Intriguing Beings Podcast

I sit down with Philip Schinnagel from CORE, one of the world's largest watersports brands based out of Fehmarn in Germany.

I sit down in a rare opportunity to have both Raphael Salles and his son Julien in the room together. Raphael started F-ONE at the end of the 90's and it's grown to become one of the biggest watersports businesses in the world. Julien was never that keen to work at the family business but when the opportunity arose to head up Manera, their wetsuit and accessory brand he changed his tune and is now poised to become the CEO of the whole company when Raph eventually decides to retire. We talk business, sports and downwind SUP in this incredible conversation...

Back in January, I sat down with Kent Marinkovic, a long-time waterman and businessman who is currently the CEO of Cabrinha. One of the world's largest watersports companies, we talk about the old days, the new days and everything in between! Enjoy!

I sit down with Till Eberle to talk all things Duotone, the rebrand of Fanatic and how the industry has been during these difficult times... It's an episode that is well worth a listen!

I've wanted to get Hannah on the podcast for a while now, so this was a great opportunity to catch up. I've known Hannah since the start of her kiteboarding career, and to see her progress from a young talent to a global superstar of the sport has been impressive. Now she has cultivated a career through social media that most can only dream of. She still rips on the water and is as passionate about kiteboarding today as she was when she first fell in love all those years ago!

Multiple world champion Titouan Galea sits down with me to chat about where he came from and how he embraced the sport of wing foiling so quickly. His kite-foil skills were an easy transfer, and his career has been nothing short of exceptional so far. Recently he moved to Cabrinha, and he loves the new gear and the new team!

Ex US Special Forces and brewery founder Scott Harrison sits down with me to talk about some of his adventures in various warzones over the years, his love of brewing beer and how kiteboarding brought all that together to put us in the same room in Mexico. The world moves in mysterious ways, and this episode is well worth a listen. 

Ralf Grösel is one of the highest functioning humans I know, a kite designer, paragliding designer, racing car driver and successful businessman his accolades are many. He recently got in touch to invite me to North Macedonia to have a look at Brainchild Production, a new project which has set up a sustainable production facility in the country. At a time when shipping costs are through the roof, a European factory makes a lot more sense; the extra labour costs are offset by lower shipping costs. However, it also presents an opportunity to create something from the ground up, and when you start from the beginning, it's possible to rethink the entire production process. Ralf has done this with sustainability at the core of the ethos, but it goes much further than that with attention to detail and a finished product that literally blew my mind it's well worth listening to this episode to see what the future holds for watersports production. 

As promised a new episode with an old favourite, Dom Moore. Last time we spoke he was embarking on treatment for the big C. This time he's in the clear, sober, surfing and learning science. We have an entertaining conversation about what he's been up to, his 9 odd months sober and how he hasn't bought any meat or fish in the last 5 or so years, instead spearfishing and hunting for his protein. 

It might not be for everyone, but it's an enjoyable conversation all the same!

Listen in as I chat to Jon Modica, the man behind the recent buyout of Cabrinha from the Pryde Group. If you've not heard of Jon he used to be a pro rider for Cabrinha back in the day, and now he's bought it alongside some other investors. That's a pretty incredible story, whichever way you look at it. 

In addition to this Adventure Sports have just got the license for all the Dakine wind products too, we're expecting to see some interesting products coming out of the Cabrinha and Dakine brands over the next few years and it was great to sit down with Jon and find out a little more about where he has come from and what he has been up to over the last ten years or so!

Enjoy!

Something a little different for you all this week, I had the fortune to catch up with Robby Naish over in Maui on the phone last week. We talked for about 45 minutes about how Covid 19 has effected business, about the last 25 years of making production gear and about how much he enjoys sharing the stoke to get on the water with others. 

It was never intended to be a podcast, but it felt too good not to share... Enjoy!

This episode I sit down with Clinton Filen, designer, innovator and radical ideas man. He's been heading up the Airush brand from Cape Town for the last 8 years and has a long history in product design. From an early age, he was making boards and he's never stopped. We catch up at the AWSI in Hood River and talk about a myriad of topics but always seemingly coming full circle to his passion for designing innovative products that make our time on the water better. 

Enjoy!

This week I'm sitting down with waterman, businessman and legend Raphael Salles. Raph heads up F-One, the watersports brand that makes gear for kitesurfers, surfers, paddle boarders and foilers. 

Raph has a passion for the ocean that I haven't seen in many people, he can literally spend 8 hours a day testing the gear he makes. I can't think of anyone else who does that in the industry, especially when you consider he does that for over 300 days a year! No wonder a lot of the F-One product is highly regarded!

We talk about all sorts of subjects, from his early day's in the water to setting up and starting his own company from scratch. It's an interesting and inspiring conversation which I am sure you will enjoy!

This week I'm chatting to Craig Cunningham the Team Manager at Duotone Kiteboarding. Recorded back in February this year in Cape Town we talk about a wide range of topics including how he nearly became an ice hockey jock! The Canadian rider is one of the most stylish around and has had a stellar career within the sport.

He's adapted and moved with the times and now spends a large part of his energy nurturing fresh talent and the riders on the team. Weirdly we get into some eerily true predictions about the outcome of this years GKA Freestyle Tour and how Valentin Rodriguez is his hot tip for the future, and then the 17-year-old only goes and takes the crown nearly ten months later!

Enjoy! 

This weeks episode is a little more light-hearted as I chat to Tom Court, one of the original kiteboarders from back in the day who was shredding from a very young age. Tom's garnered a successful career for himself within the sport, not just as a talented pro rider, but also as a videographer and practical joker. 

With films like the Freeride Project series of movies under his belt, his abilities are well known, showcasing a lighter side with efforts like the Kite Launcher, it's never a dull moment when Tom is around, either in front of or behind the camera. 

He's had a tough few years, with some serious injuries setting him back, but he's always smiling and keen to chat. It's great to see him back on the water and riding again!

They say you shouldn't meet your heroes, we'll this week I'm sharing a conversation I had with one of mine this summer, none other than the legend Mr Robby Naish. US1111 carved a name for himself in the windsurfing industry from a very young age, and that passion and drive for the sport led him to become one of the most successful watermen of all time. 

Not just an accomplished athlete across a multiverse of sports, he's a successful businessman too and still heads up the Naish watersports business to this day. Offering equipment for windsurfing, kitesurfing, surf and SUP foiling, stand up paddle and now wind wings, Robby leads a life many of us can only dream about. 

Enjoy.

This week I chat to Mike Raper, one of the kiteboarding originals who started as a pro rider before getting a job with the Pryde Group. Mike spent years there working on various brands including Cabrinha and left last year to move from Hong Kong back to New Zealand to spend more time with his family.

Then all hell broke loose and the opportunity to build the North Kiteboarding brand presented itself, the rest they say is history or at least one incredible story...

Enjoy!

I sit down with Duotone kite designer Ralf Grösel and have a very interesting chat about his life and how he got into design. From making his own paragliders and learning CAD at 14 to running several successful companies now, Ralf is a lesson in how you have plenty of time to do all the things you are passionate about. 

With everything he involves himself in I bet he doesn't spend much time scrolling through social media or binge-watching Netflix. If you need a bit of inspiration about how you can make your life more productive then this is a good place to start. We also geek out a lot on kite design and discuss a few of the projects he is working on at the moment for Duotone.

Ruben Lenten is one of the most influential kiteboarders on the planet, his long career has seen him shape the sport in a way few others can match. From his aggressive powered freestyle riding to his insane mega loops and all the variations he has created. In this podcast Rou Chater talks to Ruben about his journey within the sport, his battle with cancer and how he has overcome some serious setbacks along the way.

This was recorded in February in South Africa, just a month or so before Ruben had another fateful setback, breaking his ankle in Barcelona when a mega loop went wrong.

Ruben has an incredibly positive outlook on life and when I saw him last week he was taking his recovery seriously and looking forward at where he was going next rather than dwelling on the serious injury that wrecked his plans for the year. 

If you want to get inspired about having a positive mindset, Ruben is the man to listen to!

It's the last episode of Season 1 and I thought I might do something a little different. As it's the King Of The Air in Cape Town and the finals are tomorrow Lewis Crathern and I sit down for a chat about the event and who's likely to win. You can hear a real insight into what goes on from the only person to compete in every event since it restarted in 2013.

We also put our necks on the line to make some predictions for the final results, so listen in, note them down and see if we are right, we probably won't be though! Hear about the injuries, the training and the dedication needed to do well at an event of this level. Find out how the equipment choice and the weather conditions make a real difference to the results for different riders and find out after three days of reflection what Lewis's biggest mistake was at this years event!

Enjoy!

I'm back after missing a Monday over the festive period, don't worry, normal Monday service will now be resumed! This week I'm chatting to Bill Tai, an incredibly influential man who's early love of electronics and electronic engineering has led to him becoming one of the most successful Venture Capitalists in the business. 

Running alongside his career has been a passion for water sports and the ocean and Bill is often referred to as the Kiteboarding VC in the media. He started out sailing at grad school and then progressing to windsurfing in the 80's and discovered kiteboarding at the turn of the millennium. 

In recent years Bill has recognised the need to spearhead a drive to change the way we think about the ocean as our playground and his philanthropic endeavours into sustainability and reducing plastic waste are becoming the stuff of legend. We talk about all of this and more, it's an incredible episode and I hope you enjoy it...

This week I chat to one of Britains most talented watermen, Dom Moore is a surfer, kitesurfer, spear fisherman and big wave aficionado with some incredible tales to tell. I've got a feeling this won't be the last time we sit down with Dom for this series! I asked him about to major changes that have effected his life recently.

The first was a trip to Hawaii where by chance he met with Archie Kalepa and trained for big waves with him. This led to a real moment of change in Dom's surfing career and equipped him with the knowledge to take on some of the biggest waves the UK has to offer. 

Change number to comes in the form of devastating news when Dom discovered he had skin cancer earlier this year. He's currently classed as a Stage 3 Malignant Melanoma, which is about as far down the cancer road as you would ever want to go. Thanks to some good learning and knowledge as well as the support from his oncologist Dom has managed to become a test case for a new immunotherapy drug. It's a fascinating story and a must listen episode for fans of this podcast! 

This week it's something a little different, I chat to Matt Crowhurst, AKA Mr Wakeboard UK. Matt's been a friend of mine for a while and he's an incredibly talented athlete as well as being an MC for many sports events around the globe. He now works closely with the Arena Cross brand and you can see him waxing lyrical at freestyle motocross shows all over the world. 

We chat about the early days of wakeboarding, Matt was one of the first wakeboarders in the UK and his breadth of knowledge on the history of the sport is incredible. We also chat about his career and how injuries plagued his progress, plus how he is getting his young family into the sport now with his sons Kit and Jasper. Matt is an incredibly charismatic guy and this really comes across in the podcast. 

I really enjoyed listening back to this one and I hope you enjoy hearing it too!

This week I chat to Alex Jones, AKA Stig, an old friend of mine who suffered a horrific crash on his mountain bike. Hitting a jump he had done a hundred times before, he landed a touch rear wheel heavy, looped out, and landed  awkwardly on his head. He'd broken his neck and was, at this moment, lying in the woods paralysed.

Fortunately for Alex one other person was hitting those jumps that day and they put a call into the emergency services. Alex missed out on a chopper ride, thanks to some thick fog, and was rushed to hospital. What happened next was a long period of rehab and heartache not just for Alex but also for his family and friends as they all came to terms with the situation.

Incredibly, Alex has this positive outlook on life that sees him laugh in the face of adversity and challenge himself everyday. With the support of his family and friends he has managed to get back to what has to be considered a normal life. It's very different from his pre crash days, but he's happy. 

This story transcends all sports and is really just a tale for anyone keen to hear how a positive mental attitude can have such a profound effect on your outlook in life. 

Enjoy!

This week I chat to multiple world kiteboarding champion Steph Bridge. Alongside her husband Eric they have raised three young men, Olly, Guy and Tom who are all world-class athletes in their own right. At the same time she runs numerous businesses in Exmouth and between them all, they travel the world competing in numerous events. 

 I've known Steph for a while and it always amazes me how she keeps everything together with so much going on. We talk about the Olympics and kiteboarding, raising three incredibly active, competitive and talented boys and how family life is really important to her. 

 It's a short one this week, but that sums up Steph, to get 40 minutes of her time at all was a blessing, there is always so much going on with her life! 

My next guest is David Hastilow, you might have heard of him, but probably not. 20 years ago Dave learned to kitesurf, like so many of us he became hooked and fell in love with the sport. From those humble beginnings, he has gone on to become the division manager for Cabrinha, one of the biggest kiteboarding brands in the business, second only to Pete Cabrinha, the driving force of the brand. 

 Some of you listening to this might have just learned to kitesurf, just imagine where 20 years might take you. Dave's incredible journey was fuelled by an amazing ability to say YES. Even when it meant uprooting his wife and missing out on a house they had put a deposit on. Or when saying yes meant leaving the idyllic life in the Caribbean to return to England. Dave's a yes man and it's taken him a long way. 

 We chat about how he got into kiteboarding, his time as a kite tester, arguably one of the better jobs in the sport, dodging sharks and surf foiling, the new craze sweeping Maui There is plenty more in this one too, I really hope you enjoy it!