Kitesurfing

Greetings, As a long time windsurfer, thought I would ask my fellow windsurfers for opinions about how dangerous this sport really is.

I've seen a few kiters at my local spot in 12-18 knot breezes and it looks like a lot of fun. None of them have had any injuries as far as I know. Provided you stay clear of obstacles it does not look that dangerous in moderate conditions.

But reading through the accidents database there are many horrific stories of serious injuries and deaths. Most of these occurred in high winds or when there were sudden unexpected gusts.

I would like to hear from any windsurfers who have tried it, or observations from your local spot. I've always been a responsible windsurfer and have never been in any difficulties. Maybe a lot of people who take up kitesurfing are inexperienced when it comes to assessing wind conditions or are too gung-ho.

Thanks,

Check out this video of what can be done in 11-13 knots of wind: http://www.thesurf.dk/news_detail.asp?ID=109

Looks pretty safe to me, and a whole lotta fun!

Give it a go if it interests you. I would first buy a trainer kite, similar to this: http://www.surfingsports.com/airush_trainer.asp and one of the instructional vids. Boost is a good one and is a 2 video set, beginner to advanced...wakeboard and directional: http://www.surfingsports.com/product.asp? prod=prm_boost Spend a couple of days getting it wired and then take some lessons from an experienced kiter. They will go over safety, rigging, and kite flying theory with you. Most people get in trouble, launching and landing. Always give yourself an out and don't be in a hurry. The instructor will spend considerable time on these techniques.

Launching/landing techniques vary with the style of kites, ram air or inflatables or hybrids. I personally like the Peter Lynn ARC right now. It is a water relaunchable ram air kite. It can be launched and landed safely by yourself without a pit crew and is stable once in the air. They are popular in Australia as PL is from New Zealand and has been making kites for some time now: http://www.surfingsports.com/peter_lynn.asp The inflatables are being made now with more durability in mind and are good as well. I wouldn't get hung up on that though, because it's like the cam vs. no cam debate... it will come down to practicality and preference. I would get dialed-in with a 4 line setup ASAP that utilizes a chicken loop, snapshackle and trim strap with a safety leash: http://www.surfingsports.com/airush_lines.asp It allows for depowering and makes the kites much safer.

Next comes the body drag. Start without a board and fly the kite through the wind window while you are in the water getting used to the pull. Then add a board, but wear a helmet so you don't get beaned by it.

The kiting gear has finally gotten quite good and the designs are stabilizing. If you get a floaty twintip like these you don't even need to learn to jibe: http://www.surfingsports.com/litewave.asp http://www.surfingsports.com/product.asp? prod=air_twintip_180

It doesn't replace wavesailing for me and the light air windsurfing gear has gotten very good lately with Formula http://www.surfingsports.com/starboard_02_formula.asp, but it is a sailing sport that can be added to a windsurfer's repetoire fairly easily. It's not cheap once you 'have to have' a couple of kites and boards...and it can always be dangerous. There are places to kite that are more conducive than others and at times allows you to access wind that you couldn't with a 'pole sail' and board. Again, buy a trainer and take some lessons...see if you diggity with it, before you jump in (or get dragged) head first.

WARDOG

RE/

As a non-kiter to whom kiting has been calling out to for a couple of seasons, my take is this:

1) There are safety issues in kitesurfing that go far, *far*, FAR beyond anything you ever even thought of in windsurfing.

To a local kiting instructor, I said: 'Geeze, looks to me like if that thing gets out of control and you can't unhook it's like being chained to the bumper of a pickup truck full of drunken rednecks.'

He calmly looked me in the eye and said 'No, not at all, think ......*Greyhound bus*.'

2) The severity of whatever safety issues there are depend a lot on the location and the wind - and therefore the kitesurfer's perceptions and judgement.

Lots of open water downwind is good. Anything else is various degress of bad.

Steady wind is good. Gusty, shifty wind is bad.

Steady wind that rises and turns shifty and gusty while you're out there sounds like a queen bitch.

3) The half-dozen converts that I know are all stronger, faster, smarter, and vastly more skilled windsurfers than I will ever be.

But right now, even after being away from the scene all winter, I can immediately think of three that have stories to tell. One recalls how it happened - and and he *seems* to be walking normally now after the operation, although the affected ankle-foot is still visibly deformed.

The other two have no idea...they just found themselves in a certain situation with no recollection of how they got there.

4) The place I sail is a friendly windsurfing spot but, as far as I can see, a relatively evil kitesurfing spot...so my observations are probably skewed.

It looked a lot mellower in Kailua.

5) There's definately an amp/adrenalin factor in kitesurfing.

The power and danger seem to appeal to some people.

Personally, a significant appeal to me of windsurfing vs motorcycle racing, rodeo, cliff diving, and/or downhill skiing is that deep-enough water is mostly soft and when I fall I seldom get hurt.

Long, long ago and far, far away I took flying lessons for the better part of a year...practically made a career out of it....can't remember how many times the required number of solo hours to be licensed I had but it was plenty.

Eventually it dawned on me that if I screwed up even moderatly bad, I was going to die. At that moment of realization, I said 'the hell with this' and never took the test.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

At our beach their are about 10 ex sailboarders of which 5 could be considered as very experienced (have sailed for more than 10 years). I have sailed since 82. We all talked about this and we all agreed that kites are far more dangerous in average conditions 10 - 15 knots than saiboards. We all use 20 metre kites up to about 15 knots and we all have suffered bad accidents. The injury list of kitesurfers at our local beach in the last 6 months between 30 kiters -pulled up the beach small cuts and bruises = 20+ times -pulled up the beach into the trees about 15 meters = 5 times -puled into rock wall kite ended up in power lines = 1 -longest drag on sand = 30 meters. Guy was lucky he only lost the skin on only one leg. -Black eyes from control bar hitting face = 2 -broken leg tibia =1 -swisted anckel = 1 -sprained wrist = 1 -concussion = 1 and he was wearing a helmet. -line cut to hand = 1 -bad cuts to body from boards & fins requiring stitches = 2 -Head wounds from boards flying back from leashes = lost count (dont use leashes they kill) -broken ribs = 2 -only one ambulance was called to the beach in that time. -only 2 ppl required to go to hospital. We are not proud of this record and all kiters always try to be as safe as they can. We are not idiots trying to do stupid thing either, take the broken leg this was done by a female learner who tried to step of the board before she crashed and step onto shallow water. Take the warnings seriously, get proffesional instructions, buy from a respectable kite shop, learn from the discussion groups what should be the right gear that will suit you for learning. Make sure you find the right sailing spot, don't think that the local sailboard beach is kite friendly. Wear a helmet. Buy you kite and be safe.

Holy cow, Alex ... where were you when I was making my 'to kite or not to kite' decision? I HOPE your buds are escapees from a lunatic asylum, but the point is still well-taken. My injuries from other sports may arguably exceed your list by myself, after which I'm a lot less interested in wasting time healing than I used to be. Fortunately your tales merely reinforce my decision, rather than reverse it. Our kites crews here haven't had that kind of history ... yet ... but it's close, and I'm sure we don't hear about every mishap. Your guys may as well take up urban boarding/blading; it sounds safer and much more convenient. Or are they trying to get on 'Real TV'?

Mike m/

RE/

That brings up something that's been nagging at the back of my mind since I first noticed kitsurfing.

I'm no wave sailor, but I do like to work the chop on the bay. In fact, if there was never any chop I think I'd give up windsurfing.

What's been nagging me is the feeling that the kitesurfers I see aren't sailing in/with the chop at all. It looks to me like they're just plowing through it - sort of like a water skier. This seemed especially apparent when I was in Kailua some time ago: nice 3-6 foot swells marching through the bay, but the kiters didn't seem to know they were there.

Have I got it wrong?

It's called 'edging' and you do alot of it...it's how you stay upwind, coming and going, because the kite is always downwind, except when it's in the neutral position. The boards have sharp rails for bite...the large spray that you see is water being displaced from the AOA and because they don't have much volume so they ride low in the water. The boards are designed to be loaded up for jumping...you ride until you are ready to explode and then release. The proficiency level is increasing...the guys doing well in the surf have short lines... 20m instaed of 30m or 40m and responsive high aspect kites. Carbon batten spars are being added to the wing tips and as ribs in some kites making them more rigid and not 'jellyfish' as much allowing for quicker response, which is going to be key to performing on a wave. Most kiting is done in chop and flat water. Kiting in the waves requires a much higher level of proficiency. The top guys are getting it figured out. Chuck Patterson is attempting to kite at the Big 3...Mavericks, Todos Santos, and Jaws in giant waves. He'll do it...the guy is an amazing athlete...others will follow. He won the Waddell kiting contest last year in good sized surf against the best in the world...the competition will be fierce in the waves there again, first week of May. It will be a look at the cutting edge of the sport.

WARDOG

Selling their WS gear makes no sense to me. The two sports have a huge overlap, but are not mutually exclusive. Our kite purists who sold their WS gear may get to play more during prime season (because the WSers choose not to sail big gear), but they miss several months of the WS season because 'the water gets too cold (60F/15C!)' or 'it's too windy'. But it's their choice, and we don't miss them a bit when they hang it up three months before we do. OTOH, some of them are on kites when we're fully powered on 4.0s.

Mike m/

I've asked this question many times here, on other kite and WS forums, on several kite beaches, and of two kite dealers. The answer seems to be what Wardog said above: 'Yes. Two world-class experts can actually work the swell/surf.' The other thousands of kite sailors do two things: reach and maybe jump.

That was a significant factor in my kite/no kite decision.

Think about it: on a kite, you're always on the windward rail. Burying that leeward rail to swerve off a lip would be not only a long ways over there from the windward rail, but would also be a guaranteed face-plant while still hooked into the rear bumper of the bus for most of us. There are also kite-handling envelope factors. It's simple, in a simplistic sense: in WS, the sail comes with us in a swerve so its power can be managed, but most kiters can't get a kite to follow their every move so its power varies dramatically when the board changes direction

Actually, the good kitesurfers on waves that I have seen lead with the kite and they follow...so to do an off the lip and not get dragged out the back of the wave, you have to have the kite already heading back towards shore as you are getting ready to tag the lip. Think ski boat pulling wakeboarder through turns. Turning the power off on the wave face is necessary to surf the waves. Properly designed wavesails do that. They haven't got it figured out with kites yet...good kiters are doing workarounds as a good windsurfer would, with sails that don't turn the power off. You are still fighting the pull, though. There is a delay with the board and timing is crucial. One of the best guys in the world in the waves lives here. Peter Trow missed the timing a little bit and it cost him a busted up foot, recently. One of the reasons got into kiting was because his knee had been problematic in wavesailing. This guy throws some moves. He was going to be doing a couple of kite clinics with Chuck Patterson at PSC...I guess that will wait until after rehab. The advanced kiters in La Ventana were working the swells pretty good with one hand on the bar and the other dragging on the water. It looked pretty cool...definitely not just going BAF in straight lines.

WARDOG