Kitesurfing gets a face on Maui

Laird Hamilton first tried ram-air kites on a shortboard with straps, with little success. He taught the Frenchman Manu Bertin with a rope tied to a truck. Then Bruno Legaignoux gave each of them a prototype of his inflatable kite.

In 1996 the two showed off Maui what the new equipment could do, and the pictures helped spread the sport. Early in 1997 Bertin was on the cover of a French wind magazine, which presented the sport to windsurfers.

The sport also got its name. It had been called flysurfing; in 1996 kitesurfing began to replace it, helped by a brand called Kitesurf from Florida.

With Hamilton and later Robby Naish involved, kitesurfing had well-known faces from the start, and Maui, already the capital of windsurfing, became its first stage.