I have surfed most of my life and consider myself a surfer first. Having said that, kitesurfing is a blast especially in Perth's windy (but flatish) conditions. I am confused as to why you would bother with a kite in conditions like this:



Do other kitesurfers agree? Would you pump up your kite is such marginal conditions (wind wise)? Or is it only non-surfers who would kite in these conditions?

looking at those sort of conditions, surf every time then kite- unless the sections are to fast to make

Well you surf the wave
and use the kite to be ready for the next
one and not miss because you have to paddle ..
regards
gmd

Mmmm tough choice.....quantity vs quality.

I reckon the wind is probably a bit stronger than it looks, it is just a little bit offshore so the face is nice and clean.

There is nothing quite like paddling into a wave then just using the power of the wave but you can just get so many more waves with a kite.

If I was twenty years younger I might be surfing but now I would be kiting, but I would be using the smallest kite I could get away with so I could pretty much switch it off on the wave (unless I needed a little help to make a fast section).

ADS said...

I have surfed most of my life and consider myself a surfer first. Having said that, kitesurfing is a blast especially in Perth's windy (but flatish) conditions. I am confused as to why you would bother with a kite in conditions like this:



Do other kitesurfers agree? Would you pump up your kite is such marginal conditions (wind wise)? Or is it only non-surfers who would kite in these conditions?

Let me clear your confusion, Eat, Surf, Eat, Nap, Kite, Eat, Sleep....Repeat

ps. i have found protein recovery shakes good for keeping this cycle going

For me its all about the fun/effort ratio.

With surfing theres alot of effort for little fun in time terms. So you bash through the surf wait in the line up and then if your lucky you get 20 seconds of fun. then you have to smash through the white wash again assume your possion for the next wave. 5,10, 15 mins later you may get another 20 seconds of glory.

How many wave do you catch per hour? maybe 6? thats 2mins of fun in a full our of acticity.

Stuff that. Theres not enough fun factor for this white man.

Even if you take rigging up your kite into account as soon as you hit the water its all fun... just different levels of fun. So even if you take 30 mins to rig yourve had 30 mins of fun in an hour.

But I have always been a part time surfer at best. I've never been able to get over that low fun factor ratio. The other sports i do landboarding, longboards skating and mountain biking all more fun in terms of time v fun.

PS i'm calling at least 20 knots of cross cross off on that photo. Theres decent spray coming off the face. that doesn't happen until at least 20 knots.

ADS said...
....


Do other kitesurfers agree? Would you pump up your kite is such marginal conditions (wind wise)? Or is it only non-surfers who would kite in these conditions?

Judging by the amount of spray and the look of the sea out the back the conditions look pretty good to me. Not marginal for kiting at all. It looks perfect for surf kiting.

I would always rig a kite if there's enough wind to kite. Apart from the fact that I enjoy kiting so much, we rarely get those perfect surf kiting conditions so I always want to kite when there's wind and waves about.

The other thing is the pure joy factor that comes from kiting. I get 10 times the fun doing something on the water with a kite than without.

Puetz said...

Jedibrad said...

ADS said...

I have surfed most of my life and consider myself a surfer first. Having said that, kitesurfing is a blast especially in Perth's windy (but flatish) conditions. I am confused as to why you would bother with a kite in conditions like this:



Do other kitesurfers agree? Would you pump up your kite is such marginal conditions (wind wise)? Or is it only non-surfers who would kite in these conditions?

Let me clear your confusion, Eat, Surf, Eat, Nap, Kite, Eat, Sleep....Repeat

ps. i have found protein recovery shakes good for keeping this cycle going

...umm, where's root in that cycle??? Just wondering is all??

oops... ok... pencil that in between eat, nap and again at eat, sleep.... sorted.

Chris_M said...

If theres guys doing real surfing, don't kite there, or your wind screen may get smashed and your board shoved up your ass.

Ill be the guy shoving the board up your ass.

All good if you find a place uninhabited with waves like this, if is a crowded spot, you are officially worse than a SUPper

+1 couldnt agree more [}:)]

Stoked - I took that photo - after a morning surf - wish I was there now rather than here, flat and raining.

The wind is way stronger than it looks and it's cross on. I kited it on a 6 m.

The angle of the photo and the sunlight makes it look clean. Still surfable but windy and most got there fill in the morning.

I vote surf morning, kite arvo, then fall in blissful exhaustion (and good luck to those who get a root while there).

ADS said...

I have surfed most of my life and consider myself a surfer first. Having said that, kitesurfing is a blast especially in Perth's windy (but flatish) conditions. I am confused as to why you would bother with a kite in conditions like this:



Do other kitesurfers agree? Would you pump up your kite is such marginal conditions (wind wise)? Or is it only non-surfers who would kite in these conditions?

IMO this question is similar to defining the "limit" of art. As been said personal preference for sure. Credit to the guys who paddle onto em, I find it hard to justify the time waiting

^^^ From where I would rather be.

Chris_M said...

If theres guys doing real surfing, don't kite there, or your wind screen may get smashed and your board shoved up your ass.

Ill be the guy shoving the board up your ass.

All good if you find a place uninhabited with waves like this, if is a crowded spot, you are officially worse than a SUPper

Ha Ha Thats *ucken funny.
What is real surfing?
Paddle surfers in windy conditions are speed bumps.

PS. Have been a "real surfer" for many years before kiting and really enjoy both.

great shots, looks epic...I really like the last one and the heavy angle on the swell as it's marching down the beach....wish i was there for that.

waveslave said...




Gnaraloo is sailed in marginal (or primo) conditions cause Gnaraloo is angle-perfect.

Wind direction is optimum for riding waves with a sail or a kite.

Surfers don't like wind.

Surfers like calmness.

Glass.

... mate, thats looks fully grouse!

Plummet said...

Chris_M said...

If theres guys doing real surfing, don't kite there, or your wind screen may get smashed and your board shoved up your ass.

Ill be the guy shoving the board up your ass.

All good if you find a place uninhabited with waves like this, if is a crowded spot, you are officially worse than a SUPper

just a minute... if theres enough wind for real kite surfing what the hell are lowly surfers doing there?. I better smash all their windows and jam their boards up their arses!. how dare they interupt my superior kiting experience!....

On a realistic note. I say posession is 9-10ths of the law. if the surfers are their first then I will leave them to it. I expect the same respect aswell. If the surfers paddle into my zone i wont move on. They have made the decision to surf amongst my kiting. If they don't agree then i guess we can resort to window smashing and surfboard enimas. Or window enimas and surfboard smashing. which ever you prefer!.

All u gotta worry about is having your ass kicked by sunbathers when you are landboarding on their beach dude