Brent I don't get your criticism at all. Kitesurfing brought together people from different sport backrounds that's why so many styles. There are big names in the sport like Robby Naish for Pet's sake that never touched unhooked. I always had a problem with these skateboarder/chinese gymnasts/white men who couldn't jump/monkeys with the stick representing this sport. And you talk about egos. We all met these ego maniacal creatures at the beach at one point or the other. Thank God someone is showcasing something different.

i´ve just saw "Beetle Kitesurf World Cup 2012 - Day 6" on you tube, where air style goes for the first 30 minutes, and i´m quite disappointed - for all the hype i was expecting something much more attractive.

pity if 2013 Air-style tour is independent from PKRA as it would risk the participation of the top free-styler riders, those that could raise the level and win the thing in any given day. hope that at least the tour counts with the participation of 2012 world champion, minus the mask.

all the best to Air-style. To be honest i think it´s something that fits perfectly to the current demographics and gives to the common joe something to pursuit. Better pushing something than not pushing anything at all.

So true, and I suggest you have at er, whatever your style.

Get a million tours going and best of luck to all of em.

Just remember before you invest in any of them that only when magnitude and degree of difficulty are combined with massive RISK is a feat universally impressive.

Airstyle has magnitude, and plenty of difficulty, but virtually no risk rendering it impotent to all but the novice observer. If you want to attract a group of holiday beach goers, for sure bust out the old school big airs. If you want to cultivate a culture and subsequently a market and fan base, you gotta have bodily risk. Wake, snowboard, skate, ski, bike.. whatever. If its not a simple race, its gotta be potentially damaging to generate the wow factor over the long term. Think Olympic half pipe.... have you ever seen one of those??? they are freaking massive. This is why the young push all the real progression. Their fearless and amp up the risk. Sure we have competitions that persist with no risk like ballroom dancing, and figure skating, but I cant think of a single new sport to grow in global popularity that is not a race of endurance/skill that has no massive element of risk.

Edit: oh yeah, SUP. They race em and surf em, but thankfully they don't have freestyle, let alone airstyle!

This sports greatest asset is being born of pure play. All the greatest moments go down far from the horn of the next heat, a crowd on the beach or even a camera. That is the whole point. There is no competition. You can be competitive and push yourself and your friends, but its in essence play. I'm a pure free rider, no better than average, full of stoke, and completely convinced that competitions other than fastest man on the the planet and fastest around a course are purely subjective and full of bullshit. Surf will make a go of it eventually. That shit is rad, just tough to schedule. Wake.. well they have the good sense to play to their strength and keep it communal and low key. Non competitions like the tripple sss, Rosham, WONW and others. There is a future there for sure, but airstyle?

Like any attempt to make a basically sporty activity into and artistic impression... Freestyle skiing anyone? Kind of popular with one generation, and when it dies out (and providing we don't get banned globally), the sport will continue to evolve (thanks to the youth).

I think we've come far enough to see that strapless in full on surf, real powered flat water/park riding in boots and massive kite loops will persist as the realm of the superhero. The highlight reel playing in our heads. Aerial posers, light wind and lawn mowers will always make up the vast majority of riders and forever be the shallow end of the sport.

For this and all your other posts on this subject Brent, well written, well debated and eloquently expressed......you clearly get it.

One has to wonder though why your so heralded young heros are not flogging into skydiving, ski jumping, or skeleton to name just a few. I also struggle to see the "massive RISK" as you so eloquently put it in passing the bar back and forth. Unless you count the inevitable knee and shoulder problems later in life into the "RISK" category.

Thats why the current PKRA has such limited appeal. I have no praise for any freestyle competitions, usually reminds me of epilepsy. But I have tons of it for riders that throw it down with power and flow esp when they catch it in ever lovin HD!

Just one example.

http://vimeo.com/31348156

OK maybe 2!

http://vimeo.com/37390436

There are so many

If your not impressed by that riding I cant help you. Not break neck, but substantially more physical commitment than airstyle, and its not like these people are vying for some kind of world title or anything. None of them compete..... why would they? As for skydiving, ski jumping and skeleton,,,, well I don't exactly see much of anyone clamboring to get into any of those sports. I mean Skeleton?? really. Who has actually seen that sport outside of Olympic coverage.......And ski Jumping??? That one is definitely the new cool. Your right those young kids must be escared or somethin.

i'm more or less with brent on this one.

some people like gymnastics. others prefer rhythmic gymnastics (twirling ribbons, etc.). i've got no problem with either one, but prefer the former to the latter. i've also got no problem with toby being the master of the airstyle domain. good on him for harnessing his passion in that direction. personally, it's not my cup of tea, but then again, tea isn't my cup of tea. i like coffee.

the forces at work aiming to promote kitesurfing as the next new surfing (think quicksilver circa 1968), will do whatever necessary to sell shorts, cloths, bags, etc., even if those profits comes at the expense of the purity (and dignity) of the sport. if they feel that airstyle will sell more beer, then airstyle it will be, whether we like it or not. corporations want FANS, and, if the FANS want airstyle, are they any different than the movie FANS who express their preference for "Batman" over higher order fare like "Chinatown"? I don't think so.

the way i see it, by the time kitesurfing is fully mainstream, sponsored by automobile companies, selling millions of pairs of "toby the king of the air" branded bermuda shorts, i will have moved on to something else...

Massive risk? in what? unhooked hahahahaha OMG WTF you are on. Poor things are getting tennis elbows? they won't be able to comb their long hairs hahahahaha. Taking 16m out in 25knots using tiny board to hold the edge and boost the shit out of it while doing tricks has no risk associated with, in comparison, according to you? Anyways nobody is watching unhooked, it is not doing anything for the sport. More people will actually watch racing now with the Olympic entry. Airstyle will not be huge but it will be a lot of fun to watch.

You seem to have missed that I find virtually all kite comps a bore. Racing, jumping, posing, you name it. Put it in heats and it imediately starts to suck.

The quote you jumped on has to do with getting universal appeal. Lenten's loops a couple of pier jumps and maybe the boys kiting heavy surf are the only feats to hit that mark. Pretty universal wow factor directly related to the combination of magnitude, skill and yes, risk.

I dont expect the riding I personally find impressive to need massive risk, but then again, I dont expect it has universal appeal either. There are always a few guys like you that just wont like it, but hey, there is no accounting for taste.

What I will debate your baiting ass on is the relative risk between the various current forms of kiting and airstyle.

1 Waves. The ocean can be a big mean motherf%$*&r. The top tier charge it when its raging. Takes undisputbaly big balls.


2 Wakestyle. Locked into your board and throwing powered moves often with a bar pass and no kite straight overhead to catch you before impact. Launching off of or sliding along solid objects while dealing with the unpredictability of wind power. Yeah your right, must be pussies

3 Freestyle, Yes even the bar passing monkeys forgo the safety of being "stricktly hooked" thereby puting shoulders and knees at significant risk. Though not quite as commited as lacing up the boots, have a look at the number of freestyle riders who have blow out a major joint.

4 Airstyle...... Well, you never unhook, so that part is pretty easy, You never jump without sending the kite, so basically all the landings are soft. You are free to toss the board whenever it looks like you might biff it and virtually all 500 tricks are variations on a big air, the very first of entry level tricks in this sport! I look forward to hearing how this in any way can be higher risk than the above. Even your assertion that riding overpowered with big kites and wee little boards as risky, is kinda lame. In big winds your far more likely to get your ass handed to you by a small kite than a big bridled kite with loads of depower. Cmon, how many times have you seen the lawn mowers out there all poo stance holding down a 12m when all the decent riders are rockin their 8's?

Why do people like risk?
Not all disciplines need that.
Nice to watch soneone going down a line and scoring big.
Someone doing a smooth 720 with a grab landing as soft as possible but still fluent.

I don't like anyone to get injured, and feel sorry for all the kids busting their knees. Sad to see.

Do you like it? Sounds extreme...

And the older you get the more you think about injuries.
And why not have something for those guys to enjoy and progress with minimum risk?

Let them habe a choice as well!!!