Making A Kite movie
Issue 83 / Thu 15th Oct, 2020
Stig Hoefnagel and friends get tasked with making a kite movie in Holland for the Naish 2021 photoshoot, no mean feat when you consider just how different the weather in the Netherlands is compared to Maui. Find out how it went down right here.
Last March, after spending the season in Cape Town, I was getting ready to spend a few weeks back at home before flying to Maui to shoot Naish Kiteboarding's S25 kite line up. Everything was going perfectly, life was good, but all of a sudden, everything came to a standstill - the pandemic was announced, and within two days, the Netherlands had gone into full lockdown. Going to Maui for a photoshoot was a dream of mine since I first started kiteboarding, and within seconds, it was ripped away from me. All that was left was cold Dutch sessions, with no glimpse of hope of when we could travel again. I was devastated.
Two months in, there was still no light at the end of the tunnel for when we could organise a Naish Kiteboarding team shoot on the new gear. The only solution we could think of was each rider could send in their own shots from their home spots. We would have Ewan Jaspan in Australia showing off all his technical grabs on his new-pro model, the Traverse. Christophe hitting some sick kickers and crushing lagoon sessions with Helena in Portugal. Louka smashing out double handle passes in France on the new Torch and Cohan and myself riding some of Holland's best kept secret spots - and that's what my story is about!
It all began with a call to one of my good friends and cameraman, Edwin Haighton. He is an extremely talented rider, a creative cameraman and the most qualified person I could have asked to join this project. It didn't take much convincing, and Edwin was on board. Work was quiet for him with all the COVID restrictions in place, so a project like this was just what he needed.
Our goal was to shoot Naish Kiteboarding's high-performance freeride and Big Air machine, the new Pivot and the new Monarch and Drive freeride boards. The forecast was looking promising, and it seemed to get better every day. Cohan and I were getting overly excited, but we still hadn't received the new gear. Luckily a couple of days before the wind kicked in, we got a call from Kubus, giving us the green light to scout out the best location for the shoot. We needed an excellent freestyle spot, a spot we could pull some big loops and last but not least, the right place for Edwin to get the shots.
On the first day, we found a gorgeous spot with a little pier and lighthouse, but unfortunately got sent away by the owner before we even got a chance to pump our kites. We decided to continue our drive towards the harbour, in the hope to score a freestyle session on the flat water there. By the time we arrived, the wind had kicked in, gusting 30+ knots and so we missed out of a freestyle session but none the less, it was the perfect conditions to get in a Big Air session on the new Pivot!
Edwin found the perfect spot to set up; ideal for some board off shots over the trees, of course! Naturally, that would have been awesome if it went as planned, but on my first try, I literally got stuck. After a few attempts, we nailed the shot and moved onto some big air loops, and board offs.
The following day, the forecast predicted winds reaching over 40 knots, so we decided to head to Scheveningen to film some high jumps and megaloops. We set up by the harbour, and after 10 minutes of riding, the police arrived and sent us away. Apparently, we weren't allowed to film from that pier. We packed up and headed down to the big pier at Scheveningen and then our luck changed! Edwin found a spot where he'd be able to capture the perfect angles where the kite would fly in front of us while pulling a megaloop. The shots were flawless, the kickers were lining up perfectly, and there was no one around to bother us.
My goal for the day was to get the kite as low as possible for Edwin to capture. Nothing too technical, just yanking that kite over the horizon. It's rare to get conditions like these in Holland during the summer months. After a solid three hours of riding, Edwin's memory card was full to the max, and we were going to call it a day. Even though we'd stopped filming, I still wanted to get in one more loop off the kickers. When I finally got off the water, we were all super stoked about the footage and day we scored. Scheveningen delivered, and we were buzzing!
The next day, my body was pretty sore from the previous sessions. We drove to a tiny lagoon that was just about big enough for Cohan and I to do some freestyle. Every muscle in my body ached, even laughing hurt, but we still had energy for a freestyle session. But of course, no good story goes smoothly - something had to go wrong! I realised I had forgotten my pump in Cohan's car and he hadn't arrived yet, and because the spot was so secluded, there was no one else I could borrow one from. I remembered I had a friend that lived close by that we could potentially borrow a pump from, and so I gave him a call, and that was sorted - happy days, right? Nope. After a good 20 minute walk back, I realised I forgot my harness in the car, so I had no choice but to walk back! By the time I got there, Cohan had arrived, and so we ended up starting the session together. We ended up scoring some great shots from the water, with an incredible sunset, a good end to a bad start!
After that last photo session, the wind disappeared for a couple of weeks, a common occurrence during the summer months in Holland. After two sunny and not so windy weeks, the forecast once again looked hopeful.
With only a few weeks left until the launch date of the kites, we decided to give the freestyle session one more go.
I got to the spot early, with my pump and harness! The wind was on, and we had a perfect little lagoon all for our selves. I pumped up my 11m Torch and grabbed my new Traverse Ewan Jaspan Pro. The lagoon was butter flat, similar to brazil but with no one else around! The sun was just about to set, and the lighting was sublime. The only stressful part was that I had an hour to land all the freestyle tricks I hadn't done in a while. Cohan was injured and unable to ride, so I had to do them all by myself. We got the drone up, and everything was going smoothly. We managed to shoot some epic follow shots and some impressive slow-mo shots; all the spray while taking off was orange from the sunset. It was indeed an incredibly rewarding ending. Edwin put together a 9-minute video with the leftovers that Naish didn't use - and who doesn't love leftovers! Check out the movie!
I want to thank IKSURFMAG for letting me tell my story, Edwin Haighton, for the video shots and last but not least Thomas Roos for taking all the pictures and helping out on the video part!
Videos
By Stig Hoefnagel
