So what you really mean is: Who learnt to ride waves kiting and likes it better than surfing???

I understand where you are coming from as kiting gives you a much easier platform to progress or give you the idea that you are progressing your surfing skills in a much shorter time frame than if you only paddled (as would tow-ins).
I think however that for the most part Kiting wrecks your paddle surfing style and teaches you bad technique and body position. Although Kiting gives you an idea of what some things feel like whilst paddle surfing the truth of it is mostly you aren't surfing at all and are instead flying along a curve supported and propelled by a kite (wave riding).

I'm fine with what anyone wants to do and I think you opinion that kiting is more fun is a valid one, however I wouldn't exactly say you are "surfing", or compare it as such (if you get my drift).

So I was a very rubbish surfer. Then I started kiting, mainly into down winders on a strapped surfboard. Now my paddle surfing has improved to the point that I am only a pretty rubbish surfer. So, I think yes I have learned to surf from kiting. All down to time in the water and on the waves, and in Perth without a kite you just don't get the time.

Rubbish surfer x3. Yes kiting does help a bit here and there. What kiting doesn't do is help with taking the drop and the nuances and difficulties getting that right. Surfing is still king for me...

for me, it kinda went like this:

I got hooked onto kiting, but then there was no wind...so I bought a surfboard...


now I am addicted to both..



moral of the story: kiting has introduced me to water sports including surfing (and thus kind of learnt to ride waves because of my curiosity fuelled by kiting)....and that was the end of my bank account. lol

rowdy is spot on. please read between the lines.

Surfing takes a long time to learn. and kitesurfing a wave can help only if you are not using the kite all the time. Neurophysiologically speaking, Surfing is a multidimensional skill requiring many different skills to progress.

Kite Surfing is a different sport, You cannot do a bottom turn to smack a lip unless you turn in the pocket of a wave without kite assistance, you cant race down the line with a kite unless you know how waves form unless youve spent LOTS of time in the water. I will give
lots of examples if necessary.

think about it,Surfers that kite, unhook and drift, the kite so the wave is where you get the power from.

I tried surfing for two years, found it incredibly frustrating and exhausting. All that work and waiting around for 5 - 10 seconds standing up just didnt do it for me. Especially in Sydney where even in winter the surf breaks are crowded. Then got into kiting and have never looked back, I can count on one hand how many times I've used my surfboard since.

My next aim in life is to combine the two and hit the surf with a kite. This summer fo sure!

sir ROWDY said..
So what you really mean is: Who learnt to ride waves kiting and likes it better than surfing???

I understand where you are coming from as kiting gives you a much easier platform to progress or give you the idea that you are progressing your surfing skills in a much shorter time frame than if you only paddled (as would tow-ins).

I think however that for the most part Kiting wrecks your paddle surfing style and teaches you bad technique and body position. Although Kiting gives you an idea of what some things feel like whilst paddle surfing the truth of it is mostly you aren't surfing at all and are instead flying along a curve supported and propelled by a kite (wave riding).

I'm fine with what anyone wants to do and I think you opinion that kiting is more fun is a valid one, however I wouldn't exactly say you are "surfing", or compare it as such (if you get my drift).

... yes and sorta yes.

I know I wouldn't make a surfers a-hole but damn I do enjoy waves soooo much more now and it took kiting to get me there. I don't care if I have to fly and follow the kite, its heaps of fun, drifting or unhooked surfing is cool and all but who cares how you do it, your out in the waves and isn't that cool. Truth be know, I don't even have real waves but wind swells but in my head I'm slashing it up in waves.

I agree though, time on the water or rather time on waves, is teaching me techniques I would never have bothered to pursue had I just done the paddle thing. Not even windsurfing for 20 years did I even get close to what time on waves kiting has given me or even the wave riding skills (what little I have).

Anyway, I love kiting in waves even if it means I'm pretending to do it!

cheers,

Robbie

agreed it is not pretending, it is another dimension of wave riding. Just like Supping and short board riding, very different.

Must admit though seeing shots by steely on that wave thread...man some crew are getting bloody close to actually surfing...amazing.

Puetz said..

sir ROWDY said..
So what you really mean is: Who learnt to ride waves kiting and likes it better than surfing???

I understand where you are coming from as kiting gives you a much easier platform to progress or give you the idea that you are progressing your surfing skills in a much shorter time frame than if you only paddled (as would tow-ins).

I think however that for the most part Kiting wrecks your paddle surfing style and teaches you bad technique and body position. Although Kiting gives you an idea of what some things feel like whilst paddle surfing the truth of it is mostly you aren't surfing at all and are instead flying along a curve supported and propelled by a kite (wave riding).

I'm fine with what anyone wants to do and I think you opinion that kiting is more fun is a valid one, however I wouldn't exactly say you are "surfing", or compare it as such (if you get my drift).

... yes and sorta yes.

I know I wouldn't make a surfers a-hole but damn I do enjoy waves soooo much more now and it took kiting to get me there. I don't care if I have to fly and follow the kite, its heaps of fun, drifting or unhooked surfing is cool and all but who cares how you do it, your out in the waves and isn't that cool. Truth be know, I don't even have real waves but wind swells but in my head I'm slashing it up in waves.

I agree though, time on the water or rather time on waves, is teaching me techniques I would never have bothered to pursue had I just done the paddle thing. Not even windsurfing for 20 years did I even get close to what time on waves kiting has given me or even the wave riding skills (what little I have).

Anyway, I love kiting in waves even if it means I'm pretending to do it!

cheers,

Robbie

I actually wondered about this quite a bit, so tks for starting the thread.

I agree with most of the comments here, that they are 2 separate sports, different set of skills etc. But the truth for me is I can't surf because I can't paddle for long. I had my R shoulder Rotator Cuff reconstructed due to a tear over a decade ago. Before the OP I couldn't paddle for more than 2 minutes, I even gave up swimming long distance for it, and since then when I try to paddle for a session it then leaves me injured for 2 weeks, I can't kite - NO WAY I am compromising that :).

So, even though I start on a TT I then moved to GC so I would be 'forced' to face waves. Since I first bought a surfboard I have not returned to TT's and now I can hardly stand them - I have 2 mutants that I used for the transition. I am absolutely converted to my Surfboard and I push myself to progress everyday in waves. Sometimes I am definitely surfing as I often achieve 'slack lines' and even some tight turns..

Am I really 'surfing'?? perhaps not according to a purist - but really, who cares? I am having the time of my life and froth at the mouth every time the surf and wind are up, like today . It is true - I will perhaps never be a 'surfer' but I am proud to consider myself a kite-surfer . This season's challenge is strapless, I'm already getting 80-90% switches.. when otherwise would I get to do anything like that if it wasn't for kiting?

In my world I am doing OK, happy as anyone can be within my limitations. I know well what the 'stoke' is - for me!!!

There you go - proof








Cheers guys.. peace up and good winds

... nice one Sir V!

My left rotator cuff is buggered too, one of the main reasons I stopped unhooking back in 2007 so paddling is out for me too, even SUPing gives it sh!t so kiting in waves it is.

It might look boring as sh!t but I'm having a ball!

Whose learnt how to surf from kiting? - me and a lot of my friends.
Sup really helps too.

It really is a great combination.

I am amused by the purists that state you are not surfing a wave if your kiting it. I say boolarks to that!.

If you on a wave face standing on a board you are surfing a wave. Its that's simple.

I learnt waves on a goatboat years ago in the 80's when goat boats were uncool indeed. Now they don't even exist. then surfed for a little bit. But hated the dicks in the line up and got bored waiting for the next set to come through. There's a whole lot of hurry up and wait in surfing that I don't like. effort to reward ratio is way to low for me.

I have no desire to try and emulate a surfer. I much prefer kiting.

Yep I know the sensation. For me its not as magical as a my best kite sessions or my best mountain biking sessions.

I have been way more scared kiting than surfing and goat boating. That's because I have been out in significantly bigger seas and more dangerous and remote locations than I ever would have attempted surfing.

Yeh don't know if I agree with that. On the west coast here, we have kites a long way off shore in very isolated spots in swell as you said much bigger than I'd normally surf, but with a kite in hand I (incorrectly probably) feel bullet proofish hey. Well not quite, but way more comfortable than staring a 12 foot margaret river main break wave in the face....or a guillotines where you know the hold down could actually drown you easily...or among the many break between Walpole and Albany further south where it is your mate/s and the white pointers only around, in big big swell.

Yeh been more frightened for my life many times on a SB in insane conditions than on a kite, and we invariably go remote.

can't say I feel the same as you fellas.

But that being said I rarely go surfing now, always prefer a kite, but I reckon that a function of my inability to paddle in the stuff I would have done earlier...can't be fagged in smaller stuff, what's the point.

lovelife said..

for me, it kinda went like this:

I got hooked onto kiting, but then there was no wind...so I bought a surfboard...


now I am addicted to both..



moral of the story: kiting has introduced me to water sports including surfing (and thus kind of learnt to ride waves because of my curiosity fuelled by kiting)....and that was the end of my bank account. lol

Thats what happened to me.
I was so hooked on kiting waves, then bought a paddle board for the no wind days, then I got a mal and havent looked back! I love surfing so much more than anything else, nothing compares to it, or is more thrilling. I havent used my SUP in over 18 mths now, sometimes Im temped to use it but its just not the same!
I only sailed as a kid, so kiting definitely introduced me to the beach!