Switchkites Team Riders - Photos

The world has to offer endless exploration.

 ''Zandmotor'' Den Haag, Holland

Jerico Alarcon

Switchkites the best!!

Jason Weston re-thinking his kite placement on his last Stunt.

Randy Leavitt south of the U.S border.

Jay was at Hampton Beach - "Official".

Another great fall day of wind!!! 

Seb enjoying life in Paradise .
#Combat2 #sun #wind #stoke

Felix enjoying the start of winter in the Northern Hemi.

Jerico Alarcon

Greta Menardo in Holland

Finally off to Amsterdam!! Feeling ready for the mini kte:)

Inscription doneeeee! It's official:) tomorrow at 10am first skipper meeting!

First day of comp with a very light wind! We will see if today I'll can do my heat:) #switchkite #underwave

Greta Menardo Kiteboarding keeping her fingers crossed that the wind will show up.
#switch #combat2 #prayforwind

Greta setting up her boots on the MJ Comp 132

Alex Bird with Method V2

Alex G Bird enjoying the Ultimate wave quiver 
#Method2 #firewiresurfboards

Interested in making riding waves on a kite effortless check out
http://bit.ly/10CYP7T

Pic Alex Bird

Switchkites Team Riders - Photos

Stefano DaviniA great session with Bora wind
Trieste - Italy
Method v2 5m

Jeremey Van BeekSwitch Element v2 rocking the beach @ Katwijk aan zee — with Bianca Peereboom. 

Lethal Kiteboards Europe

Samuel Delcominette
Wassenaar Beach at the sunset
#switchkites
Picture : Pierre Bialas — with SwitchKites Teamriders and Rémi Dickes.

Greta Menardo with her new Switch gear

Greta Menardo Kiteboarding

finally my news stuff is arrive!!! I'm just so so happy, you can see my face:)))

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=652757718075328&set=a.578969618787472.1073741830.577937455557355&type=1&theater

Is this your perfect year?

MJ training hard with his Combatv2

#Mj #combat2 training hard.

Is it a new board ? We should know soon !!

 

Switchkites Team Riders - Photos

Jay Oczkowski Enjoying the great outdoors on the#switchkites set up. 

Torsten Aus Berlin enjoying #switchkites no matter where the wind blows

Tillmann Monczynski enjoying the #combat2 in Samoa.

Christopher Cifers styling it out switch style.

Françoıs-Xavıer Bfs living the dream chasing waves on his #switchkites gear.

#Element2 amongst the Tarifa crowd.

#switchkites having a impact #worldwide — in Croatia.

Switch Element v2 and Nitro v2 demo day, Italy-Sicily!!
Girls just wanna have Switch!

Method V2

Switch Nitro 2 at King Of The Lagoon Competition Ras Sudr Egypt

Method V2 First Impressions - Seabreeze Forums!

Switch Method V2 First Impressions 201314 Review, Kiteboarding/Kitesurfing Equipment - Seabreeze Forums!

Rider: Weight,Level (Intermediate) 
Style: Freeriding, 
Surf Weather: 11-18 knots 
Build Quality: 8/10 
Satisfaction: 9/10 so far 
Disclosure: New to wave kites 

My Comments: 

So I talked with a fella on the beach who had a Nitro 2 and had nothing but good words to say, after a quick look over the kite the quality of materials and workmanship looked pretty good. After moving away from surfing on a TT for the past season to a SB I thought it might be a cheap way of seeing whether I was ready to make the switch, so to speak. Now for another disclaimer, I havent ridden any other wave kite so I can't give you comparitive notes in that direction, so to the hard core wave riders out there this is probably at best something to pass the time with. 

My usual ride is an 11 and 9 meter 2013 Rebel which are great kites for getting around on a TT with. As Switch is a totally online shop it's pretty difficult to get a demo unless there is a team rider nearby but they give you enough info online to make an informed decison. Nonetheless I was having nightmares every night that the new method 9m I had just bought was a "parody kite" (no idea what that actually means, budding psychologists go nuts). 

I based my sizing on the projected area of the kite, the 9m comes in at 6.55 which puts it inbetween a Rebel 10 and 11. I ride the 11 rebel the most so taking into account anticipated better turning speed I should get the power I'm after with better moves. 

So anyway on to my review, for what it's worth: 

The Bar: Nice and simple. In fact the QR and swivel head look pretty much the same as the North Iron Heart. It has the same bungee cord and gallows inside with some sort of magnesium alloy looking gate for the chicken loop that is identical in functionality to the North bar. The chicken loop is longer and the donkey dick thinner. But it all works well, the QR releases as you would expect of any high end bar. 

A small thing but I really like the rope bungey straps, when you're not using them the sprin back into the bar. 

The lines didn't scream quality to me and a couple of things raised my sailor hackles, like the method they use to add the line extensions in. I'm sure its fine but having small radius knots in lines screams undue stress to me, time will tell. No chemical treatment of the lines from what I could see. 

The Kite: The kite appears really well made, three strut design with excellent reinforcement of all the abrasive risk areas. There is a single nozzle for inflating and deflating. Inflation is via the biggest connector that comes with your standard pump so it inflates super fast, I would say a third less time than it takes to inflate my 9m rebel. You have to put the lid back on before you pack it up but given the massive deflation valve that isn't a problem. 

The bridle has a single pulley attached to the LE on both sides of the kite, not a huge fan of pulleys given how quickly they seized up on my blade. There is three attachment points for the steering lines, the usual stuff, I had it on fast turning. 

The first day I got it there was only 10knots of breeze, not enough to get my 90+ kg's moving but enough to try out the safety systems etc. I had my heart drop into my guts for a bit as it proceeded to jellyfish on the top panel just behind the LE. Oh no, parody kite! I tried launching just to muck around but just put it away waiting for wind to come the next day. 

Tapping away at work when we start getting some nice gusts through.. Cya's! I get down to the beach and there is a guy with an aneometer registering 12 knots but it looks better than that on the water so I decide to give it a go.

Smooth power delivery is the first thing I noticed, I didn't have any trouble getting going in what was probably 13-15 knots average. This is probably endemic to all wave kites but it's sort of weird not just building and building speed like you do on the rebels. It seems to get to it's sweet spot and that's that. The kite turns pretty quick but you would expect that with a 9m kite with only 20m lines. 

I found turning on waves a ton easier with this kite, the smooth power delivery lets you arc in nicely and then transition out like it was meant to happen. I can't really say how well it drifts as the waves were too small to get too much board power going, I'll update later on. 

The absolute deal sealer for me with this kite was the relaunch and recovery. About 6km into this downwinder the wind dropped a bit and the current was going with it way too much for me to keep up. There were guys coming through on 17's and 14's so I was already pushing my luck. Anyway I wiped out on a section and dropped the kite in the water. The kite just about bounced back in the air even with relatively slack lines due to the current. I kept trying to continue but the wind was done with me and I wiped out again, this time the kite dropped face down into the surf and got collected by a bit of mush. I assumed it was mangled beyond repair and prepared to eject. Next minute it is up on its wing tip bouncing on white water begging for a bit of assistance.. Coming from the five line hell that is a trust bar in these situations this was like some sort of miracle.. Fark yeah!! 

On the down side the kite has a bit of flutter when you scream across the window and the jellyfishing came back in when the wind drops, otherwise pretty happy with this gamble buy, no parody kite after all

Greta Menardo joins the Switch Team

Greta Menardo joins the Switch Team

#gretamenardo   #switchkites   #switchkitesteamriders  

SwitchKites are extremely excited to announce the addition of Greta Menardo to our growing Switch Team

#switchkites   #switchkitesteamriders   #gretamenardo  

So happy to announce my new sponsorship with #switchkite! I wanna thank you Advance for trusted in me since the beginning and helped me to grow up. I' sure that the cooperation with #switchkite will be successful and fantastic

Felicissima di comunicare la mia nuova collaborazione con Switch kite. Vorrei ringraziare di cuore Advance per aver creduto in me sin dall'inizio e per avermi sempre sostenuta! Sono sicura che la collaborazione con switch sarà fantastica.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Greta-Menardo-Kiteboarding/577937455557355?hc_location=stream

Switchkites Take Out Major Award

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1309/S00045/switchkites-take-out-major-award.htm http://www.everythingmarketing.co.nz/showcase/2013/entrant/144#&panel1-1 Switchkites Take Out Major Award Monday, 2 September 2013, 4:13 pm Press Release: Switchkites

PRESS RELEASE: 
August 30, 2013
Switchkites Take Out Major Award for Disrupting Their Market

Global kitesurfing brand SwitchKites have won the ‘Emerging Business and New Brand’ award at the TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards 2013.

In its 22nd year, TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards recognised Inverno Trading (trading as SwitchKites) for their disruptive marketing strategy and for doing all the right things from a marketing perspective, not to mention their drive and passion.

This young Kiwi Company aimed to go global from the start and upset the traditional distributer/retailer system by selling solely to its consumers via its online store, unsettling the kitesurfing industry’s traditional model.

SwitchKites mission was to make kiteboarding affordable for everyone by offering world class products at the lowest prices. To accomplish this task they adopted an unconventional business strategy of selling online and eliminating the middleman (dealers) to keep prices low without compromising on quality and workmanship.

Through a combination of great products, a global network of 500 dedicated brand ambassadors (Team Riders) and savvy online and content marketing, SwitchKites are successfully fulfilling their mission.

The TVNZ-NZ Marketing awards are a partnership between the Marketing Association and NZ Marketing Magazine; they are the centre of excellence for marketing in New Zealand. SwitchKites celebrate their win with market-led businesses such as ANZ, BNZ, Griffin’s Food and AA Smartfuel. 2

Check out all the winners at http://www.everythingmarketing.co.nz/showcase/2013/winners
TVNZ NZ – Marketing Awards 
Website: http://www.everythingmarketing.co.nz
SwitchKites: http://www.everythingmarketing.co.nz/showcase/2013/entrant/144#&panel1-1

Démo day in Gâvres - Nitro V2

Démo day Nitro V2 in Petite Mer de Gâvres (Brittany-France) - August 2013