This was the mantra on the Duotone shoot in Fuerteventura this summer, with only 12 days to get all the shots for the new boards and kites, it was a non-stop mission to ensure success! Luckily they scored some great waves and wind too!

The Duotone crew including Lasse Walker, Airton Cozzolino, Matchu Lopes, Reno Romeu and Julia Castro head off to Fuerteventura for a 12-day photoshoot showcasing Duotone's 2021 gear. It's been a dream of Julia's to be a part of a product shoot and to host it in her hometown was the cherry on top. In this feature, Julia tells us all about it!

A couple of months ago, I got a call from my boss, Philipp Becker, telling me that they were looking into doing Duotone's 2021 yearly photoshoot in Fuerteventura. I was thrilled! I've been riding Duotone since 2013, and have always dreamed of being in their product shoots. And now, it would take place in my hometown; the pressure was on!

Everything was going according to plan. The crew arrived on the island with 8 board bags, packed with brand new shiny equipment, and a lot of it! 

'Efficiency, teamwork and fun', thats what Philipp Becker wanted to see. We had a lot of work to get done, but with the right mindset and organisation, we should be fine. By late August, Fuerteventura's trade winds aren't as consistent as they usually are throughout the year, but we still rode whatever conditions were on.

Day one of the shoot was a little messy. I crashed a brand new 7m Dice on the rocks; luckily, I wasn't hurt. The second day was a full-on Rebel day. I mainly ride the Dice, but I have to admit I was very much surprised by how powerful and stable the Rebel is. It also has incredible hang time for old school tricks. During the shoot, Lasse, Reno and I had to come in and swap boards after each shot.

The rocks are a trademark on Fuerteventura’s beaches and a hazard you need to keep an eye on. For the shoot, you ideally want to avoid having other kites in the background, and so we had to kite upwind (near the rocks) to get the perfect shot. Lasse and Reno made it look easy, as usual. They were able to dodge the rocks, jump near them, transition off them... it was impressive!

Growing up in Fuerteventura, there are a few local secret surf spots. There's one spot, in particular, that's incredible (please don't ask me where it is!) The wind was blowing onshore, so I wasn't sure if it was actually kiteable, but the media team was 100% positive that this is where they wanted to shoot for the day. Matchu and Airton thought about it for about 20 seconds, analysed the spot, the waves, the wind and decision made; they were going in.

The waves were massive and messy. It was gnarly, and I was terrified to go in the water. To be honest, I backed out and watched Airton and Matchu slay those waves. Trust me, if you were in my position, you wouldn't have gone in either. These guys are from a different planet! We ended the day by celebrating Carlos's (Duotone's filmmaker) birthday at the beach with some beers.

9:00 AM start, and we were off to Cotillo's Beach, also known as "Piedra Playa" or "Stone Beach". The media team chose an incredible spot to film from the top of the cliffs with the town of Cotillo and the golden sands of Piedra Playa as the backdrop. I got my first 'cruising shot' that day with Matchu and Airton. Cruising shots are about 5 seconds long in a product video, but take hours to film! You have to be in sync, and If you are in spot number 3, you'll get sprayed by the other two riders as well as ride in their chop - speed and elegance are of the essence and not very easy to master!

The following day was a Sunday, and nearly impossible to find a beach that wasn't packed with other kiters or passerby's wanting to take photos and videos of the Matchu and Airton show. We split the crew up into 2 groups, and head back to the terrifying secret wave spot! The wind was once again on shore, waves were huge, and the current visible from the beach. The crew reassured me that if I wasn't comfortable, I shouldn't feel obligated or pressured to go in the water, but I convinced myself that I could do it. I swear to you, I was trembling.

I rode the spot, scored some waves and watched Airton and Matchu ride on absolute destroyer mode; they killed every single wave they took. Even Reno went on the water with his GoPro to get some shots. I have to admit, I was really proud of myself!

The following morning we were all starting to feel achy. Not only physically but mentally, but the show must go on. We drove from Corralejo to one of my favourite places in the world, Cofete. Cofete is the longest beach and the most virgin part of the island. The long black and white beach is surrounded by beautiful and mysterious mountains with only a handful of houses made of stones.

Getting to the spot, we were following Carlos's 4x4, until Carlos decided he'd like to see how powerful his car is by going straight up the mountain, and of course, the rest followed! The second car got stuck on the peak and had to back down, slid too far to the right and got stuck. Luckily Philipp and Reno had spotted the situation and came back to help. With a lot of pushing, digging and sliding on rocks, they managed to get out!

We eventually got to the spot, and it was howling offshore winds and no rescue. We managed to get in another cruising shot here, and it was awesome. We drove about 40 min further to go to a flat water spot called Matas Blancas. Big air and old school tricks were on the menu for the afternoon session. We kited until the sunset and then drove back.

The following day, we went back to my favourite secret and crazy surf spot!

The Canary Islands are known for having very strong (and crazy) locals at the surf spots. If you ask around, you'll hear some loco stories about what locals do to outsiders when they don't follow the rules. We arrived at the spot, I saw three guys coming towards us, looking extremely angry. They shouted at Patrick in Spanish, 'you can't be here, this is not a spot for kiters'. Patrick just answered 'yo, no hablo español!'

I turned around and said in Spanish: 'I could easily pretend I'm a tourist and don't understand you, but we are a kitesurfing brand and we're doing a product shoot, we've not mentioned the surf spot or where it is.' By this point, they started to calm down a little, and again I reassured them that this spot isn't even ideal for kiteboarding and I promised him that this secret spot would not be shared. We simply needed an empty spot to shoot at. One of the guys whispered to the other guy, "Don't you know who she is? She's a pro rider, and she lives here". All of a sudden, he apologised for everything. They finally felt reassured and comfortable and left us alone.

Later on, we went downwind to ride in an even sketchier spot. Even Matchu and Airton were hesitant to ride there, I promise! It was pretty much of a sick wave that had an insane backdrop for the picture that ended up pretty much on the rocks! I went for it, and it was epic.

Next up was all about Foilwing. After 9 days of kiteboarding non-stop, we were pretty much just missing the foilwing clips and photos. We ran into Fabian Muhmentaler, who is a machine when it comes to foilwinging.

Philipp spontaneously invited him to join the shoot. It was good to have an additional rider joining us, he had the energy we were missing that gave us that push!

Last day, the 11th day of shooting in a row, non-stop. Full of laughs, work, sessions, and everything else, the team was close to being destroyed, but we knew we had to make the last and final effort to wrap up the shoot. Turns out we still had to do more stuff than we thought, shooting all the boards, their details, some foilwing action… But we managed; Efficiency, teamwork, fun!

What a trip! It was incredible having these legends at my homespot. The team spirit was fantastic. Everybody rigging kites for each other, giving each other tips on the water, encouraging each other even when we were tired by making each other laugh - truly one to remember.

A few words from the crew

Mario Entero - Photographer: "I have known the riders for a long time now, and it makes my job much more fluid and easy since we both know the way we work, and we both know what we have to achieve."

Lasse Walker: "I was really amazed by all the different insane shooting locations!"

Matchu Lopes: "Fuerteventura, it's one of my favourite places in the world, to be honest. The funniest part of the trip was driving to the South of Fuerteventura with Lasse and listening to him trying to speak Spanish."

Airton Cozzolino: "I was impressed with the teamwork, man, believe me, we had a lot of stuff to shoot: wingfoils, twintips, kites, clothes, surfboard and more but with the coolest crew, it didn't stop us from having fun and making jokes in between sessions."

Reno Romeu: "After many years, I finally came back to Fuerteventura - It's pretty exotic. The crew were hilarious and fun to work with, and that's what matters for me!"

Fabian Muhmenthaler: "My filming day with the crew was very nice. I was super excited and happy because it was my first time shooting with all my teammates, and I felt extremely comfortable and motivated".

By Julia Castro
Julia is a kitesurfer from Fuerteventura riding for North Kiteboarding. After her shoulder injury she decided to spend her winter in The Philippines and she visited some amazing spots she decided to share with us. Her best result was Vice European Junior Champion in 2013 and she also did some world tour stops where she got 9th place.

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