Interview met de maker van de Spleene Boards: Rainer Kauper.
Een nieuwe lijn van Spleene staat op stapel. Tijd dus om het een en ander te vragen aan de maker van deze boards. Afgelopen week sprak ik hem. Over het testen, het spacey design, verder boards op stapel en de concurrentieslag.
1. Where do you test your boards?
[Rainer Kauper] We tested in Mauritius, Mallorca, Egypt, Maasvlakte, Brouwersdam, Workum, Baltic Sea, Sylt and a lot of lakes with a team of 16 persons all together, starting with our world cup rider Sebastian Bubman to the average weekend rider. That way we get the whole range of all levels, which is necessary to develop good working kiteboards for all conditions.
2. Last Friday you got the new boards. How long did it take to come to this years design?
[Rainer Kauper] We only received the preseries last Friday. We started with R & D of the 07 boards in May 2006 and modified the last protos in end of November.
3. What's with the graphics? It looks the designer was on LSD. Did you design the graphics yourself?
[Rainer Kauper] Sorry Stefan, maybe you can tell us how it feels to be on LSD, but I don´t think, that our 2007 boards looking like that. Everybody who saw the boards in real told me, that the graphic artist made a really good job. He´s professional designer at a big agency. If you have the chance to see the boards in real, I´m pretty sure you´ll have the same opinion. On the screen it looks white but it´s silver in real.
4. If you got last years model. Why is it necessary to switch?
[Rainer Kauper] The better is always the enemy of the good. We tested the 07 boards a lot of times together with the 06 boards, and there were huge differences. We changed some sizes of the boards to harmonize better to all new kites on the market with more depower. All boards got a little bit more curve in the tips, so the carving gets much better. All scoops were modified to increase the gliding performance and speed. The Session is nearly in every point a completely new board. It is 1cm wider, it has a new rocker line, new fin position etc. Now it´s much easier to ask for the enormous power of the board. The RIP plus is a brandnew board for heavy guys in lighter winds or for waves.
5. Why did the board became more expensive?
[Rainer Kauper] We added new technology in the top sheet material and the 07 strap/pad-system is state of the art. I can´t tell too much about it before the presentation in end of January.
6. I believe the boards come from the same factory as the Nobile boards. You are probably close concurrents. What do you do to win the battle?
[Rainer Kauper] There´s not just a battle between Nobile and Spleene. There are a lot of other brands on the market, but I think Spleene has some really interesting features. There are our outstanding Full Suspension Tips for example and some of our boards are totally different from a lot of other boards you know. In the end it´s the customer who is choosing his personal favourite. We always advice to test some boards to find out what works for yourself and what doesn´t. Very often we see the guys at the beaches with our boards in the bag after they tested it, so the boards can´t be that wrong!
7. You have a deal with Flysurfer. Is the boardline better with foils then with tubes?
[Rainer Kauper] Flysurfer makes the world wide distribution for our boards, that´s the connection. We spend a lot of time testing our boards with all the systems on the market. We already rode 95% of all 07 kites. That gives us the experience to develop our boards not just for Bow, C-Shape, Hybrid or Foilkites. You can believe me, there are huge gaps riding a board with a Bowkite and a Foilkite. Some kites have more depower, some kites turn faster. Only if you ride your prototype boards with all kind of kites you know how to break the existing levels.
8. When & Where can the Dutch test your boards?
[Rainer Kauper] Our production promised us to ship all models until end of January to present the boards on the boot show in Düsseldorf. So if there will be nice conditions for kiteboarding at the Dutch coast you just have to ask your local dealer for a testboard. Where to find a dealer you can see on the website of our Dutch importer: http://www.flysurfer.nl/ Ask for Ramon.
9. Can we expect other kinds of boards. Like surf or snowkiteboards?
[Rainer Kauper] There will be two waveboards in spring. One directional and one bi-directional, both in snowboardconstruction. Snowkiteboards are not planned.
Rainer beloofde later deze week de foto's van de boards te sturen.
