As kiters, windsurfers and meanwhile many of us also wingfoilers two questions often occupy our minds: Where do I go for my next trip? And once there: which spot's working best today? Since we started travelling for windsurfing, kiting and nowadays also for wingfoiling we’ve always wished there was a reliable, accurate and complete source of information to help make these decisions.

Yet we couldn’t find such a spot guide anywhere, which is why we decided to produce one ourselves. So we quit our jobs, founded a small publishing company called “stoked Publications” and started working on the KITE AND WINDSURFING GUIDES. It turned out to be much harder than we expected – the waves always look smaller from the beach!

After three-and-a-half years the first EUROPE GUIDE emerged – and four years later, the much anticipated WORLD GUIDE including the first KITE AND WINDSURFING DIRECTORY. Then came a complete revision of the EUROPE GUIDE and the first NAVIGATOR App, followed by the NAVIGATOR+ and also an elaborate web solution on KITE-AND-WINDSURFING-GUIDE.COM. In the meantime, we have bundled all the information in the completely newly developed KITE & WINDSURFING GUIDE APP and thus positioned ourselves for the digital future. It's a bit like the old seafarers: if they had always known in advance what endeavours and hardships they would face on their journeys, some continents might never have been discovered. But no regrets! I wouldn't want to miss any of the wonderful experiences and countless great sessions during our endeavours.

Let's let it melt on our tongue again: the world with all its fantastic kite, windsurf and wingfoil conditions just lie in front of you like an open book, whilst at the same time you have all information also available on screen and mobile anytime, anywhere! But in all this excitement let’s not forget that thousands of locals around the globe have trusted us with their knowledge and sent us an amazing invitation to share their home spots. Let’s be grateful and be good guests – please show them some respect…

Also, let's look beyond the scope of our own sports. For us, feeling so connected to the ocean, 'Mother Nature' is much more than a cliché. From the very first edition of the books, we’ve featured initiatives and organisations that promote conservation and preservation of oceans and beaches and who depend on our support. But this also works on a very personal level – if every one of us, every time we’re at the beach, simply picked up a discarded plastic bottle, tin can or any piece of rubbish and put it in the nearest bin, we wouldn’t just do Mother Nature a great service: the legacy would last for decades into the future, helping to keep our spots in the shape we’d like to find them in.

Salute & keep getting stoked!
Udo Hölker