junglist said...
I agree with Spacemonkey on one thing, watching kite surfing is just above paint drying as a spectator sport.
Assuming you want kite surfing to be a popular sport for the general public (personally I do not) then it needs something that is going to give it mass appeal and a unique identity.
Now (so called) wake style is not going to do this, why? Well, because it is not unique, it’s been done already. Is kite surfing wake style going to get credibility from wake boarders? Nope as, lets face it, no matter how clever and technical it is, it is still a mere copy. Is it going to bring something ‘new’ that is going to provide kiting with the ‘wow’ factor? Well no again.
Aping surfing is the same deal, pure surfers are not going to dig it no matter how hard we try to bring them in. Why? Well, if you want to see a perfect bottom or top turn then look no further than Slater & co. The surf companies have been trying for years to make surfing popular to the mass market, they have succeeded with the lifestyle and clothing thing, but the vast majority of the public turn the TV off when it comes to watching professional surfing.
So what’s going to do it for kite surfing? Well the one thing that we have over all the others is the propensity to go huge. All the non kite surfers that I speak to all mention big airs as being the thing that really gets them going from a spectators point of view and Mega Loops totally blow them away. They literally have seen nothing like it before!
I was watching Catalyst the other day with a non kite surfing friend and it occurred to me that it was just about the best kite surfing DVD I have ever seen. Not because there was anything ground breaking on show, it was just that there was a balance between wake style, surf style and some (not enough) airs.
So my opinion, for what its worth, is that our sport will only gain mass appeal when we forget trying to copy other sports and use what is unique about or own to give it its identity.
The first global kite surfing superstar will be the person who takes wake, surf and big air styles and mashes them together in a way that kite surfing only really can.
Cheers
J
Ditto to everything he said, recalling the time I was looking at kite surfing as something to try out, what hooked me was the height in some of the old school tricks I had seen on videos while trolling for more info on the sport!
I think I met a windsurfer once, but to be honest im not sure, actually could of been a albino dolphin. It was a fair distance away. Apparently they are a rare species to find.
