We’ve been having some awesome sessions here since we arrived back in Holbox both on and off the foil. Foilboarding fever has definitely spread on this little island. Locals Arturo and Steffen are now foiling here along with Cathy who has just received her new Axis Maroro Foil and Axis FREE Race board. She’s learning fast now she has her own gear and what a beauty it is too. More photos soon.
We also got one of Jonny’s pictures featured in Kiteworld Magazine Reader’s Gallery and won.
Right at the end of our Sri Lanka travels we got wind that there might be a possibility to look around a kite factory. We were both eager to grab this opportunity and learn a little about how kite production happens and share it with you.
After a few emails with Tanja Rosenkranz from Zian Kiteboarding she had kindly arranged our tour of the Zian Kite factory, in Negombo, Sri Lanka.
We were both felt like we’d found golden tickets to Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory.
A few days later we met Tanja who’d only just arrived in Sri Lanka and she gave us a bit of a background of the company and their kite range before showing us around.
Zian Hantu II
Tanja Rosenkranz, Product Management and Design, explained how the production planning starts up to 6 months in advance, working out how much dacron, ripstop for canopy material and bladder material will be needed and delivered by a certain date. The inside of the factory followed a flow process, starting with the outlines for canopy materials, running through to detailed sewing sections, to bladder insertion and final checking.
Roll of ripstop ready to be turned into a new kite
Jonny was flabbergasted by the shear quantities of ripstop polyester and Dacron stored beneath the benches and endless rolls of Dyneema line stacked in the Bar making section. Apparently fifty different parts are used per kite.
Leading edges rolled and awaiting seam closure.
Outlines for the canopy material are marked and then hand cut using templates, before very being accurately taped together. Tolerances are extremely tight to ensure correct flight. Next stages include sewing the leading edge (LE) sections together, and stitching reinforcement patches to the LE. Sounds simple enough, but then Tanja explained how the patches had to be pre-stretched, then sewn to the LE. Jonny was wide eyed and soaking in as much information as possible. He loves repairing kites and often has to figure out how a kite is held together but in reverse. It was great for us to finally see one being made from scratch.
A responsible job. Get this wrong and the kite may be rejected
Next on the production line were employees sewing extra details to the LE, the inflate and deflate holes and strut sections. Taping and stitching the leading edge seam is one of the most critical moments in the production of the kite. Tanja explained how quality control allowed the material to be only sewn twice. Any further errors would stretch or damage the fabric, causing the kite to be destroyed but this was very rare, as the employees worked to a very high standard. We did see some interesting lanterns and curtains made from kite material so these could have been ‘recycled’ or more likely made from offcuts!
Stitching on the reinforcements
Once the canopy is taped and sewn together it is taken to the graphics section, where the canopy is carefully aligned over a stencil, then the silk screen is aligned above before printing takes place.
Canopy aligned over stencil and ready for graphics application
Screens stacked and ready for graphics application.
Inks used for screen printing.
Bars are also produced at the factory, their dyneema lines are imported from Austria. We’ve encountered line stretch and shrinkage in the past, so it was reassuring to see lines were being pre-stretched and checked, although Tanja confirmed that this was also a fine balance! Too much and the steering lines may shrink back. Too little and the power lines are likely to stretch. Once again precision work is required.
Bladder production and valve attachment was unfortunately not happening whilst we were there but Cathy was still keen to try and glean as many tips as possible regarding bladder insertion.
Inflated kites undergoing their final quality check.
At the end of the factory production line was a quality control check. Kites were inflated and left for 24 hours before being reviewed for balance . There is a small tolerance for errors in the manufacturing process as an unbalanced kite will not fly as designed.
The end result was a pile of brightly coloured kites waiting to be shipped to their new owners.
Build quality looked really good and solid too.
I spoke with Siril the production manager who told me he had many years of experience in the kite industry having worked at other kite factories prior to the Zian factory. He also expressed how keen he is to learn how to kite himself and apparently plans are in place for some of the employees to learn later this year.
All the parts needed to make a kite
Zian’s Kite Range
Kima II is Zian’s wave/school kite offering which Keira from Kite House Café had used on his 300km downwinder from Puttalam to Jaffna. We’d both seen it in action but not flown it.
Aquila II which is a freeride kite aimed at bigger air and oldschool riders.
Hantuu II this is a kite more suited to freestyle and wakestyle riders. Jonny had already flown and enjoyed a Zian Hantuu II 9m and we’d both seen the same kite being flown in the talented local hands of Mawfeer Khan. Mawfeer never fails to put on a show at Kappalady Lagoon, so there is no doubt to the kites capabilities.
A foil tack is a type of turn performed on a foilboard. The manoeuvre requires you to turn the foilboard up into and then through the wind without the board touching the water. Feet positions are switched during the manoeuvre. You will ride off in the other direction having gained ground upwind.
The Process
As some of you may have noticed I’m more than a little obsessed with kite hydrofoil. The seeds were planted back in 2003 when I saw a vid of someone in Maui riding one.
These seeds lay dormant for ten years until Gabor Vagi showed me a video of Johnny Heineken performing hard fast foiling tacks.
I was so inspired by this seemingly impossible manouvre that I spent time learning how to duck tack my airush sector and surfboards on which it is also possible all be it without the flying part.
The seeds germinated that same autumn whilst watching Gabor learn to foil. I needed to foil and I really needed to learn the foiling tack.
Gabor Vagi making some of his first flights in Limnos – Inspiration
This summer I have finally achieved some consistency in my tacks and I have to say that for me it is one of the best feelings in kiting to fly around a turn and gain ground upwind especially given the effort it took.
Learn the Foil Tack
Learning the foiling tack was a slow but very rewarding process.
Step One
Learning the move first on a directional helped a lot. The duck tack video from CKPerformance was watched repeatedly. I hate to imagine learning the duck tack first on a foil – not impossible but possibly harmful. It’s also possible to learn the basics of this move on a twintip.
Step Two
I had to learn to foil, possibly the most rewarding thing I’ve learnt for a long time. We offer foilboarding lessons in Isla Holbox, Mexico between November and June each year at www.holboxkiteboarding.com
Step 3
Then came the hard bit learning the timing, body positions and kite control to make the tack whilst on the foil.
Videos by Gunnar Biniasch and Marvin Baumeister helped a lot at this stage as I had noone around to learn from.
Foiling Tack Sequence – Photo Cathy Padgett Edit Jonny Smith
Things I found useful during my progression
I found that being powered makes life easier and that each windspeed or kite will require a significant adjustment of timing.
Entering fast into the tack and giving a little kick really helps me to glide through the tack.
Switching my feet laterin the tack improved success. I am always in a hurry to switch my feet and as Gunnars video shows you will tend to fall off the back of the board.
I reached a point where I would regularly make the tack but with a touch down. I then tried to learn to foil around upwind to toeside without the foot switch. This helped me a lot in achieving a fully foiling tack. My progress speeded up et voila. Now work on improving consistency and my weak side must continue.
I’ve been practicing non stop, here are some of my latest attempts. Weak side now dialled in when conditions are good.
WarningThis post deals with shark attack, snakes and tuktuks. If you are not happy about any of these subjects please stop reading now. Also it is a little longer than the usual post.
AGAINST ALL THE ODDS TWICE
Before setting off on our travels anywhere, I’ll often look for the lists of poisonous snakes or whether crocodiles frequent the local lagoons, what fatal tropical diseases might infect us and which kind of spiders might be lurking under the bed. It’s not that I’m truly concerned by them but more that they fascinate me as we don’t have to deal with them back home in Britain.
The fact of the matter is that these creatures are usually difficult to find or see, even if you are specifically looking for them. To be bitten or attacked by one is far from likely. On the other hand the severity of the consequences of an attack could be nasty to fatal. If we assess this risk logically rather than emotionally we find all of the above to be low to medium risks at worst.
Sri Lanka has one of the highest death rates per capita due to snake bite in the world. On our travels we’ve seen the grand total of only 5 snakes. The only venomous one couldn’t get away from us fast enough, much to my disappointment. I only managed a blurry photo of a 2m long cobra.
The traffic overseas offers far higher risks when just crossing the road or taking a ride in a bus or a tuk-tuk for that matter.
Tuktuk wizzes past.
It’s quite likely that you may be involved in a road traffic accident whilst travelling. The severity of these accidents can obviously be high to fatal. Making these risks medium to high
Road traffic interactions are so common place however that we often don’t give them a second thought.
Two nasty situations have occurred so far during our stay here in Sri Lanka that most certainly could have resulted in serious injury or death. Both as it happens passed without injury. The odd thing is that one incident plays heavily on my mind whilst the other has faded away quickly.
The first and least memorable of the two was when our tuktuk driver crashed head on with a motor bike. How no one was hurt I have no idea. Did I even think twice before getting into the next tuktuk? No did I heck. The chances of it happening again are not unlikely given the crazed driving habits of Sri Lankan tuktuk drivers.
Second of the two was a little more harrowing. I had a brief but significant interaction with a large fish…
There are no sharks in the lagoon
I was riding my foilboard or kite hydrofoil out in the sea next to Kappalady lagoon. Whilst attempting a foil tack I fell from my board. Several seconds later whilst about to bodydrag I received a heavy blow to my thigh from beneath. The force of which left me shocked and confused for a short time. This confusion was ended when a 2m long shark breached right next to me. At the realisation of what was happening to me, that ever useful and delicious neurotransmitter adrenalin kicked in hard. My board was several meters away which I needed back on my feet pronto. The few metres bodydragging to my foilboard felt like an eternity spent as a giant fishing lure expecting another attack at any moment. More or less safely back on my board the fear induced adrenalin was still at its peak as a result I have never returned to shore so fast, with such purpose or with such jelly legs. The guys on the beach listened to my story with looks of disbelief however they could also see that I was pretty agitated. Fortunately the impact left me with only a bruised thigh, two holes in my shorts and a revised sense of my mortality.
I’d researched, spiders, snakes, leopards, bears, dengue and malaria but I forgot all about the sharks. Apparently there are 60 known species that are found around Sri Lanka – Attacks happen but are uncommon.
So the improbable happened to me twice in the same incident. A direct full speed strike from a shark and not a drop of blood spilled. Perhaps I should buy a lottery ticket.
The probability that I will be attacked by a shark again is extremely remote even though I play with my hydrofoil in the sharks environment frequently. So why does this incident burn into the psyche so much more than the tuktuk accident?
Is it because it reminds us that we are not truly the number one we so often think that we are? .
Is it familiarity? We are so accustomed to road traffic we just accept it. Where as our interactions with snakes, sharks etc. are so infrequent that their risks rings greater alarm bells in our imagination.
Or is it that these animals are mostly unseen lurking in the depths or the long grass? Their strikes being unpredictable and their presence being left to the imagination.
Maybe they trigger a primal fear in us that lingers from when we were once listed on the menu.
One thing that is for certain is that we are terrible at assessing risk in our everyday lives.
Another certainty is that I will not forget the image of the shark as it pierced the water alongside me and leapt into the air as I floated in the indian ocean attached to a kite. As an ocean lover and kitesurfer this leaves me in a bit of a quandary.
Logic or emotion?
Right bed time for me as it’s windy and hopefully I’ll be out on the ocean again tomorrow.
The outcome
This happened a couple of weeks ago but I resisted posting until I’d had time to reflect on the shark incident.
I kited the very next day but in the lagoon not the sea.
I kited in the sea one week ago without a second thought however in a different place and with a twintip board.
I went to kite the sea on the hydrofoil at the same place as the attack happened and emotion was hard to overcome. My legs were like jelly for the first five minutes and my usual falls were considerably more exciting than normal.
I did however face the fear and got to ride some lovely waves with the foilboard for the first time ever.
We’ve been getting some amazing winds here in Sri Lanka at Kappalady lagoon and Vella Island.
Here are a couple of new tricks we’ve been working on.
Cathy’s Pop to Blind with Ole Downloop Transition and Toeside backroll
Cathy has been riding blind for a long time now but this transition out of it looks sweet. I need to get this one in the bag too.
Double Backroll to Toeside Downloop Transition
I saw Patrick doing something similar in Holbox, then saw Zac Andrews doing them here in Kappalady and figured that I needed to learn. Not perfect but getting there. Sticking a tailgrab on the invert should be nice and throwing my head and shoulders back further.
Double Back to Toeside at Kappalady Lagoon
Backroll Nose Grab
Cathy manages this nicely on the 7m Rally, I try and get some better shots or video of this soon.
Cathy grabs her nose at Vella Island
Beach Slide – Darkslide on the beach
Ok I’ve been darksliding for a while but this is the first time over the sand. Inspired by Catching trade winds video and local rider Nalin. My lovely board stood up to the abuse but really didn’t deserve it.
Jonny Smith darkslides the beach at kappalady lagoon, Sri Lanka on axis limited.
Kite Boards are sometimes lost at sea, usually this can be prevented even without using a board leash.
Check out our new series : Boards – Lost, Found and Rescued
In this series we show you how to not lose your board in the first place. If you lost your board, how to find it again and lastly how to recover someone elses board.
A two hour car journey from Negombo saw us passing lagoons, rivers and lakes. I was getting excited about the fishing and already.
The journey showed us quickly the true pecking order of the road. Cyclists are very clearly the lowest, followed by cars, then trucks, then tuktuk and at the top of the pile buses. Sri Lankan buses will stop for nothing except passengers. We’d considered taking a tuk tuk but the eggshell fragility of them combined with the crazy driving put us off. Great in town, long journeys no way.
We finally drew close to our destination – Kitekuda –http://srilankakiteschool.com/ near the Kapalady lagoon. Google Maps was our guide and it kindly sent us the back route down sandy paths much to the horror of our driver. A 4×4 would’ve been more useful than his brand new hybrid. A few signs to the Kitekuda camp would’ve been handy too.
Angry Louis – Get out of my way
As we arrived we were greeted by our old friend John Clark. John had been staying at Kitekuda for a while and had recommended it to us. Zak, Nils, Ola, Maufeer and Nilanka were our hosts and promptly made us welcome with an impressive lunch. The wind was up so lunch was wolfed down in a hurry, boards assembled and then a short walk showed us what we’d been waiting for. A beautiful flat lagoon, 5 kiters and about 20 knots. Happy days. Incredible first day. Good winds, good vibes and great food.
Jonh Clarke popping a nice back to toeside at Vella island.
Back at Kitekuda camp, Nilanka, and his team had rustled up a fantastic selection of curries, sides and rice all washed down with a can of special brew… which was unfortunately the only thing the local booze shop had to offer. Tramp juice and curry – yum.
Talk at the dinner table was all about a Kite safari programmed for the next day.
We hadn’t planned on going anywhere, having only just arrived but a few pictures and videos later we were signed up for a two day trip to Vella island via Dream Spot.
Leeward side of vella island Sri Lanka.
Kitekuda have a beautiful Kite boat, sporting twin Yamaha 90 engines. This rib was sure to fly.
We started the journey to Vella from Kalpitya lagoon. Kalpitya is the larger Kite lagoon in the area with more space but with gustier winds. Still looked pretty awesome but Kapalady is quieter and has a much shorter walk to the beach.
The rib absolutely flew with Nils at the helm who expertly navigated the surprisingly shallow lagoon. Twenty minutes later we arrived at dream spot.
John prepares for another pants session…
A sand bar separated our play area from the sea, giving nice flat water with enough depth for my hydrofoil. Winds were unfortunately lower than expected but perfect for foilboarding. I had done quite a bit of research about foilboarding in Sri Lanka but couldn’t find much out. Dream spot works. Foiling was easy here with winds so smooth and water so flat. I even pulled off some nice foiling tacks. The water here is deep enough to foil even with a few touchdowns. I ripped about for an hour or so until the others gave up. Their hearts were only for Vella And the wind was a bit light so off we went. Dream spot is good but we were about to find out why the others were so eager to get to vella.
Vella island is a narrow but long sand bar, occupied only by fishermen and the odd kiter. The leeward side of the island has butter flat water tight against the shoreline, mix that with 20 knot winds and you understand why we made the trip. 10m edge and darkslide paradise.
Darksliding the butter at Vella Island on the Axis Limited.
It was incredible to blast those flats with the rest of the group. Everyone was pushing hard and using the exceptional conditions for some good progression. John was really getting to grips with riding blind. Cathy was after a front to blind. Angry Louis was showing pure determination to nail his raley to blind. Omrii was getting to grips with jumping and Harry the backrolls.
Smile for the camera, john riding blind at Vella island, Sri LankaCathy performing the classic foot out at vella island, on her axis division and slingshot rally 7mLearnt to jump – Not too shabby
Mawfeer threw himself into the mix with some crazy aggressive front roll kiteloops and interesting front loops popped from the beach. Maufeer is a great local rider to watch and is non stop comedy on and off the water.
Crazy boy on and off the water.
Our digs for the night was an open sided fisherman’s hut which had space for at least 10. All of us were pretty broken and silence soon enveloped the camp. Apart from the 20 knots of wind howling all around us and the hourly visit from the local hounds.
Time to rest
The morning saw us rise with the sun and with the water all to ourselves it would’ve been rude not to have a blast before breakfast. Each of us had moments where we were the only one kiting in this paradise. It took about 90 seconds to rip from the tip of the island to the point where it bears off slightly downwind.
Jonny cruises the Vella flats at sunset all alone.
As you scream along the slicks inches from the beach the local fisherman are busy at work fixing their nets right alongside.
Cathy with nose grab at vella island, axis kiteboarding.
Tired from the kiting it was time to take the camera out.
The sun and too much kiting had obviously taken its toll on John. He was walking about in his underwear, muttering about tan lines. Next thing he was off kiting in the same attire. His riding was even better than the previous day though a couple of crashes saw some near lens shattering wardrobe malfunctions. Cathy was managing a few nice darkslides, omrii was boosting and Mawfeer was up to mischief as usual.
John styles out a nice foot out – only in his underwear
I went for a wander to watch the fisherman at work. I asked permission before every photo and always received the head waggle. My head waggle understanding was still at the same basic level as in Negombo. Waggle means yes, I hope…
Can I take your photo please, head wobble, OKLocal fishing vessels at vella island srilanka
The windward beach of the island was deserted apart from an army of nervous crabs scurrying along the shoreline.
I’ve got my eye on youOnly us, the fisherman and some menacing crabs on vella island sri lanka
An armada of kiters from another camp descended downwind onto our little paradise so it was time to leave and let them enjoy the butter too.
What a trip. Thanks to Nils and Mawfeer at Kitekuda for organising it.
If anyone wants to do a trip to vella island I would recommend getting in touch with Nils at Kitekuda – http://srilankakiteschool.com/
What an incredible and busy season it was. We had reliable winds from November until June once more. The students as ever were really enthusiastic and successful and it was great to watch the progress of all. Especially those who stayed that little bit longer. The foilboard seems to be really taking off this year. As a location to practice foilboarding, Holbox, MX really is awesome with rideable conditions most days throughout the season.
Foilboarding together 🙂 Cath learns to ride the kite hydrofoil.
We also managed an amazing trip out to snorkel with the Manta rays. Willy’s tours based at Minisuper Besa helped us out and were very professional. Francisco is the best captain.
We’ve had a short break back home to see some friends and family (those we missed we’ll catch up with in the Autumn) and bagged a quick foil and freestyle session at Cleethorpes before booking our summer trip. While it’s not been windy photography and Unicycling have also kept me busy.
The unicycle was purchased as a way to crosstrain for the foilboard, how useful it was I don’t know, however riding the foilboard certainly improved my unicycle skills massively. I guess it must be the constant fine adjustments to balance that cross over so well.
Jonny rolling down the hill at black rocks – Nimbus 26″ Mountain UnicycleOff road unicycling – wetherby
Next stop Sri Lanka for some kiteboarding in and around Kalpitya and travelling around. A place we’ve had on the list for a while. Wahoo – Holiday!!
Our adventures in the world of Kites, Wings and Hydrofoils
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KIte Hydrofoil – Foilboarding backroll in Holbox
