A small move on from yesterday’s bit on Freebording, here is yet another another crazy sport that has hit South Africa by storm, Kitesurfing or Kiteboarding. Wiki, as always, has a great write-up on the sport. This is also like a merging of concepts between wakeboarding (whereby you get towed behind a boat), surfing, and power kiting (where people used to stack power kites and throw themselves into the air).
Kitesurfing is no new concept and I remember seeing them in Hawaii back in 2001, but the sport has subsequently grown and has become a hell of a lot safer over the years. Equipment has improved as has safety aspects on lines and power and depower “zones” to make for an incredible ride but not one where you are going to kill yourself. I tried it once a couple of years ago, let my concentration slip for a second and I was yanked 15 meters (40 ft) into the air and dumped on the beach almost resulting in me requiring a knee operation. Don’t be stupid. Get lessons!
This is what I am doing now. Getting lessons. When I tried it in the past my mate Mullac and I bought a kite together to learn, and I subsequently moved away to another project. He continued learning and practicing and now I have some catching up to do. Timing isn’t great though and getting the right conditions can be tricky. Although PE always has wind, it has to be the right kind of wind. Not too soft and not too strong and must be blowing across the beach in specific directions. Anything else can result in severe bodily harm or getting blown out to sea. Not good! Also my instructor is only available after 5pm as he has a real job too. Poor bastard! We have managed to squeeze in a couple of hours but I am still nervous after my last ordeal. As soon as I can get over that I am going to love it. The last lesson resulted in the kite exploding. No idea why, it just happened while sitting on the beach. I swear!. So now its getting repaired. Again.
CLICK FOR MORE: (Could be considered NSFW – You have been warned)
And if you still need convincing… CLICK PLAY!
