Mystic Says:

The Mystic Majestic harness has the high quality you have come to expect from a Mystic harness with added technical features such as memory foam, pre-curved back support mold, and the new high tech Low Torque Clickerbar 3.0. The new spreader bar holds the hook firmly in position and also prevents it from tilting upwards. With the improved Spreader Down System (SDS) the spreader bar now releases completely in one click.

TKB Says:

The new Mystic Majestic harness was designed as a crossover harness that can be used by both windsurfers and kitesurfers. The Majestic features very soft neoprene edges, a relatively stiff pre-curved shape, a hook knife, and memory foam padding.

The Clickerbar 3.0 is a new design that allows you to get in and out of the harness very quickly and easily. You no longer have to install and adjust a hold down strap when putting on the harness – simply click it on or click it off. The buttons to release the spreader bar are square and are much easier to use than the rounded buttons on older Mystic harnesses.

Our tester’s previous harness was a Mystic Warrior III. Compared to that harness, the Majestic has a smaller outline but thicker padding. The Majestic’s pre-curved back support is also stiffer and holds its shape better than the Warrior III.

When compared to the older Warrior III, the Mystic Majestic offers more freedom of movement and does a better job of staying put. The spreader bar does not twist at all while riding and the soft edges and memory foam make the Majestic very comfortable to ride.

Our tester felt like the Majestic provides a good trade off between support and ease of movement. Riders who want a maximum amount of support might want to look at a waist harness that has a larger profile or a seat harness, but you’ll be giving up at least some ease of freedom for more support. Riders who want a harness that stays put while offering a good amount of support without being too restrictive will be happy with the Mystic Majestic.

Pros:

• The Majestic does an amazing job of staying in place and the spreader bar has zero tendency to twist upwards.
• This is a very comfortable harness that still offers a lot of mobility.

Cons:

• The Clickerbar 3.0 works great, but needs to be kept reasonably clean. It can be hard to put the harness on if the end of the spreader bar gets dropped in the sand.

Read the full article: 2013 Mystic Majestic Harness Review

1. Say “yes” to a beach vendor. I’m definitely not recommending saying yes to every beach vendor. The local ladies who are offering to braid your hair, however, are offering a unique and refined service that you aren’t going to want to pass up.

2. Get out of town in a Guagua. In the Dominican Republic, they pay no attention to the fact that these vans were designed to seat eight. The Guagua’s are inexpensive buses that run along the Northern coast. The awesome thing about the Guagua transport system is the way they think of bus seating in a three dimensional manner. Not only do they seat the bus front to back – they also pack the house in layers from the floor to the roof.

3. Cast your vote in the La Boca restaurant war. Two feuding restaurants occupy one small stretch of beach in Cabarete. They have the same sales pitch, the same menu, and the same view. Where are you going to eat? Who is going to cook your parrot fish? Whose side are you on? Whose heart are you going to break?

4. Buy a machete. The going rate for a fresh coconut on the beach of Cabarete is $100 Dominican Pesos. The price tag on a brand spanking new machete is $250. I’m no math whiz, but I think the question is whether you would rather have 2.5 coconuts or one machete and unlimited coconuts. At 40 pesos to 1 dollar, to me the choice seems fairly obvious. (And, as a side note, I had no problem bringing a machete home in my checked bag).

5. Brace yourself for Semana Santa. Apparently Easter is synonymous with huge party in Cabarete. Leave your dancing shoes at home, roam the beach barefoot, and don’t expect to sleep until the sun comes up.

6. Drink mojitos. Find a solid happy hour and enjoy a Brugal Mojito. Or two.

7. Visit the 27 Falls of Damajagua. As a general rule, if you’re required to wear a helmet, you are probably going to have a good time. The 27 Falls of Damajagua is a short hike followed by a fun descent: jumping off cliffs, sliding down rocks, puddle jumping, and floating down a little creek winding through the Dominican jungle. Helmet, life jacket, and tour guide is included with the park entry fee.

8. Squeeze onto a moto. See how many people you can fit!  Just be sure to avoid a Dominican tattoo (otherwise known as a nasty burn you’ll get from a smoking hot muffler if you make the mistake of debarking on a moto’s right side).

9. Surf the Reef. Whether you enjoy traditional surfing, paddle surfing, or kite surfing, the reef that protects Cabarete bay is your playground. Don’t be intimidated by the distance you have to cover to get there.

Lindsay McClure is a freelance writer, kiteboarding instructor, and Cabrinha regional team rider who rarely spends more than four months in any one place. This past winter, she spent three months in Cabarete teaching kiteboarding lessons for Laurel Eastman Kiteboarding, and this summer she’ll be working with Cascade Kiteboarding in beautiful Hood River, Oregon. Stay up to date on Lindsay’s adventures by following her blog at www.lindsaymcclure.com. All photos courtesy of Lindsay McClure.

Read the full article: 9 Travel Tips for Experiencing Cabarete

Read the full article: Catching Up with Andy Yates

World Champion Youri Zoon and EyEFORcE productions present Chapter 3 (the final chapter) of their latest project Forward.  Forward is the story of Youri Zoon: his fight to become a world champion and the challenges that chase him after claiming the 2011 title. The web series was shot in Cape Town by EyEFORcE with the first production team to ever film kiteboarding on a high speed camera.

Read the full article: Youri Zoon’s Legacy

Deep Blue Sports(DBS), distributor for AXIS, RRD and Mystic is pleased to announce the addition of Jacob Buzianis to their team as North American Sales Manager. Jacob will be leading the efforts at Deep Blue Sports to improve and optimize sales, marketing as well as to strengthen customer relationships and grow the Deep Blue Sports team community.

Jacob joins Deep Blue Sports with 15+ years of water/snow industry experience with a background in sales, R&D, customer service, school and team programs, marketing and markets development. On the water and snow, Jacob is famously known to throw it down like no other and is famously known as the “Wookie.”

“I am very excited to have the opportunity to work with Deep Blue Sports.  I look forward to working with a company that focuses on producing and supplying the highest quality products.  Offering a full range of exciting products to customers is an asset to the industry and customer base.” said Jacob.

“We are very excited bringing Jacob Buzianis as a key member to our North American team. His deep knowledge and experience in the water sports and outdoors industries make him the ideal candidate to lead our growth efforts in kiteboarding, SUP, wake/cable and outdoors sports,” said Evan Mavridoglou, President of Deep Blue Sports, in Greenbrae, California.

Deep Blue Sports is the exclusive distributor in North America for Mystic, AXIS and RRD. Deep Blue Sports products range from the Mystic boarding line of Waterwear and Lifestyle products and accessories, covering the sports and lifestyle of kiteboarding, windsurfing, wakeboarding and cable, and Stand Up Paddle.

Mystic boarding is the largest accessories brand of its kind, based out of The Netherlands. (www.mysticboarding.com)

AXIS Kiteboarding is the premium provider of boards for kiteboarding and cable focusing on highest quality and technology available today. AXIS is based out of New Zealand. (www.axiskiteboarding.com)

RRD is the European leader of kiteboarding, windsurfing and Stand Up Paddle products from Tuscany, Italy. (www.robertoriccidesigns.com)

Deep Blue Sports LLC is based in Greenbrae, CA, at the center of Marin County, in the San Francisco Bay. Jacob Buzianis can be reach at 415-259-4070 or via email at Jacob@deepbluesports.us.

Congrats on your new position Jacob!

Read the full article: Jacob Buzianis Joins DBS as Sales Manager

Airush Slayer
Sizes Available: 154x54cm (5’1″ x 21.25″), 165x60cm(5’5″ x 23’5″)
Size Tested: 154x54cm

Airush Says:

With a significant trend towards customers riding surfboard on flat water, focusing on jumping, carving and surface tricks, we developed a unique new product. The evolution of the Slayer has opened up an extremely fun aspect of kiting for riders who are not blessed with waves or stronger winds. The breakthrough comes with the step bottom, which creates incredible stability. This enables intermediate riders to ride strapless with ease, even at 60cm wide. The Slayer 54 serves up a compact and dynamic ride for higher wind and bigger air. It’s the new style.

TKB Says:

The 2013 Airush Slayer is a very interesting directional board targeted at light wind strapless riding. It features a very wide outline, concave deck, and a wide square tail.

The bottom of the Slayer is where things get really interesting. The front of the board features strakes (kind of like channels) and the middle of the board has a full-width step. The Slayer has almost no rocker behind this step.

For fins the Slayer is equipped with five mini tuttle boxes and ships with a thruster set of relatively large swept-back fins.

The Slayer has inserts and ships with a set of straps, but because it is targeted as a strapless board we never installed them. The Slayer has EVA deck pads with a high arch bar on the front pad.

On the water, our testers reported a very smooth and extremely stable ride. The Slayer takes very little power to ride and get upwind on. We thought the wide outline would make it a challenge to control without straps, but in fact the Slayer is a very mellow and manageable board. It’s so stable that we feel it would make a good board for riders who want to learn basic strapless skills.

The light wind ability of the Slayer is much better than a typical surfboard. The low end isn’t as good as a board like the Airush Sector and it isn’t as fast, but it also feels much more playful. Strapless jumps are easier than average with the Slayer as the wide outline catches a lot of wind and helps hold the board to your feet in the air.

Airush intends this board to be used in flat water, but we took it into the surf anyway and found that it’s actually really fun in small surf and underpowered conditions. However once waves get over about knee high the width makes the Slayer a bit of a challenge to ride.

Overall out testers feel the Slayer makes a great light wind board for underpowered days. It’s stable and easy to ride while still delivering a playful feel that will satisfy riders who want a directional light wind board for more than just cruising back and forth.

Read the full article: 2013 Airush Slayer Light Wind Board Review

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We’ve always suspected that moms who kiteboard are cool — but in honor of Mother’s Day this week, we set forth to prove it. We asked Colorado kiteboarder (and mom) Amy Ward to talk with us about motherhood and kiting. The result? 10 reasons kiteboarding moms rule.

1) They make every second spent kiting count.
Dawdling on the beach?  Forget about it. Long conversations about what kite to rig? Oh, please. The babysitter’s time is ticking and they’re charging a fortune. Kite moms make strategic strikes. They ride hard and never take time on the water for granted.

2) They have better things to do than lay on the beach, catching up on trashy novels.
Kite moms are a motivated bunch. When they do have free time, most would rather be up and active than lounging around drinking Mai Tai’s. (Though, Mai Tai’s apres kite aren’t ever a bad idea).

3) They meet their girlfriends for downwinders instead of coffee.
Coffee is good, but kiting is better. Gabbing is the thing you do in the car on the way. A little less conversation, a little more action please — before the kids need another feeding.

4) They’ve been through childbirth – and nothing is scary after that.
Try a new trick?  Why not. Worried about your first self-rescue? Get over it. Kite moms may have stronger instincts for self-preservation as a result of their responsibility to offspring, but they also have a fierce capability to push their own limits — having discovered through delivery, just how capable they really are.

5) They’re brave enough to wear bikinis.
Vanity-schmanity. If a body works and it’s working well — that’s what’s important. Kite moms have their priorities straight.

6) They fly kites with mad skills.
While flying a kite, kite moms will also be seen handing off a baby, kissing a spouse, pointing to lunch in the cooler, and telling the dog to stay — just so they can get off the beach for a fix.

7) They expose their kids to different cultures by dragging them to exotic, windy locales.
This deserves serious high-fives. It’s a global world, people — and kite moms know that getting kids with the program early through sport is just plain smart.

8) They don’t wait all day for the wind to be just right.
You won’t see kite moms hemming and hawing, or making excuses for reasons not to ride. They get out there. They go. They don’t have the luxury of waiting for “perfect conditions”, and they know that perfection is over-rated anyway.

9) Their kids think they’re cool.
It’s not likely that knitting or scrap-booking is something a kid will boast about amongst their friends, but kiteboarding? Now, that’s cool.

10) They are raising the next generation of kiteboarders.
If moms are kiting, kids notice. If moms are talking about kiting, kids hear it. The future of kiteboarding will change significantly as more and more young people are exposed to kiting at a very young age. Kite moms are teaching their children well, and for that, we’re grateful.

photo by Christina White

Amy Ward lives in a house in the woods in Ophir, Colorado with her furniture-building husband and their two beautiful kids. Her first attempts at kiting were in 2000 on a traction kite sewn by a friend in the cabin next door. After getting dragged around on the snow for a few years, she decided it would be more fun to practice at the beach and her obsession with kiteboarding truly began. Early this year, she was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, and as soon as her treatments are done, she’ll be back on the water for a nice, long kite vacation this fall — probably for a few days on her own, and also for a few weeks with her family.

Read the full article: 10 Reasons Why Kiteboarding Moms Rule.

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Just like knowing how to use your kite’s safety system before you need it, it’s better to know how to maintain and repair your kite before it’s actually broken. Modern kiteboarding gear is very dependable, but things do sometimes break. Knowing what parts you need on hand and having a basic knowledge of gear repair can potentially save a single session — or an entire vacation.

The TKB Repair and Maintenance Guide is a downloadable for viewing on your favorite device and includes the following topics:

• General Gear Care Tips
• Knots for Kiteboarders
• Pre-Season Kite Check
• Proper Bar Maintenance
• Make Your Kite Last Longer
• What to Carry for Repairs
• DIY Kite Repairs
• Locating a Bladder Leak
• Bladder Removal and Installation
• Bridle Lines
• Pigtails
• Re-Sleeve Line Ends
• DIY vs. Professional Repairs
• 5 Kite Repair Myths
• When Is My Kite Toast?
• Screws and Threads
• Minor Twin Tip Repair
• Minor Surfboard Repair
• Wetsuit and Harness Care Tips

Available now in the TKB Store for $1.99.

Read the full article: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Gear Maintenance and Repair