All his career, Eric has always been in contact with wind and water elements as a genuine passionate. Professional sports trainer and instructor since 1991 specialized in sailing; he was introduced to Kiteboarding in 1997 by pioneers Manu Bertin and Bruno Legaignoux (co-founder of inflatable and bow kites patents).

Very quickly as the sport was rocketing and attracting a wider audience, Eric developed a network, teaching concepts to ensure safe and secure training of kite beginners.

In order to transmit and ensure worldwide diffusion, he co-founded with Frederic Bene the IKO (International Kiteboarding Organization, www.ikointl.com) which is now the reference in Kite teaching such as PADI for water diving.

As head of training Team, Eric has traveled the globe several times in the past 8 years to train IKO instructors and IKO examiners.

Author of various kiteboarding reference books translated in several languages (kiteboarding vision, IKO instructor manual,…), he has obviously been playing a key role since 1999 to develop the sport.

His knowledgeable experience in kite and sailing sector with a background in boat building and maintenance give Eric incomparable assets to design truly efficient and safe products. Co-founder of Starkites^® brand with Frederic Bene, Eric is managing the R&D part.

Passionate, creative and perfectionist, Eric is always first to put safety and efficiency as key value to any development. He is one of the major contributors continuously working on safety systems to ensure our sport follows the right path.

Not so often at his home which looks more like a kite shop, Eric designs and shapes night and day… except when stable wind and big curved waves are on the spot where he is close to!

Eric's motto: “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem”

» See Eric Beaudonnat press release