Aaron Hadlow Interview: Inspiration Behind the Hadlow Pro & Descent

The Brazilian Brothers met up with freestyle legend Aaron Hadlow in Taiba, Brazil, for a special release from Aaron and Harlem. Harlem has just come out with the Hadlow Pro kite and the Descent board, and Aaron shares the inspiration and motivation behind these new products and what makes them stand out in the current freestyle market.

Inspiration and Motivation

Freestyle has given Aaron so much over the years. That's how he built his whole career — riding and progressing on C-kites early on and doing all the handle passes. It's a big part of his journey in kiteboarding.

Now with Big Air taking the forefront of the sport, Aaron felt it was a great opportunity and a great time to work with Harlem to bring back the Hadlow Pro C-kite. He wanted to give freestyle that little bit of a boost he thinks it needs. He's had it on the back burner for the last few years, and he's missed it so much. To finally have the full package with the board, the bar, and the kite, and to get back on the water in the lagoons in Brazil where it all started, has been insane and so much fun.

The Hadlow Pro Kite

The C-kite is a smaller market nowadays, but Harlem has new technologies at Brainchild — the factory they work with — to bring into the C-kite. Aaron felt it was time to upgrade the C-kite with new technologies and bring something different to the market. The kite features a welded leading edge, which is consistent with Harlem's other kites. This gives the C-kite the rigidity you need. Harlem is still using Dacron material, which is soft and damped, which is needed to ride the gusts and create that slack you need to do your tricks.

Harlem also developed a new canopy material specifically for this kite. It's lighter weight but also soft, which is something you really want with a C-kite to absorb the gusts. When you really put the load through it, it flexes in a way that gives you that slack for your tricks.

The main thing you notice is the agility because of the weight saving. The kite is so much lighter than any other C-kite Aaron has ridden before. In light winds and on the low end, that gives you really good apparent speed. The ability to turn the kite has a different feeling now because of the way it is built. It's a fifth-line C-kite, and Aaron is really happy with how it's working.

The Descent Board

Harlem always tries to combine the board with the kite to create the ultimate package. You want a board that is delivering the pop and the feeling you need to maximize the kite's potential. With the Descent, it's quick planing but still has plenty of rocker.

Harlem thickened up the core of this board to reduce reverse flex. It's still based somewhat on the Ascent in terms of the shape and the mold, but the philosophy is different. It's very stiff in the center, even more so than the Ascent, but Harlem keeps those flexible tips. They use carbon in the middle, and it tapers out to glass fiber on the tips, giving you ultimate control on takeoff. With the amount of load you put through this board, you need to be precise on the release point of your pop. This board carves hard into the wind so you can load it up.

The landings are also very smooth thanks to the channel system. Freestyle is hard on the body and the knees, but Harlem tried to make it as smooth as possible with this setup: the extra rocker and the channels to make for easy landings. It looks sick with the blue and purple design, and it's built to handle the aggressive riding that comes with handle passes and boots.

The Future of Freestyle

Big Air has a lot of hype right now with King of the Air and all the competitions, and the sport naturally goes in its own direction. However, Aaron hopes projects like this can get younger kids into freestyle to learn those skills from an early age. He still thinks freestyle handlepass skills are a great base and fundamental to learn, even if you're progressing into other disciplines. It teaches you board skills, kite control, and how to handle power and be aggressive. Aaron hopes seeing the top guys throwing down gets people excited and inspires them to get back into doing some handle passes.

Final Thoughts

It's been a minute since C-kites had a moment in the spotlight, but with Aaron Hadlow back behind the wheel and Harlem putting their latest tech into the build, the Hadlow Pro feels like exactly the spark freestyle needed. Pair it with the Descent — stiff where it counts, flexible where it matters, and dialed for those handle pass landings — and you've got a setup that's ready to throw down in the lagoons or anywhere else flat water meets steady wind.

Whether you're a longtime freestyle rider stoked to see the discipline get some love again, or you're newer to the sport and curious about where handle passes can take your riding, this combo is built to grow with you. We're pumped to see what comes next — and if it gets a new generation of riders chasing kite loops, that's a win for the whole sport.

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