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How to TRANSITION JUMP from EPIC KITES on Vimeo.
]]>The most popular place for kitesurfing is Motu Martin (a good spot for beginners) which is not far from Papenoo wherein you can find waves for all levels. Taapuna is also a good place to visit since it’s a large lagoon with great free ride conditions. If you’re looking for a challenge then head over to Sapinus and Maraa, both of which are for more experienced kiters. Teahupoo, despite its beauty, is known for being one of the most notorious spots world wide. Baie Phaeton and Vairao are two of the more beautiful places you can kite, the former offers easy-going conditions in a shallow lagoon and the latter is ideal for wave riders.
We stumbled upon a video made by F-ONE KITES and I have to say that they captured the essence of Tahiti on video, of course there’s no substitute for the real thing but this one comes in a close second. In the beginning of the video it was peaceful and as it went on they showed how the kiters lose themselves completely in the sport, how they become one with everything. The second part of which shows the friendships and the bond that’s formed when you’re with people who have the same passion. Even if you’re not a rider, you’d definitely appreciate all the work they put into it and their love for the sport shines through.
Watch the video and see for yourself!
]]>“Once again the F-ONE team went off to discover new landscapes and live an extraordinary adventure.
Raphaël SALLES put on his captain’s hat for the time of a far-off journey to meet his Tahitian team and experience the magic surrounding their idyllic islands. Accompanied by his faithful sidekicks as well as newcomers, they went on to board two catamarans for 25 days of pure happiness in another world.
Tahiti is well and truly as you can imagine: wild, powerful, with the force of the ocean being ever-present and where sharing and wisdom are common values within a whole people.Riders : Mitu MONTEIRO, Poenaiki RAIOHA, Robinson HILARIO, Micka FERNANDEZ, Marie SWITALA, Aude LIONET CHANFOUR, Alexandre CAIZERGUES, Filippe FERREIRA, Manutea MONNIER, Rémi QUIQUE, Patrice CHANZY, Raphaël SALLES.”
“Once word went out and the sport started to blow, that’s when Red Bull approached us with doing an event and that’s when 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
The first Red Bull King of the Air competition was held at Ho’okipa in Maui around year 2000 and at that time there were only a number of kiters who joined. It was still part of kite surfing’s experimental stage where in everything was so new, unexplored and yet to be tested. As the years progressed so did the equipment and the number of followers. Now kite surfing is considered the fastest growing water sport with 1.5million surfers and counting.
2015 can’t come any faster -at least that’s what kiters all over the world are thinking. Red Bull’s King of the Air competition is coming up and we’re all excited! It’s South Africa’s biggest kite competition where 24 kiters (top 12 from the previous year and the other 12 from video submissions -8 of which will be picked according to online rankings and 4 from coming from the event committee) compete for the title. It will be held at Cape Town, Big Bay, Blouberg on Jan. 31 to Feb. 15, 2015 and all you need to do is upload a minute long video of you doing some sick air moves. Fill out the application form and you’re done! view the full mechanics here.
Last year’s jump records were:
1. Tom Hebert – 25.04m
2. Andris Fourie – 23.33m
3. Kevin Langeree – 21.55m
4. Jerrie Van De Kop – 21.41m
5. Billy Parker – 20.22m
6. Reno Romeo – 18.89m
7. Luke McGillewie – 18.51m
8. Jesse Richman – 17.83m
9. Gianni Aragno – 17.58m
10. Graham Howes – 17.30m
Final Result:
1. Kevin Langeree (NED)
2. Ruben Lenten (NED)
3. Steven Akkersdijk (NED)
4. Andries Fourie (RSA)
5. Aaron Hadlow (GBR)
5. Jesse Richman (USA)
7. Tom Herbert (FRA)
7. Billy Parker (USA)
Although not everything is fun and games. Extreme sports have their risks and with the added pressure of competing against other kiters. There have been some incidents and one of the more popular one is when Tom Herbert came down too hard from a big jump (at least 25meters in the air) and crashed. In an interview with North Kiteboarding he said “I arrived late to the kicker which put me off balance straight away. At 25 meters high and mid rotation I saw that my kite was pointing down towards the water. I lost all orientation and had very little control. I tried to correct it and get it right but it was too late.”. According to African Extreme there were other two rumoured injuries, one by Jessie Richman (King of the Air 2013) who was said to have had anything from a torn ACL to a bad fracture, the other one would be Oswald Smith, and this would be more of a rumour than anything, was said to have had difficulties moving his head to either side. Accidents and injuries are a part of it all, especially when you want to achieve something great.
Check out some of this year’s wild card:
Visit the Red Bull site for more!
]]>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!
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