The GOAT

Kelly Slater, Ricky Carmichael and Michael Jordan are all considered The Greatest Of All Time in their respective sports, but who is the GOAT in kiteboarding? Click here to find out; some of the names might surprise you!

If you’ve not heard of the “GOAT before, it stands for Greatest Of All Time, and a question asked recently on the Facebook Kiteboarding page sparked a huge debate. Plenty of people weighed in with opinions, including yours truly, and to really understand it, you need first to appreciate what GOAT actually means.

Many sports have a GOAT; in motocross, it’s Ricky Carmichael; surfing, it’s Kelly Slater; however, in kiteboarding, it’s not really been thought about as a mass topic until now... Looking at the definition in detail, “greatest” is pretty easy to understand, but the key here is the phrase ALL TIME.

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I think that’s where the debate got lost, with names being thrown around that had no right to be. That brings up the subject of time itself; many kiters are new to the sport, 3-4 years in; if thats you, then the sport has been around for almost 20 years before it piqued your interest. Achievements have been made and there have been names at the top that you’ve likely never heard of. 

By definition, the GOAT should be someone who’s had some serious longevity in the sport, was there at the beginning, and arguably is still around now. As our sport grows older, new riders crop up all the time. The youth charging on the Big Air scene is a fine example of this, but some of them weren’t even born when kitesurfing was starting…

There are plenty of you reading this who’ve been kiting for five, maybe ten years, who feel like they are part of the furniture, and rightly so. But even then, you’ve missed out on a rich heritage of the sport's inception. As such, when you are looking for the GOAT, you need to go back in time. This very definition excludes any of the new guys on the pro scene and also arguably means they will likely never be able to achieve GOAT status in the future.

That fact makes the moniker of GOAT a tough one to achieve, and rightly so. One name that needs to be mentioned in any historic piece of kitesurfing literature is Lou Wainman. If you’ve not heard of him, have a quick Google. He was leading the charge and pushing the limits of the sport right at its very inception. At a time when riders were winning comps with back rolls, Lou was pushing the sport with wakeboarding-inspired handle passes and short-line kite loops that simply were on a whole other planet compared to what everyone else was doing.

Lou went on to create the Wainman Hawaii brand, but after its sad demise, he’s fluttered in and out of the sport's radar. Could Lou be the GOAT? For me, he was the one who defined the sport as we know it, but his influence on it in later years has dwindled; Lou’s almost on another level really. He was on another level back in the early 2000s, and he remains so now. If you’re looking for the GOAT, then this is the wrong place,

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Lou is rather, without doubt, the Godfather of the sport. Without him, the progression of kiteboarding would have taken a very different path. His influence is undeniable.

There are other names that need a mention in an article like this, before we get down to the contenders in my eyes. Robby Naish has to be up there, he’s been around since the very beginning and still rips and has influence today, but he’s the GOAT of windsurfing and always will be, kiting was never his true passion and as such while he deserves a mention, he’s not the rider we are looking for.

What was interesting in the chat on the Facebook page was that all the suggestions, bar none, were for men. As you know, we’ve been very progressive in women's kiteboarding since our inception, so it would be remiss not to look at the women who’ve influenced our sport here. For me, the names deserving a mention would be Kristin Boese, Gisela Puilido, Karolina Winkowska, Jalou Langeree and one other I’ll get to in a moment. Kristin dominated the sport in the early days, winning multiple world titles. Gisela then became a child prodigy and won 11 world titles on the trot. She still rips today and aims for Olympic success in the Paris Games.

Jalou was a dominant force in freestyle, but she switched to wave riding and arguably held a huge influence over the sport for many years, inspiring lots of women to follow in her footsteps. Karolina has won multiple world titles and continues to shred; she has also had a big influence on the Park scene. For me, though, the female GOAT has to be Bruna Kajiya; she’s been on the freestyle competition scene for what feels like an eternity and can still podium and win events to this day.

To be able to have a career like that in this sport is unprecedented and arguably a feat no man has achieved, so Bruna, in my eyes you take the crown here…

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There are a bunch of young riders who were the upstarts back in the day, much like the new crop of big air talent we see today. Jesse Richman, Kevin Langeree and Ruben Lenten were those guys, and all of them are worthy of a nod in this piece. Jesse Richman arguably has the biggest claim here, with multi-discipline mastery and some seriously impressive results at KOTA. He still, of course, shreds today and is a big player in the sport. For me, though, as GOAT status, he falls just a little short.

Kevin Langeree had an almost unmatched run of competition success. He was also one of the first riders to really embrace YouTube with his Kevlog series, which has huge reach and influence. A threat at KOTA until a few years ago, too, he is most definitely a contender, but in my eyes, he doesn’t quite surpass.

Ruben Lenten also was a massive influence on the sport and is the father of big air kiting. He was throwing Mega Loops in 2005, before most of the big air crew were born, what a crazy thought that is! Sadly for Ruben his career was always peppered with injuries which hampered his competitive success, but his influence on the sport is huge and in this day and age of big air madness he’s a worthy mention indeed.

I think one of the hardest things about finding a GOAT is that kiteboarding is so versatile; there are so many ways you can enjoy flying a kite, and that, of course, leads to experts in that field. Park riding, for instance, is very niche but also very visual, perhaps out of favour at the moment. There was a time when a cover wasn’t a cover unless there was a slider or kicker in the shot. Here, Brandon Scheid was a dominant force with multiple Triple S victories, and he is still a shredder today, I hope he makes a full recovery and returns to the top table after his injuries from his speed wing crash.

Sam Light entered the park scene with a vengeance and was seemingly unbeatable for a while, but with such a small appeal in the world of kiteboarding, can a park rider be the GOAT? Sam, of course, was a lot more than just a park rider. He had multiple KOTA entries and won the British Freestyle Champs, too, but he’s still a long way off being the GOAT.

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If we are looking at the niche parts of the sport, then a nod to the wave riders is needed, too. Here, riders like Airton Cozzolino and Matchu Lopes have certainly stamped their authority. Keahi De Aboitiz has also had a lot of influence and won lots of events too and still shreds to this day. However, in my eyes, Mitu Monteiro would take the prize here as the man who started strapless freestyle and dominated the wave scene in its early years. He can still be a threat at events to this day and recently came second at the GKA event in Cape Verde. He can’t be the GOAT, but perhaps in his field, he’s the one to put the silverware on.

With a dutiful nod to the contenders, I feel worthy of a mention. Apologies, dear reader, if you feel I missed someone. Please remember my strict criteria for time in the sport, influence, and competition results. The penultimate name I am going to mention is Andre Phillip, a name some of you may not remember.

Back in the early days of the sport, things were pretty kooky; riders were just working out how to do moves and not a lot of thought went into style. But there was an exception to that rule. Andre Philip was one of the pioneers of the sport from its inception. Anything that anyone else could do, he would do better, and with a style that was unsurpassed. Andre Philip made kiteboarding look cool. Period.

He was on the cover of every magazine, featured in full-length VHS videos and DVDs (remember those), and became the benchmark for anyone wanting to perform tricks with a stylish flare that was arguably unmatched. A pro rider for Cabrinha for many years, he was humble and a lovely guy to meet and hang out with. However, for the last ten years or so, he’s not really been on the scene.

While he pioneered the sport and was the first to perform many of the tricks we see today and had a steeze that everyone else dreamed of, for me, he’s not the GOAT, and that is quite simply because there is only one name that needs to be mentioned with those four letters. It doesn’t matter. Whoever anyone tries to dress up to be the GOAT, they simply cannot surpass Aaron Hadlow.

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Aaron Hadlow is the GOAT; accept no substitute. He was winning PKRA World Championships back when they were really a thing, and he wasn’t just winning them but dominating in a way that no one else could get close. He would win every event by a country mile, bank the cash and move on to the next one. Winning five world titles, gracing the cover of every magazine and being the rider that people wanted to be. When he retired from the PKRA he switched to Park Riding, and he had some success there and, more importantly, gained the respect of his peers.

Moreover he’s the only rider whos been in every KOTA since it started and he’s still a threat on the big air scene today. Perhaps the only thing we’ve not really seen Aaron do is ride in the waves, but I’ve no doubt he’s a shredder. He just chooses to spend his time on his chosen weapon, the twin tip and in terms of mastery he’s certainly done that.

His video releases each year were the stuff of legend. I’d recommend a trip down memory lane on his YouTube channel, which has some of the most groundbreaking videos ever recorded with the partnership of Andy Gordon and himself. Even in recent years, his edits from Sicily with Laci Kobulsky were huge, and of course, his “Twenty” full feature film documenting his time in the sport was a huge event, too.

Of course, he’s now been there for almost 25 years years, and while arguably I reckon he’ll retire from competing soon, he’s headed to the Lords Of Tram big air event in France this month, and I expect he will be a threat, even if he’s not a contender.

He's had one of the longest careers out there, created some of the most influential films we’ve ever been blessed with, and has a string of unmatched competition results. No one will ever get close to what he’s achieved in our sport, and for that reason, he is most assuredly the GOAT and will remain so forever.

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