{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Foil Life Podcast","title":"Episode #145 – Kaden Sponhauer / Sicko Country | The Foiling Magazine","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2545,"description":"On this episode of the Foil Life Podcast, Luc Moore sits down with Kaden of Sicko Country — the Hood River crew that just hit one million YouTube subscribers — to talk growing up on the Columbia, the jump from 30-second tow-foil runs to parawing addiction, and what it takes to film a full-time action channel around wind.\nThey recap how a small-town friend group became a six-person YouTube operation, a COVID summer that turned a side project into a job, and idea generation that is anything but a dialed calendar. Kaden covers early kite and windsurf years, why the crew prefers parawing for the hands-free surf-foil feel, Apple Tree / F-One / Ozone setups, Rufus as the dream downwinder, when 40 knots means shuttle-only, YouTube analytics without losing the soul of the channel, close calls on foils and slip-and-slides, and a dream shred trip to Mauritius with zero algorithm talk.\nEpisode Highlights:\n- One million subscribers as a milestone, not a finish line\n- How the crew formed in tiny Hood River — river, mountain, school, family friends\n- The kid who said he could film, couldn’t, and stayed because he was funny\n- Ideas from reels, Marketplace, invitations, and a few sit-downs a year\n- Windsurf as a toddler → kite at 13 → kite foil → wing → parawing\n- Early downwinding: old foils behind the ski, 30 seconds felt insane\n- Why parawing wins: surf-foil feel, nothing in your hands through the turns\n- Gear: Apple Tree Skipper 50L, F-One skate foil, Ozone Pocket Rocket\n- May–September Hood window; filming days planned around *not* windy\n- YouTube was never the childhood dream — COVID + camera skills lined it up\n- Jackson as unofficial boss; legally even, practically a glue guy\n- Favorite downwinder: Rufus — big waves next to a truck-stop Cinnabon\n- Safety they are finally booking: first aid, avalanche, water rescue\n- Dream video: Mauritius, forget YouTube, just shred\n- Home river still beats most travel spots; foiling pulled parents and grandparents back on the water...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/YDLHPY5ZgWTrtj3sVyMjPAgEdev7COWBOrqm5RiYVFM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9hN2M3/YjJlY2FmMjE2NTY2/ZGEyZmQ1YjA1Njhj/ZDZhNi5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}