Mike Raper

Brand manager and co-founder of North Kiteboarding / North Foils, based in Auckland — long-serving industry figure (previously Pryde Group and Cabrinha Kites).

• First chat on North Foiling (Ep 24); a V2 catch-up after a serious 2024 health scare and recovery (Ep 107); a relaxed in-person meet at the Hatchery in Hood River, eating home-made smoked salmon (Ep 129).
• Ep 24 — role and background: brand director of North Kiteboarding, overseeing both North Kiteboarding and North Foils as one brand under the wider North Sales Group. Ex-Pryde Group and Cabrinha Kites, ~17 years living in Hong Kong (strong manufacturing/supplier ties). Was approached around 2018, at the end of his time at Cabrinha, to rebuild North Kiteboarding from scratch after its old windsurfing/kiteboarding licence with Boards & More lapsed — wrote the five-year business plan that got him the job, starting with “just the logo” and no team, IP or product.
• Ep 24 — on foiling’s rise: admits foiling wasn’t in his original 2018 five-year forecast at all (it was 100% kiteboarding); says the foiling push, launched from ~2020 on the same team as kiteboarding, nearly “killed” the team but foiling revenue has more than doubled every year for four years running, with parity vs kiteboarding revenue expected within a year or two.
• Ep 24 — personally: self-deprecating about his own time on the water at 49; says tow-foiling into big swell is his favourite riding, comparing it to being heli-dropped on a powder day.