UPDATE!
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Despite some pretty weighty global shutdown challenges, our test team not only pulled it off, but they went to town on the latest Ultimate Test, putting together our most insightful test. You can view the test results themselves over on our website, but to get exclusive early access to find out who won their respective categories, you'll have to get a copy of the magazine…
You can do that just here.
“I truly believe that it takes a perfect partnership between photographer and rider to create a beautiful image. Some of the most iconic photos in our sport have been exactly that, a mutual understanding of what it takes to get that shot.”
Photographer Jason Broderick finds a photographic muse in Jalou Langeree, who escapes the cold and wet European winter for the sunshine and empty waves of an almost tourist-free Cape Town.
“I’m there busting freestyle dance moves and doing the worm at 9am surrounded by snotty nosed children. It is all fine until I make eye contact with a cringing parent, and suddenly it all caves in – what am I doing with my life? How has it come to this? I need to draw a line in the sand. From this day forward, things will be different – that is what’s just happened to kiting. Freestyle competition stagnated: King of the Air took to the stage.”
If you're getting this email, the chances are you've also been receiving Colin Colin Carroll's fortnightly ‘Disco' emails, which are proving astonishingly popular. Ever outspoken and never-less-than-hilarious, we've also now given him his own column in the magazine…
“For Noè and myself, it was our first time in Mexico, and upon arrival, we both quickly succumbed to the allure of Baja’s deliciously affordable Mexican cuisine and local hospitality, and were further dumbfounded by the fields of cacti that covered the sandy desert mountains, spanning as far as the eye could see.”
Xander Raith goes back to kiteboarding's “boardsport” roots with a trip to the park-riding nirvana that is La Ventana in Mexico. Noè Font and Colleen Carroll join him in the desert…
“Friends ask me why I travel so much, and the answer is that this is how I charge my batteries. I love it and every time I get back to my van, which is like a five star hotel for me, I just want to start a new trip exploring with my kite and sledge.”
Kari Schibevaag doesn't need much to find big adventures… With her overseas travel plans on hold, she loaded her little red van with kites and headed into the wild wilderness of Norway with her dog, Truls.
“Nadja and I set off to the Baja Coast to explore some new spots to camp and surf. We got lost on the way as the sun was setting and ended up at an empty remote beach. Just as we were about to turn around, a whale breached right next to shore in front of the setting sun, and it made the accidental detour feel like the best mistake ever.”
Jack Rieder didn't just get his freestyle fix while on a visit to La Ventana. Foiling, winging, Big Air and plenty of natural spectaculars also made this trip one he'll never forget…
“Riders like Ian Alldredge had seen what the first generation such as Peter Trow and all the guys in the videos had come up with, and ran with it. It was as if our little spot was a flashpoint in the sport. Little did I know that I would be along for the ride for the better part of two decades, as a kiter and more importantly as a photographer, writer, and in some ways an architect of wave kiting.”
There is no question that Jason Wolcott has been fundamental to the documenting and even the direction that wave kiting has taken since its early beginnings. For a special Gallery section this issue, he takes us through his extensive back catalog of bangers…
“Being fit is one thing, but being able to do all the technical kite tricks is another. I personally like to be in good shape and to feel strong and fit; it helps me be more focused and have more strength for training new tricks. I am basically training to be ready for a big crash or impact.”
No King of the Air this year doesn't mean that we don't have plenty of Grade A content from the Big Air capital in this issue. Stig Hoefnagel was ready for the biggest event in the Big Air calendar when it got pulled. After making the most of what Cape Town has to offer, he was ready to get back at it when restrictions were lifted…
“In season, I usually do a detailed forecast check every few days, and finally, out of the blue a cold front was barreling toward us from the South Pole! The time was right and the wind was coming; now it was up to me to be prepared for the storm.”
Up and comer Camdyn Kellett heads for some remote coastal corners of South Africa with father and photographer Andrew to make the most of some barreling southern hemi low pressure fronts…
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