With the changes to the sport of kiteboarding and many people doing no boarder’s, most people have handles on their boards, but the question often arises about board handles, buying and fitting them etc. This is not usually a problem for people who have bought new designs, particularly the 2002 and 2003 designs (Custom boards like the Cape Dr, Cyclone and Khulu and manufactured boards like the Vari Pro should come with handles), most of which are sold with board handles, however some of the less fortunate individuals might be stuck with older designs, or ones which came without board handles. In some cases, boards may have space for a handle, but people can’t find handles to fit, in other cases, where some FS plates are fitted there might be no space for a conventional handle, so I thought it was time to write up and article on making a simple but very effective board handle. Thanks to Jose who came up with the idea and showed me how to do this
A board handle can be custom made for any board at virtually zero cost with tools and equipment available to 90% of the kiteboarders out there and takes about 20 minutes of your time. By this, I mean all you need is VERY BASIC engineering skills, a length of 20mm conduit piping a metre long (most hardware stores will sell in metre lengths at less than a dollar per metre), a short piece of hosepipe, a hammer and a stove. The engineering skills required are basically those, which allow you to match the sizing of the pipe to the board holes, not exactly varsity material or rocket science.