If i see you out wavesailing with boardies over you wetsuit i'm gunna have to take to you with my mast extension..

we are almost there people :)


want the whole thing red!



Matt

Typical kite surfer can't even get a full bar.

Troppo said...

Typical kite surfer can't even get a full bar.

and also has to tell everyone he's been kiting

^^^^^^Its an echo,,because the dancer forum is so empty,numbers are dwindeling

Hey Lotofwind,

What do you do for a day job?

Not a jehovahs witness by any chance

Well, a few years back after 20 years of windsurfing my wife and I had a few goes on her brother-in-law's 8m kite and really liked it. We then bought a kitesurfer rig hoping to kite surf when the wind was too light for windsurfing.

We definitely found it easier in many ways to learn than windsurfing and in fact I accidentally did three small jumps in a row on one run, landing it each time after only a few goes. It is indeed quite fun and requires a lot less skill to get airborne. Just pendulum the kite and up you go.

However, I found that our 12m kite needed just as much wind to get going in light winds as my 6m sail and it was only guys with monster 20m kites that were able to sail in the really light conditions.

Now I love the waves and chop hopping and jumping on my JP wave slalom windsurfer. However, I always found kiting, that as with water skiing, chop is murder on your legs and we usually ended up kiting on rather boring flat water as otherwise you were just fighting the waves. It was particularly hard work angling the board to get up wind in rougher conditions (we sailed with a slalom kite board so I can't speak from experience regarding bi-directional boards). Because all the force of the wind in the kite goes down thru your body and legs, whereas in windsurfing you can just hang from the boom and let the mast foot take all the pressure, I often found kiting took it out of my legs a lot more (particularly in rough water).

I can be out windsurfing for 6 or more hours on a strong day and in that time loads of kiters go out and come back in again with very little endurance. (mind you I do see lots of windsurfers who don't have much stamina as well!)

I also got very tired of spending ages on the beach all the time untangling the blasted lines and re-launching the downed kite out on the water when things got tangled was murder - always with the fear of getting a finger sliced off by the lines if the kite re-launched when I was in the middle of it all. It was always a pain having to get someone to help launch and land the kite on the beach - not so good when you want to head out for a quick bit of solo sailing.

I also felt very guilty about how much beach and water I took up with my kite and lines and if I dropped it in the drink - oh the embarrassment - and the swim of shame if I couldn't re-launch!

I then had a near-death experience on the river when I came off the board and was dragged underwater towards rocks on the shore and couldn't reach any of the safety releases because of the water pressure and I started to lose my enthusiasm. My brother-in-law-in-law also had a nasty kitemare (funny there is no equivalent term in windsurfing) and he suddenly developed an intense liking for sea kayaking and hasn't kited since.

Then that experienced kiter was killed down at Safety Bay and I couldn't help but notice the 100+ kiters who had died from massive head injuries, garroting, drowning etc up to that time and my occupational therapist cousin telling me of the large number of kiters who she works with in hospital with back, neck, ankle and knee injuries and hearing about all those who'd lost fingers or ears including that female pro kiter who was garrotted by a fellow competitor's kite lines in a race and my enthusiasm dimmed even further. Video of kiters being suddenly lofted 30 feet in the air in split seconds or dragged along the ground at high speed like rag dolls into the sides of concrete ablution blocks also didn't do my determination any good.

I also noticed that I am usually out sailing on my old 7m Gaastra or new 6.2m RS slalom in winds that are too light for most kiters to do much and I'm always faster than any kite out on the water no matter what conditions and the good 'ol windsurfing kit seemed to grow in fun.

It's now been a few years and my kite gear is still hanging in my store room, but we just haven't felt the urge to get it out as when the conditions are right, all we ever want to do is break out the windsurfing kit. Maybe one day I'll try kiting again... someday soon, I'm sure...hmm.

YMMV

-Mart

lotofwind said...

sounds like you need to get some good lessons.

And that would fix all the issues I mentioned?

-Mart

mrrt said...

Well, a few years back after 20 years of windsurfing my wife and I had a few goes on her brother-in-law's 8m kite and really liked it. We then bought a kitesurfer rig hoping to kite surf when the wind was too light for windsurfing.

...

In the history of kiteboarding everything you say is true. In current terms, most of it is based on history or your lack of skill/practice.

When you say "...a few years back..." I'm guessing that's pre-2005, maybe 2004. That's like comparing a wally windsurfer to a modern board and sail. Things changed in mid-2005 and consolidated in 2006. Safety, range and performance got huge.

As for riding on a 5-6-7m sail when kiters can't do much, I'll call BS on that. We (me and my mate) are often out riding on our conventional gear (12-13m kite and 140cm twintip board) when other people don't even bother going to the beach. We often do the tour out the back to keep on idea on the sailboards bobbing along half submerged.

You could be standing on a fully floating windsurf platform, and you could be moving and maintaining ground (as in SUP sailing). There's no way you would be planing.

Either way, pointing out all the possible negatives of kiteboarding is just as futile as pointing out all the negatives of windsurfing. You know that tens of thousands of people have quite happily and safely learned to do both sports and continue to do them and will continue to do them as long as the sun shines and the wind blows.

lightwind option- find a hill and get on your skateboard. fun and/or pain will ensue!