Recent features from the print magazine...
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Mention Nick Jacobsen and most people will have heard of his cunning stunts. But now he’s taken the biggest plunge of all and jumped into the equally cunning world of kite design and production. Photos Paul Ganse and Samuel Tomé
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Eleveight have busted out the latest version of their boosting machine, the XS, and the second version of their Stellar twintip that proved very popular when it launched last year. Photos Eliteleaguephotographer
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Slingshot recently unveiled their new screwless “One-Lock” connection system. Could this be a gamechanger for your kite foiling sessions? Fred Hope explains… Photos Ryan Osmond
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Mystic have released their lowest impact wetsuit yet, the Evolve. It’s better for the planet, being made from renewable ingredients… Photos Antonio Herrera Trujillo, Storm Jansen and Vincent Schaap
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Sanne van Haaster worked at Lieuwe Boards for a few years. She has since moved on to her family business but recently joined Lieuwe for a photoshoot in Egypt. While there she squeezed a lot in – as well as the photoshoot, she took third place at the King of the Lagoon competition, attended the Wind Seekers Kite Fest, and umm… drank a lot of gin…
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When you need to get some top-class shots of your new wave kite, Mauritius is a no brainer for a wave riding destination. RRD founder Roberto Ricci and team rider Carl Ferreira headed there to shoot their new Religion kites, but also to celebrate Roberto’s big 6-0. And they bagged themselves this issue’s cover in the process.
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We chatted with Eleveight team riders Martin Rahnel and Kaimar Halliste who are both from Estonia to find out what the kiting is like there. Kaimar lives in the capital Tallinn and Martin lives further south on the west coast, but they do also meet up to session together when conditions for their preferred discipline of Big Air are on.
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Ewan Jaspan has transitioned from talented – largely park – rider to Kite Designer at Naish while still managing to consistently claim podium places and rank as World Champion. It was time to put him under the microscope with questions from his fellow Naish team riders and park competitors. He’s come back with some great insights into his career and the industry, and a wise word of advice or two. Thanks Ewan!
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Most of us know it’s important to wear sunscreen when we’re kiting, and those of us who also ski or snowboard will usually wear sunscreen and goggles or sunglasses when on the snow. But it’s not that common to see kiters wearing eye protection while on the water, and this is something the recently founded, non-profit organization SkinEye wants to address. To help promote the importance of wearing eye and skin protection when kiting, they set themselves the challenge of achieving the fastest ever tandem kite run… At the Prince of Speed 2024 Farrel Cup in Gruissan, southern France, SkinEye President Yann Derrien and Salim Ejnaini did just that, achieving 30.9 knots along a 500m run. We spoke to Salim, who is registered blind, having had eye cancer as a child. Given only a 10% chance of surviving to the age of 10, he is now 32 years old and has just started kitesurfing, and it sounds like his tandem achievement is just the beginning of his kite journey…
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You know how it is when you and a friend decide to do a downwinder. You leave a car further down the coast, jump in together and let the stoke build as you head up to that starting point. There is something so satisfying knowing that every kilometer you are driving back up the coast is time you can spend cruising downwind. No checking where you are on the beach; no long tacks back out to sea, no stress when you realize you have ridden a wave for way longer than you had planned to… It feels a little like beating the system… Well. Imagine that feeling but, rather than having 15 or 20 kilometers of downwind-only water awaiting you, you’ve got over 300km. In fact, the drive back from the end of the Sertões downwinder to the start takes over five hours… Welcome to the largest long-distance kitesurf rally on the planet: welcome to the Sertões Kite Rally.
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We’ve known James Boulding since he was knee high to a grasshopper and have watched him grow from accomplished rider to talented photographer to Marketing Manager at Cabrinha, perhaps the industry’s only Marketing Manager who also takes the majority of their brand’s publicity photos. As a side hustle he’s also a mean barista and cocker spaniel whisperer… Here he reflects on some of his recent snaps from Cabrinha’s photoshoot in Fuerteventura for their 2025 product launch.
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It’s been that time of year again when the industry’s top freestyle and park riders head to Taiba, Brazil to bang out their best moves. Photographer Andre Magarao was there as ever to capture their sessions on camera. We hear from Andre and riders Gianmaria Coccoluto, Lucas Muzio, Matteo Dorotini, Maxime Chabloz, Noè Font and Ramiro Gallart about how the season went down…
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Having recently celebrated its 10th birthday, the Kite Park League took its Team Battle format, a team-oriented video-style contest, to Taiba, Brazil. Over the course of a week, four teams went head-to-head to showcase the best of progressive kiteboarding. We’ll let competitor Xander Raith explain more…
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