Making of "The Line"
The Making of "The Line"
Ever wondered what it means to build a solid kicker? Follow Cabrinha team riders James Boulding, Annelous Lammerts, Alex Maes to Brazil's new promised land where an uncrowded lagoon offers the most perfect kite park conditions on the planet. After building a rail last year together with the crew of Kite Mansion Tremembe, this season's mission was to add a kicker. The effort paid off as the lagoon will premiere at the Kite Park League tour later this year. The times of being the only kiters in the lagoon will probably be over soon but our team riders couldn't be more excited to return for the competition.
Want to know what the ultimate LINE is? Check out the BTS and watch "The Line" video series below.
"Like every other winter it was time to head back to Brazil to ride in those perfect conditions but, like last year, we weren’t going to one of the famous lagoons. Three years ago we visited the Kite Mansion in Icapuì and we discovered a perfect lagoon where no one had kited before."
“This year our main goal was to build a proper kicker. I mean which rider never dreamed of riding a proper kicker in Brazil? So that’s what we did and with the full support of Sam and Nico, the owners of the Kite Mansion, the mayor of Icapuì, and the Kite Mansion crew, we made it happen!”
“Sam found the proper plastic that we needed and once we arrived we started to build the kicker. Getting the right dimensions was the most crucial part so we spent a lot of time drawing and changing our minds about the size and especially the angle of the kicker. Once we had calculated the right dimensions we got help from a local guy who builds furniture and he had all the equipment that we needed. A week later the kicker was finished and we couldn’t be more excited to give it a try. We just had to figure out the buoyancy and the kicker would be ready to go…”
"We decided to put the kicker in the water in front of the pousada to make sure everything was okay before renting a truck and bringing it to the lagoon, which is 10 minutes downwind of the Kite Mansion. The kicker was really heavy and we needed 15 people to carry it! We got some help from people at the pousada and we found out how to make it float perfectly. We couldn’t be happier, and the kicker was looking so good! At the end of the day the wind picked up like crazy and the small waves showed up. The kicker started to move so much that we had to take it out of the water or it was going to break up. All the people from the pousada had left for a downwinder, so there were only six of us which wasn’t even close to being enough people to take the kicker out of the water. So we tied the kicker to a car and pulled it out. It broke the kicker in half!
"If these things were easy, wouldn’t everyone be doing it!?" - James Boulding
"The disappointment was pretty massive and it felt like we put in all that effort for nothing. We still learned a lot about how we could improve the kicker and the next day we started the process again. Finally the kicker was done, just a bit later than we hoped. We painted the logos on the kicker and the next day a truck and eight locals came to help us put it in the lagoon." - Annelous
"DIY slider projects in my experience are mainly successful due to hard work and persistence. It rarely ever works out the first time so the ability to keep going and overcome the problems along the way is the key. On the face of it there wasn’t much that could have gone wrong once we had finally finished building and started sessioning but the full moon tides would certainly throw a spanner in the works once or twice and make us sweat it out for the satisfaction." - James Boulding
“It was really a dream come true seeing our kicker in the lagoon! Everyone of Kite Mansion Crew was killing it on the kicker and it was super motivating to see everyone landing new tricks. For me one of the best moments was when we had the kicker left foot forward and the handrail in the middle of the channel to the right, followed by the barrel. It was so much fun to do an air trick, followed by a rail hit, and ending the line with a fun barrel hit.”, Annelous recalls.
The KPL Tour Stop 'Kite Mansion Open' will premiere November 23 - December 1 at the Kite Mansion in Icapui, Brazil.
Thanks to
Sam and Nico @ Kite Mansion Tremembe
Icapui, Brazil.