterte’s decision to shut the island off entirely for the next six months to let infrastructure work take place came as a shock to residents and tourists with just a three week prior warning in April. Although 30,000 people lost their jobs on the island, the general…

“THE PSYCHIATRIST GORDON LIVINGSTONE SAID, “IT IS HARD FOR A HUMAN TO BE UNHAPPY IF THEY HAVE SOMEONE TO LOVE, SOMETHING TO DO AND SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO”. THIS DOESN’T SEEM LIKE SUCH A TALL ORDER, YET TIME AND AGAIN MY PATIENTS FAIL AT AT LEAST ONE OF THE THREE.” “EVERY POSSESSION AND EVERY HAPPINESS IS BUT LENT BY CHANCE FOR AN UNCERTAIN TIME, AND MAY THEREFORE BE DEMANDED BACK THE NEXT HOUR”. - ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER Poor old Artie, he wasn’t the cheeriest of philosophers. Nonetheless, he did seem to be onto something: in my day job I’m a psychologist and I see a lot of people who are extraordinarily sad. People whom, on the surface, take great pains to appear happy. It’s a privilege to be let into…

TEST NOTES: This is a strong opener, but I’ve not ridden a board with this wide a level of application in a long time. Whether I was in decent low wind surf or shoddy blown out conditions, I really enjoyed it. My girlfriend also made progress in her first surfboard sessions too, finding it easier than others she subsequently tried for comfortable and efficient riding as well as fairly flowing first carving turns. Indeed the first thing I noticed was how well it eats up chop. Designer Sky Solbach says that he takes his surfboards out and just tries to ride them as fast as he can in the choppiest conditions he can find to see how they feel. That seems to work as although the Pro Wam is used…

TEST NOTES New suits aren’t quite as exciting as new boards and kites as a purchase, but they can make you feel good. When it comes to a wetsuit, first and foremost the fit has to be good. If there are any slack or baggy areas, you’re going to feel the cold. Fit is of course down to whether your personal shape is one that is catered for by a manufacturer, and I’ve often met riders who swear by one brand and their mates just can’t find the same fit and appeal in the range. My first reaction when I received this Manera X10D for test was that it wasn’t thick enough for the cold waters of Cape Town. I had to re-read the label and double check because it…

“COACHING STYLES HAVE VARIED, BUT THEY’VE ALL HAD THE AIM OF MAKING ME BETTER THAN I WAS THE DAY BEFORE. THAT’S WHAT COACHES DO.” I had my first coach when I was just seven. He was a grizzly, bearded former US Marine, a veteran of the Vietnam war and a man not to be trifled with. Frankly, I have no idea what he was doing coaching a kid’s swim team in northeast England in the mid-90s but there he was and he was no joke. I was a bit scared of him, but he was a straight talker. Sometimes I felt he could have sugared the pill when detailing just how flawed my butterfly stroke was (I was only seven and what is the point of that stroke anyway?) but…

There are many variations to tricks. Even though this is just a back roll, you get such a different spinning sensation when adding this grab that it feels like an entirely different trick. You need to be coming into this trick with plenty of speed to get good pop, but you must be in control. If you don’t have enough speed, you won’t be able to get your body into the fully inverted rotation. As for any popped hooked-in rotation, start by sending your kite up a little to 11 or 1 o’clock in the window. Move your front hand to the centre of the bar to reduce unwanted steering when you take your back hand off. As you pop, take your back hand off the bar and reach for…

SCHOOLS THE AMERICAS 1 ADVENTURE KITEBOARDING Muskego, Wisconsin sales@adventurekiteboarding.com +1 414-367-9283 www.adventurekiteboarding.com 2 KITEFORCE Montreal, Quebec info@kite-force.com + 1 514 691 3314 www.kite-force.com 3 HATTERAS ISLAND SURF & SAILING Waves, NC barton@hatterasislandsurfshop.com +1 252 987 2292 www.hatterasislandsurfshop.com 4 KITTY HAWK KITES Nag’s Head, Hatteras mail@kittyhawk.com +1 252 441 0265 www.kittyhawk.com www.khkiteboarding.com 5 GOOD BREEZE KITEBOARDING Cocoa Beach, Florida info@kiteboardingcloseouts.com +1 321-252-5483 www.goodbreezekiteboarding.com www.kiteboardingcloseouts.com 6 MIAMI KITEBOARDING Miami, Florida info@miamikiteboarding.com +1 305 345 9974 www.miamikiteboarding.com 7 TKS MIAMI Miami Florida sales@tksmiami.com +1 (305) 646.1681 +1 (305) 397.8282 www.tksmiami.com 8 361 KITE Corpus Christi, TX info@361kite.com +1 361 742 7966 www.361kite.com 9 PROKITE SOUTH PADRE South Padre Island TX & Hood River +1 541-490-6872 +1 855-774-5483 info@prokitesouthpadre.com www.prokitesouthpadre.com 10 TRON X Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico info@tronx.mx +52 (322) 108 9292 www.tronx.mx 11 EXOTIKITE…

I was there the day that spectators in Leucate bore witness to the biggest mega loop in the world in April. It was very surreal watching kite action in stunning weather without howling winds whistling around my ears. When the first event of the brand new GKA Kiteboarding World Tour ‘Air Games’ drew the short straw and became the first week in Leucate’s 20 year history of staging the ‘Mondial du Vent’ watersports festival with absolutely no contestable wind conditions, people pinched themselves. It had to happen at some point because the Mondial du Vent has had an amazing run of success and it would have been acceptable for the riders and crew to have just accepted it and had a Mediterranean beach holiday for the week. This combined tour…