Authors: SBC Kiteboard - Gear

Day one on the water of the 2011 SBC Kiteboard magazine gear tests graced the team with warm Southwesterly winds.  After two days of unpacking, strapping, and organizing the gear, the SBC test team was eager to get out on the water and ride the new 2011 kites and boards. 

This Fall’s massive head-to-head tests features over 40 kites from Airush, Best, Cabrinha, Epic, F-One, Globe Kites, Griffin, Liquid Force, Royal, Naish, North, Ocean Rodeo, RRD, Slingshot, and StarKites.

The kites range from freestyle specific kites to pure wave kites.  The day’s action took place in the Pamlico Sound.  It was the perfect day to test the mid-range kite sizes with winds hovering around 16 mph mark as the testers hit the water. As the morning came to a conclusion, so did the wind. Some of the stand-outs in the lighter winds were the 13m Airush Lithium, 12m North Rebel, and the 12m Cabrinha Switchblade.  All of these kites had great low-end power enabling the testers to throw down some freestyle and boost some airs in their own personal slick.

This year’s SBC test house is at a new location featuring a 200-yard flatwater slick. This spot is ideal for testing boards in butter flat conditions, as well as hitting some double-up chop kicker ramps at full speed. Hatteras is the ultimate kiteboarding park.

After the morning session, they test team made their way over to Kitty Hawk Kites to rig all the gear for a kite and bar photo shoot.  Everyone was excited to see that there are multiple air compressors on hand to aid the rigging process. The Kitty Hawk Kite’s launch site in Waves is open to the public for a small $5 a day launch fee. A large grassy area, steady winds, waist deep water as far as the eye can see, and a restaurant and shop on site make this an ideal location.  Photographer David. G Tran and editor John Bryja snapped the shots we needed.

After the photo shoot,  Nick Barret gave the team a tour of the new waterfront condos located at the  Kitty Hawk Kite resort.

The crew then headed over to Mojo’s at Real Kiteboarding for some Fish Tacos (Taco Tuesdays) and cold Lagers. 

An early evening skateboard session at Liquid Force team rider Jason Slesak’s own personal backyard skate park rounded out an awesome day in the Outer Banks.  

Wednesday’s forecast looks promising with another day of warm, boardshort-friendly, 14-to-18 knot Southwesterly winds.  Check back daily on SBCKITEBOARD.com for more updates, pics and videos from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

Check out our Facebook photo gallery of the days action.

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