Kitehard said...Kitepower Australia said...
Another standout person who has quit now is Paul Crawford from Sydney, he was very inspirational. He had one of the very first Wipika kites, and rode surfboards, he actually really did pioneer the sport here in Sydney, prior to Darren Marshall and myself, although I had been trying various kites and boards for about 18 months prior to seeing Paul do his massive downwinders from Brighton to Dolls.
My perspective of the golden age of kiting
Paul Crawford was the first kiter I ever saw riding in Sydney. I was out flying my Wipika 8.5 on the beach on the sand flats at Mick Moyland point and Paul cam riding down the river and stepped off his surfboard onto the beach, picked it up and came and said hello. I was amazed and quite impressed. He was riding surfboards and couldn't go upwind. I was yet to ride the board as I had only just received my new kite the day before and ewas practicing on the beach
I had already bought a Stonker 5 fin Polyester 195 directional and was the first dedicated kite board in Sydney to my knowledge. This was in December of 1999.
I bought the board thru Longreef who ordered it specifically for me from Alex at Stonker. I had the board before I had the kite as the kite had to be ordered from Matt Colefax in QLD and we were waiting for the new model Freeair rather than buy the soon to be outdated Classic. All kites then were two line, The freeair was the first to be set up for 2 or 4 line.
First guys I saw ride were in Hawaii in 99, a few of the earlist names as guys rode downwind from Sprecks to Kanaha. Then came to Mambo and saw Mini (Felix Pivec) and Maxi (forget his name) riding out the back and I think Alex Gillan. Terry Gallagher also bought a Stonker directional at Mambo that year and it was after talking to him that I thought I'd buy one which started my fascination with Kiting.
It was a different era back then, no claimers, no ego's, just a tiny band of crazies having fun with kites. Best trick in 99, riding upwind!
AKS started in Sydney in 2001 and was the first kite school in Sydney. I did lessons for Long Reef Sail and Surf, Balmoral Boards, I think even some for Kitepower if memory serves me correctly, please correct me if I'm wrong. Copped much ridicule and crap from all my poley mates back then. Laughed at for starting a school by other kiters as "No one will pay you to teach them how to kitesurf" was the call.
My old man has some very early footage of me and others kiting in 2000 I think, I look back and cringe, but it was all good in the day and was, at the time, the best riding going on. Candle stick inverts, table tops, back rolls and that was about it.
I loved the old times, Kiting was undiluted and pure as ever back then, there was only two brands of inflateble kites (Wipika and Naish) and Peter Lynn water foils (Yuk!) and one brand of boards (Stonker). I think the Arcs were about to come out around 2000/01. Most kiwi's like Kane were riding C-Quads prior to 2000.
Here's cheers to the true pioneers!
It's a pity everyone didn't get to experience "kiting back in the day", because they'll never know what it was like in the beginnings when it was totally pure and it was amazing just to see another kiter. We banded together like lost souls back then and became friends immediately. The group was tight and only consisted of about 6 kiters. Myself, Paul Crawford, Paul Stockham, Sam Burns, Sean Wilkens, Duncan Place and Pete the Pilot. The original South Side crew!
Good winds,
