Damien, tell us a bit more about SNACKPACK.

SNACKPACK has absolutely changed my whole approach to kitesurfing. I feel like I was missing out all these years. SNACKPACK lets you combine the two best things in kiting: Jumping high and riding waves. Imagine landing a kite loop and linking it directly into a bottom/top turn combo on the next wave. Or riding onshore conditions and doing front side turns and instantly switching stance to link another frontside bottom turn in the other direction, landing an aerial off the lip switch stance, kicking out of a wave into a big board off jump. Write your own brand new playbook of kitesurfing combos!

What were your goals with SNACKPACK?

The goal was pretty simple: make a true kitesurfing board that can be used for both jumping and riding waves, so you don’t have to pick between one or the other and can have one board that does it all.

Tell us more about the shape of the board and what makes it so unique?

The shape came from riding my SUPERWAVE at Hookipa few years ago, and analyzing how the board was reacting when going straight and how much speed and upwind I was actually capable of achieving (Riding Hookipa requires launching at Lanes few hundred metes downwind of Hookipa so you have a good 10 minutes of upwind to reach the line up, it’s a always a good time to think about product design!). That night, I went home and basically started designing a board using the back half of SUPERWAVE and mirroring it to make it a twintip. Unfortunately, the CNC on Maui could not cut my blank, and the project came to a stall. Now this past winter, I’m sitting in Cape Town watching all these kiters riding. There are two categories: the people on twintips that are edging as hard as possible and using waves as kickers, then rushing back in to shore and letting all these waves get unridden on their way back to shore. Then the second category are the waveriders, they avoid the waves going out or doing small jumps compared to twintwip guys, and then only riding the waves coming in. So at this point, I knew I needed to get this board design made! And I’m like, I can’t wait to see what Kevin will do with it under his feet!

I have always hated having to choose before my session between jumping or riding waves, sometimes walking to the beach with both my strapless board and my TT to the beach, switching around during the session. Now with SNACKPACK, you’ve got everything I need all the time.

Do you ride SNACKPACK like any other board?

Coming from a TT, it will only take a few minutes to get used to the way SNACKPACK rides. The rails in the center are full, like on a surfboard, the grip comes from engaging the fins. The front side carve will feel just like a waveboard, allowing you to properly lean on your front foot to dig the rail like you would on a directional waveboard. The stance is a little wider than on regular TT simply to allow for more power during a top turn on a wave. The idea is that your back foot is closer to the fins for better control and power. The board does not flex much, instead the comfort comes from the full rails that are floaty and will “fly” over chop instead of cutting through it.

You will also find that the board is a lot more comfortable overall than either a waveboard or a twintip. Riding upwind is also impressive thanks to the width of the board in the center that gives you a lot of surface to get grip from.

Why is SNACKPACK coming with a tri-fin setup?

The three fins give you extra grip when doing a top turn and pushing hard with your back foot on a wave. This is a moment when the water surface becomes parallel to the board’s bottom. The center fin provides extra drive to really push with confidence.

Will you still manufacture directional kitesurf boards?

At Reedin, we always design products because we need them, and really, now with SNACKPACK, I don’t see the need for a directional waveboard anymore. Since April, when I started riding the first prototype boards, I have not once used a waveboard ever again, and that includes a whole month spent on Maui, where I used to only ride my directional board! So we decided to stop the production of directional waveboards!

Were you even kitesurfing before?

Well, this is really what I wondered after my first session with the first prototype! After my first bottom/top turn combo, it was like my brain exploded. I could not believe what I was capable of doing with the board. The combos, jumps into waveriding and vice versa, the switching stance multiple times on the same wave, you’ve got to experience it, believe it!