Prior to his wave at Cloudbreak, Ben was part of the early kitesurfing movement in Australia, winning Australia’s inaugural National Titles along with multiple competitions including the Merimbula Classic[1] and Schick Kitesurfing Series.
Ben spent over 10 years as a team rider for Slingshot, during which time he traveled the world and created feature-length documentaries such as The Dirty South and Shades of Green.
Windsurfing pros Robby Naish, Pete Cabrinha, Dave Kalama & Brett Lickle spent the Hawaiian off-season there testing and developing their own equipment for this new sport.
[5] At the time the sport’s focus was on twin-tip/freestyle so when Ben and several others including Jeff Tobias & Mauricio Abreu began using their surfboards in the waves it propelled kiteboarding into a new direction.
From there the wave riding movement gained traction and in 2009 Wilson launched his own surf-focused kite brand, BenWilsonSurf (now BWSURF).