Fanatic is one of the most traditional windsurfing brands in the world. The name first appeared in 1981. In the heights of the Westerwald, the first windsurf boards left the thermoforming moulds at the Schütz factories. First a board called Eagle and later a large selection of boards whose names could have been taken from Brehm's Animal Life: Cobra, Fox, Rabbit were just the beginning, followed by Bee, Mosquito, Mamba, Viper and many more. Only in recent years have some of the animal names disappeared from the model range. Grip, Skate, Freewave came into play, but Gecko, Falcon or Jag are still an expedition into the animal kingdom today.
Fanatic experienced the glory days of the sport, but also survived crises and changes of ownership almost unscathed. In addition to windsurfing boards, SUP boards were added first and then foils and boards for waving. All under the name Fanatic and under the umbrella of the Boards & More Group, which is also responsible for the accessories and neoprene brand ION and the sailing and kite brand Duotone. Duotone was created in 2018 after the licence with North Sails for kitesurfing and windsurfing products was not renewed and a new start was made with a new brand name but the same people behind the products.
From now on, the windsurfing and wing products will also be called Duotone. Only the SUP division will retain the traditional Fanatic name. What is the background to the name change? Till Eberle, Managing Director Boards and More, Craig Gertenbach, previously Brand Manager Fanatic, Raoul Joa, Division Manager Windsurf and Klaas Voget, Division Manager Product and Marketing Wing Foiling, explain.
What were the reasons for letting such a traditional name as Fanatic disappear?
Till: "With Fanatic and Duotone, we have two very strong brands at Boards & More that are very similarly positioned. Fanatic has a heritage of over 45 years. We grew up with Fanatic and we made Fanatic big. But since we founded the new Duotone brand for our kiteboarding products in 2018, this brand has achieved incredible strength, expertise and acceptance among our customers. Duotone already covers a large part of the water sports world, from kitesurfing and windsurfing sails to wings for wing foiling. At Duotone, we combine enormous expertise. That is why we have decided to offer the products from the performance sector that were previously sold under the Fanatic brand under the Duotone brand in future, i.e. windsurf boards, wing foil boards and foils. The logical consequence is that we will be phasing out Fanatic in the windsurfing and wing foiling segment over the next six months. In the commercial SUP segment (stand up paddling), the Fanatic brand will remain. With Fanatic, we are focussing fully on this segment and will continue to offer corresponding products to a much broader target group under the Fanatic brand."
What can Duotone do that Fanatic can't?
Till: "A key strategy for the future of Boards & More is that we not only offer products, but also experiences that offer our customers real added value. These already include the Duotone Pro Centre, the Duotone Academy app, our Young Blood Camps and the Save our Playground sustainability initiative. With all these measures, we don't differentiate between the sports we have in our portfolio. Nor does it make sense to differentiate between brands. We can achieve much more here with a concentrated brand power."
Raoul: "When we completed the transfer to Duotone Windsurf Sailing in 2018, it gave the windsurfing division an incredible boost. Our windsurfing customers responded extremely positively to this brand transfer. Internally, we mutually benefited from so much concentrated knowledge, which resulted in a common brand with a common goal."
Till: "And that's exactly how it is now with Fanatic and Duotone. Once we had overcome the threshold of this decision, it became clear at work how much energy and creative potential this releases and how right it is. The combined expertise of two brands is now bundled. We are segmenting the windsurf and wing products much more clearly in terms of their fit, everything comes from a single mould."
Craig, you surfed on Fanatic boards in the Windsurf World Cup back in 1995, then you were a tester, product manager and since 2004 brand manager for Fanatic. How difficult is this step for you as Mr Fanatic?
Craig: "It wasn't such a big hurdle for me. It may look like a huge step from the outside, but for us it's a completely natural development. You can never stand still in life. Fanatic and Duotone have been team riders for years, organising photo shoots together and launching products on the same date. It's actually already one team and one brand, just with two different logos. And that's inefficient for everyone. The development teams for windsurf boards and sails have been working together for years anyway. Dani Aeberli for boards and Marco Lang for sails will take on more important roles as product managers in the future. Raoul and I will support them with our experience."
A Skate, Freewave or Falcon is and remains a Skate, FreeWave or Falcon"
Raoul: "The product lines are and will remain as we know them. This applies to the windsurf sails that we have been selling under Duotone since 2018: A Warp or Super Hero was and is always the sail that everyone loves so much. And the same applies to the windsurf boards in 2023: a Skate, Freewave or Falcon is and remains a Skate, FreeWave or Falcon, only now a Duotone Skate, Duotone FreeWave and Duotone Falcon. The entire team remains the same, product management, team riders and in the design process with our lead designers: Kai Hopf designs the windsurf sails, Sebastian Wenzel the shapes of the windsurf boards."
Craig: "The most important thing is that the product is right and that the people who create the products are passionate about it. Did customers buy a Fanatic board because of the logo? No, but because of our expertise in development (R&D), the good image, the team riders, the reliability of the shops, etc.". Is the designer still there? Yes. Is the product manager still there? Yes. Is it still part of Boards & More? Yes. Will the productions remain the same? Yes. Does the grip still exist, the Sky Wing? Yes and yes. We offer continuity, reliability, quality in the team and the products, as Boards & More has been known for decades."
Till: "It simply brings customers better products when we create synergies and perfectly harmonise the development of boards and sails. In a sport as sophisticated as windsurfing, little things make a big difference. With a "perfect match", you get even more performance out of the set-up."
Synergy is always a nice buzzword. But how do you actually bring this to life at Boards & More and Duotone?
Till: "In development, we no longer work in individual sports silos anyway, but crossover. We were only able to establish wing foiling so successfully at Boards & More in such a short space of time because competent input came from all our sports areas. Ken Winner, Duotone kite designer, who incidentally also played a key role in the development of shortboards in windsurfing in the past, now develops the wings. Klaas, who tests the windsurf waveboards, is now Head of Wing Foiling Development. Our D/LAB and SLS series with the innovative materials from the Kite Division flow into wings and windsurf sails. Synergies in the development of the various sports really do take the products a lot further for our customers. Together we are simply stronger. That has always been the case at Boards & More. Without windsurfing sales, our origin over 30 years ago, kitesurfing would never have been so successful. In turn, we would never have been able to develop wing-following as a new sport so dynamically without the resources of kiting. This family of sports brands is so strong because we have a common platform with the Boards & More Group. Developers, importers, retailers and employees in Molln and Oberhaching - decades of experience and continuity are the cornerstone for innovation, quality and service."
Craig: "By co-inventing the new sport of wing foiling, our sport structure became intermingled. Wing foiling built a bridge between kitesurfing and windsurfing, because part of the development came from each sport, and athletes from both areas discovered wing foiling for themselves. Suddenly the whole thing became blurred. Everyone is open-minded, which is exciting and breaks down barriers. Here at our centre alone, you can see how many people are now doing all kinds of sports. That's another reason why we use crossmatrix teams. Those who are good in one specialism should do exactly that. It is much more efficient and only logical to do this under one brand. From now on, everything in wingsurfing and windsurfing will also come from a single source, as we have already very successfully established with Duotone Kiteboarding."
Traditionally, there have always been board brands and sail brands in windsurfing. But that's outdated. It doesn't give customers an advantage."
Raoul: "What's more, in kitesurfing there is no separation of brands between boards and kites. In windsurfing, on the other hand, there have traditionally always been board brands and sail brands. But that's outdated. It doesn't give customers an advantage. Many of our customers practise windsurfing and wings or kitesurfing and wings. The mindset today is much more open. Narrow-minded thinking such as 'I'm only a windsurfer or only a kitesurfer' no longer exists."
Klaas: "All my windsurfing colleagues go wingsurfing on not-so-good days or at not-so-good spots. By combining these sports, they have three times as much water time. "
Klaas, until recently you were quite successful in the Windsurf World Cup and helped develop many boards for Fanatic. Now you have completely switched to wings.
Klaas: "All my windsurfing colleagues go wingsurfing on not-so-good days or at not-so-good spots. By combining these sports, they have three times as much water time. In principle, I had already completely merged the two worlds, riding Duotone wings on Fanatic boards and Fanatic foils with Duotone × Fanatic Co-Lab masts. In the wing foiling sector, there were a lot of synergies between the two brands right from the start via the development teams, which develop wings, boards and foils together in parallel. If the wing matches the speed of the foil, it is simply much more pleasant to ride. You only get the best results in a shared world. When we were developing the new generation of foils, Craig asked at some point: 'Why do we have foils with different brand names for kite, wing and windsurf? That makes no sense! We need to create compatibility for all settings, for all three sports - with one logo. That's the only way we can be a strong foil brand. The decision was then made relatively quickly: the strongest brand currently at Boards & More is Duotone. From now on, Duotone will act as an overall brand. For kite, windsurf, wing - and also for foil."
Till: "Wing Foilen has opened our eyes and broken down our boundaries."
Klaas: "But the important question is: What is the clear customer benefit? The answer is that product excellence will be strengthened even further. Duotone stands for quality and innovation. Our customers no longer have to compare two brands, which makes sense from the foil, they get everything from a single source. Keep it simple! And: the foil range will be maximally compatible across all areas of application."
Wing Foilen has opened our eyes and broken down our boundaries."
Does this mean that I can wing foil, kite foil and windsurf foil with a Duotone Foil in the future?
Klaas: "Yes, and of course also prone foiling, wake foiling, downwind foiling, pump foiling... During testing, we realised that windsurfers and kiters suddenly appreciated foils that we had originally developed for wing foiling. And wingers were suddenly screwing a Duotone mast under their boards because it is slimmer and therefore faster. Previously, there were different mounting systems for kitesurfing, windsurfing and wing foiling. It is a totally logical step to standardise on one mounting system and create a sensible, common range for the different segments. After all, the requirements for an excellent foil are basically the same in all foil disciplines. From 2024, there will be mast-fuselage combinations that are perfect for kitesurfing, wingsurfing and windsurfing - as well as for all the other disciplines mentioned above. There will also be front and back wings for different areas of use - of course, individual wings are predestined for special conditions - but everything is compatible with each other."
Till: "An overall Duotone brand brings so many advantages for our customers by pooling our expertise and moving much more strongly into the future together. What belongs together grows together."
The interview was conducted by former surf author Bernd Zerelles on behalf of Boards & More.
