The complete Kiteboard buyers guide

Everything you need to know when considering to buy a Lieuwe kiteboard. 

 

Buying a kiteboard can feel a bit overwhelming. Rocker, flex, outline, channels, grip… a lot is going on under your feet when you're riding. The funny thing is: none of these elements work on their own. The magic happens in the balance between them.

We started shaping boards because we couldn’t find the perfect one ourselves. By collecting feedback from beginners to experts and working with professional athletes over the years, we learned that the difference between a good board and a great one often lies in the details. Small changes in outline, rocker or flex can completely change the way a board feels on the water.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the design philosophy behind our boards and help you understand which one fits your riding style best.

And if you’re still unsure after reading this, just reach out. Our shapers are always happy to help!

WHAT TYPE OF RIDER ARE YOU ?

Instead of asking “what discipline do you ride?”, a much better question is: what kind of rider are you right now?

Every rider progresses differently. Some focus on comfort and control, others on pushing height or riding fully powered. The boards in our range are designed to support these different stages.

Let’s break them down.

BEGINNER

Everyone starts here.

You’re learning waterstarts, figuring out how to ride both directions and slowly getting the hang of going upwind. At this stage, the biggest challenge is confidence.

A beginner board should make things easier, not harder. It should forgive small mistakes, absorb chop, and feel stable under your feet.

That’s exactly why the Awesome exists.

It’s designed to keep things predictable and comfortable while you focus on learning the basics. The flex is forgiving, the ride is smooth and the board feels stable even when your technique is still developing.

In short, it helps you build a strong foundation.

INTERMEDIATE

Once you’re riding comfortably both directions and cruising upwind, things start getting interesting.

You begin experimenting with jumps and hooked tricks, riding stronger wind and pushing your sessions a bit further each time. At this stage, you still want comfort, but you also start looking for more performance.

This is where the Shotgun shines.

It keeps the smooth, forgiving ride you’re used to, but adds stronger grip and more response during take-offs. It’s the perfect progression board, playful enough to stay fun, but capable enough to keep up with your ambitions.

Some riders at this stage already want a little more performance and skill up their game. If you’re leaning toward bigger jumps and stronger wind, the Shotgun Air becomes a natural next step.

ADVANCED

Advanced riders don’t just cruise anymore; they ride powered.

Sessions become about height, timing, and pushing your limits. You’re edging harder, loading the board more aggressively, and riding in stronger conditions. Pushing your boundaries with hooked and unhooked tricks improving your freestyle game.

Here the board needs to deliver grip, speed, and confidence.

The Shotgun Air sits right in this zone. It’s a bit stiffer, faster, and more direct than the original Shotgun, giving you stronger take-offs and better edge hold.

For riders who want even more grip and a locked-in feeling in strong wind, the Brute steps in. This board sacrifices a bit of playfulness but gives you incredible control when things get powered. It’s definitely the go-to board when competing with the highest level of kiters, while still being suitable for advanced riders who want more forgiveness when their technique is still developing.

PRO

At the highest level, riders don’t rely on the board to create control, they create it themselves.

Technique, timing, and feel become everything.

Pro riders want a board that responds instantly, feels light under their feet, and allows them to edge exactly how they want.

That’s where the Falcon comes in.

With its carbon construction and precise flex pattern, it delivers powerful pop and exceptional board feel. Grip is high, but never overly locked-in. The Falcon rewards technique rather than compensating for it.

In the hands of a skilled rider, it becomes a serious performance machine.

 

 

ROCKER, OUTLINE & BASE SHAPING

The 3D shape that defines how a board rides

If you ever catch yourself staring at your kiteboard for a bit too long, don’t worry, we do the same. There’s more going on than just a nice graphic.

Every Lieuwe board is shaped around three core design elements that define how it rides: rocker, outline, and base shaping.

Together they create the three-dimensional personality of the board.

ROCKER & FLEX

Two elements that always work together

Rocker and flex are often explained separately, but in reality they always work together.

Rocker is the curve from tip to tip. Flex is how easily the board bends under your weight and riding pressure. When you ride, both influence how the board rides on the water.

If a board has a lot of rocker but is very flexible, your weight will push the board flatter while riding. The result is that you lose part of the rocker shape when you load the board. That’s why rocker and flex are always designed together.

The Awesome and Shotgun both use a medium rocker combined with a relatively flexible construction. This combination makes the boards feel smooth and forgiving. The flex allows them to absorb chop and keeps the ride comfortable, while the medium rocker still gives enough control and playfulness.

The Shotgun Air moves a step toward performance. It has slightly more rocker and a bit more stiffness than the classic Shotgun. The shotgun Air has angled fins. This gives it stronger take-offs and more control when riding powered, while still maintaining enough comfort for everyday conditions.

The Brute is a one-of-a-kind with its unique fiber construction, which can only be found in the aviation industry. It’s a hybrid combination of glass fiber, carbon and Kevlar, which made it possible to significantly reduce the weight. It uses roughly the same rocker as the Air, but the construction is significantly stiffer. Because the board flexes less, the rocker profile remains more consistent while riding. This creates a very locked-in feel and allows the board to maintain grip and control even in strong wind.

The Falcon pushes performance further. It has the most rocker in the range and a carbon construction that sits in stiffness between the Air and the Brute. This gives the Falcon a very responsive feel with powerful pop, while still allowing enough flex to keep the board lively under your feet.

In simple terms:

More flex makes a board forgiving and smooth.
More stiffness keeps the rocker shape stable and increases control when riding powered.

BASE SHAPING

Concave and channels – the details that create grip

Flip your board over, and you’ll see the shaping that controls how water flows underneath it.

One of the first things you’ll notice is the concave. Concave is the curvature running from rail to rail across the bottom of the board. An easy way to see this is by placing the tail of the board against a flat surface. You’ll notice that the rails sit slightly lower than the center of the board. That’s the concave.

The Awesome, Shotgun, and Shotgun Air all feature a single concave. This design keeps the water flow smooth and balanced. It provides good grip and speed while maintaining a comfortable and predictable ride.

The Falcon and Brute use a double concave, which adds more stability and control when riding fast or powered.

Then there are the channels, the small ridges you see shaped into the base of the board.

Channels act like extra grip lines in the water. The deeper and more pronounced they are, the more bite the board has while edging.

The Brute features deep channels through the middle of the board. These create a massive grip while riding and help the board feel incredibly stable when edging hard.

The Shotgun and Shotgun Air use channels mainly in the tips. These help generate grip during take-off and allow the board to cut smoothly through choppy water.

In other words:
Tip channels help you pop.
Center channels help you hold power.

 

 

LOCAL CONDITIONS

Different water, different boards

Every spot has its own personality. Some days the water is perfectly flat, other sessions are full of chop, kickers, or heavy wind. The way a board behaves in these conditions depends heavily on its rocker, flex, and grip profile.

Nice to know, all boards from Lieuwe go through a testing period of at least 18 months, with its hometown in the Netherlands, where we have extreme choppy conditions, and the four months of extreme conditions in Cape Town, to learn about how the boards perform in different conditions.

Let’s break down the most common conditions and which boards naturally feel at home there.

FLAT WATER

Flat water is where speed and technique really come together. The water surface offers very little resistance, allowing boards to accelerate easily and load the edge for powerful take-offs.

All boards in the Lieuwe range perform well in flat water, but the Falcon really shines here. Its carbon construction, responsive flex and performance rocker allow riders to generate explosive pop while maintaining full control at speed.

The Shotgun and Shotgun Air also feel very comfortable here, especially for riders who want a balance between control and playfulness.

The Brute has its DNA partially from the Say No More board, which was our old legend from the past, being used for wakestyle tricks with boots. It goes without saying that this will be a combination like the good old days.

CHOPPY WATER

Choppy water is where board design really starts to matter. When the water surface becomes messy and unpredictable, comfort and control become key.

The Shotgun handles chop extremely well. Its medium rocker and more forgiving flex absorb the bumps and keep the ride smooth and predictable.

The Shotgun Air cuts through chop more aggressively. The channels in the tips help the board slice through the water while still offering strong grip during take-off.

The Brute remains incredibly stable in chop because of its grip and stiffness, but it does require more rider input and is less comfortable due to its stiffness. It feels powerful and controlled, but less forgiving than the Shotgun boards.

WAVES & KICKERS

When the water forms natural kickers, timing and grip become everything.

This is where the Brute really comes into its own. Because of its deep channels and strong grip, the board allows you to hit a kicker, land, regain grip instantly, and load up again for the next one.

The Falcon and Shotgun Air also perform very well in these conditions. Both boards provide strong edge hold and enough grip to load the board confidently for take-off.

The difference lies in feel:
The Brute feels extremely locked-in and stable.
The Falcon and Air feel livelier and more responsive.

STORMY CONDITIONS

When the wind really picks up, control becomes the most important factor.

In strong wind sessions, the Brute is the board that truly shines. Its stiffness and deep channels create massive grip, allowing riders to edge hard and maintain control even when the wind is pushing its limits.

The Falcon also performs extremely well in these conditions, especially for skilled riders who want speed and explosive pop. It feels lighter and more technical, rewarding precise input.

For riders who still want some comfort in powered conditions, the Shotgun Air provides a strong balance between grip, control, and flexibility.

 

 

 

Gold Level Certified by Sustainable Surf

Our ongoing efforts to reduce our environmental footprint, while maintaining high-performance standards, have led to a unique milestone. Lieuwe is proud to be the first kiteboard brand awarded with a Gold Level certification by the Sustainable Surf foundation.

This certification reflects our approach to board building, where material choices, production processes and durability all play a role. By combining natural wood with precisely placed fibre layers, we create boards that are not only strong and ultra-light, but also built to last.

It’s our way of ensuring that performance, craftsmanship and sustainability go hand in hand, without compromise.

With a Lieuwe kiteboard, you’ll have a strong, ultra light, eco-friendly and timeless classic that will be your companion for life.

 

 

 

How do different fins affect the performance, and which do I choose?

Fins can make a big difference in your setup. You can choose the fins based on your ride preferences.

• 45MM Fins - Perfect grip for your perfect ride. More grip for upwind performance and less need for hard edging. Make sure you mount your board with the 45mm when going for the BIG AIR MEGALOOPS!
• 30MM Fins - Great for doing (wakestyle) tricks. The board will slide more across the water gives you more room to recover from bad landings and land more tricks. However, you will have less grip during riding when you are not edging. Are you ready to push your limits but you don’t want to learn it the hard way? A smaller fin size is your biggest friend when you need to work on your landing moments.

 

 

 

How do kiteboard bindings- or ProPads affect the performance, and which do I choose?

The Lieuwe Footpads & Straps Pro are designed to offer you the best contact with your board and enhance your board feeling. The pads are made from two types of foam to create a perfect balance between feeling with your board and comfort during landings. The heel pad and grip around your toes provide a tight fit so you never have to lose your board again. The pads and straps are assembled to one piece so putting your board together is child play and it provides an even tighter fit around your feet. We offer the ProPads specifically designed for men, women and kids.

 

The sizing range is recommended as follows:

	EU	US	UK	CM
Junior	33-37	2,5-5,5	1-5	21-23,5
Small	37-41	6-9	4-7	23-25,5
Universal	41>	8>	6,5>	25,5>