Slingshot kiteboarding was created in 1999 by brothers Jeff and Tony Logosz. The pair had been keeping an interested eye on early forms of kiteboarding through the nineties, watching Corey Roesler race on his kite ski contraption in the Gorge, and Laird Hamilton cruise in the waters of Maui. While both fascinating to watch, in each scenario both riders were merely cruising downwind, making the sport unmarketable to the majority of people. Then, in 1998 the brothers caught a glimpse of Lou Wainman out in Hawaii, managing not only to stay upwind but perform tricks that would take the kiteboarding industry years to come to fully adopt. As Tony by this point had already formed a business creating custom kiteboards, a greater expansion into kiteboarding wouldn’t prove difficult. Not wanting to compete with Tony’s existing venture however, the two brothers founded Slingshot with the intention of focusing exclusively on kiteboarding gear.
Slingshot kiteboarding had an early advantage on many other companies, as many manufactured both windsurfing and kiteboarding gear, and therefore had to remain accountable to both markets. Slingshot’s attentiveness to the kitesurfing industry allowed them to channel research and development funds exclusively into kiteboarding gear innovation. Slingshot Kiteboarding combined this with an aggressive design philosophy, peppering their kites with flame graphics in an industry where kitesurfing kites were traditionally bland. Their first full size offering was the Stealth, which proved disastrous in terms of construction and performance. From this however, Slingshot realized that to be an industry leader, they needed to focus heavily on quality and customer experience, a philosophy which is traceable in their kitesurfing kites and kiteboards today.
With the continued success and subsequent expansion of their kiteboarding line, Slingshot Kiteboarding began expanding into wakeboarding, repurposing many of the board innovations they created in the kiteboarding industry. Their core focus however remains in kiteboarding, propelling the industry forward both in terms of product construction and innovation.
