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OK, I’ve officially found my favorite kite-surfboard of all time, and it only took me 18 years. Ha!Nah—seriously though, you’ve got to have a look at the NEW 2018 North Pro Whip CSC. This little blaster will have you grinning from ear to ear the first time out. I’ve spent a bit of time on the North Nugget and the North WAM, but the Pro Whip is my jam!The first thing you’ll notice is how light the board is. North utilized bamboo and carbon in this board and it really shows. The next thing yo …

Wind by Season While Hood River is windy much of the year, the most consistent and comfortable times to ride are spring and summer. The season starts to kick off in May and ends in September. Before and after that, the weeather and water can be too cold to kite, and you may even get into snowkiting territory. In the summer months, you can get out for a session almost any day of the week if you have a variety of kite sizes or boards and are willing to move around to a couple of the nea …

If the calendar says you're past your "expiration date", but you're still feeling a bit spry, maybe you should try some basic unhooked tricks!What is riding unhooked? This means that you disconnect (or unhook) your control bar from your harness. Don't freak out—it's all about technique. Yes, you will be getting out of your comfort zone. Yes, you will be crashing more. Yes, it is totally worth it!If you're a wakeboarder or a snowboarder, then riding unhooked is an obvious choice for you.&nbs …

The Story Behind "Sessions" Welcome to "Sessions"!I'm just a dude from a kite shop making videos and testing all the gear, one session at a time. A year ago, I started working with two talented individuals, Blake Olsen and Crystal Veness. The goal was simple: put out the most thorough and relatable kiteboarding trick-tips online and produce the most informative and useful kiteboarding travel guide on YouTube. One year later and we're working hard and having a lot of fun creating useful c …

Sessions Blog - Testing the 2018 North Evo For the  2018 North Evo, I really had to put in the work to get my review right. In most of my previous videos, I'd already had years of experience testing the gear. Demand was high for this review and I was struggling to get any real information on the kite. I decided to get as much time in on the kite as possible and take notes on my sessions. The problem was I only had a 12 meter and the conditions never seemed to line up. I had tested the …

So, let's go kiteboarding in...Siberia?? Lake Baikal, close to Russia and Mongolia, is the deepest lake in the world. Come follow along as North Kiteboarding team riders, Aaron Hadlow, Stefan Spiessberger, Craig Cunningham, Noe Font and Fran Bagnioli shred the gnar in a land real far...away. The trip was planned to be an adventure but nobody expected this. Apparently, there were broken-down vehicles, guys with gold teeth, windless weeks, and borderline starvation. Sounds awesome …

Your one stop kiteboarding video travel guide.  Wind By Season  It's warn and windy most of the year but summer is the the best season to visit. Granted, even the winter months seem to work like clockwork. There's really not a bad time to visit. Adventure scale  There are plenty of high end accommodations for kiters and non kiters alike. If Grey Goose and infinity pools are on your radar you can find it. On the other hand, if you'd prefer something a littl …

I used to profess this simple concept back when I was a kiteboarding instructor and I know it to be true today. Kiteboarders are simple creatures. We like windy days, good people to share the stoke with, and a good feast afterward. Easy enough.        Hey, new guy—just show up with some pizza, introduce your self, and be humble—it'll be all good!"Seriously though—here's how you break into your local kiteboarding scene and be welcomed into the fold.Decide which beach/area you …

Working at MACkite has some unique benefits. Working with friends in an industry that we are passionate about makes most days feel less like “work”. The huge amount of demo gear available is also well appreciated by our staff. However, it is hard to monetize the value of our “Board Meetings”. Our "Board Meetings" are not the typical drudgery that is associated in most workplaces. Rather, it is a meeting of employees where we can go play and test gear during work hours. Last week, we ha …

Since this was a special edition this article will be a little different. We will repost the initial question followed by our initial response in Youtube to the user. I will then add any additional information below that to round out the knowledge. Stas Firer: What category does the 2018 Naish Thrust KS1 fall into and do you guys plan on doing a review on it? MACkite:  Hey Stas! We think the Naish Thrust KS1 fits nicely into the "Performance Freeride" or "Powered Freeride" cat …

Welcome to destinations, your one stop kiteboarding video travel guide.  Wind By Season It's warm and windy most of the year, but spring is the best season to visit. Progreso doesn't always work like clockwork, but it can be consistent! To give you some perspective, we visited in the winter and it was quite windy. In fact, we could have ridden every day had we not been so tired from adventuring. Touch base with Angel from Yuckite if you're planning a visit and he can give some i …

Foilboarding is the newest and fastest growing aspect of kiteboarding, without question. The rapid advance of riding styles and equipment is a hard thing to keep pace with. As a result, we get a lot of questions. Since most of the people getting into kiteboard foiling are already kiteboarders, a popular question is, “How will my kite(s) work for foiling?”;  A legitimate question!  The kite you have/choose will have certain advantages and disadvantages for your riding and styles …

5 Best Kites for FoilingHydrofoil kiteboarding has been on fire lately at the shop. I cannot remember the last time where every employee was so excited about one aspect of kiteboarding. Every employee from our young guns to shop legends caught the foil bug. As a result, we have seen a dramatic shift in the kite quivers chosen by our staff. Our quivers were dominated by large freestyle kites like the Cabrinha FX; now, we are switching to kites that compliment the unique challenges of …

Many years ago, pro rider Chris Bobryk and I were kiteboard instructors here at MACkite. Our lesson center was right on the sugar-sand beach of Pere Marquette Park, in Muskegon, Michigan.We would ride as much as we possibly could before and after our lessons and I can remember Chris just hucking himself constantly. He was sending it on every tack. He was absolutely consumed with progressing his kiteboarding ability and it paid off for him in his pro career. I, on the other hand, did not have pro …

There are a lot of different travel bags out there for kiteboarding and kitesurfing. North offers the "Combi Bag" and "Team Bag Surf", while ION has the "Gearbag TEC". Here's the breakdown from Ben Skaggs, our North and ION Kiteboarding rep from Hood River, Oregon. North Combi BagColors: Black and BlueAvailable sizes: 140cm155cmSurfboards up to 5'6"Surfboards up to 6'2""This is a lightweight travel bag that uses the method of “use your gear and clothing as padding to save weight” for protecti …