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Pat from MACkite catches up with Kevin Wade at the King of the Great Lakes Test Fest to chat about the new 2024 V7 RS kite from Eleveight Kites. Kevin: It's so good to be here. It's always a good time. It almost looks like the Caribbean out there with the water color. It kind of tricks you into thinking it's tropical, but it's a little colder. It's great weather and I'm stoked to be here and tell you about the lineup. Pat: So you've got the new RS for this year- the V7, right? Kevin: …

Pat Taylor from MACkite is with Nick Baines of Reedin at the 2023 King of the Great Lakes Test Fest checking out the new Space Agency. What is it? Who's it for?Nick: We're really excited to launch this board this year. In the past, we've only had two twintips: the Kev Pro and the Super E. The Kev Pro is for those guys that like to ride fast and boost huge, and then the Super E is for your more beginner/intermediate rider. It has a softer ride and cruises through chop easily.But now we hav …

Derek Sproul from Naish takes a few minutes to chat about the 2024 kiteboarding lineup with MACkite's Jake Mitchell at King of the Great Lakes Test Fest. What's new? Is there a must-have coming for your quiver?Jake: We're super stoked to have you all the way here in Michigan.Derek: The sun is shining and it's just so beautiful here in late September. There's nowhere I'd rather be. It's awesome.Jake: Amen to that. So you brought some new gear?PivotDerek: Yeah, we've got a bit of everything …

Pat and Nick Baines from Reedin are at King of the Great Lakes Test Fest, and they're taking a few minutes to chat about the new 2024 Dreamstick X V2 control bar. What's new? Is it the right bar for you?Quick Release Nick: The Dreamstick X V2 is by far our best-selling product worldwide, and we have some good improvements for this year. We're sticking with the same seat belt quick release since it works extremely well.Autoswivel Solution Nick: I think we have one of the best self-untwis …

Jake Mitchell from MACkite is with Sam Medysky of Airush at the 2023 King of the Great Lakes Test Fest. Sam's been a name in the kiteboarding world for many years and has some insights into the Airush lineup and wind sports in general to share. Jake: We've got the man, the myth, the legend, Sam with Airush here. Sam, how long have you been working with Airush? Sam: I've been with Airush since 2017. I've been kiting since 1998, 25 years, and I've been coming to this event since 2004. I …

Kiteboarding enthusiasts, get ready for an exciting new series of the Blank Kite Test! Season 2 BIG AIRWhat's the Blank Kite Test? Series 2 of the Blank Kite Test features Ruben Lenten, Giel Vlugt, and Marc Jacobs. They'll have two hours to narrow 8 unbranded big air kites down to the top 3. However, they won't have any guidance on how to do that; that's part of the fun, and hopefully it'll be a little bit chaotic and make for some good content.The Rules Each blank kite is a 9m. The pros a …

Board OverviewThis is Pat with MACkiteboarding.com, and today we're going be checking out the Brunotti Discovery that we are offering in our complete kiteboarding packages. It is the upgrade board from the PKG, and the biggest advantages to this board are that you get a solid wood core, better fit and finish, and it's going to last you a lot longer down the road.The PKG is a great board for getting into the sport, but you're going to outgrow it quickly. The Brunotti Discovery is still a gre …

Aaron: I had a question for Tucker, for those of us who both kite and wing. On a kite, there's a certain set of things that I want to know when we're looking at a kite review, like power, upwind ability, and relaunch. How does that translate to wing? What are the elements that you're looking at? Obviously, relaunch isn't a factor. Tucker: Well sort of. When you drop the wing in the water, you have to get it back in your hands and into the air, so that is kind of a relaunch, but yeah, it's not …

Today we are talking about choosing your first kiteboard. I'm going to go through what I think the best flow is, then I'm going to delve a little bit into the philosophy, and finally we're going to figure out which is the right direction for you.Start with a Basic Board and Upgrade as You ProgressGenerally, I think the best way to get started is to pick a very big and basic board. You don't need a lot of bells and whistles while you're figuring out how to water start, ride, do your first up …

This is Jake from MACkiteboarding, and today we're going to do a topic I discuss every couple years because, as technology progresses, I think it makes sense to revisit it, and that is whether purchasing used gear is a good way to get into the sport of kiteboarding. We probably need to have a discussion on winging as well since that is evolving and changing so much, but here we're focusing on kiteboarding, and the answer to that is yes... and no. It really depends on where the gear is …

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 …

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 was alw …

This is Pat and Aaron with MACkiteboarding.com talking today about some kite and wing materials. We've got five different materials that have become the industry standard, and a bunch of different companies are using them. They are Dacron, Penta TX or SLS, Aluula, Ho'okipa, and N-Weave.DacronDacron's been the industry standard. It's a polyester weave with a melamine resin to cure it and give it strength and rigidity. It comes in around 160-170 grams per square meter. I found this info onli …

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 …

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 from riding the …