OK. I will admit I have a problem. I develop a personal attachment with each of my kiteboards, and never, ever, ever want to say good-bye. It was during a massive spring cleaning of my storage this year that I realized the true extent of my love/passion/addiction/problem. Over the course of my 20 years of kiteboarding I have established quite the collection of sick rides I never ever want to part with.
It would be easier for me to list the boards I have parted ways with. The ones I wish I still owned today. My first board was a Fox custom directional that I borrowed for a year, and had to give back to Steve Jarrett (he might have a bigger board collection than me). Then there was the 7’6” fiberglass Naish Sky Pirate directional board that I sold and would buy back in a heart beat. If I owned it today it would be hanging on my dining room wall. Staying upwind was overrated at the time, but I somehow managed to do it after a full season of walking/hitch-hiking in Cape Hatteras. That board and I met a lot of people on Highway 12 Then there was my first twintip. The Wikipa Franz Orly pro model. It suffered from a custom bright orange paint job. That’s how badly I didn’t want to lose it. A full season of fun on that one until it cracked right under my feet. Repaired professionally, I threw it in with a kite to a friend. That one belongs in a museum, but is certainly too ugly for anyone’s wall.
From that time on, I have held on to almost all of my boards (although I have given boards away to young local riders from time to time). The Doyle inspired Mutant boards still take up space in my barn. There are a couple of bomb-proof Liquid Force Pickle Forks. One even still has the Nice Bindings that Jason Slezak sold me at Windsurfing Hatteras.
If you look closely you will see the complete evolution of race boards. Plus twintips of every size, not to mention the ever-growing number of surfboards and the new about-to-grow foilboard collection.
Do you have a board collection too? Send a photo to [email protected]. I really hope I am not alone.
See You on The Water
John Bryja / Editor-in-Chief
