Editorial

Breaking the Mould

“The evolution of riding waves has meant keeping an open mind as a surfer. Any approach can be valid, particularly if it takes you to a new place. I think in my mind’s eye, the future of wave riding with kites took place on some perfect peeling wave somewhere...”

So begins John Bilderback’s epic tale of two riders hellbent on riding one of the most terrifying and beautiful waves on Australia’s west coast. By kiteboarding the cavernous barrels of the Zoo – a wave so steep and fast and close to the shore that it’s only yet been ridden by bodyboarders – Ben Wilson and Jeff Tobias have taken kiteboarding to one of its many logical conclusions. They used their kites as tools, much like tow-in surfers use jetskis, to open up a new kind of wave-riding inaccessible to any other surfer. Is Ben and Jeff’s surfing any less valid than any other type of surfing? Let the peanut gallery debate that one.

Truth is, kiteboarding is plain refusing to lie down and be neatly stowed away in its own packaging on the shelf with other sports. The opportunities that it allows us to explore just keep multiplying, and open-minded pioneers are grabbing hold of them and enjoying the ride.

Adam Koch is one such pioneer. It takes a fair degree of stubborn indignation to turn up on an island like Maui with a four-line kite and directional board when everyone else is riding wakeboards and two-line kites. And it takes even more passion to live in a tent behind the beach, taking showers with the homeless, and feeding off free sandwiches given to you by other riders just so you can afford to keep riding every day. Four years on, Adam’s story is one of sacrifice and true grit – and it makes for a candid interview.

Of course, you don’t have to ride an insanely dangerous wave or squat in the woods to break the mould. Kiteboarding is growing shoots in the most unlikely places. Even just beyond the London commuter belt, past Norwich’s ring road, down an A-road and past some of the most parochial villages of little England – thousands of miles from the supposed tropical heartlands of kiteboarding – you’ll still find some hardy locals ripping it up in the sub-zero wind chill, sharing the same glint in their eyes as everyone else.

After last issue’s Hawaii special, it was always going to be hard working out where we’d end up this issue. OK, so playing pool in Barrie’s Social Club in Cromer with Will James wasn’t exactly what I might have expected, but hey, this is a sideways sport, and sometimes it’s best just to stop, take stock, and appreciate the moment. Wherever it is.

Enjoy the issue,


Hugh

dit is absoluut het vetste blad wat ik ken naast de Access dan he. met vette interviews foto;s en nice places.
in deze gaat ook een stukje over tobias en wilson tjee man die dudes zijn gestoord.
hij is trouwens wel duur 10 euri
tjek de link

kan je je ook op abboneren; heb um nu een jaartje... heel fijn blaadje

das een mig, die is naar fleury aan het roepen:

"U is flying in international airspace, ZZZindentify ZZZplease.... If ZZZyou do not respond we WILL engage"

"ZZZZi repeat"

(zzzzstupid ruzzian)>:)