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The Brazilian Brothers have been putting the Ride Engine Empax V2 Impact Vest through months of riding, and their verdict is in: they simply don't hit the water without it anymore. It checks every box: buoyancy, protection, warmth, and a sleek design. Why They Recommend an Impact Vest The brothers (and the MACkite Crew) are strong advocates for impact vests for kitesurfing. The float alone justifies wearing one, and it benefits both new and seasoned riders. Beginners benefit from the extr …

North Kiteboarding dropped their 2025 twintip collection with one idea in mind: a totall re-imagining from the ground up. This year is packed with upgrades, including lighter construction and smarter design across the full range. From freeriding and big air boosts to freestyling or wakestyle, there's a board that's tuned for every rider. 2025 North Twintip Line Up Prime Who's It For: Beginner to intermediate riders seeking smooth progression and comfort across all conditions. The North Pr …

Jeff wants to make sure everyone's in the loop about a small but mighty product that will make your life easier on and off the water, especially if you're a winger. The name is a mouthful for its size: PKS Quick Connect Pigtail with Stopper Ball. You get four of them in the pack, and that's a good thing because you'll find so many ways to use them. What's a Lark's Head Loop? Before you can use these, you'll need to be familiar with making a lark's head loop. While it's not as exciting as …

Shop Latest Ride Engine Releases. Jake here from MACkite, I recently got my hands on the new Ride Engine Hyperlock harness line, and spoiler alert—I’m impressed. Ride Engine, the OGs of the hard-shell harness game, are back with a vengeance, and this time, they’ve added a ratchet system that’s as satisfying as clicking into snowboard bindings. I’ve always liked Ride Engine harnesses—except when they jabbed my ribs like a cranky toddler. But the new Hyperloc …

We all know about the basic gear you need to get out for your session: a kite, a board, a harness, and a wetsuit if it's chilly, but what else might you want out there, and how essential is it? Dave is here to share his top 5 items that he uses for most, if not all, sessions.Sunscreen This one is a must. Even if you're in a full wetty, you'll still want to protect your face, as well as your hands and feet if you're not using gloves and boots. Some people like the zinc ones because of the …

The Mystic 110 Foil bag is a fairly compact case, but is there more to it than meets the eye? Aaron from MACkite is ready to give it a test run with his foil setup, and he's got grand dreams of even getting a kite in there.The bag itself is made from sturdy, padded canvas and has heavy duty zippers. Inside it's got two sheets of quarter-inch foam to separate layers of gear. This is perfectly adequate as a daily driver, but you would certainly want to add more protection if you want to brin …

With the amount of harness and spreader bar combinations, getting the right size Ride Engine can feel daunting. The good news is when you nail it, you get a precise, comfortable fit that translates to more time on the water. As a general rule, the size chart below gets you 80% of the way there. Here are a few sizing tips from the hundreds of Ride Engine harnesses we've sold over the years.What's Your Body Type? Consider your body shape. Leaner bodies are best represented by the above char …

Dustin and Pat take a look at some kites made with Aluula. What is it, and is it worth the hype? Is it right for you?What is Aluula?Dustin: Aluula is a step up from your normal kites. It's like the carbon bike of the kite world.Pat: Absolutely. It's that carbon fiber frame mountain bike in the kite industry. Is aluminum or steel good for most people out there? Yes. Do you need carbon? Probably not, but is it a nice upgrade and do you get some performance benefits from it? Absolutely.What a …

Aaron has caught up with Daniel Ware from Cabrinha at the King of the Great Lakes Test Fest to chat about some new harness offerings from Dakine. Aaron: Daniel, what have you got for us, buddy? What are we talking about? Daniel: I've got a new product from Dakine that we're really excited about. This is the all-new Connect bar. This is a brand new spreader bar system from Dakine for 2023. It's a fully modular system. The kite bar has a fully molded hook with no welds, so it's super str …

What's new in the Slingshot foil line for 2024? Pat's with Fred Hope at King of the Great Lakes Test Fest to find out! Pat: What do we got, Fred? Fred: We've got two new front wings and two new stabilizers for 2024. One of the front wings is the G 1007, which is our light wind high-performance front wing. It's 1,700 square cm, so if you're coming from the E Series and you want something that gets you out in light wind like we have today where you'd want a downwind SUP board with a huge …

Pat is at King of the Great Lakes with Fred Hope from Slingshot, checking out the new bars for 2024. Fred: Thanks for having me! This year we brought out a whole new bar, and we changed from the white lines to the new SK99 lines. They're a little thinner and a bit stronger. You can really notice it in the air because they have a lot less drag through the air and you don't have that wobbling from side to side feeling like you have with the square lines. These are perfectly round, so it r …

Pat is at King of the Great Lakes with Fred Hope from Slingshot. They're checking out the new 2024 Ghost V3. Fred: The Ghost is our one-strut kite for the new year. You tried it today, right? Pat: Yeah, I got out and had a nice foil session on it today. It's a pretty grunty kite, actually, with good sheet-and-go power. It's really quite fast-turning, and the relaunch on the thing was amazing. I was in really crappy, gusty offshore wind, and the kite just wouldn't stay on the water. Eve …

MACkite's Pat Taylor is at KoGL with Fred Hope of Slingshot, checking out the new 2024 Slingshot foiling lineup. Fred: We've got the brand new UFO for this year. This is my baby: the no-strut kite. It's the weirdest-looking kite on the beach because it just sits flat against the ground, but it's the best-looking kite in the air because of how different it looks when you're flying. There's no skeleton to the frame other than the leading edge, so it makes it really light and responsive be …

Cabrinha's Daniel Ware chats with Aaron from MACkite at King of the Great Lakes Test Fest. Together, they tackle the most common questions about the Fusion Foil System. Daniel: Thanks for having me, Aaron. Aaron: Yeah dude, welcome. It's always good to see you. Daniel: It's flat and straight offshore, but we had some fun winging yesterday and got some pumping around behind skis today. Aaron: You milked every little bit out of that. It's nice to be able to show people what is possib …

Pat is with Kevin Wade at King of the Great Lakes Test Fest, checking out the new 2024 GT1+ Wing from Eleveight. What does the "Plus" mean, and is it right for you? Kevin: We have the Plus Series now, including the RS+ kite and the Process and Master C+ twintips. We're building out a comprehensive upper echelon line to highlight which products have a little bit of extra special sauce and higher quality materials. If you're looking for the top of the top in terms of performance, the Plus …