Kite Twintip

A symmetrical board that rides both ways, from cruising to big air

77 boards · 6 brands · 256 sizes

Twin-tip kiteboarding is the most common form of kiting. The board is a symmetrical plank, like a wakeboard, that rides equally well in either direction, so the rider simply reverses at the end of each run. It covers relaxed freeriding, freestyle tricks and big air, where riders launch off strong gusts to heights now measured above 40 m.

A typical kite twintip board, 1360 by 411 mm
the typical outline: every board’s shape averaged at the median length and width

The typical board

The typical kite twintip board is 1380 × 415 mm, with a square tail and its wide point at centre.

1320–1480mm long · median 1380

390–434mm wide · median 415

3.3length over width, median · derived

Ranges hold the middle 80 % of every size listed · tails: square tail 64, round tail 13

How It Rides

What moves it

The kite, flown on lines from a bar and harness, pulls the rider while the board's edge resists sideways slip, so the rider can hold a course across and even upwind. To jump, the rider edges hard against the pull and sends the kite back up through the sky, and the lift carries rider and board up and downwind. Unlike a foil board, a twin-tip has to plane, so it needs more wind: roughly 10–14 knots as a minimum, and big-air records have been set in about 40 knots.

Reading the shape

The drawings show a near-rectangular board with identical rounded ends because there is no front or back: the rider switches direction without turning the board around. Length and width set planing and control. A typical range is about 127–148 cm long and 41–46 cm wide by rider weight, and larger, wider boards plane earlier in light wind while smaller ones hold down more power for big air. The bottom curve (rocker) tells you the style: flat for light-wind and school boards, medium for freeride and freestyle, and strongly banana-shaped for wakestyle. Rule of thumb: about 135–139 cm for a 64–68 kg (140–150 lb) rider and 141–148 cm for 91–100 kg (200–220 lb), with beginners staying on the larger side.

How to read any board: length and width, wide point, tails, rails, rocker

Wind

from about 10–14 kn; record big air in about 40 kn

Water

flat water to chop; small waves for kickers

Worth knowing

Big-air spots are those with strong, steady wind such as Cape Town's south-easter or the Tramontane at Leucate.

The Rack

Every kite twintip board, shortest to longest, one scale · from the Cabrinha Ace 2026 (1200 mm) to the F-One Big One 2026 (1640 mm)

All 77 in the catalogue

Good To Know

  1. In April 2026, the day after winning the GKA Lords of Tram big-air event at Le Barcarès, France, Dutch rider Jamie Overbeek, aged 20, recorded a WOO-verified jump of 42.3 m in Tramontane wind of more than 40 knots. Gusts brought him down in only 8.3 seconds. [1][2][3]

  2. Records climb quickly. In September 2024, 17-year-old New Zealander Hugo Wigglesworth logged 36.7 m on a 7 m kite. Fifteen months later he was the first to pass 40 m. WOO says its sensors have recorded more than 150 million jumps. [4][5]

  3. Red Bull King of the Air began in 2000 at Ho'okipa, Maui. After an eight-year gap it was relaunched in 2013 at Big Bay, Cape Town, and later moved to Blouberg. Riders are judged on height, trick variety and style, and a women's division was added in 2024. [6]

  4. The fastest anyone has gone behind a kite is 57.97 knots (about 107 km/h) over 500 m, set by Alexandre Caizergues on 13 November 2017 on the Salin-de-Giraud canal in France and ratified by the WSSRC on 30 November. He rode a narrow dedicated speed board, not a twin-tip, and beat his own 56.62 knots from 2013. [7][8]

Watch And Read

Who Makes Them

Where And When

Where to watch it

  • Kite Beach, Cape TownHome of Red Bull King of the Air and of the first 40 m jump, powered by the summer south-easter.
  • Leucate / Le Barcarès, FranceThe Tramontane powers the GKA Lords of Tram, where the 42.3 m record was set in 2026.
  • Ho'okipa, MauiWhere Red Bull King of the Air began in 2000.

Where it came from

Early kiteboarders rode directional boards, water skis or wakeboards. In the early 2000s, four-line kites with depower and quick-release safety systems arrived, and twin-tips took over flat water from about 2001. Big-air competition began with Red Bull King of the Air at Ho'okipa, Maui, in 2000.

More disciplines

Sources

  1. [1]

    Jamie Overbeek's 42.3m World Kite Record

    BbTalkin (sponsor), 2026-04 · tier 3 · manufacturer

  2. [2]

    Jamie Overbeek's 42.3m Jump: Descent and Landing Analysis

    MACkite Boardsports Center, 2026-04-30 · tier 3 · article

  3. [3]

    Jamie Overbeek + Sky Solbach

    IKSURFMAG, 2026-04-11 · tier 2 · article

  4. [4]

    Woo World Record Jumps to 36.7m

    Power Kite Shop, 2024-09 · tier 3 · article

  5. [5]
  6. [6]

    Red Bull King of the Air

    Wikipedia · tier 4 · reference

  7. [7]

    New KiteSail Speed Record Ratified

    Scuttlebutt Sailing News, 2017-11-30 · tier 2 · record

  8. [8]

    List of speed sailing records

    Wikipedia · tier 4 · reference

  9. [9]

    What size kiteboard should I buy? Kiteboard size chart

    Elite Watersports · tier 3 · article

  10. [10]

    Kite Twin Tip buying guide

    The SUP Company, 2025-12-16 · tier 3 · article

  11. [11]