Rewind three years and 99.9% of all kiteboarders would have never heard of Tona, the super-cool company based in Antigua which is in the West Indies. But now, the boys are popping up all over the place, from kite promos to the best of YouTube compilations. You could definitely say they’re the hipsters of kiteboarding right now.

In particular, it’s Jake Kelsick who’s been doing the promo rounds, after a high profile jaunt with internet superstar Devin Graham in Aruba. With almost 2 million subscribers, Devin (Supertramp) Graham is a handy guy to know when it comes to marketing yourself as a kiteboarder. So armed with that little bit of publicity, Jake then got into the GoPro world, scoring no less than four of the highly acclaimed ‘GoPro Photo of the Day” shots. While one is admittedly of him on a hydrofoiling Moth, not a kite, the attention was none-the-less focused on him and his fancy Antiguan accent. The girls are loving it.

But anyway, back to Tona, the company that you’ve no doubt come across on your travels in the kiteboarding world. This company which makes $600 kiteboards, who set up from a tiny island where it’s difficult to buy an iPod, let alone kiteboarding equipment, is stealing market share from the big brands. They also stole Andre Phillip, who was Cabrinhas main man for years before he chose to buy into Tona, ride Slingshot RPM’s and spend more time chilling out, living the Island Life…

Speaking of which, their video from 2012, Island Time put this company on the map, check it out below. And if you’re wondering why we’re talking about these guys this week, we simply thought you’d like an explanation as to where they came from, and why you’re seeing so much of them.

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