Design, Photography, Standup Paddle Board, Stories

The Rapid

Earlier this year, I had the chance to co-design this amazing Race Standup Board piece of art with Lee Kline.  I had not designed an SUP board in years, it felt good to get back into the saddle.

Beau Lake Rapid Drawing water colors

The Brief

The weekend racer is made with carbon fibre and Macassar ebony wood. Its length, shape, piercing nose design and flat bottom makes this board ultra fast and justifies its name. The Rapid. Also named after the lake bearing its name on the western shore of Cabonga Reservoir in the Outaouais region of Quebec. All paddleboard purchases come with a free travel bag. It’s our way of saying thank you for caring for your board.

  • Length 14′ 
  • Width 26″ 
  • Thickness 8.5″
  • Volume 281L 
  • Weight 26.4lbs / 12kgs
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GRRRRrrrrrrr... One of the coldest day of the winter, Vincent Bergeron and I tested and shot the Rapid for the first time, in -35° Celcius on the St-Lawrence river.

Julien Fillion

Special thanks to my long time friend Corran Addison, who taught me lots about Standup Up Race boards design.  

Design, Kitesurfing, Stories

How small is too small?

  • A foilboard the size of a turtle, really?
Prototype Size
3 Foot Foilboard

We’ve been part of the foil revolution for several years now, leading today’s market by introducing the extruded aluminium mast and CNC fuselages. We tried so many different ideas for kiteboarding hydrofoil and prone surfing hydrofoil in the last several years. Couple months ago I saw Brandon Scheid pulling out of his board bag the smallest foilboard I had ever seen (designed by Peter Mehrohof). I got my hands on the following prototype and spent some time riding this tiny board, figuring out how small kiteboarding hydrofoil could really be? It took a session or 2 to get in-tuned with the board, then it started to feel amazing under my feet. 

Although I feel 3’ is way to small for average kiteboarders, it gave us tons ideas for future lightweight product development.

  • How small can a kite foilboard really be?
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Design, Kitesurfing, Stories, Travel

Kite Design Coffee Shop

It is no secret that I love coffee shops, I’m doing my best and most creative work sitting in coffee shops around the globe. In this particular picture, early morning in Mexico, I had skipped the coffee shop to team up with Gary Siskar and Jason Slezak and talk about the future of kite design.

It takes a whole lot of creative minds and kite testers to design great kites.

Julien Fillion

Photo Vincent Bergeron

Kitesurfing, Photography, Stories, Travel

Hello Magdalen

The Magdalen Islands are an amazing small archipelago in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with a land area of 205.53 square kilometres.

Though closer to Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, the islands are part of the Canadian province of Quebec. I’ve been traveling to the Magdalen’s since my young windsurfing days… 

Three years ago, we setup the Liquid Force summer photoshoot in the Magdalen’s, it was amazing.  Having pros Brandon Scheid, Sensi Graves there along with photographer Vincent Bergeron,  the imagery came out rad!

Here’s Brandon Scheid & Vincent Bergeron lobster finish.

Design, Kitesurfing

On a Moon Patrol!

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For 2018-2019, the LF Moon Patrol is definitely my twintip board of choice… I love how versatile it is, here’s a quick design brief for this unique kiteboard. 

Reminiscent of your favorite fish shape surfboard or your back country powder stick, the Moon Patrol offers a smooth elongated outline that allows for free flowing turns and high speed cruising. A single tip to tail concave wood core directs water though the fins making for remarkably smooth ride and easy upwind progression. With the option of setting the stance back from center the Moon Patrol will turn big bone jarring chop into launch pads to orbit over the liquid surface. The Moon Patrol comes with optional 5cm fins for the tail configuration for more drive and projection.

Baja fun on the Moon Patrol, shot by Vincent Bergeron

Hydrofoil

Tanker Wave Foil Surfing

I’ve wanted to prone foil surf St-Lawrence tanker waves for quite some times….

Check out this infinite summer wave.

Design, Kitesurfing

Liquid Force NV V9

Myself and the LF team (Brandon Scheid, Jason Slezak) did some magic designing the most amazing kite ever made, literally!  

Redesigned with purpose. The NV Version 9 is just not a new color way or slight change that has no impact on the performance of the kite. We looked at the ways in which the NV has excelled over the past 8 years and then took into consideration what we wanted the kite to do beyond any expectations. No doubt the NV is synonymous with stability and dependability in all conditions and styles of riding. Not only does the new NV V9 embrace its heritage but it now will set a new standard in freestyle kites.