The death of windsurfing

[Blow Me]

Yeah, I'm one of those guys you see everyonce in awhile on the beach with no WindSurfing Backround. I know nothing about the wind, except what I have learned thus far. I'm a total Newb to this.

Here is a Question for all the Converted WindSurfers. Do you guys use Directional, or BiDirectional Boards. Where we Kite, ALL of the Converted WindSurfers Ride Directionals. And the Younger Guys Ride the Bi's.

hmmmm...

[Flyboy]

I started with Directional & now also have a TT. With a larger Directional it is easier to keep cruising when the wind is marginal: you can keep your speed up & keep moving through the lulls. When you're more powered the TT gives better control. I would like to try a small Directional some time.

[Windman]

Yeah I couldn't agree more with the original post. I have Windsured for about ten years. Last year I went out about twice, this year once. I am involved in a local kite group and kite message board. Two years ago it was all converted windsurefers and buggy kiters. Now we have noob's with no wind experience at all. I'm fielding questions about how to forecast on a regular basis. BTW does anyone know of a could introduction to forecasting web page?

Now my big truck is up for sale, don't need an 8' bed with canopy for kiting. I'm downsizing vehicles and the windsurfing gear is gathering dust. One problem my wife now wants to learn windsurfing as does my 6 year old. I am not comfortable teaching them to kite as i feel kiting is much more dangerous..

Maybe I'll be windsurfing again!
D

[RickI]

I started with directionals as well. At that time there weren't any twin tips. It seems that a lot of riders gravitate towards what they have spent the most time on. That is true in my case and enforced by frequent marginal winds. I have several directionals and twintip/wakestyle boards to choose from. I normally end up on the directionals though and often suffer loss in performance if I don't, particularly in marginal winds.

On the death of windsurfing thing, for my part I would still go windsurfing if stormy conditions are present, with no lightening or if winds are offshore. Kiteboarding is a poor risk under such conditions and not a lot of fun when things go wrong. In higher wind areas with waves, I suspect that windsurfing will thrive for sometime to come. It will probably also survive in many lighter wind areas as well due to the strong appeal of the sport.

Rick Iossi

[Flyboy]

Hey Windman:

try getting your wife (I dunno about your 6 year old) kiting on the snow - can be great fun with much less power & much easier to learn. Once your wife gets the hang of it she may be ready to try on the water

[Guest]

Ditto what everybody else said about old windsurfers.

I find with both paragliding and kitesurfing I can't really remember how it feels so I'm really keen to try it again. It's always new and there's always more stuff to mess around with.

However, I have never waited out strong winds. I bought a really tiny kite and go out in whatever wind is blowing. It's a hoot being the only one out chasing all the windsurfers. Be careful with really small kites. They bite big time if you screw up.

[Johnny TBKS]

Blowme, that kinda sounded gay..."And the Younger Guys Ride the Bi's", but then what can we expect from someone named BLOWME?

Rick, dude...WTF!?!? SIX MILES!?? Was that intentional? If so, why not pre-arrange a ride back? Dude....SIX MILES? Are you serious? What happened? I can't even fathom being blown downwind 6 miles so it must have been intentional. Tell more please, I'm really curious about this one. SIX MILES!?! Like, not 3, or 4, or even 5, but 6??? Holy shit! I think I would have had to abandon the gear somewhere, like maybe at a convenience store with a nice clerk or even deep in a bush somewhere and make the hike to the car and drive my ass back for the gear. SIX MILES?? WITH the gear!? More of a man than me, no doubt about that. I don't think I would have/could have done that!

I came into kitesurfing without any waterskills whatsoever. Never windsurfed. Never had the desire to. Never wakeboarded. Had a little desire, but no boat. Never surfed cuz I had never seen a wave. Did know how to ride a skateboard... does that count?

I did though have an extensive history with controlable kites and traction kiting. I remember when friends used to make fun of me for going to fly my kites...now it's cool and I get paid for it. I even actually thought once that I was going to invent a new sport. I had been out in the water with one of my traction kites playing with it and I discovered body dragging for myself. Well, what's the next idea that would come to mind after that...of course try putting something under myself to ride on while the kite pulls me. What came to mind instantly was a surfboard with straps on it. I know, I know, this all sounds alot like BS, but it's true story...have I ever lied to you guys here? So my brother and I(he helped to come up with idea...I discovered bodydragging and took him out to do it and he told me we should try with surfboard) came home from the beach that day and got onto the internet to hunt up an old surfboard to buy that we could drill and put some straps on and try riding it behind our traction kites. THIS is how and when I discovered kitesurfing. In searching for "+Used +Surf +boards" on the internet, I came across something called a kiteboard that was supposed to be used for something called kitesurfing. WTF!! Next search obviously was for "+kitesurfing" and lo and behold I had found my calling!! Here I was thinking that I was about to invent a new sport, one that I even expected to be laughed at and made fun of by my friends and others, and someone had already done it. Shit, people around the world were riding kites on boards already! I didn't care that I didn't get to invent the sport, money and profit was the furthest thing from my mind when I was inventing the new sport...I was doing it, combining traction kites with water with surfboards for my OWN fun and enjoyment and would have never thought that it would have evolved into what it has today. Anyway, I didn't care that I wan't the inventor, in fact I was happy....saved me alot of time, research, development, R&D, embarassment, and who knows what else. I was happy that I could not only buy a board made to do this with but I could also buy a kite that was made for the water and wouldn't sink like the c-quad I had been planning to use. So that's how I discovered the sport and how I got into it.

I will admit though that when I did discover the sport I was a bit pissed off about one thing though, and that was the fact that this sport had been evolving for several years, already had people doing it, AROUND THE WORLD, and I had NEVER seen or heard of it before. I thought...why in the hell doesn't these guys doing this let the rest of the world in on the incredible high you get from it? That was several years ago. Back then you could goto pretty near any beach around here or even around Florida in general I think for that matter and not see a kitesurfer. So if you were like me and not into watersports like windsurfing and not looking at windsurf magazines (I only assume that one may have seen a kite or two in a windsurf publication way back in the day), and not in touch with surf shops cuz you don't surf, it could be very easy at that time to NOT know about the sport. This, the lack of publicity and info, and at that time even the lack of more than 1 or 2 halfway decent kitesurfing websites, was the idea and reason for the birth of http://www.tbks.net.

And here we are today. That's my story on how, when, why and from where. You do have to admit, it is a bit more unique story than the average kitesurfer on the water today. Most come from windsurfing, or wakeboarding, or from NOTHING, but at least the ones that came from nothing....even they got to see it being done and then decide they wanted to try it. My discovery was a bit different.

Must admit though, it would have been kinda cool to be the inventor of the sport like I thought I was going to be, but I am perfectly happy and content right now with where I am at and how I got here.

Pea's Out!

[Guest]

I windsurfed religiusly since I was about 10 (I am 30 now) and took my gear all over the place in search of great conditions. I made my own board, had wave gear, slalom and a zillion sails. When I started kiting in 1999 I simply bought a kite and became obsessed with learing for a few months. At the same time I bought some new wave sailing gear for 'epic' days. I had one session on my gear 6 months later in so called 'epic' condiotions and hated it. Everything felt so big and heavy.

Windsurfing is still a great sport, and the sense of speed etc. can be insane compared to kiting. But it is such a hassle. I havn't windsurfed since and 3 years later my gear is still for sale in the shop.

I started with a direction, but now ride a mutant and a twin tip. I have only just started to prefer the twin tip but I ride the mutant when less powered and love this too. Quite often I go to the beach with one kite only but 2 boards. For example yesterday I was out in gusty wind with my 14m X2. When the wind dropped to 13-16 knots I was on my Mutant and powered. When the wind picked up to 17-20 knots I sailed in and was equally powered on my little TT.

Both sports are great, but it;s always nice to have a new challenge. Now that I have a 20m kite (X2) the only days I don't get out are when it's less than 10 knots, or consistently over 35. I now find myslef when the wind is nuts looking for places where the wind is lighter. And when it's blowing a gale I now don't bother. Gotta work and pay bills sometime... In summer I kite 4 days a week at least. When i used to windsurf dit was maybe once week max.

[Johnny TBKS]

Oh shit...I meant to include in the above post;

Kitesurfers and windsurfers are often seen sharing the same waters here. We've learned to get along in harmony. This maybe somewhat of a bit of the fruits of my labor as I have been nominated to attend some of the windsurfer gatherings here to help to educate them on kites, kiters and the hazards that do exist and to clear up some of the myths that the had heard about us.(needless to say, I wasn't welcomed by them with open arms at first, but I won my way into their hearts) At any rate, windsurfing here is far from cancelled.

I still don't think that most 'pole surfers' here care too much to be surrounded by a bunch of 'stringsurfers', but at least they know what we can and cant do and what to expect from us...not to mention that they see that someone actually cares about what they think rather than just having wars with them and pointing and name calling.

Education is a beautiful thing. It's amazing what educating people around you can do for your area.
It's managed to maintain peace, harmony and most of all, free access in this area.

[Guest]

Yo Windman,

Get rid of the big O'truck now so they don't have a choice but to kite . I hear ya about teaching the 6 year old cuz I'm in that same dilemma. I aided my little one in a small trainer. The kid was literally screaming with joy hanging on to that wild thang!

The coolest thing about kiting is THAT I NO LONGER HAVE TO PAY THE AIRLINES A RIPOFF FEE TO TRANSPORT MY EQUIPMENT!!

-Bjorn-