The latest craze in extreme sports is kitesurfing, it only started out in 1990 but there are tens of thousands of enthusiasts around the world. You can go to any ocean side on a Sunday and you’ll see that kitesurfing has a strong following and has expanded quickly.
The kitesurfing board is a surfboard but shorter and the kitesurfer is attached to it with foot straps or bindings. You have the board attached to a kite that looks more like a parachute by a series of lines of various lengths. The board is propelled by the kite across the water at quite great speeds.
The challenge in kitesurfing is that your body is the only connection between the kite and the board and mastering the control of both the kite in the air and the board on the water is a key point.
If you’re asking yourself how it’s possible for a kite to stay in the air while holding the weight of the board and your weight at the same time the explanation is this: while flying, a kite is creating it’s own wind and the wind it creates is faster than the wind powering it producing more power than the actual wind.
The Kitesurfing Gear
You might think that kitesurfing is not an expensive sport but that’s not entirely true, the board and kite aren’t the only equipment you need. Other equipment components are a kite pump (inflatable kite), bar, lines, board harness, life jacket and helmet. If you’ll add the starting lessons you’ll get a good amount that you’ll have to spend.
Taking Kitesurfing Lessons
The theory behind kitesurfing is simple enough, the practice is another story. Because of that you need a little while to master. Kitesurfing enthusiasts should take lessons from an experienced kitesurfing instructor before practicing this sport, no matter how much experience you have with surfing or windsurfing.
George Pocick took a basic kite design in the 1800′s to the new level by increasing it’s size and used it to power carts on land and ships on the water. The designs are now designed the same way they were back then. With the wind generating enough lift the kite would get off of the ground and was powerful enough to sustain it for a period of time.
Once the kite is in the air it’s able to make it’s own wind, proportionately faster creating a higher speed for the vehicle. This kind of kites where able to pull man-made vehicles on the ground, ice, snow and water.
In the beginning all kites where deployed from the land and not from the water, where kitesurfing takes place. Wipika, Kiteski, fOne, Concept Air, C-Quad and Naish Kites came to water launch and relaunch kites. Their kites could be launched even after falling in the water.
Laird Hamilton and Manu made a demonstration of the extreme sport opportunities in the late 1990′s on the Hawaiian coast of Maui. The demonstration was made for radical surfers and wake boarders. Kitesurfing popularity has skyrocketed since then and it’s one of the fastest growing sports.
These days there are a lot of organizations and kitesurfing competitions. There are also worldwide magazines and videos dedicated to kitesurfing and the thrills it provides.
