i have used skis and snowboard on snow and have found skis to be far superior for going upwind and fast in particular .I have had a hunch for years that water skis might have an edge particularly in course racing . i know Cory roessler (early pioneer ) used water skis .Anyone else tried em or can point me in the direction of experiences and reviews and before I lash out on some water skis are there any Newcastle forum lurkers who might know where i can geta loan of some to try em with a kite?

I'm not a kiter - ex-skiier though, so thought I'd share a link.

www.doomwheels.com/articles/kiteski.php

Ski's dont have much surface area. You can go pretty slow on two skis behind a boat but that's still pretty fast kiting, I think yo would sink too much, especially turning towards the kite. They moved away from ski's very quickly in the pioneering days so it musn't be much chop.

Two waterski's pretty crap to be on if you've never tried it

Snow it's all about the edge. (unless in pow)
Water it's about the surface area. Iimagine snowkiting in deep pow and think about what you would rather be on