Duotone

Wind/wing/foil brand, represented on the show by Foiling Division Manager and windsurf legend Klaas Voget (Ep 73). The hosts admit to having given the “mighty brand” a little grief before setting the story straight. A Duotone/Fanatic merger is noted in passing (Ep 43).

What Ep 73 (S - Ep 073 Klaas Voget Duotone) adds:

• Duotone and Fanatic both sit under the umbrella company Boards and More (also home to IOM and the bike brand SQlab), founded roughly pre-2000. Boards and More’s history runs through the old windsurf brands F2, Mistral and Fanatic, and the North / North Kiteboarding licence (Duotone is the post-2018 rebrand of North). Klaas credits the CEO’s strategy of consolidating in-house-competing brands (dropping Arrows, focusing kiteboarding sales under North, windsurf boards under Fanatic) as key to Boards and More becoming the dominant kiteboarding player.
• Foiling/wing-foiling was originally split: Fanatic owned boards/foils (via shaper Sky Solbach), Duotone owned wings (via designer “Ken”/Ken Winner). The brands merged onto one wing-foiling division (which Klaas now co-runs) after front wings designed for wingers turned out to work as kitefoils too, making a split product line under two prints pointless. The Fanatic-to-Duotone foiling rebrand landed as a relief internally but drew “quite a bit of shit” from windsurfing forums loyal to the Fanatic name.
• Klaas names main competitors by category: wings — F-One (strong from early days, good riders, sales data compared via the GWA group); boards — Duotone leads by “quite a bit” but calls out Gong for an early, price-attractive combined foil+board package; foils — Axis and Armstrong, with Axis credited as first into the dock-start/pumping scene and pulling a lot of the local downwind crowd onto its hardware.
• On why Duotone was seen as slow to a strong foil line: Klaas says they prioritised bulletproofing the carbon mast/plate system (having watched competitors’ carbon masts snap at events) over rushing a performance-first foil to market, conceding rivals picked up “solid market share” in that window; new foil-range product is teased for autumn/September.
• Gear specifics: two-part carbon mast construction (D-Lab full-carbon hollow shaft vs quick-mount alloy-foot version, both bonding a separate top plate to optimise the main shaft). The Whiz front wing (turned-up wingtips, unlike most down-turned tips) was designed by Jerome (foil designer) and “Polo” (simulation engineer) for loose roll, easy pump and low stall speed for prone/wave use — Klaas clocked 25 knots on it despite that brief. Rear wings: the “S” stabiliser (low power/efficient, pairs with the Whiz) vs the “P” stabiliser (more angle of attack/downforce, more front-foot pressure, pairs with the faster “Car” wing) — more power trades efficiency for control at speed.
• The Duotone inflatable downwind board (“rubber ducky”) was Klaas’s favourite board from a recent gear photoshoot on ding-resistance and value grounds, despite performance still favouring the hardboard for serious downwind sessions.
• Asked to describe Duotone as a car brand, Klaas says Mercedes — for build quality — while noting he was previously Mercedes-sponsored as a rider.

Ripple additions (batch 2, 2026-07-20)

• Ep 47 (Julien Salles, F-One): F-One shared a wing pattern with Duotone (for their Ventus/CWC-style product) for a modest commission — done to protect IP rather than to profit.
• Ep 24 (Mike Raper, North): North’s account of Duotone’s origin — Boards & More licensed the North Sails brand for kiteboarding from ~2001, launched Duotone itself when that licence ended ~2018. Still described as the #1 kiteboarding brand, North #2.