Latest News, Blog & Videos

Beginner Kiteboarding Lesson: Crash and Relaunch Your Kite In critical situations, it can be necessary to use the quick release on your kite. In doing so, your kite will remain connected to your harness via one line, and most of the kite’s power will be lost. To open the release, let go of the bar and push the quick-release mechanism away from you. In doing so, your kite will fall into the water and waiver in the wind. Once you're ready, you'll need to prepare your gear for relaunch. Hold …

Beginner Kiteboarding Lesson: Relaunching Your 5th Line Kite The 5th-line makes it easy to relaunch your kite, especially in low wind, when it is relied on to get your kite into the air. If you lose hold of your bar when riding unhooked, hold on your safety line and hook back into your chicken loop. Now pull the fifth line until the kite starts to flip over. Before it flips completely, grab the bar floater on the upper side and pull it towards you. As you do this, the kite will start to mov …

Beginner Kiteboarding Lesson: Relaunch a 4-Line Kite Learn how to relaunch your kite in shallow water first, as this will make it easy when you're swimming in deeper waters. When your kite drops into the water, let go of the bar, untwist the lines, and check that your bar is the correct way around by using the color code. Now you're ready to relaunch. Pull gently on the floater to initiate the kites movement to the edge of the wind window. Once the kite is there, grab the bar and pull on th …

The Chris Bobryk interview, Today, we are flying over to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and heading over to Miami. Palm trees, sunshine, and blue skies... what's not to love?! We're going to check in with Chris Bobryk and get some tips on how to stay fit and in good shape as a kiter! He'll tell us a bit about how to stay healthy, prevent injury, and recover if you do find yourself injured. But first, it's time to slow down and relax. It was a hectic week in Las Vegas and LA, and a day of downtime, a …

Mission “Kiteboard 4 Cancer empowers individuals to harness the power of wind and water to benefit lives affected by cancer.” That mission statement is brought to life by kiteboarders from all over the world as they descend upon Hood River, Oregon each year in support of this cause. As described, this 10th Annual Kiteboard 4 Cancer event is “Part kite festival, part chaos, ALL FUN.” After speaking with several participants from previous years, one thing becomes apparent&m …

Five steps to better kite control. Hey guys, today I want to talk about five things you can do to dramatically improve your kite skills. After all, kiteboarding is mostly about flying a kite. I mean, kites have been around for thousands of years. Most people can have fun flying a small kite on a string. We have these amazing highly engineered tools that propel us across the water and into the sky. So it goes with out saying you need to spend a lot of time flying your kite and frankly just have …

In this weeks episode I’ll be going to my sisters bachelorette party in vegas, then I’ll be making my way to interview my good friend Kara Mulder. Kara is a kiteboarder, the author of the flight attendant life and a digital nomad like myself. She has some amazing insights behind the community to be found in kiteboarding and travel. Before we get into the rules: A quick reminder, like driving it's always your responsibility to avoid a collision, even if you have the right of way. Yo …

Haey, Laay-deeez! In the spirit of encouraging women kiteboarders to jump their absolute highest, WOO has initiated their “Global Women’s Boost Off”. Participation is easy—just log your WOO Kite sessions and be sure to use the new gender filter to weed out those pesky dudes. From June 1st through July 31st, WOO will be tracking women’s progress and look for those ladies who are jumping the highest and for those who have accumulated the most in total jump height. Si …

The relaunch is one of the most important steps in learning how to kiteboard. After all, if you can't get your kite out of the water you're not going to get very far in the sport. One of the biggest concerns people face in the early stages is the fear of the unknown.  What happens if I crash?  How do I get back in if I drop my kite? Will the kite keep pulling me if I drop it?  To counter these fears, I recommend starting small. You need to practice your relaunch on the beach, …

How to Jump Higher Kiteboarding - Ride with Blake: Vlog 17 So you can jump, that's great! Now, you're wondering how to get more air. In this episode, Blake has 5 tips that will take you to the moon and back! So here it is, five steps for you on how to jump higher with your kiteboard. Step one: Have good board speed, a lot of people think that being overpowered will make the jump higher but that’s a common misconception. If you have to much power, you will get a lot of lateral jumps but no …

The “New Foil Guy” 3rd Session / June 20th, 2017 It’s been a month since I’ve gone foiling—my bad. We’ve had an unseasonably windy spring, with much more time in the surf than usual. I make no apologies—riding in the surf will always win over everything else for me. With that said, I did have a great session on the 30” mast this last time out. Part of me wonders if that will be the longest mast I’ll need as I only plan on kite foiling in ligh …

Frances Osorio Rivera is many things. In the mosh-pit of life, she’s one of those people right smack dab in the middle of it. Screaming, yelling, laughing her ass off—and making sure you do too. She will not take one ounce of crap from anyone. Ever. And I would advise against crossing her—she’ll cut ya. Ha! Only kidding. Mostly. Frances is positive and determined. When you first meet her, you can see a depth in her eyes that suggest she can do absolutely whatever she put …

New kiteboarding locations can be intimidating. In this Vlog I'll be covering how to assess a new spot, as well as a few important reminders. These tips will be especially helpful if you're traveling to a location like Hood River, OR. A busy month  Speaking of the Hood, I've spent the last few weeks wrapping up some work in the Pacific North West. From Seattle to Squamish back down to Hood River. It's been eventful to say the least. Fortunately, I was able to get some time on the water my …

The Mystic Majestic X Wave Harness - A Review There’s a lot of hype in the market about hard-shell kiteboarding harnesses. And for good reason—they work amazingly well. This morning I had a go on the 2017 Mystic Majestic X Wave Harness while kiteboarding. Normally, I wouldn’t have strayed from my previously favorite harness brand, but one of the guys here at the shop talked me into it. I wear a size 34 in pants and shorts and would have normally opted for a size large har …

How to Ride Upwind in Light Wind - Ride with Blake: Vlog 16 For some, riding in light winds can be a little challenging. How can you ride upwind? Blake goes through the "Blake Necessities" on how to ride in lighter winds. 1. Get a big board or a foil Look for something flatter with little rocker. Good suggestions are the North Spike, Cabrinha Stylus, or Liquid Force Overdrive. 2. Shorten the wind window in strong winds - keep within the power zone 3. Perform S-turns with the kit …