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Anybody quit kiteboarding to go back to windsurfing?
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techno900



Joined: 28 Mar 2001
Posts: 4161

PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 9:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

iso asked:
Quote:
The next question is, "Can a kiter sidestroke to shore with a downed kite?"


I watched a kiter do that last spring (actually tippy toed) after his kite became so tangled that he couldn't sort it out. He deflated the kite, rolled the whole mess in a bundle and worked his way to shore, about a 1/4 to 1/2 mile at the outer banks. While he could touch the bottom, I suspect that he could have side stroked (one arm and legs) in if he had the skill. Swimming may have been faster, since walking in chest deep water is pretty slow.

I once broke a mast while on a 5.0 more than a half mile from shore on a 105L board. I ditched the mast, rolled up the sail and paddled to shore laying on the sail and boom. Yes, the arms burned out and I had to take breaks, but I got home. That was long ago and it was difficult because I didn't know about stuffing the extension in the foot straps. I don't recall what I did with my harness. Probably had the hook against the rolled sail. Turning the harness around is a great idea.
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gobigkahuna



Joined: 11 Mar 2004
Posts: 144
Location: Eastern NC

PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

techno900 wrote:
iso asked:
Quote:
The next question is, "Can a kiter sidestroke to shore with a downed kite?"


I watched a kiter do that last spring (actually tippy toed) after his kite became so tangled that he couldn't sort it out. He deflated the kite, rolled the whole mess in a bundle and worked his way to shore, about a 1/4 to 1/2 mile at the outer banks. While he could touch the bottom, I suspect that he could have side stroked (one arm and legs) in if he had the skill. Swimming may have been faster, since walking in chest deep water is pretty slow.

I once broke a mast while on a 5.0 more than a half mile from shore on a 105L board. I ditched the mast, rolled up the sail and paddled to shore laying on the sail and boom. Yes, the arms burned out and I had to take breaks, but I got home. That was long ago and it was difficult because I didn't know about stuffing the extension in the foot straps. I don't recall what I did with my harness. Probably had the hook against the rolled sail. Turning the harness around is a great idea.


Most schools teach new kiters how to "self rescue". The technique is to coil up your lines on the bar, then grab both tips of the kite and let the wind drag you back to the beach. I've had to do this quite a few times. It works, but limits your direction to semi-down wind and your body is dragging in the water the whole way, which on the SE US coast is not desirable...

Why? About 6 or 7 years ago a guy I knew dropped his kite about 3/4 of a mile from the beach in Stuart, Florida. While trying to "self rescue" he got caught up in his lines and somehow caught the attention of several sharks. One attacked him and he tried to climb onto the kite to get away from it, but sadly, even though a lifeguard paddled out to try and save him he died on the beach before they could get him to the hospital. If I have a gear failure I'd rather not be bobbing in the water. My 150L windsurfer floats me just fine. If I had to, I could ditch the rig and paddle. I'm a surfer anyways so I could probably paddle a couple miles if I had to.
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Even if my paddling muscles were accustomed to paddling, a bundled-up rig on a board is much like a log that wants to roll over every few strokes. I've watched an orangutan do it, but don't see how normally-proportioned folks can do it. Sidestroking preceded the crawl by hundreds to thousands of years and is how swim racing was done generations ago, so it's a powerful and fairly fast method of propulsion. Power counts more than speed in propelling gear significant distances across the water, so it's also a natural and important self-rescue stroke for us. The flutterkick is counterproductive for those of us whose ankles don't point/plantarflex much (the flutterkick can move swimmers with no plantarflex backwards), and using the trudgen kick adds a lot of useful power. I've been using the SS with the trudgen kick for almost 70 years to get me the farthest and fastest with the least fatigue, and it's pretty danged fast in sprints, too, when pulling any load. It was a racing technique for decades, and the sidestroke/trudgen is now the basis of the SEAL's Combat SideStroke technique used to haul self and gear long distances at maximum efficiency. When towing a kite, WSing kit, an incapacitated buddy, or just yer own carcass significant distances, the sidestroke w/trudgen is a key skill, especially in rough water.
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gobigkahuna



Joined: 11 Mar 2004
Posts: 144
Location: Eastern NC

PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

@isobars - Whatever the drug is that you're taking, can I get some? LOL!
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d0uglass



Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 1286
Location: Bonita Springs, Florida

PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 11:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I kited 2009-2011. It was a lot of fun and had some advantages over windsurfing in some conditions. But I always windsurfed, too, and preferred the safety and security of windsurfing when dealing with gusty, offshore, or 20+ knot winds. Also, kiting was so easy that I quickly got to the level where the next tricks for me to learn (like spinning around and upside down) were too scary/painful for my tastes. Windsurfing is challenging enough that the basic get-planing, go fast, jibe, jump, ride a wave routine is hard enough that I don't feel like I have try crazier stuff. I quit kiting shortly after I moved from FL to MA and didn't take it up again when I moved back to FL.

If I had infinite time, money, and storage space I'd get some kite gear again, but it's not so much better or different that I miss it a lot. I'm more likely to want to try windfoiling for my next thing.

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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 1:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

gobigkahuna wrote:
your body is dragging in the water the whole way, which on the SE US coast is not desirable...

Fishermen call that trolling.

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Wind-NC.com



Joined: 30 May 2007
Posts: 980
Location: Formerly Cape Hatteras, now Burlington, VT!

PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 3:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yup, add me to the "roll call" of ex-kiters! After quite a few years of doing both sports in the way-early 2000s, I personally found that kiting wasn't super engaging (much less so than windsurfing, in fact) or any more fun than windsurfing, yet it was (and still is) substantially more dangerous. On top of that, if things went wrong (busted line/popped bladder/knotted up lines/sudden wind drop/etc etc) it was just a giant headache. It simply wasn't fun enough to warrant dealing with the occasional hassles, FOR ME. Obviously, lots of other people would disagree, and that's fine.

For a while, SUP sailing, long board sailing, light wind freestyle, or slalom took its place in low winds. Now, windsurf foiling has totally eclipsed everything else for me in light to moderate winds. Under 7 or 8 knots, you can still get an occasional flying ride, or just schlog around or do some light wind freestyle. Getting home when the wind dies hasn't been an issue yet, even when the launch is upwind. And then, if you get a puff in the 9 or 10 knot range, forget about it, you'll never look back!!

I haven't come across a single day when I wished I was still kiting, since about 2005 probably.

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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wind-NC.com wrote:
1. I personally found that kiting wasn't super engaging (much less so than windsurfing, in fact) or any more fun than windsurfing ...
2. if things went wrong (busted line/popped bladder/knotted up lines/sudden wind drop/etc etc) it was just a giant headache.


1. As indicated, IMO, by the kiters crawling across the water with one arm dangling and the other draped across their bar, just LOOKING bored. Also indicated by the time they spend in lawn chairs despite great conditions and their insistence that kiting is so effortless.

2. I gave Rubik's Cube about two minutes decades ago, give stubborn knots/tangles even less time, and tried one pointless freestyle move one try a decade ago. Hassles are called "hassles" because they are HASSLES. Smile
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capetonian



Joined: 11 Aug 2006
Posts: 1196
Location: Florida

PostPosted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 11:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

https://vimeo.com/234383599?ref=fb-share&1
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LeeD



Joined: 12 Jun 2008
Posts: 1175

PostPosted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 1:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kited in 2001 in order to sell kite stuff. Super easy to learn, but getting dangerous when pushing limits. Now just windsurfing.
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