It’s hard not to notice the rapid rise of Harlem Kitesurfing. I have been kiting for 24 years now and I have never seen anything like it…
When good friend of mine, Aaron Hadlow joined Harlem some years before me, I got a great insight into how it might feel to work with the brand day to day. Over time my curiosity grew and the more I learned the more I pondered the idea of joining them. I use kiting as a tool to engage young people, and with my connection to the wind energy industry through my sponsor Global Wind Energy Council, I couldn’t help but notice the wind turbine shapes featuring subtly throughout the Harlem branding. It felt like a calling, and as I have learned over the years, serving your curiosity is important. It was clear that the products were speaking for themselves. Harlem have dominated in the competitive scene the last few years, consistently placed high on the height leaderboards, and from my own experience Ralf and Aaron definitely know how to design special products. Also on the cards I noticed a rare opportunity to get on board with sales in the UK.
It’s one thing to have an idea but it takes something else to create a plan of action and deliver it. As they say: “An ounce of action is worth more than a ton of theory.” For this I needed to start with the first question: “How can I get involved with the brand?” I’ve always loved this part of my job since I become a professional 20 years ago – taking on the challenge. What defines a professional kitesurfer? That’s different for everyone and changed so much for myself in time, I no longer take the time to justify it. For any aspiring kitesurfer wanting to make a living out of the sport, I can advise how the following questions have worked for me over two decades: What am I good at? What do they need? (They being the new potential sponsor.) After getting that down on paper (physically written I always prefer) you can start to get a good idea of how you might be able to connect the two.
There’s a new question I like to ask in today’s world: “What else do I offer outside of social media?” Call me old school, but whilst a good commitment to social media is important, it’s the other values that you bring to a brand that are extremely important. How well can you talk to people on the beach at a demo day? Can you present your ideas with confidence in person and online? Are you able to help out a beginner when you see them in difficulty? These sorts of values were etched into my mindset when I joined my first sponsors. At a time when social media and online presence was not so much of a thing, they were especially important. Today you could argue they are just as important if not more with so much focus put on the digital world.
I think it’s clear to see that I am very passionate about broadcasting. I’ve been a fan of football all my life and always wanted to become a professional. I therefore watched and listened to a lot of games which has helped me develop my own style as a broadcaster. Being present at nearly all Big Air events, having that access behind the scenes and in front of the camera – this is valuable… and so I put it forward that I could create specific short Harlem Kitesurfing reports for our team whilst at events. Talking about kiting is not something I reserve for just inside the commentary booth, I’ve dabbled with podcasts throughout my career but never really gave it everything. What better than to produce a perfectly authentic podcast where I delve deep into what’s going at Harlem. This will be an exciting project which is just around the corner.
