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Today we are talking about choosing your first kiteboard. I'm going to go through what I think the best flow is, then I'm going to delve a little bit into the philosophy, and finally we're going to figure out which is the right direction for you.Start with a Basic Board and Upgrade as You ProgressGenerally, I think the best way to get started is to pick a very big and basic board. You don't need a lot of bells and whistles while you're figuring out how to water start, ride, do your first up …

Aaron at MACkite- let's talk about the Cabrinha dealer meeting in Mexico! We had an amazing trip down to Isla Blanca, Mexico, which is just north of Cancun. Our hopes were to ride and demo and give you guys some good insight into everything that is 03 Cabrinha. The weather was beautiful, but the wind was light and very onshore. There were lots of people foiling and winging, and some of the lighter riders were definitely getting out and winging on a regular basis. Cabrinha's got a little …

Welcome back to MACkite! This is Jake and Dustin, and today we have some new Waydoo accessories. We're going to give you our first impressions with the new Waydoo Gliding wing and folding prop.Jake: We just got them in and we've been waiting a long time for these, so we were super excited. There's just one issue: it's currently winter here in Michigan, and although the lake is not frozen over, which is epic, it's about half a degree above freezing. We sent Pat and Dustin out to try these …

Blake from MACkite here on my way to Buffalo, which does not seem like the best idea. I had already planned it and had my whole trip booked, and then there's this catastrophic blizzard of the century that just hit. My heart goes out to everyone that had to go through that over there at Christmas break, and all the lives lost. So, so sad and tragic. I can't imagine having something like that happen over the holidays. I was going to go home to Key West, but I got this great opportunity to go w …

Today we're going to have a look at the new Cabrinha Mantis v3 and Vision v1. These are two of the wings from Cabrinha for 2023, so there's some exciting stuff out there with the Vision being a new model in their lineup and the Mantis continuing its legacy as their standout wave freeride wing. I'm going to give you a quick review on these, how they differ, how they're the same, and which one might be right for you.Wing Features The outlines are very similar. They're both 5 meter sizes, a …

Aaron from MACkite is on the beach at King of the Great Lakes with Ben from Duotone to find out what makes the Evo SLS such a popular kite. Aaron: Why is the Evo SLS Duotone's best-selling kite? What's the magic sauce there? Ben: The Evo has always been the all-rounder kite in our lineup. It does everything great. It's not spectacular at one specific thing, but you can do everything on it. You can unhook on it, it's great for jumping, it does boost--not as good as the Rebel--but it's us …

Welcome back to MACkite. This is Jake, and today we are talking about whether it's better to learn in lighter winds or heavier winds. Of course, this is just my personal experience and, being here in Michigan, we probably experience more light winds than heavy winds, so that's going to impact my answer slightly.My personal thought is that light wind is a better environment for learning to kite. I think it's probably easier to learn in heavier winds, but that doesn't necessarily translate t …

This is Jake from MACkiteboarding, and today we're going to do a topic I discuss every couple years because, as technology progresses, I think it makes sense to revisit it, and that is whether purchasing used gear is a good way to get into the sport of kiteboarding. We probably need to have a discussion on winging as well since that is evolving and changing so much, but here we're focusing on kiteboarding, and the answer to that is yes... and no. It really depends on where the gear is …

Hey, what's up guys? Blake from MACkite here, headed to Half Moon Bay in Antigua to go link up with Tiger Tyson, an amazing guy. He's a young 20-year-old Olympic athlete. He's training to go to the Worlds, and we're going to go kite together and have some fun at his house in his backyard at Half Moon Bay. I'm here at Half Moon Bay in Antigua with Tiger and his dad. They're out there right now. His dad's towing him behind him on a foil and having a good time, so I'm going to go out and follow …

Pat: This is Pat with MACkiteboarding.com and we're with Sam Medysky today. We're going to catch up and get a little bit of background about him.Sam: How's it going, guys?Pat: All right, Sam. So you grew up on Lake Huron, right? How was that growing up? I know you were influenced a lot by your dad being a windsurfer back in the day, so wind sports are kind of second nature to you.Sam: Yeah, when I was growing up my parents had a summer cottage on Lake Huron in Sauble Beach, so I'd spend my …

Pat: This is Pat with MACkiteboarding.com here with Nick Baines.Nick: Hey guys. I'm Nick Baines here with Reedin USA in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.Pat: So Nick, how did you end up getting into kiteboarding?Nick: I got into kiteboarding when I was 13 years old. My uncle, who is based in Saint Croix, sent me a trainer kite. I flew that thing religiously for a full year and then purchased my first kite, a 2002 Slingshot Fuel. I took it out to the beach and learned how to fly the kite a …

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to MACkiteboarding. This is Jake, and today I have the new 2023 North Flex LX footpads.Another footpad review, you might be asking? Yes, but these are super, super cool. It goes without saying that I really like the two strap zonal adjustment footstraps. I'm kind of a simp for the Duotone Entity straps. The issue with those is that the hole spacing leaves them incompatible with most boards on the market. They're sized to have a seven-inch spacing, while most …

Welcome back to MACkiteboarding Wing Wednesdays. I'm Tucker, and today I'm going to give you a quick review on the new North Nova version 3 for 2023. I've been riding this wing for a few weeks now and getting a good feel for it, so I'll go over it and compare it to some similar wings out there on the market to see how it stacks up. What Is the Nova v3? The North Nova v3 is a complete redesign of the Nova, and they did an excellent job of bringing it into 2023, in terms of where wings are …

Kristen here! Ryan and I are on our way down to the Keys. We just left St. Pete, where we've been having a blast riding with the local crew and hanging out with our friends there. But this week they're not predicting any wind, so we checked the forecast for the Keys and it looks epic there. So we're hitting the road and are going to go hang out with the crew down there and get some kiting in, and we're so stoked for that. It's been a year since we've been there, so we're super excited to …

Welcome back to MACkite. This is Jake, and today we are answering the question about whether you should take a lesson before getting into kiteboarding. Honestly, I think the answer is "yes", but I'm going to talk a little bit about my personal experience, why I think that answer is yes, and I'll also go over the steps that you should take to have a safe and successful kiteboarding journey if you don't take a lesson.My Experience When Learning to KiteboardTo be honest, when I got started wit …