Boards 2004 Trip to Isla de Coche New world speed record ...

Boards 2004Trip to Isla de CocheNew world speed recordInterview with Eric Hertsens

www.surfineurope.netEditor and translation:Jonas Hörnsteininfo@surfineurope.net+46 702 63 22 79Contributors:Christian DittrichKristina KarlssonAnna SparreMathieu TurriesAdvertisement:KitesurfinEurope gives a uniquepossibility to reach Europe’sgrowing numbers of kitesurfers.Contact KitesurfinEurope for moreinformation.Contributions:KitesurfinEurope is happy for allkinds of contributions to themagazine and the webpage. Allpublished contributions arerefunded. Please contactKitesurfinEurope before sendingany material.About the magazine:KitesurfinEurope has 4 issues peryear.Cover photo:Håkan Rebane tries out the newtoy of Apelviken, SwedenPhoto: Mat, Aloha PhotoThe first number of KitesurfinEurope was an immediatesuccess! Already during the first weekend hundreds ofissues were downloaded and since the introduction of theEnglish version thousands of issues have beendownloaded from both the official homepagewww.surfineurope.net and from www.surfzone.se where theSwedish issue can be found. Apparently it wasn’t just methat felt the need for an accessible and free kitesurfingmagazine. I would like to thank all those that have sentencouraging mails and suggestions on future articles andimprovements. As a concrete result of those suggestionswe have, among other things, increased the resolutions ofthe images for this number.The kite season is now well under way which can be toldboth from the fact that the calendar is full of interestingcompetitions and events and that the beaches are gettingfull of activity. KitesurfinEurope will do the best to follow allthese events and at the same time spend as much time aspossible on the water to try out all the new boards and newmanoeuvres that turned up during the winter. In thisnumber we describe the latest news on the board marketand how to get the most out of your jumps in order to pulloff all the new tricks. Apart from that we have loads ofinteresting articles for you to read if the wind isn’t strongenough to get out on the water so print your magazine andget down to the beach.Innehåll:Isla de Coche, Venezuela…………………………… 4Follow Christian Dittrich and Anna Sparre to the warmwater and steady winds outside Venezuelas coast.Boards 2004……………………………………………. 8Are you thinking of getting a new board? Here you get aguide to the different types offered for the 2004 season.Kite school: jumps..…………………………………. 16A good jumping technique is the key to the more advancedmanoeuvres. We show you how to master the differentstyles.More kites…………………………………………….. 18We complete the list of news on the kite market found in thelast issue, with some additional brands.Interview with Eric Hertsens…………………….... 20Mainly known as an excellent board designer Eric Hertsensis successfully taking on kite design.PKRA Austria…………………..…………………….. 22Christian and Anna tell about their experiences from thefirst world cup event of the season.New world record in speed.....…………………….. 26During Mondial du vent a new world record in speed wasmarked. KitesurfinEurope had a man on place.KPWT, Les Sables d’Olonne………..……………… 30The first event of the Kiteboard Pro World Tour was held inFrance with good wind and nice waves.

The hard life at Isla de CocheText and Photo: Anna Sparre & Christian DittrichThe wake up procedure at Coche starts at dawn. The cock starts to crow at half past six, followedby the barking of the dogs, and at seven, when the children turn on the TV, you are definitelyawake. Dogs and children are without a doubt the main population in San Pedro, the largestvillage on Coche. So, irrespective of the hour you went to bed, you are too wide-awake to stay inbed after half past seven. When you look through the window you notice, as usually, that thewind is already there. This is Venezuela, one of the windiest places on earth.The choice of breakfast is easy.Either you are really hungry andgo to Hotel Paradise to eat agiant buffet for about 1,5 Eurosor you buy six small pizzas atthe pizzeria across the marketplace, and you are ready to go.The next task is to find a taxi. Inthe morning this can take awhile since the taxi drivers liketo drink Polar beer until late inthe nights. All the taxi cars onthe island are huge, old, andthirsty Americans. We wonderedhow they could afford to fill themup with petrol until we noticedthat a full tank was less than aEuro. Petrol is actually cheaperthan water in Venezuela!San Pedro has three smallstores, a church, and an”Internet café” with threecomputers sharing a single 28kmodem,and not a singlewashing machine. People arepoor, but very kind. We heardthat we were the first foreigntourists that had ever lived inSan Pedro. People at the streetwhispered and looked curiouslyat us during the first weeks.On the way to the beach youshouldn’t be surprised if you seea horse feeding on the pavement.Or a pig…KitingThe beach is three kilometreslong and extends from SanPedro to la Punta, which is themost popular kite spot on theisland. The sand is as white asa chalk and the water is crystalclear. The wind comes fromeast, which is straight offshore,and normally increases from 12knots in the morning to morethan 25 knots in the afternoon.In the beginning it feels a littleunaccustomed to ride inoffshore wind, but as soon asyou get to know the localfishermen that make up therescue team (which isunavoidable) you feel muchsafer.Even though the beach is long,it can get pretty crowded.Everyone wants to ride closestto the beach where the water isas flat as a parquet floor andwhere the rescue is near. Cocheis perfect for learning new tricks.There is nothing that disturbsyou except a few fishermen andthe birds that follows their boats.When you get tired of riding flatwater, you take a taxi to theother side of the island, whichtakes about 15 minutes, andyou’ll have a nice wave spot allfor yourself. The waves aren’tvery big, but can be clean whenthe swell is big.From Coche it is only a onehour boat trip to the beautifulisland Cubagua. It really lookslike a postcard. You kite in asmall sheltered bay with flat,crystal clear water and crossoffshorewind. Usually theowner of Hotel Coche organizesone-day excursions to the4island. He is also the owner ofone of the five houses on theisland. The house is beautifullyplaced in the bay where youkite, and while you’re having agreat session he prepares a biglunch with fresh, grilled fish,chicken, and lots of otherdelicacies. You leave Coche orEl Yache at around 10 in themorning and get back at around9 in the evening. It is definitelyworth to go there as it costs45000Bs (13 Euros) including allfood.Ven a Kite is the name of thenational kitesurfing cup ofVenezuela. From the 21 st to the24 th of February a competitionwas held at Coche. The eventwas sponsored by the local beerproducer, Polar, so it was ahuge party. The competitionwas divided into threecategories, long distance, hangtime and freestyle. The Swedishvisitants did a good job as couldbe seen in the results.1st Freestyle men: Mike the Knife1st Freestyle women: Anna Sparre1st Hang time men: ChristianDittrich (5.8 s)1st Hang time women: Anna Sparre(she also 5.8 s)1st Long distance: Leo the localThe end of the day doesn’tmean that the wind stops, but asthe sun goes down you’reprobably too tired to keep kitinganyway.

Once again it can take awhile tofind a taxi since the driversseems to hide away just beforesunset. When you finally find ataxi the driver can equally wellsay that you are too sandy toenter the car (which is a goodexcuse for him to go and take abeer instead of working) or hecan decide to bring his beerdrinking friends to at least makethe work a little more fun.The Coche paceWhen you live at Coche youslowly start to adapt yourself tothe pace of the island. You walkslower, get dressed slower,prepare the kite slower, and soon. We called it “the Cochepace”. People here don’t worktoo much, not because therearen’t anything to do, but simplybecause they don’t feel like it.The ones that work are eithertaxi drivers or fishers, while therest of the population take iteasy in their chairs on thepavement and check out whathappens on the street.A day offWhen it doesn’t blow (whichalmost never happens) or whenyou’re too tired to kite, anexcursion to Porlamar can be anice change. Porlamar is thebiggest city at Isla Margarita andis about 20 minutes by taxi fromEl Yaque. Most people start witha visit at Conejero, the marketthat has all the clothes you canimagine, loads of stuff you don’tneed, and some really nice fruitdrinks. The centre of Porlamarhas some nice shops and goodaccess to the Internet. You canalso find some really goodburgers and lots of sweets in thedifferent market stands. A placeyou don’t want to miss after justeating rise and fish for a while isSambil. This is the biggestshopping mal in Porlamar andthere you can find all sorts ofjunk food and the best icecream in the world.Be preparedThe only reason to think twicebefore you decide to go here isthat your stomach may regret it.Venezuela is probably thecountry that has the most andthe worst stomach illnesses inthe world. The first eveninghere, Christian drank somethingcalled filtered water at the hotel.He still wishes he hadn’t. Someweeks after seven of us ateshellfish at a local restaurantand the same night everyone ofus got sick. Now, severalweeks, and a couple of hospitalvisits, later some still suffersfrom stomach problems.6

Good winds, friendly people, anexciting culture and absolutelyno stress are some of the thingsyou could expect from Coche.Now when we have to go homeafter nearly three months in thiskitesurfing paradise we knowthat we will miss many thingsat our favourite island. Isla deCoche is a very special placeand we highly recommend youto take a trip there!Isla de Coche, short facts:Currency: Bolivar. One USD is worth 1950-3000 Bolivars (9 March 2004) depending on where you do theexchange. The official exchange rate at the bank is 1950. In shops, restaurants, and at the street you’ll get 3000.Bring USD, credit cards means official rates.Language: Spanish. Few people speak English.Religion: CatholicismCost of living: Food: 10,000 Bolivars/meal Housing: 75,000 Bolivars/week Transportation to beach: 2000 Bolivarsper tripWindy season: Best winds from January to May.Kite size: 14 in the morning, 8-10 in the afternoon.Climate: Warm water, no wetsuit needed. Strong sun, bring a rash guard and strong sun protection.Kite spots:La Punta. The main beach at Coche. Offshore wind and totally flat water. Rescue boat available.Isla Cubagua. Access by boat (1h). Cross-offshore and flat water. Tropical and beautiful scenery.El Yaque, Isla Margarita. Gusty winds, crowds, and choppy water. Great nightlife.Living:El Palangre. Simple but cosy living at a Venezuelan familyHotel Oasis de Coche. Pretty cheap hotel. Good prices if you stay a longer time.Hotel Coche Paradise. All inclusive.To eat:Safiros restaurant at El Palangre. Cheap and good Venezuelan food.Pizzeria, San Pedro. Really good pizzas, hamburgers, sandwiches, and cookies.El Boyo. Cheap fish restaurant.Hotel Coche Paradise. Great buffet.7

Boards 2004Text: Jonas HörnsteinThe kite may be the most important part of your equipment, but the significance of the boardshould not be underrated. Indeed it’s the kite that gives you the power and to a great dealdetermines how fast you can get upwind and how high you’ll be able to jump, but most of thetime you won’t even think about its presence. The board on the other hand has a more directpresence and more directly contributes to the overall feeling of the ride. Here we try to guide youthrough the enormous variety of boards on the market so you can find the board that gives youexactly the feeling you’re after.Classification of the boardsTo describe every board on themarket in detail is more or lessimpossible. Instead we have togeneralise and try to group theboards into various categories.Traditionally the boards havebeen divided into three differentclasses: directional, twin tip, andmutants. Directionals aredesigned to be ridden in onedirection and hence have a frontand a back. The twin tips aretotally symmetrical and worksequally well in both directions,which means that you don’tneed to turn the board when youwant to go in the oppositedirection. A mutant can be seenas a mixture of the two previoustypes as they work in bothdirections but have onepreferred direction. While theclassification of the boards intodirectionals, twin tips, andmutants, give interestinginformation about their design itisn’t enough for a potentialbuyer. Ninety percent of theboards on the market could beclassified as a twin tip eventhough there are hugedifferences between them. Analternative way to classify theboards would be to classifythem according to their range ofuses. Is the board designed tobe used on flat water, in choppyconditions, or in breakingwaves? Should it be used instrong or light wind conditions?Is it designed with beginners orpro-riders in mind? However, tocover all combinations of thesevariables one would need lots ofdifferent classes that would alsobe overlapping. It would simplifyfor the buyers if industry wouldagree on a few different classesin which the boards could bearranged. Today there are nosuch classes. Instead theboards are described byparameters such as length,width, weight, stiffness, outline,and rocker. For those who arefamiliar with the terminology andthe mysteries of board designthese parameters give veryaccurate information on how theboard will feel in the water. Forthe rest of us it gets more orless a pure guessing game. Inorder to improve the odds offinding the right board we give ashort introduction to how thedifferent parameters affect theboard’s behaviour on the water.Finally we exemplify how theseparameters can be combined inorder to create boards forspecific types of usage.Length and widthWe start with the most obviousparameters, length and width.The more wet surface under theboard, the earlier the boardstarts to plane. Beginners andheavier riders need a little bitmore area than light weight,experienced riders in order toget going and be able to goupwind. To get a larger surfaceunder the board we canobviously choose to increaseeither the length or the width.What we choose has a biginfluence on the characteristicsof the board.8A long and narrow board gives asmoother and more controlledride. It is easier to get a lot ofrail in the water to get upwindand the board doesn’t bounceout of the water as easy whenthe water is choppy. On theother hand that bounciness maybe desire as it gives you a goodlift when you kick the board outof the water. Such a board isoften said to have a good “pop”.In short you can say that for acertain surface area, the shorterthe board is the more pop it willgive you, but it will also be moreunsteady in the water. It cantherefore be an idea to firstconsider the kind of conditionsyou will use the board in and ifyou first of all want acomfortable board that givesyou a good grip in the water or aboard with more pop. From thatyou can get an idea of whatcould be a good length of yourboard. If you primarily use theboard in flat-water conditionsand like to pull off the latestwakeboard tricks, a short boardlike 120 cm or even less couldbe good for you. If you, on theother hand, usually ride inchoppy conditions and like to beable to dig down the rail andpush hard in the turns withoutworrying of the board loosing itsgrip, a board of at least 130 cmcould be better for you. Thewidth is then determined by howmuch you weight and in howstrong winds you will use theboard. The heavier person andthe lighter wind, the wider aboard will be needed.

Rocker and outlineOk, this far it has been quitestraight forward and not thatdifficult. Next we will look at theinfluence of the outline and therocker of the board. With outlinewe mean the bending of therails of the board and withrocker we mean the bending ofthe bottom line. We start withthe rocker.On a directional board thebending of the bottom line isoften divided into rocker andscoop, where the rocker line isthe bending in the back of theboard and the scoop is thebending in the front. For a twintipboard those two will beidentical since the board issymmetric, and here we will notdistinguish between them. Inshort it can be said that themore rocker the smoother theboard will behave. The rockerstops the board from diggingdown into the waves, especiallywhen the board is ridden flat, asafter landings or in thetransitions between one rail andthe other. What you loose with alot of rocker is mainly light-windcapabilities and pop. It isn’t onlythe amount of rocker thatmatters but also its distribution.It is common to have a relativelyplane surface in the middle ofthe board that helps the boardto start plane, while the lastcentimetres of the board haverelatively lot of rocker so that itwill turn smooth and so that thefront of the board doesn’t digdown in the water. Sometimesthe rocker even has a step inthe far ends of the board thatfurther prevent the nose to digdown after landings etcetera. Asusual there is a downside alsowith putting most of the rocker inthe ends of the board. In thiscase the problem is ones againthat we loose pop.For the outline we have thesame ground principles as forthe rocker, that is, the morecurve the smoother ride butonce again to the prise of lesspop and ability to plane. It isoften in the interplay betweenthe rocker and the outline thatthe secrets of a well workingboard lies. How well this work isof course very hard to tell byless that trying the board. Thecommon recommendation is lotsof curve in the board if you wantto have good control in theturns, especially if you want toride waves, and less curve ifyou like to jump and do tricks.FlexIf we add length, width, outlineand rocker we get a rathercomplicated formula. Tocomplicate things further we addthe flex of the board. A boardwith lots of flex “eats up” thebumps in the water. Instead ofbouncing when the board hits abump, the board bends whichmake it easier to maintain theedge in the water. The result isa smoother ride when the wateris choppy. The flex also make itpossible to use less rocker sincethe rocker increases whenpressure is applied. This can bepractical since this way you canhave a board that starts to planeearly and in the same time turnswell and maintains the grip inthe water when you push ithard. The downside is that theboard can loose speed whenyou land hard after a jump, as itthen tends to bend a lot. Aboard with too much flex canalso give a spongy feeling.Other thingsApart from the parametersabove, there are lots of otherparameters that we havechosen to not treat in detail asweight, volume, fin placement,and bindings. The commonrecommendation is that thelighter the board the better, buta certain weight can be neededto stop the board from flying9away during board-off tricks.The volume is more or lessinsignificant once you arepowered up and riding, but ithelps to get the board to planeand to maintain the speed whenthe power in the kite disappears.This is mainly of interest whenyou are riding waves and wantto ride without having a lot ofpower in the kite. If we look atthe fin placement a classicdesign with four small fins, onein each corner of the boardseems to work well in mostcases. If you want extra grip inthe water you can have one ortwo additional fins on the healside of the board. As for thebindings, normal foot straps arerecommended, as they are easyto get into and provide sufficientsupport.Different modelsFinally I’ll try to classify theboards according to a number ofdifferent usages. I’ve chosen todivide the boards into fourdifferent classes: beginnerboards, freestyle, wakestyle,and wave boards. Howeverinstead of trying to classify all ofthe different boards on themarket into these fourcategories I’ve confined myselfwith exemplifying how thedifferent parameters above arecombined in order to get aboard of a given class.We start with the beginnerboards. A slightly bigger boardmake it easier to get up and getgoing. First of all a beginnerboard is longer than the averageboard, usually starting from 140cm and up. A wider board alsomake it easier to get going, buta too wide board can make itdifficult to get the edge down.The board should preferable beof a twin-tip model so that thebeginner doesn’t have to worryabout turning the board. To geta good grip in the water it canbe good to have quite a lot of

curvature in the rocker and inthe outline and maybe an extrafin or two on the heal side of theboard.The freestyle category is arather broad one. In thiscategory I include all boards thatare designed for high speed andgood control, even when theconditions are difficult. This typeof boards suites both theaverage freerider and thecompetitor that want to pull offthe highest jumps. A board inthis category is often between130 and 140 cm with a widthbetween 34 and 38 cmdepending on whether the boardis designed for light or strongwinds. Also in this category youwill mainly find twin-tip boards.The wake category consists ofshort and relatively wide twin-tipboards with lots of pop. Thelength can be 120 cm or evenshorter with a relatively flatrocker line and not too much ofcurve in the outline. Even if theboards are mainly designed toprovide lots of pop for the latestwake-style manoeuvres, theycan also be very fast if the wateris flat so you can remain control.If we look at the wave boardsthis is a relatively undevelopedcategory. Here we are mainlylooking for a board with a goodgrip in the turns. To be able topull off a good bottom turn weneed to have a fair amount ofrail to dig into the wave. A tooshort board doesn’t give thedesired stability that we want inthe turns. We also need lots ofcurvature in both the rocker andthe outline, even more than on afreestyle board. To furtherincrease the grip it the boardcan be equipped with longer finsin the back of the board. On theother hand we don’t want thefins in the front of the board togrip during the turn. It istherefore usual to have smallerfins in the front or no fins at all.A symmetrical twin-tip board istherefore less suited for waveriding. It is therefore common touse directionals or mutants, orat least to make it possible toadjust the placement of thefootstraps towards the back ofthe board and provide the boardwith different sized fins. Anotherthing with the waveboards isthat you might want some extrafloatation in order to prevent theboard from loosing speed whenyou do a cut back and don’thave any power from the kite.Lots of people even recommendthe use of traditional surfboardsinstead of the kiteboards thatcan be found on the markettoday.10

AirushThe designers at Airush have been working hard and produced not less than 20 different boards for theseason 2004, which give a very complete line. Here you can find everything from pure beginner boardslike Square one and square two, classical directionals, mutants as fusion, several different twin-tipmodels as switch and compact, and a number of specialised boards. Of course this gives a very widerange to choose from but personally I find it a little messy. Anyhow it is nice to see that Airush isn’t afraidto push the limits in their designs. Misfit is one interesting example of this where they have designed anextremely short board that is finless. Another interesting concept is the wakeskate that doesn’t have anyfoot straps.Square one179494,7Square two155454,2Directional172414,0Fusion142/150/15838/38/403,1/3,3/3,5Switch135/142/150/15539/41/43/453,1/3,3/3,5Misfit90/115/12034/35/411,9/2,3/2,7Compact133/138/14036/37/382,9/3,1/3,3Wake136/14638/402,6/2,8Wakeskate12538Pro Toy11938Luengo12538AHDAHD has three different lines to choose from.Etik is a mutant designed for early planning andgood upwind ability rather then wave riding. T-type is a relatively big and easy-to-use board,designed for learning and freeriding. Nostro is ashorter and more advanced board will lots ofpop.BestBest is a new brand for the season that hasquickly become known for selling cheap kitesand boards directly to customers without using aretailer network. The board line may not be veryimpressing with only one design to choose from,but the design looks nice and should work forjust about anyone. The board is constructed intwo different materials with different weight andprice.Etik157/16238/403,4/3,6T-type145/158/17134/37,5/40,92,6/2,9/3,3Nostro133/137/14137/39/412,6/2,8/3,011Best board balsa118/124/130/138/14438/39/40/40/412,1Best pro board118/124/130/138/14438/39/40/40/412,4

BicBic’s designers Marco Copello and RichardBoudia have developed a number of assymetrictwin-tip boards called Airflow. The idea to usemore curvature on the toe-side isn’t bad at allsince most of the people only use this side whenthey turn. The boards are quite big and mainlydesigned for freeriding. Cosmic has a moretraditional twin-tip design and is developed forwave-riding with the possibility to move thestraps towards the back of the board.CabrinhaNew for this year is a beginner board calledProdidgy. Apart from this Cabrinha keeps theirVari Pro, Icon, and Lab rat. While these lines areoverlapping each other when it comes to sizethey all have their own specific characteristics.Despite the name, Vari pro is a rather easy-touseboard. Icon is a slightly smaller board thatoffers lots of pop and works well in waves. Labrat is a narrow board with lots of flex, ideal fordifficult and choppy conditions.Airflow142/162/17534/37/393,0/3,0/3,3Cosmic130372,4Vari Pro138/148/15838/39/40-Icon130/140/15035/35,5/36-Lab Rat130/140/15034/34,5/35-Prodidgy158413,5FanaticFanatic has three twin-tip boards in this year’sline: Easy Rider, Joy Rider, and Sky Rider. EasyRider is designed to be easy to use and hasbeen provided with a generous length. Joy Rideris a wide allround-board that works especiallywell in light winds. Sky Rider is relatively smalland narrow in order to make it easy to maintainthe control when used in strong wind or bylighter riders.F-oneF-one has two beginner boards in their line,Explorer and Fiftyone, as well as two moreadvanced boards, SK8 and Style. The advancedboards are provided in three different series withdifferent combinations of length and width, whichgives a huge variety to choose from. SK8 haslots of rocker for hard wind and waves whileStyle provides early planning.Easy Rider159/16841/422,9/3,1Joy Rider118/128/14438/40/401,9/2,2/2,5Sky Rider124/130/13834/36/381,9/2,1/2,312SK8128/129/136/137/138/13935//37/31/33/35/37-Style128/129/130/138/139/140/148/14935//37/39/35/37/39/36/37-Explorer156/16038/43-Fiftyone16050-

GaastraGaastra’s line is one of the most complete on the market. With the exception of Sky Pro 133 Gaastra hasonly twin-tip boards in their line. Sky Pro 133 is one of two boards especially design for Gaastra’s teamrider Sky Solbach. The board is one of the new generation of mutants that works almost as good in bothdirections. The other board designed for Sky Solbach, Sky Pro 136, is a traditional twin-tip that is a littlewider in the front and the back than Gaastra’s more allround oriented twin-tip Contact, and thereforegives a little more pop. Apart from those boards Gaastra has several other twin-tips models in more oddsizes. Drive II is a slightly bigger board designed to work well even for beginners. Micro is, as the namesuggests, the opposite – a small board designed for hard wind and/or lightweight kitesurfers. Satellite isan extremely wide board designed to be used in light winds and with big kites. Finally, Ride is anotherbig board intended for beginners.Sky Pro 13613638-Sky Pro 133133--Contact136/141/14836,5/38/41-Drive II15640-Micro12436,5-Satellite117/13541/46-Ride17044,5-NaishNaish revolutionized board design when they introduced their Stubbie last year. The Stubbie wasextremely short which simplified tricks and gave a good grip in the water. The Stubbie is still there thisyear but it hasn’t replaced the more traditional models. Naish has everything in their line: severalmutants as MTX and Mutant, even more twin tips as Thorn, TT pro, and Haze TT, and also an extremelybig beginner board called Softdeck TT.MTX13237-Thorn123/129/135/14134,5/37,4/38,4/41,4-TT Pro122/128/13436/41/47-Mutant4’7”/4’10”/5’0”/5’4”40/42/40/41,2-13Haze TT135/145/157/17037,8/38,3/37,3/40,4-Stubbie115/12737,0/43,5-Softdeck TT18845-

NorthNorth’s boards are designed byJohn Amundson. The boards canbe divided into four lines: Sumothat is their beginner board,Defender Line that can be usedboth as a beginner board and alight wind board for the moreadvanced riders, Dragon Linethat is designed for advancedriders and hard wind, and anumber of Pro Models that aredesigned especially for North’stop-riders and those who havereally high ambitions with theirkitesurfing.Jaime Pro128/13037,5/402,0/2,0Cindy Pro122341,8Dragon133/135/13835/37,5/40,52,0/2,2/2,3M2/M1125/14836/392,0/2,5Defender143/14839/402,4/2,6Sumo155/16241,5/433,1/3,5RRDRRD have worked hard for the2004 season with lots ofinteresting news on both theirboard and their kite ranges. TheirXX-boards are among theabsolute lightest on the marketwith a weight of less than 2 kg.They are extremely thin andflexy. With not less that 8 finsthey give maximum grip in thewater. BS/Classic are prettyallround-oriented boards thatsuits just about anyone. Bidi is amore pure beginner board. Apartfrom those main models theyhave Blob that is an extremelysmall board for tricks on flatwater, and PeekaBoo that is amutant intended for wave riding.XX120/125/125/130/130/135/13534/34/35/35/36/38/401,7/1,8/1,9/2,0/2,0/2,0/2,2BS/Classic140/150/16038/37/392,1/2,2/2,4Bi-Di170/18040/453,7/4,2Blob100412,0Peekaboo138/14838/402,5/2,7TakoonTakoon has several interestingmodels. Vegas is Takoon’sfreestyle board. The smallestboard in the line is an exact copyof the board used by Takoon’steam rider Herve Boure andneeds a lot of wind to perform atits best. Interstate is a longer andmore narrow board, perfect forcruising around. It has anasymmetric flex with a softertoeside, which simplifies turns.Mong is a pure wave riding boarddesigned for Franz Olry. Kool163 is Takoon’s beginner board.Vegas128/128/138/13835/38/36/391,85/1,95/2,1/2,4Interstate139/15133,8/37,42,5/2,9Mong128362,4Kool 163163403,514

Kite school: jumpsText and images: Jonas HörnsteinHigh jumps are without a doubt the thing that most distinguish kitesurfing from other watersports, and probably the reason that most of you got into the sport. At least it was for me and tomy delight I noticed that it wasn’t hard at all to get the first taste of some air. Unfortunately I alsonoticed pretty soon that it was a long way from the first small jumps to the really huge jumps andthe modern wake style jumps that I saw the pros pulling off. Here we take a look at the differenttechniques and how to do to get your jumping to the next level.Wake style or classic style?As already mentioned there aretwo different styles with which ajump can be performed. Westart by looking at the maindifferences of the styles beforegetting into how to best executethe jumps. In the classical stylewe mainly use the power of thekite to get lifted out of the water.This is done by redirecting thekite in the opposite direction tothe one we are riding and thenback again as shown in thesequence below. The alternativeis to use the speed of the boardand pop the board out of thewater while the kite remains lowin the power zone instead ofredirecting it up over the head.The latter technique is calledwake style since it imitate theway you jump with a wakeboardafter a boat since the boatfor natural reasons cannot beredirected up over the head.Until recently the classical styleby far has been the mostpopular one. It is also theclassical style that gives thehighest jumps with most hangtime, but as more and moretricks are being adopted fromthe wake-board scene, wakestyle jumps are also gettingincreasingly popular.Despite the wake style jumpsnot being as high they can be atleast as spectacular since theyare performed with full power inthe kite and at high speed.EquipmentThose who have paid attentionto the previous articles aboutkites and boards may havenoticed that there existsdifferent equipment for thedifferent styles of jumps.16

Fortunately you don’t reallyneed to go out and by twodifferent sets of equipment, butcan use any combination of kiteand board for both of thetechniques, but there are somedifferences that are worth tomention. For the classical jumpswhere you use the kite to getlifted out of the water a kite witha high AR combined with anarrow board with lots of grip isthe optimal. To make a wakestyle jump the opposite ispreferred, a wide board and akite with lower AR. The reasonto use a lower AR is that theystay deeper down in the powerzone, whereas kites with highAR tends to stay very high up inthe window when ridden. A kitewith high AR can thereforeeasily fly out of the power zonewhen you pop a jump. Howeverthere are some tricks to avoidthat this happens, but beforediscussing that we will take alook at the classical jumps.Classical jumpsA classical jump is illustrated inthe sequence below. The trick isas mentioned to redirect the kitein the opposite direction to theone you’re travelling and thenturn it back over your head oncethe board leaves the water. Theheight of the jump depends onmany things, but the mainingredients are high speed andgood power in the kite. To boostup the height further theredirection has to be quick andpowerful. The main difficulty isto maintain the edge of theboard throughout the whole redirection.This can be simplifiedby starting the redirection withthe kite in a higher position, like60 degrees from the water.Once in the air there is not toomuch to think about exceptmaking sure that you get thekite back in front of you beforelanding. Try to land with theboard flat and with the bodyweight straight over the centreof the board. Then it is just tostart edging again and pick upspeed for the next jump.Wake style jumpsFinally we look at how to pull offsome powerful wake stylejumps. Once again, speed andpower are the main ingredients,but instead of the redirection ofthe kite it is a powerful pop thatturns those into a high jump.One of the concerns is, asmentioned, to avoid that the kitelooses the power when the jumpis initiated. The trick to avoidthis is to get the kite furtherdown in the power zone. Thiscan be achieved by slowlyturning the kite up and thenback down in the same time asyou fall off a little with the boardto avoid getting lifted. The jumpis then initiated with a short andpowerful pop while the kite ismaintained low. In order to notmove the kite during the jump itcan be good to keep the handsclose to the centre of the bar,and don’t forget that a real wakeboard move is performedunhooked from the chickenloop!17

More kites…Text: Jonas HörnsteinIn the last number we gave an overview of the biggest news on the kite market for 2004 andpresented the kites from most of the biggest brands. However some brands hadn’t come outwith their new kites in time for the first number so in this issue we complete the presentationwith seven more brands and take a look at their ranges for the season. Among the seven wefound both pioneers such as Wipika and F-one as well as several new and interesting brands asAdvance kites, Best, and EH.Advance kitesPreviously known for their foils, Advance has made a completeturn for the season and now presents a tube kite. The reasonfor the turn is that they consider that they have managed tocombine the advantages of the foils and the tube kites thanksto their Repower-system. According to Advance the Repowersystem gives a more constant pull and better control overwhere the kite is situated in the air. The new tube-kite goesunder the name Kobra and has a relatively high AR. It isintended for experienced users and has a wide wind range andlots of lift. Apart from the Kobra, Advance continuous todevelop foils, but those are mainly intended for land use.BestBest has caused lots of headlines with their aggressive pricingwith up to 50% lower price than their competitors. The low priceis a result of cutting off the retailer network and selling directlyto the clients on Internet. Best have three different kites in theirrange. Nemesis is their high performance kite, made for highjumps and freestyle competitions. Yarga has a lower AR whichmakes it easier to use and well suited for different tricks likekiteloops and wave riding. Finally they have the Grunt that is amore pure beginner kite with a low AR that makes it verystable.EHEric Hertsens that together with his collegue Peter Stiewedesignes kite for Best kiteboarding and others, now releaseskites under their own brand, EH Kiteboarding. Under their ownbrand they try out more innovative design solutions. EH hastwo lines that are updated continuously during the year insteadof releasing new models yearly as most of the other brands.The two models they offer are EH Freestyle and Wave. As thenames suggest, Freestyle is a kite with high AR intended forfreestyle while Wave is a kite with a little bit lower AR intendedfor wave riding and the latest wake-style manoeuvres.18

F-oneF-one has been in the game for a long time and hascreated a huge range of kites for the 2004 season. Most ofthe kites are updates from the previous season though.Mach3 replaces Mach2 as their top-of-the-line model andrequires an experienced user to perform at its best. HW 2 isa special kite designed for strong winds and hence onlyexists in small sizes. Dream is F-one’s most versatile kite. Itstill has enough of power to jump high, but in the same timeworks well for both wave riding and speed sailing. Finally F-one has two beginner kites: 4U and L2K.RRDRRD made most of the people raise their eyebrows whenthen managed to sign up last year’s world cup winnerMartin Vari to their team. Another noteworthy news for theseason is their new high performance kite Type-Z. Theletter Z comes from their patented Zipping Power Control.Through one or more zippers it is possible to adjust theangle of the struts and thereby make the kite more or lesspowerful. This is supposed to increase the wind range ofthe kite. Another news for the year is their Type-6 that isdesigned for freestyle and wave riding. Type-5 remains asa more easy to use kite.WindtechLike many other, Windtech has chosen to go for threedifferent models, one with high AR, one with a medium ARand one with a low AR. Windtech’s high AR kite is calledZenith and is designed for the more advanced riders andoffers lots of power for high jumps and good upwind ability.Rebel Pro has a slightly lower AR and isn’t at all aimedsolely for pros as the name might suggest. On the contraryit is easy to use and is even equipped with a fifth line thatmake it easy to start the kite. Quantum is a pure beginnerkite that can be used either as a two-line kite or a four-linekite.WipikaWipika is one of the real kite pioneers and is still one of thebiggest brands even if they have had a relatively low profilein Europe the latest years. Their range is one of the biggeston the market with five different models to choose from.WIP is designed together with Flash Austin and offersmaximum lift and good upwind abilities. AMP+ is anotherhigh performance kite, but is a little easier to use than theWIP. Matrix has a slightly lower AR and can be placed inthe gap between pure high performance kites and mediumAR-kites. Hydro 3 has a medium AR that makes it stableand easy to manoeuvre. Finally they have Core that has alow AR and offers the possibility to be ridden with either twoor four lines. Core is a pure beginner kite.19

Interview with Eric HertsensText and photo: Kristina KarlssonEric Hertsens has long been known for his amazing boardshaping, based in Cabarete in theDominican Republic. His boards are famous all around the globe, ridden by the likes of FlashAustin and other high profile riders. Now, having gone into the business of creating kites he iswell on the way to global success and kiteworld domination. I met up with Eric on a windy day atKite Beach, Cabarete, to ask him a few questions.What made you want to createkites?The reason is simple. I am a bigguy and there just wasn´tanything on the market thatsuited me. My business partnerPeter Stiewe has a lighter buildand had the same problems offinding a kite that he liked. So,we decided to build our ownkites.What goal are you trying toreach?Our goal from the beginningwas to create custom kites, butfor the moment there is nomarket for it. So now our maingoal is to push the boundariesand continue our research anddevelop high performance kites(EH) in limited numbers. During2003 only, we produced morethan ten new versions of ourhigh performance size 12 kite.The best thing is that we canbuild a kite and then test itimmediately in our own backyard. (Eric´s shop is fiveminutes away from Kite Beach).Another part of our business isto create kites for othercompanies such as Liquid Forceand Best Kiteboarding. Withthese kites we cover moregeneral and broader performancekites.When is a kite perfect?The perfect, imaginary kite,would be ONE kite that could beused in all winds. But being veryunrealistic I would have to saythat a kite with good pull, perfectmanoeuvrability and control,long hangtime and gooddepower would be the perfectkite. Achieving the perfectbalance between these factorsis very hard and that´s why wespend so much time on R&D inour company.Where did you get yourskills?I never went to school to learnhow to create boards or kites. Ihave learned through trying. Ithelps being a perfectionist whonever gives up. I started with ahammer and a saw and todayI´m designing and creating hightech equipment for kiteboarding.How do you think kiteboardingwill develop in thenext five to ten years?It will become more mainstream.The safety systems keepdeveloping and that´s what´smaking kiteboarding moreaccessible to the mainstream.Don´t get me wrong. It will stillbe an extreme sport,considering the nature of it.For more information about EricHertsens and his kites andkiteboards visit:www.erichertsens.com1

Above: A content Eric Hertsens, Below: Eric’s workshop in Cabarete2

Luckily the wind increased fromaround 10 knots in the morningto around 25 knots in theafternoon and we got a perfectday of kitesurf in the shallowNeusidler See. There were anumber of flat sand islands outin the lake and behind those thewater was as flat as it gets,perfect for training differentwake style manoeuvres. Thelake is so shallow that you canactually stand on the bottomeverywhere in the lake. Quitesurprisingly when you are 1000meters from the shore and putdown your feet in the bottomclay.The weather forecast for thecompetition wasn’t lookinggood, straight offshore wind andrain showers. The first shippermeeting was held at nine onWednesday and the first startwas scheduled to half pasteleven. Anna found out that shewould go man on man withCindy Mosey in her first heat.Cindy won the world cup titlelast year and is one of only twogirls in the world that can do airhandle passes, so it woulddefinitely be a hard one. Chrillehad Alex Tritten, Ben Meyer andOliver in his first heat, and wasquick to pump up his kite andlay out the lines. He chose a 10-meter kite as the wind wasincreasing the whole time. Thecompetition area was placed500 meter off-shore since thewind was blowing offshore, soone had to rely on the windreports from the competitionboat. Close to the shore therewere almost no wind at all andyou had to work the kite hardand sometimes even loop it toget out. Once in the competitionarea the wind was so strong thattwo of the buoys had driftedaway. The first heat waspostponed for half an hour andduring that time the windincreased further. During theheat the wind reached 36 knotsand it was more a question ofwho could stay within thecompetition area than whattricks they could make. Thecompetition was quickly nicknamed”the survival”. Chrillemanaged to finish his the heat insecond place and moved on tothe next heat.When it was time for the womencompetition the wind waschanging up and down prettymuch and there were constantlynew wind reports from thecompetition boat. Most of thegirls decided to go on either anine or a 10-meter kite. The firstheat started and Anna that wasin the forth heat decided tomake her way out to thecompetition area already then inorder to be sure to make it out intime for her heat. She washappy to be able to use a smallkite since we had been trainingon small kites the whole winterand it felt like the only possibilityto be able to beat Cindy Mosey.As the second heat finished abig black cloud piled up, but thecompetition went on. Most of thegirls were out waiting for theirheats or trying to get back toland. When the third heatstarted, lightning was seen atthe horizon and suddenly thewind drastically increased. Thecompetition boat measuredgusts up to 56 knots during thefollowing 10 minutes. Anna triedto dig down the board in thewater and hold on while most ofthe girls were flown away andhad to pull the quick release.Those that managed to hold ondidn’t dare to go near land, asthey feared to run into anyobject.23

Jet skies and rescue-boatsworked hard to collect kites andboards until things calmed downagain. However the wind neverturned normal again and thecompetition had to be cancelledfor the day.The following day startedcompletely windless, but aroundthree it suddenly got windy.Since the girls competition hadbeen cancelled the day beforethey were first to start. The windwas much weaker than the daybefore and the girls went outwith 14-meter kite or larger. Itwas hard to perform at the bestas the wind was shiftingbetween 8 and 18 knots and wewere surprised many times asmany of the top-names wereknocked out by the newcomers.Two fifteen years old Dutchdefeated among others MarkDoyle, Will James, José Luengoand Chrille. Leo from Venezuelawon over Andre Phillip andGianni Aragno won over MartinVari. All in all it was a difficultcompetition with lots ofunexpected results.Apart from the freestyle competitiona slider competition wasto be held, which meant thatdifferent obstacles like sliderswere put in the water and couldbe used to perform differenttricks. Apart from the presenceof the sliders it works exactly asa freestyle competition, i.e. it’sabout doing as hard tricks aspossible, with as much speed,power, and height as possible.The best with the event inAustria was all the other thingsthat were organised around thecompetition. As a competitoryou also had lots of benefits.For example we got free foodand drinks in the food-tentswhere we could choose fromanything from Thai-food, Italianfood, or of course severalAustrian dishes. There was alsoa VIP-lounge where we couldrelax, check Internet, or have abeer. Every night there was abig party and people from allover Austria joined in. Big tentswhere put up that could take upto 100.000 people and wherethe competitors could buy drinksfor one Euro.Even if competitions in Europeoften are more about waiting forwind than actually kiting, it isgreat fun and as said there arelots of things happening aroundthe competition so you neverget bored. It is also fun to get toknow all the riders on the tourand also to check out all theprototype boards and kites theybring along.Results:Unfortunately the competitioncouldn’t be completed so nosingle winner could be declared.Instead the four girls and boysthat had made it through to thesemi final were declared aswinners. Those were:Women, shared first place:Cindy MoseyIngrid KöllbichlerPetra GoeschlKristin BoeseMen, shared first place:Aron HadlowLousiano GonzalesJaime HerraizGianni AragnoAbout PKRAPKRA (Professional Kite Riders Association) was founded more than three years ago by a group ofprofessional kiteboarders. Among those were Flash Austin, Chris Gilbert, Julie Prochaska and MauricioToscano. The reason for starting PKRA was that the main sponsor of the existing tour left both the tourand the riders to their fate. The riders then took the things in their own hand and created a new tour.Mauricio Toscano from Italy is currently the leader of the organisation.There are around 50 to 60 entries for the men and between 25 and 30 entries for the women to eachevent. The selection is based on competition results and experience. Once at place a qualificationcompetition is held and 16 women and 32 men respectively are allowed to enter the main event. Someplaces are reserved for pre-qualified riders.The number of PKRA-events differs from year to year, and in 2004 seven events are held. The two firstare hold in Austria and Belgium, and thereafter in Cabarete, Venezuela, Fuerteventura, Germany, andfinally in Brazil. In every event a freestyle competition is held, but in addition there can be a hang timecompetition, a long race, a speed competition, or a slider competition.Usually the competition is organised as a double elimination. This means that after the completion of thefirst ladder, everyone get a second chance. In the second ladder those that went far in the first one hasan advantage as they don’t have to start from the bottom. The winner of the first ladder only enters in thefinal of the second ladder and so on.24

Below: The authors Anna and Christian. ”Finally Chrille just wants to make clear that certain parts (aboutstripped road-workers) have been written entirely by Anna.”25

Mondial du vent 2004 and anew world speed recordText and photo: Mathieu Turries / www.alohaphoto.nuThere were lots of people andvery much wind on the eighth”Mondial du vent” in Leucate,France. With 35-40 knots windthe first days where dedicated tokitespeed. 28 gladiators,including Sebastien Cattelan,Malik Bouchenafa, and MarkShinn…, were ready to giveeverything to beat Robby Naish’record of 38.47 knots! After twodays of competition, SebastienCattelan (Wipika) holds the firstplace with several runs around35 knots, but Sylvain Maurin(Takoon) has the highest singlespeed with 36.84 knots!With equally lots of wind on thethird day, the eagerly awaitedfreestyle competition took itsstart. Bertrand Fleury entertainswith unbelievable kiteloops.Unfortunately he has to retirefrom the competition after a sickkiteloop where he ends upbreaking to ribs...! Instead weget to see two amazing semifinals with Mark Doyle upagainst Etienne Lhote andFranz Orly against CharlesDeleau. There is an interestingcompetition between Charlesand Franz, who have twocompletely different styles withshort lines for Franz and longlines for Charles. In the end it isEtienne Lhote (F-one) andCharles Deleau (North) thatmake it to the final. DespiteEtienne riding really good withlots of style, it is Charles Deleauthat wins the final with very highjumps!La Tramontane, the local windcontinuous to blow on the forthday. The organisers decide togo for both Kitespeed andfreestyle. In the Kitespeed eventthe fastest runs are around 35,8- 36 knots, made by amongothers Mark Gondar (Takoon)and Raphaël Salles (F-one).In the freestyle competition weget to see impressive rides byLuciano Gonzales and Malik,but the big surprises come fromthe young generation withLeeshai Miller, Aaron Hadlow,Remi Branco (F-one), ThomasCoquelet (Cabrinha), and alsoKevin Sudrat (Julien’s brother)that pull off several really niceRaileys and several other wakestyle tricks.The weather forecast announceseven more wind fortomorrow…26

27Sebastien Cattelan held first place inthe speed competition after two days…

…but fastest and happiest ofthem all was Manu Taub thatmade a new world record withhis 39.79 knots.…and the forecast was right…Today the wind reached 50knots and at one o’clock thehuge Manu Taub (Takoon)becomes the fastest man in theworld with a kite: 37.79 knots! Afew minutes later, MarkGondard (Takoon) also beatsRobby’s old record with his39.46 knots! On the girls sideCharlotte Consorti (F-one)manages to beat Tuva Jensensrecord from last year with herKite Speed33.24 knots. (Note that Tuva’srecord from last year was 33,23knots…).On the sixth day the conditionsget calmer again, and makepossible the start of the womenfreestyle competition. It isSandrine Meunier (Naish) thatshows most variation and takesthe first place. Also making agood competition is Fabienne D’Ortoli (Cabrinha). DaphnéeLaliberté from Cabarete didn’tperform on her best in hersecond European competition(the first one was last week inLes sables d’ olonne), but besure that we will see more of herin the future…The wind drops during theafternoon and doesn’t comeback again. The competitionfinishes with the followingresults:Women: 1/Charlotte Consorti (F.One), 2/Muriel CipoulonMen: 1/Marc Gondard (Takoon), 2/Manu Taub (Takoon), 3/Sébastien Cattelan (Wipika), 4/RaphaëlSalles (F.One), 5/Sylvain Maurin (Takoon), 6/Bruno Sroka (Cabrinha)…FreestyleWomen: 1/Sandrine Maunier (Naish), 2/Fabienne d’Ortoli (Cabrinha), 3/Petra Goeshl (Flexifoil), 4/TuvaJansen (Takoon), 5/Ida Ferrière (Wipika)Men: 1/Charles Deleau (North), 2/Etienne Lhote (F.One), 3/Mark Doyle (Slingshot), 4/Franz Olry(Takoon), 5/ Thomas Coquelet (Cabrinha), Rémi Branco (F.One), Bertrand Fleury (Slingshot), AaronHadlow (Flexifoil)28

KPWT, Les Sables d’OlonneText: Jonas Hörnstein, Photo: Christophe Michot and Paul Eric / KPWTThe first event in KPWT,Kiteboard Pro World Tour, washeld between the 3 rd and 10 th ofApril in Les Sables d’Olonne,Vendée, France. Around thirtycompetitors from eight differentcountries were fighting for the30 000 dollar price money. Thecompetition was held as a wavecompetition, but unlike lastyear’s wave masters, jumpswere also counted. However thecompetitors were recommendedto focus mainly on the waveriding as this was given thehighest weight, but still try to doat least a couple of good jumps.The first days of competitionoffered pretty weak wind.Instead of starting the maincompetition a trick competitionwas held were only the besttrick counted. Hervé Bouré fromFrance, the total winner of lastyear’s wave masters, showedthat he also mastered the latesttricks and won the trickcompetition with a handle passin the wave.On the forth day the wind finallyarrived and the maincompetition could start. Thewaves were initially small butwith the rising tide the wavespicked up in size and during theday the conditions becamereally good! The early heatsoffered some surprises asseveral of the top-names fromlast year were eliminated early.The competition was held as adouble elimination, which meantthat everyone got a secondchance to get back into thefinals.The eventual final was heldbetween Felix Pivec, Australia,and Julien Sudrat, France.Those two ended up as numbertwo and number threerespectively in last year’s wavemasters, and both arespecialists on riding waves. Thistime it was Julien that was thestronger of the two and took thewin in the final.In the girls competition it wasTuva Jansen from Norway thattook the first place after a tightfinal against Fabienne D’Ortoli,France. On third place we foundthe big surprise of thecompetition – the 10-year-oldGisela Pulido from Spain.1

Södergatan 22 432 44 Varberg0340-67 70 55Välkommen till en riktig kite- ochvindsurfingbutik, som funnits i 20 år.- Öppet alla dagar i veckan.- 450 kvadratmeter butik.- Kunnig personal.- Bästa service.- Stor kiteskola.- Låga priser.- Cabrinha och RRD kites i lager.Besök oss i Varberg eller påwww.surfersparadise.nu.