Latest News, Blog & Videos
Essential Gear for Kiteboarding in Light Winds
Welcome back to MACkiteboarding. This is Jake, and today I'm going to talk about something we have a lot of experience with here in Michigan, and that is making the most of those light wind days. I'm going to break it down into the three ways to do it: a big kite, a big board, and a hydrofoil. I'll rank them based on my personal preferences, take you through what I like and don't like about each, and hopefully that helps you to decide which direction you want to go when it comes to ex
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15th Feb 2023
Light Wind Kiteboarding | Should You Choose a 15m or 17m Kite?
Welcome back! This is Jake from MACkiteboarding, and today we are going to talk about whether you should go with a 15 or a 17m for your light wind kite. Don't get too hung up on the numbers; essentially think of it as whether you should go with something smaller in the 14/15m range, or something 17/18m plus, but we're going to say 15 or 17m for the sake of this discussion.Advantages of a 17m KiteThis is a tough one, and honestly, my thoughts on it have changed over time. Early on, I wa
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8th Feb 2023
Why Women Should Try Bigger Kites
Hey guys, Kristen here. I am in Arizona and we're picking up a new-to-us RV for the MACkite RV tour. We're getting ready to head to Florida, and I wanted to get some more videos out to you guys. I figured a good one to start off with is why ladies should not be afraid of big kites, so let's get into it.
One thing that I see commonly is that women tend to be put on obnoxiously small boards and obnoxiously small kites, usually anywhere from a 7m to a 10m, maybe a 12m might be
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28th Apr 2022
How to Choose a Kiteboard Size for the Ladies
Hey guys, Kristen here with MACkite. I'm currently in Arizona picking up a new-to-us RV. I'm really enjoying it here, enjoying the desert scenery, the mountains, getting some good hiking in, and we're about to head to Florida. We want to get some videos out, and a good one that we wanted to touch base on is how to choose a board for the ladies or for your girlfriend. Let's get to it!
Oftentimes I see ladies put on really, really small boards, and I think that we could benefit
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29th Mar 2022
Top 3 Items to Remember When Buying Kite and Wing Foil Gear
After working in the warehouse for a while, I’ve received a lot of emails and phone calls about people forgetting a piece of gear with their brand new wing or kite package. That can be a huge bummer if you were planning to get on the water and now you can’t just because of one small piece of equipment that you forgot.
Today I’ll be going through the most commonly forgotten items when purchasing gear with us to make sure you can get on the water as fast as possible and to avoid any frustration.
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24th Mar 2022
Some Good Reasons to Buy New or Used Kites
Yeah, what's up guys? Rygo here from MACkite. I'm here in Arizona picking up a new RV for the MACkite RV tour. I spent the last year living in a 27-footer, and then when we were in Oregon we actually swapped that out for a smaller 1985 Toyota, which was super sick. Oh man, it was so small. So we're here in the Southwest just picking something up that's a bit bigger, probably more practical for living full-time on the road, and I wanted to talk to you. Lately I've been thinking about n
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23rd Mar 2022
Kiteboarding Quivers | How to Choose the Best Kite Sizes for You
Kiteboarding kites come in a wide variety of sizes. Which size kites are best for you? Let's take a look at your riding style, your gear budget, and find out how many kites you'll want to have in your quiver.
Step 1 | What Kind of Kiteboarder are You?
First, let's figure out what kind of kites you'll want to invest in. Are you an all-around,
freeride kiteboarder who likes a little bit of everything? Do you want to focus on kitesurfing in waves with a surfbo
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21st Jan 2022
Best Boots in Kiteboarding
Once in a while, I come across some gear that its difficult to deliver a neutral review on. I've been using these boots for the past year and I'm hooked. In this video I will explain why these are my favorite boot but I will make a point to give a detailed review of what you are getting and the considerations.
Form and function
Right out of the gate, Vadatek is a smaller family owned company. These boots are made by a kiteboarder / wakeboarder who is passionate about maki
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31st Aug 2020
How to Choose a Duotone Surfboard
Quick Reference Guide
Pro Voke - Best for Strapless Freestyle
Pro Fish - Best for Progression & lightwind
Pro Whip - Best all Around
Pro Wam - Best Surf Feel and Wave Variety
Pro Session - Big Wave Performance
The Voke is as good as it gets with strapless freestylePro Voke
The Voke is unique in the sense that it rides more like a high volume twintip. It has a wakestyle board outline and is made to pop hard, stay on your feet and not boot you during hard landings.
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24th Aug 2020
Kitesurfing: Getting Started - Ride with Blake
This is the first blog of the ultimate beginner guide. This is a series meant to be used as a companion to actual kitesurfing lessons. So give this a watch before, during and after your lesson with a certified school. Do not attempt to use this as your sole source of lessons. We've left a great deal out and nothing beats real professional instruction. You will save yourself time, and most importantly you'll be keeping yourself safe and the local beaches in your area open to kitebo
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12th Aug 2020
Kite Boots Vs Straps & my Favorite Boots
We’ve had a lot of requests for a video on my favorite boots and the difference between boots and straps. The truth is kiteboarding is a diverse sport and what works for one person might not be best for another. Boots and straps have their place and are here to stay. It’s funny, in the early days, the first kiteboarders were actually wearing wakeboarding boots and building features. Just check out films like Auotofocus with Andre Philip and Jason Slezac. Or google Lou Wainman from the
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25th May 2020
Kiteboarding Control Bar Size & tuning your kite
Kiteboarding Control Bars
The first step in tuning your kite is choosing the right size control bar.
The standard pairing is
43 - 47 cm bars for 05 - 10m kites
50 - 55 cm bars for 11 - 13m kites
58 - 63 cm bars for 14 - 19m kites
These are just guidelines, of course. You can pair any size bar with any kite, but you will change how it flies. If you put a small bar on a large kite, you will slow it down significantly. If you put a large bar on a small kite, you will speed it up grea
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26th Feb 2020
Can I Mix Kiteboarding / Kitesurfing Control Bars
I wanted to cover a topic that comes up all the time. Can, or should, you mix control bars? The short answer is yes. The long answer is... maybe.
The last few years, I've used a ton of different brands. Cabrinha, Slingshot, Liquid Force, North, Duotone, Naish, Airush and more. When I started at the shop, I was surprised to see the crew was always mixing control bars. More often than not, you can mix any modern 4-line kite with any 4-line bar. However, there are some things to watch out
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10th Feb 2020
How to Choose Your First Kiteboarding Kite Size (With Chart)
This is going to be another quick, information-packed blog. I wanted to cover a question we get almost daily: How do I pick the right size kite? This video is aimed at new riders, but I will address intermediate riders at the end of this blog.
When picking the correct size kiteboarding kite, there are four things to consider:
How much do you weigh?Is this your first kite or are you adding to your quiver?What kind of conditions will you be riding in?What style of kite are you looking at
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29th Jan 2020
Hydrofoiling: Outfit your boat
Hydrofoiling is the fastest growing, tow-behind category for boat owners. A common question we get here is "how do I chose the right hydrofoil or hydrofoils for myself, my family and my boat?" We wanted to do a high-level video helping you understand how to go about choosing the correct setup, and this blog aims to go a little deeper.
We'll be breaking down three different categories of foils to consider as well as recommending different foils that fit into each category
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14th May 2019