TECH TALK: big air strapless kiteboarding

What’s up everyone. Welcome back to another Appletree Surfboards Tech Talk video. And today is a special one because we’re here with Luke McGillewe and Luke has been a long time personal friend and friend of the brand. Luke owns the Point Guesthouse together with his wife Crystal here in Cape Town and we always stay there. It’s a beautiful place. If you ever think of coming over to Cape Town and you want a place where the power always works and the beers are always cold, hit up Luke and Crystal to find your spot!

Luke is also a kite designer nowadays. He works for Flysurfer. So he’s got quite a good technical insight into kite design as well as board design, because we’ve been working on boards for a number of years. So I just wanted to have a bit of a conversation with Luke about big air strapless kiteboarding, which according to Luke, isn’t a thing, but we think it is.

Is big air strapless kiteboarding a thing?

That’s the first question. Is it actually a thing, Luke? Yes, it’s a thing. It’s for sure a thing. I’m just in denial right now, working on big air kites, you kind of have to ride twin tips. But you’re right. It’s still very much a thing. That’s for sure.

And we actually see some of the young kids starting to get back into it as well, which is cool. Our team riders, the Casati brothers, they are shredding basically on the forefront of bigger strapless at the moment. It was of course always Airton Cozzolino who was always in the picture with it. Same goes for Matchu. So it’s really cool to see that some of the younger kids are getting into it and taking a step up.

What are you looking for in a big air surfboard?

We’ve been working on boards almost specifically for you, although you also ride them as wave boards. What’s your point of view, what are you looking for in a big air surfboard?

Luke: I go for a quite compact board, with the cutoff nose and wider tail. So it’s less surface area so the more contact you have with your feet. And trying to keep the board as small and as light as possible is really key for me. You can do big air on any board, pointy nose, whatever. But I find that the compact shape and design of the Lukes Leaf really keeps it on your feet and gets it to your hand as quick as possible.

Wieger: Yeah. I also feel that you can do big jumps with a board with a nose, but it does catch the wind quite a bit easier. So a cut off nose is easier to control and it is easier to shift the board with your feet. Plus you have way more control in the air after takeoff.

Does board weight matter in big air strapless kiteboarding?

You mentioned weight. We always explain weight and strength are two things that go hand in hand. So what are your thoughts on that?

Luke: Weight is a big factor. The lighter the board, the more it sticks to your feet. You have to take lot more effort to get the board off the water if it’s heavier. The one benefit with heavier boards is only when wave riding in choppy conditions. A heavier board draws its line better. But if you’re sending it for big air, then you need a light board that can get into the air and into your hand as quick as possible.

Wieger: The only thing of course is the construction. If you make it super light, it can be a bit fragile, but I think we nailed that one. I don’t think you have broken a board in how many years? Luke: Seven or eight now. I used to go through two boards a week from my local shaper. I still have my original board that I bought from you. It is still going strong. Which is seven or eight years ago. I don’t know 2014. So maybe it’s even 10 years. Ah, we’re getting old. Yeah, I can feel it in my knees.

Different board constructions

Wieger: We’re still working on some new constructions as well to help with that. Luke’s been riding a lot of carbon boards. The nice thing about the carbon is the stiffness, but it also makes it a bit harder on your knees. Do you feel it helped with the pop and the amount of energy that you can put into your release?

Luke: It goes back to wakeboarding, like the super hectic rockers, super stiff boards, and it really helps with your pop and takeoff. I do ride some normal boards especially for waves, just to get more connection to the water. But for big air strapless kiteboarding, I find that having a more twitchy, stiffer board really helps with takeoffs. And landings, to be fair, they’re not too hard. I can land and explode my board and I don’t even think I’m going to break it, which is the nice thing.

Luke: I’ve been riding a lot of the S+ or CF+ build strength and with that, I’m not even worried anymore. I used to be a bit scared, but now I’m getting boards that are like this, the Leaf shape with a S+ and it works like a charm. On waves and big air. I really don’t stress about it at all anymore.

Landing big jumps

Wieger: I guess with the kinds of kites that you are using for big air, you actually have quite a lot of lift and your landings are naturally a bit softer. I really felt that with your kite. I felt that I was coming down with more speed as well and not just like landing down. It’s projected forward on your way down. So you’re landing with that speed and actually helps with the landing, even with the surfboard, although you have to throw it under your feet really quickly, but it really helps smooth that out.

What are the differences between big air and wave kites?

Luke: I think with big air kites, when you do that down loop on a surfboard, you’re getting a second lift. So that gives you that forward momentum. Wieger: I say yes, as if I know what I’m talking about, but I’m terrible at it. Luke: Yeah, but you’re right. With a wave kite, you get dropped a little bit more, but you can decide, okay, I want to drop now. You’ve got no power and you can do a down loop straight away and you’re good to go. But with big air kites, you have more time in the air when you’re doing that down loop. So it’s just a timing adjustment to get used to it.

Big air kites

Wieger: Luke’s first major kite release has just been, which is the FlySurfer Era, which is getting raving reviews from all around the big air community. People doing crazy loops on short lines. We’ve seen the shots. What’s your record right now? 35 meters on the Woo? Yeah, I think 35. 1, something like that (Hugo Wigglesworth set a new world record on Sept. 7 with 36.7 meters with the Era). It was not on a surfboard though. But we’re going to get there on the surfboard. We have to stick a Woo to the surfboard.

What do you look for in a big air kite?

Wieger: What do you look for in a big air kite when you go specifically for the big air session? Luke: The market’s kind of shaped in a certain way. So we always look at what’s out there and what’s performing the best. And then we go from there. And then when it comes to wave riding, it’s the same just to see what’s performing really well at the moment and see if we can either follow a trend or take a trend and recreate it.

With big air kiting on twin tips it’s a lot different to big air strapless kiteboarding. But you’ll start to notice guys like Ethan, Matchu, James Carew and the Casati brothers are all using five strut kites now, specifically for big air. So it gives them more time in the air and softer landings, again depending on your technique. It really just depends what you’re doing and how you want to do it. But if you want to mix a session up, you can’t go wrong with a wave kite.

What if you want to do big air and get into wave riding?

And what would you say if someone is just riding twin tip and they are thinking about getting into wave riding, but they really enjoy their jumping. They’re not too sure about the wave riding yet. Luke: You can’t really go wrong. The kites all fly. So if you super used to call it an XR, Era or orbits, and you want to get into waves, it’s a great introduction. Don’t change your kites. Don’t think you have to buy a full new quiver of kites. I think, ride what you’re used to, change one thing at a time, and if that’s what you prefer in the end, then buy a set of wave kites, try them out.

Can you wave ride with a big air kite?

Wieger: I basically only ride wave kites, and when I do switch to, like last week when I switched to one of your kites, it is so vastly different that it takes at least a session and a half to even get used to it. So yeah, I would fully agree with you. Just change one thing at a time and get yourself a surfboard, and then start learning your first little jumps. If you actually like the wave riding you can actually smash a wave with a big air kite. It’s not really that much of an issue. They fly, they turn, they depower, they do everything. You actually turn quite quickly, quite well. It actually works really well.

Cool that’s it for another AppleTree Surfboard Tech Talk video. Hope you like this one about big air strapless kiteboarding. If you’ve got any ideas for more videos, if there’s stuff you want us to explain a bit further, please leave a comment down below or shoot us an email. We’re very responsive. We read all your comments. If you’d like this video, give it a thumbs up, give us a follow so you don’t miss any future episodes and we hope to see you in the next one.

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