It’s a sign of the times, eh?
The world’s best kiteboarders, resorting to kite shops, for their equipment - rather than the traditional sponsorship, directly with a kite brand. Here’s what it means:
Shop Deals = No Longer Shit
They used to be. Didn’t they. But Ruben Len10 sort of changed this, or at least made it look a bit more enticing. Because before Ruben joined Kitemana, it was exclusively for those who didn’t have a hope in hell of getting an actual sponsorship. It was for the instructors, the D-grade influencers and the village idiot. The shops saw these types as customers: simply give them 30% off + a few stickers for their car, and boom. You’ve sold a few extra quivers. And everyone is happy - because they get a deal (kinda), you sell some kites, and the idiot feels like they’re sponsored.
But then Ruben, who is the closest thing kiteboarding has to a ‘household name’, left a salary at Ozone, to join Kitemana, where he has become the face of the brand and presents the majority of their media.
Because Shops Are Winning
Kitemana is the biggest kite shop in the world. They achieved this by having a site that was far more capable than their competitors. And due to their size, they are able to be very aggressive with their pricing strategy, pissing off local retailers worldwide, but giving the consumer solid deals. This has accelerated since Covid, where sales boomed, and then the brands overproduced. This overproduction has made the brands bleed as prices have fallen, but the humble kiteshop has benefited as their margin has been protected.
The fact that a retailer, is able to draw the likes of Len10 or Jamie Overbeek into the fold, shows how strong their position is, and gives an indication to their ambition. Kitemana could be trousering the cash, but instead they are investing in riders and events.
Overbeek To Have Competitive Advantage
This is the biggie: Jamie could, theoretically, have Andrea’s Rebel, Lorenzo’s Thrive and Jeremy’s Code NXT. Which they won’t like. One bit.
Overbeek Is A Risk Taker
He might have access to whatever kite he wants, but, he probably won’t have multiple of the same kite, in every size. I.e. The Trap all have at least two of every kite, in every size, at every competition. In case shit breaks, explodes, goes out of tune, feels unlucky, whatever.
And when it’s blowing 50+, you kinda need this. And we doubt Jamie’s Kitemana deal will allow for him to do this.
Also, in leaving F-One, Jamie will have left a 30k+ salary on the table. And travel budget. So maybe a 60k hole. He will now be competing on a seriously limited budget. Which demonstrates how confident he is in his riding, and the competitive advantage he will have over The Trap. p.s. last time he was bowling around without a sponsor, he won Lords of Tram 2024, just saying.
His Quiver Will Be King
He’s gonna choose the highest performing, best shit, no? Everyone knows it. It’ll be the big air best blank test ever, as he suddenly has access to everything, in its stock form, on their recommended bar+lines. On that topic, we predict that Jamie will go rouge on his bar set up. His go-to has been his old Ozone bar with custom lines, which he used with his Harlem Force and Duotone Evo D/Lab when he won Lords of Tram 2024. Board wise? Hard to know. He really loved his original Ozone board, which he famously spray painted over - with Wipika. It has a unique shape, being far more rounded that anything else in its category. The aggressive outline means a smaller overall area, on an already small board, which means Jamie can hold more power.
F-One Look Silly But Also Not
I don’t care what anyone says. Jamie was not happy with the F-One Trigger
This will be the reason why he left. However, it looks epic in the hands of Josh Gillitt, who reckons it is the best thing he’s ever flown. So there’s that.
What this does show is that kites are SO personal. We all want different attributes in our equipment. Which is why you should ride kites before you buy, where possible. We’re not saying Jamie didn’t do this. He obviously would have flown the Trigger extensively. Jamie’s issue was more likely to be the v2 or v3 of that kite. Jamie is smart, and will know that to win in the coming years, he will need the best-in-class kite (for him) in the years to come. Perhaps he lost faith in F-One’s ability to deliver this. Again, we don’t know.
