British Snowboard Speed Record 151.72kph

So when I am not doing design work, I like to film extreme sports, however sometimes it's good to be the one in front of the camera as take part yourself.
Three years ago I decided that I wanted to break the British Snowboard Speed record, this was currently held by Jamie Barrow, one of the British boardercross racers.

I managed to get sponsorship from Ruroc helmets and Windlip Snowboards, we did some testing of their current boards and developed one specifically for the attempt, it has almost zero side cut, raised rails and carbon fibre topsheet to keep it rigid. Cork was also added around the nose to help dampen any vibrations that might be caused if it was not a perfectly smooth surface.

Although that seemed simple, that was the easy part, the hard part was getting permission to use the slope. With only 3 slopes fast enough in the world to use it quickly narrows down options of where to go, fortunately all of these were in the alps, unfortunately 2 of these were closed. Verbier glacier slipped meaning the slope no longer existed and Les Arcs, famously the fastest and longest of the speed runs was closed by the lift operating company as they did not feel the risk it brought to the slope equaled the monetary gains of those who came to the slope for speed events.
Leaving Vars the only slope still fast enough to reach the speeds needed, being run not by the main lift company or town but by an individual who was very anti snowboard means that it is almost impossible to find out when the slope is open. Two unsuccessful trips last season made me tentative about going all the way again only to be disappointed, however sometime you just have to go for it and hope that things will eventually work out...and they did.
The weather was clear and training was on for the skiers, not all the slope was bashed so we only had some to practice with, I did a few runs getting into it, hitting around 100kph, then 130 kph on the first day. With the slope pisted higher the next day it was great conditions snow wise, however there was an extremely strong cross wind, this didn't cause huge problems for me, just made it harder to keep straight and tucked up.

On my second run I managed to equal the British speed record reaching 151.72kph:





I did one more run, although reaching a higher top speed I had to put in a heavy turn to keep stable, only averaging 138kph average over the 100m measued distance.

Until next year!

77 Project and STRYDER Boards

I have recently started design concepts for two board companies, 77 Project and STRYDER boards.
77 are a polish brand that have created a range of snow and kiteboards and also ski's for the last few years. Their facebook page is almost more informative than their website as it shows designs from many previous years both can be seen here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/77-PROJECT/178433682245859?fref=ts
http://77project.com/

Stryder is an extremely new company and a local board shaper to the kitesurfing business I co-run with my brothers (thekitesurfcentre.com)
He has currently decided upon the shape of two boards a freeride and a freestyle/wakestyle board, each has a basic design that he would like to keep for the first year however will be needing something fresh for next season.

The Brief:
Neither companies were extremely precise with what they would like, with Nik Stryder is was a verbal discussion with the key point being that he would like to keep the stripe/block design, which is on his current board throughout the range even if it is subtle.
77 Were a little more business like with an actual brief being sent that they had used in a competition previously in the year but it was a good start:

What we expect about new graphic:

- colours could be changed,

- colllection should have an accent and be a slight continuation of lastlest years, but graphic design should be brave,

- logo design could be changed,

-  tranpsrent graphic could be used to show carbon, cevlar and wood core,

- in kitesurfing boards we do handle footpads and footstraps (black&white) and we can print our logo on a footstraps and handle

- plus you can design your own project (your vission of 77 brand)

The key this that 77 have used throughout the brand is RASTA, I understand that they want to give their product an appearance of free and easy going however it does not fit with them or the sports to which they are approaching. The owners and designers are Polish and neither Snowboarding or kitesurfing takes place in Jamaica and only has slight links.

I went away and started some designs on snowboards and kiteboards that would be relevant for both companies as a rough guide.

 I used some of the information both companies gave to me, however I also show other colours and design styles so that they can see other directions that it could go.