Interested to know when you first saw kiting and what you thought of it.

The first time I saw it would have probably been in the winter of 98. Living on the Gold Coast at the time and I was sailing on the western side of the Broadwater in a channel in a strong westerly wind. A guy was there with a kite and what I remember to be a surfboard to ride. He kept getting pushed downwind and was out of control. We talked about it but I wasn't really interested in trying it as it looked really scary.

At the time I never really thought it would get as popular as it has as I thought kitesurfing lacked control and was really dangerous. Kudos to the designers who made the gear safer for kiters.

The 1st time I saw kiting was at Rye front beach can't remember the year but it was before boardshorts over wetsuits became the norm

kato said...

Jay Roadley at Sandy point in the boat hole ,late 80,s early 90s on a Bombora Xit with his 2 string kite. Way before kites. There a photo somewhere. They used it as a joke in an ad i think.

that was the first time i had seen someone with a kite it was 1991-92 at Sandy Point i think.

The first time i seen a modern kite is when i purchased one in 2004,had no idea on how to use and learn't by trial and error..sold it after a year got sick of always having to watch the kite while out on the water.

to be honest i can't remember. but it was most likely a windsurfer mate doing it. a lot of mates sold their gear to get into kiting. 3 years later they were all windsurfing again.


my first remembered memory of kiting was being at redcliffe.

my mum (bless her) pointed to the water and said wow look at the windsurfers.

my 3 year old daughter (bless her too).

said, grandma, that's not a windsurfer it's a kiter.

curac said...

who cares. ****h all I here about it kniting these days. I mean kiting. We should be talking up wavesailing not kiting

true that!

The first time i saw it i was a pennyless school leaver back in 05 , i went and had a chat to an instructor i saw on the shore and asked him about prices etc, to me then 2k to get into it was totally out of the question so when i saw an ad in the paper for a bunch of WS kit for $120 i jumped at it.

BEST THING I EVER DID!!!

Now 3yrs on im glad i dont kite ( i wouldnt fit in with that crowd anyway)

And im still pennyless but so very very happy!

First time i saw kiteboarding it was sans-board.
1 guy,
1 hundred metres of beach,
1 ridiculously large kite and
1 hell of a sou-wester.

1 long downwind heel drag.

He was literally barefoot skiing on sand.

Yes I remember when kiting was hardcore.

It was all down hill from there.

Late 90's, saw some guy on a remote beach with a massive kite, he'd just come in.

Having flown stunt kites for years I thought "How hard can this be" and asked him for a go. I now realise it was a 2 line Wipika (0% depower).

After being dragged down the beach and hearing him yelling "Let go, let go" I managed to land it on a barbed wire fence.


And then ran away!


Haven't touched the silly things since.

1989 in the Columbia Gorge there was a guy who rode a kite with a pair or waterskis. There was an annual race called the "Gorge Blow Out" which was a big downwinder for 20 odd miles, and legends of time - Robby Naish, Bruce Peterson, Phil McGain etc, used to do it on longboards as the wind could vary from not much, up to 50 knots.

Anyway, the kite guy went in the race and was actually first down the river but couldn't get over the finish line as there was a 200 metre or so beam reach to the finish line, and he could only go more or less dead downwind.

What a shame eh

First time I saw it was when I saw their float in the Sydney Gay Mardigras parade

Rad Lad said...

First time I saw it was when I saw their float in the Sydney Gay Mardigras parade

Important moments in Al, s life

1974 met a girl who didn’t wear flannels and track pants, she wasn’t from my home town and she talked kinda funny.

1988 Rollerbladed for the first time!

1999 Saw a kite surfer at Kanaha!

2007 Read on the internet that Lindsay Lohan isnt driving stick anymore (probably got sick of it while working on Herbie Fully Loaded)

1752.

First thought: No way is lightning going to strike that key.

GRK said...
Started windsurfing not to long ago, Going to start kiting soon also, Had no real interest in kiting for a while, but i think it will be the best way to get into the small waves in Seychelles(where we plan to spend 6 months of each year, Wifes homeland)

Seychelles is a lovely place, had a ball. Unfortunately it didn't blow more than 10 knots for the nearly two months I was there (but this was before it mattered to me). Maybe there's a windy season?

Which island will you be on?

OK thanks Geoff, the first time I saw them it was at Woodies Pt back in '92 and I thought that looks really technical. What, with managing a large kite and jumping out of the water etc.
I saw them again on several occasions and they were still "jumping out of the water", then it hit me, is that it? As my kids would say "thats gay"

brady said...

GRK said...
Started windsurfing not to long ago, Going to start kiting soon also, Had no real interest in kiting for a while, but i think it will be the best way to get into the small waves in Seychelles(where we plan to spend 6 months of each year, Wifes homeland)

Seychelles is a lovely place, had a ball. Unfortunately it didn't blow more than 10 knots for the nearly two months I was there (but this was before it mattered to me). Maybe there's a windy season?

Which island will you be on?

It is nice, what were you doing there?, what island?
And what time of year were you there?
My wife to be is from Mahe, all here family still live on Mahe so i think thats where we will live also, I love to live on Praslin tho :) its only a 50 - 60 min windsurf away from Mahe! :) (they do the race there each year)

My first trip there was a little over 3 years ago, the wind ment nothing to me at that stage either, and i have no real memory of it been at all windy, but this time around (just got back from another 6 weeks there) I DID take notice, both as a hang glider and wind/kite surfing interest.
The best time of year there is during the Southeast Tradewinds - May to October which reaches its peak in the month of July/August. Its also the time of year with the most sun and least rain :) its still not overly strong everyday tho, weak enough for me to go hanggliding also, 10 - 20knots is my window for hanggliding, depending on the site.
Then theres the Northwest Monsoon - December to March
This is the "rainy season" Winds are predominantly from the West to Northwest but generally light. This is also the Cyclone Season over Southwest Indian Ocean.
We arrived there toward the end of October and left early Dec, it was probably about 12kSE everyday, i got to fly my RC glider at all the SE facing sites, it quickly slowed to the point there were almost NO winds during the swap over from the SE to the NW tradewinds, and it was hot and humid! but for the last week or so as we were there the winds started to blow in every day mostly from the west, only a few times did it get above 10k tho, this is the best season for hanggliding, 10k at sea level is a lot more by the time its all been forced over 500meter or more of mountain(the RC got plenty more air time in the west winds too! :)
But i did manage to talk to the windsurfers and the couple of kiters that are there that manage to go out most weekends all year long.