the secret shoot

As you are all aware by now, Boards and More have just launched our new brand, Duotone. Continuing with the legendary line of products, designers, team riders and people that make the brand go round, it's an exciting time with high hopes and possibilities for the future of sport. There's a lot of work that goes into launching a new brand and keeping it under wraps is a big one. How did we do? From logos to colour ways, names and social media, everything becomes anew. But the real beauty from our perspective, and hopefully yours, up is that everything also stays the same, minus the boundaries.

In order to create a new brand image, you have to go out and capture creative content of the new products and fresh logo in its correct environment.  The only issue in the months leading up to the big reveal was not a soul could see the new 2019 Duotone products before the official announcement. As the marketing team were busy piecing together all the factors necessary for a successful launch, others were given the task of the industry’s most top-secret photo shoot for the new, 2019 Duotone Rebel, Dice and Twintips

We knew we had one shot at getting the job done so choosing a location that was super private, with conditions and a beautiful backdrop was important. After much research and deliberation we settled on St. Brandon, in the Mascarene Islands, Mauritius. There are few places on this planet to be affected by modernization and St. Brandon is one of those rarities. Not wanting to compromise its rich and pristine ecosystem, huge efforts to conserve its extraordinary and truly memorable state have been put in place by the Mauritian government, which means there’s little to nothing happening there. Perfect!

Duotone team riders Matchu Lopes, Tom Hebert, Hannah Whiteley and Reno Romeu met up with long-standing brand photographer Toby Bromwich, videographer Carlos Guzman, and head of marketing Tommy Kaiser in Mauritius before embarking on a 24 hour fishing boat ride to what felt like the end of the earth. We all know that getting the shots is never easy, but it was a wet and relentless start in a rocking 10m boat with seasickness at the front of everyone’s mind. ‘It had better be worth it,’ was an ever present thought as the boat rolled from side to side through the night. But as the shore of St. Brandon became visible on the horizon we immediately knew it was well worth the adventure.

St. Brandon greeted us with clear waters unlike any other, blinding white powdery beaches and vibrant blue skies.  Matchu Lopes says of his arrival; “as we were getting off the boat when we first arrived, a huge turtle came up to the boat. That was like a welcome to me. It was so nice.”

The long journey never stifled the desire to get on the water and it was Tom Hebert and Reno Romeo who were out there in a flash. Our team riders live for the sport, and much like weekend warriors or those just starting out, I think we can all agree that kiteboarding is addictive!