Kitesurfing: Becoming a Full-fledged Sport

Though it’s still a fringe sport, with Wikipedia estimating that somewhere south of 200,000 people consider themselves kitesurfers, and the only hit to be found on ESPN’s website about it was a story in February about a man who died kitesurfing in Florida after he was attacked by a shark; that doesn’t mean it should be relegated with shin kicking and wife carrying to the world of crazy things people do.  It has grown considerably from its early days: there is specialized equipment, from kites and boards to vests and chords; different forms and styles of kitesurfing, like freeriding, waveriding, jumping, and cruising, each with its own set of rules and goals; international competitions held all over the world complete with corporate sponsors; and even schools open for the specific purpose of teaching people how to kitesurf.  Perhaps most important to the evolution of a sport, it’s also developing its own terminology and slang.  You could be “tea bagging” the water, find the wind is so strong it’s “nuking”, resulting in a “kitemare”, or so weak it forces you to “dookie dive”.

The idea of attaching a kite to a vehicle as a means of movement is nothing new.  In the 19^th century a man named George Pocock tried kite propelled carts to avoid using horses and paying the dreaded Horse Tax.  Much later, in the 1970s, people were attaching kites to everything from skis to roller skates, and eventually to surfboards.  It was this kitesurfing (or kiteboarding as it’s called in the States), that took off, starting with German Dieter Strasilla’s engineering and the artistry of French brothers Bruno and Dominique Legaignoux, designing new kites, harnesses, and boards specifically for the purpose of combining them into one activity.  Then Bill Roeseler, a Boeing aerodynamicist in the States, created his own kite system for use with skis in the mid-90s, and his work and the ingenuity of New Zealander Peter Lynn’s kite-buggies were married with the previous kitesurfing inventions, creating something very different from simply using a big kite to tow a person on a surfboard.

This does not a sport make, however.  At this point all they had was a pastime for a small group of adventurers or maybe a cute activity to sell to tourists visiting coastal communities. Until it’s legitimized in the eyes of the athletic world, it’s still just a fad.  That’s when surfing legend Laird Hamilton came in, demonstrating kitesurfing off the coast of Maui.  If Laird’s doing it, it must be cool.  And when athletes are involved, what starts out as something cool to try in their spare time soon becomes competitive, and things took off from there.

With people working everyday to improve equipment and take kitesurfing to higher and higher places, the sport will only continue to grow and stake its own claim in the world of athletics, no longer content to be simply considered a derivative of surfing or windsurfing.  It has definitely come a long way from just a bunch of dudes trying to add a kite to any vehicle they could find.  The expense of the equipment involved and the need for specific climatic conditions will probably keep kitesurfing a fringe sport, but that shouldn’t do anything to diminish its evolution.  This is no longer something crazy people do, like shin kicking or wife carrying.

Guest post by Leah Thompson a writer for Futon Covers Online. Browse the internet’s largest selection of futon covers including waterproof futon covers at the lowest prices.