kite | Kite 2012

Calories Burned When Kiteboarding

Posted by Emma Pat On December - 6 - 2014

It’s not just fun and games. Kiteboarding, as extreme as it is can definitely burn some serious calories. Swimming is the best cardio work out there is, combine with it the hardcore tricks and you got yourself a really good work out. But exactly how many calories do you burn on, let’s say, an hour’s worth of kiteboarding? Well, it’s hard to tell but we’ve combined a number of studies to give you a good estimate on how much. Of course, there are a lot of factors to consider like what kind of wind, the level of kiteboarding (intensity), your weight, height, gender and age, the tricks your perform and probably a few more external factors.

One way to measure it is by finding out how much oxygen you take up at rest and how much you consume while doing the activity. Metabolic Equivalents can be a good indicator on how much calories you burn by measuring how much oxygen to take in. One MET is approximately or assumed to be 3.5ml of oxygen per kg of body weight per minute. Extreme activities like Kiteboarding are estimated to be 10-11 METs. Which would mean that you took up 10 (or 11) times the amount of oxygen that you normally would when you are at rest.

The computation would be: average METs x 3.5 x (body weight in kg / 200) OR 10METs x 3.5ml of oxygen x (80.6kg / 200)

For example, the average weight of guys in Sweden is 80.6kg

10 x 3.5 = 35 (80.6/200 = 0.403)

35 x 0.403 = 14.105 calories burned per minute

On a good two hour run, you wouldn’t be consistently doing extreme kiteboarding (or would you?), so you can adjust that number accordingly.

Another factor that you’d have to consider would be the climate and how cold / warm the water is. Aside from the many health benefits you’ll get from swimming in cold water like it boosts the immune system, it invigorates and energizes, it also helps burn calories.

“A study performed at the University of Florida showed slightly more calories are burned in cold water exercise than in warm. In the study, men who exercised for 45 minutes in 68 degree water burned an average of 517 calories. The men who exercised in 91.4 degree water burned 505 calories, on average.” -from an article in LiveStrong (November 13, 2013 by Susan Presley)

There are lots of things to consider when you want a good estimate on how much you burn on each ride but don’t miss out on all the fun. Kiteboarding is one awesome way to help you achieve and maintain that awesome body!

All

The Legends of Kitesurfing

Posted by Emma Pat On September - 22 - 2014

What does it take to become a legend? It’s not about being a trendsetter or having a lot of fans or followers. You have to have what it takes to surpass expectations, to be able to do things in epic proportions, and your name has to echo throughout history as one of the awesome people who did it not just for fame and fortune but because you loved every minute of it. Who are we talking about?

Jesse Richman

He was born on July 22, 1992 and has been kiting since he was 10 years old. He’s now a professional kite surfer and has won the kite surfing world championship TWICE. He’s also into Surfing, Free diving, Mountain Biking, Stand up Paddling.

Shawn Richman

Like his younger brother, Shawn also started kiting the summer of 2002. He was born on April 11, 1989 and he’s a team rider for Naish as well.

Robby Naish

Robby Naish is one of the first athletes to have gained international fame for wind surfing. His father, Rick Naish, was into competitive surfing so he was introduced into water sports at a young age. From 1977-1979 he was competing as an amateur and has won successive World Championship titles. From then on he has won numerous awards like the Overall World Champion and the PWA World Champion. During the emergence of kite surfing, he became a noted competitor. And in 1998 he won the kiteboarding slalom world title, in 1999 he went on to win both the slalom and jumping world titles!

Flash Austin

During the early years of kitesurfing, Flash Austin was already a force to be reckoned with. Even after years of kiteboarding he’s still as enthusiastic about it as ever, injuries never stopped him from getting back on his board again. Needless to say he has won countless awards already.

Kevin Langeree

Kevin Langeree was born on July 21, 1988, he’s currently 26 years old and has been kiting for 12 years (since 2000). He won the PKRA World Championship back in 2009 and is currently sponsored by Naish, G-Shock, O’Neill and Sinner eyewear.

Ruben Lenten

Ruben Lenten a.k.a. “Master of Extreme” was born on March 29, 1988 in Noorwijk, Netherlands. He has been kiting for about 12 years (since he was and has also won a number of awards including Red Bull’s King of the Air. He is known for his Megaloop.

Youri Zoon

Youri Zoon a.k.a. Sloeri was born on December 13, 1989 in Dirksland, Netherlands. His riding style: powered technical and freestyle and his local kitespot would be Brouwersdam. He has won the World Championship twice (2011 & 2012) and currently has several sponsors (Joya, Mystic, Brunotti, Javra Software, Koraal.org, Best Kiteboarding).

Aaron Hadlow

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Aaron Hadlow was born on Oct. 4, 1988 and is a professional kiteboarder who has won the (PKRA) Pro Kiteboard Riders’ Association World Championship five times. It wasn’t easy though, he had to climb his way to the top. His dad was into watersports while he was into football. When he was 10 years old he flew his dad’s kite on the beach and the year after that he found himself on a board dreaming on becoming the next David Beckham of kiteboarding.

Susi Mai

Susi Mai was raised by parents who were both windsurfers. She has basically always lived the beach life. Kiteboarding was only a past time for her until she surprised everyone by placing 2nd in the PKRA competition. It was from there that she found support thru a kite company to do the world tour and she placed 5th over all. When Susi Mai won the King of the Air in Maui, it was a big moment for her and kiteboarding history.

Lou Wainman

“Lou Wainman is unquestionably the most influential kiteboarder of all time.” -SBC kiteboard No truer words have been spoken. Lou is the one who started the wake style movement. He’s also the one who’s said to have created the most of the tricks you see today. It was no surprise when a company (Wainman Hawaii) was named after him and that he was made a partner. Unfortunately though that partnership didn’t last, he posted on his facebook page that he quit Wainman Hawaii. Although he isn’t into the competition or performing for the benefit of others, there’s no doubt in my mind that Lou’s contributions to Kitesurfing and his name would forever be known in Kitesurfing history. I can’t wait to see what he does next!

Aaron Hadlow, All, Flash Austin, Jesse Richman, Kevin Langeree, Lou Wainman, Robby Naish, Ruben Lenten, Shawn Richman, Susi Mai, Youri Zoon

Kitesurfing – the rise of a new sport

Posted by Emma Pat On July - 16 - 2014

Ever stop and ask yourself where it all began? Well, I’m here to tell you a quick story about a sport which we now call kite surfing…

Kite Surfing dates back to as early as the 1800’s wherein George Pocock used large kites to propel carts on land and ships on water which they used as an alternative to horsepower and mainly because they wanted to avoid horse tax. And from then on it was mainly used to move items from one place to another with improvements here and there. Gijsbertus Adrianus Panhuise from Netherlands was the first one to receive the first kite surfing patent in Oct. 1977 which covers a water sport using a floating board of a surf board type where a pilot standing up on it is pulled by a wind catching device of a parachute type tied to his harness on a trapeze type belt. Even though it did not result in any commercial interest, he could be considered as the founding father of kitesurfing. After that, there were occasionally successful attempts to basically combine kites with other sports. Bruno and Dominique Legaignoux came up with an inflatable kite design in the late 1970’s and the early 1980’s. In the USA, Bill Roeseler and his son Cory Roeseler patented the “KiteSki” system which consists of water skis powered by a two line delta style kite controlled via a bar mounted combined winch/brake. The Roeseler’s design was commercially available in 1994. And in the late 1990’s, Cory’s design evolved into a single board similar to a skate board.

“We knew it was gonna be something amazing but we didn’t know when or how” -Flash Austin

Kite Surfing has definitely come a long way and it’s all because of the people who have contributed their time, effort and passion to the sport. When you think about it, back then they didn’t have any material to teach them how to do it, they didn’t have videos that they could watch so that they could try to do it, kite school’s didn’t exist back then and the only way they were able to learn was thru the old fashion way -trial and error. Lou Wainman was said to have invented a lot of the tricks that are the standards now.

“To me Lou (Wainman) is like one of the early most progressive pioneers of this sport and he actually did start the whole wake boarding craze” -Mike Waltze

The first kite competition in which they dubbed the ‘Kite Surfing World Championship’ as a joke because the year before that there were only about 6 people who were in it. But now there are hundreds if not thousands of competitors who join each year and the market is now worth over $250 million dollars.

“Once word went out and the sport started to blow, that’s when Red Bull approached us with doing an event, that’s where we came up with the name ‘King of the Air’ and it stuck because at that time it was all about getting big air and the wow factor” -Joe Keuhi

Because of its exponential growth, kids as young as 13yrs old are now competing in championships, something they have envisioned and wanted to happen in the beginning. It’s not all about competition though, when you meet people who have the same passion as you, it’s when you make a connection and you build friendships, and it won’t even matter if you’re continents apart. And mainly that’s what they’re trying to build and want to achieve -and they have, but it isn’t over yet! The fun’s just getting started.

It’s always good to take a step back and remember where it all began or take a minute to learn how your new favourite sport came to be just to get in it deeper and also find a community where you can share your passion for kite surfing.

Watch the video and get a chance to know who we consider the forefathers or kiting, see amazing tricks on water and know how it all started: the trials they faced, how the sport developed, find out what their kitemares are and see awesomeness in action!

All

Best Kiteboarding – big boosts and boobs

Posted by kite2012 On June - 11 - 2012

I have always liked Best Kiteboarding even though I never tried any of their kites. It´s not that I find their kites particularly well designed or that Best has the best team riders. Best has captured my interest in another way… I´m of course thinking of the super hot girls that always are posing in tight tops whenever Best is having some kind of event! However, that´s not all. Over the years, Best has had some really awesome team riders, I´m thinking of Andy Hurdman and Shannon! This post is dedicated to the old good days when Big Air was spectacular and when the girls were… girls! :)

Navis Boards – the best upwind board on the market?

Posted by kite2012 On June - 3 - 2012

Navis Boards is a new brand on the market that manufactures kite boards. Navis Boards differs from many other manufacturers in many ways. It´s not just the wooden look of the boards, but there unique characteristics and the possibility to customize the design and the shape of the board. All this to a price that can compete with most other kite boards on the market.

Navis Boards has a range of different boards in their portfolio. “Lewis” – the full carbon, high-performance kiteboard, “Hulk” – the light wind board and the “Bolt” – the all-round kiteboard. Navis Boards also sell longboards for skating.

I had the opportunity to test the 136×41 “Bolt” for about two weeks under various conditions, from choppy water and strong wind to flat water in light wind. These are my reflections.

At a glance

The board itself has a really nice design. The board has a core of tri-axial glass fiber reinforced Paulownia wood which gives the board a smooth and exclusive wooden look, just like a sailing boat made from hardwood.

The color of the rail can be chosen from 6 different colors which is nice since you also have the possibility to add your logo or some other graphics to the board, hence it´s possible to choose a color that match your logo.

There are also three different colors on the fins to choose from.

The pads are soft and comfortable with straps that allow you to adjust them so much that they even fit my big 11 inch feet when wearing 7mm boots.

Performance

+ Flexibility – The Bolt is without doubt a very flexible board. I’m one of those maniacs that like to jump insanely high and it´s not always that my landings are perfectly smooth. So the flexibility comes in handy since it helps to absorb and soften hard landings.
+ Upwind – the upwind performances are simply amazing! I´m used to ride a 134×39 F-One SK8, not a bad board at all, but I need at least 1-2 m/s more wind to be able to even ride with the F-One compared to the Bolt. I had a session when I barely could stay up on the F-One board, riding upwind was more or less impossible. I swapped to the Bolt and was amazed over the huge difference. The Bolt has of course a little bigger area than my F-One, but it is also lighter, much lighter. The light weight in combination with the rocker make the Bolt outstanding in light wind! Ask anyone who have tried a bolt and they’ll for sure tell you about the ease to ride upwind even in light wind.
+ Choppy water – Here the rocker comes in handy again. The Bolt is forgiving and handles choppy water as good as any other twin tip board.

– Pop – the pop is probably the only “weak” side with the Bolt. It´s not that the pop is bad. It´s fully possible to achieve good pop, but the flexibility of the board makes it slightly harder to pop comparing to stiffer boards. It´s all about compromises. A stiffer board delivers more pop than a more flexible board, but my opinion is that the other performances of the Bolt more than counterbalances the pop. However, if you really demand a board that deliver maximum pop, then you have the possibility to order a board that is a bit stiffer, by using another choice of reinforcement material. The board will not necessarily be thicker. The possibilities to customize your board from Navis Boards actually also includes the shape!

Construction

As already mentioned the board has a core made of tri-axial glass fiber reinforced Paulownia wood. The core is in turn layered with super strong plastic walls and UV- and impact resistant top sheet. This construction makes the Bolt extremely durable and it’s a board that can handle tough conditions, altough its low weight. Yet the flexibility is one of its kind. Navis Board offer a 2 year guarantee on their boards which is another proof of its indestructible construction.

Conclusion

The Bolt is a great all-round kiteboard. Perfect for beginners as well as more advanced riders. I can guarantee that you´ll be the one that still can ride upwind when all the other go back on land when the wind drops. The rocker and the flexibility provides a smooth ride, saving your knees and giving you extra soft landings. It´s easy to carve through the water and it delivers a pop that most riders probably are happy with. This is a board that I really can recommend to any rider out there!

Fore more information about Navis Boards, visit www.navisboards.com

Perhaps the stupiest thing I’ve ever done…

Posted by kite2012 On June - 2 - 2012

You know the feeling when you havn’t been kiting for a while and then suddenly a day come when there is sun and wind… lots of wind! You can’t wait to get your ass to the water and have an awesome session! That day came to me yesterday. The forecast looked very promising in the morning, perfect conditions! The forecast for the afternoon showed that you could expect some serious strong wind coming in… Unfortunately I had to be in the school from morning to 1 pm. So when I finally was home after school, I grabbed my gear and rushed to the bus. To get to my local kite spot from the town where I live you have to change bus in another small town. So I jumped off the bus in the other small town and waited for the second bus, that didn’t come! I waited for 20 minutes, then I called the bus company. I was told that the bus already had left. Impossible, since I was at the bus stop at least 3 minutes before the time that the bus were suppose to leave. I got pissed off! the buses from the second bus stop only go once per hour, so I had two options. Either wait for 40 minutes or start walking to the kitespot, a walk that would have taken at least one hour… Then I got this “brilliant” idea. Why not walk to water and simply ride with my kite to the kitespot.

I started to walk. I reached the water about 15 minutes later, after crossing the highway and a field with fences and stinging nettles.
My plan was to perform a self launch with the kite, put my clothes and shoes in the kitebag and simply ride to the kitespot. So I rigged the kite and packed my bag. Everything was set! Only problem was that the wind was picking up and I could see some rain frontals out in the sea… I had to wait to a little bit. The front pasted and I saw my chance. I walked out in the water with the kite in my hand and my bag on my back. The self launch went well and I was up on the board, yeehaaa!

What I did not really take into account, or rather denied, was that I could get in trouble if the wind picked up a little… it was in my head of course, but it was a little too late to avert the insanity project… The problem was not only that the waves were pretty high and that the wind was strong and gusty. I could under no circumstances fall into the water since I had all my clothes in the bag on my back, including my iphone, keys, money, etc… The wind was so strong that the kite, a 9m Airush Varial X got bended and deformed due to the high wind pressure, though it was pumped to about 7.5 bar. When that happened, I had to bring down the kite to the surface and wait for the frontal to pass. I was on shallow water when this happened, so my bag was still quite dry.
Anyway, I continued my ride and everything went ok, until I reached a bay where I was forced to ride out several hundred metres to be able to pass a pier and a small lighthouse. I struggled to ride upwind in 3 metres high waves and was finally far out enough to be able to try to pass the lighthouse. However, a big fucking rain cloud was coming in and I thought to myself that this is a very bad idea, but this has to make or break!
Then it happened… The frontal was right over me and the wind was so strong that the kite got deformed again. I tried my best to ride downwind through the huge waves in high speed, but I had no chance to stay up on the board with the deformed and fully depowered above my head. I crashed into a wave and lost my board in the waves behind me. Trying to bodydrag upwind to reach the board would have been pointless in my situation, so I bodydragged downwind a few hundred meters until I reach the shallow water near the beach. I pulled the quick release and managed to reach my kite. I walked up on the beach and secured the kite with tons of sand. My board was lost in the ocean, but I figured that it would get washed ashore sooner or later. I was more worried about my bag, or rather all the stuff such as my iphone inside the bag, but it should be ok considering that I had put my iphone inside my jacket and the jacket inside a plastic bag. It is in this moment that it dawns on me, the bag is not on my back!!! I gaze out over the angry sea, but see nothing but water and waves… I also realize that one of my contact lenses is gone.
What to do now? Well, I got back in the water to search for my bag and my board. My worst fear was that the bag would have sunk to the bottom and I prayed to god that the pump still would be attached to the bag providing it with some buoyancy.

About an hour later I sight something black and round floating in the water, not to far from the beach, my bag!! Totally exhausted I waded through the water, up to the bag and lifted it up, what a feeling! I carried it back on land, like I was carrying a drowned person, the bag was safe! It turned out that one of the carrying straps had been ripped off when I crashed in the water and somehow it apperantly had slipped out from the other arm when I was tumbling around there for some seconds. Everything inside the bag was soaked, everything but a small piece of bread that was wrapped in a small plastic bag.

About 2 hours later I jump on a bus again, this time soaking wet and with an iphone that is completely dead!
I shake my head over my stupidity and I know that I only have myself to blame, but nothing bad without anything good. Now I have a good story to tell and the ground rule that you shouldn’t kite alone got another dimension for me. And hopefully some of you out there will learn something from a moron like me :)

Rapace kites

Posted by kite2012 On May - 26 - 2012

Ever heard about Rapace? Or have you ever seen a Rapace kite? No?, Well, the probability is quite small since Rapace just recently entered the kite manufacturing market. Currently they only have resellers in Canada, France, Italy, Slovenia and the Netherlands. They are actually looking for resellers, so if you want to sell kites, now is your chance!

Rapace produce kites both for snowkiting and kitesurfing. They also produce boards, harnesses, so Rapace pretty much cover the whole spectra. However, their range of products is still small, but I assume that it will grow larger with time.

The one and only kitesurfing kite that is for sale on the market is the Rapace RW1. It’s a 9m hybride kite. Let’s take a deeper look into it. Note that this information is taken right from the Rapace official site (www.rapace-kiteboarding.fr), so the drawbacks with this kite, if any… are of course not stated ;)

The RW1 is easy to use. No oddities or special features, therefor suitable for beginners.
It comes with a one pump system so you don’t have to worry about being the last one that enters the water.
The RW1 is very stable, yet lively and responsive.
The shape of the RW1 allows for a huge lift for those who love long flights when attached to the harness.
The large depower allows you to ride in a wide wind range.

Technical details:

* One pump
* Bar with double stoppers
* Security system + trim piece
* Reinforced fabric on LE and struts
* 25 meter lines
* Non-return ball in the valve on the leading edge
* Quick and easy trim over the bar
* Teijin fabrics
* Reinforcements struts

Shape:

* Hybrid
* 5 struts
* 4 lines
* double pullies
* Freestyle/freeride

Nothing new really. All kites manufactured today are more or less constructed in the same way with one pump, teijin fabrics, reinforcements etc…

However, what I find interesting with this kite is the price! You can buy this Rapace RW1 kite for as low as $815 or 650 € including bar, pump, bag! The url to the online shop is www.rapace-shop.fr

Finally, here is a video that shows that it’s fully possible to perform well with this kite in the water!

All, Kites, News, Rapace kites, Videos

Kitesurfing in Cape Verde

Posted by kite2012 On May - 24 - 2012

Cape Verde is quickly becoming synonymous with the term Kite Surfing. It is a hidden jewel in the middle of a vast ocean. Having lived on the island of Sal for 6 years I can confidently attest to its greatness as a kite destination. Where else in the world can you arrive at an airport and travel only 20 min to your hotel and then only another 10 min to one of 4 kite spots. Not many by my reckoning. I learned to kite surf here and will freely admit that it was challenging. There is no lagoon, no shallow water and nowhere that is always completely flat. However, by the time I was up and riding I felt confident that I could kite surf anywhere in the world. Once I was up, I worried that I would soon become bored and have to find a new challenge. However 6 years down the road, the opportunities for challenge are boundless.
Sal has 4 main kite locations all within a 10-20 min range. Each spot offers something completely different.

There is the Bay Santa Maria. Here the wind is often side off (though it can change to off, on, or side) and fairly flat. It is a great place for long runs. There are no rocks, no reefs, but you may bump into a turtle, some dolphins and on occasion even a whale. Further up the Bay is Lembje beach. To enter here is a little difficult as there are some rocks. However once you are out, it is great sailing. The inside of the Bay is flat, whereas the outside often offers a lovely swell. When the waves do come in here, they are some of the nicest on the island.

On the west coast there is the beach in front of the Riu hotel. Here the wind is more off shore and is brilliant for speed sailing and free style. It is also 500 meters from the world famous wave spot Punta Preta. Punta Preta, when it is working, offers an orchestra of both large and powerful waves. The wave can reach up to 6 meters high, with a beach break to match. Across the island from this spot on the east coast is Kite Beach. Kite beach has a reef, on shore winds, and waves for those yearning to jump and play in waves without fear. To top it all off, we have yet to reach the point of saturation. There is space to play, space to ride, space to jump. When you are not on the water, the Island is governed by the local motto of NO STRESS. Cape Verdians are friendly and easy to spend time with. There is little to no rain and there is more than enough sun to satisfy those accompanying the obsessed kiter.
There are no major tourist sites, which makes for a stress-guilt free holiday of either lying in the sun or being out on the water.
There are a number of schools on the island offering lessons and rentals for both kite and windsurfing. I would recommend Surf Zone, which has a school in the Bay of Santa Maria and on the west coast in front of the Riu hotel. It is the only school that offers only private and semi private lessons to ensure both safety and quality lessons. For more information on the island, kite spots etc, visit their site www.surfcaboverde.com , which offers a large amount of information. For me, having traveled and lived in a number of countries, this is as good as it gets.

/ Sheena

It´s fun to jump with your kite, but be careful…

Posted by kite2012 On May - 24 - 2012

You´ve done it thousands times or even more, perhaps 10.000 times. You’re skilled and you think you´re the master of jumping. And yes, you might be damn good at jumping with your kite, many of us are. Me myself love to jump and as well! I do it often and I’m usually dumb enough to do it over shallow water. 99 jumps out of 100 may be nice with smooth landings, but I don’t think none of us make 100% perfect jumps, not even Ruben Lenten does! Ok, I know that Ruben likes to ride in storms, but still, you hopefully get my point. To take precautions is quite easy, don’t jump over shallow water and use a flexible board, preferable without heel straps or boots. Simple precautions that can save your knees. Another tip is to land with your ass instead of on the board if you feel that a landing have the potential to become hard. Is it a good idea to land with your ass when jumping in shallow water? Exactly, that’s why you better make those “personal height record jump” in deep water, or at least where it’s about 3-4 feet deep.

This guy from Sweden is one that did not have the luck on his side one day when he was kiteboarding. This is his story that hopefully will get some of us to think before when we are out kiteboarding this summer.

When is it time to leave the water?

Posted by kite2012 On May - 23 - 2012

Under your kiteboarding lesson you probably learned that it´s important to keep an eye on the sky to see if there are any weird cloud formations going on such as dark clouds or cumulonimbus clouds. Rain fronts are usually easy to spot in time to manage to go back on land and bring down your kite before the front is over you. Or you can of course stay in the water and get prepared for an insane jumping session, just don’t lose your board since it can be difficult to recover it in very strong wind. Sometimes rain fronts come and go frequently and you can often see if it´s a big front or a smaller front. The size of the front determines how long you can expect the temporary strong wind to last. Landing a kite in strong gusty wind can be very dangerous, so it´s better to stay in the water and let the front pass than landing the kite while the wind is at its peak. If the whole horizont is dark and cloudy, then you might consider to get back on land after all even if you’re a skilled kiter, since you cannot estimate for how long the bad weather will last. There are however some occasions where you really shouldn’t stay in the water to prolong your kite session. One of these occasions is if the sky looks like this:

What you see here is a Shelf cloud which is a type of an Arcus cloud. This cloud could be seen in Hatteras yesterday the 22nd of May and I doubt that any kiteboarders decided to take a session during the time.

A shelf cloud is a horizontal wedge shaped cloud that rush forward along the ground. The shelf cloud is in turn connected to the base of a parent cloud, usually a thunderstorm i.e. a big cumulonimbus cloud, but it can be attached to other convective cloud types as well. The leading edge of the shelf cloud gets its characteristic shape due to the cold sinking air coming from the storm cloud behind it. This downdraft spreads out across the land as the leading edge is heading towards you. With this leading edge comes a strong gust front.

The storm cloud behind the shelf cloud might be very high (1,5 miles up to 14 miles) with strong upwinds. These upwinds are caused when the warm air in the middle of the cloud rushes upwards through the cloud. The cumulonimbus cloud often show up with its characteristic appearance of an anvil. The anvil consists of a veil of ice crystals in the upper part of the cloud, just at the bottom of the tropopause. The upwinds that reach this level is relatively colder than the tropopause, hence the moist air is diffusing laterally. This cold air in turn creates downdraft on the outside of the cloud. The rain and hail in these downdraft bring a lot of air that smashes towards the ground where it is being pushed forward in front of the cloud. This is the strong cold gust that we feel just before a bad weather cloud is coming in. The upwinds in the cumulonimbus clouds can be as strong as 20-30 m/s. They are therefore extremely dangerous to kiteboarders. In other words it´s not a good idea to be out kiteboarding either if you see a shelf cloud or a cumulonimbus cloud. There is a high risk that you get lofted, which happened to the guy from the unbelievable “Top Hat video”.

Massive cumulonimbus clouds can, if the conditions are right, transform into supercells. Supercells can be described as cumulonimbus clouds with strong rotating updrafts. The rotation occurs when the updrafts are combined with wind shear. The wind shear make the air turn into a huge vertical spiral inside the cloud that is being bended upwards thanks to the updrafts.

If you face a supercell when kiteboarding then you better not just head toward the beach asap, but packing down your stuff and get the hell out of there!

All, Cape Hatteras, News, Pictures

Back Mobe with Alby Rondina

Posted by kite2012 On November - 10 - 2011

The competition among kite manufacturers is becoming stronger and stronger. Cabrinha is still the biggest of them all, but they are forced to push their marketing to another level. A new weapon is their team rider Alby Rondina, here teaching us how to make a perfect back mobe and of course riding with Cabrinhas new Drifter and Nomad.

All, Tricks

Kite news 2012

Posted by kite2012 On November - 10 - 2011

The year 2012 hasn’t yet even started, but the manufacturers have had their 2012 products ready for a long time already!

The intention with kite2012.com is to present news about kitesurfing when it comes to new kites, tricks, kite riders etc… We´ll also post videos and photos from and other cool stuff. So stay tuned for more will come…