I was watching a video by Redbull that came with a kitesurf magazine last night. It's all about the history of kitesurfing on the water.
It would seem that one of the 3 driving factors / personalities in bringing the sport to the masses was FLASH AUSTIN. Flash was a buggy nut from
Florida in the 90's. All on his own he took off with his foil and a skim ( sand ) board. He would have adds tacked to his foil and ride down the
Florida coast.
There is a great segment of him when he landed in Hawaii. He put straps on a surf board and went out with his foil on handles ( bars were just being
invented ??) . In the segment Robbie Naish and others are just getting a look at " the Floridian Jumping Bean " and seeing the potential in the sport.
Right off the start Flash was the King of the Air.
I was aware of Flash's past from watching the sport grow but seeing it on the video reminded me that lots of folks probably don't know what a big
contribution we / Flash made to the development of kitesurfing.
Kites: 2.5m Profoil , Quadrifoil XL kitesurfer, NPW 5 Danger.
Flexifoil: 1.7m Sting, 4.9m Blade 3, 9m Blade 2.
Flysurfer : 19m Speed 2 SA, 7m Pulse
Peter Lynn :18m Phantom, 15m Synergy, 10m Synergy, 1200 Farc, 460 Sarc, 130 Tarc, 5m Peel, 4.2m , 6.4, 8.5 C-Quads, 3.5 LS2 single skin.
Rides: Flexi / P.L. Frankin'Buggy , Shaped + straight skiis, sand skis, Coyote blades. Core 95 ATB. RKB R2 ATB .
Ken (K2)