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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 …

Pat: This is Pat with MACkiteboarding.com here this morning with Brendan Healy from Cabrinha. Brendan: Good to be here. Thanks for having me, man. Pat: No problem, Brendan. So you came from a background of sailing, right? Is that how you got into wind sports? Brendan: Yeah, exactly. I grew up in Annapolis, Maryland. The Chesapeake Bay is almost like an inland body of water, more or less, so there are no real waves of any kind, and the breeze is pretty frontal. I grew up sailing; it's a …

This is Aaron from MACkite with Ben from Duotone. I was asking Ben about some of the overlap within the Duotone kite product line. Aaron: I've been a fan of both the Neo and the Dice because of their surf characteristics, and I started thinking how, within the entire line of kites, there is some functional overlap between the different models. What are your thoughts on the design process behind that and how those design concepts come into play? Ben: We do have quite the lineup of kite …

  Fred Hope is among the most talented kite foilers we've ever seen. He's also a Product Test Administrator for Slingshot Sports, in Hood River, Oregon.  This offseason, he'll be traveling between Barbuda, in the Caribbean and the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. Along with kite foiling, Fred is an amazing freeride kiteboarder, kitesurfer, and wing foiler. The Fred Hope Interview - Kite Foiling, Wing Foiling and Traveling Pat: This is Pat with MACkiteboarding.com, here with Fred Hope. What …

Hey, what's up guys? I'm Rygo. I'm Sensi. And today we're going to do another interview, and we're going to chat with Sensei Graves here. So it's been kind of a big year for you, a lot of change, a lot of things happening. You just got onto Slingshot. Do you mind sharing about that experience? Represent, yes! I actually was on Liquid Force for eight years prior to this. They went out of business, I broke my wrist shortly thereafter, and so I wasn't stressed at all about finding a new sponsor b …

Rygo: Hey, what's up guys? I'm Rygo.Evan: Evan Netsch here. And today we're going to do another rider profile. We're going to going to get to know Evan who's been a kiteboarder for what, like 10 years now I think? Maybe longer? Twenty. Twenty years. Okay, so you started when you were a kid. I'm older now, yeah. I'm 31 now. It's not that old. But yeah, Evan's an absolute ripper, somebody that I've known about for a long time. I've known him for a few years now and we're going to do some …

An interview with Evan on his choice boards! The Cabrinha Xcaliber, one's carbon, one's wood. Depending on the day, depending on what I'm doing, I'd use either one of these as my go-to boards from Cabrinha.  What are the major differences when you go for a wood board or a carbon board, and why might you choose one?  The main difference is the wood board's going to be a little bit of a smoother ride. It's going to be a little bit flexier, cut through chop a little bit better, …

When I first started kiting, unhooked freestyle and strapless surf were king. Athletes were pushing the sport forward at an incredible pace. We started to wonder what it would be like if athletes from other sports took notice. Would world-class surfers pick up a kite? What about wakeboarders or snowboarders? As things panned out, some did but never quite on the level we hoped for. Tye is the rare example of a pro crossing over from another sport and excelling at kite. The only other pro snowboar …

When I first started kiting, unhooked freestyle and strapless surf were king. Athletes were pushing the sport forward at an incredible pace. We started to wonder what it would be like if athletes from other sports took notice. Would world class surfers pick up a kite? What about wakeboarders or snowboarders? As things panned out, some did, but never quite on the level we hoped for. Tye is the rare example of a pro crossing over from another sport and excelling at kite. The only other pro snowbo …

Chris Bobryk is a Slingshot Rider and a former member of the NA Blend, the 2nd wave of wakestyle riders in the USA. In 2019 he's joining the MACkite team moving forward. You'll be seeing a lot more of him in future episodes. Follow the adventure on social: #ChrisBobryk Sponsors: Slingshot, Soflo, Brunati, MACkite Check out Chris' gear Gear Talk Chris's Kites: The RPM The RPM is one of the most unique kites available. Technically, it's an all-around kite. It has a good wind range and the rel …

Last time on Sessions, we were exploring Taiba, a small fishing village in the northeast of Brazil. We caught up with a couple riders to chat about gear. First we linked up with Lucas Arsenault from Cabrinha to chat about his transition from the  Chaos to the FX. We also did a bit of filming with Machu Lopes of Duotone. You can read up on their gear and catch their rider segments in part one. After spending a week riding and filming at the local lagoon, it was time to head south to the ki …

The Cabrinha Chaos vs. the FX The Cabrinha Chaos vs. the FX The northeast of Brazil has long been a destination for freestyle kiteboarders chasing perfect wind, flat water and warmer temperatures. It's just one of those locations where conditions always deliver. While it's not the easiest place to visit, it's well worth the effort. I've always had fond memories of Taiba as it's where I got my start with video and kiteboarding. Back in 2012 I left my career to help my good friend Chris Bobry …

Tucker Interviews MHL's Co-Founder & Head Engineer Nick Leason Hey Nick, Thanks for taking the time to talk with us today! No worries. Let's jump right into this. When did MHL start? We started in 2010. And when did you get on the Hydrofoil train? How did we get on the train…. The first composite foil out there for a commercial market was the Carafino. I met Carafino in 2008 and fell in love with hydrofoiling. I started learning and working on my own gear right away. It turn …

Tucker Talks Foils with Slingshot's Tony Logosz When was Slingshot founded? Slingshot was originally founded in 1999. Started in ‘95 and officially launched in ’99. So going on 18 years-ish. Wow, that is basically the entire lifespan of kiteboarding. When did you start to see Hydrofoil's becoming part of the sports Slingshot represents? When did you start designing your own products for that purpose? We were influenced by the original kite-skiing that started here in the Columbia Go …

Surf Hydrofoiling Video w/ Legendary Surfer "Twiggy" Okay, who does not enjoy watching kiting and surfing professionals out in the big blue, ripping it up? But,what do you do when there is no wind? Or, when there are no major waves? Enter surf hydrofoiling, a revolution in the foiling game and it is rocking the worlds of even the most legendary surfers, like Grant "Twiggy" Baker. F-One has set up Twiggy with a hydrofoiling set up, so he has the best of all watersport worlds.  "Foilin …