So, I feel like were part of a proud few who can do what we do. It's not the kiting we grew up with and people who don't kite don't get it. when I talk to people about it, they have usually one of 3 reactions;

1) "Cool"
2) They don't give a crap because there's "real" sports on tv
3) Just dont get it -- because there's "real" sports on tv

We DO something very few can or are willing to do. That's why, no matter who we are, where we live , we never meet a stranger in the PKF or if we're lucky enough to accidently come upon another kiter flying somewhere. I know I'm like--"Hey, I'm Chris. Wanna be friends?" . I feel like I'm 10 and get to play kick ball at the school play ground.

I don't like "real" sports and my mother in law thinks my 12 year old son, since he doesn't like sports either, wont be "Manly". That pisses me off because he can fly the crap out of a kite that many tough grown men come up with an excuse not to try. He's in the gifted and talented program at school, honor roll, can handle a kite that can get him really hurt but doesn't and can sail a Blokart at 35 mph, flip over, right it, re-rig it and ride on. He's already a better man than most grown ups I know. My 14 year old daughter is pretty much the same way except now she's into boys. It was fun kiting with her while it lasted.

The closest I can explain the rush of buggying to people is perhaps what it would feel llike to be Ben Hurr in a chariott during the death race being pulled by a team of crazed horses. Only without the spiked wheels.... (I might try that though...)

So who are we? How many or how few of there are we?
I know the U.S. is somewhat new to power kiting but does anyone know the statistics of how many of each discipline their may be world wide, by country perhaps?

Buggiers?
ATBers?
Surfers?
Snow kiters?

I want to be able to tell my mother in law to kiss my a$$ when she busts on my son and that he can do something only a handfull of even grown ups can do in the US!

Quote:

Originally posted by vwbrian [ur=http://www.powerkiteforum.com/viewthread.php?tid=13917]HERE[/url] ~ We only have 47 registered with Napkra.~

Thats the only number I'v seen posted ever.
Maybe a poll is inorder?

:evil:You should hookup you father in-lawto the Phantom then let him tell his wife how much of a wuss sport kite flying is. Or better yet let her try:evil:.

Almost felt like standing at attention to that one.:roll: I must say that I am usually the only one talking kites in any conversation.
1) "Cool"
2) They don't give a crap because there's "real" sports on tv
3) Just dont get it -- because there's "real" sports on tv

Those are the exact reactions I get whenever I mention it to people. The guys at work are the worst about it I think. Recently had a kite world magazine at work and at coffee when I went to read it I found extremely crude comments written on every single page but the cover about how I should get a real hobby or how less of a man they think I am cuz I fly a kite. The funniest comment I've heard from one fellow at work was "well I'm a real man cause I own a $25k quad and a shoot anything that stands. I bet your kite can't bring home an Elk scoring over 300 no I didn't think so. I'm a real man that's why!!!"
Just shook my head and walked away having the last laugh when he told me how he has bait and a spot light set up right outside his bedroom window so that he could shoot coyotes in the middle of the night when the government had a $20 per coyote killed reward.

I say screw the people who mock us. We maybe crazy at times but at least we are man enough to go out and try something that only a small small percentage of the world will ever experience. If that makes me a sissy then by god I'm the biggest sissy out there. I was laughed at by my brother but when I showed him a few Push Kiting videos his mind was changed and now wants to give it a try.

Cheers
Shaggs

Oh don't get me started. Talking kites at work? I just get a blank stare.

There are a couple guys who want to try it, but not to serious about it. But yea, we are scattered. But the numbers are growing.
We have people pull over and watch from a distance all the time. They must be interested to sit there so long, yet never come around and ask anything.

I'm trying to think of co workers that even have a hobby. Very few, and thats occasional golf. 95 percent do nothing so kiting to them isn't even a subject.

Anyway, it doesn't bother me what people say. I just invite them to come along, they never do. I think its too extreme for most sports fans. Although you can be both, but it requires you to get off the couch.

I've had a few mother in laws. Didn't care much for em. Dana's mom is cool, pulls her camper out, likes the outdoors. But still worry's about other peoples business some what.

Her son moved out to live with his brother. I'm letting him take the 5m Ace. I bought it for him anyway and he has learned respect for it. Has a lot of older teen friends in Chesnee and will help spread the word. For the better I hope.

We just have to hold our ground and get the word out, more will come. Maybe some will have a field. They are watching.

Try being a New Zealander and #@%$#!ing hating #@%$#!ing rugby and #@%$#!ing cricket.
Why do you think I'm on here so much - the only place I get to share The Stoke!

Near as I can tell, I'm the only landboarder in Shiga there's a bunch of maybe 20 or so people at the field, with perhaps 10 regulars I recognize easily (they all look alike to me :D ) and the one young fella who's Asian champ and won the Thai PKRA comp ... do I get qudos by proxy? Or proximity?
As far as fringe sports go here, it's about as big as the others. If it's not baseball (yawn) or soccer (wank) then people aren't interested, except in getting in your way and trying to spoil your fun ...

Quote:

[:evil:You should hookup you father in-lawto the Phantom then let him tell his wife how much of a wuss sport kite flying is. Or better yet let her try:evil:.

I think she knows better than to try out the Phantom 'cause she's afraid I might tell it to fly her back to OZ where she came from--She ran away from OZ, afraid that someone was going to drop a house on her...

Once your gear flashes Bud, M&M, n' Viagra sponsorship logos, you'll instantly be legit!
Itz de Amerikin Way!!!
:dunno:
------------------

One young powerkite guy at Wildwood was telling me how he dealt with mockery.
(My memory will embellish where necessary):

Some beer-swilling balcony sitters were laughing at him getting dragged around the beach with his 4.8 Blade.

"One of you wanna come down here and show me how it's done?"

Sure enough, he had a vounteer - a guy much bigger then himself.

"OK...just wait until the kite fills up some with air...then PULL THE TOP OF THE HANDLES WAY BACK...hold on tight...."

After the guy got a few blocks worth of his complementary facial dermabrasion session, (courtesy of Flexifoil, UK Inc.), the kiter ran up, snatched the handles, and did a victory jump over him.

"OK....whose next....?"

:moon:

I guess I've been lucky, maybe its my size and kick ass Irish attitude but don't get much lip service. I've been working hard at getting the schools involved and awaiting final approval from the Ministry of Education on a in school demo. I have done a few testers (1000+) students so far with a great response but still fine tuning the show. I've had a few clowns who I put on a 4.9M trainer learn some respect fast while I'm flying a 18M Guerilla or the 16M Scorpion. Funny when the can't hold on to the trainer and they see me jump over their fat heads with a buggy. Skiing has also been a eye opener for many here, ripping past the ice shacks gets a lot of attention and have done over thirty lessons last year with a least a dozen now into kiting.
So cheer up folks there is hope, so screw the rest and ride on.

Till moving to California, I always got those same reactions. They stare off in space visualizing a diamond kite with a ribbon tail. My boss was like that and then noticed a desktop pic of my Phantom with mgatc holding one end and me about 20 feet away holding the other with it arced up topping off with air before Phreerider gave her a whirl. He asked "do you rent those or what?" I explained that they were way to dangerous to put in someones hands that wasn't properly trained to fly it. I pointed out that the kite was over 32 feet long. I didn't get any more sissy looks from him if kites came up again.

A couple times I got my picture and or a story in the paper and the conversations came to me. That added some credibility to the cause since it started a dialog with people who's interest was tweaked.

Gee I just introduce myself as Bladrunner and people say " I want to learn the kite thing and jump like that ! "

Aren't we ALL world famous :dunno: Macboy felt like a Bro' long before I met him. Sthrasher and many others as well !

People who know me know I have never felt a need to go about things the popular way. And it has made all the difference ! :bouncing:

mmm... the stoke... you nailed it Kami!

No one gets its.... but... on the other hand... the phantom always draws a crowd... be it soccer kids/parents/coaches... or people pulling off the highway... kites are interesting to everyone, even if they dont admit it yet!!

Quote:

Originally posted by Drewculous kites are interesting to everyone, even if they dont admit it yet!!

This is what I find amazing. I ride in a park by a popular sea wall. Countless people stop , take pictures, ask questions but almost nobody follows through and takes it up? I have been the soul kite skater in town for years now ? :puzzled:

I think you mean "sole", BR or maybe not my ICQ tag is "Kamikaze Soul Rider" cos at the time, we were big into street skating and it sounded hippy cool ... oh and the only grind I could do was a Soul Grind :D

Funny this topic comes up...I had a buddy walk into my office today talking about fishing at san louis pass. I told him I was going to try to go buggying there. He looked like he didn't understand and then I said "kite buggying" He stared at me and said......"that's gay" I showed him a picture, explained the 87mph pass made this year, and told him about how my smallest kite would probably face plant him and he backed off. He now has an open invitation to come embarrass himself anytime he feels "gay" enough.

Your right....people don't get it.

interesting topic- i started whitewater kayaking 20+ yrs ago when nobody was really into the sport and i knew every other boater within 200 miles of home- it was nice and friendly and there was an immediate understanding and friendship when you met a new boater. unfortunately as the sport grew so did the high number of ***holes and inconsiderate boaters that began to cause problems with landowners or failed to understand the "fellowship" so please before we go and wish for more people to join in our fun- realize that more is not always better and I for one like the smallness of our wonderful sport- Always willing to show a friend or interested party but not looking forward to seeing kiting as a "real" sport just my 2 cents

Rando and I are the only land kiters I know of around here.
I feel like we're the red headed step children, but it doesn't bother me.
There is a huge kiteboarding crowd here that know of nothing but LEI's. I've talked to many and am freinds with a few and they have no idea of any other kite... fixed bridle?, Peter Lynn?, Flysurfer?, HQ?, huh?.
I've been offered an invitation to learn kiteboarding by my friends nephew who has a quiver of LEI's/ boards and lives on the bay. I really need to jump on the invite. Maybe once (or IF) I get it , I'll put up the Charger and turn some heads :roll: Or maybe I'll take a liking to the LEI's?

I've had a few friends laugh at the sport, but if I get them out and put the HQ Rush or 4.8 NPW5 in their hands and they feel the power, they give it more respect and interest.
None have jumped onboard...yet.
Funny how some sports/hobbys die when the fad wears off, like rollerblading, jetskiing, and even stunt kiting. Stunt kiting was huge here 10-20 years ago, haven't seen one up in years. I bought my first pair of Rollerblades in 1985 before anyone knew what they were. Got funny looks at first, then it caught on and everyone had to have them. Skaters everywhere. Now you never see anyone skating here...cept me

Some problems I see with kiting are finding areas to ride and waiting (sometimes weeks) for the right wind conditions and as we know, kites aren't cheap. Finding the right area where it is permitted can be tough and you may have to drive a good distance to get there. And you need good wind and direction to enjoy the sport.
And IMO, the learning curve is steaper then most sports, but the challenge is what I like about it. It can be overwhelming the first time you setup and fly a depower kite/lines/harness/safety or even a fixed bridle on handles.
Most people are lazy and want instant gradification (sp?)and don't want to be bothered by the hassles.
I'm sure most here have had epic days, and other days where God forbid you got hurt or may have said "Why did I bother". That's part of the sport. Take the good with the bad and accept the risks. We all seem to have that quality.

I bet most of us were never big "TEAM" sports players/fanatics, ie. football, baseball, basketball, soccer, etc. I was always drawn to solo one on one sports ie, Motorcycle, jetski, and auto racing, where it is just rider/driver and machine and you don't need to relying on teammates.

I like the fact that power kiting is a small "niche" sport and we all are kinda like brotherhood. I've been kiting for only 2 years and have met some of the nicest laid back sincere people.....
Maybe that's the problem, there are not as many nice people in the world anymore?

This is a great discussion...my favorite is when I am in the buggy and the kite surfers look at me like I am from mars....Its almost the same look that surfers used to give skaters...

Quote:

Originally posted by Jaymz Rando and I are the only land kiters I know of around here. I feel like we're the red headed step children, but it doesn't bother me. There is a huge kiteboarding crowd here that know of nothing but LEI's. I've talked to many and am freinds with a few and they have no idea of any other kite... fixed bridle?, Peter Lynn?, Flysurfer?, HQ?, huh?.

Same thing hear @ OBX the Kite surfing is so epic and LEIs are so entrenched. I pulled out a 6.5mFB and get "cute trainer" comments. but thanks to AJ, Chris,and some others at least I got to see a foil & Arc on the water this year.

How about when your haulin' your buggy on a rack or in the bed of a truck? When your at the gas pump and the guy at a nearby pump stares and almost always asks "what is that thing" ...or "How high can you fly in that thing?" ??

Me: "It's a kite buggy"

Them: " ....Oh......."

At first, I was real enthusiatic to talk about it and try to explain kite buggying. It's like the deer in the headlight look while I tell them I get pulled by a giant kite. My wife rolls her eyes while I get absorbed into another one way conversation...

Now, I just tell people "It's kind of a go kart" .... And get a cheerfull "I thought so..." in return and then I'm about my business. I really love talking about it but now when I have time, I just show people one of the many You Tube vids from my phone and at least they see something new. Then after showing the video I get:

Them: "Oh, this is like that guy on the news that got killed or something when he got picked up and blown across a road in that hurricane...right? "

Me: "well, sort of... But that guy combined bad luck with bad judgement".

Them: "...Oh...."

Fun topic.
When buggying at Wildwood, you get lots of people intrigued, some shouting as you blast past asking stuff like, "hey, where can I do that?" or, "that is so cool!" On a couple occasions I've stopped and pointed down the beach to base camp and told them to come on down and give it a try. Problem is, thats normally a 3-4 mile hike from where they are. Not many folks are willing to walk that far just to check something out.

When riding in Baltimore, traffic occasionally backed up as people stopped to watch. Had a couple occasions where people would walk down and ask questions. More often than not, people just stood and watched. Never bothered me any.

Most people at work dont give me a hard time about it. Some have shown interest, but never made it out. When I mention kitesurfing, they seem a bit more interested, but I've still never seen them even taking lessons. I've offered on numerous occasions, but nobody makes it out. Strangely enough, I dont get the blank stares. Of course, I work with a lot of computer geeks, so maybe they are a little more open to fringe sports, or the concepts of them. Helps to have pictures and videos on my phone though. People always like watching those...

People are, inherently, selfish idiotic asshats. I know I am. However, as long as we instill in the people we teach the same values we hold dear, we will stave off the crowds of idiots giving us issues. We just have to make sure that we take new people under our wing, and teach them what makes this sport great.

when i look back at why i got into "kiting", i always say just kiting, too confusing for most, on the atb one hour, and on the water the next.

i like being on the water and trekking out seeing all from a different perspective. the land stuff came as light air fitness avenue thats totally fun.

now at the beach club , i'm just local entertainment and its phree and eco friendly!

i really a naturalist monitor for the area and the pelicans, eagles, sharks, turtles, sting rays, dolphin and HUMANS are just amazing EVERYDAY!

the humans i try to avoid , unless a nearly naked female delivery of phree beer arrives. even though i don't drink its hard to say no.

i have dropped my music for a while and have noticed the OOOOOOOOOO, AAAAAAAAAH! coming from the crowds.

but i'm here to tell you it takes a huge sky jack or ridiculous swing out rotation to get over stimulated humans away from there vucking cell fone titts they're hooked up to.

agreed with FLYGUY , more is not always better. lack of concern, carelessness, injures players, people and the sport. i'm just looking for some solitude and peace in the beautiful world and the wind happens to be the ride of choice.

VERY well put Phree.

I got to experience a fair bit of ooooo and ahhhh this weekend, well sorta. The lake we've been going to is accessible only through a farmers pasture (if you are going to the beach that is), when we were down there about a month ago my buddy helped them move cattle into the field so got a bit acquainted with them. He told them about what we did and they were happy that we weren't gonna rip around on quads. When we went the other day the farmer and his wife noticed us there through their window and decided to come down for a better look. They ended up staying for about an hour, in which my buddy gave them a decent show on the water. They never seen such a thing before and told us to come around as much as we wanted. :wee:
It just amazes me how much this sport can get a guy hooked from the first time he flies a kite. I may be an exception to getting right involved though, considering when I wanted to play guitar and learn music I ended up buying 8 guitars, an acoustic bass, and two drum kits. Now that I kite I've gotten rid of all but two guitars, which I just played for the first time in three months. I have a one track mind and seem to focus on one thing at a time.

I think that if there were more opportunities for people to try it out we would have more people involved with the sport. I would love to have more people in my area to kite with, but at the same time its real nice that I can be in total control of how the sport is perceived in my town. There is no one else to make it bad, causing it to get banned. I know there will be more people as time goes on but for now its my thing and a few buddies and that's it.