A Brief History

Surface Tension is a family run and family oriented company that was the brain child of me, Chris Hill, back in 1999.

I had spent 17 years in the film industry and was looking for a way out of spending so much time away from home working 10 to 14 hours a day helping to turn somebody else's fantasies into reality for the silver screen. More time engaged in the adventure pursuits of rock climbing and surfing of which had been my major passions for some considerable time had to be found.

 

To this end I took some time out to work through a short apprenticeship to master the art of shaping surfboards, much to the dismay of my wife, Bron, who thought I was loosing the plot..! keeping up the mortgage payments and putting food on the family table while satisfying the hunger for adventure and independence was a difficult balance.

Thus was the beginning of Surface Tension and the birth of a small business carrying out 'ding repairs' and shaping surfboards for a local crew of hardcore surfers.

It wasn't too long before the reality of the situation meant finding more work in the film industry to service this need for surf trips, adventure and to keep Surface Tension a viable proposition.

 

A few years earlier I had been given a Peter Powell stunt kite on a surf trip to Fuerterventura by this great character known locally as the 'Flying Dutchman'. This had wet my appetite for kites, but sadly on return to the UK the kite only lasted a few months until it could not be patched up any further, so kiting never really got any serious attention. That was until the year 2000 when I had an unexpected visit from a climbing friend of mine, Bob Drury - who had ended up becoming a test pilot for Ozone Gliders. He had been asked by Ozone to help them get into the kite sports market in the UK. He did not have the time to organise the UK distribution, and so asked me if I was interested. We went and test flew the kites (the first 1.5 Little Devil) and from that moment I was hooked!!

Three months later and after some basic market research I went to France to meet up with the prime movers behind Ozone kites. Following a week of intense meetings, planning and strategy I returned to the UK with the distribution for Ozone and Surface Tensions biggest challenge was just about to start!

From 2001 till June 2008 Surface Tension worked hard on the promotion of the Ozone brand and also promoting kite sports within the public sector.

 

With the help of Graham Steel, myself, Steve Burgoine and later Adrian Lavelle we built one of the most successful race buggy teams ever seen in the UK, all racing under the Ozone Flag.

In 2003 Bron my wife joined Surface Tension full time as our client base had grown remarkably and the volume of work was just too much for one person to cope with. We also had to embrace the Freestyle aspect of the sport and so began the building of another great crew of mountain boarders and buggy riders who seemed to gel like no other group of people I have ever worked with.

 

Another great bonus for me is that as my children have now grown up and I have the benefit of their valued input into our business. Both Joe and Nikki have become very proficient kite surfers and Instructors. While Nikki works outside of our company for leading climbing manufacturer DMM International, Joe is working as a freelance power-kite and kite-surf instructor for us and other local schools. I think he has the best of it though. Working the summer in the UK and spending the winters in the Alps feeding his snowboard addiction -;)

 

Philosophy

At Surface Tension we have always embraced a philosophy based on quality, knowledge, honesty and customer service.

We believe that these are the all important factors in being able to bring our customers the best possible products and match them to our customers needs. We specialise in just a few brands products that are reliable, work well for us, our customers and that we trust - in both quality and performance.

We are not just another retailer selling heaps of every brand's equipment - but a kite sports specialist!

We are all involved deeply within the sport and this includes Kite surfing, Land boarding, Buggy and Snow Kiting. Our Knowledge comes from years of experience actively participating in all these areas of our sport and we have worked extensively with Ozone, not just selling their products but also testing and helping with the development of many of the products that we are all using today.

 

Testing and evaluation

Before we decide to take on and sell any brands products we want to make sure that these products will live up to our high standards and the expectations of our customers.

To this end we use a combination of our own knowledge and abilities along with those of our team riders and other valued partners within the industry to truly get a measure for durability, functionality and value for money.

We also encourage feedback from our customers and value their input to this process because it is you and us who have to use the equipment we supply and although experts in our own field, it is through listening to others that we can find out what is working best for everyone and monitor feedback should any problems arise.

Changing Times

One thing is for certain in our world. That is, nothing stays the same for ever and the same is true of our business.

Quite often it is events that happen outside of our control that really challenge us. When sterling crashed in 2008 this put Surface Tension under intense financial pressure and tested the viability of distribution to the limit. Ozone decided to change their business model for the UK to try and stay competitive. Surface Tension decided that if this was the case then we would have to adapt. We changed from distribution to retail and are now developing our kite school and training facilities. We are looking forward to being able to offer adventure breaks in North Wales for kiters some time in 2010.

In some ways it has been a great wrench for us but every cloud, as they say, has a silver lining. Turning negatives around to positives does have some benefits if you can see them.

The change for us means that it has given Surface Tension more freedom to expand into other areas. We are still very much behind the Ozone brand but we are also now helping the Peter Lynn brand who we have been working with recently. This does mean that we will be able to offer our customers even more choice and this being based on sound knowledge, not just the desire to sell more products.

And finally..! We could not have achieved what we have without people getting behind us.

So it is with huge thanks to everyone who rides for us, or rode for Surface Tension Ozone UK, your input and friendship has been mind blowing.

Last, but by no means least.... Thank you to all our customers over the past nine years, without you we would not exist and we very much look forward to working with you over the years to come.