Naish Kiteboarding is pleased to announce the addition of Ian Ponting to their product development and design team. 

Ian has been involved in the kiteboarding industry as an innovative product designer for the past 10 years and brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience. He will work in collaboration with Damien Girardin and the rest of the R&D team.

Ian will be based in Maui at the Naish International Headquarters.

Ezezquiel Ventura from Buenos Aires, Argentina is the lucky winner of our 2010 Charger Give Away. Congratulations from all of us at Naish and good winds.

See Sam Light’s Slider and Freestyle action in Australia on naishkites.com

Kevin Langeree presents his new World Champion “Limited Edition” Torch kite at the Naish Pro Center in Leucate during the recent Mondial du Vent event.

The Triple-S will feature the top pro kiteboarders in the world riding and competing in a unique freeride format that allows them to push the sport further than ever before. A total of 24 athletes will be scheduled to participate in the 2010 Triple-S Invitational held in Cape Hatteras, NC on June 5th - 11th, 2010.

From Naish the following athletes recieved invites:

• Ian Alldredge
• Kevin Langeree
• Sam Bell
• Sam Light

Alternate:

• Reo Stevens

Episodes 4 and 5 of Cape Sessions with Kevin Langeree is now available online at: www.kevinlangeree.com

Hey everybody! South Africa continued on a random path of inconsistency. Just when you write the place off as merely rumors, myths and misguided memories of a windy country – bam! - comes a couple of epic days.

The last few days were in good timing since I had a photographer and perfect weather to shoot a bunch of sequences for my next technique articles.

Woop – trip saved! Over the next couple of weeks I have a couple of articles to write up, a movie to upload on various channels on the internet and time to move house!
-Jo Wilson

For more information on Jo Wilson visit www.jowilson.com and www.jowilsoncoaching.com

World Champion, Kevin Langeree claimed 1st place at the first stop on the 2010 PKRA World Tour in Thailand last week.

The first day of freestyle single elimination surprised everyone when Kevin ended up 4th in the rankings. The next couple of days brought light wind conditions. Hin's famous thermal winds returned Sunday, allowing for the completion of the freestyle double elimination ladder and board-off competition.

Incredible high power action, and an amazing comeback from Kevin were the highlights of the competition. The next PKRA event will be the Mondial du Vent 2010 in Leucate, France.

Congratulations Kevin!

Photos: robertoforesti.com

For a full re-cap and results of the event visit: http://prokitetour.com/news.php?id=90

Episode 3 of Cape Sessions with Kevin Langeree is now available online at:

http://www.kevinlangeree.com/capessessions2.php

IKSURFMAG has nominated Jo Wilson as one of 2009's top 5 female riders. You can follow the link below to vote for Jo and help her claim victory!

http://www.iksurfmag.com/forum/

The second season of Cape Sessions kicked off last week with episode one released online.

Episode two will hit the web tomorrow with more action from Kevin Langeree's winter training in South Africa.

To view the online episodes go to: http://www.kevinlangeree.com/capessessions2.php

The latest Ben Wilson movie featuring Ian Alldredge as they travel through Australia is now available for free online.

Check out the life and travels of professional kiteboarders as they tear it up and get torn up by The Dirty South.

The guys attend the Mambo Classic and Ian takes first in the men's kiteboarding division.

To view the movie online for free go to: http://www.benwilsonsurf.com/dirtysouth

US Media Contact: Dean LaTourrette, dean@savethewaves.org; +1-415-596-7873

Save The Waves Field Teams Hit the Ground Running in Chile

March 6, 2010, Pichilemu/Curanipe, Chile – Save The Waves Coalition’s Chile relief ground teams have begun to distribute initial relief supplies to towns and villages that were hardest hit by the recent 8.8-magnitued earthquake and following tsunami. Teams have been traveling south from Pichilemu through the remote coastal areas and inland, reaching as far south as Duao in the northern part of Region VII, and supplying aid in small hard to reach towns along the way.

Save The Waves surf ambassador Ramon Navarro is leading the way in these efforts, and with his local knowledge of the region has already helped to supply initial water filters to provide clean drinking water, a crucial necessity right now, to those in need. Volunteers have also helped to clean up a school in Boyeruca that has suffered major damage. While more supplies arrive, water filters will continue to be dispersed over the coming days to help the many displaced families that are still without clean drinking water. Professional surfers Greg Long and Kohl Cristensen also arrived in Chile on Saturday with major supplies, including more water filters, and met up to support Navarro and others out of Pichilemu.

Further south, in the coastal town of Curanipe, which sits just 5km from the quake epicenter, Save The Waves’ Josh Berry arrived Saturday with a team of medics and truckloads of relief supplies, to distribute in the region. Berry and team also rendezvoused with Save The Waves’ local Coastkeeper program manager and Curanipe resident, Rodrigo de la O, who is directing a large portion of the relief efforts in the area.

Save The Waves has been working with nonprofit Waves for Water to supply water filters for clean drinking water to devastated communities where homes, restaurants, and entire fishing fleets have been completely destroyed. There are currently 1,000 filters now either in or en route to Chile, for distribution to coastal regions, in addition to other supplies. While initial relief effort progress has been significant, much more support and assistance will be necessary in the coming weeks as Chile continues to recover from this massive disaster.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

International support:
Save The Waves Coalition:

• Online donations:  http://www.savethewaves.org/
• Donations by check:  Save The Waves Coalition

PO Box 183, Davenport, CA 95017, USA; +1-831-426-6169

• Mark “Chile Earthquake” in comments/memo fields
• Save The Waves Nonprofit Tax ID # 36-4515216
• Contact: Lindsey Davis, +1-831-426-6169, lindsey@savethewaves.org

Local support, Pichilemu (supplies & other donations):

• Polanco's Supermercado, Calle Principal, Pichilemu, Chile
• The Pichilemu Institute of Language Studies: www.pichilemulanguage.com
• Local contact: Quinn Campbell, +1-714-293-0620 cell, quinn.campbell@quiksilver.com

Local support, Curanipe (supplies & other donations):

• Local contact: Rodrigo de la O, +56 9 9359 6318, curanipetur@gmail.com

My name is Arnaud Frennet. For those of you who do not know me, I am a Naish rider for both SUP and Winsurfing based here in Chile.

As I am sure you have heard, we have been hit by a devastating 8.8 Earthquake that was followed by a Tsunami.

My family and myself have been very fortunate given the circumstances, despite some material damage (the tsunami reached our house in Punta de Lobos but did not destroy it).

Unfortunately, some of our friends and neighbors did not have the same fate and lost everything. We put all of our energy into helping them recover.

All of the Surf, SUP, Kite and Windsurf communities have come together to help. The most damaged areas extend from Tirua to Pichilemu, which is the most famous area for watersports in Chile, and for sure one of the most intense on Earth.

- Arnaud Frennet

The second season of Cape Sessions is being released March, 2010. Cape Sessions is an online Kiteboarding series about the life of World Champion, Kevin Langeree.

Produced by Nick Hoedean and Arthur Neumeier who follow the life of Kevin Langeree as he spends his winter training in South Africa to claim the World Title once again.

Stay tuned for the upcoming series coming soon to: http://kevinlangeree.com.

To view the promo for the 2010 season visit: http://www.kevinlangeree.com/capessessions2.php

Team Naish Australia had a successful event at the 2010 Australian Freestyle Championships held at St. Kilda Beach, Melbourne on February 11 - 13, 2010.

No events took place on day one due to light wind, torrential rain and lighting cracking. The wind built to 12m conditions for day two and a single elimination was completed with Naish Rider Simon Wichterman finishing 3rd after just beating his Naish teammate Ewan Jaspen who took 4th.

Ewan was competing in the Junior division as well as the open mens, so he was stoked to finish 4th in the single elimination open mens division.

Simon and Ewan had spent a month training together in Western Australia with International Naish Rider, Sam Light.

Day three saw the completion of the double elimination with Ewan defending his 4th position, which again brought him up against Naish teammate Simon. This time Ewan took 3rd overall, while Simon claimed 4th.

Ewan finished off a great event with a 2nd place in the Junior Mens and 1st place in the kiteacross race against a field of International Riders.

Kevin makes the cover of Kiteworld Magazine with this shot taken the day he was crowned World Champion.

Inside this February/March 2010 Issue you will also find an exclusive interview with the World Champion himself.

Sam is the man when it comes to wakestyle kiting. He rips.

Check out Sam's latest video from his trip in Australia where he's simply mastering wakestyle: Aesthetics

Flo: South Africa, then Philippines

Rick: Ripping in Thailand

I am from Seattle, WA. I am in 5th grade and my favorite subject in school is math.  My parents are French so I am too. I also have a little brother called Maui who is 6 and ¾ year old.

My favorites kiting locations: Jetty Island, WA and the Sand Bar Hood River, OR. My favorite’s kiters are: Sean Richman, Kevin Langree and Sky Solbach. And I admire how Robby Naish is still doing sports  from  windsurfing and kiting and a champion in both. Another thing is I have rode with Sean and Sky in Hood River this summer.

My favorite’s tricks: Stailfish, one handed toe side and toe side transition. I just landed my first back roll.

My word of wisdom is ‘BE AWESOME”
Some other sports I enjoy are Snowboarding, park I won third place in a snowboarding competition called the Greenhorns Games. I ride powder at Mount Baker and at Alpental. Also I play soccer with my team the Hornets and this year we were the Gold Division Champions for U11. Pretty soon I will be snow kiting.

I think these people rock!!: Mark Landvik, Micheal Jackson, Yoan Gourcuff, Santa Claus, my friend Leo and Larry the Big Kahuna!!!

My favorite food is pasta and my favorite drink is chocolate milk shake.

My favorite kiting day: Jetty on my 6m. My favorite animal is a flying pig. My 3 top things to do: Ride, Ride and Ride again, be cool with everybody and everything, be helpful and have fun!

I am a good student at school always have good report cards and I also am a peace manager in my school. A peace manager is going on little kid’s playground to make sure it is peaceful and help them to get along.

My goals are to promote and gain support for Cancer research by riding next year in the Kite boarding For Cancer in Hood River.  Many people and kiters noticed me and are very friendly, maybe because I am the smallest kiter in the Seattle area and Hood River area.

Thanks,
Matteo

• Kevin, Jalou, Sjoukje in South Africa, filming Cape sessions.
• Jo Wilson in Philippines heading to South Africa.
• Sam Light in Australia working on Videos.
  
• Florian Daubos freezing in France heading to Australia in February.
  
• Rick Jensen freezing in Germany heading to Thailand in February.
  
• Ian Alldredge, back in Cal after a trip to Maui, heading to the Caribbean.
  
• Reo Stevens, best surfing winter ever, but he is sitting on his couch.

Jo Wilson in the Philippines - Photo Credit: abbomusic.com

Jalou Langeree in South Africa

Benni Bozano introduces Action To Sport, A2S, to Italy. The new offices and warehouse are located in Rapallo (Genoa) very close to highway A12 and Genoa Harbor.

A2S is a sports distribution company focusing on action sport and sailing markets. A2S is now your direct source for all Naish gear throughout all of Italy.

Action to Sport Srl
Cia San Pietro 40B
16035 Rapallo (GE), Italy
Contact: Benni.b@action2sport.com

Sam Light: Kiteboarding Magazine (February 2010)

The Mambo wave festival at Merimbula NSW Australia is one of the longest running wind and wave events in the world.

The format is simple, 4 days of Windsurfing, Kitesurfing, SUP, Surfing and partying.

There are no heats. You do not know who the judges are, and you are being judged from the time you arrive till the time you collapse.

You ride what you want, when you want.

On the water the Naish team dominated:

Kitesurfing
1st Ian Alldredge (Naish)

Junior Kitesurfing
2nd Ewan Jasper (Naish)

SUP Wave
1st Matt Lumley (Naish)
2nd Paul Jackson (Naish)

SUP Team Race
1st Team Naish Queensland

Overall King Mambo
John Messenger (Naish)

We have a winner for the 2010 Naish Helix! Congratulations to James Whiteman from New Zealand.

James said, "Firstly I would just like to say THANK YOU SO MUCH. Life has been going great, I live to kite. I will kite to live."

Next up we will be giving away 2010 Naish Charger. Keep a look out for that free give away that will be going on from March 1st, 2010 till April 1st, 2010.

Check out the video to see what Jalou has been up to:

http://www.vimeo.com/8031017

KEVIN LANGEREE: PKRA 2009 WORLD CHAMPION

The results are in for the final event on the PKRA 2009 World Tour. Naish rider Kevin Langeree takes home World Champion and Naish rider Alex Pastor claims 1st Place at the Teri Kite Pro 2009. 

After a tough year of extreme competition, Naish rider Kevin Langeree from Noordwijk in the Netherlands is the World Champion of the PKRA 2009 World Tour.

“It feels so good I still can’t describe it! My cheeks are sore from smiling all day!

My dream has just come to reality!!! I just won the world title! I'm so stoked you just can't  believe. I have no words for it...

I want to thank my parents for all the support they gave me all those years and mom I won, now you have to win as well.

I also want to thank all my sponsor at NAISH, O'Neill, USA vision eye wear, Ben&Jerry's and Holidaycars.com for every thing they have done for me. With out them I would have never reached my goal!

Now it's time to celebrate. "

-Kevin Langeree

ALEX PASTOR WINS THE TERI KITE 2009 IN NEW CALEDONIA

At the final event of the PKRA 2009 World Tour, Naish rider Alex Pastor from Spain stepped up to the plate nailing impressive tricks and claimed Champion of the Teri Kite Pro 2009 in New Caledonia.

“I just went for it with all of my energy,” said Alex.  “I’m really happy, this is the first PKRA I have won and hopefully not the last!”

KAROLINA WINKOWSKA: 3rd OVERALL and 2nd at the TERI KITE PRO 2009

Naish team rider Karolina Winkowska takes 2nd at the Teri Kite Pro 2009 making her 3rd overall for the PKRA 2009 World Tour.

Congratulations Karolina! And congratulations to all three Naish team riders that made it to the podium for the 2009 Championship event. We are very proud of our Naish team and the success of the 2010 Naish gear.

LINKS AND VIDEOS FROM PKRA 2009 CHAMPIONSHIP

For more information and clips from the event please visit:  www.prokitetour.com

For videos from the event please visit:  http://www.extremeelements.tv/miss-teri-kitesurf-pro-day-4-in-new-caledonia-2009-kiteboarding-world-tour

Photo Credit: Roberto Foresti/ Canon

Photo Credit: Patrice Morin

As the snow began to fall in The Gorge, Wyatt Cohen (New owner of South Padre Island Kiteboarding) and I (Nick Stuart the North American Naish Rep) hopped on a plane to Texas hoping to catch the beginning of the season in South Padre Island.  South Padre has huge flats that are waist deep for as far as you can see, and on the other side of this narrow island is the Gulf of Mexico that provides you with small to medium size surf.   During their windy season that runs from November through April they get pretty consistent 18 to 25 mph winds.

Upon arrival to this island that is located on the boarder of the US and Mexico, we were immediately welcomed by 75 degrees and blue skies.  Not bad since we just left in a snow storm. We headed straight for the South Padre Island Kiteboarding Shop on the north side of the island to meet up with the rest of the crew.  After packing up the trailer we immediately bee-lined it to the North Flats for 3 days of demos.  The wind was light and came in waves.  Despite the conditions there was a great crowd of people that were stoked to see the new line up.  During the lulls in wind, riders that had traveled to South Padre from all over the US gave great feedback on the kites and what characteristics are most important for their local beach.  At the end of the third day the wind still had never fully kicked in, but the trip was still a success due to the great company on the North Flats.  A big thank you goes out to the Crew at SPIK and all of the riders that hung out at the North Flats for 3 days.

As Wyatt Cohen headed back to The Gorge, I traveled north to Corpus Christi to drop in on Jeff Howard at the Kiteboarding.com Shop.  This shop truly deserves the name “shop” with bladders being repaired in the front, and Jeff Howard sewing some sort of prototype in the back.  Jeff and crew had great insight as to everything kite related, from the local scene to kite construction.  I found out among many things that Corpus has great year round winds, tons of spots and very diverse riding conditions.  I look forward to returning to ride with the Corpus Crew soon.  Thanks for lunch Jeff!

Next Stop Florida!

Check out our facebook page for more details: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Naish-International/159056065892?ref=ts

Kitesurfing continues to gain momentum in Italy.  Newcomers to the sport have increased substantially and more competitions, events and contests are being featured.

The 2010 Naish Team Italy is excited to present the newest additions to their fleet.  Chiara Esposito from Napoli joins team Naish this year along with Andrea Sterbini from Rome.

At 15 years old, Chiara Esposito is already a top contender in Italy.  She has taken home the trophy at many freestyle contest and plans on claiming the Italian Champion title soon.

Chiara Esposito

Andrea Sterbini is an excellent waverider that rides the Naish Cult and Custom Wave board.  We are happy to have him join the squad as well!

Naish team Italy has also brought on board a couple young athletes, 13 year-old Giuseppe Notarianni from South of Italy and 13 year-old Giulio Chiti from Tuscany.

Daniele Maiorino, Naish Italy team leader who is training hard for next season said, “It’s time to come back to the top.”

The rest of the 2010 Naish Team Italy include:  Cristiano Cecchini “South Gun” from Bari, the veterans: Roberto Mocellin and Daniele Nolasco, and our female contender since 2000, Franziska Otth.

Andrea Sternini

Daniele Maiorino

Kevin Langeree Video: NK KITE 2009

Kevin Langeree is the kiteboarder to watch. Kevin Langeree is the kiteboarder to watch. This video of Kevin was filmed at the 2009 Dutch Championships when he was crowned Dutch Champ!

Kevin will be competing for World Champ at the PKRA final event in New Caledonia next week.

www.vimeo.com

Ian Alldredge Kitesurfs Strapless

Ian Alldredge shredding strapless, surfing with a kite. Check it out:

www.youtube.com/Ian

Naish Euro Tour Part II

The Naish Euro Tour was on the road again for a demo close to Leucate, South of France.

http://vimeo.com/7647347