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Defecting Kiters
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windoggi



Joined: 22 Feb 2002
Posts: 2743

PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 6:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kites rip in the waves, no doubt. Sailboards rip also. Everyone is capable of ripping. But, question was, are the young folks, wanting to be different from what's currently cool, checking out windsurfing? Watching current Hatchery vids, it sure looks like a young man's playground to me.
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swchandler



Joined: 08 Nov 1993
Posts: 10588

PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 7:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Surprisingly, I've run into some young folks that want to windsurf rather than kite, as they seem to relate to the sport. Whether they ultimately get up for the task and made the grade is a different matter. Conversely, many young folks are also attracted to kiting too, especially with all the boosted airtime and tricks. There is far more folks kiting than windsurfing (at least 10 to 1, and sometimes greater).

Being at a site like C Street or Ledbetter Beach, site seeing folks walking by often comment about windsurfing and kiting, so you get honest impressions about both sports. Frankly though, some folks have a hard time discerning whether you're a windsurfer or kiter when asking about the equipment. Seems hard to believe, but fairly regular comments confirm it.

As far as wondering whether kiters tire of kiting and want to come back to windsurfing. Virtually all my old friends switched to kiting, and not a single one of them wants to come back to windsurfing, and its been at least 5-6 years now. However, I'm living in Santa Barbara, and the summer winds are on the very light side. When it gets to fairly big sails and slaloming around, there's virtually no interest, especially since they can be in the surf on somewhat larger kites, or maybe combine smaller kites with longboards (surfboards). Surprisingly, not many using the new generation of long style windsurfing/SUP boards with sails.
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windoggi



Joined: 22 Feb 2002
Posts: 2743

PostPosted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 7:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I wouldn't imagine light wind sailing would be desirable to a defecting kiter. AAMOF (as a matter of fact) the young buck I spoke to in the parking lot was talking to the Reachers, not the Pinchers.
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swchandler



Joined: 08 Nov 1993
Posts: 10588

PostPosted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 12:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You know, I got to thinking about concepts being raised here, and I thought, why not mixed it up a bit.

With all the balance between windsurfing and kiting, and whether folks are coming back to windsurfing, I thought we ought to trip a bit on different realities and see where folks really fall.

Looking to another venue, folks bailed from snowskiing to snowboarding years ago. Did you stay with skiing or move to snowboarding? But more importantly, if you did make the switch, are you thinking about skiing again?
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chibichibi



Joined: 26 Jun 2006
Posts: 275

PostPosted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 2:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i switched to snowboarding in 1987 with an all wood Burton Backhill. i never skied again. now that i've reconnected to windsurfing, after a 10 year hiatus, even snowboarding pales in comparison, esp the part about driving 3 hours and paying $50 to stand in a line for a 3 min run. to each his own.

i don't understand windsurfers who switch to kiting, it's just two entirely different sports and skill sets. isn't kiting just a "greener" form of wakeboarding? Rolling Eyes
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keycocker



Joined: 10 Jul 2005
Posts: 3598

PostPosted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 4:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have heard shops mention that kite sales are down everywhere but Europe. Since our main guy died kiting you can't give them away in my little store in Belize.
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Epenrose



Joined: 05 Nov 1997
Posts: 402

PostPosted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

isn't kiting just a "greener" form of wakeboarding?

Now that is funny.

It may just be economic. Costs a bloody fortune to buy a new pair of kiting shorts to match the color of each new kite. Have you seen what dry cleaners charge to hem, let out the gut, take in the crutch bulge, on a new pair of kiting shorts. Non bleach color safe detergent to preserve the flowery pattens. Plus the electricity used to press shorts every time before a session.

Windsurfing is cheaper.
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traig



Joined: 10 Sep 1993
Posts: 186

PostPosted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 5:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting thread.

Nobody around here going back to windsurfing though it was our lives fo so many years. Grew up surfing and along came windsurfing as another way to catch more waves and the ultimate water sport addiction. Kitesurfing took over twelve years ago as the easiest way to park a kite and just surf a wave using the waves power and not the wind while not having the huge pendulum effect of the mast and boom killing the surf style and the board size producing a long board surfboard sized bottom turn. A strapless real surfboard that can also paddle into the waves with is the kitesurfing wave tool of choice. No comparison really. You can truly stay in the pocket and actually surf. Depending on who you have in your area kitesurf wavesailng, will determine the style you see. Having lived to windsurf wavesail for so many years of my life, it is not hard for me to say that though wonderful, it can not touch the true surfing feel of kitesurfing wavesailing. Different wind directions make a huge difference as does the proper kite and boards for the job at specific venues.

Spent the last week wavesailing a local surfing point break alone on my PL synergy kite and old fish surfboard with no straps. An inflato kite would have just fallen out of the sky with it's weight and a windsurfer that tried to come out could not get the wind which was at higher levels and was unable to ride the perfect south swell. Tool for the job. Big Hookipa with ripping wind, Scott's and great San Carlos makes sense but you could also shred thosse areas on a kite with the proper skill set which as others mentioned are easier to develop as you get so many more days on the water localy in kitesurfing than in windsurfing. The question should be, who has the most fun? The person with the biggest grin each day wins!! Occasionally try friends windsurf gear and well....mmm..feels HUGE now. Great exercise but the added hours available on the water kiting makes up for it and the no strap syle of kiting takes a bit more body english and helps keep us in shape.

We have some local windsurf/kiters who never learned how to ride a directional in waves and so do not apreciate the kite wave angle. It takes a lot of dedictaion to get the wavesailing skills in kiting as well.
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ericandholly



Joined: 20 Jun 1999
Posts: 292

PostPosted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 5:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kites are dead nobody kites in hood river anymore so please do not come to hr to kite as you will be lonely and feel rejected and i can only type with one hand as i am talking to an airline rep to book a flight to hatteras to kite with the only other kiter who has not switched back to windsurfing other than my son with whom i was kiting with at berkeley yesterday out at olympic circle
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DonORiordan



Joined: 06 Feb 2001
Posts: 146

PostPosted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 6:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I suspect the sport of kiting can only grow to a natural limit (and perhaps its already reaching that?). Kites need a lot of room (less room for experienced riders, tons of room for rookies, kooks, etc), and there is only so much room/access readily available (i.e. clear/safe launch/landing areas and so on). Emphasis on "readily".

Thats why here in the bay area we tend to see kites mostly at the coast where there are long beaches, 3rd ave (two kite-friendly launch areas) and Alameda (long beach at Robert Crowne), Crissy. Most other launches on the peninsula (Coyote, Stick, Palo Alto, Embassy are essentially windsurfing only (kites are precluded by power lines, nearby airports, swimmers, etc).

So, there will be a natural stopping point to the growth determined by ease of access....regardless of other factors like "sport XYZ is the cool one now, lemme try that instead". Some of those other factors may also play into it, but I suspect that given the relative attraction of kiting to the casual bystander (how many people have asked me if "windsurfing" is that thing with the parachute...if I had a 1$ for each of these I could afford quarter-to-half a new JP Freestyle Pro board).

There is also a natural stopping point to the #surfers out there. There are only so many waves to go around, the contention over this scarce natural resources leads to all sorts of wave-hogging or territorial behavior which scares away all but the most persistent newcomers/wannabes)

So, even if nobody who started kiting ever decided to quit, there would still have to be a natural limit to the amount of it being done due to these access issues. Now, if you factor in some fraction of kiters deciding to quit/revert/try the next cool thing instead), that doesn't change anything as long as there is still "new blood" being attracted to the sport.

Does any one know, what fraction of active kiters today used to windsurf?
Is new blood still being attracted, are older kiters really quitting/reverting to something else (windsurfing or other)

Has kiting reached its "steady state"

?
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