Duotone Diversity Magazine No.02 2020

TUBE KITE Back in 1997 – 1998, when kitesurfing was looking like a flourishing crazy fun idea where everybody was trying different ways to get on a board and ride with a kite, foil kites were the only way to experience the power of the wind. Though most of my sessions then ended with the kite in the water, soaked and with all the bridles tangled. When tube kites hit the market around 2000, finally there were kites that could easily relaunch and wouldn’t tangle all the time. It was like a dream come true. Which is why, I couldn’t believe that when foiling became more accessible and extremely popular, more and more people went back to using foil kites! For me, that was never even imaginable! I jumped on the foil, crazed, and was amazed by the feelings and possibilities! It was the future! Using a foil kite again however, seemed like a step back in time. Of course the gear has changed, there’s constant development and the level is rising. But not just for foil kites. The extreme light weight constructions of kites like the Mono or the Juice give me all the power I need for foiling in very light wind conditions. Especially with one-strut kites that revolutionized light wind kite flying – they allow riders to fly 7m and 9m kites in 8 to 12 knots – something unthinkable before. So far, I have never experienced a low wind range where I wasn’t able to fly one of my 7m, 9m or even 12m tube kites! And that is also without tangled bridles! Plus, they are so much more fun to fly! The way they move through the wind window, the easy relaunch and their general shape are part of what made kitesurfing the fun and accessible sport it is today! When riding a foil kite, I feel like I am using my grandparents’ kite! Even though they technically fly faster through the wind window, they feel slow and boring to fly. Also, have you ever seen someone launch a foil kite on a beach? It looks like they are getting swung around without any control and when they launch it seems they are going to get dragged along the beach, carrying everyone along their way…not my kind of style. I do a lot of boat launching and drift launching here in the Caribbean ... try and do that with a foil kite! For my every day riding, I am looking for a reliable simple kite, safe and easy to use. I do not race or try to beat speed records when I am out foiling. I like to cruise around and enjoy the noise-free experience which riding on a foil gives me over the water. Maybe that’s what differentiates me from foil kiters who in my eyes are only looking for speed in lighter winds. In the end, using a foil kite would only remind me of the beginnings of kitesurfing when I used to spend more time untangling lines and bridles than actually riding on the water. And Jean Guillaume, let’s be honest, side-by-side riding a tube kite will always look “cooler” than flying a foil kite with a seat harness, it’s not 1998 anymore! ;) FOIL KITE I’ve always loved kitefoiling – since the beginning of this special part of kitesurfing. When you know how to work your kitefoil and you understand the high potential of it, you need a special weapon to go with it: And that’s nothing else but a foil kite! The foil kite and foil go perfectly together. They are made for each other! Why? Because the foil kite multiplies the potential of your foil: With the same square meter size compared to a tube kite, you can plane earlier, it develops greater power, and its ability to go up and downwind are unmatched. A lot has changed since the early days, especially regarding gear. To me, it seems like a little revolution when looking at the potential of foil kites, foils and boards today. The freeride discipline, that most of the riders practice, has opened incredible possibilities that no other kite gear could match. Foil kites have a magical substantiation, which allows me to make some amazing jumps and aerial transitions. And they are even easier to achieve with a foil kite than with a tube kite. With my foil kite, I feel safer than ever. I know that it will always fly and it will not abandon me. I like the feeling the bar gives me, that there is a big gap between the power that the kite generates and it’s lightness in the bar! This also means that the kite is more comfortable to navigate. You won’t experience unwanted shaking like with a kite tube because the foil kite is of unmatched stability. This characteristic also makes it more ideal for you to keep a position with a low center of gravity for a long ride without as much effort. And above all else, riding a foil kite to me means that everything is accessible – it’s the combination of my foilkite and the foil, which allows that! This means absolutely everything to me! When I see my friend Jeremy Tronet foiling, freeriding with a GT or even worse, a Daytona, under his feet and a Mono in his hands, to me it always feels a bit like he bought a Ferrari but never passes the second gear! Not for me! I like to go full throttle! Jean Guillaume Jeremie Tronet Photo Toby Bromwich Photo Christian Müller 1 13 O P P O S I T E 1 1 2 O P I N I O N FOIL KITE I’ve always loved kitefoiling – since the beginning of this special part of kitesurfing. When you know how to work your kitefoil and you understand the high potential of it, you need a special weapon to go with it: And that’s nothing else but a foil kite! The foil kite and foil go perfectly together. They are made for each other! Why? Because the foil kite multiplies the potential of your foil: With the same square meter size compared to a tube kite, you can plane earlier, it develops greater power, and its ability to go up and downwind are unmatched. A lot has changed since the early days, especially regarding gear. To me, it seems like a little revolution when looking at the potential of foil kites, foils and boards today. The freeride discipline, that most of the riders practice, has opened incredible possibilities that no other kite gear could match. Foil kites have a magical substantiation, which allows me to make some amazing jumps and aerial transitions. And they are even easier to achieve with a foil kite than with a tube kite. With my foil kite, I feel safer than ever. I know that it will always fly and it will not abandon me. I like the feeling the bar gives me, that there is a big gap between the power that the kite generates and it’s lightness in the bar! This also means that the kite is more comfortable to navigate. You won’t experience unwanted shaking like with a kite tube because the foil kite is of unmatched stability. This characteristic also makes it more ideal for you to keep a position with a low center of gravity for a long ride without as much effort. And above all else, riding a foil kite to me means that everything is accessible – it’s the combination of my foilkite and the foil, which allows that! This means absolutely everything to me! When I see my friend Jeremy Tronet foiling, freeriding with a GT or even worse, a Daytona, under his feet and a Mono in his hands, to me it always feels a bit like he bought a Ferrari but never passes the second gear! Not for me! I like to go full throttle! 1 1 2 O P I N I O N