Duotone Magazin No.01 2019

DARE TO DEVELOP Innovation generally comes at the end of a long chain of processes. And it often starts with something small. With a person who has made it their mission to figure something out, to make it better. With someone who constantly questions the status quo and isn’t content with how things are when they can see the potential for improvement. Any number of different aspirations can be behind the drive for innovation: the desire for more performance, better quality, greater ease of use, reliability or even achieving something that has never been done before – and always in the spirit of enhancing the pleasure to be found in sport. When Ken Winner developed the segmented Leading Edge in 2001, this arose out of one simple need: previously there just hadn’t been the technology available to construct a kite in a way which met his visionary concepts. From this idea, a global industry standard has now developed. This is just one example of the numerous designs and trademarks which have been produced over the last 18 years at Boards&More GmbH. Here is a brief, incomplete overview of the most important milestones among these developments. BAR ( W I DTH AD J US TMENT ) Small kites respond more quickly and sensitively to control stimuli, whereas larger kites move rather sluggishly. To create more consistent steering behaviour, the width of the bar is adjusted to the size of the kite. To avoid the need for two different bars, a single bar was developed which can be adjusted to two widths. Previously the adjustment process was somewhat laborious because each time the lines had to be detached from the kite, tied round and then reattached to the kite. To solve this problem, Aurélien Mierswa invented the flip-flop floater. The Trust Bar, which is equipped with this feature, lets you adjust the width of the bar with a single click on each side while the kite remains airborne. 5TH E L EMENT Kiteboarding has long had a reputation as a dangerous sport. Poor depower control and inadequate safety concepts were the prime contributors to this. A safety breakthrough for the sport was made with the development of the 5th line. Till Eberle and Ken Winner brought this idea to the mainstream market when they created a production 5-line safety system, the 5th Element. When the safety is engaged on a 5th line system the kite remains attached by a single center line. The result is a significant reduction in residual drag on the kite. The 5th line can also be used to support relaunch when there is little wind and it can actively influence the shape of the kite as a ‘loaded 5th line’. This innovation and the invention of the reverse release pin in the Iron Heart IV marked the start of a new era of safety for our sport. I RON HE AR T I V Along with residual drag on the kite after the safety system was triggered, so-called ‘pin-impact’ was also a significant safety problem. Previous safety systems could result in hand injuries due to the powerful impact of the release pin. These systems were also prone to getting soiled, which then increased the amount of strength required to trigger the release system. The Iron Heart IV reverse release pin solved these issues. By changing the pin’s impact direction from outwards to inwards, the danger of injury when activating the system was avoided. In addition, the new system was better equipped to cope with contamination which meant the strength required for release was significantly reduced. Today many manufacturers are using the reverse release pin concept under licence. THE TR ACK The development of kiteboards using snowboard con­ struction enabled an associated leap in performance that opened up the sport to an increasingly wide audience. This in turncreatedaneedforuniversal,adaptablefootpadsystems. In contrast to previous bindings, which were very simple constructions, the newly developed NTT binding allowed a whole range of adjustment options and thus completely revolutionised kiteboard binding design. Width adjustment, height adjustment, a versatile contact area on the strap, positioning of the strap on the footpad and especially the precise positioning of the footpad on the board thanks to The Track system: all of these features completely trans­ formed the possibilities for adapting the product to the specific requirements of each individual athlete. A I RPOR T VALVE Inflation and deflation are as much a part of kitesurfing as wind and water. A kite valve must ideally meet several functional requirements: taking in and letting out air, a large airflow to allow the kite to be pumped up swiftly with minimal physical effort, a direct connection for the kite pump without an adapter and, of course, the valve should be one hundred percent impermeable. The valve must also be secure and installed in the Leading Edge so it is protected from rotating, while simultaneously allowing quick and easy replacement in the event of any damage. It must be possible to operate with minimal force and while wearing gloves. No simple task, but the Airport Valve and the re-engineered Airport Valve II overcome these challenges. C L I CK BAR The bar is the central touch point between kite and kiter. As the control unit, this is the component which developers at every kite manufacturer work on most frequently, along with the kite design itself. Controlling the kite trim via the back lines has long been an idea in the minds of most developers, because this technology would solve a whole series of problems, such as the way the safety lines hang through for depowered kites and also the bothersome adjuster. But implementing back line trimming turned out to be harder than expected. Together, Jérôme Bonnieux and Aurélien Mierswa developed a bar that would revolutionise kitesurfing. The project was initially dismissed as impractical and was regarded as over-engineered and too expensive because it went so far beyond the level of mechanical complexity previously found in kitesurfing. Only when an independently developed, fully functional prototype was created were people finally convinced. And this marked the start of a product development process which was unprecedented in terms of its complexity in Duotone company history. With the Click Bar, the back lines are fed through the floater and rail on the bar and wrapped around an integrated coil. The winder or release button can be used to adjust the trim to the exact centimetre. 2001 SEGMENTED LEADING EDGE 2002 KOOK PROOF SELF RESCUE HANDLES WINDING POSTS 2003 SNOWBOARD CONSTRUCTION 2004 5TH ELEMENT 2005 IRON HEART 2006 REBEL GEOMETRY 2007 EVO DELTA HYPE 2008 RACE LTD. 2009 TEXTREME CARBON 2010 TECHNO FORCE D2 2012 ENTITY THE TRACK 2014 AIRPORT VALVE 2015 PRO CSC 2017 CLICK BAR 2018 TRINITY TX 2019 SPACE FLEX MORE TO COME DUOTONE M I LESTONES What’s innovation? Innovation is the summation of many variables. A genius idea, a clever tinkerer, a visionary sportsman…For sure innovation is the result of a lot of work – sometimes that work is convincing the right people just to get behind it. The goal of this work is clear: To improve the quality, the performance or simply the pleasure of the sport. T R U E 85 T R U E 84 P A T E N T S