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Originally posted by thanson2001ok So, wondering if similar size and shape skis are made with fins.

Not to my knowledge. There are "wide body" pairs of skis that would plane easily and still have fins. These are available at big box stores for $200 or a little under that. They would be great all around for kiting for the same reasons they were designed to be easy to ski behind a boat on.

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BeamerBob posted on 4-16-2010 at 07:15 AM those were called "trick skis" back in the day. It's still an event but these skis are cross marketing. No fin means they can slide sideways. You can edge with them but its not as straightforward as on skis with fins. Not the best choice iMHO.

They have 4 small fins about 1 inch high. I used them behind a ski boat and was able to cut turns easily. I tried going as slow as possible to see how they handled but only got down to about 15 mph. Only slide sideways at the crest of the wake.

The fins are bolted on so you might be able to change them for deeper fins

OH. That changes everything then. They fixed a big setback that most got on trick skis. And those fins make them more feasible with a kite.

@canuck what make and model are those wakeskis? The fins would seem to make all the diff.

Follow either link that canuck provided, though the blackbear sports is cheaper! They also make an XL model, quite wide.

the more i see videos about hydrofoils, carafinos etc, the more i wish there would be another attempt at developing "jesus feets" that work. is someone here into developing new stuff?



it must work! if they can ride a carafino:
http://carafinohydrofoilboard.com/
it should also be possible to have boots with one smaller hydrofoil per boot, and ride like on ski!

I have to preface this post with the disclaimer that I haven't tried to kiteboard with a ski, but that statement won't be valid for long. Come friday or saturday if the wind is good, I'll have some reporting to do. I do however have a long history with waterskiing, mostly slalom skiing. I just wanted to comment on a couple things that have been posted so far. As far as the wakeskis go, both HO and Stereo make Quality versions of them. The price doesn't seem to off compared to what they're asking for new kiteboards these days. Their websites are as follows:

http://www.hosports.com/products/306581

http://www.stereoskis.com/skis/standard/

The bindings they use are not the straight up rubber like the ones from back in the day. They are definitely stiff enough to dig in an edge for cutting upwind.

As far as trick skis go, they have no fins. They are able to do some incredible stuff on those puppies all with edging.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIKWWg3GKKc&feature=relat...


They wakeskis both have fins that are removable, but just like on a kiteboard, they are shaped on the bottom and have a rail. As far as edging is concerned the only time it seems that having fins is essential is when they are used on something like a raceboard or surfboard where they are ridden more or less flat compared to something like a twintip. This youtube video I saw on kiteforum seems to demonstrate better than I can describe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpTV4vBMn8k

The bindings they use are not the straight up rubber like the ones from back in the day. They are definitely stiff enough to dig in an edge for cutting upwind.

I can relate to BeamerBob as far as having feet on separate boards. That leads me to what I'm actually going to try out this weekend. A number of years ago I bought my dad a ski called the Wide Ride. HO made it. It's a slalom ski, so the length is there. I couldn't find any information online on it, but the things got to have the surface area of a kiteboard and a half. It has a high wrap binding up front and the toe loop in back. I'm hoping this makes things easier as far as body dragging and the like.

Hopefully this doesn't seem like too much of a rant. I've water skied for a lot longer than kiting, and spent a lot of time researching and talking with locals about different techniques so I've become somewhat attached to the sport. It ends up making me a little sensitive to some of the misinformation that gets posted.

I seem to remember years back when I was waterskiing, a guy had trick skis ... like large elongated plates and I don't remember any fins either.

Be good to see how it all goes

@Woodland: i cant see any rant in your post ? i hope you have success with kiting with your ski! please pleas make pictures or better a video. and we are waiting for your review how it worked!

IMHO, skiing results in a much more healthy position relative to the direction of travel. with a board, i always have to twist my upper body and my neck to look into the direction of travel. i got neckpain once on a wakeboard... but with ski, i always look forward. much better imho.

kiting with those stereoski is definitely possible, but i was told from some stereoski representative that you nedd quite more power in the kite -- so no low-wind choice.

this is one naish kite developer, using stereoski:

http://www.coreloop.com/dump/stereo_ski_kiting.jpg

I was jsut about to post about the salomon skiing vid, saw it recently and it looks wicked!

Although skiing with kites just looks strange, think its because you have to be side on to the kite

with those modern kites with very little side-pull, i propose that it is actually a much more healty riding position on ski than on a board. but not sure about in general. at least for me its better, because i think i would get neck pain over the long run if standing on a board and looking with a 90° twisted head in the direction of travel.

So, I haven't had any wind in the right places to give it a go on the slalom ski, but I had some time and finally took some pictures of it and took some measurements.

Here's one picture first and I'll throw the dimensions with the next ones.

When I review the post it doesn't show up, so I'll see what happens when I just post it.

Hmmm, it said the picture was too big. In the FAQ it says it only needs to be smaller than 1 Megabyte. My camera doesn't go any lower resolution and besides that, it's only around 360 Kb.

Hmmm I'll figure something out.

Just for reference sake though, the ski is 65" long. At the widest part it is 10" and at the tail it's 5 1/2" wide. It says on the ski it has an effective surface area of 3600 square centimeters.

please try to upload your pictures for example to picasa, flickr or something similiar, and then add a link to the picture inside the img tags.. i always use picasa, it works so smooth and hassle free.
i hope to get my bodyglove XL wakeski tested this weekend! if the wind does not totally die out.

Or if you want, you can email the pic to me and I'll be happy to resize it and post it for you.

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Originally posted by Woodland So, I haven't had any wind in the right places to give it a go on the slalom ski, but I had some time and finally took some pictures of it and took some measurements. Here's one picture first and I'll throw the dimensions with the next ones. When I review the post it doesn't show up, so I'll see what happens when I just post it. Hmmm, it said the picture was too big. In the FAQ it says it only needs to be smaller than 1 Megabyte. My camera doesn't go any lower resolution and besides that, it's only around 360 Kb. Hmmm I'll figure something out. Just for reference sake though, the ski is 65" long. At the widest part it is 10" and at the tail it's 5 1/2" wide. It says on the ski it has an effective surface area of 3600 square centimeters.

Here ya go.:eureka:
#1
#2
#3
#4

Phew, been a while since I seen something like those!

Is that 3,600cm2? so two skis would be 0.72m2 or about the size of a big board ... hmm ...

in those lay all my hopes for kite-skiing:

http://picasaweb.google.de/FrankFuldner/BodygloveWakeSki?fea...





will test them hopefully this weekend. hope that there will be wind, hope that they will work.
though i will have to add shoelaces to the bindings, because this elastic bands suck big times - nearly impossible to get into the bindings. just bought myself eyelet pliers.

You have to pump them up :O
Get movies and brang them!

So, I suppose I should put up the descriptions on the pics Willard posted for me. (Thanks again for doing that.)

The first one is just to show how much surface area the ski has.

The second one is a full view of the ski I'm planning on using.

The last two are to compare the size of a slightly shaped competition ski to the Wide ride. It's a Connelly F1X. The rear binding is off because part of it tore apart when I broke my ankle last year.

If you'd like to read all about that, watch the video of the wreck and see some of the kiting my brother and I did this winter you can check out my blog. It's at http://www.joeynmichelle.blogspot.com/
The video is on the second page.

Once the wind cooperates with the right location at a time I can go, I'll get some pics or vids. Gotta love inland kiting.

http://www.extremekites.com.au/forums/viewtopic.php?f=69&...

Seems like it's all on!

http://www.starrsurfskis.com/