What is winching WR? Any photos ?

Winching - watch the vids below, and above. Basically think of it like this. A 60kg machine on wheels, a 300 metre rope with a wakeboarding handle attached being pulled in by a 9 horsepower motor at speeds up to 50km per hour. Now watch the vid and you can see some examples, in the surf, flatwater, in the snow, in a puddle, whatever u like... No boat required.
What r u going to do when there is no wind? I winch and surf!

be careful doing anywhere near the peir as it is illegal to do "any water based sports" within 50 meters of it unless your moring a boat and the local law dudes can be turds and love givin fines!

Hey WR,
A mate and I'd be keen as. I'll drop you a line soon (Although I'm probably moving to Hotham PT in july). Just curious, have you got any kicker/slider setups, or do you just have a crack at surface tricks? I should be able to scratch up a wake skate which could be fun.

Cheers
Dane

out of interest... whats the turn around time between each run?

do you have multiple lines so you can winch another rider, while the last line is unwound?

there is a pritty cool small pier at chelsea that would be great for winching

I hear what you are saying djdojo,
I have had a few discussions with some people in the know and wont be doing any winching off the pier, we shall avoid the piers and jettys, that does not cancel out the kiteboarding zones around Melbourne though.

From experience, the general public are rather stoked to see us winching and we never had any complaints, only people crowding round watching us, taking photos and asking questions. That said, I think HW brought up a good point about concerns with the pier so we will avoid those locations. 6 months of no consistent wind, winching is a great alternative to kiting, thats just my opinion.

djdojo said...

they (whoever "they" are) let you have a motor running on the pier?

i never kite at st kilda but i do take an occasional stroll on the pier. i reckon i'd be annoyed by the noise and exhaust of a small motor in an otherwise quiet and fresh-air setting.

people have to get their kicks, i know, but the winch just seems to me to be a crass substitute for the satisfaction that comes from working with the elements a la kite, accepting the windless days as times for reading books, strolling on piers and peering in wonderment at the westerly horizon.

Better than going wakeboarding, winching uses d!ck all fuel and the thing isnt actually running all the time, its only running for the time you are up and riding.
It fills a hole that kiting cannot fill, you can go winch some ghetto spots or build some rails in a little puddle or sets of puddles that you could never kite in. I guess if you got no idea about hitting rails and skate style kinda stuff it would seem rather pointless.

p.s. not to mention you dont have to worry about doing a harry potter while hitting a rail.

stamp said...

djdojo said...

they (whoever "they" are) let you have a motor running on the pier?

i never kite at st kilda but i do take an occasional stroll on the pier. i reckon i'd be annoyed by the noise and exhaust of a small motor in an otherwise quiet and fresh-air setting.

that is the first, and hopefully last time i have ever seen "quiet" and "fresh air" used to describe st. kilda.

agreed, st kilda can be pretty obnoxious, but all the more reason to have the pier as at least a relative sanctuary.

get a wakeboard.

Actually, you can use a variety of boards. I have been using my kiteboard which works well. I have also used a surfboard and hope to use the winch in the surf too using my surfboards. I have just also bought a wakeskate and am gonna start getting into some wakeskating too.

Winches are gaining popularity among the wakeskate crew. Whats wakeskating? Well, its a new sport and growing rapidly. Its a cross between wakeboarding and skateboarding. Kinda more of an urban culture than wakeboarding, it generally attracts less of a yuppie type of crew especially cause u dont need a mega expensive wakeboarding boat, its more of a street, urban thing tho u can use a boat for sure, u just dont need one. You can do ollies and kick flips and lots of skateboarding style tricks, its cool. There is no bindings or straps, boards are typically between 39-43 inches, often have griptape (wearing shoes) and are like a big skateboard without wheels on water! It can be done behind a boat but also winches and even tinnies are being used for wakeskating!

Click on the link below to see some wakeskating and tell me this is not a good thing to do on a windless day! Im not sure but I think these guys are Aussie too!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=3274570

Here is a pretty decent winching video