The daybreeze in Homer is starting to pick up, so we're getting some ridin time! woohoo!!!! Perfect timing, as we're hosting our 2nd kite festival the last weekend of this month. I'm still torn between kiting on water & kiting on land. So I do as much of each as I can. When the wind blows strong enough to get a good ride in the water I grab my wetsuit & board, when it's a little lighter I grab my skates. Had some friends out with me recently, so I recruited them to capture some footage. I was very liberal this time in editing out the boring stuff, so here's what's left - lot's of hops in the air:

On no-wind days, could you could still harness your lively dog for a little Leap-Iditarod action?
(actually, I would have never broached the ideal until I saw a Wildwood video where someone was mushing their dog down the beach in a buggy!)

looks like a torch helping you there T! NICE

the dog thing , could not work with that .

Looks like the sport is taking off up there !

Is there much of a land crew yet ?

That's a pretty sweet place to ride too! Very nice!

lad - funny you mention that. That's exactly how I got into kiting in the first place.... We got the dog in October of '02, then I got a pair of tele skis for Christmas that winter. Being a downhill skier all my life, I wasn't about to do the whole cross-country thing unaided, too much work. So I decided to teach the dog to pull. He was at the perfect age for training in the summer, so I started looking at alternatives to skis for summertime & came across crosskate's website. As soon as I saw them I knew I had to have a pair, even if the price tag was completely outrageous. In the end, the dog did great pulling, he was easy to control & consistent, but he's definately not an Iditarod contender. He casually trots when hitched up, not exactly an exhilirating ride, so I started looking at higher speed alternatives. One day I saw someone kiting out on the water & had one of those "a-ha" moments. At the time I didn't even know that kiteskating was an official sport. After getting my first kite I never looked back. The dog is much happier chasing me than pulling me. Funny thing, I never really realized just how close to me he is until these vids. He's usually behind me, so I don't even really notice him most of the time. He's also a great gauge for how fast I'm going. I've clocked him behind my car, & I start losing him at about 33-34mph, so if I'm leaving him in the dust then I know I'm doing 40+

Our kiting crew is definately growing, but most are out on the water. There are about 3 others that are buggying & I've seen an ATB on rare occasions. I'm the only one out here on skates, but I'm working on a few converts.... The appealing thing is that if you diversify, you get a lot more riding in, as it takes a lot less wind to get moving on the skates than a board on the water. I'll definately be promoting kiteskating at our kite festival at the end of the month. I have one other pair that is sitting in my shed that needs to be finished, I'm planning on having those done before the kitefest, so I'll showcase all 3 versions, to show people the possibilities. I'll also post up my new set once it's built, I've incorporated all of the features I liked from my crosskates (RIP) into this set of dooms.

Funny, I started on blades without a clue that others do this as well.

I just don't understand why it doesn't take off.

You have it right ! The more ways you can kite the more days you can get out !

Let us know how the kite - fest goes.

Quote:

I just don't understand why it doesn't take off.

It seems that the perception of landkiting is that it's a far more dangerous sport than water kiting. I've had this discussion with a few of my kitesurfing friends, & they all think I'm crazy for riding my skates out here. They think that since the ground is so much harder than water, you're more likely to get hurt. Personally, I fall down far more in the water than I do on land. And all of my falls on land have been more of a slide than a fall anyways. Of course, that doesn't take into account all of my failed attempts at landing jumps - but we won't get into that, hehe ;-) Personally, I've had much scarier moments on the water than on land. At least on land there's no worries of drowning...

Quote:

Originally posted by Tomasz Quote: I just don't understand why it doesn't take off. ;-) Personally, I've had much scarier moments on the water than on land. At least on land there's no worries of drowning...

MY experience is the same.

Water is as hard as land at speed and I would rather regain my senses finding I have a face full of dirt than water ?

That said ...... I am glad I got to make my big, early mistakes in shallow water !

Hey guys, Kite Skating has realy taken off down under here in Australia. Ever since I was featured in a magazine called "KITE MAG", more people have been made aware that we kite skaters are out there. Also since the mag the web site EXTREME KITES have started a section on us kite skaters, there's been so many people asking so many questions on our sport.

http://www.extremekites.com.au/forums/attachment.php?attachm...

Welcome, Spartan.

Kitemag
Wednesday, 29 April 2009 | Written by Joel Theodore
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Kitemag should now be hitting your letter boxes! . This edition has a complete wrap up from Labour Day to a bit of banter with George Balas (Spartan) our local doom blade resident. On the front cover of this edition is Aaron Hadlow, 5x world kitesurfing champion now aiming for his sixth title! There's lots of local info and this edition has even got your future catered for with a copy of Hooky's horoscopes for kiters! Well done to the team at KiteMag showing us once again why this is Australia's No.1 magazine for kiters!

http://www.extremekites.com.au/forum

Way to REPRESENT !

It is crazy that more folks don't get into this. It is a rare day out that someone doesn't ask me questions about kiteblading

Problem is the blades - kit is hard to come by or is very expensive especially if you got big feet :flaming:

I would tend to disagree, the official Leapskates are a little over $200.00. The last set of skates I built from scratch cost me even less. Compare that to a brand new kiteboard - $700.00 or more - kiteskating is far lighter on the wallet than kitesurfing. From talking to people who seem interested, it seems that they generally think it's more dangerous than kitesurfing. The other misconception I hear all the time is that doomwheels are harder to learn to skate on than rollerblades. The reality is that I couldn't rollerblade to save my life, but I've never had any problems skating on any of the off-road skates I've had the opportunity to play with.

I actually meant the Rollerblade ones but I had another look at the LS - $229 ... plus shipping to Japan, maybe $80 or way more, depending on whether they use USPS. Like I said, not cheap
I actually like the look of the Trailskates better, they seem more sturdy ... but again with the shipping



I'd love to make some but dunno what to use for the boot/binding ... I love the idea of being able to use regular shoes - might have to have a closer look at my snowboard bindings ...

had a pair of those... i just couldn't do it.... almost split myself in half. It would be LOTS ezier if it wasn't a bumpy grass field, but that's all i have around here! :P

:cool2: Have you ever thought of using Snowboard Bindings (just smaller so that your regular shoe fits and then mabey go around the top with another strap) Just an Idea

Have actually, but am looking for a spare pair which I thought I still had ... I've thought of making a support system under the straps from acrylic sheet or something, cut then heated and shaped ... something for the summer hols :D