The ENCORE issueAndre. Felix. Rawson. Mambo. Wilson. 20/10. SS. G Lewis.

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 2

Introduction 6

profile: Andre 10

profile: FELIX 24

TECH: PAT RAWSON 34

COMP: MAMBO 48

5 MinS: BEN WILSON 54

CONTENTSFILM REVIEW: 20/10 62

FILM REVIEW: SNAPSHOT 66

XPOSE: GREG LEWIS 72

NEXT ISSUE 90

SHOUTOUTS 92

COVER SHOT – JEFF PFEFFER

KITER // 5

CONTENTS // ISSUE 2

KITEBOARDING SAVED MY LIFE.

BEFORE I STARTED KITING I WAS SLOWLY DYING IN THE LOUNGES OF SEEDY NIGHTCLUBS. EATING DISCO BISCUITS LIKE THEY WERE TIC TACS.

Destroying my mind whilst feeling like a captive animal. Living in the city was wearing me down. Growing up in the country had given me the opportunity to devour endless uncrowded waves. Even when I had to leave to attend university I was lucky enough to live near the beach and surf daily. Spoilt!

A harsh contrast to the city beaches that were crowded with posers who claimed the crappy beach breaks as their own, it was shitting me to tears! Surfi ng became an effort with little reward. As a result I found my thrills by “taking 2 of the blue pills” and lurking on the edge of dingy dance fl oors. Fun at the time…..

My cousin Josh had spent most of his life bumming around France launching himself off mountains and kickers on his snowboard. Now back in Oz he had started kiteboarding. He rang a few times, still dripping wet, saying, “This is the shit, you have to have a go!” Finally after a few months, sick of the phones call’s,

I cracked and purchased a kit from a mate and began a slow and awkward learning process.

It took me 6 months to learn how to stay up wind and then a few more before I could even do a basic backloop. Multiple crashes culminating in being dragged out of a lake and into a pine tree could not deter me. All of a sudden I was going to bed early on Friday nights and leaving home the next morning to go kiting. A true weekend warrior! Catching what felt like a 100 waves a day on my mutant and boosting massive jumps. I was hooked!

Since then I have travelled the world searching out places to kite from Brazil to West Australia (whilst still fi nding the time to frequent the odd seedy nightclub and scare the hell out of various young ladies with my fi nely tuned dance repertoire). Now kiting with my surfboard I could not think of anything I ‘d rather be doing.

Kiteboarding saved my life.

Switch off your computer and go save yours!

KITER // 7

INTRO // ISSUE 2

http://www.cabrinhakites.com

I REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME I SAW ANDRE. HE WAS

ON THE NORTH COAST OF OZ DOING A PROMOTIONAL

TOUR FOR HIS SPONSORS AND HE HAD A POSSE OF

KITERS HANGING OFF HIS EVERY WORD.

BEING THE ULTRA COOL DUDE I AM I JUST SAT ON THE BONNET OF MY WHITE VW GTI GOLF IN

MY BLACK LEVIS AND SUCKED ON A CIGARETTE THINKING, “HE’S NOT THAT GOOD”. NOW I HAVE

SOLD THE GOLF AND BOUGHT A TRANSPORTER, GIVEN UP THE CIGGIES AND I AM INTERVIEWING

ANDRE BECAUSE ALTHOUGH I STILL DON’T THINK HE’S THAT GOOD, APPARENTLY HE IS!

IMAGE BY TKraft KITER // 11

PROFILE // ISSUE 2

“.....I WAS COMIN IN FLAT OUT FULLY OUT OF CONTROL. THE BEACH WAS COMIN UP QUICK SO I WAS LIKE MAN I HAVE TO STOP ELSE I’M GONNA HIT THE BEACH AND FLY OVER THE ROAD, GET HIT BY A CAR AND PROBABLY DIE.”

IMAGE BY TKraft

RP: Tell us a bit about Antigua.

AP: Antigua is a small island in the Caribbean with 365 white sandy beaches. Its 108 square miles and it basically takes 30 minutes to drive from one side to the other. We pretty much have summer days year round. Kinda shitty huh??

RP: What’s it like to live there?

AP: Living here is sweet if you don’t mind taking it slow. There no city life. It’s all just hangin out, goin to the beach or boating, and some parties here and there.

RP: Did you grow up there?

AP: Yea I grew up in the same house on the north coast of Antigua. So when I started to kiteboard and travel a lot it was a big change to always be living somewhere new.

RP: Do you think that coming from Antigua refl ects in your style of riding?

AP: I think that my personality refl ects in my riding. I guess my personality is also a result of my surroundings. So yea growing up here refl ects in my riding.

RP: People are always commenting on how smooth you ride, do you think that this is why?

AP: I ride smooth?? Hah. I guess I normally take everythin slow and laidback in life and so when I ride it’s

the same. I don’t really like to see when people rush tricks just to stick it so I don’t ride like that.

RP: Run us through a normal day in Antigua for you?

AP: These days my time in Antigua is like vacation. When I’m travelling there’s normally some kind of mission goin down and sometimes it gets pretty tiring but when I get back home I can get into serious cruise mode. I pretty much wake up pound some honey bunches of oats, check the wind and if it’s windy I’ll call da boys up and go for a kiteboard sesh, otherwise I’ll just go hangout with some friends or family. My friend Nickolai just put a mini ramp in his backyard so we have been skating that a lot. If there’s waves, I’ll go hit a surf, run some errands, hang out more, talk smack, etc.

RP: I read somewhere that you took a job in a casino to save up for your fi rst kite, is that true?

AP: I actually had a couple 9-5s before I started workin at the online casino. I was at Levi’s selling clothes and folding waaay too much clothes and then I worked at Cable and Wireless as a tech guy. I was the guy you called when your internet broke down etc. Anyways I was over not having any daytime to go ride something so I quit and applied at this online casino. The place was open 24/7 so they had all sorts of hrs, 8-4, 4-12, midnight to 8... the grave yard.

KITER // 13

PROFILE // ISSUE 2

That one sucked! At the end of it my eyes were red and I would be struggling to stay awake but at least I had some day time free to ride. But yea when I worked at the casino I learned to kite and ever since that day I started to save for my fi rst kite. It was a Naish Ar5 11m. Check it!!

RP: You cleaned out a few of the Aussie crew when you were here last time, did you use a few tricks you had learnt from those days or was it just pure ass?

AP: I cant wait to get back to OZ to make some more money off those guys, maybe ill be able to pay for my ticket and some meat pies. Ha ha. But I have to thank the poker guru Elliot for teaching me everything I know.

RP: Can you tell us how you started kiteboarding?

AP: Uhhh.. my friend Eli brought kiteboarding to Antigua and I begged him to teach me cause it was like wakeboarding and surfi ng and I liked doing both. His lesson went like this... ok dre if you put the kite above your head you stop. Dive it up and down to the left to go left and up and down to the right to go right. So I was like sweet gimme the ting! He shoved the board on my feet and I dove it and went straight out to sea. Put the kite up and stopped then I dove it the other way and started comin back to the beach. This time I started getting over powered

and I was comin in fl at out fully out of control. The beach was comin up quick so I was like man I have to stop else I’m gonna hit the beach and fl y over the road, get hit by a car and probably die.

So I sent the kite up over my head, where he said to put it if I wanted to stop, but the thing ripped me off the water and threw me on the beach like a piece of trash. Next thing I know I’m fl ying down the beach face fi rst and somehow I got the kite straight up and everythin stopped. I think from that point I decided to start saving for my own gear.

RP: Did you do a fair bit of wakeboarding before you started?

AP: I wakeboarded a little bit. I never had a boat but luckily some friends had boats and we used to mess around behind a 13 foot boston wailer for the longest time until Alex got a proper wakeboard boat then I would go ride with him every now and then.

RP: Do you still get as amped when you go kiting as you did when you started?

AP: Yea man I still get amped. Back in the day I would get amped every session cause I would always be learning something new. These days I get amped when I’m riding with my friends, or if the conditions are real sick or if I stick something different.

RP: Do you ever feel kited out?

IMAGE BY realkiteboarding.com KITER // 15

PROFILE // ISSUE 2

“I ride smooth?? Hah. I guess I normally take everythin slow and laidback in life and so when I ride it’s the same.”

IMAGE BY TKraft KITER // 17

PROFILE // ISSUE 2

RP: You and Morris seem to differ in your ideas of how to build stuff?

AP: Hahaha... there’s always a million different ways to build stuff and me and Morris always seem to have different opinions but it’s all good at the end of it. Shit, always gets built solid.

RP: Do you enjoy working on these sorts of projects?

AP: Yea man it’s always been my dream. Umm take that back it sounds too soppy.

RP: Is it strange sometimes when you see your picture in a magazine or hear someone talking about your riding and think heah shit, that’s me?

AP: “THE STRANGEST THING FOR ME IS WHEN PEOPLE COME UP AND ARE LIKE “YOU’RE ANDRE PHILLIP!?!?” ....”I DUNNO MAN THAT JUST SOUNDS WEIRD. I THINK PEOPLE GET CARRIED AWAY.”

Its just Dre. I’m jis a regular ass island bwoy that happens to know how to kiteboard a bit and I’m in a few mags.

RP: How did you fi nd changing from c kites to bows?

AP: So easy. When bows fi rst came out they were a lot different from C kites but in time they got closer and closer. Now Cabrinha’s bow kites feel like C’s but with all the benefi ts of a bow. Like

the easy relaunch and huge depower and range. I was actually one of the last people to crossover but when the kites got better it was so easy for me. Our new kites are so ridiculously good.

RP: Has your riding changed at all with the change to bows?

AP: Nah I don’t ride C’s anymore and my riding hasn’t changed.

RP: What tricks are you working on at the moment?

AP: I have just been enjoying spinning at the moment.

RP: How important is speed and kite power when attempting tricks?

AP: May as well not even bother if you aren’t riding with both.

RP: Do you visualise what you’re going for before you ride into a trick?

AP: Umm.. I try not to think too much.

RP: What advice would you give to the kids out there trying new tricks?

AP: Just huck it!

RP: Flat water riding seems to mainly be focused on rails and kickers, do you see this continuing?

AP: Guaranteed. There will always be people building rails cause hitting them feels sooo good.

RP: Do you get into kiting with a surfboard for the waves at all?

AP: Yea sometimes when I ride too much especially on photo shoots I can get pretty burnt out. But then I just stop kiteboarding for a few days and go do something else (rollerblade) and then I get the itch to ride again.

RP: You don’t compete much anymore, though I saw you went to the Triple S invitational.

AP: Well when I was competing I didn’t really have much time to do anything besides compete and get myself ready for the next contest. Luckily I was able to get out of that and so now I’ve just been doing my own thing these days, staying away from contests and workin on projects that I always wanted do like Autofocus. I been goin to Cape Hatteras for a few years now and this year the Real crew invited me to the Triple S slider contest they were having. It was a no brainer for me to accept the invite because those guys are super cool and I knew they were gonna throw a wicked contest... and they did!

RP: How was that?

AP: It was the best contest I’ve ever been to. The concept was that we would wake up and check the conditions and go ride wherever it was best. If it was good for the ocean and wave riding we would do that. If it was good for setting up rails and kickers in the slicks then we would do that. It wasn’t like the tour where you

have 8 minutes to prove yourself and if you don’t make it thru your heat you are done riding for the week or where the contest is held in a shitty location because the sponsors wanted it there. No one was forced to ride and you could ride for as long as you wanted or as short as you wanted. At the end of the week the riders and media voted for the winners.

RP: Do you ever miss competitions?

AP: Umm... no. Don’t get me wrong. I think competition is good for the sport but I just never really enjoyed competing myself. I missed some of the people that I would always hangout with and see at certain contests though.

RP: You have worked a lot with Elliot Leboe over the last few years, what’s he like to work with?

AP: Elliot is the man. He gets so amped when he gets good shots that it makes riders stoked to throw something down. He’s real mellow and he rides as well so he knows where to be and where he can’t be.... Uhh.. actually besides that time when my lines hooked his camera and threw it in the water without a housing... hahaha sorry E.

RP: Autofocus looked like a lot of fun?

AP: Yea we were just doin what we do and Elliot and Tracy captured it and put it out.

KITER // 19

PROFILE // ISSUE 2

IMAGE BY realkiteboarding.com

AP: Yea whenever the waves are good I pull out one of my Rawson surboards and go strapless.

RP: I remember when you started using boots instead of straps, there was a lot of people saying that it was not the best move for the sport, but it caused a lot of people to start riding a lot more powered than the dingle dangle, big air approach, can you comment on that?

AP: Well I been doin the tour for a while before I made the switch back to bindings and the thing is I always wanted to ride in bindings but if I wanted to do well on the tour I would have to wear straps and do board offs etc. At one point I really felt like I wasn’t riding the way I wanted to... I was riding for the judges and not myself, sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get thru. But eventually I said fuck it and threw my bindings on and at the same time the judging swung my way. Board offs got canned and wakestyle took over. I think that bindings are a good thing for the sport. It feels and looks more like a legit boardsport with bindings and that is only gonna gain more respect from other boardsports.

RP: I haven’t seen any shots or footage of you doing kite loops did you get into them at all?

AP: Nah I was never into kiteloops. It just seemed like an easy way to blow your knees or ankles out. I don’t knock

kiteloops but I just don’t do them.

RP: What do you feel makes good style?

AP: When people throw things their own way and make riding look easy.

RP: Who do you think has good style?

AP: The crew I ride with: Morris, Moe, Bert, Elliot, Jason Stone, and Sleazy.

There is a whole crew of underrated riders that I think gots mean styles...

Man like Greg Norman, Jake and Louie from Antigua, man like Cam Barker. Dylan from the Gorge.

RP: How do you rate the kite forums ?

AP: I don’t normally go on forums cause people are teching out too much instead of just goin and riding. I do go on Kitescoop.com. This forum is different from all the others. It’s a place where kiteboarders can go and just talk shit or fi nd out about tech stuff. But on this forum no one is knocking other brands cause they back a certain brand or anything. We all just talk about kiteboardin cause its fun. Not my kite is better than yours buy this one cause it has the rocket strut bullshit.

RP: What does the future hold for Andre Phillip?

AP: I’m just gonna keep havin fun with the sport and see where it takes me. Keep travelling and checkin out new places and surf till I die.

KITER // 21

PROFILE // ISSUE 2

NAME:

ANDRE PHILLIP

WHERE YOU LIVE:

OUT OF MY BAG BUT ANTIGUA, DR AND MAUI ARE PRETTY MUCH

HOME.

SPONSORS:

CABRINHA KITEBOARDING, KAENON POLARIZED SUNGLASSES,

KITESCOOP.COM

FAVOURITE SPOT:

MAUI, OZ, ANTIGUA, DR.

OTHER SPORTS:

WAKEBOARD, SURF, SNOWBOARD, SKATE

CREW:

MAUI CREW, AUSSIE CREW, HATTERAS POSSE, AND DE ANTIGUANS.

SHOUT OUTS:

BIGUPS TO ELI FOR TEACHIN ME TO KITE, ALEX PORTMAN FOR GIVIN

ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET OUT OF ANTIGUA AND CHASE A

DREAM. SNIFF SNIFF...

PLAY

IMAGE BY NFitt KITER // 23

PROFILE // ISSUE 2

Felix Pivec I had expected to be cocky and a bit of a knob, with all I had heard and read, he actually turned out not to be that cocky. Felix doesn’t kite too badly for an-ex-windsurfer with a bad haircut, a mixed up accent that is part seppo / part aussie and not to mention the uncanny resemblance to Fabio’s bastard lovechild.

SERIOUSLY THOUGH, FELIX IS ONE OF THE MOST PASSIONATE AND DEDICATED KITEBOARDERS YOU WILL EVER MEET. OUTSPOKEN ON RIDING BOTH TACKS FACING THE WAVE AND ALWAYS RIDING UNHOOKED NO MATTER WHAT THE CONDITIONS. PROVING THIS POINT BY HAVING A KILLER TOP TURN IN EITHER DIRECTION THAT YOU ONLY WISH YOU HAD ON YOUR GOOD TACK. IT IS BECAUSE OF KITER’S LIKE FELIX THAT OUR SPORT WILL CONTINUE TO EVOLVE. AFTER HIS RECENT WIN IN MAURITIUS AND GAINING SPONSORSHIP FROM A MAJOR SURF LABEL, THE KID IS ON A ROLL!

Photography Jeff Pfeffer

KITER // 25

PROFILE // ISSUE 2

KITER // 27

PROFILE // ISSUE 2

RP: The winds a fi ckle bitch...

FP: Yep!

RP: Before you started kiteboarding what were doing, surfi ng, and windsurfi ng?

FP: A bit of surfi ng, a lot of windsurfi ng on the Gold Coast, and it just started from there. I was travelling to Maui for 2-3 months windsurfi ng and I started to see kites popping up. I thought it would be a good thing to do when the wind was light. Once I picked up a kite the simplicity really appealed, especially when compared to travelling with all your windsurfi ng shit, with kiting its surfboards and a kite that rolls up into a little ball.

RP: From there you started kiteboarding and you have always had a unique style and approach to the sport. You always rode in boots and on a shorter board when there was a push towards foot straps and bigger, wider boards. It seemed like everytime I opened a magazine you were doing something different...

FP: I like the simplicity of things, the way you have to look at it is, and a lot of kiters believe the hype you know.

When something works, stick with it and just go for it. There is a lot of hype about different boards; different kites and I would call a lot of kiters sheep!

They see someone doing something and using a particular set up and they think it work. But the thing is the same set-up doesn’t work for everyone. You have to fi nd what works for yourself. Don’t follow everyone else like a pack, sort it out for yourself.

RP: Have you moved from freestyle to totally into wave riding now?

FP: I didn’t really get into the freestyle side of it. I got into jumping really high, you know stuff like that. But always from day 1, from when I moved to Maui, Lou, Elliot, my friend Dylan and Jack Webb, they really just wanted to see what was possible in the waves. We started screwing around in the waves, out the back of Ka Na Ha, just trying to turn on them, sort of started to string a few turns together, nothing compared to today’s standard, but it was a start. It kept it interesting. You never got bored of it. You know with freestyle you can ride fl at water and do the same trick all day. Its personal preference but.....

RP: Every wave is different....

FP: Exactly, every wave is different, every spot is different, no one day will be the same. So it keeps it interesting!

RP: The use of surfboards, has really come on strong the last 18 months...

FP: In Hawaii where I base myself on Oahu’s North Shore, we don’t see one guy with a twin tip, even when its fl at, even if it’s a foot, someone’s on a surfboard. People don’t even roll down

RP: All right then, so Felix how are you mate?

FP: I am all right.

RP: I remember reading that you were working as a landscaper to support your kiteboarding career. Is that still the case or are you surviving without it?

FP: I wouldn’t really call it surviving; I get a lot of help from a lot of good people in Hawaii. Not making that much money from kiting. Still putting along I would say. Doing a lot of travelling which burns up a lot of cash. Not making money, it’s more of a lifestyle and supporting a lifestyle of travelling. That’s where it’s at.

RP: Your travelling trying to discover the “perfect set-up” or returning to places that you have already travelled to?

FP: Still searching, it’s tough. You search for a spot and put the money into it and get skunked because you’re not sure of it. Do your research fi rst. Found a couple of real good spots that we are going back to now, as the conditions are pretty ideal for wave riding. When I am searching for conditions I am searching for places that you can actually ride a wave, not places like the Zoo where you just drop down and do nothing.

It’s a glory wave the Zoo. I mean what’s the skill of dropping down a wave and getting pumped? You basically just have to have nads to do it and any average Jo can do that.

You have to get to the performance

side of things, long waves with a wall

that you can carve.

RP: String a few turns together.....??

FP: Exactly.

RP: How important is it to have local

hook-ups in these areas that you travel

to?

FP: It would be really hard without the

locals, places like New Caledonia, even

Bali. It makes it a whole lot easier.

RP: You have the advantage of been

able to call ahead and get a local

perspective on the weather situation?

FP: You can get a pretty local forecast

but there you go again, you can get

there and still get skunked. Like we are

here in WA, the forecast looked unreal

and a lot of my friends told me to come

up, and it was good when we got here

but who was to know a trough was

going to come up and ruin it for fi ve

days, you just don’t know.

(THIS INTERVIEW TOOK PLACE IN MY

HIRE CAR AND WE HAD BEEN TRYING

TO CONVINCE EACH OTHER THAT EVEN

THOUGH THE WIND WAS COMING FROM

THE WRONG DIRECTION THAT THERE

WAS ENOUGH TO GO OUT.)

KITER // 29

PROFILE // ISSUE 2

KITER // 31

PROFILE // ISSUE 2

to the beach when it’s fl at; it’s like a ghost town...

RP: Lets talk about the riding switch!

FP: What a touchy topic eh!

RP: Well it seems to be...

FP: Logistically it comes down to where your kite is. It’s really important where you put your kite when you’re doing a turn off the top, where your arm movements are, as it is in surfi ng. Look at when you do a top turn in surfi ng you follow through with your arms. When you’re riding on your backhand you cannot follow through with your arms at all. You can’t go right through your turn. Your balance is off from the start you maybe can do one snap but then going down the line it looks awkward. People who think it looks like surfi ng, have a look at a surfi ng pic, honestly, its close but it’s not close enough.

RP: So you have always ridden switch?

FP: It came from the guys on Maui actually pushing me. When I started kiting I could not ride in a straight-line switch. I could not do it, it did my head in. I went to Maui and I was riding tweak and I got so much shit, it was unbelievable. People would kite behind me and like Dylan, would yell at me in the waves and say “switch ya feet!” Its because of those guys, I learnt to do it, I got pushed into to it so hard....

RP: Peer pressure?

FP: Peer pressure, it paid off, I can go to any wave, a left or a right and it doesn’t bother me.

RP: I remember Robby Naish saying that even after all this time windsurfi ng he still has to think about riding his weaker tack, its not an instinctive thing. Do you fi nd that you have to consciously think about doing a turn on your weaker side?

FP: It’s not natural but I think the key is to ride your bad side a lot. Since I am based on Oahu where the wave is a right and I am a goofy footer you have to teach your brain to go that way. The thing that helped me out was when I was riding in boots, you can feel the weight transfer and you learn to ride that one way. So when I jumped on a surfboard it wasn’t that bad. You just have to put your mind to it!

RP: You seem to have fairly strong feelings about this do you want to explain what they are based on?

FP: Look at different athletes like Tony Hawk, Bob Bourquiose, Dre, Aaron Hadlow do you see them doing tricks on their backhand? They do their tricks both ways, natural and switch. They are athletes at the top of their game. You should be able to do it all, if you can surf a wave switch, pull in Pipeline and ride a wave switch....

RP: Like Jamie O ‘Brian...

FP: Exactly, he gets heaps of respect and that’s when I think you can tell

PROFILE // ISSUE 2

someone has an amazing amount of talent. With kiting Dre and all those freestyle guys they are doing everything both directions. Why go backhand when your hands are in the total wrong position of where they should be? When the wind gets a little more offshore and you’re on your backhand it gets tricky, really tricky and it’s tough.

RP: Do you feel that surfers are beginning to adopt kiteboarding as an option for windy days?

FP: It’s still early days yet. If it looks kooky they are just going to write it off straight away. It has to look appealing, similar to what they are doing. It has to look like surfi ng. Though if you’re an alright surfer you can take it to the next level, you can kite like Kelly Slater even if you can’t surf like him. With a kite you have a lot more speed and power to do what you want. A vertical smack that most people can’t do surfi ng is an option when you’re kiting. Its surfi ng on steroids, high performance surfi ng.

(WILL JAMES WALKS PASSED AND COMMENTS “MORE LIKE SURFING ON HAEMORRHOIDS”)

RP: I think when you mention the word “kiteboarding” to most surfer’s they picture someone doing a dingle dangle air, crashing and then getting tea bagged down wind ...

FP: It has to be pushed in the right way and then surfi ng companies will become involved. I have just being sponsored by Billabong and they want

to cross-promote it with surfi ng, which is unreal. It is a good crossover sport. Like towing it’s a mainstream sport now.

RP: What boards are you using at the moment?

FP: I have been screwing around with a few different boards, but I have stuck mainly with the trusty 6’0’’, epoxy, it’s fairly light. It works really well when it’s small and sucky to when it’s big and sucky. It has worked well in Hawaii, Indo and New Caledonia. I travel with 3 that are exactly the same.

RP: That should do it mate, if I have anything else I need I will email you. So are we going to do this?

FP: Yep come on lets go!

(I ENDED UP ABOUT A KILOMETRE

DOWNWIND AND WAS LUCKY TO MAKE

IT BACK TO SHORE WITHOUT BEING

RIPPED TO SHREDS BY THE REEF. FELIX

SOMEHOW STAYED UPWIND LONG

ENOUGH FOR JEFF TO TAKE A HEAP OF

SHOTS AND THEN THE CHEEKY BASTARD

MADE IT BACK TO WHERE HE LAUNCHED

FROM. EVEN THOUGH THE WIND HAD

DROPPED FROM 15 KNOTS TO10 KNOTS

AND HE WAS ON A 9M KITE, FREAK!)

(FELIX RINGS ME, A FEW WEEKS LATER

FROM REUNION ISLAND STOKED WITH

HIS WIN IN THE INVITATIONAL CONTEST

THAT WAS RUN AT ONE EYES ON

MAURITIUS. I ASK HIM IF HE WAS RIDING

UNHOOKED IN THE TRICKY OFFSHORE

CONDITIONS AND HE SAY’S “THAT’S THE

WAY BUDDY, THE ONLY WAY!”)

PROFILE // ISSUE 2

“........you have a lot more speed and power..... A vertical smack that most people can’t do surfing is an option when you’re kiting. Its surfing on steroids, high performance surfing.”

PLAY

KITER // 37

PROFILE // ISSUE 2

is a true craftsman, honing his skills over the last

40 years in the ultimate testing grounds of Oahu’s Northshore. Chances are if you

were one of the worlds elite surfers during the last 3 decades and you needed

a decent rhino chaser (and you could get your hands on one), you would’ve had

one of Pat’s boards. OVER THE LAST SIX MONTHS EVERY PRO KITER I HAVE INTERVIEWED

FROM MAURICIO, ELLIOT AND BEN, TO DRE HAVE MENTIONED PAT’S BOARDS. (EVEN THOUGH THE

ONLY RHINOS THESE GUYS WOULD BE CHASING WOULD BE OUT OF SOME BAR AND INTO THEIR

BEDROOMS.) PAT GIVES US THE LOWDOWN ON WHAT’S GOING ON IN BOARD CONSTRUCTION AND

DESIGN AND HOW THIS IS BEING IMPLEMENTED INTO KITEBOARDS!

KITER // 39

TECH // ISSUE 2

loves design and concept. He’ll never physically become a shaper: he’s seen me limp around too much with my bad right hip, but he loves designing, and we’ll continue to do so together.

WHERE ARE YOU BASED?

I shape and design at my house on the North Shore for my Hawaii business. I have licensees throughout the surfi ng world, and also shape in San Diego; California, once a month to cover my continental USA market as well as my Central American market as exports. Also, I manufacture in the Basque country at Puka’s Surf in Spain for Europe, also in Sao Paulo, Brasil to cover South America, and other licensees include Peru, Japan, and Australia. All told, I sell my products in 21 countries presently worldwide.

Supporting Links: patrawsonsurfboards.com, pukassurf.com, gzero.com.br, and rockdance.co.jp, and surftech.com are some of my supporting links I have hosting my boards worldwide.

HOW DID YOU BECOME INVOLVED IN THE KITESURFING WORLD?

I was lucky...Ryan was already an accomplished windsurfer by ’95, but starting to lose interest on the whole scene happening at “BackYards” where we live on O’ahu. By ’96-’97, we were starting to build and test a lot of tow boards. Darrick Doerner had brought by this one Rush Randle directional Jeff Timpone kiteboard that was one

of those round nosed “Bullet” type boards that Jeff specializes in building for the Maui boys. I went ahead and made some prototypes off of that one board for Ryan, and that’s when both of us jumped in the game. By ’99, working with Ryan and my friend, Ed Kawamoto (aka E.K.), we had designed and built 2 new models: the “Rawson Pro” directional, and the “Manta”: a twin tip that ended up being the perfect beginner model for guys coming off of snowboarding or wakeboarding backgrounds into kiteboarding. We sold quite a few of both of those models built in Slovakia in conjunction with Slingshot, who Ryan was sponsored by at the time. Then, 2 years later, kiteboarding went into a complete Twin-Tip, Wakeboard-ish mentality, and I went back to the “drawing board” to re-think my approach.

WHAT POSITIVE ELEMENTS WERE CREATED BY THIS SHIFT?

The best part of that Twin-Tip/wakeboard time period for me, was the drive to push into new technology using different materials and techniques to build this “new style” of equipment. Brian and Steven Kellner, from England, are old friends of mine, and Brian had brought a directional model that they had been refi ning together in the UK to Hawaii on his visit, around January of ’02. That one board ended up changing my whole approach in the process of building boards out of newer materials,

HOW DID YOU BECOME INVOLVED IN SHAPING SURFBOARDS?

I started shaping in my family’s garage in Playa Del Rey, Los Angeles in 1966, so I have been shaping and building surfboards for 40 years now. We lived in front of Los Angeles airport at the time, and it wasn’t uncommon to hear the jets fl ying overhead over the noise of the electric Planer. That was such a great time to jump into the industry. There were many changes in design at that time: mainly boards becoming shorter, lighter, narrower and more sensitive in the riding characteristics. The blanks weren’t too good then, so you really had to understand the tools and the design you were after before starting. I am really glad I came from that era...craftsmanship was everything and design was changing constantly during that time period. I moved to Hawaii after my graduating from High School to go to college, and to shape and surf on the North Shore. That was another exciting time to be involved with building boards there in the early ‘70s. There was many design shifts and I was able to work with some of the best shapers in the world at that time. Dick Brewer, George Downing, Tom Parrish, and Bill Barnfi eld all played a big part in my approach and method of design. There is a little part of Dick Brewer in each and every board I build. I am getting close or around the 90,000 mark now in total boards shaped in the last 40 years.

CAN YOU NAME SOME OF THE SURFERS THAT HAVE RIDDEN YOUR BOARDS OVER THE YEARS?

I have been extremely fortunate to work with most of the best surfers in the surfi ng world. Starting back in 1977, I was able to build boards in Hawaii for “Buttons” Kaluhiokalani and Mark Liddell. They were 2 of the best small wave riders in the world at that time, and we started and built Local Motion Hawaii off of those two guy’s reputations. Over the last 30 years, I have worked with: 70’s-80’s: Larry Bertelmann, Michael and Derek Ho, Tony Moniz, Beaver Massfeller, Darrick Doerner, Jon Damm, Bobby Owens, Richard Schmidt, Mark Richards, Tom Curren, Tom Carroll, Gary Elkerton, Marty Thomas, Luke Egan, and most of the other top 16 guys when they came to Hawaii for the contests at that time. The 90’s were about guys like Kalani Robb, Andy and Bruce Irons, Shane Beschen, Jake Patterson, Joel Parkinson, Luke Hitchings and a bunch of other Aussie guys. Over the last 6 years, many of these new guys are hitting it hard now.

My son; Ryan, has played a big part in my work in large wave surfboards, tow boards, and my kiteboards. I have been able to test many of these designs with him fi rst, and through many of his friends on the North Shore...I can’t tell how many new models we have produced together, but Ryan

KITER // 41

TECH // ISSUE 2

Joe Sanchez and Will James on the North Shore where I live. Other riders include Moehau Goold, Andre Phillips, and Bertrand Fluery. I just made a 6’2 custom board for Ben Wilson that he picked up last week in San Diego, California.

WHAT SORT OF FEEDBACK ARE YOU GETTING FROM THEM?

Feedback wise, everyone is looking for a fast, lightweight, maneuverable board that can surf good waves and crap waves equally as well. I’ve found that taking the middle ground in board design with this in mind, works out the best, especially when boiling down the different designs into making 1 or 2 molded boards for the general buying public. Most of the time, my riders prefer going strapless, and end up using normal Polyurethane/Polyester custom boards to “play” on. Once the wind is higher, and with larger waves, straps and the Tuffl ite and custom EPS technology becomes more a reality.

WHAT LENGTH BOARDS ARE THEY RIDING?

For the ideal board: the 6’2x 18x 2 squashtail I would shape for Andy Iron’s, is a nice starting point for shaping a board that paddle-surfs well, but also performs well as a kite/surfboard in many conditions. The average lengths I’m seeing is mostly from 5’11~6’2 at the present.

WHAT FIN CONFIGURATIONS HAVE YOU EXPERIMENTED WITH?

Towing and Kiting really depend on the performance and durability of the fi n systems installed in the board. I am building many Quad designs now in surfboards, towboards, and kiteboards. The success of that particular design is hinged around the rider’s willingness to “fi ne-tune” the ride, using different fi n sizes and shapes to get the best results. I have been playing around with my short boards, guns, and towboards with something I learned from my friend Rich Pavel, the quad shaping guru from San Diego...it’s called the split keel fi n, and I have applied the concept using my own templates and fi n placement. “Stretch” has been messing around with four fi ns for years, and is one of his mainstays in the boards he builds. With the split keel, the front fi n channels the water into the rear fi n, much like a jib to a mainsail on a sailboat, the board ends up being extremely positive through turns, yet loose, due to no center fi n. I have had to combine both Futures F2 keel for the front fi n, and FCS G7000 for the back fi n, due to the close proximity of the front fi n to each other. With using FSC plugs for the rear fi n, you can position the back fi ns very close to the front fi n setup. I am really excited to start building these as kiteboards for my riders to test out this fall season on the North Shore.

and not so much out of Polyurethane foam and polyester resin. So, we started building these 1” thick Divinacell boards that were super strong, and very light, and I then realized the future of both surfi ng and kiteboard manufacturing was going to hinge off using better materials and techniques...something we are all becoming very conscience of today almost 5 years later, with the Tufl ite type boards and others available worldwide, as well as some of the high end EPS boards some of us are making and selling to the custom market in both the surfi ng and kiting worlds.

WHEN DID YOU SEE THE MOVE AWAY FROM TWIN-TIPS BACK TOWARDS SURFBOARDS?

Mauricio Abreu has been riding my surfboards for about 5 years now. Around 3 1/2 years ago, he mentioned he was playing around and using some of them to kite with while riding waves, which really got me motivated to come up with something new. At that time, I remember Peter Trow as a main proponent that “surfed” using his kiting equipment to jet around and catch a million waves.

Using Mauricio and Elliot Leboe and Brian Kellner as test riders, I then started working with Clark Foam to develop a stronger foam blank with custom stringers that would hold up with better with compression and

tensile strength regarding foot straps and jumping etc. resulting in a board that would hold up reasonably well with care. After, we fi nally had a product that performed well, but the downside was the board’s fi nal weight was on the heavy side with straps and fi ns installed.

HOW HAVE YOU SOLVED THESE PROBLEMS?

Over the last 2 years, I have been working with Randy French of Surftech. The Tufl ite technology that they use is a perfect blend of the better fl ex characteristics for kiting, along with lighter fi nished weight, and great durability combined for a commercial Kiteboard. Late last year, I introduced 4 initial models with Tuffl ite, with the 6’2 and 6’4 models intended as kiteboard/surfboards with inserts pre-installed. Those 2 models have been received well worldwide, and I am presently experimenting with a stick-on type foot insert pad that combines the needed reinforcement and the pad at the same time, and giving the user the choice of position etc.

WHO ARE THE GUYS THAT ARE RIDING YOUR BOARDS?

Current riders: Ryan, Mauricio, and Elliot have made big contributions to my approach to shaping and designing these new boards, along with Brian and Steven Kellner in the UK, and my friends, Ed Kawamoto,

KITER // 43

TECH // ISSUE 2

“Towing and Kiting really depend on the performance and durability of the fin systems installed in the board.”

IMAGE BY TKraft KITER // 45

TECH // ISSUE 2

regarding durability verses light weight. The main disadvantage of that technique I felt, was the overall board stiffness due to the carbon composite cloth combo. In hi-performance surfi ng, overall surfboard fl ex plays a big part in the rider experiencing a “liveliness” from the board as it goes into and out of turns.

FOR THOSE READERS THAT MAY NOT BE AWARE CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TRADITIONAL SURFBOARD AND SURFTECH STYLE BOARD?

The Tufl ite technology has a stiffer, faster fl ex pattern than say a Clark Foam blank glassed with polyester resin would have, and so many newcomers that try that Tufl ite style technology for a surfboard for the fi rst time, have to stay with the board for awhile to get used to that tighter fl ex pattern. In kiting with a Tufl ite surfboard, the tighter fl ex pattern is actually an advantage due to the higher speeds a kiteboard attains, and the much higher intitial velocity and momentum a kiter has at his command in dropping into a wave. The Tufl ites also have a nice fi nished weight: my Ryan Rawson Tufl ite 6’2, with foot inserts in the board, weighs approximately 6 pounds with fi ns and straps installed. My equivalent polyester version with the heavier Polyurethane blank and extra fi berglass reinforcement weighs in at about 8 pounds fully “rigged”up. Also, another advantage to the Tufl ite technology is

the overall weight is felt more on the skin of the board, as compared to a polyurethane/polyester board’s weight having more dead weight felt in the center of the board due to the heavier blank as the core of the fi nished design.

HOW HAS THE CLOSING OF CLARK FOAM AFFECTED YOU?

I have been building custom EPS boards using fused beaded Styrofoam blanks cut on a computer machine, that are almost 35% stronger as a hand laminated epoxy board over a standard PU board hand laminated polyester board. Using air bag lamination techniques, we can get that ratio up to 50% stronger over standard hand-lammed PU board. With Clark Foam’s closing almost 1 year ago, we as surfboard manufacturers had to re-think our methods and suppliers in our busineses worldwide. Our industry is in a much better position now, although all the many choices available now with other foam cores, and different technology have confused both the surf shop board buyer and the end customer as well. Our industry of building boards is somewhat in a post Clark Foam hangover, which I think is fi nally stabilizing now, and will be back to a more normal pattern by early Spring ’07. Our job as builders now, is to fully test the all new concepts as they become available, and simultaneously to re-educate their customers as so they can make the best choices when buying their new boards.

FROM WHAT I HEAR A LOT OF THE CREW HAVE BEEN RIDING RAWSON SURFBOARD’S FOR A WHILE, ARE YOU WORKING ON KITE SPECIFIC BOARDS?

I just built a 6’2 Bonzer 5 fi n for Mauricio, and he’ll get a chance to test it out in Indo on his upcoming trip there. That’s another design I have been refi ning and shaping for over 20 years, in conjunction with the Campbell Brothers who invented the design. I am positive that the re-introduced concept has a promising future as a faster kiteboard design for waveriding purposes.

WHEN I WAS IN WEST AUSTRALIA AT THE START OF THE YEAR I MET THE BROTHERS KELNER AND THEY HAD A COUPLE OF YOUR BOARDS THAT WERE GLASSED IN WHAT LOOKED LIKE A MIX OF KEVLAR AND CARBON FIBRE. CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT THE BOARDS, THE CONSTRUCTION OF THEM AND IF MAKING A BOARD THIS STRONG HAS DISADVANTAGES?

When I went to visit Brian and Steven Kelner in the UK in June ’05, I had shaped 2 boards for each of them out of polyurethane Clark Foam blanks in Cornwall. They had ended up glassing all four boards with a combination of Kevlar/carbon cloth woven together, and using air bag technology for a fi nished board with an extremely light weight to strength ratio. I don’t think there is a stronger method than that, for non-molded custom shaped boards

IMAGE BY TKraft

KITER // 47

TECH // ISSUE 2

UNASHAMED DEBAUCHERY,

LIP BELTING AND THE ODD

SAUSAGE SANGA. KITER CAUGHT UP WITH

CONTEST DIRECTOR JOHN SMYTHE TO GET

THE LOW DOWN ON THIS YEAR OFFERINGS.

THE MAMBO CONTEST

THAT IS HELD ANNUALLY

IN MERIMBULA IS

AUSTRALIA’S PREMIER

WAVE RIDING EVENT

FOR KITESURFING AND

WINDSURFING. IT’S A

WEEKEND FILLED WITH

KITER // 49

COMP // ISSUE 2

down here who started wave sailing, formed a sailboard club and ran the contest through that. The contest grew and grew and grew and probably peaked with wave sailing in 1990. Towards the end of the 90’s it started to taper off and a few of the guys started turning up with kites. So we said, “Come back next year and we will have a trophy for kites” and the rest is history. Last year the kites out numbered the windsurfers.

Kiter: Was that the fi rst time?

JS: I think there were about 3 years where it was 50-50 and last year was the fi rst time it had gone that way. Mind you a lot of guys in the past would bring both.

Kiter: Has it always been the idea for everyone to sail at the same time rather than to send out heats?

JS: That’s another thing that evolved in the early 80’s when there were small numbers of us. We would be waiting for the wind and get to run 6 heats and then the wind would drop and only half of us would get to sail. So when the wind was on we would all just go for it and judge each other from the water. That has always been the focus getting as much sailing time in as possible with an accent on wave riding. We like to see waves ridden to their full potential. That’s why the stand outs in the kiting in the Mambo the last few years have been the guys slashing on the surfboards, guys like Ben Wilson and

Jamie Symonds from the Gold Coast. That is what it’s all about – wave riding.

Kiter: Do you think that is why the event’s popularity has endured?

JS: I think it would be a great event to go to, if someone else was running it in another location. To take off for the weekend and be fed everyday at the BBQ, a few good parties at night and then get given a prize at the end of it and then if the wind blows, it all sounds pretty good to me. The karma of the event has seen us get good winds most years.

Kiter: Do any of the years stick out as been memorable for their conditions?

JS: In terms of classic down the line bare away wave riding -1987. Really big wild conditions, howling 40-knot winds and sailing on 4 m sails. Huge storm surf with 12 inches of rain that fell overnight 15-25 knot south easter. You could not see the tops of the masts behind the waves –1986.

Kiter: Finally, Craig Thompson’s performances as the MC over the years are legendary.

Last year his stage presence seemed stifl ed, will we see a return to form this year?

JS: Craig was shuffl ed out the back door last year and forgot to come back in. I have assured him this year that he is the master of ceremonies.

Kiter: How did the Mambo start?

JS: Originally when windsurfi ng took off into the waves in the early eighties it became pretty big. There were contests in Torquay and Sydney and they were getting good turn outs in those days so we thought we would have an event here in Merimbula. In 1981 we started holding a contest in November and it just continued from there. Up to 1985 Dare Jennings who created Mambo would make the posters. At that time his company was called Phantom T Shirts and then in 1985 he became Mambo, so that was where the contest started.

Kiter: Was it a crew of locals from Merimbula who started the contest?

JS: Yeah it was a group of surfers

“To take off for the weekend and be fed everyday at the BBQ, a few good parties at night and then get given a prize at the end of it and then if the wind blows, it all sounds pretty good to me.”

KITER // 51

COMP // ISSUE 2

http://www.slingshotkiteboarding.com.au

MY NEIGHBOUR IS A TOUGH LEBANESE DUDE NAMED GEORGE, GREAT BLOKE WHO WOULD DO ANYTHING TO HELP YOU OUT. GEORGE IS ABOUT 6FT TALL, CUT AND AN EX BOXER WHO REALLY KNOWS HOW TO HANDLE HIMSELF. WHEN GEORGE

TALKS ABOUT PEOPLE HAVING A LOT OF LUCK IN LIFE HE TALKS OF THEM, BEING “BLESSED” AND IF HE MET BEN WILSON I RECKON HE WOULD BE RIGHT. UNLIKE

GEORGE, BEN HAS TROUBLE IMPRESSING ANYONE WITH HIS PUNY BODY AND EVEN THOUGH HE SAYS “SICK” IN ALMOST EVERY SENTENCE,

“BLESSED” OR NOT I AM PUTTING MY MONEY ON GEORGE!

5 minutes on the phone with

IMAGE BY KOTTKE KITER // 55

5 minutes // ISSUE 2

RP: You have a good relationship with the guys on Namotu working there as a guide and in the earlier days doing a bit of cooking. Do you try and get back there every year?

BW: Over the last four years I have tried to get back but I haven’t been able to but now that I am chasing waves and wind I can get there once a year. I spent 2 months there this year and hopefully I will spend two months there next year.

RP: Did you get wind there this time?

BW: The last month that I was there the wind was sick, probably half the time I was there were good kiting days. We had two really good swells and the trades were pretty solid.

RP: And you’re on your backhand there?

BW: The reef there wraps around the island and there is a left on one side of a pass and a right on the other side. The left is straight side shore and the right is side onshore to onshore.

RP: Sounds like a great set up.

BW: Yeah it is a sick set up! Some days I ride between both, catch a couple waves on the right and then go and ride the left, depending on the swell size and the wind.

RP: What are you doing to earn your keep on the island?

BW: I have a pretty good deal set up with Scotty (the islands owner) where I go fi shing in the morning and catch the fi sh for the restaurant and maybe take a

IMAGE BY KOTKE KITER // 57

5 minutes // ISSUE 2

couple of the guests if they want to go out. The rest of the day I can go kiting, if there is no wind I go surfi ng and then maybe fi shing in the afternoon, but if there is wind I will kite all day.

RP: I hear from reliable sources that your fi shing fetish is bordering on addiction?

BW: Yeah I am pretty keen on fi shing.

RP: Didn’t you win a fi shing competition recently in Namotu?

BW: It wasn’t in Namotu it was actually “The Pacifi c Harbour International Game Fishing Competition” held in Fiji and another one called “The Denarau Game fi shing Competition”. I really enjoy those events.

RP: What kind of fi sh do you catch on Namotu?

BW: All pelagic species -Wahoo, Mahi Mahi, Sailfi sh and Tunas

RP: When you’re too old for the kiteboarding gig maybe we might see you on the international game fi shing tour?

BW: I wouldn’t mind, that would be pretty sick!

RP: After a month on Namotu you then fl ew to Tahiti, how was that?

BW: We fl ew to Rarotoa and Bora Bora and the wind was sick, probably 3/4’s of the time we were there we had

really good wind, sunny days and some really good swell, it was probably one of the best trips I have actually been on for conditions.

RP: You were there fi lming with Elliott Leboe and Tracy Kraft

BW: Yeah we were shooting for Elliott’s movie and Tracy came along to take the photos. We actually had a deal with the Bora Bora Tourism board and they funded the whole trip. They wanted to get some stock footage and shots so that they can promote Bora Bora, Moehau Gould’s Dad hooked it up for us.

RP: Where are you off to next?

BW: I’m off to Indo and Hawaii to do some last minute shooting for the upcoming ACL video.

RP: Do you ever fi nd that you get burnt out kiting all the time and lose your enthusiasm?

BW: I did before I got into the whole chasing the waves. Honestly right now I am so pumped and amped on the whole scene. I have just had 3 weeks out of the water because I have been in the States and I am freaking out and just hanging for my next session. I can’t see myself getting burnt out riding waves, there’s just no way.

RP: Thanks for that Ben, are you going to the Mambo this year?

BW: Yeah for sure man, catch you there!

IMAGES BY KOTKE KITER // 59

5 minutes // ISSUE 2

IMAGE BY TKraft KITER // 61

5 minutes // ISSUE 2

PLAY

I want to show the public how focused we are as athletes. The fi lm not only shows fl ying aspects but also jibbing, big kickers, and buttering everything else. This sport is small yet its direction is multifaceted. I love it.

For me it’s like snowboarding back in the late 80s when everyone was doing something different yet all of us were friends because the sport was so small so we had tons of respect for each other. Nowadays snowboarders are like “ya well the park is where it’s at, or

backcountry is the shit...”which to me that’s fucked up. I believe to be the best within a sport, one should grow and try it all and feel confi dent in every area. So for Kitesnowboarding right now it’s really small yet we all appreciate what everyone is doing and where they are taking the sport. I’m a jibber at heart but this last season I have grown to love backcountry and powder a whole lot more. With different riders we can see what is possible and see a vision that is possible from these riders. We are seeing history in the making!

SNOW KITING LOOKS LIKE AWESOME FUN. IF ANYONE WOULD LIKE TO SEND ME AN AIR TICKET AND RENT ME A COUCH I WOULD LOVE TO GIVE IT A GO. AS THIS IS AN UNLIKELY EVENT TO OCCUR I WILL JUST HAVE TO STRAP ON MY SNOWBOARD, TURN OFF THE LIGHTS, GRAB MY BAR AND WATCH PAUL MOTZ’S 20/10. IF YOU THINK THAT SOUNDS A LITTLE SICK YOU SHOULD CHECK THE AIR THESE GUYS GET!

TELL US A BIT ABOUT 20/10?

SNOWBLIND

KITER // 63

FILM REVIEW // ISSUE 2

WHERE WAS IT FILMED?

Sanitarium (Dillon) Colorado (park and rails)

Rollins Pass, Colorado (Backcountry)

The Garden, Colorado (Backcountry and Freestyle)

Mt. Haggin, Montana (Backcountry)

Georgetown Lake, Montana (Freestyle)

Mille Lacs, Minnesota (Freestyle)

Skyline, Utah (Backcountry)

Strawberry Res, Utah (Backcountry)

OVER WHAT TIME PERIOD WAS THE FILM SHOT?

It was fi lmed November of 2005 to May of 2006. I like to release a DVD every season so the audience can always be in touch of what is going on in the snow aspect of kiting and how progressive each year is from the one previous. It’s growing so fast in so many directions and I want to make sure I can capture everything.

WHO IS IN IT?

Chasta, James Brown, Remi Meum, Dave Tyburski, and myself. One side note.My section is 90% fi lmed by me.... so

no one was behind the cameras...Mikey Basich (pro snowboarder) is one that has perfected this....check it yo!!

THE POINT OF VIEW CAMERA STUFF IS PRETTY COOL CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT THAT?

Ya basically I felt that Chasta has taken fl ying to a crazy level and that no one (besides Pascal Joubert) is close to what he is doing. So I wanted viewers to see what he sees and what he does. In the bonus part of the DVD I set apart a whole section where it’s split screen so you see the helmet cam view and my camera view.

SOME OF THE BIGGER JUMPS ARE AMAZING, ARE THE RIDERS LOOPING THEIR KITES ABOVE THEIR HEADS TO KEEP THE HEIGHT?

No. They are looping the kites to stop from gaining any more altitude and to come down or to just slow down. In wakestyle you will see it as a trick.

In snow and the fl ying aspect of it, it’s a fundamental aspect that you need to know before jumping off a big mound. One thing that I would like to tell people here is that don’t look at what Chasta/Alex Peterson and a few others are doing and then go off the way top of the mountain. If you’re going to try it...start small!!!! Go up the slope a little ways and try it and just keep progressing higher the more comfortable you feel. I see quite a few people that just go for it way too high up and get in trouble.

THERE IS ONE SHOT WHERE YOU CAN SEE ABOUT 50 KITES IN FRAME, IS THIS A REFLECTION OF HOW POPULAR THE SPORT IS BECOMING?

Ya. It’s growing like crazy. We have people here in Colorado that learn on dry land just so they have the fundamentals down for Winter. They could care less about the water. It’s changing territories though because sometimes you don’t see your bros and it’s because people are into different parts of the sport. So some people are going up high for powder/natural terrain and some are staying down low for park/rails....it’s all-good.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU FREAKED YOURSELF OUT KITING?

I went kiting the other day on the water and as I was pissing, I heard a hissssssss sound. Well half way through my piss I look down and it was a 4 foot long bull snake I was pissing on. I screamed like a girl in our local parking lot and ran around like a freak! Fortunately the snake didn’t bite my snake. Colorado is crazy. If your ever in our area come on down and I will show you where not to piss.

CHEERS DUDE, CAN YOU SEND ME A COPY?

Of course.... bros hook up bros.

NAME:

PAUL MACAJ...PEOPLE THEY

CALL ME “MOTZ”. MY LAST NAME

IS PRONOUNCED MOTZ-EYE.

(SLOVAKIAN)

WHERE DO YOU LIVE:

LITTLETON, COLORADO

WHAT DO YOU DO:

ACTUALLY MOST PEOPLE DON’T

KNOW THAT I CAN SEW...YA I’M A

SEAMSTRESS. I FIX SAILBOAT SAILS

AND OF COURSE KITES...AND OF

COURSE I FILM.

CREW:

PATRICK, BLAKEY, PAINTER GARY,

ANTON, MN, MT, WY.

MUSIC:

I’M A MUSIC FREAK. THRICE, THE

FAINT, MUSE, SPARTA, PREFUSE 73,

BLONDE REDHEAD, ALEXISONFIRE...

AMAZING BAND!!

SPONSORS:

SLINGSHOT AND DAKINE.

LATER

MOTZ

With different riders we can see

what is possible and see a vision

that is possible from these riders.

We are seeing history in the making!

KITER // 65

FILM REVIEW // ISSUE 2

PLAY

RP: How did you get into kiteboarding?

PP: I windsurfed for 20 plus years and started kiting in 1999 and slowly got more and more into it. All the gear was lighter and easier to carry around and now I prefer it. Wave riding was always my game in windsurfi ng and now with kiting coming into the waves, it’s been a revelation in the last couple of years.

RP: And you get good conditions in South Africa for kiteboarding?

PP: We probably have some of the best conditions I think. It’s relatively easy and there are so many beaches to go off, it can handle a lot of people and we have steady trades for 4-5 months of the year and even in the off season we have plenty of fronts coming through so you can kite year round. We have all sorts of angles, so you can always fi nd a side shore spot and a lot of spots are exposed to SW swells. SW swells just hit the west coast all the time. There are always waves around so it’s just a natural thing to go wave riding. We don’t have perfect clean point breaks like here (OZ) but we do have top beach breaks with good

angles.

RP: You had a bit to do with the making of Snapshot?

PP: We started fi lming last year, Ralph Buckscheister and a guy called Krispian and we started fi lming independently of each other. What has been happening is the top PKRA guys have being coming down here each year. Aaron has been coming down for the last 3 or 4 years and this year Ruben Lenten, Kevin Langaree, Etinne Lhote from France, Susie Mai and Kristin Boese all came down to practice. They had seen Aaron’s success with practicing in Cape Town, because it is a pretty diffi cult wind to ride in. Their philosophy was “If we can pull off our moves in that wind then we can do it anywhere in any conditions.”

RP: Over what time period was the fi lm shot?

PP: They were all down for a couple of months. Krispian went on a road trip with Aaron, Ruben and our local guy Greg Tyser who was 7th on the PKRA last year. Ralph and myself shot them when

SNAPSHOT WAS RELEASED A FEW MONTHS AGO IN SOUTH AFRICA BUT HAS ONLY JUST MADE IT TO OZ. I RAN INTO PETER PETERSON IN THE DESERT’S OF WEST OZ, REVERSED, APOLOGISED AND THEN RECORDED THIS INTERVIEW. JUST REMEMBER IF YOU’RE GOING TO STH AFRICA TAKE A HANDKERCHIEF SIZED KITE BECAUSE IT FREAKIN HOWLS, BREW!

SNAPSHOT

they were on the West Coast and when they were riding freestyle in the waves. In February we realised we had enough really good footage. So we made a 1-hour fi lm in and around Cape Town of the top PKRA guys and us older guys doing a bit of wave riding.

RP: And it’s called...?

PP: Snapshot, basically a snapshot of our season, of what went down! We structured so each rider gets a 3-5 minute section and then we threw in a few shots of the locations so people can see what it looks like down there. It’s a high wind fast paced movie with a lot of riding in it. The movie doesn’t have anyone riding anything bigger than a 9-metre kite in it and down to 5’s. The wind is pumping and whilst some of the riding might not be as technical as somewhere

like Venezuela where its rock steady 20 knots, the guys really get yanked in their kiteloops and they do some mad shit, its quite impressive.

RP: What time of year should people head to South Africa?

PP: The trades kick in solidly from December, you can go earlier but they can be patchy. They blow solidly until February - March. We prefer March as it is not so crowded and the swell starts kicking in. January is the windiest month and I guess it just depends on what you’re coming for, if you have your girlfriend with you and you do the Christmas trip, then December, January are solid and February is probably the best all round month. If you want to go waveriding bring a 4m.

KITER // 67

FILM REVIEW // ISSUE 2

KITER // 71

XPOSE // ISSUE 2

KITER // 89

XPOSE // ISSUE 2

In the

next episode of Kiter:

we profile the irresistible Susi Mai. The girl speaks 4 languages, travels the globe non-stoP kites better than you and has a smile that stops traffic.

Tune in next time, same kite time, same kite channel!

PHOTO BY JUSTIN BUFTONKITER // 91

NEXT // ISSUE 2

EDITOR/PRODUCER

Russell Pellrussellpell@kitermag.com

ART DIRECTION & LAYOUT

Ian Mutchart@inkdesign.com.au

MULTIMEDIA

Craig Farrowcraig@inkdesign.com.au

ADVERTISING INQUIRES

Russell Pell 0419292528russellpell@kitermag.com

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Jeff Pfeffer (Cover Shot):jeff.pfeffer@gmail.com

Tracy Kraft:takraft@aol.com, www.tracykraft.com

Greg Lewis: greg@kingbrownmag.com

Trik Photography:www.trikphotography.com.au

Nick Fitt: nick@pinealdesign.com

Justin Bufton: kiteboyjustin@yahoo.com

Ben Kottke: www.benkottke.com

Russell Ord: rord@bigpond.net.au

GOOD PEOPLE

www.kitescoop.comwww.thekiteboarder.comwww.kitesnowboarder.comwww.traqua.com.au

THANKS

Danielle, Dad & Mum, Nana, Luke & Carley, Dicko & Jen, Uncle, Josh & Angie, Elliott & Penelope, Andrew & Em, Taj & Sahil, Stuey & Em, Scott & Cass, Mick, Em, Chip & India, Hudson, Andre, Felix, Jeff Pfeffer, Peter Peterson, Will, Pat Rawson, Morris, Elliot & Tracy, John Smythe, Benjamin Williamson, Paul Macaj, Greg Lewis, Matt Holder, Andrew Raygun, Ian and the rest of the bloody legends from INK Design.

Contributors are welcome to send material for consideration to be included in this publication.

Kiteboarding is dangerous and you should

have a lesson with a qualifi ed instructor.

This magazine and everyone involved are

not responsible for you being a goose and

hurting yourself.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication

may be reproduced, ripped off or copied in

whole or part without permission from the

editor Russell Pell.

KITER // 93

SHOUTOUT // ISSUE 2

mailto:russellpell@kitermag.com