Who they are
Dominique and Bruno have the same passion for the sea and water sports. A passion which lead them to think, to look, to build, and to invent together. They also have the same determination and, after many years of overcoming difficuties, one thing lead to another and they became manufacturers of their curved wing with an inflatable structure, with all the success that that has brought them today.
At the age of 10 , they developed a real passion for the sea and water sports. They practised competition dinghy racing together at a high level and engaged in “Sports Studies” in Brest on the back of winning the title of National Champions in the Junior category.
Dominique then worked in shipyards to get experience in the techniques of manufacturing sailboats.
Bruno taught sail sports in various nautical centres around Finistere (Brittany – France) before finalising preparations for his big project, a tour of the world by boat. He departed in summer 1983.
Bruno and Dominique
He caught up with his brother again a little later in Senegal, and there, together, they became interested in the power of kites. They began some early experimentation. This was followed by years of research and unremitting work around their invention.
At the beginning 2000 they left Brittany again and settled down in the Caribbean / Antilles, an ideal spot for kite R & D.
After a difficult but formative experience of manufacturing their wing in France in 1993 and 1994 under the WipiCat brand (200 sold samples), they turned to China for manufacturing and created the Wipika brand in 1997.
The sales soared up in the following years, success was finally there. They started to sell patent licenses in 1999 to allow the sport to grow faster.
Bruno and Dominique.
In early 2000 they left Brittany again, this time to settle in the Dominican Republic, an ideal spot for Research & Développement with regards to kiteboarding.
Bruno continued to design some kites for Wipika until mid-2001 then for Takoon in 2002, in particular the Wipika Classic and Airblast, the Takoon Skoop, all wings which put their mark on their time.
But the true passion of the Legaignoux is to innovate. They invented, among other things, the inflatable curved wing, the 4-line control device for curved wings, the VARC (Variable Aspect Ratio Concept), the Reactive bridle for reverse take-off, the span-line and finally the BOW…