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The Ride Engine Carbon Elite is the stiffest most supportive harness I'm aware of beyond the Hadlow ion harness.  I meant to do a review on this when the lineup first dropped but time got the best of me on that one. Six months later, I had the chance to swap out my Ride Engine Saber harness for the Carbon Elite, these are the differences I noticed.  Why I love the Carbon Elite The Carbon Elite has the same plush padding that drew me to Ride Engine in the first place. The backplate …

Hey everybody, welcome back to MACkiteboarding's Wing Wednesdays. I'm Tucker and today we're going to talk you through the new Duotone Slick Wing foil wing. I've been testing the 5.0 out here for a few weeks. I'm really excited about this wing. There's something unique about it in the market and lots of people are anxiously anticipating this wing. So we'll get you in there, give you the what's-to-know about this wing, and then get into what we thought about it and a bit of a personal review …

The slingshot Crisis is a mid-range / entry level twintip kiteboard from Slingshot. In my experience, the board rides similarly to other boards in this category: it has a medium flex, mild rocker and takes the middle of the road in every aspect. It's aimed at new kiteboarders, but has some performance that experienced riders would appreciate. The board has a wood core and lacks upgrade features like channels or carbon stringers. It doesn't have as much pop as, say, a freestyle kiteboard …

In my opinion, Chris Bobryk is one of the most underrated freestyle riders in the USA. Yes, I'm biased as we've been friends for a long time. That said, the proof is in his riding. A decade ago he was the last real potential candidate from the USA in the PKRA. He's invented several never-been-done-before tricks, known as NBDs, and he's single-handedly pioneered what we like to call "back country park riding". This includes things like grinding logs, beaches, and more or less interacting wi …

Surf foiling has been on my radar for a while now. I took the winter to work on my surfing skills so I could get into some rolling waves on less than ideal days. I learned a lot from Ewan and he actually changed the way I might approach picking a wing setup. Recently, the novelty of pumping and connecting waves has caught everyone's attention. Riding high aspect foils is a great way to make this process easier to learn, but it can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, you can pump and …

Choosing a wetsuit can be as easy or complicated as you like. Last fall I did a video on choosing one for a colder climate. I covered my strategy, the pros and cons of different thicknesses, and how to pick if you are on a budget. Having spent a winter living in Florida, I wanted to share my thoughts on the best way to stay warm and save a buck if you need to. Now, obviously, if you live somewhere very tropical, a Neo top is all you will need! If you're somewhere like Florida with some fluct …

The Cabrinha Switchblade has been around longer than most have been kiteboarding. It went though a good deal of research and design up until about 2016. Built by legendary designer Pat Goodman, it's still one of the best kites out there, in my opinion. The past 5 years have seen a huge change in the market. Riders demand lighter, faster kites aimed at big air. The thing is, for some, the Switchblade is still an amazing choice. It's not the fastest kite—it's not the lightest kite. It is …

Kiteboarding is amazing because it's so accessible to just about everyone. Now, if you want to take your kiting to another level, learn new tricks, ride longer, rider harder, and have less chance of injury, you need to consider fitness.We've had a few requests for some videos on this topic, particularly on how to tailor your training towards a specific discipline. In my opinion, the best training program is the one you will stick to. Ideally, it would be a well thought out program designed …

The Eleveight OS is another one-strut option designed for foil enthusiasts and light wind waveriders. The simple design is fast and, like all one-strut kites, it's extremely lightweight. The swept wing tips are designed to relaunch in light wind as well. This is a bit of a must for light wind hydrofoilers pushing threshold winds to the limit. My least favorite aspect of foiling, personally, is swimming back. On the Hydrofoil The OS is drifty, fast and powerful. The range is quite good fo …

The Formula V1 kiteboard is an exciting addition to Slingshot's lineup. Their kiteboards have long been known to be heavy duty and provide a distinct damp feel on the water. The Formula couldn't be further from the rest of their kiteboards: extremely light and snappy with a race car like feel. The Formula V1 is a completely different animal. A Kiteboard with Speed and Snap The Formula V1 kiteboard is so snappy and poppy you just want to jump as soon as it hits the water. I hate making …

The Slingshot Asylum is the board I was using when I first started progressing in kiteboarding. If you watch older reviews, you know I used to rave on Slingshot kiteboards. In recent years I've branched out and covered many other brands, but I always seem to come back to Slingshot. They have been making kiteboards and wakeboards for over 20 years! Needless to say, they know how to build them properly. The Asylum is a freestyle board in the range, but that shouldn't scare big air riders or …

The Contra One Strut is a new kite for 2021. I find it funny that Cabrinha chose the name Contra as this kite feels quite different from the original 3-strut light wind specific Contra kite. The Contra One Strut feels and performs like most one strut kites with the typical Cabrinha bar feel. It's fast, pivotal, and simple. The one area where I found the Contra One Strut stands out is its stability and high wind performance. I had heard the kite was actually fun and performance-minded in s …

Five mantras you can use to optimize your time where it matters most. I woke up this morning and made a hot cup of coffee. While sipping it slowly in the warm glow of my sunroom, I began to reflect on question I get regularly from my good friends, ““How do you continue to balance your time between family and work, and still ride as much as you do?” The idea of balancing my work passions with my life passions is something I work hard to achieve. To give you a little context, I am a ADHD Gen. X …

We're kicking off a new series about why we love wing foiling. We'll get a conversation going and talk about wing foiling and share unique stories as to what sets the sport apart. For this first video, I wanted to talk about accessibility. You can set up a wing and ride on any body of water with almost any type of conditions, from terrible, gusty wind to light wind, or rising wind and big waves. This has opened up a new world of exploring for me and expanded my water time exponentially. I've go …

The  Flysurfer Mojo Wing is FlySurfer’s first wing, and man—they knocked it out of the park. I used a 5.2m wing in conditions varying from 10 knots to 35. Flatwater and surf. The first thing to talk about is the colors. I am personally a big fan of the blue with the orange accents. It is a sexy look, and identifiable from a long distance. Flysurfer has always done well with the colors. Your friends and family will instantly know which wing is you. The next would be th …