Kiteworld Magazine | The original international kitesurfing magazine

INTRO – A new weekly whip round of news and views from the other side of this website, by editor, Jim Gaunt

WEEKLY – 6TH OCTOBER 2020

The window of opportunity had arrived mid-Sunday afternoon. Jobs done, the parenting baton handed over. The rain lashed down but the local weather website was showing a steadier 30 – 33 knots rather than the heftier 40+ being administered before lunch.

I quickly threw a six metre, an eight and surfboard into the van, pulled the suit on in the house and reached for the boots. Yes, it’s got to that time already! And hood!

I’m conscious of staying super positive. So many people are far worse off than me at the moment. Up north, people have been under much stricter lockdown restrictions than we are subject to here on the UK’s south coast, not to mention the impending job losses and illness. So, come whatever weather, I’m up for it!

The seemingly early onset of winter can’t dampen my spirits. That wet session was one of my best of the year! Driving rain at times aside, the waves at my home spot were as good as I can remember and the wind remained perched nicely at 30 knots, perfect for the six.

But the bit I was most pleased with was remembering how good riding strapless is with rubber boots. Especially ones with sticky soles which mine seem to have! Pro riders get penalised for such advantages. And quite right too! How my (probably tiny) airs felt newly epic.

Ocean Rodeo pro Reece Myerscough wears boots whatever the weather, and look how he rips! / Photo: Gabriele Rumbolo

If, like me, you have ever felt that your riding is compromised by having to ride in boots, then have a think about trying some strapless surfboard or foil riding rather than a twin-tip. It’s a real secret sauce element and if you can find some boots with quite thin rubber soles, they also won’t take too much away from your connection with the board.

Gloves are another matter. I don’t know anyone that likes riding in gloves… but I’m going to try to find a positive aspect when that time comes… hopefully not until at least late November, though!

GIFT AND ACCESSORIES GUIDE IS IN THE WORKS!

On that note, we’re working on our now annual Gift and Accessories Guide that will be freely available through our new magazine platform in early November. We have three issues on there now, including a 100% test issue.

Dive into the latest issue here if you haven’t already… and here’s a video to help you navigate the platform.

Also look out for a special bi-annual Winter print issue launching in November too. Put your order in here, or check out our T-shirts.

GKA DISTANCE BATTLE: ENTER THE FREESTYLERS

If you didn’t catch last week’s three evening (8pm CET) livestreams of the GKA first virtual kiteboarding competition which saw eight men and six women battle through strapless freestyle heats, you missed out on rare international 2020 action. Pedro Matos and Capucine Delannoy eventually won the competition that saw each rider shoot a series of five minute heats at their home spots which were then judged in heats against another rider. All the action is packed in, back-to-back, so you’re straight to the meaty bits.

Catch up on Sunday’s strapless freestyle final here:

We’re not sure how much of a future there is for it, but it’s all packed into a tight hour’s stream (Australian connection issues aside!), hosted by the ever upbeat Jo Ciastula and includes live interviews with riders from their homes as the scores come in.

This week some of the world’s best freestylers are up, starting Tuesday. Find the schedule lower down on this page.

LOOKING FOR LIGHT WIND TIPS?

This was the technique video of the week last week, from Damien Leroy:

But you should also watch this video from Damien’s channel, profiling Harry Andrews, a 67 year-old ripper from Jupiter, Florida!

SLINGSHOT FALL 2021 RANGE LAUNCH

Last week brought news of Slingshot’s fall / autumn release of several surfboards, V2 of the Rally GT kite, a handful of twin-tip upgrades, including an all-new Super Natural and a three Phantasm carbon hydrofoil packages.

Here’s the new Asylum video, which interestingly now totally features Sam Light in footstraps. Tweakin’…

Hop to more details here.

Mad for more Sam Light action? Check his vlog from Cornwall where he sent it with the UK Crew during Storm Francis!

ELEVEIGHT MASTER PRODUCT VIDEO

We have the full review of the Eleveight Master 136 in our new issue that you can read now, here. We can’t rate Eleveight‘s gear highly enough. All business, no nonsense, easy and capable, this detailed video dropped last week.