Latest News, Blog & Videos

Foil assist can be a real game-changer for your sessions. You'll catch more waves, have less fatiguing downwinders, and wing on lighter days. There are some great options out there, but they all mount to your foil and come with the tradeoff of added drag. Foil Drive has done a good job of addressing this by allowing you to mount the propulsion unit high on the mast so it's out of the water anytime you're on foil, but FLITELab is looking to take this a step further with the AMP Jet. What Is the …

After bringing the MACkite crew and customers the boardsports stoke for 10 years, Pat is moving on join the North/Mystic team. Thanks for everything, Pat, and cheers to your new adventure! Check out the video to see just some of the reasons we love Pat! He'll put a smile on your face just like he has ours. MACkite Subscription Links: YouTube  |   Instagram  |   Spotify Oddcasts Contact MACkite Below: 800.622.4655  |   Kiteboarder@MACkite.c …

Many years ago, pro rider Chris Bobryk and I were kiteboard instructors here at MACkite. Our lesson center was right on the sugar-sand beach of Pere Marquette Park, in Muskegon, Michigan.We would ride as much as we possibly could before and after our lessons and I can remember Chris just hucking himself constantly. He was sending it on every tack. He was absolutely consumed with progressing his kiteboarding ability and it paid off for him in his pro career. I, on the other hand, did not have pro …

As any dedicated wind-chaser knows, it can be challenging to balance work, life and kiteboarding. Sometimes, we just can't get enough time on the water. Here are 3 simple tips to help you out! Subscribe to Wind Alerts via iKitesurf.com. Keep your gear with you at all times. Communicate with your significant other.   The Alert iKitesurf.com is one of the most important sites/apps for kiteboarders who want real-time wind data from around the world. Not only can you access wind speed, di …

Differences in Hydrofoil Sports Foilboarding has recently exploded in popularity within the kiteboarding community. With a remarkably efficient design, hydrofoils allow riders to cross into that sub-10 knot threshold while still having a ton of fun. The same logic has been applied to surfing, SUP, windsurfing, and wakesurfing. Riding above the surface of the water, a foilboard gives you the illusion of what can only be described as floating. For kiteboarders in light wind areas, or other wave ri …

7 Steps to Becoming a Kiteboarder Have you seen someone kiteboarding while on vacation or at your local beach? Or maybe you saw a video on YouTube and were like, "what is that?" Your next thoughts were probably "how do they jump so high and land so soft", followed by "I want to do that!" For those of you that want to get started in the sport of kiteboarding but are not sure how, listed below are seven steps that will take you from watching on the beach to riding on the water. 1. Trainer kite Th …

MACkite Test Fest 2017 - Sunshine to beat the band, warm water, lots of beachgoers, and still no wind. On the other hand, with 2017 being the year that all of our brands decided to produce and bring out foils, the no-wind factor worked out darn near perfectly for us. With 3 watercraft on hand, we had loads of people up and shredding on the new foils. With the birth of almost 50 new foilers and plenty of additional experience for the veterans on the force, things are shaping up to be foil-friend …

Who Is MACkite? If you're a kiteboarder with an internet connection, then you may have already heard of MACkiteboarding.com. We've been heavy with our internet game for quite a few years now, and people have taken notice. As online consumers, it's nice to have an idea about the places that we choose to do business with. It's great to know a little bit about the people behind the website and connect with them on a personal level. So let's dig in. Where are they from—Michigan? The prefix, MA …

Foilboarding at City Beach When I think of really great starts to any day, one of the things on the short list would be foiling in boardshorts at Grand Haven City Beach, just down the street from my house. I scored today. The cherry on top was a few new pieces of gear to try - my new 2018 Cabrinha Drifter 13, and the new Lift 150 foil. I grabbed a Liquid Force Happy Board, mounted the beautifully crafted carbon foil that I've been staring at all week, and headed toward the beach. Grand Haven Cit …

MACkite Foil Showdown: Who Wins? If 2016 was the year of the foil (according to the ancient kiteboarder zodiac calendar), then 2017 is the year of foil refinement. Hydrofoils are being ridden for more than simply racing, and are now accessible for most riders. For goodness sake, Kai Lenny is ridding them without a tow-in on waves.  What was once a simple choice has now become far more convoluted. However, with more options comes the opportunity to get something that better fits your riding …

Hi, this is Tucker from MACkiteboarding.com, and today I’m going to show you how to connect a 2017 Cabrinha Fireball Spreader Bar to a Ride Engine harness. Here we have the Hex-Core Ride Engine, and the first thing we did was strip the rubber plastic tubing off to expose the strap. This is what we’re going to need - doing that is not super easy and getting it back on is even harder, so we wouldn’t recommend doing that unless you’re really planning to put this on for a wh …

Save the Date: MACkite KoGL Test Fest - September 23-25, 2016 If you're not hospitalized, getting married, or dying, we'd best see you all at the beach for the annual King of the Great Lakes Test Fest. KoGL has been growing since its inception several years ago and shows no signs of slowing down. Hosted at the Grand Haven City Beach, the event will run the weekend of September 23-25. This year's event will see all of our kiteboarding brands represented at the beach, each with a quiver full of n …

MACkite's thoughts on the 2017 Cabrinha Fireball!  Like a comet from the sky set to change the landscape as we know it, Cabrinha’s newest offering to the kiteboarding community is Fireball – a kite connection system. Fireball is specifically designed with kiteboarding in mind, with features that will most definitely change the way you ride. Fireball changes the most important piece of equipment in kiteboarding The connection point between you and the kite. Before Fireball, we w …

MACkite Talks 2017 Cabrinha Fireball Hey guys, it's Nathan from MACkite. We’re going to talk about the all-new 2017 Cabrinha Fireball system. The big question this year is going to be - ‘why to get a new Fireball system?’ We’ve been used to loops for years and they’ve worked very well for most situations, and now Cabrinha really threw a wrench in our entire plan for how we connect to our kites. Now, for the last however many years, we’ve been using a loop-and …

What stood out the most to you this year, overall? Nate: I would say that the outstanding product was quite surprising to me. Nitro came up with a really solid deal - a no-compromise board/binding combo for $399. I took a bunch of laps on this setup and was very surprised with how well it handled a variety of conditions. Whether bombing groomers or taking park laps, the 2017 Nitro SFU is a solid combo for an insane price. RyGo: While I didn't get to ride this year as I was running a camera the …