It ain't as easy as it looks! Foil Kitesurfing

In 2003 while on a windsurfing vacation in the Outer Banks of North Carolina I stopped in REALKITE, the premier Kitesurfing retailer and arguably the epi-center for North America kitesurfing and spoke with owner Trip Forman.  I was familiar with Trip from my national windsurfing days. He said something that I couldn’t believe, “Windsurfing is dead!” A few months after my trip to the OBX, I tried kitesurfing. I broke the number one rule of all boardsports - Don’t try to teach yourself!  I’ll skip the gearhead talk and just say I learned what it feels like to be a spinning fishing lure pulled behind a boat at 20 miles per hour. I was completely out of control and dragged underwater further than I was comfortable with. 

Since then I have had a few chances to take kitesurfing lessons, but opted to not waste the wind to learn something new, but stick with what I knew -- a handheld sail.  Windsurfing is dead, but for a few holdouts. Kitesurfing has taken over and I am happy to see the sport grow by leaps and bounds each year.

I promised I wouldn’t reveal the person or location, but this chap is one of the best kitesurfers I have seen on the South Shore of Long Island.  Like all action sports there is an evolution and most water and wave boardsports are experimenting with hydrofoils. As easy the flow looks, it’s remarkably dangerous.  The rider has to manage the water conditions, fly the kite and balance on the foil -- all at high speeds. Notice the helmet! Not too bad for a mid-February day on Long Island.