Power Kite Forum

Kiting with water skis?

Tomasz - 10-2-2009 at 04:37 PM

I'm always looking for new ways to play with my kites & have a pair of water skis that have been collecting dust for the last 8 years, so I'm wondering if the 2 can work together. Has anyone tried this? Would I be an idiot for doing so? Any thoughts?

Bladerunner - 10-2-2009 at 05:00 PM

Cory Roesler ( sp ) was one of the 1st kiters on water . He used water skis and his kiteski set-up. Search his name or kiteski for a bit of history. It can be done but for reasons I don't know it never took off. Even Cory moved to a sort of mono ski / board thing pretty fast ? Getting upwind was the challenge back then and I think water skis fell short. I suspect with the newer kites this is do-able?

I have threatened to try this myself ! Please give it a go and report back to us !

Tomasz - 10-2-2009 at 05:51 PM

Thanks for the quick reply. I will definately give it a go; but it will have to wait till this spring. I'm in Homer, Alaska & lately it's been between 2 & 12 degrees (farenheit) outside. My wetsuit isn't thick enough for me to be that brave. Kite skiing has been great though. I'm helping to organise the Kite Festival we're hosting this summer, I think I'll bring my water skis to that just to get a good laugh out of the "what the..." looks that I'm sure will come my way! haha. Will report back the first chance I get to dive in & try it!

BeamerBob - 10-2-2009 at 06:13 PM

I think I could hold an edge upwind at least as good on skis as I could a kiteboard. Big rudders and two edges help with holding angle. My planing speed is about the same on both. I've threatened to try this since I'm so comfortable on skis. I see it being alot of trouble if you lose a ski. I think I'd want hiwrap bindings to keep secure but then again, that's dangerous without both feet on the same ski. Its just less to keep pointed the right direction if you have 1 kiteboard instead of 2 skis. Other than that, there shouldn't be any reason skis wouldn't work.

Looking_Up - 20-4-2009 at 01:27 PM

:eureka: I know that using water ski's i can pull the back of my fathers boat around so i don't see why you wouldn't be able to hold an edge and if youre woried about the two ski problem just use one (Slolome Ski) :lol: having said this i Just built a ply board waiting on pads and straps total cost 80 bucks

either way i still have my water skis will probably give it a go:karate:

Tomasz - 19-5-2009 at 12:09 PM

Ok, I finally got out there & tried it!
The wind was 18-20knots & I was on an 18m Best C-kite. The combination seemed to work well. It definitely takes more wind & a bigger kite to get going on skis than a board. I wasn't able to go upwind, but that's probably because I haven't been on a pair of waterskis in about 15 years. I only did a few short runs. I'm sure as I spend more time out there I'll get it dialed in. I spent about 4 hours on my kiteboard riding hard before I strapped on the skis, so exhaustion was a factor as well. All in all it was an interesting ride, felt very strange at first, but kinda cool. It forced me to use muscles I haven't used much, so by the end of the few runs my calves were burning. One other issue I had was that my legs kept catching on the water as I leaned against the kite, which made it a bit more difficult. The water very choppy which didn't help things any. I will try this again soon, but i think I'll reserve the skis for calmer water, I think it'll be a lot easier then.

Bladerunner - 19-5-2009 at 06:21 PM

THANKS !

I'm very interested in hearing if you can stay upwind with them !

PHREERIDER - 19-5-2009 at 06:44 PM

love it, ocean going water skis. can somebody get me a helicopter.


oh wait, i'll just whip out this Phantom and take a ride




bob, that's got your name on it! i see it clearly

nwsurfwakeskate - 19-5-2009 at 08:09 PM

I saw a guy using water ski's at the gorge games blow out which is a famous downwinder

he was haulin on those things.

this must have been at least 5-6 years ago though. back when 4 line C-kites were the norm. I talked to a local about it and I guess this guy did it every year

I think he used ski's because his goal was to go straight down wind as fast as possible

zero gee - 19-5-2009 at 10:22 PM

Back in the day (even before I got into kiting)... Some of the original water kiting pioneers first used water skis. I saw Cory Roeseler use skis in the Gorge Blowout a 16 mile downwinder from Stevenson to Hood River back in '99 (my last windsurfing trip there since taking up kiting). He smoked everyone (kiters and windsurfers). Probably the last time anyone used skis on water though (too kooky to be cool).

Cory on kiting back in '87




BeamerBob - 20-5-2009 at 03:42 AM

That's it. If I get some wind this weekend, I'm doing this. I can water ski with my eyes closed and in my sleep. I think the skis will have more float than even a big board, but we'll see. I might not look cool but I'll be on the water. I have a wakeboard but I'm afraid it is too small to give me enough float to be able to edge upwind. If the skis go well, I might try the board too. I'll have a boat for rescues, if necessary.

PHREERIDER - 20-5-2009 at 05:20 AM

"sit" into the harness on power stroke

"look" where you are going

"fly" the kite

BeamerBob - 20-5-2009 at 05:37 AM

Thanks Phree. I think I already had all that in my head but it helps to hear someone say it. My decades of experience behind the boat and a year of making the buggy take me where I want to go should give me a leg up on the necessity to keep enough power on tap to stay on top of the water. I'll hope for enough wind to be well powered. We have wind today and yesterday so that means it could be gone by the weekend.

Bladerunner - 20-5-2009 at 06:46 AM

That is the footage that I saw first . The one that set the seed for me !

Very nice to see those again!

To ME, this is Kiteboardings 1st true spark!

BeamerBob - 20-5-2009 at 06:53 AM

It was wakeboarding's first true spark as well, it just took about 70 years to take hold. I guess us kite folk are more of the early adopter type.

The issue I'm concerned with is handling the kite well enough to deal with the wide turns a pair of skis is going to need. I will need to be well powered and keep the kite well enough ahead of my turn to stay powered. If I use more high performance skis, they will have more rocker and less float.