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VOL. 9 NO. 2

THE GREAT LAKESVENEZUELAN DUEL

CHICKEN BIKE ADVENTUREROBERTO RICCI INTERVIEW

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LUXURYHARNESS

LUXURYSTRAP PAD

CONTACTKITEBOARD

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RIDER MOEHAU GOOLDLOCATION CAPE VERDESHOT BY BRYAN ELKUS

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FEATURES:

10 THE FORGOTTEN COAST

22 A DUEL IN VENEZUELA

34 THE ROBERTO RICCI INTERVIEW

48 CHICKEN BIKE ADVENTURE

72 KITEBOARDING INSTRUCTION: SO...WHAT’S NEXT?

DEPARTMENTS:

6 FROM THE EDITOR

32 THE SCENE

44 PROFILED: ALEC DEKTOR AND COLLEEN CARROLL

60 EXPOSED

68 TO THE MOON

70 WISH LIST

76 15 MINUTES

78 ROOTS

On the Cover: Gisela Pulido in Dakhla, Morocco. Photo Toby Bromwich

Josh ‘Cornfed’ Nehf spends some time deep in the green room at a Santa Cruz secret spot. Photo David DeVries

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THE BIG NEWS IN KITEBOARDING RIGHT NOW IS THE FACT THAT IT HAS BEEN CHOSEN TO BE INCLUDED IN THE 2016 OLYMPICS IN RIO DE JANERIO. Kiteboarding will appear in the Olympics as a sailing class and while the exact format has yet to be decided, rest assured that it will be some form of course racing. Also big news and the cause for some international controversy is that kiteboarding is replacing windsurfing and this summer’s Olympic Games in London will be the last appearance for the windsurfers.

Since the announcement a few months ago, opinions among kiteboarders have been all over the map as to whether this is great, terrible, or indifferent for the sport of kiteboarding. Reactions have ranged from euphoria to downright hostility. Everyone seems to have an opinion. Some riders think this is the best thing possible for kiteboarding as it will bring us more media attention, larger sponsors, and a more structured competition scene both at the national and international levels. Others think this is the worst news imaginable and will lead to overcrowding, more expensive gear, and a portrayal of kiteboarding as just another form of sailing where we chase each other around buoys on big boards with long fins.

My own opinion is that it will be what we make of it. It’s an opportunity, nothing more. To me, the amazing thing about kiteboarding isn’t that we can ride waves, set speed records, fly for football-length distances over water, explore backcountry terrain in the snow, race against each other, or throw the exact same moves as wakeboarders without the need for a boat or cable park. The amazing thing about kiteboarding is that we can do all of that. No other sport comes even close in offering so much variety.

As long as we remember this and continue to promote everything you can do with a kite, kiteboarding will continue to do well. Racing is just another aspect of our wide-ranging sport. It doesn’t define kiteboarding. Its inclusion in the Olympics might bring us more attention, but we have to use that attention to promote the whole sport, not just racing. Believe it or not, kiteboarding needs to grow in order to survive. More growth means more money and more money gives companies the opportunity to support kiteboarding through advocacy to keep beaches open, creation of stronger instructional programs, and sponsorship of more young riders.

The long term effect of this decision on kiteboarding is an open question, but I’m optimistic about it. The inclusion of kite racing in the Olympics doesn’t mean we all have to start racing. If your goal is to push yourself to new levels of riding waves, there’s no reason why you can’t continue to do that. Just want to go out on a twin tip and see how high you can jump? Keep it up. It’s even more important now that we promote the variety of the sport and not just any single aspect of it. We’re not sailors, wakeboarders, or surfers. We’re kiteboarders and we are being given an opportunity to show the world what we can do.

FROM THE EDITOR

Kiteboarding is in the Olympics. Now what? Photo Toby Bromwich/PKRA

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EDITORIAL CONSULTANTSNeil Hutchinson, Stefan Ruether, Rick Iossi, Toby Brauer, Brendan

Richards, Matt Sexton, Kevin “Irie Dog” Murray, Kinsley ThomasWong, James Brown, Ginette Buffone, Maui Mike, Members of the Central

Coast/Santa Barbara CKA

CONTRIBUTORSJoe Bidawid, Phil Midler/www.xlkiteboarding.com, Lydia Snider,

Mauricio Abreu, Lou Wainman

PHOTOGRAPHYDavid DeVries, Toby Bromwich/PKRA, Broneah, Third Coast Surf

Shop, Ben Palmer, Bryan Elkus, Marge Beaver, Dave Dalquist, Slingshot Sports, Matteo Neri/RRD, Dave White/RRD, Carol Bolstad, Chicken Bike Crew, Captn. Shelly, Enrique Abreu, Evan Mavidoglou/

www.live2kite.com, Suzie Dorn, Aaron Loyd, Ronnie Mac, Lauren Bowcutt, Tom Briggs, Ivan Zorn, Jim Stringfellow, Carlos Altamirano, Craig Young, Lukas Prudky, Florian Panther, John Bilderback, Erik Aeder, Andrea De Maria, Luke McGillewie/RRD, Bernard Biancotto

Thanks to all editorial and photography contributors for supporting this magazine!

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9+STYLE + POWER WE SUPPORT RIDING. THAT’S IT. SURF, FREESTYLE, KICKERS, SLIDERS, CROSSOVER, FREERIDE CRUISING, WHATEVER. WE’RE JUST STOKED YOU RIDE.

PHOTOS BY JASON WOLCOTT AND LANCE KOUDELE

IT’S ALL ABOUT

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The

Chances are you’ll never guess where this photo of Matt Myers was taken. Photo courtesy Broneah

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WITHIN AN HOUR DRIVE FROM MY HOME ARE EIGHT WAVE RIDING SPOTS, TWO THERMAL WIND SPOTS THAT CRANK WITH CLOCKWORK RELIABILITY, AND TWO LONG JETTIES THAT PROVIDE BUTTER-FLAT RIDING CONDITIONS. IN A NORMAL YEAR MORE THAN HALF OF MY KITEBOARDING SESSIONS ARE IN WAVES THAT RANGE IN HEIGHT FROM WAIST TO WELL OVERHEAD. On bluebird days some of my local spots can rival riding any ocean break or open ocean downwinder. When I stand on the endless sandy beach, I cannot see the other side. If it wasn’t for the lack of the strong sulfuric ocean smell, it would be easy to forget that you are standing on the shore of Lake Michigan, which features more coastline than the state of California. Around the Great Lakes water system spread over eight different states and two Canadian Provinces you will find countless coastal towns that boast some or all of the attributes my own hometown of Grand Haven, Michigan, has to offer. Simply put, the Great Lakes is the real deal.

Coast

TheForgotten

By Joe Bidawid

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Throughout my life I’ve had an insatiable appetite to travel, to explore and chase waves around the world. Since I travel for several months every winter, I have had the fortune of riding in places such as Tavarua, Namotu, the Hawaiian Islands, and most of the Caribbean Island chain. I’ve also called both Hood River and Hawaii my home in the past. Many people are surprised that I’ve chosen Michigan as my home. No matter where adventures lead, I always yearn to return here. While Great Lakes waves are infrequent and of lower quality than ocean waves, I have come to cherish the elements, the camaraderie, and drama-free scene. When a fall tempest roars on Lake Michigan and its gale-force winds whip up mountains of wind swell, there is no place on earth I would rather be. Unless you have been here to experience it, it will always appear to be a stretch. However, don’t just take my word for it. If you are not convinced, be sure to ask the likes of Damien LeRoy,

Sky Solbach, Ben Meyer, Nicollo Porcello, or Adam Koch who have personally witnessed and experienced the Great Lakes wave riding scene.

The region has produced pro kiteboarders like Best’s Sam Mydysky, North’s Tommy Fields, and Minnesota’s Alex Peterson, one of the world’s top snowkiters. There are more than 20 Great Lakes kiteboard shops with Mackite, Broneah, Kiteriders LLC, Great Lakes Kiteboarding, Boardsports, and Silent Sports being some of the largest in North America. We also have Kitestock, an annual Canadian event where free love, kite aloha, and wind converge into kiteboarding bliss. The Great Lakes are also home to several hundred of the world’s best amateur meteorologists, all of whom know when the wind swell will descend on their local beaches. To the experienced kiteboarder, riding Great Lakes waves is an undeniable passion that is part

extreme sport and part science. This is largely due to the harsh elements associated with the weather systems that create our waves and the labor of love associated with forecasting the best conditions.

Winds in the region are predominantly frontal. Most of the riding is during spring, summer, and fall between the months of March and November. Water temperatures can range between 45-60º during spring and fall and can reach the low 70s during summer’s peak. Spring and fall winds are generally between 20-35 knots with the lighter summer winds ranging between 12-20 knots. During normal winters ice will cover most of the lakes and riders will trade their surfboards for snowboards as snowkiting takes center stage. During rare El Nino winters, diehards will brave brutally cold conditions to wave ride year round. Since the conditions on the Great Lakes vary considerably,

A fun day in California? Nope. A good day on the Great Lakes. Photo Mike Killion/Third Coast Surf Shop

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experienced riders carry a full quiver of kites ranging from 7m to 16m.

Grand Haven, a town of just over 100,000 residents, is considered a small town by Midwest standards. Dubbed Coast Guard City USA by an act of Congress in 1998, Grand Haven receives over one million visitors per year. With its mile-long white sandy beach and hallmark lighthouse, Good Morning America named Grand Haven State Beach one of the top five beaches in the US. How does an inland beach on a lake make this list? Consider that most of the 300 miles of Michigan’s shoreline of Lake Michigan is comprised of white sand. The world’s largest fresh water sand dunes line the shore towering as high as 400 feet above water. More importantly, Grand Haven has one of the best sandbars in the Great Lakes created by the discharge from the Grand River, one of the largest in the Great Lakes system. Its quarter-mile long rock

jetties offer clean and protected wave riding conditions. The wind fetch on strong southerlies is over 150 miles long. In sustained 20-knot conditions, the outer sandbar at Ferrysburg can easily generate overhead waves. On northerlies, the wind fetch is over 200 miles. As the northerly swell wraps around the southern Jetty, the lines at Grand Haven state park can resemble a mini Rincon.

Once you recognize the sheer beauty and ocean-like landscape of the five Great Lakes, it is important to understand the unique dynamics behind the wind and waves. Great Lakes waves are generally smaller and more playful than ocean waves. Wind waves on the Great Lakes

are different than ocean swell, where waves are formed by isolated storms thousands of miles away from land. Great Lakes waves are a result of considerably shorter running swells and are more choppy and unpredictable than ocean swell. As the key element in Great Lakes wave formation, wind is critical to a successful wave riding experience.

The formula varies at different locations but ridable waves are typically created by winds in excess of 15 knots that have blown over water for more than 50 miles. It takes five to ten hours of such conditions for waves to be waist high. Frontal weather systems in the region can last from five hours to several days

“Once you recognize the sheer beauty and ocean-like landscape of the five Great Lakes, it is important to understand the unique dynamics behind the wind and waves.”

The same spot that features waves on one day may feature flat water on another. Photo Bryan Elkus

Jens Hanson is known for tackling heavy conditions. Photo Ben Palmer

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and can generate waves up to 10 to 20 feet tall. Since the smallest lake, Lake Ontario, is 50 miles wide by 200 miles long, you can begin to understand the magnitude of the possible wind fetches that can generate quality waves. Great Lake wave riding is an extreme sport largely due to the extreme elements involved. The stronger the winds, the larger the waves. Our strongest winds are usually during late fall cold fronts where water temperatures plummet into the low 50s or high 40s. Wind chill is also an extreme danger. Imagine an epic outer reef swell in Maui and then try to imagine kiting in the middle of the ocean storm that generated those waves and you will be one step closer to understanding our waves.

If riding ocean waves is compared to fighting a dragon, riding Great Lakes waves would be considered fighting ninjas. However, the occasional dragon does rear its ugly head. On June 26, 1954, the Chicago lakefront was hit by a 20 foot wall of water called a seiche (pronounced saysh) that swept eight unsuspecting beachgoers and fishermen off the Montrose Harbor Pier to their deaths. While a tsunami or seismic sea wave is generated by underwater earthquake or volcanic activity, Chicago’s 1954 seiche was caused by a line of thunderstorms racing southwest across Lake Michigan at speeds in excess of 50 mph. The cold downdrafts of air flowing out of the thunderstorms caused a rapid rise in air pressure that pushed a massive bulge of lake surface water toward the southeastern shore. This surge of water then reflected back to the Chicago shore as a large tsunami-like wave.

Today, kiteboarding at Montrose Beach, a stone’s throw away from the Chicago skyline, still has its risks. Unlike the elemental dangers of the lake, riding at Montrose Beach without the proper credentials can get you ticketed and possibly arrested. Recently, the controversial arrest of surfer Rex Flodstorm, who paddled into four-foot waves at nearby Oak Street Beach, was at the center of the surfing world. While the outside world cried foul, it under-emphasized the unheralded efforts of a valiant group of kiteboarders spearheaded by Mike Urban who have been able to restore order in the kiteboarding community by lifting a kiteboarding ban on certain beaches and have also recently helped lift a surfing ban on some local beaches with the help of the local Chicago chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. Both efforts were accomplished under strict guidelines and regulations to insure the safety of

the riders and beach goers. Before kiteboarding or surfing at Montrose Beach or anywhere in the Chicago area, it’s important to check with a knowledgeable local in order to avert a potential world event. Drama aside, Montrose can fire on strong northeast winds where it is not uncommon to find yourself riding head high waves.

While Lake Michigan is arguably the epicenter of Great Lakes wave riding, the other four lakes can each hold court. Lake Huron is home to over 20 riding spots. Two of them are legendary. Tawas State Park is located in arguably one of the busiest riding spots in the Midwest, where it is not uncommon to find 50-100 kiters on the weekends. The large sandbar offers great learning conditions while the open water offers good wave riding. Southern thermals dominate most of the summer. Local fixture Jimbo Olfzewski once told me that he rode 22 days in a row in July with most of those days in board shorts. Across the lake on the Canadian side of Lake Huron, a small rock-bottom bay is home to Kettle Point. Kettle Point offers traditional wave riding conditions with a good day dishing out overhead A-frame surf. Here, when all the stars are aligned, the surf can reach mythical proportions. One of my favorite sessions of the year is always at Kettle Point on the first big north of the year, typically in early August. Ceremonially, this is my season opener for the wave riding season. Tim Blanchard will typically call it the previous evening and an early morning road trip will have us there by 9:00 am as we drive on the beach all the way to water’s edge. These early fall sessions, while fickle, provide a rare chance to ride warm-water waves on the Great Lakes.

Long jetties and small lighthouses are common sights on the Great Lakes. Photo Bryan Elkus

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Brandon Scheid uses small Great Lakes waves in Montague as perfect kickers. Photo Bryan Elkus

Both Lake Ontario and Lake Erie have a relative east-west orientation and are similar in size with a north-south fetch of approximately 50 miles and a west-east fetch of approximately 200 miles. At each lake’s eastern shore there are numerous wave riding spots with long sandy beaches and clear water. Since the best conditions are generally during spring and fall, riders usually bypass the bustling summer beach crowds. It’s no secret that Lake Erie’s greater Buffalo area on both sides of the border is home to some of the best kiteboarding conditions on the Great Lakes. On the Canadian side, Sherkston Beach is a long-established haven for kiteboarders, surfers, and boogie boarders. On the US side, Angola Beach offers a combination of great learning conditions and, at times, ridable waves.

On the northeastern shores of Lake Ontario, when a beach break called Sandbanks fires, surfers, windsurfers, and kiteborders from the provinces of Ontario, Ottawa, and Quebec point their inner compasses towards this legendary spot. Sandbanks, one of our busiest wave riding areas, is also a very busy tourist attraction during the summer months, but since the best riding conditions are during spring and fall, riders generally show up to large empty beaches. On a

busy weekend, it is not uncommon to find 100 riders here with a well-defined lineup of windsurfers and kiteboarders. The wave periods at Sandbanks are some of the longest in the Great Lakes, providing a more traditional wave riding experience and also allowing a forgiving playground for the wave riding novice.

On Lake Superior, owning to its remoteness and notoriously dangerous seas, wave riding here remains the obscure passion of a few souls who prefer not to disclose any relevant details. This is considered the region’s last frontier.

Since the riding potential around the Great Lakes is endless, many of the best spots will forever remain shrouded in secrecy. Certain mystery waves are so fickle that scoring the right conditions can sometimes take years. Good luck trying to get Michigan’s Matt Myers or Ontario’s Chris Cram to tell you about their fickle full-barrel wave or to have

Michigan’s Jared Roth tell you about the offshore rock reef that he has been watching for two years in hopes that it will produce the largest wave ever known on the Great Lakes.

The early group of pioneers that brought kiteboarding to the region all started in 1998 and 1999. Many had strong roots in windsurfing and had been eagerly tuning in to kite development. In the fall of 1998, I moved back to Michigan from Hood River and was excited to bring back an inflatable kite. I also became the Naish Kiteboarding Midwest Rep which allowed me to network with key regional pioneers who were blazing trails in their territories. Having struggled to learn to kiteboard on the Columbia River Gorge that summer, returning home to Michigan was just what the doctor ordered with expansive sandy beaches and steady fall winds. Much to the dismay of a disgruntled local windsurfing crowd, I learned to perfect my skills at Muskegon’s Pier Marquette

“Since the riding potential around the Great Lakes is endless, many of the best spots will forever remain shrouded in secrecy.”

During the summer the beach in Grand Haven can be as crowded as any in Southern California. Photo Marge Beaver

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Photo Bryan Elkus

Photo Bryan Elkus

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Brandon Sheid on a windy day at Frankfort, Michigan. Photo Bryan Elkus

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Beach. Muskegon quickly became the area’s main kite beach. As more kiteboarders began to use the beach, the kiteboarding area became well defined and far enough away from the windsurfing launch to mitigate any tension. Over time, almost all of the disgruntled windsurfers have become kiteboarders.

At the same time other pioneers in the area were also discovering kiteboarding. In Minnesota, Mark Kedrowski returned home from the Olympic Windsurfing Trials with a Wipika 2-line kite and was bravely able to perfect his riding on White Bear Lake, a gusty inland lake in Central Minnesota. A few hundred miles east, Northern Wisconsin’s Steve Coon, an avid surfer, windsurfer, and owner of Coontail Watersports, had returned from Surf Expo with a Naish AR 3.5. He pioneered kiteboarding in Wisconsin on Trout Lake, a beautiful inland lake with crystal clear waters and yes, gusty winds. Illinois’s Tim Grossnickle, one of the Chicago area’s avid windsurfers, returned from a windsurfing trip to Maui and brought back a 3 meter 2-line kite. After beating the kite around on North Avenue Beach, he acquired a 7m three-line F-One foil and a 6’7” Bic Surfboard and began to perfect his riding at Wolf Lake, just south of Chicago.

Across Lake Michigan, in Grand Haven, James Otis and Steve Negen were

testing the waters of Lake Michigan, not realizing they were pioneering what would become the region’s wave riding Mecca. Negen, owner of Mackite, and Otis, an avid Great Lakes wave rider, had become the area’s kiteboarding disciples who would introduce several key riders to the sport including Skip Schott, Marc Hoeksema, and Brad Knoth. Across the border in Toronto, Ontario, John Bryja had returned home from Surf Expo in 1998 armed with a big pink 12 meter Wipika kite and a small directional surfboard. With a small group of riders, one zodiac, a kite and a board, the crew traveled to the Outer Banks to dial in this new sport.

During the winter of 1998, Marty Milne returned to Toronto from Maui with kite stories and inspiration that fueled the infancy of the sport in the Toronto Area. The following summer, Bruce Varsava, armed with his homemade boards, was at the beach every ridable day dialing in his head-turning transitions. Further south in Windsor, Ontario, Canadian collegiate track and field star and well-traveled waterman Tim Blanchard had just returned from British Columbia and was eager to explore the vast virgin riding potential in his region. Having carefully crafted his skills during a full riding season in Nitinat, BC, Blanchard appeared to be years ahead of everyone else in the region with his polished skills and powerful riding style. He quickly became the poster child for Great Lakes high-performance kiteboarding.

My empowering moment in kiteboarding was during my first meeting with Blanchard at a local pub in 1999. With the support of Naish, we were given the green light to promote kiteboarding around the Great Lakes. In true pioneering fashion Blanchard and I went on expeditions to promote the sport by conducting riding demos and teaching shop owners how to ride and educate the community about the potential of the sport in the region. We ended up in places as far west as the Worthington Music Festival in Minnesota and as

far north as the Traverse City Cherry Festival in Michigan. As the region’s and Canada’s first certified instructor, Blanchard would go on to teach hundreds of kiteboarders. Today, Tim Blanchard’s riding is still turning heads and his Surf Culture Canada kiteboarding school in Mitchell’s Bay, Ontario, is still turning out kiteboarders.

During the spring and summer of 2000, the sport had adopted some of the area’s top windsurfers, surfers, skiers, and snowboarders. This brash brass of accomplished athletes would become the region’s first kiteboarding generation. Today, the Great Lakes progression threshold stage is shared by a throng of experienced hellmen and a host of young prodigies. Brad Knoth from Holland, Michigan, is known around the region as “Big Air” and has been able to live up to his nickname while continuously setting the pace for performance riding. Knoth’s notorious riding style is easily recognizable, especially since he charges the biggest waves on the Great Lakes and often rides in condition that are unridable by most. This human highlight reel is one of the region’s most enjoyable riders to watch. Last season during an early fall storm, Knoth kited down the eastern shores of Lake Michigan for 64 miles. The non-stop marathon downwinder started in Ludington and ended in Grand Haven, covering terrain that is consistently beautiful with world class riding conditions for the entire distance. Knoth said, “We ride in fresh water so you ride a bit deeper in the water and, at least for me, a little more on the kite, but the waves are legit and you have to respect them.”

Another avid wave riding devotee is Chicago’s West Hanson. Hanson, a partner in Brokite Kiteboards, has developed a forte for chasing waves and drawing clean lines at popular southern Lake Michigan breaks. Late last fall, Hanson, a Texas native and former Gorge and Maui resident, recalled one of his best sessions of the season, a bluebird day at St. Joe, Michigan. “On Maui, we had a saying about the elephants marching. This refers to the feeling one gets when the waves increase to a size that alarms you. A feeling where the stomach churns, where you feel as though there are elephants marching inside you. Well, the elephants were marching. It was 7m slightly side-on and the waves were 12 to 16 feet and jacking up quickly.”

From the parking lot, I watched Hanson pass up a few overhead waves and settle on a meaty freight train with nice

Geared up and ready to go! Photo Bryan Elkus

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“To be a Great Lakes wave rider takes a lot of dedication and love for the sport as the epic conditions don’t come through often enough.”

shape to it. He screamed down the face laying into a nice drawn out bottom turn, dragging his back hand on the face of the wave. The wave sectioned out but never broke, joined another wave on the inside, and reformed all the way to the beach. I counted nine bottom turns on that single wave. Hanson would go on to ride countless waves that day. He said, “As I was driving over, I expected to ride some waves but I never expected the conditions I found. I would have been flabbergasted if it could have been half that incredible, but that’s part of the magic and mystery of driving around the big lake. You never know until you go. That’s the thrilling part of it.”

Another vagabond wave junkie is Jen Hanson from Madison, Wisconsin. Over the last several years Jen has not left a single wave session go untapped. To balance out the solid flat water conditions around his home in Madison, this regular foot has become a fixture at southern Lake Michigan breaks such as Zion, Illinois. Hanson’s forte has become taming gale force winds as it is not uncommon to see him riding a 4m kite in whiteout conditions.

As the wind blows across the region, it arrives in Cleveland, Ohio, on the southern shore of Lake Erie and the home of Joel Hagerman. An imposing figure at 6’4” and 210 pounds, Hagerman is just as imposing on the water as he is on land. His wakestyle riding blends

perfectly well with his fluid wave riding style. Haggerman, a Liquid Force Team Rider, is a well-known regional vagabond who will travel anywhere on the Great Lakes in order to score.

Further north, Mike Lanoe, a Naish team rider, is one of Ontario’s most respected riders. Living in an area that boasts several spots with world-class riding conditions and some of the best riders in North America, Lanoe is a standout who has been able to combine a powerful style with an explosive new-school bag of tricks. Lanoe, whose home is within an hour of

two frothy wave riding spots, is one of the most diversified riders in the region. He can handle pass, kite loop, and dismantle a wave all in the same session. When asked what his favorite riding condition are, the affable outlaw pro quickly points to waves. “Currently, I am really enjoying the wave riding aspect of the sport and we have some amazing conditions here in Ontario with a lot of variety. To be a Great Lakes wave rider takes a lot of dedication and love for the sport as the epic conditions don’t come through often enough.”

Considering the vast geography of the Great Lakes, the list of accomplished Great Lakes riders is a mile long. To fill the shoes of world class riders such as Sam Mydysky, Tommy Fields, Matt and Keegan Myers, Andy Bolt, Vytas Cijunelis, Kris Kinn, Catherine Dufour, Chris Cram, Brendan Schnurr, Daniel Steiner, Rob Vanyi, and Simon Gill, a young up and coming crew that includes Erik Merrill, Chris Bobryk, Artem Ognev, Felix Gourdeau, Benoit Carrier, and Alex and Nicholas Prehn is ready to be heard and to continue to assert what the kiteboarding world already knows,

that many of North America’s best kiteboarders call the Great Lakes their home.

The number of kiteboarders on the Great Lakes is quickly on the rise and so are the number of windy days per year. In recent years, due to increasingly stronger storms from climate changes, the number of wave riding sessions during

each season has also been increasing. This weather model appears to be in full effect. Scrudder Mackey, PhD, an environmental consultant in the Chicago area, said, “Long term models are predicting more frequent and significant storm events on the Great Lakes, which will generate more significant waves.” Around the Great Lakes, the diehards have taken note and continue to search for the perfect wave, no matter how elusive it may prove to be.

Photo Dave Dalquist

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Eight years after his last trip to Venezuela, Mauricio Abreu returned with a new group of young riders.

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Kiteboarding has come a long way over the past decade. When considering riding styles you can dispute and debate all you want, but the kiteboarding film Autofocus from ACL Productions was a big turning point not only in wakestyle riding with a kite but in kiteboarding lifestyle in general. The Autofocus trip was one that I will never forget, one that went down in kiteboarding history, but we need to give credit not only to the riders and filmmakers that made that trip happen but also to the location that provided the perfect environment to showcase that evolution: VENEZUELA.

By Mauricio AbreuPhotos courtesy slingshotsports.com

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t’s hard to believe but it has been eight years since the last time I was in Venezuela. I’ve moved beyond being just a team rider and am now helping Slingshot with their team program. Recently an opportunity to travel back to

Venezuela with some of my team riders presented itself. This idea was exciting for me on many levels, but what really made it unique was the possibility to bring together two of today’s most talented and stylish riders. Alex Fox and Youri Zoon, two riders with very different styles, would be joining us in the same place that fueled our progression almost a decade ago.

I hadn’t met Youri in person before this trip but his reputation obviously preceded him. Of course everyone knows about his amazing athletic ability from his PKRA results. Youri is arguably the most consistent and progressive rider on the world circuit today. He is the current Freestyle World Champion and has been featured in many magazines as the future of competitive kiteboarding.

Before beginning this trip I had just returned from Panama with Alex so we had been able to spend a bit of time together. Alex is one of our leading team riders and his style represents the true influence of wakeboarding on our sport. Alex is laid back, non-competitive, and an always-ready-for-a-good-time kind of rider. He is an extremely technical rider on the water and likes to ride more for the cameras than for the crowds. Bringing Youri and Alex together would give us a chance to really expose how

close or far apart these segments (competition freestyle and wakestyle) of the sport of kiteboarding really are.

We also had a few up and coming riders join us for the trip. Eric Volpe from Italy, Andreas Salazar from Colombia, and Tibi, the local hero that rides at a professional level, all joined us for my return trip to Venezuela. Besides our amazing crew and location, we also had the help of John Pereira from Slingshot Venezuela and the guys from Gurkha organizing a first-class trip for us. John is an amazing guy with connections all over Venezuela. He really knows everything and everyone there and always knows where and when to go to score some good wind. Without him this trip would not have been even half as productive as it was.

The first destination of our three-stop tour was the legendary Isla de Coche. Like I said earlier, I hadn’t been back there in almost a decade. As soon as we got on the boat from the mainland to the island the nostalgia began to set in. This is a perfect flat water location with consistent wind. Just like the last time I was here, the accommodations were incredible. Victor from Coche Paradise hooked us up with some amazing rooms and it was even more comfortable here than I remembered it being eight years ago. The accommodations here are first class all the way – it’s definitely a few steps above what kiteboarders are usually used to!

One of the cool things about Coche is how close to the beach you can ride. The winds blow side-offshore meaning we could get just inches away from the cameras without worrying about getting them wet. You can ride close enough to the beach to drag your hand in white sand as you cruise across water as flat as a mirror. Coche is also a perfect place to set up rails and the Canoa Kitesurf Posada and Chris Valentine from Coche Kiter’s Paradise had just finished building a kicker and a flat bar specifically for our trip.

As soon as we got to the beach all the riders immediately hit the water. Everyone was riding hard and the level was incredible to watch. Things really got interesting once the rails were set up. Alex was killing it as expected, hitting 5s and

This is how we roll.

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Youri Zoon demonstrates his competition freestyle riding for the camera.

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7s off the kicker and doing some sick presses on the flat bar. It was just then that something unexpected happened. I was just getting started to get ready to set up my gear when I noticed that my bindings were missing! No way I had forgotten them at home! Looking up from my bags, I was relieved to find them. To my surprise, I noticed that Youri had snagged them and set up one of his boards with my boots. Youri is known for never riding in boots so this was a bit of a shock to us all.

In any other case I would have snapped and taken my boots back so I could go ride, but this was going to be interesting to watch. I let the little thief go ride and just tried to coach him on how to get used to the boots and rails. I have to admit that Youri wasn’t riding at his full potential in boots (probably because he is not used to them), but I noticed that he was having a great time trying something he wasn’t the absolute master of! It was also amazing to watch his progression during that short session. From one minute to the next you could see him becoming more comfortable with the boots and his riding was improving before our eyes. It was easy to see that if he does get in to rails and boots it would be only a few months until he would master that style of riding too.

Coche was a great start to the trip and it really got us amped up to see what else John and the rest of our hosts had prepared for us. Again, this guy is the man! John had set us up with a dream trip all the way. Not only were we about to go to one of the most beautiful places in the world, but we were getting there by a private plane. When I asked him if all this was really necessary all he had to say was, “What do you mean? This is how we roll!”

As our private plane neared the runway of our second stop, Los Roques, the excitement started. This place has to be one of the most beautiful archipelagos I have ever come across in all my years of traveling and is set up perfectly for kiteboarding. If you don’t believe me just ask Larry Page (Co-Founder of Google) who had visited Los Roques just a week before us for a kite trip. The locals told us he was shocked with the beauty of the place and the consistency of the wind there. A disappointing forecast had us a bit worried about the potential lack of wind, but before we could get to enjoy a little break in the nice calm water, Los Roques delivered its perfect winds. Cruising through crystal-clear water over

Photo Xylia LoubsterThe Gurka opening party in Adicora went off.

Youri signs an autograph for a fan.

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Alex Fox shows off his smooth wakestyle riding.

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beautiful reefs and unbelievable white sandbars surely was a wonder.

It was in Los Roques that the different and almost rivaling riding styles between Youri and Alex started to really show. Without the crowds and cameras around, those guys were focused on nothing but pure riding. Alex was throwing down really stylish grabs on top of some very technical tricks that could win just about any cable competition in the US. Youri pulled out his A-game with the lighting-fast technical tricks that have won him a world title. There’s an ongoing debate whether the competition freestyle or wakestyle aspects of kiteboarding are better for the sport, but at that moment I could see that those two worlds are a lot closer than most people think. A lot of the moves Alex and Youri were throwing down were so similar but each had their

own style that showed through. In some cases I would even say that technically the moves were almost identical!

Alex and Youri developed a high level of respect for each other on the water but what was more evident was the friendship they formed off the water. That friendship seemed to let them feed off each other’s style and technique to improve their own riding in general. Of course, what was going down between Alex and Youri was also benefiting the rest of the crew. Volpe, Andres, and Tibi were pushing themselves further than I had ever seen them before and within a few hours it was clear that they were stepping up into a whole new level of riding.

Los Roques was a crazy experience all together. For me it was great to experience kiteboarding progression in the making once again in such a wonderful location and to also witness top riders pushing themselves to new levels of kiteboarding in the friendliest way possible, just like I had experienced before with the Autofocus crew. It was difficult to leave Los Roques, but it was time for us to jump back on our private plane to our final destination: Adicora.

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The change of scenery between our last two destinations was nothing less than shocking! Adicora is a small fishing village that is fast becoming the number one kite destination in Venezuela due to its year-round consistent winds. I can see that in a few years it will become just like some of the other prime kite destinations around the world, but for now it still remains a cool and low-key place.

Luckily we arrived a few days before the grand opening of the Gurkha Kiteschool and Lounge. John and the Gurkha crew were organizing one of the biggest parties that Adicora had ever seen and we were very fortunate to be there to witness the craziness! Before we could drink our brains out we had a few more days of kiteboarding demos and appearances to do. It was in Adicora that I was really able to witness Youri’s riding excel, not because he was riding better than before, but what impressed me was how fast his riding adapted to the conditions. I really think that as a competitor this is one of Youri’s most valuable attributes. Alex and the boys were also having a good time but the crowd was going nuts

with Youri mainly because they were getting a sneak preview of what will be going down in Adicora this summer when this location will be hosting Venezuela’s first ever PRKA event.

Adicora was fun but the best was saved for last. The Gurkha Kiteschool and Lounge Opening Party. And man, it was worth the wait! These guys had a big stage with a sick reggae band playing all night while the drinks flowed nonstop – such a good vibe! Unfortunately because of the flowing drinks I can’t remember much more than that, but I can tell you a good time was had by all.

In the time between my two trips to Venezuela so much in kiteboarding had changed, but it was great to see that the incredible locations I visited eight years ago were still the same. It’s amazing to me how what I thought were such different styles between wake and freestyle have now seemingly found a common place amongst their participants. It really makes me wonder where we will be in another eight years. Although for that I have no answer, I know that kiteboarding will still be evolving, the Gurkha boys will still be throwing a mad party, and Venezuela will still be one of the sickest places in the world to kiteboard.

Overall, the whole trip to Venezuela was amazing, not only for the kiteboarding but also the culture, the warm and great people, and the astonishing natural beauty that Venezuela is full of. We would like to thank the Gurkha crew for all their help and support, Canoa Kitesurf Posada, Coche Paradise, Coche Kiter’s Paradise, Arrecife Posada Los Roques, Posada Galapagos, our friends from Play Los Roques, and Chicho in Adicora for all his hospitality.

Youri performs for the crowd in Adicora.

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1. The car may be small, but it’s got a good stereo. PHOTO CAROL BOLSTAD2. Claire Lutz, bug eater. PHOTO JIM STRINGFELLOW 3. Guillermo Jimenez at the Festival de Viento. PHOTO CARLOS ALTAMIRANO 4. According to Dimitri, the new Epic boards are so light you have to be careful they don’t float away. PHOTO CRAIG YOUNG 5. Fun with lights on the LF Europe Tour. PHOTO LUKAS PRUDKY 6. The Best Smart Car fits right in with the other beach cruisers. PHOTO CAROL BOLSTAD 7. Alec Dektor on the beach in Malibu. PHOTO PAUL LANG 8. IVKC Riders’ Meeting. PHOTO PAUL LANG 9. Gregg Gnecco and lucky Pismo raffle winner Michelle Koff. PHOTO PAUL LANG 10. We’re not sure whether Tom Bridge is flying his kite or if the kite is flying him. PHOTO FLORIAN PANTHER 11. Zach Goepel collects his litter. PHOTO PAUL LANG 12. Liquid Force Europe Tour plus houseboat equals this. PHOTO LUKAS PRUDKY 13. After session debrief on the California coast. PHOTO PAUL LANG 14. Florida boy Jeremy Lund getting used to the cold water in California. PHOTO PAUL LANG 15. Give college kids a buoy and they’ll find a way to surf it. PHOTO PAUL LANG 16. Even a recent ankle surgery hasn’t lessened Dimitri Maramenides’s passion for jumping over things. PHOTO CRAIG YOUNG 17. Mark Miedama and Teddy Lyons caught in the air at the same time at the REAL Triple S. PHOTO JIM STRINGFELLOW 18. Tony Bolstad at the helm of the Best RV. PHOTO CAROL BOLSTAD 19. Nils Wesch clears the dock in Germany. PHOTO LUKAS PRUDKY 20. Team Slingshot at the 2012 Kitesurfari Belmont Demo. PHOTO PAUL LANG

If you have a photo you would like to see in The Kiteboarder Magazine, send it to editor@thekiteboarder.com.

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Photo Matteo Neri/RRD

THE Mestiere Artigiano OF KITESURFINGMany kiteboarders in North America are aware of RRD, but few know much about Roberto Ricci, the man behind the brand. An energetic and passionate Italian from Tuscany, Roberto started hand-shaping windsurf boards in the mid 1980s. The company literally rose from the ashes after he almost burned down his parents’ house when his shaping room caught fire. Since then he’s grown RRD, which stands for Roberto Ricci Designs, into an international company offering extensive lines of kiteboarding, windsurfing, surfing, and SUP equipment alongside a clothing label.

THE ROBERTO RICCI INTERVIEWBy Paul Lang

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former professional windsurfer, Roberto was exposed to kiteboarding at its earliest stages in Europe through his

good friend and kiteboarding pioneer Manu Bertin. He ended up shaping some of the very first kite-specific boards ever created. We were able to talk to Roberto about his early involvement in kiteboarding and his passion for combining Italian artistry and craftsmanship with Hawaiian-inspired performance in each of his products.

HOW DID RRD GET STARTED?I started windsurfing in 1981. Like most guys at that age I saw windsurfing as the new classic Californian summer sport and I just fell in love with it. I started to race two or three years later and by 1985-86 I was racing all over Europe. In ‘86, I met someone who ended up becoming my first employer. He wanted me to start shaping boards for a windsurfing company in Italy. I didn’t know anything about shaping. I was just a windsurfer spending as much time as possible in the water.

I had zero shaping experience and was starting from scratch. This opportunity opened up a whole new world for me. I just started shaping boards. At the time everything was done by hand shaping Clark Foam blanks with a planer. Lake Garda was the center of windsurfing in Europe and I was able to learn a lot from the shapers there. It was endless research and development. I was hand shaping 400-500 boards a year. In 1988 I went to Maui and came in contact with the master shapers like Jimmy Lewis, Ed Angulo, and Craig Maisonville. These were the guru shapers and I learned a lot of tricks in their shaping and sanding rooms.

I decided to open up my own shaping room in the old Pauwela Cannery in Haiku in 1989. I’ve always believed that if you ride what you shape then you’ll know the real story by yourself, better than any team rider can tell you. I started racing on the Windsurfing World Cup, which was a really big circuit at the time. Total prize money was something like $3.5 million – this was the golden age of windsurfing. I got together a few sponsors for sails, fins, and little things here and there and I was actually able to make a living. These were really my university years. I gave up university in Italy and went windsurfing all over the world.

The whole principal of RRD has always been to unify the homemade Italian artisanal thinking about craftsmanship with the Hawaiian roots of shaping to create not only beautiful objects but objects that also perform. In Italy everything you create you do with the heritage of your family, friends, and everything you learn. We call it Mestiere Artigiano, basically meaning crafts or trades that people do in the little shops here. I found this philosophy to be very complimentary to the Hawaiian philosophy of shaping.

Around here in Tuscany people work to create masterpieces that you can look at and contemplate. Performance is something that is pretty distant in the Italian heritage unless you build cars. What I tried to do was combine Italian ideas with the functionality and performance I learned from people on Maui, where my boards were put to the real test. I wanted to show that this little Italian guy who came to Hawaii could make beautiful products that also worked. It was a great challenge and very rewarding. Still today, the main philosophy of RRD is what we call Perf-Romance, which perfectly sums up what the company is — a combination of performance and romance.

AT WHAT POINT DID YOU DECIDE TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP AND GROW RRD BEYOND BEING A ONE-MAN COMPANY PRODUCING HAND-CRAFTED BOARDS?In 1993 I was back in Italy shaping boards for some riders who were going to Barbados for a race. One night, I left

five or six of these boards in the oven. At that time I was shaping sandwich boards with composite fibers and epoxy resin and these boards had to be post cured in an oven. They had to be completely cured before you could paint them. This was a homemade oven with a stove inside and the whole thing just burned down overnight. My factory was gone and it almost burned down my parents’ home that it was attached to.

At that moment I had a revelation. I said to myself, “Look, what are you doing? You’re a beach bum traveling all over the world. You’re having a fun life, but it’s time to wake up and make the move.” The next morning I was another man. I decided I needed to run my brand seriously and properly. I went to a lot of the top windsurfing racers and offered sponsorships to ride my boards. I wrote a contract with Swedish windsurfer Anders Bringdal worth $150,000 and at that moment I didn’t even have a penny in my bank account. I just knew that I had to do it that way. With the encouragement of my father and my friends I took a risk and took out a mortgage on my family’s home.

WHEN WERE YOU FIRST EXPOSED TO KITESURFING?I worked with Anders Bringdal for a few years and was lucky enough to meet his windsurfing coach, a Frenchman named Manu Bertin. We became really good friends and together with Paolo Rista, who was a team rider for me at the time, we were always brainstorming new board shapes and things like that. One night in 1995 Manu called me and said, “Roberto, man, we have a new sport. I bumped into my friend Bruno Legaignoux who is making these kites.” I had no idea what a kite was other than the ones you fly as a kid. He said, “I just have to show you. I think we have to make some special boards and I’m pretty sure we can move forward with your knowledge.”

I went to pick him up at the train station and he came out with just a snowboard bag. I said, “Well, where’s all your gear?” He said, “Everything is in this bag. That’s what is so new about it.” We went to the beach and he showed me the kite. I was just blown away. He was using a board that looked kind of like a water ski and he couldn’t go upwind. We spent a few weeks making boards and the first two were really awkward and looked more like little catamarans than a board. This was so early on that I’m sure I was one

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Photo Erik Aeder

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Samanthe Batt shows off one of the early RRD kiteboards. Photo Erik Aeder

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Roberto during the recent RRD Importer Meeting. Photo Dave White/RRD

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of the first people in Europe to witness the birth of this amazing sport. Manu was always getting into funny and weird situations with his kite. One time he went out and realized he couldn’t get back because the wind was completely offshore. This was during the winter and he almost fainted while walking back because he was so cold.

WHAT WAS YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS KITEBOARDING WHEN YOU FIRST SAW MANU? DID THIS LOOK LIKE A NEW SPORT OR JUST A STRANGE NEW TRICK OR STUNT FOR HIM TO DO?I really believed it was a new sport right from the beginning. There was challenge, speed, flying, so many things you couldn’t do with other sports. The little amount of space it took up was revolutionary. I had been traveling all over the world with 11 bags of windsurfing gear. That aspect alone was enough for me to say, “We have to go for it.” My first exposure to the sport was a real eye opener, but I couldn’t really fully commit because realistically I had to develop RRD as a windsurfing brand first.

I was just at the beginning of building the brand and I couldn’t just suddenly jump to something completely unknown.

I still had to pay off a loan and I had to pay my employees, so kiteboarding wasn’t a priority, but I knew this would become something big. Knowing Manu and seeing this huge potential in front of my eyes I said, “I want to give you a hand. Why don’t you go to Hawaii and develop it?” He went out there and met Flash Austin and all the other guys who were there at the very beginning. This was really the pioneering time and Manu began mailing me slides and sending me stories by fax. I was convinced this was the start of a new age for watersports.

Things happened slowly at first. My first exposure to kiteboarding was in ‘95, but the first Wipika kites weren’t available until ‘97. That’s when we started to make kiteboards. Flash Austin, who was like a kiteboarding wizard then, didn’t have a board sponsor. He was sponsored by Naish, but they didn’t have boards yet, so I made boards for him for a few years. Thanks to the experience we gained through Flash, we were able to go to the next level and began making kites at the end of ‘99. We were the third company to license the inflatable kite patent from Bruno.

WHAT’S THE DESIGN PROCESS LIKE AT THE BEGINNING OF A SPORT WHEN YOU HAVE NO PRIOR EXPERIENCE? WHERE DO YOU START?It was a nightmare. We didn’t have any software we could use to design a three-dimensional kite that would tell us how the panels should be cut. Our first kite designer was Thomas Persson from Simmer Sails and with him we went through the real learning curve of trying to make a kite by hand. Believe me, it was a real challenge. To make something that becomes 3D shape when you inflate it is not an easy task. It took us a year before we felt like we got anywhere. Our first prototype wouldn’t even fly up to the top of the window. It only went halfway. It was more of a trial and error process instead of a real design process. Now we can send a file to China and the kite shows up here three days later for us to test, but it took us a good decade to become as efficient as we are today. The first two or three years were really tough, but there were so few kites on the market that we would sell whatever we could produce. We couldn’t make enough.

WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO THE GROWTH OF WINDSURFING AT THE TIME? Windsurfing was at a different mature age. It was going strong, but windsurfing had been dropping since the early 90s in terms of the number of total pieces of gear sold. Because we made performance windsurfing products for the core group

THANKS TO THE EXPERIENCE WE GAINED THROUGH FLASH, WE WERE ABLE TO GO TO THE NEXT LEVEL AND BEGAN MAKING KITES AT THE END OF ‘99. WE WERE THE THIRD COMPANY TO LICENSE THE INFLATABLE KITE PATENT FROM BRUNO.

Roberto with the very first RRD kite. Photo Andrea De Maria

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of windsurfers, we’ve always been able to grow. To be honest with you, the windsurfing side of the company is still growing today. We’ve grown every year, but both in windsurfing and kiteboarding we’ve never grown as fast as some of the other companies. That’s something I really like. Sudden growth is never really healthy and I feel we’ve made a lot of good decisions to get to where we are now.

Windsurfing diminished because no matter what, it’s a complicated sport. It’s very physical, it’s hard to travel with, and you need a lot of wind to have fun. Those are limits on windsurfing, but it’s also what people like. Some people love windsurfing exactly because it’s tough and physical. That’s why the core windsurfers are so attached to it. There’s nothing like it.

You have to realize that companies are made of people, not marketing and

websites. Behind every product there are brains and hands, blood and tears, hopes and frustrations; it’s so human. Creating a team that can face the challenges of the market takes years. We’re really happy to be where we are with a strong, unified team. The market itself is so hard and the economic picture that we have in front of us is so complicated, but we feel fortunate and able to face new challenges.

RRD MANUFACTURES EQUIPMENT FOR KITEBOARDING, WINDSURFING, SURFING, AND SUP. HOW DO YOU BALANCE YOUR TIME BETWEEN THE SPORTS? HOW DO YOU STAY INVOLVED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF SO MANY PRODUCTS?First of all I have people in charge of each part of the company who overlook the development of products for each sport. I tend to oversee and participate in the whole R&D process. That’s the most fun

for me — testing, developing products with the designers, comparing with previous products, finding ways to improve products, that’s what I’m passionate about. My life is about testing. I don’t have fun just going out to ride unless the conditions are epic. I’ll go out in any conditions. I don’t care what the conditions are or what I ride. I just go test. I love to be in the water and will use whatever gear lets me get out there. I probably spend about a third of my time in the water and the rest is spent doing business and spending time with my family.

My approach is to no longer make new products every year. I don’t want to start all over again every year just to make something newer, better, faster, and lighter. I don’t believe in it. That’s what killed windsurfing and it’s something that hurts a lot of companies. You cannot send untested products into the market. We did it in the past and learned from

Roberto’s true passion is testing and improving gear. Photo Luke McGillewie/RRD

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our mistakes. My philosophy, in every area, is to develop products at the proper time. We only update products in a line once we feel we have a better one.

We have a big line, but now we don’t change 40 kiteboards every year. We change eight, nine, ten, whatever it takes to make them better. Our Vision kite is a perfect example of this. It’s been on the market already for 18 months. It does what it’s supposed to do and it still sells very well. It will stay on the market until we have a better product to replace it.

FEW PEOPLE OUTSIDE ITALY KNOW THAT RRD ALSO HAS AN APPAREL LINE. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?I started selling apparel when I first started RRD. My mom had a little shirt factory in the downstairs part of our house. I learned how to use a sewing machine and cut and assemble fabric when I was a kid. For me it was automatic to offer a clothing line along with my boards. I made t-shirts, shorts, and hats because I thought everybody who bought a RRD board might want to buy a shirt too. That’s how it got started.

With two partners, I created a separate company in 1995 for the apparel line. We thought we had such a strong image with RRD that we decided to make clothing with that image, but designed and built with the characteristics of Italian fashion. Not just another surf brand let’s say. We wanted to use special fabrics, build the clothes in Italy, and design them to fit the way Italians like. We got to the point where our clothing was considered luxury beach wear and we started to be sold in high-fashion boutiques all around Italy.

We’ve always been concerned with making the apparel successful in Italy because we think if we can be successful here we can be successful anywhere. Italy is one of the largest but also one of the toughest markets for fashion. Today we have about 800 retailers in Italy and now we feel ready to take on the challenge of exporting the clothing line to other countries.

RRD HAS TO BE THE ONLY ACTION SPORTS COMPANY WITH A YACHTING DEPARTMENT. WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND THAT PART OF THE COMPANY?The yachting part of the company is something we started up in 2006 basically because I wanted to build a boat for myself and my family so we could go out to the islands here. I designed a 50’ boat that could hold all the kiteboarding, windsurfing, and SUP gear I wanted to take. We worked in cooperation with a shipyard here in

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Kiteboarding pioneers Max “Wasssup” BO, Robby Seeger, Roberto Ricci, and Teiva Joyeux show off their early RRD boards. Photo Bernard Biancotto

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Italy where I ended up designing the interiors of two or three other yachts for watersports enthusiasts.

The yachting market is so tough right now. It’s really gone down a lot with the economy. Now we are working on designing a special hull that creates the perfect wake. It will be a 25’ boat that can create a perfect wave behind it. We’re in the stage of building models and testing them in the pool and river. We’ll actually start building the boat this summer, so I’ll be able to let you know if the wake works as perfectly as we think it will by the end of summer. It’s very exciting and we’re looking at equipping it with an electric motor, batteries, and solar panels. The plan is that you’ll be able to run the boat and surf behind it for 55 minutes between charges.

WITH YOUR WINDSURFING RACING BACKGROUND WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT KITE RACING? WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT KITEBOARDING IN THE OLYMPICS?It’s just phenomenal. Every time I jump on that board it’s incredible. So efficient, so much speed, so much angle upwind, so much power. I really hope that the governing body (IKA) has common sense and does good things for the sport. They

need to feel they have a responsibility for the development of kiteboarding. I think racing is a big part of the development of light wind riding. No condition can be as boring as four knots of wind, but racing gear can make that fun and challenging.

Honestly, I don’t even care about kiteboarding in the Olympics. My experience with windsurfing was that the Olympics didn’t change the sport of windsurfing at all. It can be good or bad, but I’m pretty neutral on it.

RRD IS A VERY INTERNATIONAL COMPANY. DO YOU NOTICE A LARGE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MARKETS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES?Yes and no. There are similarities between many countries. It depends on the type of conditions and the economical growth in each country. People tend to be more sporty when they have more money. That’s a very

simple equation. People also seem to be realizing that real luxury is not in owning a better car or a bigger house, but in having time for yourself. Wherever you start to have that kind of awareness, you have a solid market.

I feel very confident in the market because I see more and more people are buying a new kite, or a surfboard, or a stand up paddleboard, or a wetsuit instead of a new iPad. That’s just great. I really think that’s an accomplishment because people are really considering luxury in a different manner. It’s not buying a pair of new shoes that makes people happy, it’s spending more time outdoors. It’s happening all over the world. We just got a request to sell products in India. Wherever you have a water surface and some economic growth, people become more aware of their environment and they want to be on the water. THAT’S THE FUTURE.

Photo Dave White/RRD

I FEEL VERY CONFIDENT IN THE MARKET BECAUSE I SEE MORE AND MORE PEOPLE ARE BUYING A NEW KITE, OR A SURFBOARD, OR A STAND UP PADDLEBOARD, OR A WETSUIT INSTEAD OF A NEW IPAD.

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www.robertoriccidesigns.comDistribution · Deep Blue Sports · info@deepbluesports.us · +1 415.259.4070

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Alec Dektor

Like many teenagers, Alec was first introduced to windsports through his father, an avid windsurfer turned kiter. Although from Southern California, Alec’s father loves the Central Coast, which is where Alec learned to ride. Currently a junior in high school, he tries to rush off to the beach after school every windy day and fits his homework in at night when he gets home. Alec said that sometimes he doesn’t get as much sleep as he’d like, but it’s not a bad tradeoff for an awesome kite session. How did you first get started in the sport?I got into kiteboarding through my dad. He has been kiteboarding for more than ten

years. He had me on trainer kites about five or six years ago and then four years ago he taught me to fly a full-sized kite. I got in the water pretty soon after that.

Other than cost of entry into the sport, what do you think is keeping more teenagers from getting into kiteboarding?I think cost is really the only reason most teens do not kiteboard. If it was not as expensive I know a lot of my friends would definitely take up kiteboarding in a heartbeat.

Do you want to compete professionally? Yes, competing professionally is my ultimate goal. Although free riding with friends is an amazing feeling, the chance to travel the world and compete with some of the top riders seems like an enjoyable experience as well.

What gets you excited about our sport?I get stoked when I see other people trying to learn something new. To see them finally achieve their goal, whether it be water starting, going upwind, or landing a strapless air, puts a smile on my face. It motivates me to land new moves in order to get the same feeling and that’s what riding with other people is all about.

What are you currently working on? I’m currently working on strapless front rolls without a grab. They are tricky because you have to really tweak out the rotation in order to get the board to stay on your feet. I just need a little more practice and hopefully I’ll stick one soon!

What was your biggest revelation when learning to stick strapless aerials? As soon as I got the angle of the board correct, they became very easy. Once you stick your first one, you will get more and more comfortable with the feeling of getting the board into the wind. Soon you will be boosting higher without straps than you ever could have imagined.

Is there something about you that you do outside of kiteboarding that most people wouldn’t know? I really enjoy music. I play guitar and constantly work in the studio recording and producing music with friends.

Any words of wisdom to share with our readers? Be courteous to surfers and other people on the beach. The beach is there for everyone to enjoy. The most important thing is to have fun in the water and get home safely.

AGE: 16 YEARS KITING: 4FAVORITE SPOTS: Central California Coast SPONSORS: F-One, Underwave, Bay Area Kitesurf

GEARBOARDS: F-One 6’0” Signature KITES: F-One Bandit 5s HARNESS: Underwave Imperial Waist Harness

TIPS: •Ifyouarehavingtroublewithatrickandaregettingfrustratedwithit,trysomethingelseandcomebacktoitlater.Sometimesitwillcomeeasierwhenyoutryitagainafteryouhavetakenabreakforawhile.

•Whenlearningsomethingnew,trytovisualizeitandthencommittoitwhenyouareonthewater.Ifyoudon’tgoforitonthewater,youaregoingtowishyoudidwhenthewinddies.

•Trytohelpotherriderswhomaybeintroubleorwhoareunsafe.Thiswayeverybodycanenjoythedayandnoonewillgethurt.

Photo Paul Lang

4545

OZONE - AIRUSH - BEST - WAINMAN HAWAII - RRD - CRAZYFLY - AXON - HQ - LITEWAVE - SLINGSHOT - F-ONE PRICESUNBEATABLESELECTIONUNREALSERVICEUNMATCHED

866-790-7873OCEANEXTREMESPORTS.COM

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PRO

FILE

D

Colleen Carroll

After graduating with a degree in Environmental Studies and Economics, Colleen thought she might get a job saving the environment or doing something equally important. Instead, she got certified to teach kiteboarding and started teaching for her local shop in Bellingham, Washington. Since then she has called Hood River, Brazil, Mexico, South Padre Island, and Cape Hatteras home. Much of Coleen’s progression came when she went to Brazil for a season. Everyday she would wake up, ride for a few hours, stretch, eat, and repeat until she couldn’t kite any longer. She said that riding with riders like Elliot Drury, Craig Cunningham, Kris Kinn, and Rich Sabo also kept motivation high.

How did you first get started in the sport? I grew up visiting the Colombia River

Gorge as a kid with my parents who were always chasing the wind as windsurfers. In the summer of 2002 while I was still in high school one of my parent’s friends offered to take us out to give kiteboarding a try. It didn’t go so well at first but after a few years of doing it once or twice a summer and with improvements in gear we finally started to get the hang of it.

You were just chosen as a Triple-S wildcard competitor. What do you think your biggest challenge will be at that event? I’m still pretty new to hitting rails. I came to Hatteras in the beginning of May to practice just in case I was chosen as the wildcard. We haven’t had much wind while I’ve been here but we have been able to hit the features behind the Jet Ski.

What are you currently working on? I’ve been working really hard to pass the bar in the air for a few of my tricks. This also means riding with more power and trying to go bigger so that I have time for the pass before landing which can be intimidating.

What tips can you give to riders that want to try rails but are a bit intimidated?Find a rail that you can ride onto and is wide

so it will be fairly easy to balance on. Wear a helmet and remember that speed is actually your friend. If you try to approach the slider slowly it will be more difficult to balance and if you fall, you will likely fall on it instead of off it and into the water. Anytime I hit a slider for the first time I try to find someone that I know has hit it before and I follow their path leading up to the feature.

Is there something about you outside of kiteboarding that most people wouldn’t know? I love to bake cookies.

Where is your favorite place to kite? If I had to choose just one, it would be the Gorge. I feel at home when I kite there and I always have the most fun when I get to kite with friends as well as my family. The Gorge also offers the greatest variety of conditions of anywhere I’ve kited.

What is your most memorable kiteboarding experience? The one that’s been stuck in my mind lately just happened the other night and was a solo session in the slick here in Hatteras with my good friend Lulu Vroman. The wind was super smooth and the water couldn’t have been flatter. We were both working on new tricks and getting stoked for each other.

AGE: 24 YEARS KITING: 6FAVORITE SPOTS:HoodRiver,NortheasternCoastof Brazil, Cape Hatteras Sponsors: Liquid Force

GEARBOARDS: LiquidForceInfluence133withMelissaBindings, Liquid Force 5’7” KITES: Liquid Force Envy 7, 9, 12m HARNESS: Liquid Force Bliss

TIPS: •Ifyou’renothavingfun,somethingiswrong.Grabadifferentboard,workonadifferenttrick,orgohelpafriendlearnsomethingnew.It’sallaboutthefunfactor.

•Thetipaboveappliestoinstructorstoo.Themostsuccessfullessonshappenwhenbothinstructorandstudentareenjoyingthemselves.

•Ifyou’recuriousaboutboots,givethematry.Youjustmightlikethem!

Photo Carol Bolstad

http://kiteboarding.com/

By Phil Midler I http://xlkiteboarding.com Photos Courtesy the Chicken Bike Crew

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CHICKEN BIKE ADVENTURE

THE

A FEW YEARS AGO MY FRIEND MITCH ANDREWS AND I FOUND OURSELVES IN THE BACK OF A TAXICAB IN THE MOUNTAINS OF COSTA RICA AS LOCALS ZIPPED PAST US ON SMALL SINGLE-CYLINDER MOTORCYCLES WITH DELIVERY BOXES ON THE BACK. They all seemed to be delivering fast food chicken, similar to pizza delivery in the USA. Those small bikes looked like fun so we joked about getting our own and riding them around on our next trip. As the day and night progressed this idea evolved into driving fake chicken delivery bikes from Houston, Texas, to the southern tip of South America with our kiteboarding equipment. It was a late night and we soon forgot all about our harebrained scheme.

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CHICKEN BIKE ADVENTURE

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LongafterourtripIgotacallfromMitch.HewasataSuzukidealershipandsaidhefoundourchickenbikes.“Ineedtoknowyou’reinandI’llreservetheselittlebabiesforus.”Withoutanyrealplanwebothsigneduptoleasebikesfor$75amonth.ApparentlychickenboxesareactuallyhardtocomebysoIbuiltoursfrommarinegradeplywoodandepoxyresin.Theboxesweredesignedtobewaterproofandlockable.WenamedourchickencompanyPolloPapaandputourlogoontheboxes.Mitchisanairlinepilot,sowebrokeourtripdownintolegswecouldmanagebetweenworkschedules.Ourplanwastomovethebikesfromonecitytothenext,storethebikes,andflyhomeuntilthenextleg.

Thereisn’talotofroomonachickenbike.Wedidsometestsbeforeweleftandthelargestboardwecouldtakewasabouta135cm.Theboardsweresecuredontopofthechickenboxeswithtwostraps.Ourkites,harness,andpumpfitinfrontofthechickenboxundertheboardanddirectlybehindtherider’sback.Ithoughtforsurewewouldloseaboardonsomeoftheterribleroadsbutwheneverythingwaspackeddownitactuallyrodeprettywell.We’vebeenkitingnewspotsforyearsinTexassoourplanwasifitwaswindywewouldjustrollinandfindaspottoride.Minimalplanningwasthenameofthegameforthistrip.

ThefirsttestforthechickenbikescamewhenwestoppedattheMexicanconsulateonourwayoutoftown.Aswepulledupaguardactuallyopenedtherazorwiregateforusthinkingweweredeliveringfoodtoemployees.Whenweaskedwherewegoforvisashesimplyasked,“Nopollo?”andkickedusout.That’swhenweknewourchickendeliverybikeswouldworkperfectlyforthetrip.

HOUSTON TO GUATEMALA CITY BeforereachingSouthPadreIslandMitchmanagedtolosehischickenboxlidalongwith$45worthofbeefjerky.He’sconvinceditwasduetoamanufacturerdefectbutIbelieveitwasusererror.Eventhoughthewindwaslight,westillmanagedtodoafewdownwindersinthesurf,duringwhichweusedthebikestoshuttlebackupwind.Wealsofoundthatpeopletendtogivestrangelookswhentheyseetwogrownmenonasmallchickendeliverymotorcycle.

AftercraftingareplacementlidforMitch’sbike,wemadeanunsuccessfulattemptatcrossingintoMexico.AssoonaswestoppedontheMexicanside

oftheborder,apigeoncrappedonme.Itshouldhavebeenasign,right?Atthecustomsofficethechickenbikesweredeniedentryintothecountryaswedidn’thavetheproperdocumentationtotemporarilyimportthemintoMexico.Weactuallytriedtofakesomedocuments,butthatwasareallybadidea!IseriouslythoughtweweregoingtoaMexicanjailbutthecustomsofficialandpoliceofficersjustpokedalittlefunatthecrazygringosandletusgo.WeheadedbacktotheUSAandcheckedflightstoHoustonsowecouldtakecareofourpaperwork.Afewdayslaterwewerebackattheborder,correct(andlegitimate)paperworkinhand.

Literally20minutesaftercrossingtheborderMitchandIfoundourselvespulledoverbyla policia.Iwasdoing60mphina60kphzoneandMitchranastopsigntryingtokeepupwithme.InmydefenseIhadareallyreallybadfeelingaboutthosesidestreetsandwantedtogetoutoftownfast.Aftera

Phil enjoying a session in Houston before setting off on the Chicken Bike Adventure. Photo Capt. Shelly

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few rounds of negotiations we were on our wayagain.Werodeforoverninehoursthatfirstdayandrodeintothenight,whichwasamessonthosecrazyroads.PullingintoTampicoweeasilyfoundasafe,cheaphotel.AfterabitoftroublegettingintoMexico,Ihavetosaythescenerywasbeautifulafterthefirst100milesorso.

ThenextdaywesleptinalittlebitandsetoffforVeracruz.Thiswasareallylongdayofridingonbackroadsthroughallthesmalltownsandourbuttswerekillingusbytheend.ThenextdayweheadedtotheGuatemalaborder.Thecrossingtookhoursandwasahugehassle.Thebordertownwascrowdedandhadmelookingovermyshoulderalot.Assoonaswelefttownthough,thedrivetoGuatemalaCitywasamazing!Weweresurroundedbymountains,streams,andjunglesthewholeway.

InGuatemalaCitywefoundahotelforthenightandbeganoursearchforaplacetokeepthebikesforthenexttwomonths.Noneoftheoptionssoundedgood.ThenextmorningtheoptionsthathadsoundedOKafterafewbeerssoundedterrible.Wedecidedtoleavethebikesattheairportparkinglot,thecheapestplacewecouldfind.Ourlanguagebarrierwiththeparkingattendantmadeitreallydifficulttoexplainourplanofleavingthebikesforalongtime.Weendedupjustgivingtheguyahigh-fiveandlefttomakeourflight.Immediatelywehadabadfeelingaboutleavingthebikesinanopen-airlotinabadpartoftown.

GUATEMALA RESCUE MISSIONTwoweekslaterIfoundmyselfgettingbackonaplanetoGuatemalatomovethebikestoamoresecurelocation.MyheartjumpedoutofmychestwhenIcouldn’tfindthebikeswhereIthoughtwehadleftthem.ThenIrememberedwehadtomovethemtotheadjacentlotatthelastminute.StillfeelingnervousIwalkedtotheotherlotandtheretheywere!Ijumpedaroundandyelledabitwhichattractedasmallcrowdofguardswhocalled me “poco loco.”

ItalkedtothelotsupervisorRichardo(aGermanlivinginGuatemala)andhetoldmetosteerclearofcopsbecauseitwasillegaltodriveamotorbikewithoutahelmetinGuatemala.Great!Ihadn’teventhoughttobringahelmetwithme!Afterabout20-30minutesofbattlingmywaythroughonewaystreetsImadeittothehotelwhereIhadworkedoutadealtostorethebikes.OrsoIthought.IcheckedintothehotelandonlywhenIshowedupwiththesecondbikewasIinformedthatthegeneralmanagerwouldonlystorethebikesfor$10adayperbike–crazymoneyforsixweeksofstorage!IheadedbacktotheairportparkinglottoseeifRichardocouldhelpuslocateanotherplacetostorethem.

Fritz the Cat

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Richardoagreedtoletuskeepourbikesinashednearhisofficeforjust$14/monthperbike–mostexcellent!WiththestorageproblemsolvedIwentoutfordinnerwhereImetagroupofGuatemalanswhoaskedmeifIwantedtogowiththemtoaGuatemalanfuneral.AssoonasIagreedwewereoffintheir1980s-eragoldminivanappropriatelycalledtheMysteryMachine.Thislittlebaby’sdashwaslituplikeaChristmastreewithanyandallwarninglightseitherlitorblinking.Mynewfriendstaughtmetowhistlebysuckingthroughmylowerteeth,whichishowallGuatemalanswhistle.TheyalsodidtheirbesttoteachmetorollmyRswithoutsuccess.TheykeptrollingtheirRsatmethinkingthatwouldhelpmelearn.Itdidn’tandIstillcan’tdoit.SinceIhadtobeattheairportat5amwecalleditan“early”nightaround1amandtheydroppedmebackatthehotel.AfewshorthourslaterIwasupsoIcouldmoveandsecurethesecondbikeintheshed.Ilockedbothbikestogetherandtooneoftheshed’sgirders.Just20hoursafterlandingIwasbackonaplanehome!

GUATEMALA TO HONDURAS BackinGuatemalaCitywefoundthebikesingoodshapealbeitverydirty.Weloadedupandhittheroadtofindsomechainoilandmaintenancesuppliestodosomeworkonthebikes.Wefoundwhatweneededandmadeourwayoutoftownonthehighwaymuchlaterinthedaythanwehadhoped.Afterafewhourstheroadturnedintoagravelmountainroad,whichisnormalinCentralAmerica.Longaftersunsetabracketthatkeepsthespeedometercableoutofthefronttirecamelooseandhookedononeofmyfrontspokes,throwingmeoffthebikeintothedarkjungle.

Luckilywewereonlygoing20-30mphwhenithappened.MitchwasinfrontandkeptgoinguntilherealizedthatIwasn’tfollowing.Icrawledoutofthe

Gas? Check. Passports? Check. Money? Check. Mustaches? Check.

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Mitch doesn’t look too thrilled after a long rainy night with no camping gear.

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jungleandgotmybikeoutoftheroadtofigureoutifitwassomethingIcouldfix.Irippedoffthespeedometercableandalltheattachmentstoeliminateanypossiblefutureproblems.Weweresoonmovingagainbutwebothfeltveryunsafeonthatroadatnight.WhensomeoneinavillagegaveusanestimateoffourhourstothenexttownwedecidedtoturnaroundandheadbacktoGuatemalaCity.

Thenextdayweleftearlyandmadegreattimetothebordercrossing.After2.5hoursofhorriblepaperworkandendlesscopiesofeverypieceofpaperwehadonuswewereinHonduraswheretheroadsweregreat,thepeopleweresupernice,andthescenerywasfantastic.ThelittlethrowfromthebikereallygotmeintomaintenancemodewhenIstartedthinkingaboutwhatcouldhavehappenedifIhadbeentravelingalotfaster.Westoppedinadirtalleyandgavethebikesamuchneededoilchangealongwithsomeothergeneralmaintenance.

ItwastimetoflyhomeagainsowedrovetoTegucigalpa,homeofthesecondmostdangerousairportintheworld.Mitchusedtoflyhereonaregularbasissoheknewexactlywheretogotowatchtheplanescomingintoland.Wemanagedtogetontopofthehilljustinfrontoftheapproachoftherunway.Thefirstfewplanesflewbyreallyclose,butthethirdplane(aCopaAirlines737)camebysocloseIhitthedeck.Thepilotwasverylowontheapproachandhadtoaddpowertomakeitoverthesmallhillwewerestandingon.Asthepilotaddedpoweritwasloudandlookedtobeheadingrightforus!NeedlesstosayMitchteasedmeendlesslytherestofthetripforwussingoutwhentheairplanewentby.

Fromtherewewenttotheairporttofindaplacetostoreourbikes.LuckilyatthefirstplacewewentwemetaverynicewomannamedVanessawhohelped

usbrokeradealtostorethebikesinabuildingonsite.Withthebikessecuredweheadedhome.Atthispointwewerereallystartingtoappreciatethedistanceinvolvedwithouradventure.

NICARAGUA AND COSTA RICAReturningtoHonduraswecruisedthroughcustoms,gotthebikesoutofstorage,strappedonourkiteboardinggear,andwerereadytohittheopenroadagain.Oneofthecoolestthingsabouttravelingonamotorcyclewithkiteboardingequipmentisallthequestionsyougetfrompeopleontheroad.WeendeduppointingalottotheXLKITESstickersonourbikesthathadakiteboarderonthem.Afewtimeswebroughtoutthekitesandpumpedthemuptoshowthelocalshowitallworked.Someofthevillageswerodethroughdidn’tevenhaverunningwatersoIthinkkiteboardingseemedprettyoutthereforsure.

BytheendofthedaywefoundourselvesinCholuteca,Nicaragua,averysmalltownthathappenedtobehavingatwo-week-longcarnival.Theguyatourhotelsaidwewouldnotbesafeatthecarnivalbutitlookedveryfriendlyandfulloffamiliessowedecidedtogiveitago.Weimmediatelyheadedtotheshowcaserideofthecarnival–theZipper.NowtheZipperisgenerallyacceptedasthescariestcarnivalrideinexistence.

Ushuaia, the end of South America.

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TheonlythingscarierthanridingtheZipperisridingtheZipperataNicaraguancarnival.ApparentlyMitchandIweretooheavyforoneseatsowegotsplitupbetweentwocars.

InoticedfluidleakinginthroughtheholesinmycabinandonceIcaughtthesmellIknewitwasgearboxoil.Ilookeduptoseethatoneofthegearboxeshadblownamainsealandwasleakingallovertheplace.Didtheystoptheride?NotinNicaragua!Wewentloopingandspinningforthenextfourminuteswhiletryingtododgethespurtsofgearoilbeingslungaroundthebrokendrivetrain.

OurroutefromheretookustothecityofSanJorgewherewehadtocatchaferrytoOmetepeIslandwherewewerehopingtodosomekiteboarding.Afteralongdayofridingthroughrainyconditions,wewerebothwetanduncomfortable,butwewereexcitedthatwemightgettoridethenextday.TheferryridewasaboutanhourlongthroughthedarknessonLakeNicaragua.Theroadsontheislandstartedoutpavedbutweendeduponsomeoftheworstwet,muddy,andfloodeddirtroadswe’dseensofar.WegottotallylostandendedupmeetingtwoFrenchdudeswhothoughtitwashilariousthatwewerelost.AftermakingfunofusforabittheygaveusdirectionstoSantaCruz,whichwealmostmissedasecondtimeasthetownismadeupofaboutfoursmallbuildings.Afterafewreallylargebeersweretiredforthenightafter15+hoursoftravel.

Thenextmorningweheadeddowntothebeachonlytofindthatduetotheverywetrainyseasontherewasnobeach.Wewereforcedtopumpupina20’x10’spacebetweenahouseandtreesunderpowerlines.Sketchy!Werodeforaboutthreehoursalloverthenorthsideoftheisland.Weevenrodeouttosomesmallislandsaboutfivemilesaway.Ridingontheislandwasamazingasyou’reinabayonahugefreshwaterlakebetweentwomassivevolcanoes.Thelakeisoneoftheonlyplacesintheworldwithfreshwatersharks.Whilewewereridingthelocalsstoppedwhattheyweredoingandlinedtheshoretowatchus.MitchandImaynotbeallthatgoodbutthosepeoplethoughtwewereprettycoolastheywereyellingandcheeringwhenwemadeourjumpsandgrabs.

Afterourridewepackedupandheadedbacktothehotel.WhilegrabbingaquickrumdrinkatthebarwemetaFrenchkiteboardingcouple,soweallwentbacktothelaunchweusedandhelpedthemgetgoingforanotherhoursession.AfterwardwespentthenightdrinkingrumandstumblingthroughthepitchdarkforesttoabarownedbyanIrishOaklandRaidersfan.

ThenextdaywemanagedtocatchthemorningferrybacktothemainlandsowecouldhittheroadtoCostaRica.ThebordercrossingwentrelativelysmoothlythankstoacouplefromCanadawhoarrivedbeforeusandwereabletoexplaintheprocess.TheyweretouringonBMWall-terrainbikesthatmadeourlittlechickenbikeslookliketoys.TheyhadGPS,communicationgear,customstoragecontainers,fullcrashsuitsandboots,integratedhelmetcams,everything.Ithinktheythoughtwewerecrazytobedoingthetriponourbikes.

DrivinginCostaRicaisbeautifulandfast.Wewerecruisingat60-65mphandoutofnowherealargemonkeywalkedintotheroad.ItwassoclosethatIdidn’tevenhavetimetoreact!Well,Iscaredthepissoutofthatmonkeyforsurebecausehegavemeoneglance

The open road.

Loading the chicken bikes for the boat trip to Colombia.

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andgothisbuttbackintothejungle.Icouldn’thelpbutlaughtomyself–Ialmosthitamonkeywithachickenbike.Thingsjustgotreal!

WearrivedinLiberiaandheadedstraightfortheairport.MitchwasabletotalktotheContinentalAirportManagerwhowasawesomeandofferedtoletuskeepourbikesinhisbackyardathishouseforfree.Withthestorageproblemeasilysolvedweflewhomeagain.Theonlyhasslewasgettingmybarandlinesthroughairportsecurity!

PANAMA AND ON TO COLUMBIAThenextlegofourtriptookusthroughPanamaandintoColumbia.Thereisn’tmuchofanythingfromtheborderwithCostaRicatoPanamaCity.Wehadahardtimeevenfindinggas.Wethoughtweweregoingtorunoutforsurebeforewefoundgasataruralhardwarestore.AfterweavingthroughterribletrafficinPanamaCitywehittheroadforColon.ThedriveeastwasbeautifulaswefollowedthePanamaCanalanddrovefastthroughrollinghillscoveredwithbambooandsugarcane.Colonisaporttownandatotaldumpforsure.Ifyou’relookingtogetinafightorjustgetshotthisistheplaceyouwanttogo.Weweretoldbyanarmedguardthatweshouldnotstopinthestreetsorwewouldbeshotandrobbedandhewasdeadserious.

WewereinColontotrytofindtransportationintoColumbiaastherearenoroadsthroughthemountainsbetweenthetwocountries.Thiswasturningouttobeharderthanwethought.WetalkedtoaboatcaptainwhowastakinghisshiptoTurbo,Columbia.Hesaidhecouldtakeourbikesbutnotus.Heseemedverysuspicious,

The guy doing the work doesn’t look too sure of himself.

Costa Rica.

The policia get a chance to laugh

at the gringos.

Even this biker thought the guys were crazy.

Pho

to V

anes

sa B

aum

ann

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sowelookedforotheroptions.Wedidn’ttrustanyoftheshippingvesselsorcaptainswemetorheardof.Welookedintoflyingthebikes,butthatwaswaytooexpensive–theywanted$900cashforeachbike!Afteralotofsearching,wewereabletofindasituationwewerecomfortablewithonthe50’sailboatFritztheCat.Thecaptain(anAustrian)agreedtostrapourbikestothedeckandsailustoColumbiaviatheSanBlasIslands.

Ourtripthroughtheislandswasamazing.Theautopilotontheboathadfailedsowehadtotaketurnsthroughthenightsteeringtheboatandthewindswereawesomewhichmadeforterribleupwindcatamaransailing.Theswellwashugeandpoundedtheboatallnight.ItwasprettyincredibletobeatthehelmofaboatinthemiddleoftheCaribbean.Ourbikeshadbeentiedtothefrontoftheboatandwejustprayedthattheywouldstartagainafternumeroussaltwaterrinses.Wewereabletostopatafewislandsforsomeamazingkiteboarding.Wehadcrystalclearwater,kickingwinds,whitesand,andnotanothersoulwithinhundredsofmiles.Werodebetweenislands,overshallowcoralreefs,andbetweencoconutpalms.Wealsodidsomespearfishing,snorkeling,andalotofdrinking.ThecrewwasfromallovertheworldincludingAustralia,theUK,Austria,Germany,Ireland,andtheUSA.EveryonehadstoriesfromtheirtravelssowekeptourselvesentertainedwithstoriesorbywatchingdolphinsandyellowfintunachaseourbowwakeaswemadeourwaytoColumbia.

COLUMBIA AND ECUADORWearrivedinCartagenaaftersixdaysatseaonFritztheCatandthenstayedatahosteluntilourpaperworkandimportationpaperswerefinalized.WeateeverydayattheBlackCatCaféownedbyourfirstmateandgoodfriendElke,whomakesthebestcrepesinallofColumbia!Sheactuallywassoinspiredbythechickenbikeadventurethatsheboughta125ccSuzukimotorbikeherselfandjoinedusforthefirst50milesoutofCartegena.Duringourtimewaitingintownweheadedtothebeachandfoundasmalllaunchwherekiteboarderswouldrigandthenridedownwindtoanotherbeachontheothersideoftown.Thewindwaslightbuttheridingwasgreatwithsmallswellsandawesomesceneryalongtheridewithlotsofspectatorsandlocalscheckingusoutaswerodeby.Thebestridingwasonsomeislandstothenorthbutwehadnotimetocheckitoutbecauseitwastimeforustogetbackontheroad.

ECUADOR AND PERUThiswasaquickleginvolving1,200milesofdrivingoverthreedays.MostofthewaywasdesertespeciallyinPerubutthroughsouthernEcuadorthereweresomeawesomemountains.Eventhoughthiswasafastburntocoveralotofmileswehadafewinterestingthingshappen.

MitchandIweredrivingalongandanoncomingsemiblewitsinsidefronttiresoitswervedintoourlane.Mitchwasinfrontwhenithappened.IimmediatelysloweddownbutMitchlookedbacktoseeifitwasmethatmadetheloudgunshotnoiseofthetireexploding.Hesawmylookofshockandswerved,missingthetruckbyonlyafewfeet.Istillcan’tbelievehewasabletobankthathardandfasttogetoutofthepathofthetruck.Thetruckwenttearingpastusintoaditchandgotstuckinasanddune.

Acattookapissonmyseatovernightinahostelparkinglot,soIhadtolosemyseatpadasitsmelledterrible.That’sgoingtohurtlater.WehitsomemajorrainalongthewayandMitchhadtuckedhisrainpantsintohisbootssotherainwaterfunneledrightintohisboots,fillingthemup.Onsomerainyjunglegod-forsakengravellyroadImanagedtorattlemychickenboxcoverofftheboxsoIlostitforever.IguessI’llhavetomakeanotheronebeforethenexttrip.Threedaysofnon-stopridinghadusinLima,Peru,wherewestoredthebikesforthenextleg.

PERU TO BOLIVIAOurtemporaryimportationpaperworkforthemotorcycleswasgoodfor90daysinPeru.Thishadn’tbeenaprobleminanycountrysofaraswe’dtraveledthroughthemallwellbeforeourpaperworkexpired.Thistripthoughwewerebothbusywithworkandweren’tabletogettoLimauntilshortlybeforeourtimewasup.OurplanwastoheaddownwithplentyoftimetogetthebikesoutofPeru.However,thistimeofyearthereareveryfewflightstoLimaandneedlesstosaytheywerefullybookedup.

The chicken bikes blended in perfectly with the local delivery bikes.

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Wefinallygotonaflightbutonlyhadthreedaystogetdownthere,drivethebikesoutofPeru,andgetbackhome.ThemainproblemwasthatLimaisinthecenterofPeruandnotreallyclosetoanyothercountrythatwecouldeasilytraveltotorenewourpaperwork.OurbestbetwastotakeourbikesovertheAndesandintoBolivia,over1,100milesoftravelintwodaysoverroadsashighas16,000feeton250ccchickendeliverybikes.Thenwe’dtrytohopflightsfromLaPaz,Bolivia,toBuenosAires,Argentina,andthenaContinentalflightbacktoHouston.Atbestthewholeplansoundedfar-fetched,butwhatthehell?

ThetripthroughtheAndeswasoneofthemostdifficultandspectacularpartsofthejourneywithtemperaturesbelowfreezingandsuperhighaltitudes.Itwasatoughridebutthemountainviewsandpicturesqueroadsidegroupsofllamasandalpacasmadethetripworthwhile.Ridingalongthemountainroadsweoftenfacedwindsofmorethan30mph.Wecouldn’thelpbutthinksomeofthemountainlakeswouldbeperfectforkiteboardingiftheyweren’thalffrozen.OurjourneybroughtustoCuzcowhichistheclosesttowntothefamedMachuPicchuruinswitharunway.Aswegotclosertothetownwesawmoreandmoretouriststravelingtoseeapartofhistory.

TowardstheendoftheridethroughPeruweendedupridingontheshoresofLakeTiticaca,oneofthelargestlakesintheworld.Theshorelineofthelakeissurroundedbyreedsandfishingvillageswhereitwouldbeperfecttolaunchakiteforaquickfreshwatersession.Allalongtheroadlocalswerestringingropesforuseonthefishingboats.ThebordercrossingtogetintoBoliviawasapieceofcake.Itonlytookabout20minutestogetintothecountrywithallofourpaperworkinorder.Theborderwaslocatedinasmallfishingtownsotherewasn’talotgoingonforthecustomsguys.Becauseoftheremotenessofthiscrossingveryfewforeigntravelerspassby,especiallyonmotorcycles.Aftertwodaysofmorethan16hoursridingeachwearrivedinLaPazandtherestofourplanworkedoutjustfine.

LA PAZ TO BUENOS AIRESBoliviaturnedouttobeoneofthetoughestcountrieswetraveledthroughonthistrip.Wehadtodealwithnotbeingabletobuygasoline,localprotests,roadblocksthroughoutthecities,androadconstructionandclosureson70%oftheroadswewereusing.TheBoliviangovernmentsubsidizesgasolinetokeepitcheapforlocalcitizens.Becauseofthispeople

fromneighboringcountrieswerecomingintothecountrytobuythecheapgassotheyoutlaweditssalefrommostgasstationstoanyonewithouta Bolivian driver’s license and Bolivian plate on theirvehicle.

Asyoucanimaginethiswashardtounderstandatfirstandveryinconvenientforthechickenbikecrew.WeonlyendedupgettinggasinLaPazthankstothehelpofanawesomecabdriverwholetussiphonitoutofhiscar.

Wepaidextra(about$5)atourhotelinLaPazforaprivatebathroomonlytofindoutthatwehadnowateratallintheroomorotherwise.Asyoucanimaginewewereprettyhappytogetoutoftownwhenthetimefinallycame.Wedidgetnewtiresonthebikesalongwithsomeothermechanicalupkeepandrepair.Afteralltheworkwasdonewehittheroadhardanddidn’tlookback,gladtojustbeoutoftown.

USHUAIA, THE END OF THE WORLD!OurfinallegtookabouttwoweekstogetfromBuenosAirestoUshuaiaandfigureouthowtogetthebikeshome.Mostoftheareaweweredrivingthroughwasflatdesertandweusedourextrafueltanksthewholetimeasgasstationswereregularlyspaced100milesormoreapart.

TheflightfromHoustontoBuenosAiresisanightflightsowearrivedat5amandmadeittothebikesearly.Wewantedtohittheroadsoafterpacking up our gear, doing some maintenance, havinglunch,andtakingaquickdipinthepool,wewereoff.Wemanagedabout170milesthefirstdaywhichisalotafteranightoflittlesleepandsomuchtraveling.Westayedinthesmalltownof

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Azulwhereitwasveryhotallnight.Ourhotel hadnoventilationwhatsoeversoneitherofussleptverywell.Wewerebothamazedathowhotitwasdownhere.Wehadbroughtatonofwarmclothesbecauseitwassupposedtobeverycoldinthesouth.

OnthenextdaywemadeittothetownofElCondorwherewehopedtodosomekiteboarding.Itmusthavebeenaholidayorsomethingbecausethetwohotelsweretotallyfull.Wehadtwochoicesforaccommodations–eithercampwithnotent,sleepingbags,oranythingordrivebacktothelargetownabout30milesaway.Wewereoverdrivingthechickenbikesforthedayandwereallywantedtogokitesurfinginthemorningsoweoptedtocampwithnoequipment.Thisturnedouttobeabaddecisionwiththestrongwindsandsixhoursofthunderingrainstormsthatfloodedourmakeshifttarpandmotorcycletent.Thekiteboardinginthemorningwasprettygoodandjustaboutmadeupfortheterriblenight.Weweretheonlyonesoutthereandmanagedtobringahugecrowdtowatchusride.

AfteroursessionwepackedupfortheridetothetownofSierraGrande,locatedatthestartofthedesolateplainthatissouthernArgentina.Thenextmorning,about20milesoutoftown,Mitchsufferedamajorreartireblowout.Hehadapieceofmetalandtwowoodenspinesinhistire.Wepulledthemoutandfilledthetirebackupwithgoopandstartedridingagain,butwekepthavingproblemswithit.Webrokeourpumpabout50milesfromthenexttown,soMitchwasforcedtodriveonaflattire.Runningonfumeswemadeittoagasstationthatalsodidtirerepair.TheyfixedMitchupandactuallyremountedmyfronttirewhichhadbeenwobblingsinceBolivia.Backontheroadwithgoodtiresandfulltanksweended

thedayinatowncalledComodoroRivadavia.Ournextdayontheroadwasshortasweranoutofgas–kindof.Weweregoingthroughfulltanksandsometimesusingourextragascansjusttogettothenextgasstation.Ononeoftheselegswegottothegasstationandtheywereout.Wedidn’thaveenoughjuicetogettothenexttownsowewereforcedtostopforthenight.ThelittletownwascalledTresCerrosandconsistsofagasstation,restaurant,andsmallhotelintheback.

ThegasdeliveryshowedupduringthenightsowewereoffbrightandearlytoRioGallegos.Thistownisonatidalriverthathadabsolutelyhugetidesof30-40’.Theyalsohadsomereallyoldtrainenginesfromthecoalminingdaysondisplay.OurnextdaybroughtusintoChileacrosstheStraitofMagellanwherewemadeuseofallourwarmclothesasitwasfreezingandwindyallday.

Ourfinal300milestookusbackintoArgentinaandthroughthemountainstoUshuaia.Itwasfreezing,windy,andrainingthewholeway!Nobodysaidthiswasgoingtobeeasyanditwasn’t.Thelast100mileshadwind,rain,freezingtemperatures,mountains,gravelroads,everything,butwefinallymadeit!ThegoalwesetouttoachievebackinHoustonhadbeenaccomplishedwithanofficialdistanceofjustover12,800milesfromHouston,Texas,toUshuaia,Argentina,overayearandahalftimeperiod.

Once we got into town we started working on trying to find a way to get thechickenbikeshome.Evenafteratriphalfwayaroundtheworldwestilldon’townthesebikes(remember,weleasedthem),sowehadtogetthemback.Flyingthembackwasexpensive,butwemanagedtofindacustomsbrokerwhohadanotherfourmotorcyclesinashippingcontainergoingbacktoMiami.Thebikeswon’tshipforawhileandwe’llhavetodrivethembacktoHoustonfromMiamibutitscloseenough.WiththatsettledIclimbedamountainabovethecitythatwasabout4,000’high,quitehighconsideringtherewasnotrailandIwasincowboybootsandmotogear.

Theflightshomewereallfullforanothertwoorthreedayssowehadachancetohangoutintheworld’ssouthernmostcityforafewdays.Theplaneridehomefeltreallyshort–justfourhourstoBuenosAiresandanother10toHoustontocoverthedistanceourlittlechickenbikeshadtakenus.Thosefunkylittlebikesdidagreatjobandwe’replanningtohaveacelebrationinHoustonforthemwhentheyfinallyreturnfromtheirhalf-worldadventure.

Sunset somewhere in Central America.

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BUSTIN’ OUTNiccolo Porcella has been a professional kiteboarder since the 2-line kite days when he was a little pre-teen grom on Maui. A decade later Niccolo’s personality has become much more mellow, but his riding has only become more explosive over the years. Photo John Bilderback

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Nils Wesch scores extra style points for keeping his kite extra low in Kiel, Germany. Photo Lukas Prudky

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BELOW THE RADARBilly Parker always seems to be able to keep a low profile between competitions, but his riding style always takes center stage when he hits the water. Spotted here during the REAL Triple-S, Billy is both one of the nicest people you could meet and one of the most aggressive riders out there. Photo Jim Stringfellow

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THE NEXT GENERATIONAt only 11 years old, the UK’s Tom Bridge represents a new generation of kiteboarders who have literally grown up around kiteboarding. Photo Florian Panther

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ALWAYS FULL OF GREAT IDEAS ON HOW TO KEEP THINGS INTERESTING, THIS ISSUE LOU WAINMAN MIGHT HAVE JUST THOUGHT OF EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED TO MAKE THE MOST OF UNRIDABLE DAYS ON THE WATER.

You’ve been handed this gift of a new sport the and first thing you notice is that your bank account is $3,000 lighter. Next you realize that your schedule has shifted to mimic the predictions of the WindGuru or iKitesurf websites. The game begins on how to afford the time off to ride as much as possible. Over the next few years your knowledge and skills will grow in all conditions and styles of riding. The need to keep things exciting pushes you to ride in waves, snow, at night, or even in conditions so scary that people might think you’re insane. Finally after about five or ten years of this you’ll find yourself wondering, “What’s next?” or, “How can I improve this?”

Incidentally all along this path you also have to deal with other people. For example at any spot where you choose to lay out your towel and rig your kite stuff, there are for sure the riders around you who need a launch, a light, an FCS key, or who just talk to you for 20 minutes. This can be great but it can also be torture. You never know what you are getting into when you start talking to someone on the beach. Maybe the guy has an electric pump, but he could also be the funniest dude ever or might be somebody you like to listen to. The bottom line is you’ve got to say hi to everybody and in the end we spend about an hour doing this while taking up a lot of space.

In the future things will be much better once all the missing links are discovered. For sure rigging time will decrease and the sport will become even safer, but I think there is something completely new just around the corner. Faster finless boards along with seriously different types of kites for each discipline will emerge along with better harnesses, bars, step-in binding systems, and the incorporation of your smart phone loaded with music attached to some sick waterproof headphones with a microphone.

However, I think there is a huge need for something totally different. It must be a non weather-dependent tool, similar to a standup paddle board but without the hassle of such a large object. It has to be safe, portable, simple, and affordable. Those who cannot afford factory versions of this new piece of gear should be able to build one out of hardware store materials.

The reason we need this new toy is to allow more space for people to breathe and do something fun in a hell of a lot more spots. Kiteboarding is awesome, but we have a need for something that doesn’t require specialized water access, wind, waves, and a valve that doesn’t leak. What we need is a toy anybody on the beach can see, easily pick up, and give a successful try.

What we need is a sleek hydrofoil pogo stick. Until then be safe, be funny, and be happy out there.

Photo Enrique Abreu

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1. CONTOUR

2. DRYCASE

3. FCS

5. KURTIS USA, LLC6. MYSTIC

Scan for the TKB Review

1. CONTOUR CONTOURROAM WATERSPORTS KIT — Contains everything you need to capture action video including the ContourROAM, Surfboard Mount, and the ContourROAM Waterproof Case. $249.99 www.contour.com

2. DRYCASE DRYCASE BACKPACK — Keep your stuff nice and dry on downwinders or island crossings. $79.99 www.drycase.com

3. FCS FCS MISSION PREMIUM — Ergonomically designed, surf-focused weekend or overnight backpack. $90 www.surffcs.com

4. GOPRO WI-FI BACPAC COMBO KIT — Enables full remote control of up to 50 cameras at a time, live preview, playback on smart phones and tablets, and more. $99 www.gopro.com. For the TKB Review, visit www.thekiteboarder.com/2012/06/gopro-wi-fi-bacpac-review or scan the code.

5. KURTIS USA, LLC ALAIA SERIES ECO-BAMBOO SUNGLASSES — Natural, sustainable, eco-friendly handmade bamboo frames with polarized lenses designed for kitesurfers. $159 www.kurtisusa.com

6. MYSTIC STAR KITE IMPACT VEST — Works with waist and seat harnesses and offers impact protection and good floatation. $142.95 www.mysticboarding.com

4. GOPRO

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7. LIQUID FORCE

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Scan for the TKB Review

8. PROMOTION WETSUITS

11. WATERFI

12. WATERFI

7. LIQUID FORCE LUXURY STRAP & PAD — Utilizes a nylon-molded plate designed to provide a ridged connection while allowing the board to retain a natural flex pattern. $159.99 www.liquidforcekites.com

8. PROMOTION WETSUITS MS LS NEOSKIN TOP — Add a bit of warmth when boardshorts are not enough while cutting wind chill and stopping UV rays. $84 www.wetsuit.com

9. ELEMENTAL HERBS SUNSCREEN SPORT 30+ — Coral-reef safe, non-greasy, fast-drying, and made with 100% organic ingredients with natural antioxidants to protect your skin. $15.99 www.elementalherbs.com

10. UNDERWAVE IMPERIAL VACUUM HARNESS — Using an air-tight pouch within the shell, the Imperial harness molds to your back when you pump the air out of it, creating a truly customized fit. $269 www.underwave.info. For the TKB Review, visit www.thekiteboarder.com/2012/06/underwave-imperial-vacuum-harness-review or scan the code.

11. WATERFI WATERPROOF SHUFFLE — Waterproof from the inside out, no cases needed. Works just like a normal iPod shuffle and is compatible with any regular or waterproof headphones. $134.95 www.waterfi.com

12. WATERFI WATERPROOF 16GB NANO — All the same functionality as the Waterfi Shuffle plus a multi-touch screen, 24-hour battery life, FM radio, watch/clock function, and more. $363 www.waterfi.com

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What does the decision to include kiteboarding in the Olympics mean for kiteboarding instruction? Photo Toby Bromwich/PKRA

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Kiteboarding’s recent media attention from the announcement of its inclusion in the 2016 Olympics has increased awareness of and curiosity about the sport among the general public. It has also raised some concerns among kiters.

While some see this as an opportunity to establish a strong economic foundation for the industry, others worry it will ruin the sport with overcrowding. For many it brings new urgency to the debate on instruction. Who’s teaching the newbies? Are they qualified to teach? What makes an instructor qualified? What do we do about poor instructors?

Currently, there are two kiteboarding instructor certification options in North America. We talked to each about the state of kiteboarding instruction.

A New Direction for IKOTheIKOcurrentlyofferstheonlyworldwidekiteboardinginstructioncertificationprogram.Theorganizationachievedrapidgrowthbutalsogainedcriticismthatithadstrayedfromitsoriginalmissiontoservethekiteboardingcommunityandhadbecometoobusinessandmoneyoriented.IKOrespondedwithamajorreorganization.FredericBene,involvedwithKISS,thefirstinstructionalprogramofferedintheUSthroughWipika,isnowincharge.DavidDornrevampedthetrainingdepartmentbyredesigningtheentireprogramwithanewinstructormanual,moreexaminers,videosupport, more online courses, and more safety directivesandtheoryforcontinuededucationofinstructorsandcertifiedriders.Theyalsoreorganizedtheirfeestructuretomakeinitialandongoingcertificationmoreaffordable.Universalliabilityinsuranceforindividuals,schools,andinstructorsisisexpectedtobecompletedthissummer.

Toensurethatpeopleseekingkiteboardinginstructioncanconfidentlyselectahighlyqualifiedinstructor, IKO is implementing a new online rating system.Itwillshoweachinstructor’snumberofhoursandallowforstudentreviewsandratingsoftheinstructor.IKOexpectstohavethissystemavailabletothepublicbytheendofsummer.

SO...WHAT’S NEXT??

By Lydia Snider

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Thetrainingmanualoverhaulwasacollaborativeeffortstartedin2008withagatheringofIKOinstructorsandexaminerstoprovideinputonwhatwasreallyhappeninginthefield.In2011thenewmanualwasreleased.Duringtheintervening time, standards, protocols, and procedures were tested and assessed to determinebestpracticesforkiteboardinginstruction.DavidDornexplains,“Themanualisn’ttheresultofjustoneguywhoknowsalotaboutkiteboarding.Itistheresultoftheexperienceofourinstructorsandexaminersworldwide.”DavidexplainedthatIKO’smissionistoestablishandmaintaineffectivecommunicationbetweentheassociationandIKOinstructorsandexaminers,makingsurenecessarychangesaremadeandthatallIKOrepresentativesareinformedofthestandardsandprotocols.

Sincethereisenoughinformation,asDavidputsit,“tofillaphonebook,”supplementary courses in specialty areas and courses for instructors’ mandatory CEUs(ContinuingEducationPoints)arenowavailableonline,ensuringallinstructorshaveaccesstothemostcurrentinformation.Tobuildbetterrelationshipswiththecommunitiesitserves,localIKOrepresentativeswillbeappointed.Theywillprovideinformationon IKO’s services and resources and will assistIKOinkeepingupwithemergingtrends,needs,andconcernsofthekiteboardingcommunities.

PASA: Communication is KeyChrisMooreofPASAisconfidentthatPASAcertifiedinstructorsarewellprepared to produce well-educated, safe riders.HeexplainedthatPASAcertificationincludesastrongemphasisondevelopingan instructor’s communication skills as well asknowledgeoftheinformation.Beingagreatriderormemorizingtheinstructormanual does not necessarily mean a personwillbecomeagoodinstructor.AccordingtothePASAphilosophy,agoodinstructorisapersonwhonotonlyknowstheinformation,butwhoalsocancommunicateeffectivelywithstudents.

PASArecentlylaunchedawebsitethatfeaturesaninstructorratingsystemwherenewstudentscancheckthequalificationsofPASAcertifiedinstructors.Thesystemshowseachinstructor’slevelofexperienceandstudentreviewsoftheinstructor’senthusiasm,professionalism,patience,safety,andabilitytocommunicate.

Whenaskedifthereshouldbeoneassociation and system for instruction, theresoundinganswerfromallpartieswas“Absolutelynot.”Eachassertedthatcompetitionamongcertification

associationsensuresbetterprograms.A monopoly could lead to complacency orevenabuseofpowerandwouldresultinpoorinstruction.Withmultipleassociations,eachfeelstheneedto continue development of training practices,post-certificationaccountabilityofschoolsandinstructors,andfollowupsupportofinstructors.

How do we weed out bad instructors?IfPASAandIKOcreatedtheperfectcertificationprocesswouldtherestillbegraduateswhoarepoorinstructors?Absolutely.Kiteboardingisnodifferentfromanyothercertificationprocess.Thereareteachers,doctors,andlawyerswhoarepooratexecutiondespitehighqualitytraining.Likewisetherearesomepeoplewhoarepoorkiteboardinginstructorsdespiteexcellenttraining.

BothPASAandIKOnowprovidevaluabletoolsforinstructoraccountabilitywiththeironlinereviewsystemsbutthesetoolsareonlyaseffectiveastheinputfromthecommunity.WhenyoutakekiteboardinglessonsfromanIKOorPASAcertifiedinstructorthebestwaytosupportimprovementofkiteboardinginstructionistotakethetimetoprovidefeedbackforyourinstructor.ItisIKOandPASA’sresponsibilitytoensuretheirinstructorsareproperlyqualifiedtoteach

kiteboarding.Itisthekitingcommunity’sresponsibilitytodirectnewriderstothemostcompetentinstructors.

Gettoknowtheinstructorsinyourarea.Aretheyturningoutresponsible,safekiters?Aretheirlessonsconductedinawaythatissafeforthestudent,otherkiters,andothersusingthearea?Talktotheirstudentsabouttheirexperiencelearningfromthatinstructor.Checkoutyourinstructor’sIKOorPASAprofileandrating.Referpeopletotheinstructoryoufindisthemostcompetent.

TheKiteboarderMagazineissteppinguptheircommitmenttothesafetyofourgrowingcommunitybyrevampingtheironlineschoolandretailerlistings.Theywillnowonlylistschoolsandshopsthathavebusinesslicenses,havegonethroughacertificationtrainingprogram,andcarryinsurance.

Whatifacertifiedinstructorinyourareaismissingthemark?BothIKOandPASAencouragethecommunitytoreportconcerns.Theonlywaytheycansupportan instructor in making improvements isiftheyknowthereisaproblem.Complainingaboutaninstructoronthebeachorontheforumssolvesnothing.Lettheircertificationassociationknowyourspecificconcerns.

Some riders fear more media attention will mean more crowds. Photo Evan Mavridoglou

Photo Suzie Dorn

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Thecertificationassociationsarerespondingtothedemandformoreaccountabilityfortheirinstructorsbuttheyhaveabsolutelynoinfluenceovertheguyonthebeachteachingwithoutcertification,thekiterteachinghisbuddy,orthepersonwhothinks,“I’vesurfedforyears.I’magreatsailor.I’mgenerallyawesome.I’llteachmyselftokite.”Thecommunityisthefirstlineofinterventiontodirecttheseriderstoproperinstruction.

Iampassionatethatnewriderslearnfromcertifiedinstructors.I’venoticedthatkitersteachingtheirbuddiestendtotellthemrandomfacts.Withoutawell-designedinstructionplantheyusuallyforget one, two, or ten safety principles andsoonwehaveamajorhazardoutonthewaterandonthebeach.

I’veadoptedtheHomelandSecuritymottoof“Ifyouseesomething,saysomething.”YesterdayItalkedaguyoutofgivinglessonstohisbuddyandconnectedthestudentwithourlocalschool.Todayhewaslearningwithacertifiedinstructor.Hadhegonetothe“MyBuddy’sSchoolofKiting”hewouldhavebeenonafullsizedkiteinmidtwentiesgustywinds.Peoplewhothinktheycanteachthemselvesoftenapproachmetobuykites.Whattheyendupwithisanintroductiontoourlocalkiteboardinginstructorandaclearunderstandingofthebenefitsoflessonsfromacertifiedprofessional.

Oneoftheconcernsofsomekitersisthatwiththegrowingmediacoverage,overcrowdingisboundtooccur.ChrisMooreofPASAassertsthattheissueisnotthenumberofkiters.Itisthequalityoftheirinstructiononkitingsafetyandetiquette.Recentlytherewere100kitersatoneHatteraslaunch“thesizeofapostagestamp”withoutasingleissue.Chrisattributesthistothelocals’strongsenseofleadershipandownershipofthesafetyoftheirbeachesandtheirdesiretoeducatevisitingkitersofthewell-establishedprocedures.

What does being in the Olympics mean for kiteboarding instruction?Withkiteboarding’sinclusionintheOlympics comes a new dynamic in instruction.AccordingtoDanJasperoftheISAF(thegoverningbodyofsailing),thelikelyresultwillbeunificationatthenational and international levels and elevationofcoachesandinstructorstoaprofessionallevel.

ISAFdoesnotprovidetrainingprograms.Itprovidesresourcesformemberstocreatetheirownsailingtrainingprograms.ManyemergingcountrieschoosetoadopttheISAFsyllabustemplate,ascreatingtheirownwouldbeprohibitivelyexpensive.Othercountrieswithmoreestablishedprograms select items a la carte to round outtheirprograms.ISAFtrainingmaterialsareavailableatwww.sailing.org/training andmaterialsrelatingtokiteboardingareexpectedtobeonlinebysummer’send.

ToearnISAFaccreditation,nationalorganizations must demonstrate alignment withsafetyandtrainingstandards.Whatthishascreatedinothersailingclasses,andwhatitwilllikelycreateforkiteboarding,isanationalstandardsanctionedbyaninternationalstandard.Theresultisstandardizationoftraining.JasperwasveryclearthattheISAFisnotcreatingnoradvocatinga“onesizefitsall”trainingprogram.WhatISAFprovidesisaninternationalstandard.Itisuptoeachnationtodeterminetheirbestmethodforachievingthatstandard.

MarkusSchwendter,HeadoftheIKA(InternationalKiteboardingAssociation)explainsthatevery sailing class participating intheOlympicsneedsanassociationtomanagethingssuchasrunningcompetitionstogiveathletestheopportunityto develop world-class skills and ensuring proper training informationisavailable.TheIKAhassteppeduptofillthisroleforkiteboarding’sOlympicbid.

ProfessionalKiteboarderDamienLeRoyexplainedthattheIKAwillconcentrateondesigningkiteboardinginstructionspecificallyforthesailingworld.Itwillbeprimarilyfocusedoninstruction fromboatsasthelocationsofsailingschoolsoftenhavelimitedtonobeachaccess.Instructionwillbeadaptedforriderswithextensiveexperiencewithsailingotherclassesofboats.TheprogramwillbeprovidedtoUSsailingclubsandorganizations.

DeanBrenneristheChairmanoftheUSOlympicSailingCommittee,whichoverseesthedevelopmentandmanagementoftheOlympicandParalympicSailingprogramintheUS.Heemphasizedtheimportanceofdevelopingan effective pipeline for instruction, coaching,andskilldevelopmentforanysailingclassthatwishestobecompetitiveattheOlympiclevel.Olympicathletesrepresentthetipofthepyramidoftalentedriders.Thebroaderandstrongerthepyramidbasethemorecompetitiveridersofaparticularclasswillbe.

Get InvolvedSomeridersmaybeupsetthatkiteboardinginstructionseemstobedevelopingundertheumbrellaofsailing.Icanhearthechoruscryingout“Wearenotsailors!”Myresponseisthatwehavetostartsomewhere.Kiteboardingisinagrowthspurtstageandwhileinstructionalorganizations are making every effort to put effective systems in place to ensure we maintain our strong safety record,theyareonlyhalfofthesolution.Successandsafetythroughthistransitionrequiresleadershipandcommitmenttobeingpartofthesolutionfromthewholekiteboardingcommunity.

About the Author: Before Lydia discovered kiteboarding she had a very respectable career as a special education teacher. When the stress of that job literally started killing her, her kite lines became her life lines. One of her current goals is to help establish a strong economic foundation in the industry and help shift kiteboarding business owners from survival to thrival. Learn more at www.lydiasnider.com.

Photo Toby Bromwich/PKRA

Photo Toby Bromwich/PKRA

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15 M

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Get your 15 minutes of fame and a chance to win some killer swag by submitting your photos to editor@thekiteboarder.com.

Florida’s Jeremy Lund had to get used to riding in a wetsuit on his first kiteboarding trip to California. Photo Paul Lang

Shaper Gabriel Loyd at Pismo Beach. Photo Aaron Loyd Scott Edwards going big during the 2012 Liquid Militia Team Weekend. Photo Ronny Mac

Dentist Eric Vanek finds some water time after a long day of cleaning teeth. Photo Paul Lang

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Teddy Lyons getting vertical in Ventura, California. Photo Paul Lang

Minutes after this photo was taken, Zach Goepel’s board snapped completely in half. Photo Paul Lang

Fletcher Chouinard is lucky enough to work down the street from this. Photo Paul Lang

Victor Sellinger on the Central California Coast. Photo Aaron Loyd

Tommy Fields spotted near Assateague, Maryland. Photo Ivan Zorn

Ryan “Toast” Toaspern is known for going big on Maui. Photo Tom Briggs

Kristi Pahklimagi cruises the blue Caribbean water in Cabarete. Photo Lauren Bowcutt

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Words by Ken Winner | Photo courtesy North Kiteboarding

This photo shows the 2001 North Rhino in both two-line and four-line mode. It was widely thought at the time that two-line kites were preferable for beginners, owing to the simplicity of two lines vs. four. Obviously, thinking on that subject quickly changed and two-line kites quickly became obsolete for all users.

The kites were able to fly on two lines because of a two-line bridle I designed. Functionally it was similar to the two-line bridles commonly found on other kites, but it worked with the attachment points found on all four-line kites. For a short time some brands offered both two-line and four-line kites. We only offered four-line kites that could be converted to two-line if desired.

For more about the history of North Kiteboarding, be sure to check out the book TRUE: 10 Years of North Kiteboarding. Learn more at http://northkites.com

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