Power Kite Forum

Kiting takes off in Western Hemisphere

pyro22487 - 17-8-2011 at 11:40 AM

In the past month crazy trips have been planned and completed. :wow: Newspaper adds and articles have been spotted.:thumbup: We are having a discussion about building a park in not 1 location but 2 in the US.:wee: I'm beginning to think our little sport might be reaching a new era in the Americas.:singing: Still not to the popularity that paintball is at but we are definitely getting close. Once I see a race on ESPN or SPEED that will be the true turning point of our sport ,and people stop asking me what it is Im doing with a buggy and a kite sitting in the middle of a field and me spending the next 10 minutes explaining the basic idea and physics behind it while the whole time good wind is blowing :mad:, I do believe our little hobby is definitely turning into something.

Bladerunner - 17-8-2011 at 05:22 PM

I get a lot of people telling me that " my sport " will be introduced to the Olympics soon ?
I have to expect they are talking about kitesurfing? Snowkiting?? ( we did our bit to show it off pre-2011 Olympics )
Anybody hear anything reliable about this?

ripsessionkites - 17-8-2011 at 05:46 PM

kitesurfing is going to be in the olypmics i hope soon. there is a complete group dedicated to making it happen

kite buggying is huge in euro, just come to World Cup in FR next year if you can. can have 10 pilots each from Canada and USA. unlimited Female riders. if you need more information, let me know.

snowkiting will be soon hit the winter games if the summer games take in the kitesurfing.

time will tell.

pyro22487 - 17-8-2011 at 08:00 PM

wow didnt know about the olympics. its great to see the sport leap like that. once buggies hit the olympics i will no longer have to eplain what im doing. i want to start tandeming soon lol. once i get a second buggy im thinking rides to get peple interested in the sport. oh so cant wait for my tandem maybe this weekend if i can sell this snake i have i will get my tandem.

indigo_wolf - 17-8-2011 at 08:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ripsessionkites
kitesurfing is going to be in the olypmics i hope soon. there is a complete group dedicated to making it happen


The International Kitesurf Association's push to get kitesurfing into the Olympics.

__

FWIW: IKA seems to be based out of Germany.

Maybe it'll happen, maybe it won't.... without being too much of a wet blanket, I am not sure it will have that much of an impact on grass roots traction kiting in the United States.

Personally I would love to know how US sales have been doing over the past couple of years.

Would be more hopeful if there were more instances of


More fun from Flexifoil? .... again in the UK.

The Kite Project Day One



With this being the first day of The Kite Project, all we had were visions of how it would work out. Nothing was certain. We had scored a perfect day with a good 10-15knt breeze, sun and even a bit of English warmth.
All of our visions came true as the day advanced. We started the day off meeting up outside Edge Watersports, where we took a group photo. Flexifoil have made this possible by supplying The Kite Project with a selection of kites, boards, and clothing. We got the rooks hooked up with their new clothing and were ready.

The Duck Pond at Exmouth is the ideal spot for a bit of Powerkiting. There are large flat grass areas leading onto a flat, shallow river estuary. Equipped with a 1.8m and 2.5m Flexifoil Rage we moved over to the Duck Pond and got going.

A couple of our rookies, Sukrit and Joe had already experienced kiting at school so they were well settled into the foil kites. We aimed to get all 10 rookies flying the kites across and around the wind window, experiencing the power a kite can produce. Learn all the movements used in kitesurfing, figures of eight, slow powerless control and finally enjoy it! Others soon followed Joe and Sukrit’s trend mastering all the skills needed to get out on the water and fly the larger leading edge inflated kites. With the sun out all day everyone was able to relax down at the beach, receive tuition, play on a few other toys and generally have a laugh!

Everyone left after having an amazing day. All went well and we are looking forward to advancing into the water. A massive thanks to Flexifoil, Floella Benjamin, Edge Watersports and all those making this possible. Dates of proposed coaching days for each group will be posted later.


One of the failings that make the US so kite unfriendly is that the powers that be have a tendency to pigeonhole land usage.... multi-use or non-designated fields tend to be the last flavor that has any space allocated.

ATB,
Sam

ripsessionkites - 17-8-2011 at 10:51 PM

this is why i love the in_wolf ... always comes through with links for me. :smilegrin:

carltb - 18-8-2011 at 09:32 AM

can i just correct you on the title of this thread...............

kiting is already huge in the western hemispere!!!!!

theres this little island called Great Britain and this other little land mass called Europe!! theres quite a few kiters knocking about there.. lol

bobalooie57 - 18-8-2011 at 09:36 AM

:lol: I was wondering when someone would catch that, but I think that we, on this side of the pond, understood what he meant! I've seen some pretty old vids of school kids in Britain working out with kites.

ripsessionkites - 18-8-2011 at 10:35 AM

going to be a double post, but its fitting here too

pyro22487 - 18-8-2011 at 02:52 PM

thats eastern hemisphere i know its big there much bigger than here thus the reason i didnt title the thread kiteing takes off. europe has a way of getting people from all over the country together better and cheaper than the usa. i wanted to take a train from okc, oklahoma to san antonio, tx one way was 194$ for a single person and i couldnt take the buggy, no cargo on the train leaving okc. its cheaper to drive but still would have been about 200$ and a days worth of travel maybe a little less. and thats just to tx. to nabx it would be 200 a plane ticket and shipping the buggy or borrow someones. then i dont have transport when i get there. sorry for the thread veer but i am trying to explain. lol. trust me i have seen the videos out of europe and china and austraia. we just dont have that in america. not to leave the east out just pointing out for my american buds. another example would be my buggy. how many people know what a kie buggy or kite board is? here if im driving around with my buggy evertime i stop or even while im unloading people ask me what it is. i tell people i fly kites and they picture a single sting delta or something and think im wierd and then i have to explain what i actually fly and how.

carltb - 19-8-2011 at 06:25 AM

lol i didnt know i lived in the east. i shouldve paid attention in geography!!!

bobalooie57 - 19-8-2011 at 06:56 AM

Sorry carl, i was hoping no one would have to ask pyro to google 0 degrees to find that most of Britain is indeed in the Western Hemisphere. Such is a sorry state of education, these days. :duh:

pyro22487 - 19-8-2011 at 08:17 AM

ok true that sorry my bad. I googled western hemisphere lol and Americas is what showed up. Google failed me again oh well. So if you want make fun of me. Most of the maps dont even show the fact that most of Great Britain is in the west. I was at work hiding from my boss when i posted oh well geography sucks shame on me. :embarrased::embarrased::embarrased::embarrased::embarrased::embarrased::embarrased::embarrased::embarrased::embarrased::embarrased::embarrased:
You guys are so mean some times. LOL

pyro22487 - 19-8-2011 at 08:19 AM

Sad thing is I actually googled western hemisphere to make sure I had the right one.

carltb - 19-8-2011 at 08:43 AM

0 degrees or gmt (greenwich mean time)

bobalooie57 - 19-8-2011 at 08:45 AM

Didn't mean to be mean, just humorous. Sorry it was at your expense, pyro22487, feel free to jump on me whenever I fail, cause it's gonna happen!:tumble:

carltb - 19-8-2011 at 08:45 AM

skimtwashington - 19-8-2011 at 09:21 AM

Some Thought RE: OLYMPICS!!

There is a good chance kiting can be added to Olympics if certain constants can be achieved. Hard.... since wind speed and direction change at any time...

It's hard to keep it fair if it's say.... just a flat out race and all contestants can't line up all for one race.

If too many racers to go at once and subgroups race.......a "freestyle' type judging (jumping, half-pipe, etc,) could be judged a little more fairly(although not as objectively since it's not based on time- finish) with wind speed /direction variations Perhaps? But you could have both.

Some of the X-Games and 'alternative' sports(like kiting) are gaining popularity. X-games is has grown hugely and is a TV staple now in sports broadcasting.

Witness the new X-cross downhill(motocross style race) now featured in the Winter Olympics. Love to see more of this kind of thing added.

Regardless...I would love to see some form of Kiting added to the Olympics.

indigo_wolf - 19-8-2011 at 09:26 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by carltb


And this year's award for "Best Use of an Animated GIF in a Forum" goes to..." :rolleyes: :lol:

ATB,
Sam

pyro22487 - 19-8-2011 at 12:20 PM

Its great being on this forum. I know it was all in fun. I will get you bobalooie. Nice little cartoon thing.

carltb - 19-8-2011 at 02:00 PM

yea we're just having a laugh mate.


















































































or are we................ mwahhhhhhhhhhh!!!

g-force junkie - 19-8-2011 at 06:57 PM

Is that a teddy bear in that rumble?

tridude - 19-8-2011 at 07:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by carltb
can i just correct you on the title of this thread...............

kiting is already huge in the western hemispere!!!!!

theres this little island called Great Britain and this other little land mass called Europe!! theres quite a few kiters knocking about there.. lol


UK has some sick landboarders for sure. You guyz are pulling tricks I normally see on water here............yes by 2016 we should see kiting in the Olympics in the exhibition stage (at least)...........fly hard, fly safe, and represent in a positive manner.................

indigo_wolf - 19-8-2011 at 07:29 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by g-force junkie
Is that a teddy bear in that rumble?


Yes, teddy bear....and hordes of infants & juveniles.... all zombies.

ATB,
Sam

ripsessionkites - 20-8-2011 at 02:39 AM

kitesurfing is on TV when they have the Gorge Games.

travelling around the USA to events isn't difficult if you plan ahead and make arrangements.

I do different events around the USA its actually cheaper than one thinks.

csa_deadon - 20-8-2011 at 02:47 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by ripsessionkites
kitesurfing is on TV when they have the Gorge Games.

travelling around the USA to events isn't difficult if you plan ahead and make arrangements.

I do different events around the USA its actually cheaper than one thinks.


Post a guide! :lol:

ripsessionkites - 20-8-2011 at 02:58 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by csa_deadon
Quote:
Originally posted by ripsessionkites
kitesurfing is on TV when they have the Gorge Games.

travelling around the USA to events isn't difficult if you plan ahead and make arrangements.

I do different events around the USA its actually cheaper than one thinks.


Post a guide! :lol:


really??? i start typing and put it on my blog site.

pyro22487 - 20-8-2011 at 03:32 AM

Do it lol. Hotel and gas money alone are going to kill me. I am planing on like 5k for nabx next year.