Hmmmmmm good subject

great comp well organized big thanks goes out to everyone involved and if people read the rules then the right person probably won can't be sure i missed the finial.

I think the rules have to be looked at and something has to be done about this strapped and unstrapped thing. About 90%of the open men's were unstrapped which was good to see and the level of riding stapless has gone to the next level. I Rode in straps for 2 weeks before the comp and it is definitely a lot easier and if any says its not then they are bonkers. I personal believe that there need to be two categories one strapped and one un straped wither it will work or not that is yet to be seen not going to go in to to much at the moment i will be talking to aska about a few ideas if we don't talk about it openly then next year we will have the same bitching.

thank paul.j p.o.u

oh yeah congrats to all the winners and placegetters and a special congrats to theresa and andy doing the north and naish teams proud winning there categories

Will a stapped rider ride in a comp where unstraped is scored higher?

The WA guys have already tryed this it would be good to get there feed back.

Wave,

The winner was strapped!

Paul J, I guess I rode unstrapped with no bias!

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Originally posted by waveslave

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[i]Originally posted by JB
I found an interesting defination from the USA surfing association rules

D. The judging criteria shall be:
"A surfer must perform radical controlled maneuvers in the critical section of a wave with speed, power and flow to maximize scoring potential.

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lol.
Did the USA Surfing Association mention anything about kites in their rule-book ?
"A surfer must perform radical controlled manoeuvres in the critical section of a wave".........
For surfing,
that kind of goes without saying hey ?

If a surfer isn't in the critical section (cs),
he's slowly sinking with no power, no speed and no flow.
No joy.
A surfer really needs to be in the cs cause that's where the juice is.

Unlike a wavekiter.
Windfreaks can harness the power of the wave in conjunction with the force of the wind.
But the cs is the womb and the place to be.

Here's my take on the whole critical section thing:
The perfect peeling wave has only one defined cs.
It's the eye of the storm.
Most waves are sectiony and can have many cs's along their length.

What makes wavekiting so cool is that the rider can fang from one cs to another.
At the yank of the bar,
the rider can zap across a stupidly long stretch of fat wall to reconnect with the energy of the wave.
That is sooo cool.

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Definitely!

"I really don't want to see kiteboarding events become equipment based.

If you choose equipment that is hard to use, should you be rewarded?"

This to me is the most crucial point to this whole debate. Why all the gear comparisons? If a guy came out kooking on an ironing board then should he deserve the win, just because his choice of surf craft is less ridable than a surfboard? Thats insane.

Its real simple from my point of view. If you enter a kite-surfing event, then you choose the gear that is going to give you the best chance of winning a wave riding contest, whatever you feel that to be.

I am definitely into straps and i would say the narrow majority of riders here in WA are.

Why?

Well because it is easier and how can that be a criticism of something that enhances virtually all aspects of performance.

It is the same reason i ditched my 2 line kite, my pickle fork wakeboard, my 30m lines and going back further the daggerboard on my windsurfer. Or going further got a bike with gears.

Why use straps.........well because I can, I'd stick them on my surfboard too if i could figure how to get in the things while dropping down the face of a wave. I'm sure a lot of guys would if they could.

Why do polers use straps?
Why do towboarders use straps ?
Why do wakebarders use bindings?
Why do snowboarders + skiers use bindings?

Well because they can. They could do some stuff without but why wouldya?

Now this strapped vs unstrapped things is a complete furphy.
You are not a better rider because you choose to ride without straps, your penis is no bigger, if you ride with style and skill you will get the respect your choice deserves, even a non kiting surfer judge could see that a guys landing a big down the line air off the lip is harder for the guy with no straps, and scoring would reflect degree of difficulty, but when the guy with straps is blasting 10 foot airs that the unstrapped guy couldn't possibly land then you see why he has straps.

Is unstrapped valid????
Of course it is...........you see it's is a purist thing, like fly fishing........ not always the best way to get a feed on the table when a net would do the job but you're there for the experience.
There is an importance in how something is done and not just the result.

Surfing is unstrapped and been unstrapped on a kite brings kitesurfing a little closer to that.

But I kite at Scarborough with mushy waves, loads of filthy chop and a bouncing backwash off the beach....hardly a pure surfing experience. What I see is strapped riders and well........swimmers. Yes guys who like to swim alot it seems because they spend 10 times more times swimming after their boards than the strapped guys. That a lot less time kiting and alot more time flailing about in the water. Also every unattached surfboard is a hazard to all the other surfer users and beachgoers.

We're are going about 3 times faster on the bottom turn than any surfer, in choppy conditions, where even a pro surfer would tell you it is nigh on impossible to make a speed turn without been knocked off, and some insist on riding unstrapped and guess what...get knocked off.....well caps off for trying but nil points for swimming, its supposed to be about wave riding.

It'ss like trying to race formula one in a Datsun Sunny

I can appreciate a big move from an unstrapped rider when I see it but I have to say nearly all the big moves are from guys on straps who manage to stay on there boards long enough. And it's nor for lack of talent among the unstrapped guys either.

Hey and that just unstrapped but then the same guys are riding unhooked as well. Jeeeeeeeeez you guys like life hard, bet you sleep on beds of nails and eat dry oats for breakfast. Hey I've got a 2 line kite in the garage maybe someone would like to use that too, unstrapped and unhooked and oh I've got a sixties 10 foot mal that weighs only 30kgs you could ride that as well ........you'd be a bloody legend if you got out the back not to my mind catch a wave!!!!!!!!!! Hey with degree of difficulty scoring I'd give you a 10/10 score for making it back to the beach.

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Originally posted by waveslave

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Originally posted by colinwill78

could a wave kite comp be won by a really good surfer with a single string box kite tied around his waist??

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hahah
He can only win if he was riding strapless.

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i see your point.

no really i see your point

Interesting perspectives...go get your surf videos from 10 years ago (Suns of fun, green iguana, kelly slater black and white, etc etc)

Now go get the latest vids out and have a good look at the level of progression, the guys these days are doing stuff that back then you would of thought impossible

I know we are kitesurfing not true surfing but lets face it deep down thats what the masses are trying to emulate? maybe I'm wrong.

In regard to progression/development imagine what the guys riding strapless in 10 years will be doing? I would put a wager on it that they will be seriously killing it, and in my opinion will make straps in waveriding competitions (not free riding) obsolete.

Ultimately competition level will keep raising the bar and I am unsure how far you can go with straps? Strapless seems to me to be more limitless?

The whole strapless surfboard thing is only really three years old its only a baby and needs to be nurtured and needs time to mature,

So those doing lots of swimming (I'm one of em at times)keep swimming it will only get better and you will eventually swim less it all has to start somewhere...

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We have never had a strapped winner in a nationals!

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Our golden girl Rez rode strapless and won

Carl, great comments, also thanks for pointing out about Rezz, sorry she has definatly and deservedly won many events strapless! My comment was made purely from the open division. I choose to retract that comment!

As a strapped rider (normally) i am still finding it hard to give merit to strapless over strapped riding purely on the fact of not agreeing on making the sport equipment based.

Loving the good comments here, would like more quality ones from other competitors.

JB

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[i]Originally posted by JB

As a strapped rider (normally) i am still finding it hard to give merit to strapless over strapped riding purely on the fact of not agreeing on making the sport equipment based.

JB

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The solution to the problem of strapped versus unstrapped in a contest is fairly obvious.
Just get rid of the strapped guys.
You don't need them.
The Industry would fully support an exclusive unstrapped contest.
Call it.....
'Purewave'.
Nice.

Definately let people ride what ever they choose, no need for 2 separate divisions (strapped -unstrapped).
I think they can be judged together, however I believe the strapless guy should be awarded accordingly.

If 2 guys do the exact same aerial, one strapped, one unstrapped, surely the strapless guy should be scored higher for degree of difficulty.

If the sport is to progress, the people going for the big moves in contests with a high degree of difficulty must be rewarded for it (only if they land it of course), otherwise we may see everyone take the conservative approach just to get through their heats.

One person, who has not been applauded for an outstanding effort in helping to organise and co-ordinate the 2007 Wavenats is Glen Hooper of Cross Shore Kiteboarding, he has shops Tuncurry and Port Macquarie.
Glen had the local knowledge and knew that spot would be one of the best location for waves on the East Coast at this time of the year.

Well done Glen, and Emma, Mike, Richard, the sponsors and all the team that put on a great event, looked like one of the best organised ever!

Great discussion, pity some people choose to get personal and don't realise their disparaging judgements say more about themselves than they do about the target of their vitriol. (For example "fences" I never judged any heats at the 2006 Gero Nats when Rich Stenning was riding)

Well done to AJ, he rode strapped, so it seems to me that the judging could at least be impartial enough to reward the best KITESURFER.
There is always room for improvement, but it would seem that the judging at this years event was very fair. Well done to all involved, its a thankless and tough task.!!!

The arguments about unstrapped being harder are lame, its all down to the rider and how he/she uses the gear to match the conditions and rip the waves to shreds.

Saying its easier with straps, should mean that we should all try freestyle with bindings because according to the "in" crowd bindings are "harder" to ride with.

Judge the rider and the synergy shown with the kite, the board and the wave/water.

One class. Same with Freestyle.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve

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Is unstrapped valid????
Of course it is...........you see it's is a purist thing, like fly fishing........ not always the best way to get a feed on the table when a net would do the job but you're there for the experience.
There is an importance in how something is done and not just the result.

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i don't think the flyfishing comment is a good comparison!
www.seabreeze.com.au/gallery/gallery.asp?imageid=1644
www.seabreeze.com.au/gallery/gallery.asp?imageid=525

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Stephen,

I wonder, and please be honest in your reply, have you ridden strapless? Moreover, have you even ridden a surfboard in the waves? If not, and from what I have seen I assume not, you are hardly in a position to comment on how 'lame' strapless riding is. I sincerely apologise for getting personal Stephen, I am merely pointing out that you shouldn't be in the position to judge a competition with such narrow vision of the sport.

As people have eluded to prior to your post, 90% of the competitors rode strapless. So taking your argument to this statistic, 90% of argubaly the top 20 or so riders in Australia are lame because they have a passion for a particular style of kitesurfing.

I don't think that anyone who hasn't ridden strapless (for at least a short amount of time) should comment.

Besides which, for the most part (and I say most part because Aaron Jarman obviously deserves his title as does the reputation of Felix, Tobias etc), strapped riding does not look as good. Having said that, there is a lot of strapped riders apart from the aforementioned that are ripping in the waves and look a lot better than unstrapped riders

And Stephen, until you can except that people don't always have the same opinions as you, perhaps you shouldn't be judging any sort of event.

Your pal,
Phil