An Interview with Ken Winner

Back in 2000, the first prototypes of the legendary Rhino1 were shipped from HongKong to the Hood River. Where did you get your inspirations from and why was the Rhino such an outstanding kite at that time?
The first Rhino had a couple of advantages: (1) we used Dacron on the inflated tubes rather than the usual mylar laminate, so the Rhino was tougher and more durable than other kites, (2)  the Rhino was designed later than some competing kites, so it was naturally a little better in some respects.

You were an excellent windsurfer and the biggest challenge to Robby Naish.
Robby and I go way back. He won the overall windsurfing world championship in ’76, I won it in ’77. He won it in ’78, I won it in ’80. He won the Pan Am Cup in 1980; I won it in 1981.  The first two years of the windsurfing world cup he took first and I took second . . . so we’ve been in close competition for decades. It’s always a pleasure.

You can look back to a wide range of innovations. Can you give me an update?
I starting tinkering with my windsurfing equipment within a year or so of starting the sport, back in 1975. Over the years, I’ve made few useful innovations and quite a few not so useful ones. In kiteboarding, I think the way we do the 5th line was a particularly useful innovation, and I think the way we have made subtle innovations to make the 5th line work better and better has also been useful.

We innovate in ways that are both obvious and subtle.

Are there moments left in kitesurfing where you can spend some time on the water without testing a kite at all or thinking about a problem you’re stuck with all of a sudden?
Absolutely. It may not happen often, but there are days when I get out in some good waves and it’s all fun, no work.

The Rhino06 was your master peace and definitely the best C-kite ever. Then all of a sudden, unexpectedly, the bows were turning the kite world upside down and the end of the story was that people told us, that we’ve missed the bow-hype. All this inspired you to build one of the most successful kites one the marked, the Rebel. Do you have the feeling we’ve missed anything, what would you do different now and what is the reason that North never did a classic bow kite?
By churning out a bow copy, we probably could have sold more kites for a year or two, but we also would have been selling our souls, because no one at North believed in the bow kite. We still don’t. If you look at the features that defined the first bow kites, they included pullies on the bar, heavy bar feel, mushy bar feel, imprecise turning, not very good depower.  By refusing to jump on the bow band wagon and by going our own way, we had a to work a bit harder, but in the end we made kites that had the advantages of bows and not the disadvantages. And now that more kiteboarders have more experience, we’re finding more and more customers are agreeing with us. We have to feel good about that.

Are you thankful for the new direction, the bows gave to the marked? Or do you sometimes think about the level the C’s could be today, if there hasn’t been such a change?
I think the direction we have gone would have happened any way. I was making high-depower kites before the bow came along and had on the development plan to continue working on that. It’s interesting that most people thought only bows could have huge depower, but with the Vegas we have proven that C kites can have huge depower also.

Since 2000, the market has changed a lot. Freestlye isn’t that important anymore. Now wave is a big issue and probably the most underestimated target group of the past – the recreational kitesurfer or the “cruiser” – is heavily influencing the market. Do you appreciate this rather new orientation of the consumers?
Absolutely. We focused heavily on both wave riders and cruisers when we designed the ’09 Rebel.  Both groups need a responsive, easy handling, rangy kite and we feel we nailed their needs perfectly.

Does the whole racing theme motivate you to do gear for their needs?
I enjoy racing. Much of  what you do in a race is a response to what others around you are doing, so that makes it very social and very interactive. And every race is different, so it’s an ever-changing challenge. It never gets old. So, for those reasons I am definitely motivated to work on race gear. One other reason is to see if we can someday compete with windsurfers on a race course. Much to my surprise, I think we’re there already.

Please tell me the three most important characteristics of a kite and how you make sure, North kites do fulfil your demands?
We focus on safety, good bar feel and ease of use. To list the many ways in which we meet these goals would take too long, but our general strategy is to make sure we keep recreational riders in mind when we design and test.

You are working side by side with Ralf Grösel at different kites. Do you experience this new situation as a challenge, an inspiration or as pressure? You exchange thoughts and ideas or do you both rather work isolated on new concepts?
Ralf and I work separately a lot, but we share ideas and help each other. He’s a huge asset to our program because he’s (1) very smart, (2) very hard working and (3) comes to the design process from a different angle from mine.

To what new challenge are you looking for? In your kitesurfing- and private world?
I would like to work a bit less and play a bit more.