Kiteboarding Magazine

luke
2010-06-15 11:24:30 | 723 views | 1 Comments

I’ve always wanted a slider at my home spot, La Boca in the Dominican Republic. La Boca is a well-known kite location at a river mouth, and it has perfect shallow water that’s ideal for an obstacle park. This year, my dream finally became reality when Red Bull kicked down some cash to make the project happen. I called the top slider technicians I know, and several of them, including Aaron Hadlow, Andre Phillip and Tom Court (shown), hopped on a plane to come down and start construction.

Building the slider was hard work; it took us almost two weeks to construct a 48-foot long, up-to-flat slider with a 45-degree side wedge. Since we had only my uncle’s flatbed truck to carry it, we looked pretty ghetto transporting it from the shop, with the whole thing teetering on the back of that rusty old truck and us holding it to make sure it didn’t slide off. But after a hot, sketchy drive, we eventually made it to the water’s edge, and before long the slider was ready to ride.

As far as slider projects go, it really doesn’t get much better than this. It was like we had our own private kite lagoon. We’d have a killer session on the rail all morning and then we’d finish the afternoon with cold beer at La Boca Bar and Grill, which is located right next to the spot. Ah, the life of pro kiters …

Photo and Words: Susi Mai