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A Highwind Supply film
The Remote 10
Ten remote places over roughly ten years. The expeditions that became a gear shop.
Highwind didn't start as a shop. It started as a few friends, a pile of gear and a habit of going where the wind was and the crowds weren't — ten remote places over roughly ten years. Before there was a storefront there were boats, 4×4s and the question that followed us everywhere: what actually holds up out here?
Read the film narration
Before Highwind became a gear supplier, it was a group of friends chasing wind—far beyond the familiar. For ten years, every journey taught us something. How conditions expose weak design. How small choices change a session. Which equipment earns your trust when the weather turns. We tested it. Compared it. Repaired it. And learned, together. Those expeditions became our foundation. Today, Highwind Supply brings that knowledge home—helping every rider choose gear that truly fits where, and how, they ride. This is The Remote Ten.
What the trips taught us
Every journey was a lesson in equipment.
Remote water doesn't forgive a bad call: the wrong kite size in a gusty bay, a pump you can't trust on a sandbar, a harness that digs in by hour three. Those are the kinds of small differences the trips stopped letting us ignore. We compared what worked, fixed what didn't and carried the answers back. Everything since stands on that.
The atlas / ten places, ten lessons in gear
Where the lessons came from.
Tap a pin to open that place. Use the arrows (or swipe the chapter) to move through all ten.
Trade-wind flats, warm shallows and a different sandbar every day.
A vast Pacific lagoon where the day is shaped around moving water, a steady trade wind and a short boat ride to whichever sandbar is cleanest. The kind of place where the water stays shallow and warm for longer than you expect, and the horizon does most of the talking.
What it taught us
What steady wind teaches
A consistent trade wind makes kite sizing almost a ritual — you learn your true wind range instead of guessing. Shallow flats punish long foil masts and reward a twin tip you trust, and a day built around boat transfers teaches you to pack so nothing arrives cracked.
An isolated atoll with more lagoon than a week can cover.
An isolated Australian atoll far out in the Indian Ocean, with warm water, reliable trades and more lagoon than most riders could cover in a week. The kind of place where the nearest shop is an ocean away and the wind does not care.
What it taught us
Self-sufficiency is the whole plan
This far from anywhere, a torn leading edge or a failed pump ends the trip, not the session. The atoll taught us to travel with a proper repair kit, spare bladders and valves, and a pump we had already learned to trust at home.
Cay to cay by boat, a new launch whenever the wind asks.
Days spent moving by boat through white-sand cays and clear Caribbean flats, changing launch points as often as the wind changes its mind. The kind of place where the boat is the basecamp and the next island is always somewhere in view.
What it taught us
Range beats a favorite size
Moving between cays means the wind you launch in is rarely the wind you land in. That pushed us toward a two-kite quiver with honest overlap, and toward a harness comfortable enough to leave on between one launch and the next.
One open-sea crossing, then nothing but sand, wind and what you brought.
A small, exposed sandbar reached by boat — nothing built on it, nothing to hide behind, and a trip that lives or dies on local logistics. The kind of place where everything you need arrives on the same boat you did, and leaves the same way.
What it taught us
Protect what you can't replace
An open-sea transfer is hard on equipment — spray, hulls and stacked gear. A bare sandbar offers no shop and no second chance, so protective boardbags, a spares kit and a reliable pump stopped being accessories and became part of the plan.
Wild north coast, strong wind, flats inside and reef outside.
A remote Indian Ocean bay on Madagascar's wild north coast, combining protected water, reef energy and the kind of strong wind that rewards a carefully tuned quiver. The kind of place where the forecast says a lot and the gusts say more.
What it taught us
Gusts expose weak design
Strong, gusty wind is where kite construction stops being a spec sheet. We learned to value five-strut stability when the bay turned on, to rig a smaller kite than pride suggested, and to keep a directional directional kite board rigged for the days the wind lined up with the reef.
Reefs, ocean wind and three wind disciplines in one field of view.
A compact island base with open-ocean conditions and kites, wings and foils sharing one field of view. The kind of place where the morning might be a kite on the reef and the afternoon a wing over open water, with the same wind driving both.
What it taught us
One base, more than one craft
Watching kites, wings and foils share the same water showed us how much the right tool changes a session. Light days that would once have been written off became wing sessions, and reef days made the case for a strapless directional kite board over a twin tip.
A moving basecamp, reading the trades at breakfast.
A moving Caribbean basecamp: sleep aboard, read the trades at breakfast and reach protected anchorages without repeating a shoreline. The kind of place where the deck is your beach, your rigging area and your storage locker at once.
What it taught us
Pack for the boat, not the beach
Living aboard means every item has to earn its space. A tight kite quiver that covers the trade-wind range, a pump that works every single morning and bags that keep salt off the gear mattered more than any extra board.
Desert, ocean and the longest sessions of the year.
A desert-and-ocean training ground where long sessions, open space and dependable wind make progression the central luxury. The kind of place where the Atlantic keeps the water cooler than the desert sky suggests, and the wind keeps going long after your legs want to stop.
What it taught us
Long sessions change what fits
Hours on flat water reveal what a short session hides — a harness that pinches, a suit that chafes. Dakhla is where we learned that wetsuit thickness is a real decision when the water runs cooler than the air, and that harness fit matters more than harness looks.
A wind route through dune country, tidal river edges and downwind lines that feel more like an expedition than a resort week. The kind of place where you arrive by 4×4 and boat and leave by the wind.
What it taught us
Downwinders reward glide
Long downwind lines taught us what a front wing's glide is really for, and why a wing or foil turns the lighter morning hours into the best run of the trip. Sand, salt and truck beds taught the rest: a good boardbag is insurance.
Low-traffic cays and broad flats, reached with a captain and a loose plan.
Past the usual launches lie low-traffic cays and broad turquoise flats, best reached with a captain, a plan and room to change course. The kind of place where the wind, not the itinerary, decides where the day ends.
What it taught us
Plan for the wind you get
A boat day out here means bringing options: a kite for the trades and a foil for when they soften over the flats. Shallow water made short masts a habit, and a foil kit small enough to travel beside the kite bag made the second option an easy yes.
The expeditions are no longer the focus. What remains is the habit they built: noticing the small differences between kites, wings, foils and suits, and matching them to where and how you actually ride. That is the shop — an authorized US dealer for North and Mystic, run by riders who learned it on the water.
01Spares, repair parts and manuals, not just the headline gear
02Advice grounded in conditions, not catalogs
03Side-by-side comparisons that make small differences visible
04Honest sizing: wind range, water temperature, rider weight
Future departures
If we go again, you'll hear it here first.
Trips may still happen — rarely, privately, and with a short list of riders we know or come to know. There is no calendar and no brochure. Leave your email and we'll tell you if a departure forms.
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