Sangreer84 - 20-12-2007 at 10:02 AM
Hi all i just got a new water kite but have yet to buy a board.
A friend of mine owns a wake board, is it possible to use that or will i need to get a kite board.
If so whats the difference between them?
Regards
powerzone - 20-12-2007 at 10:34 AM
get a kiteboard.
yeah, a wakeboard seems like it would work.... but it just doesn't.
kiteboards: better edging, less rocker, thinner construction for flex, grab handle inserts
Bladerunner - 20-12-2007 at 05:44 PM
Trying to learn on a wakeboard will ruin the experience. As said you can make them work. You can make a McDonalds tray work. A skim board or surfboard
would be a better choice by far !!!
Used kiteboards are getting extremely cheap now. Do yourself a big favour and get one !
Pablo - 20-12-2007 at 06:05 PM
The big difference between the wakeboard and a kiteboard is the rocker, wakeboards have way more rocker, the rocker acts like an anchor killing any
forward speed. It's not bad when getting pulled by a 90+hp boat, but it'll stop you dead in your tracks with a kite.
I've made a homebuilt plyboard that rides pretty good if $$$ is an issue. I got the basic design from this site.
http://kitesurfingschool.org/board.htm
I built one of these to learn on, worked fairly well, I didn't add fins so it's a little loose, but it gets the job done and now that I've got other
boards I still drag it out for low wind days.
Sangreer84 - 21-12-2007 at 10:42 AM
Thanks for the input guys.
Pablo, i visited the site and its awesome. gonna start on my board tomorrow morning. one more question on the site... it has boards that are similar
to snow boards, will a snowboard work at all?
Bladerunner - 21-12-2007 at 06:24 PM
Go with the plyboard. They work FANTASTIC. By FAR your best bet on a budget. As I mentioned you can ride a serving tray if you have the kite / surf
skills. It's just SO much easier to learn on something purpose built !
Sangreer84 - 22-12-2007 at 02:03 AM
Haha! Thanks Snowbird
Pablo - 22-12-2007 at 11:32 AM
Some are snowboard shaped, I just layed my buddies kiteboard on a peice of ply, traced it with a pen and cut it out, sanded the side rails nice and
round, sanded the bottom of the front/rear ends just on the bottom to act like a little bit of rocker, two pieces of an old nylon lifting strap from a
construction site and a couple layers of polyurethane varnish to seal it up.
It's what I learned on, got my first upwind rides on, still works well when the wind's light. I went 150cm long by 45cm wide so it's nice and floaty,
only down side is without fins it's a little snakey in the chops. I love the fact that in light winds I can ride a $5 board upwind while some of the
guys around me are having trouble staying up on their store bought ones. Total cost on the plyboard was $5 for the varnish. I've just bough a 7 1/2 ft
directional 3 strap board for the really light wind days though, couldn't resist for $100