About Phillip Schonger
When I look up while kiteboarding there are two things that I often see, ospreys on the hunt and the bottom of Philipp Schonger ‘s board.
Pretty much every Northwest kiteboarder knows Phil. But for the land lubbers, Phil is the head of our local kiteboarding organization. As such, he’s organized events, like the Light Wind Olympics, gear swaps and parties. He’s our local big air champion and has competed in big air competitions around the world. He’s also a super friendly dude who made me feel like a big part of the community from the moment I met him.
Phil was next on my list to dedicate a board to. As I was gathering materials for it, I learned that he had a serious accident that has led to a long recovery. While building this I was sending positive vibes his way and I hope seeing this at least puts a smile on his face. He’s been an inspiration and I am glad to see him back on the water after months of difficult recovery.
As for ospreys, they are bad ass birds who dive under water to catch fish then carry them to their nests. My first time seeing one, I saw what looked like a fish with wings flying overhead. I thought I was losing my mind until the bird became visible. I often cheer for them when I’m on the water and send rock hands their way. They are very metal 
Building the Board
During the summer of 2021, I was working on my strapless transitions, foot swaps, jibes, riding toe side etc. In the course of this I would occasionally catch small amounts of air off of little kicker waves. So I decided to try building a board designed for getting the most out of kickers. This board has a wide flat nose with super aggressive rocker and straight rails to the tail to give the board more sail area for catching wind while in the air. My hope was a board to learn how to do strapless ollies with.
The Ride
I took this board out to Double Bluff in November of 2021. That day we had swells big enough to make everyone else disappear which is much bigger than usual and this was totally the wrong board to have in those conditions. I should have ran back to my car and grabbed my usual board but I was determined to ride this one.
As it turns out, this board did exactly what I designed it for. It launched off of every wave it hit and I found myself bucked, and dunked witch each little curl that looked up to say hello. It took me an hour to come to terms with Phil and after that it was bliss. Well, at least until the wind kicked up and started blowing everyone off the water.