If there is one thing that creates a massive buzz on our website, i tis the Kiteboat built by Kai Concepts. We’ve had hundreds of thousands of views on the videos, but there isn’t much information out there about it, until now. We sit down with Don Montague, the mastermind of the project to learn a little more!
Riders: Don Montague, Martin Bretschneider, Orwin Murray. Development Team: Don Montague, Joe Brock, Jamie Schulte, Dan Schabb. Videographers: Margueritte Peterson, Darren “Daz” Kennedy, Orwin Murray, Don Montague. Editor: Betsy Pfeiffer. Song by Vibe Street.
Today we took out pro kiters Kevin Langeree, Nick Jacobsen, Ruben Lenten as our guests on the kiteboat. The riders are featured in Chapter One: The Kiteboat Legacy Begins, along with Don and the Kiteboat Project, which premieres at the Palace of Fine Arts tonight. Members of the Eyeforce production team and the WeTransfer team also joined us on the chase boats.
We had a lot of wind today, especially for our 40 sqm kite! It was a good short test and a nice way to show everyone the power available to the kiteboat. After our guests departed, we foiled under the Bay Bridge on the way back to Alameda.
In 2015, Kai Concepts switched from a J-shaped foil to a T-shaped foil. The T-foils required some calibration, but now that we’ve got them dialed in, boy do they work.
Kite helm: Don Montague. Boat helm: Joe Brock. Boat Crew: Adam Hill. Drone: Peter Trow. GoPros/Chaseboat: Betsy Pfeiffer, Margueritte Peterson, Paul Stanek. Video edit: Max Schwartz.
Yes it can turn! Usually the team tows the K2 kiteboat back to the dock with a support boat. The purpose of this test was to prove that the K2 crew have sufficient control to kite back to the dock without aid, even in very light wind.
Kite helm: Don Montague. Boat helm: Joe Brock. Boat crew: Greg Hodges. Chaseboat drivers: Erin Pierce, Max Kimberley-Bryant. Filming: Peter Trow, Betsy Pfeiffer. Video edit: Betsy Pfeiffer. Song by Tricky.
