Who doesn’t have a love-hate relationship to his or hers golf bag? It allows you to bring your favourite gear with you on your travels, saving you rental fees and letting you ride your dialed in kites. But it’s also a pain to bring along, trying to fit into transit cars and paying hefty airlines fees for sports equipment.
For me the solution is to use a split kite board on my trips, and in this post I show how all my gear fits into one of the best bags on the market for optimising size and weight.
Disclaimer
After rigorous research online I reached out to Eagle Creek because I genuinely believed their product to be the best fit for split kiteboards. As a result I received a review sample for free. The review is nevertheless 100% my honest and unbiased opinion, as recommending bad products would only hurt Global Kite Spot’s reputation in the long run.
Split board bag features
This duffel bag is jam-packed with features a traveling kitesurfer would want. For all the details check out Eagle Creek’s website, but here’s a summary:
- Perfect dimensions for split kite boards and all your gear, 82cm long x 35cm tall x 40cm wide
- Super lightweight of 1.8kg
- Wheels for rolling
- Padding in the bottom
- Backpack straps for carrying on back
- Strategic handle placements for holding and lifting
- Solid build quality and durable materials
- Water repellant
- Less is more attitude with one massive storage space and one outside pocket
- Comes in its own bag and can be stowed away using minimal storage space
The only concern I have is that although the materials are strong, the canvas is thin so might wear easily against pointy and sharp objects. Make sure you pack the bag in a way so that any sharp edges from the board, harness etc aren’t rubbing against the canvas. Remember that it will be tossed around by airport personnel who doesn’t give a rat’s ass about your bag. Personally I’ll probably reinforce some of the inner walls with some padding material just in case.
Packing and travel
Eagle Creek’s Rolling Duffel is the perfect fit for my kitesurf trips. In combination with a split board I can now travel with a bag almost half the size and 3.5kg lighter compared with my golf bag. Here’s a list of what I can fit in the bag, with a total weight of 20.5kg including the bag.
- 15m + 10m kites
- Bar
- Harness
- Leash
- Pump
- Boot bindings
- Split board and fins
There is still room for a few minor things and I could probably swap the boots or the pump for another small kite. With the right packing strategy I think a couple could even fit two sets of gear in there (if bringing two kites only and ride with straps and pads instead of boots).
The Eagle creek Cargo Hauler Rolling Duffel comes in 120l and 90l options and a few great looking colour variations. Check them out at Eagle Creek’s website.
Vorrei sapere il prezzo di questa borsa
é qui: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eagle-Creek-Hauler-Rolling-Duffel/dp/B01JOCNE5W
I bought an element split board and the Eagle Creek bag because of this article. I tried to pad the corners of the kiteboard, but still after 1 trip to Panama, the seems are all blown out on the edges. How has it held up for you? The video and review were obviously made before you actually used it to travel anywhere. The bag is way to shiny and new looking.
I love the concept, just not the durability.
Happy to hear that I inspired a reader with this post. I agree it’s not optimal from endurance POV. The duffel has held up fine for me, but I did reinforce it from the inside with Kevlar cloth on the critical areas. The short side where the board edges rub against the fabric has taken the biggest toll but still holds up. The board didn’t last though. How’s your board doing?