The MACkite Crew Meets Matt Aiken, founder of WMFG

Let's Chat w/ Matt Aiken, founder of WMFG

Nathan, our resident tweaker for all-things WMFG, was able to grab a snap into the life of Matt Aiken, founder of WMFG. You might have noticed the WMFG pumps that we've added to our packages. As a staff, we love what Matt and his crew have produced, and it is a great honor to be involved with people who love what they do and do it with passion and purpose.

Kite pumps have been around for ages, and for the most part to the job quite well. When we first tried the WMFG pump, it was noticeably easier to pump up our kites. What is it about your pump that's better?

With Pump 1.0T (the big one) the first and obvious thing that makes it easier to inflate kites is that it’s taller. The industry standard for pumps used to be around 17-18”, then they grew to about 20” last summer. At 24”, the 1.0T gives an extra 8” of extension at the top of the up-stroke, and for most people this is pretty much game changing. An average height person barely has to bend their knees when pumping, and all the back strain, hamstring tightness, basically all the fight of pumping a kite disappears. For tall kiters it’s really, really awesome. They can actually straighten out when they’re inflating their kites and it just feels so much easier for them. WMFG pumps also have really high quality gaskets and seals, which in general are just super smooth and lower friction versus the older pumps. Those are the two obvious things that make the WMFG pumps work really well, but often overlooked is that WMFG pumps come with the most nozzles so fit more kites from more kite brands that any other pumps on the market. From the beginning that was an absolute foundation for WMFG pumps and will continue to be in their future. It’s pretty hard to pump a kite up if your hose won’t connect to the kite.

Interested in WMFG? Learn more here!

WMFG isn't only about pumps - what other accessories do you have that make our lives easier as kiteboarder?

WMFG started with me playing around with deck pads for kiters (like me) that ride surfboards and don’t want to deal with wax. I’ve been riding surfboards for kiting for a really long time and being a great lakes kiteboarder (Toronto) I was never going to surf my boards, so I’d always put full traction on my boards. I came up with a very functional full-board design that offers front, middle, and back of the board traction and works with both strapped and strapless boards. In developing this product I spent a lot of time varying foam density, thickness, and experimenting with a ton of different cut patterns to get the grip just right. I can truly say I’m super stoked with how my pads turned out.

Is there anything else specifically that you're working on with WMFG that you can clue us in on?

When I was starting WMFG I had friends from outside the industry give me some really great advise. One piece of advise was to find a problem and fix it. The other was to look at products we’ve borrowed or inherited from other sports and make them into real, legit kiteboard-specific products. Right now I’m working on WMFG kite-specific surfboard fins which is something I’m really excited about. There’s some other products in the works, but I’ll share those details later.

What else are you involved with lately? Any personal projects or other cool things going on?

As well as being the founder of WMFG I am also the North America Sales Manager for Mystic. They have a great staff of really talented, motivated people, amazing product, and I’m really stoked to be working with them. I run their business in the USA and Canada and they are going to help me with the international distribution of WMFG. I’m really excited to be working with them on some collaborative products that will appear under the WMFG brand. Aside from my work, I find some time to be the president of the AWSI (Association of Wind and Water Sports Industries, the North American windsurf and kite surf trade association) and I’m a founder and de-facto president of the Ontario Kiteboard Association. In my spare time I play hockey, run a solid BBQ, and enjoying the occasional cold beer.

Grab your Mystic gear here!

Tell us about your best session as of recent.

I’ve had a really awesome kiteboard season. Work has taken me to Cape Hatteras, to California (San Franciso Bay and Waddel Creek), and recently to Dakhla in Morocco for the Mystic sales meeting. The craziest thing is I had the best session of my season about 3 weeks ago on Lake Erie, not even a 2 hour drive from home. Perfect 7m conditions, super warm, great waves, lots of buddies, and cold beers in the cooler. Then I had a day almost just as good at the same spot a week later. The more I travel the more I come to appreciate how many great days we get here on the Great Lakes.

What gear have you been using, and what has you stoked about it?

I’m of course head to toe Mystic wetsuits, harnesses, quick-dry, board shorts, etc. Their suits are awesome, having previously always worn suits from the surf-brands it’s been kind of a revelation to have a suit actually designed for kitesurfing. They fit better and it’s sick having simple, kite-specific features like drains in the ankles. For harnesses I’m really stoked with the new Legend, it’s super comfy and has a real nice flexy feel, but being the brand rep I also ride the Warrior in black or Majestic in blue depending on what board shorts or wetsuit I’m wearing (seriously). I like all the harnesses and always ride with a rope-style spreader bar. I’m using a 2017 sample and I think this is going to be really big next year. The increased comfort and range of movement with the rope spreader bar is really awesome. I’ve been riding Naish kites since the 2 line AR3 days and I’m smitten with my Naish Pivots. The 7 and 9 are especially phenomenal, super powerful, rangey, and with a really tight, responsive feel. I really like the nice clean Naish Fusion bar with the below the bar depower. I hardly touch the depower on these kites, so I like how simple and low profile everything is. 

For surfboards I’m definitely all in on the new Stubby shape surfboards. I ride a John Amundson designed Johno 5’4” as my all-around light to medium wind, flat to small wave board, usually set up quad. It’s great, super fast, turns really well and I think the build quality and durability is the best on the market. When it’s really good I’ve been loving my Firewire Vader 5’3”. This board is blowing me away right now, it might be the best down the line wave riding board I’ve ever had, but rips up wind, jumps awesome, and is really an amazing all-around shape. The more I ride it the more the more impressed I am with its range and versatility. I’m usually riding it with a thruster set up. For now and for the foreseeable future fins are WMFG samples or something new I want to test and I'm usually riding some sort of sample pad set up, different foam densities or cut pattern on one side of the board than the other, something like that. I of course always use the big WMFG pump and no matter how little space I have in my travel bag I find a way to fit it in there.