Jason and Alessa on Storms, Short Lines and the Kite Everyone's Waiting For

For Jason van der Spuy and Alessa, that call came in Cape Town. Thirty-two hours of travel later, they were in Klitmøller, unpacking bags at 10pm and competing the next morning.

They were also the only two riders at the event on Naish.

We sat down with them afterwards to talk about the scramble, the storm, the heats that didn't go to plan, and the gear they've been putting through it.

Talk us through how you get from Cape Town to a competition in Denmark on 48 hours' notice.

Jason: 72 hours before, you get a message from the event organizer giving you a warning that it might happen. At that point you're already checking flights and working out the best plan. Then you go to bed knowing you either wake up and book everything last minute and fly to Denmark, or you stay home and have a chill morning.

We did not have the chill morning. We woke up, it was green light, and we booked last minute. Semi-panicked, because the flight left early evening. Rush pack, straight to the airport, on the plane, and we literally got there the night before, slept a few hours, and then boom, competition time.

It's stressful, because if anything goes wrong you're in trouble. Especially if the bags don't make it or you're missing gear, which was the case for me. I'd only travelled to Cape Town with one board. So I had to panic call Naish and get another board sent to Denmark, which miraculously worked out.

Then we got stuck in rush hour traffic in Copenhagen. By the time we got to the spot it was 10 o'clock at night, and we still had to eat and sleep before competing.

How long is that door to door?

Jason: If you go direct via Amsterdam, from your front door in Cape Town to the north of Denmark is about 24 or 25 hours. Ours was 31, 32 hours.

There's a smaller airport closer, but the more flights you take, the more you risk your bags not making it. And if you don't have your bag the next morning, it's all for nothing.

The other thing is that while you're doing all of that, you also have to sort a rental car and accommodation. And then once the competition is done, you have zero plans, because your only mission was to get there. So you just stand around in the riders' area thinking, I have no idea where I'm going now.

Alessa, you were first heat of the first round. What was the morning like?

Alessa: Normally you'd be at the riders' briefing the night before, but we couldn't make it because of the travel, so we got all the updates by phone. In the morning we had to be at the spot around 9am for live stream photos.

First possible start was 10, and I was in the first heat. So from 10 onwards I was ready to go, then waiting, then ready, then waiting again, because the wind wasn't strong enough. Every time, 15 minutes before your heat, you go in the water to get a feel for the conditions and warm up. I warmed up three times.

That's draining. You get into the mindset of okay, I'm going now, and then it's postponed another half hour.

And then the wind did arrive.

Alessa: That's exactly what happened. It was on the edge, but I could still hold the 8 easily, so I decided not to go to a 7. The moment the green light went on for the heat, the gust hit and I was so powered on my 8 I couldn't even land my tricks.

That's the thing with Denmark. It's not consistent wind, it's a storm. It comes through in squalls. One moment it's 25, 30 knots, then it shifts direction and you're sitting in 40, 45. It probably switched 10 to 15 times through the day, different directions and different strengths. You've got to be on it.

My second trick I crashed so hard, and I thought okay, I need the 7 now. But then the wind dropped again and I was too light on the 7. It's such a critical decision, and there's a lot of luck in the timing.

Jason: There really is.

What are your ideal competition conditions?

Alessa: I thrive in strong wind. Right now I'm still catching up on technicality, so I love the conditions where I'm on my smallest kite and everyone is nervous, because then we're all in the same boat. I love being powered on a 6 where I can barely hold my edge. Not my ideal training conditions, but I like the vibe of fear. I like it when everybody's on edge because it's so strong.

Jason: For me to do what I want to do it has to be stupidly strong, because of how many rotations we're doing. You need the height and you need the distance. And for short lines, if I want to take my 7 metre on 10 metre lines and ride powered, it has to be serious.

At Cold Hawaii it wasn't quite strong enough for it, but I made it work. If it's hitting 45, 50, 55, you're much better off. On long lines, 35 knots is pretty good.

Neither of you got the result you were after. How do you look back on it?

Jason: I didn't go into this competition wanting to win it. I haven't put the training in on long lines to be able to win it, and I know that. So I went in wanting to leave something people would remember, and I think I did.

The thing was I had to make it far enough into the competition to get the stronger wind at the end of the day, which I did. I managed to take out the short lines, and I'm honestly stoked with the outcome. A couple of clips went viral, the crowd was screaming at the top of their lungs. I'm really glad I came.

Alessa: For me it very much is about winning at the moment, and I had to realise something the hard way. In the warm-up a wave started breaking on the takeoff and I hurt my knee a little. Nothing bad, but it was in my head while I was competing, so I played it safe. There are more comps coming and I don't want to risk anything stupidly.

That was hard to deal with, because usually in a storm I want to be all in no matter what, and I just didn't have that mindset this time.

But then I was out there looking around thinking, actually, this is sick. We made it here. As hard and exhausting as it was to get here, we're part of this. That gave me a different perspective. Not just here to win or be bummed about the result, but to enjoy the process. Thinking back now, it's such a cool memory.

You win some, you lose some. The important thing is not to define yourself by the losses.

You were the only two riders there on Naish. What does that mean to you?

Jason: It's got two sides. It's epic, because it's up to us to shape the identity of the brand in competition. We hold the responsibility for how Naish is perceived as a top-level performing kite. But there's pressure in that too, because if we don't do a good job then the opposite happens.

I don't really feel that side of it. It's also unique because I'm on a kite I have a lot of input into the design of. I'm riding something I'm very in tune with, and I've made changes to it to make it do what I want it to do. That's a pretty special position to be in.

Let's talk about the Psycho NVision. Give us the rundown on your input, and how it felt in a competition setting.

Jason: I got these kites in December last year and they were close to final production. They were working very well in lighter, friendlier winds, but in the stronger winds they weren't holding up. So we made a lot of changes so they can withstand the strongest of the strong and hold anything you throw at them.

That's the reason for the delay. I didn't want to get something out there that isn't really, really good, so we chose to delay instead. I was in Hood River for a month fine-tuning it and signing it off with Ewan.

Now it holds its own in competition. At Cold Hawaii it was hitting 40 knots in the gusts and handling itself just fine, even on short lines, which is the gnarliest discipline you can throw at a kite. I'm beyond stoked with it.

And it's just the beginning of the Psycho NVision. We've unlocked the formula for making a really good kite, and it's only going to get better from here.

Is everyone asking about it?

Jason: My Instagram DMs are ridiculous. I tease it, it disappears, I tease it again. Everyone sees the materials and how it's constructed and assumes it's a copy of something else, but it's not. That's what makes it more special, it's our own. People really want this thing out now. They're about to start swearing at me if it doesn't come soon. It's worth the wait, that's all that matters.

Alessa, what were you on?

Alessa: I was on my usual kites, still waiting for Jason and Ewan to get those Psychos ready. Pivot NVision for my 8 and 7, and my 6 metre is a prototype, which is basically a fine-tuned Pivot.

I'm also riding a prototype Alana at the moment. Not major changes, but I'm working on a different size, and some of it might be interesting for the general market too.

And I was so happy to have my spare board. That's one mistake I made at Megaloop last year. I only had one board, because that was also a 48-hour call, and I forgot to order foot straps for my spare. That's what happened in the finals. I lost my board, couldn't get it back, lost about four minutes of the heat and didn't get another score.

Your competition starts with your mindset. If you know you've done something you could have controlled, especially with your gear, it eats at you. So I was very happy to have two.

Jason: Naish has always had kites that are really good for everyone. Durable, strong, they do everything the general consumer wants. But if I'm honest, the very top end for performance hasn't always been there.

Now we've got this kite I'm working on, which is miles above anything that's come out. We've got the Torque 3 bar, which is massively improved. I've been riding it for years straight with no failure. There's a new iteration of the board coming that's even more fine-tuned for top-level performance. And there's another board coming that's absolutely mental. We took the best from a couple of the models in the Naish range, put it into one, set a benchmark, and flew past it. 2027 and 2028 are looking very exciting.

Safety matters more than ever too. If you're 30 metres high megalooping upside down, you want nothing to break, and you want the peace of mind that nothing will. Naish has always had that on the kites, they're indestructible. Now we 100% have it on the bar too. It's bulletproof. I'd tow a truck with it.

And we're listened to. Actually having input into the design is a cool thing. We get what we need, but we also get what we want.

Where are you now, and what does the rest of the year look like?

Jason: Right now I'm sitting in my underwear, because none of our bags made it. We flew Amsterdam to Tarifa for a nuclear forecast to shoot the new gear, and the bags didn't come with us.

After this we've got a couple of shoots in the Netherlands and a storm chase. Then back to game time, if the Megaloop Challenge happens. Ideally we'd do Megaloop as soon as possible while we're in Europe, because it's much easier to get there in time without the stress. But Cape Town season is starting and we're frothing to be there too. So we'll see what the wind does.

Hopefully we don't have to do another 48-hour scramble.

And King of the Air?

Jason: Top 3 qualify in the men, and I think the invites roll out around the end of October. We still have to apply by video entry, which is part of why we're here now, getting clips and making sure we end the year well.

Jason and Alessa are chasing forecasts across Europe before the Cape Town season kicks in. You can follow both of them through the Naish channels for the storm chases, the Megaloop Challenge if it runs, and their King of the Air video entries.

And if you've been waiting on the Psycho NVision, so have they. It's close.

Explore the full kite and twintip lineup at Naish.com.