Welcome to the New World

We're watching a new kiteboarding reality unfold, and it's getting wilder by the minute! After some major upsets at the recent King of the Air, Editor Crystal Veness takes a look at what's changed and what’s coming next. In this feature article, she interviews athletes young and old(er) to get their perspectives on the new world of professional kiteboarding.

Did you feel that? It was like a shift into an alternate reality - a subtle change that threw everything just slightly off-kilter. One night, you go to sleep, the King is a kiwi, and everything is normal. Then, after a super southeaster blew down Cape Town's Kite Beach on November 26th, 2022, it changed. The King is a teenager, and the children are running the show. What strange new world is this?!

If you've been paying attention, it wouldn't have come as a surprise that the young talent was a force to be reckoned with at the 2022 Red Bull King of the Air. If you've watched any big air event in the 2022 calendar year, you could see that the writing was already on the cards. Well, we have watched every event this year. And we're still in shock. The old guard is out. The new guard is here. Welcome to the new world.

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Some sporting competitions are divided into age categories to help level the playing field; Juniors, Open, and Master's divisions aren't uncommon in professional sports. But, separating the Juniors from the Open was designed to protect the kids from getting their little hineys handed to them. In this new reality? It's the grownups that need protecting!

How did it change so quickly? Well, who better to ask than the riders that were part of that change? We caught up with several athletes, young and old(er), to get some inside perspective. Starting with young King Lorenzo Casati, who, when interviewed before KOTA, told us that his goal was to "for sure win KOTA and be the World Champion in big air". Well, we all know how that turned out!

With a surprise shift to the Cabrinha team and now riding a mysterious new kite, Lorenzo sees the development continuing, saying, "In big air, there has been a crazy progression, especially in the last years with tricks that were considered impossible. I think doubles loops and s-loops will be the future. Every trick now done with one loop will be done with two." On what it was like defeating so many big air legends in KOTA, he says, "It's the best feeling to compete against the people that inspired me in kiting, and it's a true honour."

Who inspired Lorenzo and his generation of riders? Aaron Hadlow was a name mentioned by every single young rider we interviewed for this article. Aaron is, without a doubt, the biggest name in kiteboarding history. How can we talk about the changing of the guard without asking the leader of that old guard his perspective? Aaron says, "If I'm honest, in previous years, I felt like we were standing still and even had taken a step backwards. I personally, for a while, felt like I had been transported back in time. But, now we seem to be really pushing through that and advancing again. The sport has some new progression and fresh faces, and it's really great to see the rise of new stars in the sport. It is no surprise to me as I was competing at the highest level at 14 years old, but somehow, I still can't help but admire the tricks these young guys pull both in big air and freestyle."

It's true that, while the young guys have some spicy new tricks cooking up, the challenge often lies in delivering them consistently in the pressure cooker that is a competition heat. Paul Serin, F-ONE international rider and 6x French freestyle champion, has since retired from competition. He is still riding for F-ONE, often features in product shoots, and has joined the freestyle tour as a judge. On the challenges the young riders face in the freestyle division, Paul says, "We, as judges, cannot give more points just because they are kids. We compare equally between everyone, and a Frontside 317 from Adeuri Corniel, or Maxime Chabloz will always have more power and height than the same trick from a 12 or 14-year-old kid. That's how it is; the muscles need to grow, but as soon as you have the technique, it's just a matter of years. It's hard for those kids because they need to learn and gain some experience in a competition heat but travelling the world at 14 requires a budget that not everyone has."

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While the young freestylers are working on gaining experience and muscle mass, Paul highlights one of the current greats, "I have to give a special mention to Gianmaria Coccoluto, who kept training hard in freestyle when everyone else was doing big air or other disciplines. Gianmaria stayed motivated and strong all those years with not many events and finally won a title this year. He's a good example that hard work always pays off. I'm sure he inspired a lot of kids around the globe with his title and will make freestyle great again." 

On how the industry has evolved, Paul says, "It is amazing. Every year we think we've reached the highest level possible, and then someone comes up with a new crazy trick. You can't stop progression; it's in every athlete's blood and in every sport." He continues with his thoughts on the trend towards big air, adding, "What we've seen in the past two years is that big air kiteboarding took a massive turn and became the new trend. Brands started to push more and more in this direction because it's more visual for the audience. Freestyle kiteboarding reached a point where it's hard for the public to understand the difficulty of the tricks, where big air is much more visual and easier for people to see the commitment and the difficulty."

As Paul said, brands are pushing in the direction of big air, and F-ONE is one of them, releasing a new big air kite this year, the TRIGGER. Their team has undergone some changes this year, including superstar Liam Whaley leaving the team. Young Josh Gillitt is on his way up to fill that gap. He's been kiting for nine years and has watched the shift in the sport from his home in the big air mecca of Cape Town. He grew up admiring riders like Aaron Hadlow, Ruben Lenten, and Jesse Richman, and says, "When I started kitesurfing, they were the ones on top and winning everything, but they were also bringing all these crazy new moves to the sport." He says, "It's super cool to be riding with the guys I looked up to when I started kitesurfing!" 

The Slingshot team is looking young and fresh too. With riders like Kimo Verkerk and Jeremy Burlando headlining the team, their new generation is looking very promising, indeed. Jeremy, at a young age, is already developing his R&D capabilities, having had input into the new CODE kite. He says, "The gear is definitely a big factor in kitesurf progression. Our generation is pushing hard, too, because we want a big future for this sport. With the evolution of the gear, we'll have higher jumps, double loops, and who knows? Triple? The nice thing about big air is that we never know what will come next. It's just intuition and craziness." 

On riding with the legends and sharing the water during the King of the Air and other recent events, he says, "It's a dream becoming a reality for me. I feel super blessed in the water when I ride with all the legends, and it motivates me so much!" But, he and many other young riders like him are coming into their own. He adds, "I learned a lot at the beginning from them, and now I feel like I want to push my own style and innovate more!" Josh Gillitt is on the same page, adding when asked if he still has more to learn from the legends, he explains, "If I was asked that question before this last KOTA, I would definitely say yes, but now I think I have a lot more to learn from the young guns! Jokes aside, they still have so much competition experience, and I can definitely learn from them more on how to approach competitions."

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Sam Light, former pro kite legend and current Team Manager over at Slingshot, has helped select and grow these young riders. He says, "It's very cool to see how much dedication there is to try to progress the sport. This next generation coming through is taking big air to another level. Literally, in 6 months, the tricks have changed completely." He also knows that the gear development has assisted the rapid progress in the sport, adding, "New materials progressing the performance of equipment is enabling these riders to go even higher."

Big air kiting has developed blazingly fast in recent years, and this new guard of riders' absolute focus and determination is insane. Aaron agrees, saying, "Up and coming talent have gained experience and pushed each other technically; finally, there is a group of riders fully dedicated to the discipline, which in my eyes was never really the case in the past. This also coincides with previous big air riders coming closer to the end of their competition careers. The younger talent has gained experience over the last years by having a few more competitions available to them, and now we finally see that all come to fruition." 

You have to wonder, of course, what someone who has been a pro rider for 20 years is thinking about their career, particularly after this year's insane growth. Sam says, "The big names won't disappear because of the following and influence they have built up over time... To stay on top of your game, you must spend your entire time on location training. I chased the competition circuit for many years but was ready for new challenges and more time at home. I really enjoy sharing the knowledge and experience I have gained with other riders to help them, so Team Manager was a natural path for me to take. I also love creating content, and it brings arguably more value to my sponsors, so I spend a lot of time making all aspects of videos, from riding in them to filming and editing."

Aaron also takes the pay-it-forward approach while acknowledging what the young riders give back to him, saying, "I have always been competitive and loved a challenge. I always try to embrace and help young talent, even if I still share a final with them here or there. This is giving me more motivation to push my own riding. Sure there is a limit to that at some point, but for now, I am loving kiting as much as ever because of it. Progression drives me, and even though I have to work harder for it, that still drives me."

He's not solely focused on keeping the young guns at bay, though, and tells us what he's up to now, "In terms of other aspects, the years in the sport and the experience I have gained opened up many doors. Testing and development are interesting to me as I'm a technical person. Working and riding for Duotone with my experience for sure helps in other areas, too, whether that means organising some media, helping our younger team riders or gathering product information; usually, I have a few things on the go. I am in Cape Town and plan to stay for a few months, where we will be developing kites and shooting new projects. There are a few things in the pipeline, so I'm really looking forward to next year and seeing what 2023 holds." 

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Paul Serin is also keeping busy in his post-competitive life, saying, "I'm now doing R&D testing for F-ONE and judging some GKA events on the side. On top of that, I just started school again, so a lot is on my plate. Testing kites, wings, and foils takes a lot of time, and it's crazy to see the motivation of Raphael, the boss, to make the best gear on the market. We spend all year in the water, and I have to say, winter is not the easiest in the south of France. But as I keep reminding myself, a day spent on the water is always a good day." We couldn't agree more, and we see the sport continuing to evolve with every good day we spend on the water. 

As the sun dipped over the Atlantic Ocean in Cape Town a few weeks ago, and we watched bleakly as our old favourites kiters trudged up the beach to watch the rest of the event play out without them, we've accepted that we can't live in the past forever.

You'll notice that this year, for our IKSURFMAG Readers Awards, some familiar names are missing from the Best Kiter lists. We want to nominate the legends because we respect their contribution to the sport, but with a limit to the number of names on the list, we had to make the shift and give the youth a chance. We have had to accept our new underaged overlords. They may not be old enough to vote, go to the bar, or open a bottle of champagne on the podium (you'll get it right next time, Jamie!), but they're here to stay. And it's time we accept it. After all, they're not going anywhere anytime soon!