ssayre - 19-12-2015 at 03:27 PM
Just curious if anyone has an educated guess as to how many land kiters are in North America (as in United States and Canada)?
Including snow, buggy, board, static or other land based kiting I'm forgetting.
I'm in my own bubble as far as kiting is concerned and not on FB or haven't been to events so I really have no idea.
I'm guessing hundreds but is it thousands?
Is there a massive facebook kite community I'm not aware of? Just curious.
markite - 19-12-2015 at 04:03 PM
Interesting question and I'll start by throwing out some observations from Ontario Canada. Before kiteboarding started there were about 40 people that
I knew of that had buggies and there were maybe a couple of hundred that kite skied and a few snowboarder.
Then getting into more of the kite boarding era there was a big swell in people kiteboarding, a huge drop off in buggies and then another increase in
winter kites (ski and snowboard) as new kiteboarders learned they could also go out in the winter.
At it's current levels I would say across Ontario there are likely close to 1,000 kite boarders - not all kite boarders will kite in the winter but it
may be close to 70% that get out in the winter either with just a few sessions or dedicated winter kites. There are also winter kites that do not surf
but probably a smaller percentage that only winter kite. I have a few friends that buggy and winter kite ski but don't surf. Buggy numbers have
dropped down so on a very good outing we might have max 10 out but more like 3-5.
In Québec there are more buggies and I think a good number of those winter kite and I would say overall there are probably more kite skiers and kite
surfers in Quebec. The rest of Canada may have what is equal to either Ontario or Quebec.
My guess is that in northern US you will have a good mix of kite surfers and kite skiers/snowboarders and down south more dedicated kitesurfers but no
winter kites and a mix of buggies spread around.
So overall my guess is in the thousands. You may find concentrations where there could be 300-500 within an area that kiteboard but you might only see
max 50-100 at a good day.
ssayre - 19-12-2015 at 06:27 PM
It sounds like if you take snow kite out of the mix, that the number of kite buggy / landboard category would only be in the hundreds maybe. I guess
we are a rare breed. It's a shame, there are so many ways to enjoy kiting even with the challenges of being land locked. I thought my local exposure
would have spurred more interest than it has, but in 2 years of people passing slowly by and looking interested, there really hasn't been anyone else
besides me kiting. I do see an increase in people with single line and 2 line kites since I've been flying so I think I have caused a little interest
in people at least taking their kids to fly kites.
Cheddarhead - 19-12-2015 at 08:33 PM
To my knowledge I am the only buggier in the state of WI:D:P Every single kiter I have met in my state are water riders first, then winter kiters
second. Winter seems to just be a means to feed their addiction until summer comes back around. It's sort of lonely in this state.
Bladerunner - 20-12-2015 at 10:26 AM
Around here things happened similar to Ontario. We probably had as many or more buggy pilots before kitesurfing took off. I big dip in interest after
that. There are now about 20 or so interested enough to pay for insurance to use our park. I actually thought we would only find a dozen. There are
hundreds if not over 1000 involved in the water side of the sport.
Like so many others, I thought that there would be a surge in interest in the sport not unlike that over in Europe. The numbers involved here have
remained low in the 10 + years I have been around.
TEDWESLEY - 20-12-2015 at 10:43 AM
Not many here in Maine. Same as Markite, more water than land, lots of cross-over in winter. At our local beach, it's usually Mainekite and I on
land and several kiteboarders.
Snowkiting is the largest group as it draws from all of the other groups and our geography is favorable to it. Still, numbers in hundreds at best.
rectifier - 21-12-2015 at 12:18 PM
There's a fairly large water community here in SK but I don't ride water so... I'm not sure how many are out there. Of those I've met, all snowkite.
I'm always hoping snowkite will displace curling as our official winter sport, but the unfortunate fact is that kites are a big investment for
beginner/interested riders, and when it's frigid cold and the wind is blowing a lot of people like to hide inside.
I agree that snowkite is #1, after all, winter is long here and that's all I do all winter. Snowkiting #1 :wee:
Hoping for a repeat of the Red Bull race in Regina this year as such events raise the profile of the sport and bring in new riders. Last year's race
attracted 100 riders, I didn't make it due to injury but hope to get out this year.
I've always wanted to get into buggying but our fields are muddy in the spring, cropped in the summer, perfect in the fall but I'm too busy farming,
hunting, trapping and getting ready for winter, and then winter comes and the skis come out! I was working on an ice buggy but it kind of fell by the
wayside.
Pasture is always there, but pasture is always full of plenty of rocks, brush and steep hills. Sometimes random old metal junk. And most of us are
rotationally grazing these days so cross fence is everywhere. Plus I don't want to hit a cow, lol