Mark _australia said..

vwpete said..
Personally I used to windsurf, but I was not really that good, I could never have gone out at tombies, so for me getting into kiting was easy,

That says a lot.

that was expressed by Peter Hart in a magazine , how someone told him he switched to kiting because even if he is not good, he looks good kiting, but you cannot look good on a windsurfer if you're not good.
I cannot judge kiting as I've never attempted it. I started windsurfing almost 5 years ago at age 55 and I loved it since the beginning. It has been like being born again. It gives you the opportunity to spend long hours in the open, enjoy the wind, waves, ocean, totally de-stressing: you don't have time to think about work or trouble or anything else, in those moments you only live the present . Also you get fit, healthy, make friends, keep learning forever. Most of these reasons are common to other sports, but anyone is free to chose their ways. Good like to kiters, but wouldn't I look silly if I went asking some yachties why are they sailing, or joggers why they're jogging?

lotofwind said...
Not sure why crew stay in the old school dark ages???,
most have evolved, we dont see many of those things around here any more and even the old windsurfing school instructors that danced for 20 odd years and were the best of the best,,, now all kite. But as some have said on here already, that they already own thousands of dollars of poledancing gear and they know how to do it already, so why try something new and start at the beginners level again. All a bit too hard in the senior years, which is understandable, kinda like teaching your grandpa how to turn on an iphone.
Old dog new trick syndrome.????

I guess it would be like going into a shop to buy something to watch movies on and the shop guy tries to sell you a DVD player, but you say "No no no,,,I want a beta video player"???? Why would you? Its just stupid to step backwards when there is better faster gear than there was 30 years ago that allows you to do so much more than the basic boring stuff that, well, was good in its day, but now is just like a dinosaur,,extinct as it couldnt survive in todays world .

Kite surfing was invented many moons ago by windsurfers that got bored of it and wanted to experience something a bit more exciting than just sailing around slowly looking at the scenery yelling PORT and STARBOARD at each other."Look out, we may collide in 5 minutes if we dont change direction!!"
Most poledancers try and say they are "sailors" and want to sip cognac and smoke cigars at the yacht club, but the sailors dont recognise them as actual real sailors, but as wannabe yachtie try hards that cant afford an actual yacht ,and know they are not nearly as classy or skilled as an actual REAL sailor that get respect from kiters and all of society. So their only hang out is the bowls club playing pokies and eating $7 roast dinner buffets at 4pm.

My tongue is getting tired pressed soooo hard in the side of my mouth.

You make a convincing argument, perhaps we should skip that old fashioned kite puppet fad and go start SUPing, then we can go troll the kite forum about their ahem...longevity. Marble season lasted longer

[b]

you can wear speedo's and listen to music on your tape cassette recorder...

.....he may have said 'chaps', every now and then I still call an Ipod a Walkman.....

ha, you are funny lotofwind, and that includes when your absolutely caroasting mark, its funny!, kite surfing seems like a good sport, from my experience the only negative is sharing space with them on the water, there slow, and there lines occupy a lot of space, but apart from that, it looks good, definitely more eye catching than windsurfing, actually i think what i mean to say is the intermediate kiter might look a little more eye catching than the intermediate windsurfer, but a top windsurfer is something to see, fast gypes, good airs, crazy greasy lightning speed rocko, personally i dont really see the comparison, kite surfing seems more like a slower wake boarding sess than windsurfing, more emphasis on height,,, people have listed the verbs or skills that make windsurfing fun, but all sports offer this, including kiting, a path to mastery, which levels of fulfilment is usually measured by how many layers of subtle skill a sport has to offer, windsurfing offers a connection to the elements, it allows us to keep developing skills as the years roll on, for me, life hasn't been crazy easy, it can be hard to find a platform on this planet in which i feel my spirit can soar, come in windsurfing, where i can feel exhilarated, leaving myself behind, becoming re-invigorated, re- invented, re-energized, i love what windsurfing has brought to my world, i am the best i can be when i windsurf, it gives me great power and the feelings i get after sailing definately reminds me that life and the world can be sweet sometimes, thats what windsurfing gives me,,, now you can knock sailors, if you've read seabreeze forums it would be hard not too, but to knock the awesomeness that is windsurfing is stupid, considering your sport is a by product or after thought of windsurfing, and honestly man, if you came to our world and were that disrespectful to something that means soo much to me, i would break you man! I LOVE WINDSURFING!

Because I'm too fat and uncoordinated to dance

lotofwind said..

Kite surfing was invented many moons ago by windsurfers that got bored of it and wanted to experience something a bit more exciting than just sailing around slowly looking at the scenery yelling PORT and STARBOARD at each other.

Now that I've picked myself off the ground after reading Carantoc's remark...

Kite surfing was invented by windsurfers...but not for the reasons you mentioned.

It was a distraction so that they could get the trendy little 'look-at-me' kids to leave them alone to enjoy the great sport of windsurfing.

Why I took up Windsurfing?
It was in the early 80's when I was working near Cottosloe Beach. Every afternoon I use to watch the windsurfers surf the waves and I thought to myself that looks like fun.
I bought myself a wally for a few hundred dollars and started to learn the basics. Windsurfing had just started to take off with every square metre of parking space along Melville waters was taken by cars laiden with Windsurfers. Every afternoon straight after work I would go for a sail and every weekend. It was about learning a new skill, meeting new people and sharing your experiences. After a period of time you started seeing the same people and started organising activities and sailing different locations.
It does not matter what sport you do. It is the people around you, getting outside exercising, and enjoying the experience that matters. I don't care if I am the slowest, oldest, fattest out there. I am enjoying myself.
When I speak to people about windsurfing they always say, "I would love to try that someday" but they never do. At least we got off our behinds and tried something new.
After not sailing for about 20 years due to having children, a wfe and a mortgage I have taken it up again and once again I am enjoying getting out onto the water and meeting new people.

Just wanted to say thanx for the replies, I would not say I am that much better informed as to why a newbie would prefer to windsurf over kite. But I do get why good windsurfers stay windsurfing.

cheers

Just to share the stoke.

I do it because it is hard to do. I've done a heap of sports over the years and without doubt windsurfing was the most frustrating and difficult one to learn. Maybe it just appeals to a certain kind of masochistic personality and that is why it is not as popular. I was once told that kites were great (please don't get me wrong, I don't care what you ride) you can get up and going and know just about everything in 6 months and then he said "then what?".
When you windsurf you learn something new every time you go out. I've been going for 10 years now and he was right, I'm always learning and always being challenged out on the water. I just hope I live to be 150 so I can then say "Well, I know it all now".

When you hit the high seas after work it just makes me feel so good the feeling of freedom ,waves,speed and sharing happy days with other like minded people allways learning more each time you hit the water learnt when i was 14 and now 43yrs old and i just cant get enough the excersize it has given me is a big plus the epic missions and safaris it has taken me have changed my life so glad my dad got me into sailing as a kid on dingys i owe him things ive hit along the way, the reef lots of times, a few birds, a big sea turtle ,the beach, a few euros, my mates, flying fish into the rig ,a sting ray, drift wood, my head a few times and that just comes with time on the water and i love it more than ever now with the GTC im one happy wind wanker as my skeg head mates would say and great reading other peoples reasons why they love it !

To an outsider:
Its like draughts and chess. To someone who has no idea and never played, maybe draughts looks more appealing as they can follow what is happening. The game is faster and you get a quick result. Chess can be tons of practice to get good, and you only really get it if you play it or are the type of person capable of learning it. To everyone else, a quick game of draughts or checkers is more than enough. But when you can play chess, why would you ever want to play draughts again unless its with a 5 year old.

To someone that does it:
Kiting is a completely different feel. Its comparing oranges and apples anyway. Kiting is slidey, riding on the board edge. Feels like snowboarding and wakeboarding. Windsurfing, well, it feels like windsurfing.

i expect i windsurf for exactly the same reasons you kiteboard, or that guy parasails or she cross-country skiis, or they base jump. they are all variations on the same theme; conquering yourself, harnessing the elements and being happy. it's simple really; the pursuit of that which you love.

believing the overwhelming satisfaction of 'nailing it' can only be achieved from kiteboarding is a breath takingly narrow view of an enormous, amazing world.

hankie and esky lid ?

Here's another one who has done both

By the way Loto, it wasn't my red thumb so no need to theorise or have yet another crack at me.

Rexo said..
A year ago I tried kites then tried windsurfing. I always wanted to windsurf but uni stopped that. Now I can. So I tried kites to see what all the craze was about. Once I learnt the kite, doing it on the water was pretty easy, but has its risks. (Being a water skier and wakeboarder might have made it easier). Then I tried windsurfing.

Yep, its damn hard and frustrating at the start but it dominated for me over kites.

Now I am sorta over the hump and really getting into it. Windsurfing for me. More challenging and more rewarding. Just me but I would rather watch a pro windsurfer dominating (aka Koster, Siver or even old school Naish) over some pro kiter.

Windsurfing and kites reminds me of young kids on scooters at skate parks. Hardly anyone is learning the skateboard anymore as its to hard so the youngins go straight for the scooter.

If windsurfing was easy everyone would be doing it, and everyone is kiting.

lotofwind said..
It is kinda funny though that it is a thread on "Why do you windsurf",,, but straight away all you guys start comparing it to kitting???? Classic .

You would think it would be all comments on the actual buzz of the hobby not trying to compare it to something else???

Part of the original post: "He then expressed how much he would like to give kiting a go as it looked so much fun.. But next no word of a lie, he asked with a bewildered face. ??? So why do those chaps do wind surfing?"

That would be why we are talking about both.
yeah - didn't read the whole thread - Classic.


BTW it is not spelled "kitting" - just one T