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!
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.
We launched the kite around 2:15 pm at our usual spot northeast of Treasure Island, in about 17 knots of wind. The wind speed steadily increased as we made our way toward the city in choppy water. The boat did very well upwind—angles close to 40 degrees at speeds close to 28 knots, with 3 crew. Visitor David Fu joined the kiteboat crew, and we foiled under the Bay Bridge between Yerba Buena and SF.
Conditions on the other side of the bridge were completely different—high winds visible toward Candlestick Point, but only around 10 knots near Alameda and behind the city. We dropped the kite and Don’s children, Nalani and Max, joined the kiteboat crew. Around 3:40 pm we relaunched in a […more]
Testing today in burly sea conditions with Max Carlgren and Michael Mahlberg from Båtnytt magazine. Some difficulty with the winch when retrieving the kite.