Was rigging up to go kitng yesterday in the waves, a surfer came over and said he was keen to start - he asked me how much a kite was i told him they are just over 2,000 new and he nearly had a heart attack. Then I told him you can get used ktes for 500 to start with.
My point is I think surfers think that kites are too expensive .
I am also amazed that more surfers arent taking up the sport

what do people think is stopping them
chad

Same guy probably wouldn't balk at spending $800 on a board and snap it the next day.

It's all perspective. We pay $2000 for a kite cos we know that we'll get $2000 worth of fun out of it.

What's stopping them is they have to get lessons and look like a kook for a while.

The truth is - They've all heard about Alex Sanz and they think were all like that

dont tell em too much. dont want all of dem dudes out there frothing and hassling.especially dont tell em its like tow in surfing with ahelicopter with out a piolot without the two stroke fumes. its nice right now.

Who pays $2000 for a kite anyway?
My "new" kite just cost me 2 boxes of beer!

I recon surfers are not not lining up to buy kites because the majority of us make it look a bit ordinary. Lets face it, go to any surf beach and most of us kiters are surfing like kooks.

Craigus said...

Who pays $2000 for a kite anyway?
My "new" kite just cost me 2 boxes of beer!

So you could get em' drunk and steal the kite?

Craigus said...

Who pays $2000 for a kite anyway?
My "new" kite just cost me 2 boxes of beer!

I recon surfers are not not lining up to buy kites because the majority of us make it look a bit ordinary. Lets face it, go to any surf beach and most of us kiters are surfing like kooks.

whilst finkin FIGJAM

colinwill78 said...

T thing about kiting doesn't appeal to a surfer who wants a quiet meditation with the ocean and paddle and reward with a board he loves and all that stuff.

You have never surfed Bondi at Xmas time, right?

My take is that kitesurfing is like surfing but with multiple times the power to smack the lip, or power off the bottom, or drive around a shutdown section, bust an air, or get 10 times the waves I get in a surf-having said that I still surf everyday (at least everyday there's waves here) and ma still a surfer at heart-kiting is really just an extension of my surfing for me-just like towing is an extension, or skating a steep hill, or snowboarding some deep drifts etc. etc. All part of the whole.

Yep two reasons surfers don't get into it; Money - people telling them they need thousands of dollars worth of gear.

Second, many surfers think kitesurfing is to surfing what roller blading is to skating. Gimmicky and a bit dorky.

I'm doing my bit to reverse the image around by kitesurfing like an angel (ok, not really) and surfing like a constipated walrus.

Who gives a f... imagine if 50% of surfers took up kiting, it wouldn't be so good would it

I did a gogle search to find out how many people surf

Today, it is estimated that the global surfing population is close to 20
million, with over two million surfers in Australia (Kampion 2003) and over two
million in California (Pendleton 2007).

If 10% of them started kiting then - we would have 200,000
there are only 8000 now so we should try and convert them then we would have plenty of people to do downwinders with

as sometimes on the gold coast i have to kite by myself as there are so few people and they work during the week.

hey chad i am try to move to the gold coast - that will give you one more person to ride with

chadster said...

I did a gogle search to find out how many people surf

Today, it is estimated that the global surfing population is close to 20
million, with over two million surfers in Australia (Kampion 2003) and over two
million in California (Pendleton 2007).

...

I'm guessing they are freaked out by the cost and the amount of gear to go kiting, and the fear of looking like a kook.

The thing is, most surfers don't actually surf. They buy the gear and occasionally go down the surf, they paddle around a bit, sometimes they catch a wave. Mostly it's a lifestyle and image thing.

Surfers as a demographic are ultra-conservative. They are strongly bound by fashion and image. Just look at any of the magazines to see the constant bashing they give boogie boards, long boards, skis, SUP, kiteboards, sailboards, etc.

On a good surf day on a weekend you would be lucky to get two set waves an hour. The rest of the time is spent waiting for waves, jockeying for position, chasing mush.

I put a fair bit of effort into surfing but I still get easily 10 times as much action kiting as surfing (literally over 1000 hours kiting over the past few years vs less than 100 hours surfing).

sammyd said...

I reckon they should change the name of surfing to paddling and sitting

...paddling and sitting ... and pissing in your wettie ...

Might be they see all these wannabys down the beach thinking
there killing it, kiting with there surfboards in 1 foot slop. hardly a impressive sight.

Not to mention you watch a vid of some pro kiters on surfboards in the surf and it
just turns you off when you compare to real surfing.

dosent inspire me anyhow, just my thoughts.

chadster said...

Was rigging up to go kitng yesterday in the waves, a surfer came over and said he was keen to start - he asked me how much a kite was i told him they are just over 2,000 new and he nearly had a heart attack. Then I told him you can get used ktes for 500 to start with.
My point is I think surfers think that kites are too expensive .
I am also amazed that more surfers arent taking up the sport

what do people think is stopping them
chad

Hey chad,

There are heaps of surfers taking up the sport, more and more every year. With crappy surf and strong winds all summer long, why would you surf in summer? I am a surfer too, I just choose to surf when conditions are appropriate ie, winter, not 2 foot slop, close out shore dumps, or 2m windchop, with 30 knots of wind paddling your arse off to hold position in the chaos.

There are times for all sports and summer ain't the time for surfing in summer in Perth. If you ask me, surfers look like tools paddling out when it's 25+ knots and completely blown out at Scarborough.

Don't encourage more surfers to get into the sport, the last thing we need is typical surfer attitude at our beaches. Those that will "fit in" to kiteboarding will come across in due course and won't need encouraging.

I don't think our sport needs the stamp of approval of surfers, wakeboarders or any other sport to make it "legit", we are unique and should focus on what we are doing and exploit our strengths and not worry about what everyone else thinks.

Paddle paddle paddle, take off on 2 foot wave, bottom turn smack close out section and fall off. Paddle out and repeat. Yep, sounds like fun! What do you reckon is more fun?

Lets just worry about our own

Merry Christmas,