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- [00:01]
A
Welcome to the kitesurf 365 podcast.
- [00:04]
B
Welcome back to the show. I hope you all had a great weekend. Today I'm joined by Aaron Blankenbill, AKA Kitesurf. Aaron, I just realized I don't do enough of these types of interviews. It's like going back to the early days of the podcast. But this was so much fun. Aaron's a great guy, he's got a great Instagram and I really enjoyed this one. We spoke about the memes and of course we spoke about Bordeaux. You're going to enjoy this one, so sit back and relax. Ladies and gentlemen. Come kite surf. Aaron. Aaron. Welcome to the show, my friend. How are you?
- [00:41]
A
Good. Hey. Well, I'm. I've been better. I've got a broken wrist, a torn meniscus, and I almost died last week in Egypt, so I'm glad I'm here.
- [00:51]
B
Is that from doing bor offs?
- [00:53]
A
No, no, actually it's three different events, actually. The diet, the wrist, I just fell down the stairs here and, and broke my wrist a couple days ago. The lemoniscus I've torn while doing a kites of jump in Egypt. And the dying, that was a freak accident, man. I've never had that. Last. Last week I was kiting in Egypt on a kite safari and then we. I let my friends test the fly surface sonic, so we swapped in the water. So I had two kites in my hand. So I mean, super, you should do this. And then somehow one kite got tangled in my camera pole that I had on my back and one of these vests that you carry, and then it started pulling me under the water on my neck, full power because it was tangled in the camera in the back and the second kite was also on it. And for about 5, 10 seconds I was underwater there. I think, like, this is a pretty bad situation I'm in here because it literally pulled me on my neck underwater and then the guy released and. And my other kite somehow hit the water and I came out of it. But for a couple of seconds I was like, this could be it, man.
- [02:09]
B
It's like that meme, it's a dumb way to die, you know?
- [02:12]
A
Oh my God. Honesty, man. Yeah, it hasn't been my luckiest week.
- [02:17]
B
You know, as a, as a guy who's done a lot of memes, maybe, maybe there's something in that for you.
- [02:21]
A
I know.
- [02:21]
B
You know, Aaron, I've known you for many years. I think we've only met a couple times, but you've been kite surfing since the year 2000. How does someone get into kite surfing in the year 2000? Because in the year 2000 I guess there wasn't a lot of kiting around.
- [02:36]
A
Far out. That was the early days, you know. I walked into a bike store in the year 2000. I remember it vividly. I was 12 years old, 38 kilos, very small guy. And I saw this on TV. The first sort of kite surf competition I think would have been the Red Bull king of the year in Hawaii. And I looked at this and I was like, that is my destiny. Like that is what I want to do in life, you know. And. And then I went online pretty much that, that week and ordered my first kite online already back then in the year 2000, dial up Internet and got delivered. It was a two line gunsail kite. There was a foil kite that when I let go of the bar that the safety was attached on my wrist and there was no quick release on the chicken loop. Like it was just one of these old windsurfing loops that you cannot release. There is no way of getting out of the system. But you had to kind of pull it down, unhook, let it go. And then the safety was basically the kite just looping in the air forever. And it pulled me through fields on my wrist like that. Man, I remember though, it was crazy times to start. Yeah, that was, that was the beginning of my kiting.
- [03:49]
B
And where was that?
- [03:50]
A
That was in Switzerland. Yeah, my dad probably know but my dad's Kiwi, I'm Swiss, I grew up in Switzerland and then I moved to New Zealand 2010.
- [04:00]
B
Yeah, I was going to ask you how you ended up in New Zealand because that's sort of where I know you from all through was that sort of New Zealand crew. What was the shift to New Zealand like being back then and you know, being around people like Mark and was mean I guess. Hugo was in nappies when you first met him.
- [04:15]
A
Far out. Yeah, I mean Hugo, I saw him just learning like not learning to jump. He was already kind of getting into board offs when I first saw him and I, I looked at him, I was like geez, that guy is pretty good. You know, like there's not the level is pretty decent in New Zealand but. But yeah, he already stood out. It's like wow, he's doing some rotations with boss and. And yeah, so the move to New Zealand was 2010. I got sick of just sitting here in Switzerland not not being able to kite, you know and I just needed to change it and because I had a New Zealand Passport. It was pretty easy to just, yeah, move over there. And it was a sacrifice, not going to lie. I mean I was, I was working here in the bank, doing pretty good, pretty well. And then I moved to New Zealand and I really, my salary got cut in half. I had to start a brand new life again. No friends, basically, you know, from, from all my friends were here, so. But it was worth it because I just wanted to kite more and I do it for that. And I also met my, my wife there now. So it all worked out for a
- [05:18]
B
lot of people who don't know what's the New Zealand scene like because I, I know, I mean I'm from Auckland and. But I haven't really kited there much because I've been away for, for a long time. But yeah, I mean my experience in Auckland is you can kite in every single wind direction. It's like there's always a spot.
- [05:35]
A
Love it. Yeah, it's. Honestly it's. I, I lived in Oakland too and that is a good spot because of all the base. So you have two wind directions, you have Easter or southwest. And where I used to live on North Shore there in Tekapuna area, within two three minute drives, you have both coasts, you know. So I was kiting three, four times a week. I mean I was living the dream, you know, and I kite seen, I feel it has, it has shrunk a little bit because of wing foiling. I feel like we're not the newest sport on the, on the, on the block anymore. Right? Yeah. So. But it's still, still a couple of kiters out there. Yeah, there's a lot of space, man. Yeah.
- [06:16]
B
I guess in 2010 it was all about freestyle. Right, but you would have been there when it all sort of switched to big air.
- [06:24]
A
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. And I saw Mark, I went to a couple of competitions in New Zealand where Mark was doing freestyle stuff and then, yeah, he shifted to Big Ear. And I was surprised at the beginning because we didn't really know that this shift was happening because it's just, you know, Reuben Lenon started the mega loop things and then couple years down the track they did, they started doing board offs and, and yeah, it wasn't called that way, I think. So it's just like getting into this other stuff now and it's so cool that we changed directions. I, I love, love, love the way it's now with all these massive jumps and board offs and, and kite loops and stuff. Yeah.
- [07:07]
B
You know, it's funny, back in the day, Aaron, if You saw someone doing a kite loop, man, that was impressive. Unfortunately now like every man's dog can do a kite loop almost. It's crazy, right?
- [07:17]
A
Yeah, that's crazy. I remember seeing the first videos of Reuben Lenten doing the kite loops. It's like holy, like hell storm.
- [07:24]
B
Just crazy stuff. Yeah, crazy stuff. Yeah. You know the interesting thing and you know you're the, you're the boff master there. Bore offs never really took off. I found people never really warm to border some. We can, we'll get back into boredoffs a bit later in this podcast. But yeah, it's interesting how. How many people that you meet can't do a board off. Yeah, it's crazy amount.
- [07:44]
A
You know I thought about this because I reviewed some footage in 2001 and 2002. I was actually on my parents speed on my back trying board offs in the bed, you know. And then Suddenly though around 2002, 2003 the shift started going towards freestyle like wake wake style kind of thing, you know and, and it was not cool to do board offs anymore. Like it was totally not in anymore. And for that. That lasted for a good 10 years until 2015, 16, 17 until this whole big year stuff started. And only recently I feel it's. It's cool. You're cool again to be bored of, you know. And because of that as well, I, I guess I never really put a lot of effort into. It took me 20 years to land my first board off. You know, I only landed my first board off in 2020. And so yeah, I think it was to do as well because of. It was not, it was not the thing to do. Yeah, yeah. Crazy.
- [08:41]
B
If you see all my boards that I've never had handles on, you know and it's funny when you know when people try to rescue the board or they see, you know, they're trying to come, they don't know what to do. It's like they just go to grab the handle, you know. So that I guess that gives away the sort of time that I started kiting. But yeah, I've on from that time that where handles were strictly for carrying boards only. So I, I still haven't put the handle back on. I like the aesthetics of a board without a handle actually.
- [09:05]
A
Yeah, I, I alert my first board off without a handle because of it because it was not cool to have one.
- [09:11]
B
Why did you end up leaving New Zealand?
- [09:13]
A
Man? That was purely for the kids. I have two kids. They were 3 and 5 at the time. We moved to Switzerland in 2023, because I wanted them to learn German. Pretty tough move for me because I went from living the dream of kiting a couple times a week to a little Swiss mountain village. I mean, if I turn the screen, you can probably see where I am. Can you see that mountain here, mate?
- [09:37]
B
I've seen your Instagram post, mate. It looks very, very far from the sea. Absolutely beautiful, but couldn't be further from the ocean.
- [09:43]
A
I know, man. I've been suffering quietly here and we're working on a plan to move back to New Zealand, to be honest, because, yeah, it's. You don't realize how much it impacts your mental health if you can't kite. Because I have this outlet two, three times a week, you know, not to say that I'm like down or anything, but it was. It's an adjustment, you know, going from kiting a lot to not. Because it's. For me, kiting is almost like meditation because you're in the water and you need to focus on keeping the kite up there and. And you have to focus on one single thing. You know, the kite stays up there and it's kind of. Yeah, it's just where I recharge my batteries. And I think a lot of people feel the same way.
- [10:26]
B
I remember Baris Soyugo from the Kite for Life foundation was saying to me way back when I first met him about, you know, he was, you know, recovering from cancer and, you know, kite surfing was like the only times he never thought about the cancer, you know, and never thought about all that stuff that was worrying him, you know, worrying him so much. And that's why he started that, that foundation. And it was purely for, you know, giving people that experience of being on the water and just almost shutting everything else off.
- [10:54]
A
Totally. Ben. Yeah, I think a lot of people can relate. I had this one Thai man in 2008 where I was out kite surfing, and the only thing I could think of is the problems I had with my girlfriend at the time. And I literally went off that. Off that beach and I was like, I gotta break up. That is not working out. And I went and I broke up with my girlfriend because it's like, this is not. This is my time, man.
- [11:16]
B
You know, I think you and I spoke around about 2022 or 2023, and you were thinking of making that move into going into sort of full time content creation. You would. You were going down the memes and the funny videos world. And I mean, some of those are really, really great. Where did that idea come from? And was that Tough to fully commit to that. I mean, because it is, I mean in this industry. And I think I even told you, I said, bruh, if anyone's offering any money, you just take it because there's no money.
- [11:45]
A
Yes, yes. I learned that day I was on it. That's that that whole social media journey has been a very interesting one because I started 2021 posting about board offs to help people learn board offs. But it is so frustrating when you put hours and hours into video and only 500 people or so view it, you know. And then I basically gave up posting. But in 2023 I discovered this formula of funny videos. Basically in June 2024 I kind of went viral. I had something like in my first six months I had 20 million views. I think so. And I just, I, I really heavily leaned into that memes into the funny videos. I mean it's kind of who I am anyway, but I like to make jokes. But, but I also did it in terms as of a strategy and it was really odd to change because going from like being serious change, talking about board offs to just really silly. Some videos, man, are really, it's cringe, you know, like you post and you think like, oh, I don't feel good posting that stuff. And you know, one thing I always do is, is when I post the first video, I check how many likes I get in the first hundred views and if it's, if it's five or more five likes in the first hundred views, I know it's going to be a good video, it's going to go viral. And the funny thing is about, if you post a cringe video and it gets like 3, 4, 5 million views, everyone's like, wow, you're such a cool guy. But if you post a cringe video and it gets like 3,000 views, everything's like, what the fuck. Yeah, honestly, it's. Yeah. But in terms of the whole social media journey, you know, two years into it, I had 60 million views on social media and I was like, man, I'm the guy, you know, like started talking to some brands. Most of them didn't reply to me and then some. I had, I mean I had, I had a couple of meetings with some big, big brands in, in the kiting industry with some of the biggest brands to see if we can work out a deal. But yeah, they didn't have any budget for it or perhaps they were not interested. I mean someone said like, just because you post a funny video doesn't help us sell kites, you know, And So that was two years into the last year, 2025, and I was like, shit. I guess it's not really, really working, you know, putting a lot of effort into it, but getting a lot of views. But people don't seem to be very interested in working with me. So this year I changed strategy again and I'm just posting more sort of authentic stuff, just sharing learning journeys and stuff like that.
- [14:22]
B
Yeah, on our discord we were talking about big jumps and we were looking at sort of baby sharks jump and I can't remember, it's 70 million views and you know, 2.5 million likes. You know, with the industry, probably 250,000 kiters. There's a lot of people there who don't give a monkeys about kite boarding, who just either liking it and watching it. And that's the problem, right? When you create something that's funny or risque or escapism, which most of them are, you're attracting an audience that probably is not involved in kiteboarding, if that makes sense.
- [14:54]
A
It makes now it makes crystal clear scenes. And I learned this the hard way because when you post funny videos like that. Yeah, as you say, the algorithm is pretty clever. You know, it puts that content in front of a wide audience. And then a year or so into it, I started posting some boredoff videos again just to get back to that again. And then some people commented, he's like, wow, I didn't know you could kite so well. I was like, where have I, what have I done? You know, people don't even know that I can kite. You know, they just see me as a funny guy.
- [15:27]
B
But yeah, how is filming some of those videos? I mean, some of them you were talking about being embarrassed posting it. You must have been embarrassed filming these. Sometimes I think the one in IKEA
- [15:39]
A
is hilarious, you know, doing board offs in ikea.
- [15:43]
B
Yeah, yeah. How was that? Did you speak to the shops before you enter in that situation or just went in there and just got to work?
- [15:50]
A
I just, I just, basically the IKEA one, I just went in and waited for the right moment. There was quite a lot of stuff around and I was, I was there with my kiteboard and my harness. No, no harness, no, just my kiteboard and my filming gear, tripod and things like that in ikea. And people were looking at me and yeah, you feel so embarrassing. But I always think like, man, I probably never going to see these people ever again in my life. That's how I, that's my mindset. It's just like, just like, fuck it Just go for it. Then I waited until the staff were busy with customers and I literally put my tripod on filmed, sat down, did my board offs. 10 seconds max. Got up, everyone was looking at me, he's like, what the is the dude doing? And. And I got out of there quickly again out of this place without, you know, causing any harm or trouble with any staff. So. So yeah, you have to bloody get over. Over a lot of things and what a lot of people don't know. My career is in banking, so I was a bank manager up until three years ago. You know, I was that guy in the suit leading a team of 15 people and then suddenly I'm this random dude that goes and films videos and Ikea doing board offs. I mean, yeah, that was a. Yeah, something that had to get used to.
- [17:09]
B
It's funny like the, the Internet or kite surfing sort of joke guys. You know, Colin, Colin Carroll was there before but he's gone quite goofy. Seems to be not doing so much. I still believe there's a good space in the industry for these guys because we should make fun of ourselves at times, right. We should have a laugh, you know, because, yeah, I mean, I mean like you probably have a love hate relationship with social media. It's my job to look at it, you know, but I kind of. But now I think the good thing now, Aaron, with the community that I have around me is that when something good happens I get sent it now so I don't have to just be endlessly scrolling for stuff. Oh, did you see what Andre did? Then I go look at it now. I don't have to scroll. But yeah, yeah, it's a, that's a fine line that one, eh?
- [17:50]
A
Yeah, it is. And I mean I have two kids and I'm on. Although I'm the social media guy. My. We don't have a TV at home, we don't have cell phones. My kids have nothing. They're living in like 1920 and I want to keep them off bed for as long as possible really. And it's working at this stage. But yeah, it's that. Yeah, yeah. Controversy of, of as well. Like, you know, people sometimes get addicted to it and stuff and I myself, I just try to limit my, my time, you know, and I'm pretty good at it actually on social media. Yeah, I developed a good sort of routine.
- [18:28]
B
Yeah, let's talk about the board offs. You know, you switched and started focusing on this. How hard is it for someone to learn a basic board off? Because I think to a lot of People. It seems like a bridge too far that. I think that's why people don't. People don't go for it.
- [18:44]
A
Yeah, yeah. No, I agree, man. I think it's exactly that. People just think it's. It's such a hard trick to learn because they tried once and they think, like, there's no chance. I can never land this, you know? And then perhaps they don't live in the. In the right place where they can train three, four times a week. No, because the key, honestly, is. Is just training at home, man. Like, I. That's how I actually Learned it after 20 years of kite surfing. I just said to myself, I got to learn this now before I'm getting too old, you know? And then I started practicing board on board, off at home, started doing some stretches because it requires quite a bit of strength, you know, but within a month, you can. You can build that strength at home with only 10, 15 minutes a day. So it's just a tiny bit of focus. And then the other. The second part is. Yeah, just not giving up on the water. Just. I see a lot of people when I give them advice, you know, I see them. They try two, three, four times, and then they go revert back to what they know, like the back roll or a little jump and stuff like that. So it's also that mindset of, hey, maybe I have to try this 20, 30, 40 times, 50 times before I learn this trick, you know? Yeah, that's something that I. I saw very early on with Aaron Headler in 20, 23 or 4. I saw him in Canary Islands and Fert Ventura, and everyone was riding perfectly, and Aaron Hadley was just crashing every single minute. His kite went down. Boom. His kite went down boom. Relaunching. And I was like, wow, this gets crazy. Like. Like he's the only guy who crashes, you know? And that's how you progress at the end of the day is just by keep trying, trying, trying. Yeah.
- [20:21]
B
Yeah, I can back that story up. I remember being a Mykonos a couple of years ago, right at the sort of very back or the. The. The outer part of the bay. If you haven't been to Mykonos, it's. It's a really cool spot. And I was just out there actually without there with Andrea, and he was working on some border stuff, flips or whatever. And as you say, he. He must have crashed 30, 40 times. Now, if I crashed 30, 40 times in a session, I would. I would have probably gone back after, like, 10 crashes, you know, but just so committed and that's the thing, what makes these guys good is that they are prepared to crash because it's part of the learning process, which I think people are scared of. And by the way, they're really good at crashing, these guys.
- [20:59]
A
Yeah.
- [20:59]
B
And that, I think that's something that, I think that is something that, especially doing board offs and big air, you have to be very, very good at crashing. And I know it sounds crazy because you're hitting water, but man, if you're not very good at crashing, it's difficult to get up from a big crash and find your board and get your win back. Maybe get the kite back up in there and then think, oh, do I, do I really want to do that again?
- [21:19]
A
It's definitely, you need to take a step by step approach. You know, with board offs it's practice on land and not just practice once, practice for two, three weeks, you know, until you can do that board on, board off with your eyes closed on land. Then you go in the water, you do a jump with one hand on the bar and you land the jump with one hand on the bar. Really getting comfortable with that part of it. It needs to be a 3, 4 seconds jump only. Then you start to take the board off, get comfortable with that and throw it away if you don't feel like it's going to work, you know, so you go in really smooth and so yeah, you have to do that step by step to not get hurt. You know, if you just think I'll go out and try board off today, you're probably going to get hurt.
- [21:56]
B
You know, the best advice that I got was bring the board, bring the board to you. Don't try reach down and get the board. Which at the time I, I never really thought about, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Bring the, let the, bring your, lift your legs up, get the board to you.
- [22:08]
A
You know, that's it, man. And, and I been coaching a couple of people just recently, last week as well. And that's what I tell them. I heard that sentence before, I didn't understand what it actually meant. But what, what I really tell people is swing the board a little bit back when they take off so they can swing it up and try to remove it and keep it on eye level. Like don't reach down to the board. Swing the board up so kicks you almost kick it into your hand and then you have it on like, like this. You hold it on eye level or shoulder level. You know, when you keep it high, that's because that really helps them to also re enter because you have it high. You simply have to then lean back. I have a lot of videos on my Instagram about this, but you lean back and you enter the straps. And that's a massive. Where a lot of people kind of like, ah, okay. That's how it works. It clicks for them. Yeah.
- [22:58]
B
Let's get into your app Kitefit in a second. What do you think of what these young guys are doing now with a megaloop? How they're throwing the board around, Whether they're flipping the board or spinning the board or throwing the board away like Andrea and Zach have done, and catching it as they're coming to it. I mean, this must impress you.
- [23:17]
A
It is. It is very impressive. I mean, highly, highly skilled to do that. And. And it's like a boomerang. And with all these forces and dimensions of you, you're falling, the kite is pulling that way, and then you throw the board. I mean, it's absolutely crazy, but I kind of realized there, it's like, I think. I don't think I will ever. Maybe I'll actually, maybe I will get into some of that stuff, you know, but it looks like too crazy to me. I can't even follow it anymore. It looks impressive, but it's pretty crazy. I think I'm more still to the old school style of board offs. Yeah, yeah.
- [23:52]
B
What about the handle? Do you need to have a big Andrea Principe handle? I know, I know the, the bigger handles have. Have shrunk down in their times. I think in the early 2022, 21, 22, 23. They're really crazy. Is getting a decent handle important?
- [24:09]
A
Yes. To remove the board, it is easier, but they have some drawbacks that I've worked with, especially female students where they said, like, when they have a bigger handle, the force on the board, you know, the leverage, it kind of tips down more easily. And you need a lot of strength in your wrist to keep that board straight. And so, yeah, last year I was kind of like, oh, you got to get a handle. But this year I'm like, maybe for some people, it's not even the right thing, you know, if they can't hold the board with. With that extra force. But it does, it does definitely help to remove the board if you have a larger handle, especially if you're not so flexible, you know. But I found as well, if you're not flexible, you're probably best off to just go for the board off by the skin that is actually easier to land. It's a bit more scary, but it's easier to land than the board off by the handle especially as well. So it's. If you're not flexible or if you've got a bit of a dad bod going, you know, you can't reach down as well because there's something in the way there. The board off by the fin is your. Your first trick, really, you should learn, and that you can also practice on Landman. You'd literally stand somewhere, you hold yourself, support yourself against the wall, and you do swing the board out. You hop into the prep. You know, you swing the board out until you can do that with your eyes closed again. So there's so much land training you can do. People don't realize it. Yeah.
- [25:36]
B
What about the grip strength? Because, you know, even, you know, like, this is maybe a little bit inside baseball, but, you know, the. A lot of the pros over the last few years have had to strengthen up their left hand because the judges can, you know, we used to call it the gammy club. When they're right and left, they would actually loop the kite with the other hand. So they're always doing the ball off with their strong hand. Now they are getting. The judges are better at picking that up. So a lot of the guys have trained both hands to be ambidextrous with that. And. And all of them have said to me, I said, it's just the grip strength, you know, it's like something that you're not used to. You know, it's just repetitive, repetitive. So it's crazy that even the pros have to work on, you know, like, you're talking about the grip strength and. And having the strength to do it with both hands.
- [26:16]
A
That is true, man. That's something I feel in particular. I don't know if, you know, but I actually only have three fingers on my left hand. It's not a shark attack. It's broken wrist here. But I was born like that, so I. I definitely feel this here. We've got a normal hand, so I. I definitely put them up, like, put
- [26:34]
B
them up like this.
- [26:35]
A
So here we go.
- [26:36]
B
That's what eight fingers looks like.
- [26:38]
A
Yeah, that's it. So it was pretty good, man. Like, I've had plenty of good stories pranking people with. With that left hand, but I was born like that, and I feel that, man. Like, I can barely do a board off well. I can't actually on the handle with my left hand. I lack the grip strength. I could probably try to train that up, actually. I didn't think about that actually, now that you're mentioning it. But that's why I kind of like, I do the board off by the fin with my left hand. I do the board off by the handle with my right hand. These are all the things you have to think about, you know. But then the crazy thing is when you most people when they learn a board off, they like, ah, okay, like I actually prefer to jump to, to my right because my right hand is my better hand to steer the kite. But then actually that's the better one to remove the board. So a lot of people actually then go to the left and have to learn jumping with one hand on the left first because their strong hand to remove the board is the right hand. So these are all the things that you have to think about when you learn the board off.
- [27:39]
B
Here, let's talk about Kite Fit. Why did you decide to start this app and who is it for?
- [27:45]
A
So Kite Fit is an app I started exactly a year ago. It's to help people learn the board of at home. It really stresses the idea of just getting fit at home, learning the muscle memory of the board on, because that's what a lot of people struggle. It's like a 28 day challenge that you can follow along and you can just, you work on your strength, on your flexibility and the board on board of muscle memory basically. And it's just giving you a blueprint of how to learn the board off. I've had 150 people or so go through it now. And the issue, I guess I'm struggling is not a lot of people complete the full challenge, but the people who actually bite through it, like 9 out of 10, they learn the board off. And that's for me an incredible feeling because that's basically why I started my Instagram in 2021, is helping people learn the board off. I want people to have that feeling because when I learned, learned my first board of in 2020, man, that was such a, an amazing feeling. Honestly, it was the best feeling I've had in kite surfing is putting that board back on and riding away. I was like, holy, I feel like a pro, you know. And so I want people to experience that feeling. And that's why I did this app at the end of the day. Yeah. To help people learn the board off. Yeah. And this year actually I've even gone further and I have developed a kite board of trainer bar that I'm about to launch as well in end of June. And that is another game changer. It's a system that is removable. It's adjustable. It's got the power system like the bungee on the side. It got different slings. You can hang up over trees. You can hang it up at home over a pull up bar, a TRX mount, anything. I mean it's a complete game changer, that thing. Yeah. So, so keep, keep an eye on my Instagram because something is coming there in June.
- [29:48]
B
We don't see the pros practicing it so much. I mean we saw Zara just the other day practicing her board offs. But her, her, you know, let's say bored off action.
- [29:58]
A
I saw that video.
- [29:59]
B
Yeah. Andrea used to always post stuff on the swinging round. You know, Luca in the past has done that. What, what do you think of that? The board offs with the, the swinging momentum,
- [30:12]
A
man. I feel actually that's, I. Because since I've developed this product, I've also been going on to trees. It's a pretty cool way for me to train board offs, you know. And, and it does actually feel quite realistic swinging out from me. Especially if, if the tree is on a, on a hill and you can swing out, then you come back. I mean I love it personally to train like that. I think it's, it's a really cool feeling to train like that. Yeah. I know nothing will ever mimic kite jump of the steering and all the dynamics there. But to be honest, like the swinging, it actually gets really close to it. Yeah. Yeah. So I love it. Yeah.
- [30:52]
B
Since you've been based in Switzerland, where do you like to go? I know you go to Egypt a lot. You do quite a few safaris. Is that a favorite place for you to go and train? Because I guess Egypt is almost the sweet spot of wind. Right. It's not too strong, it's not too light. It's. It's almost like that Goldilocks location.
- [31:10]
A
Yeah. Yeah. When people ask me, they, I get a lot of dms. And when people say what's the, what's the best place to go kite surfing in Europe? I always say Egypt. Although it's not Europe of course, but I mean I love it. It's quite easy to fly to from Europe. Quite consistent wind. I don't need 40 knots like Tarifa style wind. I'm happy with 20, you know, 25 maybe. And I feel it's a really consistent spot. The, the watercolor is beautiful. Especially if you go on these kite, kite safaris. The lagoons are phenomenal. You know, Ashrafi, all these lagoons. I don't you, I mean You've been. I met you there last week last year. So. Yeah, in Switzerland itself I don't go kiting a lot. Like it's actually quite funny. I probably would kite two, three times a year here in Switzerland. That's. Yeah. And it's also kind of why I want to move back to New Zealand. I just want to get back on the water more. So. Yeah.
- [32:07]
B
What about your boros off a kicker like mirror.
- [32:09]
A
Way more difficult, man. I actually don't think I've ever done a board off in mirror. Why? Because I. I mean I probably would have done but. But I do love a kicker. I mean I go out a lot in Tekapuna and there's a little, you know, you can get little kickers there too. Not as crazy as mirror Y but going over a kicker really helps to do board offs. I feel it helps. Yeah. Because you go that extra 1 or 2, 3 meters high, higher up and. Yeah, it's cool. Yeah. Yeah.
- [32:43]
B
You're riding Duotone. Are you riding the 24 meter lines? And does line length play a part in. In being able to do a board off?
- [32:51]
A
Man? I haven't played around too much with that, to be honest. I'm. I'm riding actually 22 meter lines because I'm riding my North Bar and the Duotone. But recently I have tried the Fly Surfer Sonic and that thing is really, really cool. Like have you tried it?
- [33:09]
B
I have the soul. I haven't tried the Sonic, but I have a soul.
- [33:12]
A
Yeah. Yeah. These foil kites, man. Like that is not say like I. I gave it to some of my friends too in Egypt and everyone. I could look at their face, they're all like holy moly. Because you just stay up in the air for board ups. That is the perfect kite to learn. So yeah, I think to be honest, I mean I kind of. That was not the your question but. But what really helps is foil kite. Say that's that. That's really what helps I think learn the board of.
- [33:42]
B
I haven't tried the Sonic 5. I would love to. I feel like it's a lot quicker than the soul that I've got. And you know there is some learning curve to a foil kite. Maxwell Dahl, who's, you know now riding in the gka, you know, he came on a kite safari with us and I get. We gave him the sole and he was like, man, this is terrible. But within about 20 minutes he was like, can I have this kite?
- [34:02]
A
I know that's fine.
- [34:03]
B
Buy your own kite. That's the thing Once he'd worked it out, once he'd cracked the code, it's crazy how good they get.
- [34:08]
A
It's crazy. Like, honestly. And I documented all of this on my Instagram my whole journey, because it's like when I unpack this thing with like 200, 000 lines, I'm like, what the have I got myself into? He's like, this looks like. This doesn't look like fun, you know, and then also the. Everything around it actually, like, I actually explained this to. To someone the other day. I feel like foil kites is like you're in a toxic relationship. Like, the sex is so good you could never leave, but everything around, so annoying. It's just like the launching, the relaunching, it's like, oh, my God. But then. Then you jump. And he's like, I just never want to fly another kite ever again. Because the jumps feel so amazing, you know? So, yeah, I'm the same. I just think that, yeah, I really want to get into foil kites now. Under 20 knots, you know? Yeah.
- [34:55]
B
Yeah. I mean, what Hugo and Jamie and Luca are doing in the big airspace on it is crazy. And Fin, I should, you know, shouldn't take away from Finn as well. He's also pushing. Those guys are taking that kite and. And pushing it even harder than probably it ever has, mate. Speaking of the setup, though, are you in the German side of Switzerland? You need to be with those. You need to be with those bridles. I mean, that's. That's German engineering at its finest. But it's also just like board offs, like anything else. It's just a learning process. And the more you do it, the quicker you get at it. And, you know, after a while, you can get those bridles sorted out pretty quick. I never leave the. You know how people leave the bar on. I never do that. I take the bar off and. Oh, yeah, I reset it every time. But a lot of fun to ride those kites for sure. Yeah, good fun.
- [35:40]
A
Can you. Can you self land these kites?
- [35:43]
B
Actually, I saw Lolo talking about landing. I think you can sit them. By the way. This is not official. If you can, you know, you can get it to sit. Sit down so it's, you know, it's trailing edges on the sand. You can just sort of group the, Group the lines together because there's not. There's no pull and you can sort of walk it, just crunching it. Crunching, crunching it. When it gets close, you just start
- [36:00]
A
pulling it in and pull the back line. So it stalls.
- [36:03]
B
Yeah, just stall it and then just walk your way up it, like squeezing all the lanes together. That's not recommended. That's just the way I've done it. But the funny thing is when you know. And also when you have a foil kite, you know, to land it, you need to know that that person knows how to land a foil kite because that's also. There's a learning curve in that as well. You know, people don't know what to do.
- [36:23]
A
Yeah, I've landed a cut. I've landed some foil kites and I just like. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. I just. I'm holding on to this thing and I was flapping in the air. It's like I'm hoping I'm doing the right thing. Yeah. Got a bit more experience now.
- [36:34]
B
Have you seen when Jamie rides his four kites, he yanks the bar one way before pulling it in. Have you seen him do that?
- [36:40]
A
Yes. Yes.
- [36:41]
B
So when he's riding Big Ear, he has the head flick. When he's riding the full kites, he does almost like he fishing poles the kite to start the kite really quick before he pulls the bar in. I mean, it's crazy to watch Jake. We had Jamie when we're in Egypt when you. When I met you. And man, even in the lightest winds, dude, it's crazy, the heights.
- [36:59]
A
He's getting phenomenal. Phenomenal, I think. I think that's probably why I wanted to foil kite. Because of him, I'd say because I saw him doing all these crazy tricks. I think he was really the first guy to. To, I think, do crazy stuff on a day, if I remember correctly. And you see the second lift too, how he does that, you know, with that loop and. Yeah, I think that's why I. I actually wanted to get into foil kites, you know, that's the reason. Yeah, but I fucked up so badly the first few times I tried to get that second lift, you know, and these kites, they, they. They go real slow, eh? And my. My heli loop turned into a kite loop and I fucking scratched so hard like. Yeah, big learning curve.
- [37:45]
B
Heel vlute after Kota went out on a Sonic 5 and tried to do the same and he. He went about 200 meters downwind, just floating, flying, just completely out of control. Yeah, there's. There is some learning curves to those, but I think once you. Once you dialed in, like anything, I think that's a lot of fun. And, you know, look what's going on at Blue Lagoon, Hugo, Jason, you know, Luca, literally, if it's under 20 knots or under 25 knots, those guys are on foil kites and they prefer it
- [38:12]
A
and they do incredible stuff for today. It looks so amazing. Yeah, Hugo as well, like, he's just. Yeah. So cool to see how he's, how he's growing and learned new tricks and he's pushing the limits now with that foil kite. It's amazing to see.
- [38:27]
B
What's your plans for the rest there? Do you have any more, more kite surfing trips coming up? Are you going to be around the world? Anywhere where people could bump into you? Are you going to go to Brazil and do a Brazil season this year?
- [38:39]
A
I, I haven't. I mean, we're doing one week in Switzerland here in Silver Plana, and in July, then we're going to Como as well, Italy for a week. But I haven't got many, many plans right now. This will take 8 to 12 weeks to heal the wrist and yeah, I have injured my knee as well, so I have to take it easy there. Two, two months. I'm pretty much out for a couple of months now. But the, the goal really is to get back to New Zealand by end of the year. That's kind of the focus, you know, so I think I'm not really focusing too much on big trips and stuff. I'd love to, really love to get into organizing more like trips for people to learn the board of like a whole entire week just focused on teaching people how to learn the board off with a month training prior to that, you know, so I'd love to, love to push that. Yeah, yeah. It needs a bit of courage though. I feel like. Yeah. Every time you start something new, you know, that has never been done, it's kind of like, do people really want this or, or not? So I need to kind of. Yeah. Just push myself to organize maybe some of these Kaitsafar, what's it called, coaching camps. Yeah.
- [39:52]
B
Where would you like to do that? I mean, I can't. I kind of feel like Egypt is. I feel like that. You know, the, the, the excitement about the boat trips is sort of dwindling these days. You know, I think over the last few years it's been more difficult to fill boats and now with the political situation in the mid least, it's, it's super tough. Right.
- [40:08]
A
But it's actually pretty good time to go. Yeah. Because the spots are empty.
- [40:12]
B
Yeah. Yeah.
- [40:12]
A
But, yeah, it is hard.
- [40:14]
B
By the way, here's a, here's a trick that you didn't Hear this from me. Can go to Egypt anytime, go around the end of the week and walk around Makani and find boats that are going to say, hey, I've got a thousand bucks, can I get on the boat? And more than likely someone's going to say, yeah, we'll take it and come. That's, that's, that's not sorry to anyone who springs out someone. But honestly that's happened to me. People come up to me and said, hey, do you have any spots? I've, I've got a thousand. I'm like, yeah, yeah, cool. Jump on.
- [40:37]
A
Yeah, why not? So where the, the, the right spots? You're right. Egypt would be pretty good. It would have to be a spot around 20 knots because you want to learn the bordo on a, on a bigger kite, like ideally 12, so max 20 knots. So yeah, that's one of, one of the challenges. I was in Brazil last year and some of the spots that are above 20 knots, you know. So yeah, I'm still figuring out that, that I need to figure that out. Egypt is number one on my list right now. Yeah, yeah. But if you guys have any ideas then let me know.
- [41:10]
B
Yeah, message him, not me. I've got no idea.
- [41:11]
A
Yeah, let me know. Yeah. Kiter Aaron on Instagram Egypt is just easy, right?
- [41:16]
B
Whether you go on the boats or you're at Makani or anything like that, it's just set up for kiting. Makani's got great food. You know, it's just, it's just set up to, to make a magnificent holiday. I mean I, I always recommend if, you know, if you can't afford to go on the boat, you can afford to go to Mak and enjoy the, enjoy the experience because the water is as blue, you know, I think as you get out to the islands it's a little bit better wind and you're isolated and you're on the boat and that's the excitement of that. But if you want to stay in hotels, Makani is just as good.
- [41:44]
A
It is, yeah. Yeah.
- [41:45]
B
Well, look, Aaron, thank you so much for joining today. It's a lot of fun, mate. I feel like we could just do a long haul chit chat about the kiting industry. But mate, super fun to hear your story. I hope your arm gets better and might if you're interested in kite flip, I'm going to put the link to that in the bio or hit Aaron up on, on his Instagram kitesurf Aaron and yeah, let's improve your Bordeaux, mate. I might put the handle back on the board, bro.
- [42:08]
A
I'll teach you. Okay? We'll work together on that.
- [42:11]
B
All right, brother. Thanks, man.
- [42:13]
A
Thank you for everyone for having me. Bye, everyone. See ya.
- [42:15]
B
Hey guys. I hope you enjoyed that episode. Don't forget, if you want to support the show, the easiest way is to support me for free. Rate me on Spotify. I'm loving those five star review guys. Keep them coming in, share them in your local WhatsApp or kite surfing groups, or just simply tell your mates. If you want to support us more regularly, head over to portraitkite.com and check out all the madness there. If you don't know what Portrait is, Portrait is an independent media company trying to tell the stories of kiteboarding the way we believe they should be told. All the projects are funded by people like you, and if you believe in what we do and you want to support us more, head over to portraitkite.com the podcast guides will always be free, so you don't need to worry about that. If you want to find more episodes just like this one, use the search button@kaitsu365.com to search your favorite writer or topic. And we'll be back this Thursday for the Megapod.