mrbonk said...Interesting that 'the variety of tricks' was cited as a 'pro' of windsurfing then.
Anyway, it's a moot point for me. Some of the best footage I've seen of *any* wind/water sport has to be the windsurf guys carving it up in big winds and huge surf. It looks mighty impressive and undoubtedly takes some pretty big kahunas to pull up into mast-height+ waves with 30kts of wind behind you. However, the reality for me is that we just don't get those conditions here. Even when it *is* blowing 25+kts here, all we get is rolling ocean swell with a very marginal shore break
I mean I only added what I considered my pros and cons, other might have a different interpretation. Like I said also the list does come from a windsurfers perspective.
I think the reason you don't see many people doing tricks etc is because of the shear difficulty of them. As an example of the difficulty level between the two sports, i've seen someone with no windsurfing or sailing experience start kiting and over 2 seasons become a highly accomplished kiter, all the twirly tricks, kite loops etc. Now there is no way the same can be done in windsurfing. Over a season the average person would be lucky to pull off a carve jybe by the end of it. To learn the harder tricks requires extreme dedication, a lot of practice and a lot of patience which most people just don't have.
I think that is one of the real advantages of kiting is that people can really quickly see their progress and get something out of the sport, where with windsurfing a lot of people get frustrated and give up.
I agree that kiting is probably more suited to the average conditions we get here on the east coast as you need good wind to really get teh best out of windsurfing imo. There's a place for both sports, both have their appeal, I just prefer windsurfing...that's me :D
As for the variety of tricks, go check out www.continentseven.com Variety is the key word.
