Name: Eric Rienstra
Hometown: Kings Beach, California USA
Windsurfing since: 1991
Skiing since: 1991
Snowboarding since: 1997
Kiting since: 2003
Surfing since: 2006
Winging since: 2023
I was born in Reno, Nevada on December 18, 1987. Two years later my family moved to Kings Beach, a small town on the California side of the north shore of Lake Tahoe. My earliest memories are from when I was around 4 years old; my parents took me to Sherman Island, a small island in the Sacramento River Delta, and taught me how to windsurf. That winter I attended Preschool at Northstar where I was taught how to ski. For the next six years I spent the winters skiing and going to school in Tahoe while spending summers playing sports and windsurfing at Sherman Island on the weekends. My first skateboard and mountain board were somewhere in there as well. In 1997 I traded the skis for a snowboard but continued to Nordic ski for the school team. In 2002 I started High School at North Tahoe. I participated on many school teams, football in the fall, snowboarding in the winter, and track in the spring. In 2006 we won the State Championship in Snowboarding.
My life as a kiter started at the end of summer in 2003 I took my first Kiteboarding lesson from Kitopia Kiteboarding School on Sherman Island. Then in February of 2004 I went to Maui for spring break and rented gear. From then on I was hooked. I returned to Sherman Island that summer and switched my focus to kiteboarding. Later that summer I met the local rep for Slingshot Kiteboarding became a regional rider.
In 2005 I competed in my first Kiteboarding competition, King of the Bay in San Francisco. Although I didn’t make it out of the first round I got my first taste of competition and knew I wanted to do it more. After graduating from high school in June 2006 I moved out to Sherman Island to train for competitions. I again competed in the King of the Bay that summer. Also competed at the Bridge of the Gods in Stevenson, Washington. I then moved to Maui in August to attend college and continue training through the winter. I learned to surf as soon as I got off the plane. In October I was signed to the Slingshot B Team for 2007.
In Summer 2007 I traveled to Texas for the US Wind and Water Open. Later that summer was my first World Cup appearance in Cabarete. I also won best trick at the Big Air Wind Jam in San Francisco before returning to Maui for more school and training. In November 2007 I left Slingshot to ride on the International Team for Litewave boards and Globe Kites.
March 2008 I traveled to Playa del Carmen, Mexico for my second PKRA World Cup. I signed with Dakine in April as a B Team rider. I then returned to California that summer and road tripped up to Hood River, Oregon for the Gorge Games where I competed in Big Air and Freestyle. Then in August I continued north to the Nitnat Windfest at Nitnat Lake, Vancouver, Canada. In September I returned to Maui once again to help with R&D, testing, and promotion for Wainman Hawaii Kites.
January 2009 I attended the La Ventana Classic and Expo in La Ventana, BCS, Mexico where I completed the island crossing and participated in the big air/old school exhibition. In May I returned to California to help the sales rep for Slingshot with promotion and demos. I then tripped back up to Hood River for the summer and picked up a sponsorship from Hyperflex Wetsuits and was signed to Slingshot’s A Team. I decided to stay in the gorge for the rest of the summer to continue riding the park at the Hood River Spit and to shoot for Nate Appel's “A Work in Progress.” Then in the September I headed out to Hatteras, NC for a photo/video trip with the team from Transcend Apparel and lined up a position as a coach for Real Kiteboarding for the 2010 season.
December 2009 I took a break and returned to Tahoe to teach snowboarding for a few months and prepare for my move to NC in March. In June I won a wildcard invite to the 2010 SSS Invitational. Then in July I began shooting for the French DVD Magazine “Stance” and headed back to Hood River, OR for a couple weeks for the 1st Annual Ro-Sham-Throw Down and to shoot for Slingshot’s 2011 product line. Slingshot then sent me up to Lake Huron for the Sauble Kite Jam in September.
After finishing the 2010 season off in Hatteras, I headed down to Florida to ride the cable parks for the first time and kite in the Keys. Then I went west for some snow kiting in the Sierras and Rockies before moving back to Maui in February 2011. The 2011 Triple S brought me back to Hatteras in June. I stayed for a month then headed back to Hood River in July for the 2012 Slingshot Product Shoot and the 2nd Ro-Sham-Throw Down. I also hit up the KB4C and Gorge Blowout. In August I road tripped south with Slingshot West Coast Rep to do gear demos in California. After having a solid month of shredding my old stomping grounds, I flew out to Ontario in September for the 2011 Sauble Kite Jam and The King of the Great Lakes. Then in October I returned to Hatteras for two months to finish off the fall season before rolling back down to Florida to hit up some more cable and shoot for my web video "Weaponized."
After finishing the 2010 season off in Hatteras, I headed down to Florida to ride the cable parks for the first time and kite in the Keys. Then I went west for some snow kiting in the Sierras and Rockies before moving back to Maui in February 2011. The 2011 Triple S brought me back to Hatteras in June. I stayed for a month then headed back to Hood River in July for the 2012 Slingshot Product Shoot and the 2nd Ro-Sham-Throw Down. I also hit up the KB4C and Gorge Blowout. In August I road tripped south with Slingshot West Coast Rep to do gear demos in California. After having a solid month of shredding my old stomping grounds, I flew out to Ontario in September for the 2011 Sauble Kite Jam and The King of the Great Lakes. Then in October I returned to Hatteras for two months to finish off the fall season before rolling back down to Florida to hit up some more cable and shoot for my web video "Weaponized."
In January 2012, I was invited on my first Slingshot team trip to Nitro City Action Sports Resort in Panama, where we spent a week shooting a couple web videos. After that I hit up Utah for a couple of North American Snowkite Tour events and the 2012 Maitai Snowkite Camp. Then I went back to Nitro City for the whole month of March to help them with promotion and lessons. I returned to Hatteras in April to kick off the spring season. In May I competed in my first wakeboarding event, the first stop of the Summer Slider Series at the East Coast Wake Park in Greenville, NC. Then the 2012 Triple S Invitational kicked off in June. After the event it was straight to Hood River for the 2013 Slingshot Product Shoot. The team and I also shot the video Woodgrain II before the 2012 Ro Sham Throwdown in July. I stayed in Hood for a couple more weeks after for the Bridge of the Gods freestyle event and race in the Gorge Blowout. August took me back to Hatteras for a month and a half before dipping down to the Florida Keys to hang at the Keys Cable. In October I left North America for the first time and moved to Taiba, Ceara, Brazil in South America for two months to shoot the 2013 Fuel product video for Slingshot as well as collaborate with Sam Medysky, Craig Cunningham, and Sam Light on the web videos "Shapes" and "Eric Rienstra @ Taiba Lagoon."
In December I moved back to Nitro City, Panama for Nitrothon 2. In January 2013 the Slingshot Team rolled out and we shot "Nitro City Panama - Where Slingshot Chooses to Play." Then in February, Craig Cunningham, Colleen Carroll, Claire Lutz, and Chris Bobryk cruised down and we shot "NA Blend @ Nitro City." I returned to Florida in April 2013 for the usual tour with Billy Parker and we filmed "B&E: Florida." Then I made my way up to Hatteras in May to get ready for Triple S. Before the event Nate Appel shot a quick video with me, Brandon Scheid, and a few others from the Real crew called "#Chicamacomico." After SSS I returned to the West Coast. In July I met up with the Slingshot Team in Hood River and shot "The Gorge" with Patrick Weiland. In August I won the Gorge Blowout. In October I met up with the Na Blend Crew video in Brazil and shot the video "Joint Ops" before going to Venezuela to meet up with John Perdina for an event on Coche. Then in December I went back to Panama.
In February 2014 I competed in the PKRA Panama Kiteboard World Cup. The Slingy Crew came down and we filmed "Slingshot Panama Moments." April brought me back to Hawaii for another Slingshot photo shoot, then in May it was back to Hatteras to shred the park before SSS in June. I filmed the video "Fully Automatic" with Nate Appel then went back to Hood River for the month of July. August was my first trip to Europe! I landed in Hamburg and took the train up to Sylt for a weekend with the owner of Makulo. Then we headed back south to Saint Peter Ording for the PKRA World Cup where I was hired and trained as a Judge. After that it was off to Blaga, Russia for the 2014 Bee Line Cup/Rail Masters. Then it was on to Tarifa, Spain in September where I Judged the PKRA stop there and stayed with Forrest Bakker for a few weeks partying. Then I headed to England and stayed with Sam Light at his house on Hayling Island for 3 weeks shredding his local spot and Liquid Leisure Cable. In October we headed to Brazil for the first Makulo house in Cumbucco and the 2015 Slingshot photo shoot in Barra Grande. Then I posted up in Taiba again with the NA Blend crew for the month of November. In December I went to Rosario, Argentina for a week to promote a new cable park opening, then went back to Nitro City, Panama for Nitrothon once again. After that I went home to Tahoe to see my family for Christmas.
I kicked off 2015 still in California but because of lack of snow at home I headed to the Central Coast to roll with the Cali Crew. After that I headed to Hatteras in April and stayed 4 months shredding the park and SSS of course. I filmed the video short "Hits 4 Days" then took off to Europe again. I landed in Lisbon at the end of July and road tripped down the coast to Lagos, then on to Tarifa for a weekend. Then in August I flew to Fuerteventura to Judge the VKWC Event there. After the event I took a ferry to Gran Canaria and posted up in Maspalomes before flying to Germany for the 2015 SPO event. Then from Germany I flew to Brazil in September and shot some photos in with Andre Magarao in Cauipe Lagoon and Uruau before meeting up with the NA Blend in Taiba.
I flew home for Christmas again before heading to the Philippines in January 2016 for the first stop of the new Kite Park League Tour, the Blue Palawan Kiteboard Open and after the event I stayed for a month at the Republic and CWC Cable Parks. I left Slingshot February and was signed to the Core Kites International Team. After another month at home snowboarding, I went to El Gouna, Egypt to Judge the first stop of the 2016 IKA Freestyle World Tour. Then it was on to the second stop in Luecate, France where I also drove up to Bordeaux to visit my hommie Ben Palliard. Then I attended the Riders 4 Riders Slider event in Austria before heading to Urla, Turkey for the Kick and Slide event. After that in June it was straight to Hatteras for SSS again where I met up with Mike Phaneuf and began driving the Core Kites USA Demo van to Hood River. After a few months doing demos and the usual slew of events in Hood, including the Slider Project Hood Jam, I drove down to California and picked up my Core teammate Jon Van Malsen and we drove the van back to Florida in September for Surf Expo, stoping in Huston for a demo. Then I flew off to China to Judge another IKA event, then Wales, UK for the Rhosneigr Park Jam, and finally Sardinia, Italy to judge the IKA Tour final, all within a month. Then it was back to Florida for two months to continue the demo tour.
2017 kicked off with me landing in the Philippines on New Years Day to hit up the cable park for a few weeks in preperation for the Solaire Blue Open. Then after the event in February I moved on to Thailand for the Kite Tour Asia event in Pak Nam Pran. March saw me back to Florida to pick up were I left off with the Core USA Demo Tour. After touring the East Coast I stopped in Hatteras in May and hit up Triple S in June. Then in July back to Hood River for the Hood Jam, KB4C, Bridge of the Gods, and the Blowout. Then in August I fly to Germany for the Mercedes-Benz Kitesurf World Cup in Fehmarn and then to Poland for the Flyn Bay Bash. After that in September was Urla Turkey for the Kick N Slide and then on to Rhosneigr, North Wales for the Rhosneigr Park Jam again. With the KPL season over, I decided to take a break from kiting for a while and went back to California to visit my family and surf up and down the coast for the rest of the year.
January 2018 started with the La Ventana Classic in Baja, Mexico and even more surfing in California. Then I hit up Tahoe for a few months of snowboarding before it was time to go back to Hatteras in April for the Triple S and to film Send It. Then Hood in July for the usual onslaught of events. I injured my knee during the Hood Jam and had to end my season early though. I was able to limp through the Huckfest but couldn't do the Blowout. In December I got back on a board surfing in Morro Bay while visiting my family for the holidays.
In March 2019 I went back to Hood River to snowboard a bit before flying to Hatteras in April to get an early jump on the season. I competed in Triple S and filmed for a documentary that my Core teammate Brian Wennerstein was making. Then in June I flew back to Hood River and competed in KB4C, Hood Jam, and the Blowout. In August I went to Kite Clash in Squamish, Canada. September I went back to Hatteras for the Wave Classic and stayed for a couple months before fly back to Oregon and road tripping through California in December.
January 2020 I hit up La Ventana Baja to do some demos for Core then road tripped back up the Cali coast to Tahoe. In February I made my way to Florida and road tripped around the whole coast hitting up St Pete, Naples, Miami, The Keys, Jupiter, and Cocoa Beach. When Covid hit in March I posted up in Cocoa Beach for the whole month of April. May beaches opened again I continued to Texas, hitting up Houston, Corpus Christi, and SPI. June I crossed over to the West Coast and stayed in the Bay Area for a while before continuing up to Hood River in July. After a few months there I returned South to the Morro Bay/Santa Barbara area. On November 18th I met my darling Meg and we spent the rest of the year surfing and exploring Central California.
January 2021 we took a trip up to Tahoe to go snowboarding for Meg's birthday. Then it was off to Florida to start the demo season in St Pete. In February Meg came out and we tripped down the east coast of Florida hitting Ft Pierce and Jupiter before continuing all the way to the Keys. March we made our way back to Miami before crossing west over to Ft Myers then up to Jacksonville. After finishing the month in St Pete, we began out trip west to Texas in April. We stoped in New Orleans along the way and checked out Bourbon Street before arriving in Houston. Then we visited Meg's brother in Austin. Meg flew home from there and I continued to SPI. In May I arrived back in California and we went to Lake Isabella, Sequoia National Park, Belmont, Santa Barbara, and Pismo before continuing north to San Fransisco. After spending all of June hitting all the spots in the SF Bay Area, in July we stopped at Tahoe and Flores Lake en route to Hood River. In October we went to Bali and stayed in Uluwatu for the month of November and visited Rote and Ubud. In December we checked out the Gran Bazaar on our layover in Istanbul. Then I drove from Cape Cod to Florida to start the US Demo Tour before returning to California for the Holidays.
In January 2022 Meg and I returned to Florida and rented a house in Cocoa Beach. We also got sessions in St Pete and Jacksonville before heading south to Ft Pierce, Miami, Pompano, and the Keys in February. March was spent hitting up Jupiter, Cocoa Beach, St Pete, and Delray Beach. In April I tripped north to Charleston and Hatteras before flying to California for my friend James' wedding in Malibu in May. We also hit up Big Sur before I returned back to Hatteras and continued north to New Jersey. In June I made my way to Cape Cod, Boston, Buffalo and Michigan before returning to California. July was spent doing demos everywhere between Belmont and SF, then it was off to Hood River in August. I competed in the KPL Team Battle where I won the Best Natural Feature Hit. Then after AWSI we rolled back down through Tahoe on our way back to Central Cali in October. Then in December I drove down to La Ventana for the start of the New Year.
January 2023 kicked off with a New Years Eve Party at Hot Springs Beach in La Ventana. Then after a couple weeks there we had a quick stint at home before jetting off to Patagonia for the KPL Patagonia Invitational in February. Then in March I went to the Core International Dealers Meeting in Cape Town. April I was back in Cali for Johnathan's wedding and I hit up the King of the Cove in Ocean Beach before heading out to Hatteras in May. From there I flew to Sicily for the KPL event in Lo Stagone then returned to start the 2023 Demo Tour. In June I tripped from Hatteras up the coast to NJ, NY, Cape Cod, Boston, and Lake Michigan. After making it back home in July I went up to Squamish for Medysky's wedding before continuing demos in California. August brought us back to Hood River. After AWSI we drove home stopping at Crater Lake in September. In October we went to Mike's wedding in Hatteras and I went to Brazil for the KPL Championship in Taiba. In November I returned home and in December we went snowboarding in Tahoe.
2024 kicked off with Megs Birthday in Cali followed by the start of the demo tour in Florida. In February Meg came down and we hit up the Wind Games in Islamorada, her first event! In March I came back to Cali for a visit before continuing the demo tour onto Houston in April. After a few weeks there I stopped in Dallas for a day then started the journey to the west coast. In May we went to a wedding in Merced then camping in Yosemite.
