Duotone Magazin No.01 2019

T A L K I N G K I T E S Talking K I T E S TO GET A LITTLE INSIGHT INTO PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT, WHERE IT HAS BEEN IN THE PAST, IS NOW, AND WILL POSSIBLY BE HEADING IN THE FUTURE, WE SAT DOWN WITH THE DUOTONE KITE DESIGN BRAIN-TRUST: THE HEADS OF OUR TWO KITE DESIGN TEAMS, KEN WINNER AND RALF GRÖSEL , AND THE VERY HANDS-ON CEO AND GENERAL KITE TESTER / CRITIC, TILL EBERLE. Interview: Dan Schwarz K E N W I N N E R Ken has been there from the beginning. He joined Boards&More in 2000 and since then has been dedicated to designing kites. He’s responsible for the designs of the Rebel, the Neo and the Mono. Recently he also took over the Foil Design. R A L F G R Ö S E L Ralf joined Boards&More in 2005. He’s got a strong background in paragliding and is responsible for the designs of the Evo, Vegas, Dice and Juice. T I L L E B E R L E Till started working as Product Manager for Boards&More in 2001. Together with Ken Winner, Sky Solbach and Jaime Herraiz he was responsible for the very first generations of kite design. In 2008 he became CEO of Boards&More, but today is still very involved in product development. D U O T O N E Kiteboarding has come a long way. Boards and More has developed equipment for the sport since 2001. What do you guys think are some of the landmark moments in our industry? R: Well, obviously the invention of the tube kite has to be considered a great turning point for the sport. For quite some time we felt that ram air kites were the only real option, but when the Legaignoux brothers introduced the LEI kite it really made the sport accessible for the first time. I would consider the development of the safety systems, in particular the Iron-Heart, as another real milestone, as it added an essential safety aspect to the sport. T: And speaking of the Legaignoux brothers and making the sport more accessible, I’d say the invention of the bow kite holds a place as one of the most influential moments in our sport’s history. The big depower of the bowkite and the way it relaunched set a new benchmark in riding simplicity. Let’s move on to the individual achievements of the people here. Ken, would you consider the 5th line to be your most important contribution to the design of kites? K: No, someone else came up with that. The 5th line has value in three ways – kite structure, safety and relaunch. My main contribution was to move the split point up away from the bar so that the 5th line would not have too much sag – so that it could be effective as a leading edge support element – and so that walking out the lines would not be too much trouble. T: In my view Ken is responsible for several other key milestones. For example he introduced the segmented dacron leading edge in the very early 2000s. Before that everyone was using a variety of different materials that were either too weak or could not hold up to the stitching. Also our response to the bow kite concept … the Vegas and Rebel, made a significant impact on the market and design of future kites. The high depower C Kite design is still the favorite choice of most freestyle riders. The Rebel was the first flat kite which worked without pulleys on the front and back lines which gave it its market-leading precise bar feel. What about you Ralf? What do you consider the largest contribution you’ve made to the industry? R: Well, besides the very well accepted kite models Evo, Dice or Vegas, I would consider Progression10 as one of my largest contributions to our company. Please explain exactly what it is and where the idea came from? R: Progression10 is a total quality management system including every technical design element up to a final quality control at the end of the production chain. I have been developing this system hand in hand with Hannes Knolz, the GSL production manager of our main manufacturing plant in Sri Lanka. We have been questioning every single seam, every material, process and design feature on our kites. The result is a system dedicated to logic, quality and the latest machinery, enabling us to redefine industry standards. Since ever then, Ken and I are not only using similar kite design software, we are both able to utilize an identical set of the latest features and materials. Based on this modular system, we have been able to significantly reduce production and product related mistakes and have dropped the warranty claim rate under 1%. A huge achievement for such a complex product, taking into consideration that we have 7 different models and over 32,000 sold kites per year. OK, on to the present. What trends do you guys see in the industry today and how are you addressing that with the kites you’re currently working on? T: Well clearly the fastest growing segment right now is foiling. Foiling gets influence from sailing and surfing and is opening the sport to more people, as there are so many people living in light wind areas where kiting was not possible before we were foiling. The performance, high upwind angle, low drag… which a foil brings into kiting allows people to kite with smaller kites and in lighter winds, which opens up new design concepts. R: Foiling in really light-wind conditions is a very interesting topic, as it adds new elements and aspects to the sport. From the designer’s point of view, it is quite challenging due to the fact that the water relaunch becomes the most important issue. It requires a different kite shape to relaunch under 8 knots of wind. But it mainly requires a new set of materials to reduce the overall weight. Like other sports, reducing weight becomes an essential part of the design process. The 2019 JuiceE has been developed with a new material mix, allowing us to drop the weight by 15%, which makes this kite one of the lightest LEI kites on the market. Developing new materials and material combinations is going to be a huge part for further developments. Adjusting the kite T U B E K I T E How it all began: Rhino I was launched in 2001 – one of the first tube kites on the market and the first kite ever to be launched by Boards&More. SEGMENTED L E A D I N G E D G E VEGAS H I G H D E P O W E R C - K I T E R E B E L The first ever Rebel – launched in 2007 T R U E 69 T R U E 68