Nick Baines Interview - Repping for Reedin and Jumping the Avon Pier

Pat: This is Pat with MACkiteboarding.com here with Nick Baines.

Nick: Hey guys. I'm Nick Baines here with Reedin USA in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Pat: So Nick, how did you end up getting into kiteboarding?

Nick: I got into kiteboarding when I was 13 years old. My uncle, who is based in Saint Croix, sent me a trainer kite. I flew that thing religiously for a full year and then purchased my first kite, a 2002 Slingshot Fuel. I took it out to the beach and learned how to fly the kite and learned the basics. Then I took myself out in the ocean and basically got a really bad crash course into kiteboarding. I'm fully self-taught, unfortunately.

Pat: That's awesome. So you taught yourself. That probably helped you learn a lot about the sport by teaching yourself and learning everything the hard way. I'm sure this helped out a lot with your coaching career in the Outer Banks.

Nick: Yeah, definitely. I can take all those negative experiences I had from teaching myself and apply them to my coaching life and make sure that none of my students has to experience getting thrown into a trash can onto the beach like I did, or having to swim a full mile back into the beach.

Pat: So you live out in OBX. How long have you been out there? Did you move out there when you started giving lessons, or how did that work out?

Nick: I originally moved here in 2008 as soon as I graduated from high school, and I taught for a couple years at Real Watersports. That was really my intro into coaching and living in the Outer Banks. I moved back to Virginia Beach after a couple of years, but I came back to the Outer Banks in 2017, so I've been here since 2017 consistently living in the Outer Banks and coaching. Now I'm the North America Sales Manager for Reedin.

Pat: Nice. That's awesome. Having that much experience in the Outer Banks, what would be your top three travel tips for someone coming there for the first time?

Nick: Anybody coming to the Outer Banks typically comes in the shoulder season, that being the spring or the fall time. We have really good wind statistics for the full year, but typically at that April/May, September/October time we have a lot better conditions, not only for sound kiting, but also for wave kiting and the ocean, which is a cool aspect of the Outer Banks. Not only can can you kite those beautiful slicks, but you can go and play in the waves, so that's a really good time of the year to come. Of course, last July was the windiest month we had all year, so you never know. We do have a really good wind July and August, typically. It's not the 30 knots crazy wind, but you do get a lot of days in the 15 to 20 knot range. That is really good for learning and good for progressing and advancing your riding, as well.

Pat: Yeah, it's hard to find a better place, at least Stateside, that's better than the Outer Banks to go kiting.

Nick: Yeah, definitely. I would say Hood River is also a really good option for North America, as well as the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes have some insane riding, but I would say our winds in the Outer Banks are just so consistent and the season's really long, so it's amazing. But I do like coming up there to Lake Michigan and kiting as well. Pere Marquette's an insane spot, and there are a lot of hidden gems around there.

Pat: There are, yeah. If you go to the east side of the state here, there's a cool spot, Tawas. It's actually kind of similar to the Outer Banks where there's a really good shallow spot and you get some of that more steady, flat water, and it's a neat spot. So, top downwinder in OBX. I know there are a lot of options.

Nick: There are a few that we can't really talk about, but I would say the top downwinder is Planet of the Apes, at least for riding in flat water on the south side of the bay. Planet of the Apes is insane; there are a lot of really cool canals you can carve down and have a good time. There are some little pieces of land you can jump, from two feet long all the way to 100 feet long, so it's a cool place to go and progress with your "land gaps", as we call them. It's also an incredibly beautiful downwinder because you're out there where there are no buildings. You're kiting through marshes. We call it "backcountry wakeboarding", and I think that's the best way to describe it. If you're a wakeboarder, and you didn't have to worry about water depth and where the boat can and can't go, this is what you would want to do. So it's an incredible downwinder.

Pat: That's a pretty great way to describe it. You've been pumping out some insane land gaps this summer. At least from your Instagram feed, it looks like it's been pretty good.

Nick: Yeah, it's been really good. It's not typically our windiest month, but we had a few really good days in July where we were able to go, and I think the biggest gap another rider, Austin Leder, and I did was like 120 yards, so it was pretty incredible. In the summertime it's so hot, and the land we're jumping over is getting superheated and it creates these thermal updrafts, so jumping over land is so much fun. You can really feel it, and it'll hold you in the sky forever, give you 10-12 second long jumps. It's so cool.

Pat: That's awesome. You just recently jumped the Avon Pier... insane video. I'm sure everyone's watched this as well, but if they haven't, they definitely need to check on your Instagram. When did that first become an idea for you to actually jump it?

Nick: I would say probably a year after I moved back to the Outer Banks. I've always had a goal sheet for a lot of the sports I've done, whether it's soccer, skateboarding, surfing, whatever it is, with the moves I want to do or a stunt I want to do, and it's been on that goal sheet for about four years now, to go and jump the Avon Pier--or any of the fishing piers, really--on Hatteras Island. So it was about four years ago that it really hit that I wanted to do it. Me and a few other riders had been talking about it for a long time. I know Evan Netsch and I have tacked next to the Rodanthe Pier quite a few times saying, "I think today we could jump it!" but we've backed out. But for me, personally, four years now.

Pat: Wow, okay. That's quite a while. So what kind of prep work went into it for you? Was there any prep work going into it, or was it just happening on the right day?

Nick: Yeah, the day looked really good. It was supposed to be blowing 40 knots, but unfortunately it was more in the 27 to 32 knot range. In terms of preparation, all the kiteboarding I've done in Cape Town where you're going and jumping off waves and timing waves goes into it. Even all of my surfing experience since I was eight years old goes into a stunt like this because there's a lot of timing with reading the ocean and knowing when you're going to get the right wave and where the waves are breaking. I probably watched the Surfline camera for the Avon Pier for about an hour before I went out, just to make sure the waves were breaking into the right part of the pier because there's a bunch of light posts. It's hard to see, but there are a bunch of light posts on the pier, so the waves need to be breaking in the proper spot for you to get a clean takeoff and shoot in between the light posts. Luckily, I was high enough that I was going over the light posts anyway, so it really didn't matter in the end. So for prep work going into it, I would just say the 19 years I've been kiteboarding and everything I've done, that all aspects of that help with doing a stunt like that.

Pat: Okay, cool. So was it the forecast that you saw that decided that was the day, or it was just one of those things where whatever day it happened to be, you're going to do it, but you narrowed it down to that day?

Nick: We've had much better conditions, actually, for jumping over the pier. Even last May, we had a few days of 40 to 59 knot north wind that would have been better for it, but I felt like my riding was getting a bit stale this year and I needed something to really set the tone for the winter time, and that was a good stunt to do it. One of the photographers that documented it was heading out of town that afternoon and was like, "Hey man, it's now or never." So a few things really made it the day to send it.

Pat: Yeah, that's definitely one way to set the tone for the winter riding, for sure. So it went pretty viral. I think Kookslams picked it up, and that one alone has over 150,000 views on it at this point, which is absolutely nuts. You got a new name out of it too.

Nick: Yeah, it's Larry. That's so funny.

Pat: It's so weird that Kookslams picked it up. It was perfect, so it was kind of a weird one for them to pick up, but it's got a ton of views.

Nick: Yeah, between them and Surfline, I was really appreciative of that. I've been surfing my whole life, so to get something on Surfline is amazing.

Pat: So, boots over straps. I feel like you're one of the few people still riding boots, right? Nothing wrong with that, but what makes you choose that? Is it your wakeboarding background, or is it a comfort thing? What makes you decide to go boots over straps?

Nick: I'm just really confident with the Vadatek boot system that I've been riding. I've been using it for big air for four years now, and I've really tested those things. I've caught a heelside edge in Cape Town, and it's a system that ejects when you hit the water hard enough. For me, the advantages of having the boots while doing big air are huge because you can hold down quite a bit more power with the binding, so I can hold down extra power, which is going to help me jump over the pier. Also, if you have a bad takeoff in footstraps, there's a chance your foot can slide out. That was the last thing I wanted to worry about while I'm jumping over the pier, is a foot coming out, and then I'm trying to get the foot back in the footstrap while I'm going over a big, giant pier. So that's why I picked boots that day, but I've been riding footstraps quite a bit more often because that's the progression of the sport right now. I'm an old man, but I don't want to get left behind too far, so I've been doing a lot of board-offs and I've been practicing a lot of new big air tricks. But for that kind of stunt I was 100 percent picking wakeboard bindings over the footstraps.

Pat: That's awesome. The Vadatek ones are pretty sweet, with that eject feature. I know Rygo swears by them and I know you do... I've been meaning to pick up a pair myself to get back into boots. I think it's been like four or five years.

Nick: Yeah, we gotta send you a pair and get you to try them out. They're freaking amazing, and they're warm too, so in Michigan that'd be great for you.

Pat: Perfect. So you're using the Supermodel for big air. Kite of choice for you, I'm sure.

Nick: Oh, definitely. It works so well. This morning I was riding in the waves with Reider Decker, a local pro here, and the thing performs super well in the waves. But this is Kevin Langeree's kite, so if there's one thing it's going to do, it's going to boost to the moon and it's going to hold you in the sky forever. It's such a fast-turning kite, and it generates so much power through the turns, that it's by far the most comfortable kite I've been on for jumping over land or doing megaloops or riding waves in crazy locations... it does it all for me. So yeah, I'm really stoked to be on that Supermodel and riding the Reedin equipment.

Pat: Yeah, you guys make some great stuff. So I think I know the answer to this one, but I'm gonna ask you anyways: your favorite spot in the world to travel.

Nick: I would say it's probably between Maui and Cape Town, but Cape Town's taking the crown there. Or even South Africa as a whole. The whole country is beautiful, there are tons of kiteboarding locations, and for me, as a surfer, having the availability of world-class waves around the kiteboarding locations is critical and, man, there are so many in South Africa. I don't want to give up too many secret spots, but there are definitely places you can go there and kiteboard insane waves by yourself or even do big air. So it's definitely top on the list.

Pat: Yeah, it's definitely on my list of places I need to get to still. I have yet to make it there, but definitely need to one of these years, for sure.

Nick: Yeah, the culture is amazing, the people are awesome, and for water sports, it's not really a secret, but like I said, you can go to locations and have a session all by yourself if you really want to.

Pat: So, last question for you: favorite burrito or menu item at Waves Deli?

Nick: That's a hard one. Well, I think I'm going to have to go with a steak burrito at Waves Deli. I think that's gonna be the number one. I've had a couple of specials now. For the Avon Pier jump, they made a Bird Man chicken special for me. That was really good. There's a fried chicken sandwich with some honey chili on it, and it was absolutely incredible. A big shout-out to Waves Deli for that burrito.

Pat: Yeah, if you're ever in OBX, definitely go Waves Deli. It's a must.

Nick: It is, yeah. 100 percent.

Pat: All right, Nick. Anything else you want to add?

Nick: Just for everybody go out and send it for 2023. No matter what it is, try your best and have a good year.

Pat: Awesome, thanks for hopping on today. We'll catch up soon.

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