Kode To Succes

Starboard and Kevin Pritchard spill the beans on KP’s third place finish at the recent Cabo Verde PWA World Cup.

There’s been a lot of speculation about rider’s gear, and specifically what they were competing on at Ponta Preta during the Cabo Verde PWA World Cup. Here to clear things up is third place finisher, Kevin Pritchard, who scooped his podium finish on a combination of gear you’d be hard pressed to have a guess at.

We heard that there was some trouble with your board bags arriving at Cabo Verde. What happened?

“Yeah I arrived a week early, I had planned to do some training there a week before the event. When I got there actually my bag didn’t arrive, it really sucked when I saw all the other guys turn up and their bags had arrived.”

What boards did you intend to compete on?

“I had some super big twin fins made up like 93 litres cause last year it was so light and I wanted to be ready for anything. The smaller board that I brought was an 87 litre.”

What boards did you actually compete on?


“Actually I was pretty lucky, Boujmaa had been doing a photoshoot with Starboard in Australia. I was intending on doing a small shoot in Cabo Verde, therefore he had bought me over a Kode 80. As this was the only Starboard I had, my setup was a bit sketchy: 5.7m – 80 litre Kode – 200 lbs with mast high sets coming in. Sign me up!
As soon as I got on the board it was amazing, it was early to get planning and it was really fast, it wasn’t really big enough for the 5.7 and me, but on the wave it was perfect. People were telling me that it was the best they have ever seen me sail. Maybe this is a future combo for me, big sail and small board!”

Can you confirm the board was a production board?

“Yeah the Kode had come straight out of the factory.”

The last few years we have seen you on your customs at Cabo Verde, how would you compare your custom boards with the production boards?

“Well I have to say that my result speaks for itself really. I got the board 3 hours before my heat, took it out and went on to win third place with it. I was totally stoked that I could just pick up a board and ride it so easily and compete against the world’s best. Just goes to show that the Kode is a board that you can get comfortable easily on and has pretty much No limits.”

As many of us know Cabo Verde is such a famous wave event, next year will we see you on production boards or will you go back to your customs?

“Well, for me it is much easier on the bigger boards when it is light. This year I am really focusing on the slalom so I am trying to get my weight up to the weights of Bjorn, Micah and Antoine! So we will just have to wait and see!”

Andrew Buchanan / Starboard / PWA