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Out on the water riding, the experience, how the wing delivers power, what kind of power it has, what it's best suited for, how the stability is, how intuitive the wing is... I think that's really what makes a phenomenal wing and makes one stand out from another. Because there are so many in the industry now, it can be hard to pick. The Strike v1 made a name for itself by having that lift. It wanted to lift you off your feet, drag you downwind, and create that momentum immediately. It's …

Being a cooler than typical winter here in Michigan, I’ve been jonesing for a session far too long. Fresh new goodies were just sitting unused like a pile of visible regrets. After hunting for weeks for an opening in the ice, I was finally blessed with a pool which was large enough to ride in. Furthermore, the weather was actually nice at 40 deg air, 34 deg water, and sunshine. I’ll have some more formal video reviews coming in the next few weeks but wanted to get the info out ASAP for those …

The 2022 Duotone Neo SLS and Dice SLS are two very amazing kites, and they’re both a lot of fun for kitesurfing in waves. Yes, they are very different in design and have different strengths and weaknesses. Here are some of our thoughts regarding:  Overall power Turning speed Upwind ability Downwind drift Downloop transitions Relaunch The Duotone Neo SLS is More Powerful. When it comes to overall kite power, the Neo SLS is the winner. I have yet to find a wave kite th …

Hey guys, welcome back. This is Jake with MACkite. Today's At a Glance video is going to be some vest fitment. So when you're buying an impact flotation vest, every manufacturer varies slightly and they tend to fit pretty tightly, so I'm going to go through and show you how some different vests fit on me. We're going to start with the Mystic Block vest. This is a very basic vest but also super functional. Just to overview real quickly, a reason you'd go with some of these vests is threefol …

Hey everyone, I'm Evan Netsch. We're here in Hatteras, North Carolina. I want to give you a quick run-through on the two Cabrinha loop options that we offer. We have our traditional Quick Loop and we have the newer modular and both of these, I think, have their specific purposes for yourself as a rider depending on your riding style and your preferences.  So real quick, let's just get into the breakdown of the differences between these two and and who might enjoy different aspects …

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, …

After filming this video, I realized how biased I was towards surf kites. I want to put it out there that I do have a 10m Airush Ultra I use specifically for foiling & I love it. I have wave kites for waves and so on. I'm a believer in using the right tool for the job. That said, many videos I make are from the perspective of working on a budget and trying to decide on kites. Not everyone can have more than there standard quiver and its important to think about what you want from your gea …

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 …

One of the most common requests I get is to compare the Cabrinha Moto vs. the Duotone Evo. I was always hesitant to do this comparison because, while there are overlapping elements, these kites are aimed at different disciplines and different kitesurfers. Like the Evo, the Moto is Cabrinha's all-around, 3-strut freeride kite. Where it differs is that it was designed for the waves and hydrofoiling. This means the Moto is going to have some wave characteristics. For example, the Moto ha …

The Orbit and the Reach are two offerings from North Kiteboarding. One's a big air specialty kite and the other is an all-around kite. The North Orbit 2021 North Orbit Let's start with the Orbit. This is a five-strut big air specialty kite. The Orbit implements a two-stage arc in the canopy. This means the top of the kite is flat to help with a hanglider-floaty feel. The wingtips are curved so the kite turns faster than it should. This makes the kite exceptional at kite loops. It's designed t …

Recently I was tasked with reviewing the ocean Rodeo Flite Aluula 17m. The kite flew so different that it really got me thinking about how different size kites fly and what I’ve come to expect over the years. For this blog, I’ll break down the general characteristics of kites in a size range, conditions and the disciplines they are good for. I’ll also break down techniques for flying these kites and the best use of your time on the water. The 15m North Reach is a faster fun b …

These bars are similar in design. They use a clicking system to adjust the steering lines rather than the center lines. The Stick Shift is super soft on the hands The Ocean Rodeo Stick Shift is soft and floaty; while the Duotone Clickbar is a little less soft, it's more refined. The drawback to the Clickbar is that sometimes the centerline can bind. This is due to the automatic swivel feature. The Stick Shift's main drawback is that you must flush it out between each use. Obviously, these …

The shop asked me to try to compare Duotone's SLS kites and the Aluula kites from Ocean Rodeo. I've decided to do a couple videos on this to share my experience and that of friends who tried it. I was able to get some time on the Neo SLS, and now I've got a Roam Aluula and a Flite Aluula. So far I've tried the Flite and the Neo SLS. Two very different kites, so I'll compare how the lighter materials used impacted the kites in their own respective ways. I do have a Roam that I'll test and compar …

High Aspect vs. Low Aspect Foils Are you having trouble finding a proper foil? Maybe you're looking for a setup with a different feel? Well, you've come to the right place; there are some many different things to consider when searching for the perfect foil. Things like aspect ratio, surface area, fuselage length, and wing constructions are all parts worth heavy consideration for building your foil. In this blog, we'll focus on aspect ratio. What is Aspect Ratio? It's the difference between t …

After years of riding, I've made a lot of mistakes along the way. The funny thing about kitesurfing is no one wants to show themselves riding bad or crashing. It occurred to me I can think of hundreds of mistakes I've made along the way. I'll be dropping these mistake videos along the way and I may even start intentional filming the right way vs the wrong way in future videos. This is going to be a fun one so lets dive right into it.  Mistake One - Riding Overpowered Kitesurfers often rid …