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PODCAST #124:

For 2008, Slingshot launched the first generation Rev kite with the DirectDrive control bar with CSS, one of Slingshot’s best selling kites ever. Known for its excellent hooked in or out performance, smooth power delivery and lightening fast turning, , join The Kiteboarder Magazine and ASNews.net this Thursday evening for a live interview with Slingshot’s Ben Wilson and Amery Bernard, who worked side-by-side with designer Tony Logosz to perfect the ’09 Rev release. Ben will also be talking about the new SST and SRT directional surf kiteboards, which are now quads and Amery will give us a sneak peak at the Fuel 09, scheduled to release in September.

Got a question for Ben or Amery about what changed and what didn’t in SS’s 2009 product line up? Join the live podcast this Thursday evening via our chat room and ask your questions about products, riding tips, tuning suggestions or whatever you’d like about the new 09 Rev, SST/SRT boards and Fuel.

• Date: Thursday, August 7, 2008
• Time: 6p PST (California), 8pm Central (TX), 9pm GMT (FL)
• Place: http://fubar.com/new_lounge.php?lid=50075

If you can’t make the live interview, post your questions here and we will ask them for you! Deadline to post questions is 3
3pm PST, Thursday Aug 7. You can then download the podcast anytime after Thursday and listen to the show at your convenience at www.kiteforum.tv, www.thekiteboarder.com, and www.asnews.net. You can also subscribe to the feed at Itunes and get notified of podcast shows, videos and PDF versions of the magazine as soon as they’re posted online!

THE KITEBOARDER/PODCAST UPDATES

Magazine

• Oct 08 issues starts mailing out on August 22. Huge ’09 preview guide, new ‘09 products tested in Analyze This, new travel spots and more!
• Aug 08 PDF of print issue releases this week! See what ikiteboarding.com had to say in his review called “7 Online Kiteboarding Magazines You Must Read.” Click here for the link

Upcoming Podcasts:

• Aug 14: Best 09 Products Preview
• Aug 21: Naish board designer Greg Drexler on 09 board lineup
• Aug 28: RRD 09 Products Preview
• Sept 4: Off air (US Holiday)
• Sept 11: Surf Expo, look for video interviews with designers on kiteforum.com and www.thekiteboarder.com
• Sept 18: Freak Dog/EH Kiteboarding Unveil 09 Products
• Sept 25: Eclipse Kites 09 Product Line Up
• October 2: Who is Monkey Kites

Events:

• Aug 9/10: KB4C, Hood River, OR – look for us for free mags, beginner guides and other swag!
• Aug 15: Sherman Island, CA
• Sept 12-14: Surf Expo industry trade show, Orlando, FL
• Nov 7-9: Proam kiteboarding event with $5-10K prize money at Cocoa Beach Hilton, details coming
• Nov 11-16: Bimini event
• Jan 22-25: La Ventana Classic and KiteXpo
• March 28-29: Xtreme Big Air KiteXpo

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From kiteforum.com

Day 3 - Fuerteventura PKRA Kiteboarding Grand Slam 2008

Sotavento, Fuerteventura – After battering the competition area yesterday that saw some of the kites crashing down in the waters, the wind is back even stronger, gustier and more unpredictable. The gale-force wind blew at an average of 35 to 45 knots formed perfect kickers that provided some opportunities for some of the athletes to impress the judges and the crowd with spectacular kite moves. The weather was sunny and the thermometer display played between 28 to 30 degrees Celsius.

The competition started right on schedule and had three races during the morning. It took about 13 to 15 minutes for the first place racer to cross the finish line. Really gusty winds and strange wind holes on the course caught a few racers off guard at the windward mark making them tack several times to make the mark, eventually loosing valuable positions. The Course Racing event finished around 1:00 pm.

After a short lunch break, the continuation of the Freestyle singles event kicked off at 2:00 pm which lasted almost three hours. After the single elimination there was another short break for the awards ceremony on the beach. After the podium presentation, the first round of the Freestyle doubles for both men and women started under an even more gusty and intense wind conditions.

The competition wrapped up at 5:00 pm while tomorrows skipper’s meeting is set at 10:30 am with first possible start at 11:00 am.

Freestyle Singles Highlights

An even more intense third day wrapped up the Freestyle Singles with the fury of the wind being felt by everyone both on and off the waters.

The first upset game of the day came courtesy of RRD’s Sebastien Garat (FRA) who took the win against world champion Aaron Hadlow (GBR) in the opening salvo of the men’s Freestyle singles in heat #15. The French champ did have a little luck go his way as Hadlow was down for about 4 minutes during the heat after crashing his kite tangling his lines. Hadlow landed a blind judge, s-bend to blind with air pass, mobe, slim and crashed on a huge kiteloop-backloop. Garat landed a blind judge with aerial handle pass, front mobe, s-bend to blind, slim and mobe. It was a close call but Garat came through with cleaner landings and variety. In the second round of the 15th heat, Kevin Langeree (NED) defeated Alex Pastor (ESP) over technical difficulty level and variety for an easy win.

Heat #18 (Runner-up Final): In the battle for third place, Hadlow retrieved his tangled Flexifoil kite, sorted the mess and headed back out. Hadlow came away victorious after landing a blind judge with aerial handle pass, s-bend to blind with air pass, front mobe, back to blind air pass, a huge kiteloop-backloop, handle pass front mobe, regular and switch mobe, slim and almost a frontside 7 off a wave. Pastor on the other hand, landed a blind judge with aerial handle pass, s-bend to blind with air pass, back to blind air pass, front mobe, non-inverted slim 5, and a mobe. Power, height in the moves and variety were the deciding factors for the heat, giving Hadlow the 3rd spot over all in the singles.

Heat #17 (Winner’s Final): Garat would have been stoked to make it to the top four, then to the final round for a guaranteed top 3 and with a good performance here, a definite top 2, but he would have to defeat one of the best competitors on tour and current rankings leader Kevin Langeree. Garat landed a blind judge, hasselhoff, regular and switch slim and mobe 5 while Langeree landed a blind judge, 313, mobe 5, non-inverted slim 5 and back to wrapped. In a 4-1 decision, the switch variety for Garat gave him the edge and his first singles event win.

In the women’s semi-final heats Bruna Kajiya (BRA) had an easy win over Jo Wilson (GBR) in heat #7a with an overall edge on power and technical difficulties.

World women’s champion Gisela Pulido really livened up the crowd in heat #7b with a big handle pass front mobe and kiteloop-backloop right in front and close to the grand stands. The judges were really impressed at the young champion, plus with a blind judge, slim and front mobe, she took the win against Susi Mai (GER) who landed several smooth and clean rolls and big airs but proved no match for Pulido’s technical moves.

Heat #8 (Runner-up Final): Wilson went for a heat winning high handle pass but did not manage to land it and with just a tail grab air and a vulcan to surface pass, it was not enough to beat Mai who landed some more big airs with grabs and spins, as well as a raley to blind and one footer. Variety and technical difficulty level gave the ExtremeElements.TV’s host the 3rd podium spot.

Heat #9 (Winner’s Final): The women’s singles final was a fairly a one-sided heat with a blind judge, front mobe and slim coming from Pulido versus several crashed blind judges, plus a krypt and an s-bend to blind from Kajiya. Technical difficulty level and variety gave Pulido the 1st place podium spot.

Freestyle Singles Results:

Men:
1. Sebastien Garat (FRA, RRD)
2. Kevin Langeree – (NED, Naish)
3. Aaron Hadlow – (GBR, Flexifoil)

Women:
1. Gisela Pulido (ESP, Slingshot)
2. Bruna Kajiya (BRA, Best)
3. Susi Mai (GER, Cabrinha)

Congratulations to Seb Garat for winning his first singles event and to Gisela Pulido for winning the women’s singles!

Course Racing Highlights

After seven races so far, French racing champ Bruno Sroka is slowly inching his way up the racing ladder, climbing to number 3 overall after finishing 2,3,7 in today’s races powered by a Takoon kite. Sami Gali (Best, Spain) dropped to number 4 overall after finishing 4,9,3 with a total of 15 points accumulated, just one point shy from Sroka. It’s still a pretty much one-two game for the North team as Charles Deleau (France) and Sean Farley (Mexico) still holds the first and second overall places respectively even after Farley failed to finish the last race of the day.

The women’s standing is still unchanged as only the top three racers braved the conditions and went out racing with the pack. Gina Esteva (Best, Spain) didn’t even bother to start the last race due to the extreme gusty conditions.

The Fuerteventura PKRA Kiteboarding Grand Slam 2008 is being brought to us by Pro Center Rene Egli (www.rene-egli.com) while the official media broadcaster for the event is Extreme Elements (www.extremeelements.tv).

For more information please visit or contact:
http://www.kiteworldtour.com

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From Kiteforum.com

Best News

Guroo and Thruster Waveboard package deal. Summer blowout offer direct from Best

Strap one on and head out for the big breakers.

If you are looking for the ultimate waveriding package that will leave you with enough spare cash for that summer trip chasing the wind and the waves then we have the deal for you; the Guroo and Thruster Waverider package.

Riders who know exactly what they need for the perfect wave kite have been trying to beg borrow and steal Guroo’s from retailers and kite schools all season/ The Guroo has been designed to be the perfect kite to learn to kitesurf with. It is built tough enough to take an entire seasons abuse in a kite school, yet remains lightweight enough to drift down the line in the lightest of summer breezes. A deep draft and low aspect ratio planform provide it with the stability and easy fast handling that learners need. Any great waverider will tell you that these are exactly the same characteristics that go to make the perfect wave kite. So for a limited time we are testing the waters with the Guroo and putting it on sale directly for any rider who needs the perfect kite to let them express their style out in the waves. 9m and 12m sizes available.

To complete the package we are offering riders the choice of either the 5’7 or 6’0 Thruster Waveboards. Dedicated to fast steep faces or slower heavier waves the 5’7 and 6’0 Thrusters are an ideal complement to a great wave riding kite and offer you the perfect choice of board to suit your local conditions.”

http://www.bestkiteboarding.com/waveriderspecial

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There is a great thread on the Puget Sound (Washington) forum started by photographer Jim Stringfellow about what photographers are looking for when shooting and how you should set up your moves. Check it out and you could be featured in an upcoming magazine:-) Enjoy!  http://www.pskite.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1699

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Magic Light Wind Alliance from Jean-Marie CHABOUD on Vimeo.

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This Week:

For 2008, Naish Kites launched its first generation Sigma series kites with Geotech technology and introduced the Smart Loop on its control bar. This Thursday evening, join The Kiteboarder Magazine and ASNews.net for a live interview with Naish kite designer Damien Girardin as he talks about Naish’s 2009 kite line including the Torch, Cult and new bar, as well as a sneak peak as to what we can expect from the Helix.

Sponsors: ASNews.net, SlingShot Kiteboarding, fubar.com

 

 

Show #123

(44:17Min. - 10.2MB)

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