Kite Mag Riding High
The headquarters of TheKiteMag, kitesurfing’s bible, has just moved to Praia da Luz. Tomorrow Magazine went to meet owner Alex Hapgood to find out more.
Media entrepreneur Alex worked in a variety of careers, from temping in a biscuit factory through to teaching as a secondary school teacher, before becoming a journalist.
He started kitesurfing in 2001 after dislocating his shoulder learning to windsurf, “while I was out of action I walked along Brighton seafront and saw kites in the air and was a bit like ‘what is this crazy new sport?’ But as soon as I recovered I decided to learn.”
Wanting a change in career to give him more flexibility to pursue his sporting pursuits, he decided to try and forge out a career in writing. He moved to Cornwall where he lived for ten years before relocating to Portugal.
“Initially I did a lot of work for free and developed a portfolio before being picked up by a surf magazine publisher and working as a sub-editor there. Next stop was editing a kitesurfing magazine in the UK which I did for four years.”
While in this job Alex felt that there was space in the market for a 'quality' Kitesurfing magazine. “With the advent of the internet, the staple content of many specialist magazines, such as news and event write-ups, was now essentially redundant as people access this information immediately online.”
“When I began TheKiteMag the focus was on quality photography and features and on giving the magazine that 'coffee table' quality that you can't find online. We also play with different effects on the cover and with different paper stocks within the magazine. In the 'print is dead' era, I felt that you needed to provide something special and people would then be happy to pay for it.”
This has proven to be the case, and the magazine has grown over the last four years. Last year the company began printing the magazine in German as this is the biggest single market for kitesurfing and this year they are also beginning Foiling Magazine, which will showcase the relatively new sport of surf/SUP hydro foiling. Much of the distribution for this will be the US, but Alex anticipates seeing increased popularity in the sport across Europe.
“Portugal has a rapidly developing scene with Foiling, so I think this is the perfect place to be located, I can even see the ocean from my new office in Praia da Luz.”
Alex and his wife Jane, have been visiting Portugal for over 15 years for surfing trips then later with their three children on family holidays. “We have always enjoyed surfing and kitesurfing, so traveling the west coast of Portugal and north-western Spain provided endless opportunities for exploration. It had been a dream to move here one day and as our children got older, the pressure increased to move while they were still young enough to adapt to a new life and culture, so we moved almost two years ago when our oldest son was six.”
Alex now has an office in Luz and manages his team from there. So why does Alex think this area is the place to choose for kitesurfers? “There are several different 'disciplines' within kitesurf and the Algarve has something for everyone. If you want to ride a conventional 'twin tip' board, then Alvor lagoon is one of the best spots in Europe for this with its flat water. It is also the perfect place to learn. For riding in the waves, Bordeira on the west coast offers some great conditions for experienced riders. And for kiters riding 'hydrofoil' boards, the flat water of the south coast is perfect.”
I am pleased to report that TheKiteMag along with Tomorrow Magazine are proving that the print era is far from dead, and there is room on any coffee table for a quality magazine!
