Duotone DRIVEN Magazine No.04

“Each tube has to be pumped separately. And when you take off the pump, air flows out again. Really? I think the biggest technology step was having a membrane on the valve to stop the kite from deflating when the pump is removed.” “And then you could not deflate it as we do today. You had to pinch the valve in to let air out. Unbelievable.” “You know, we used to pump these kites with a small handpump, haha, a 16-meter kite with a handpump. I cannot believe we really did that.” “Check this: Super short depower stroke. There is no depower. The only way you’re depowering is by backstalling. Holy sh…. ” “The pigtail came with only one knot, but then there was space where you could shorten it or lengthen it. So everyone was hand shaping their settings, their power on the kite. Today most pigtails come with three knots, which have been exactly set by the kite designer to guarantee the best flying ability.” “And we really put ‘Fast Steering’ and ‘Slow Steering’ on the kite … for a 16-meter Torro. That must have been a joke we made. The 16 meters back in the day, they were so slow. They hardly moved, really slow in reaction.” “SAFETY FIRST – IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG, JUST PULL ON THE RED TAB. AND LEASH YOUR FRONTLINES STRAIGHT INTO YOUR HARNESS. THIS IS CRAZY!” “NO ONE PUMP SYSTEM… WE HAD TWO VALVES IN THE MIDDLE. SO PUMPING THIS KITE WILL TAKE FOREVER.” “That was my idea, the name, Kook Proof Connection. It makes me proud to see that now.” “When we started to do the first kiteloops, we were just working on kites that would loop better. And then we realized that our lines were so stretchy that it didn’t matter what we did with the kites. Such a huge improvement when I think of today’s lines.” P R O G R E S S 42 D R I V E N