kipstar

my impression is that the good kiters who have control of their gear are in good control; the ones who think they are better than they actually are tend to be the ones who get in trouble, exactly the same as snowboarding. Having almost taken kites to the head on the beach multiple times and getting cut off all the time, I now tend to just climb upwind of their lines (which tend to be fairly close inshore so they can ride the chop) and we all get along fine. Personally, I tend to admire the airtime and skill of riding using the kite or a windsurf sail like a wing: this guy gets some good airtime. Personally, I am scared s&*tless and stick to the ground when I board and the water when I sail...speed and racing tactics is more my thing. I have, however, on my boat previously experienced the joy of kiting in so far as we got hooked in a yacht race and dragged sideways. Pic attached. :-) not much airtime and scared to death that I would be showered in fragments of carbon, so in that respect, probably quite similar to the first day of kiting in 30 knots ;-)

Bordy The two reasons why I would take up kiting (as I'm not that into airtime) - the new trend of actually racing them - snow kiting Impressive....3 knots is all you need on snow - do you use a ram kite or bow kite - what is the trend there? Given the variability in the mountains of wind, thinking of all the days where it is 5-10 knots, then starts gusting 15-25 later in the day; what is the key that the kiters use to deal with that? Do you use it mostly on the flat or to go up, then ride back down, or a mix of all of that? I know you are a pro level kiter (as far as there is such a thing in what is, IMHO, an expression session sport rather than a race around a course type sport as per alpine snowboarding racing). And Micah is a f&*king legend :-) That picture of all the kites in one run...that is INSANE! Mix of boards and skis...which one works better on the snow? BTW 1982...that was near the beginning of modern windsurfing...so you've done the tour of duty on the boards. Photodad - the longest long board out this way there are two, the gemini (a two person board that is a frigging hoot to ride, I've taken my GF out a few times on it, fully lit up and planing with her on the front using a 3m), and the serenity which is about 4.5m long and rides like the wind in as little as 1-2 knots (it looks like a canoe with a sail on it). So.....3.8m ain't that impressive; _)

I think windsurfing is probably in a similar zone to carving in some respects; in fact one of my good friends is the owner of the world's largest windsurfing brand (Starboard) and several mates work at the world's largest windsurfing factory where 70+% of the world's boards are made (Cobra). To anyone who thinks it is dead or dying because of kiting alone.....the industry data just doesn't support that. Windsurf was terminal 10 years ago...since then it has grown, never back to the peak, but it is growing now (facts, not biased personal opinion, using the overall boards built/sold annually) and provides a totally different buzz than kiting, snowboarding or sailing. Kiting has been growing and there are some very cool trends out there; people are racing kites upwind and downwind at a speed matching formula windsurfers in low breezes that are almost as low as specialist light wind windsurfing kit. The safety/power/quality of equipment has gone through the roof for kiting compared to the early gear. But for sure, there are still reasons for some people (me included, speaking as a competitive sailor) that we prefer windsurfing over kiting. I'ts location dependent as well; much of Thailand is great for kiting, some locations....not so much. And there are only a few places in the world where kite racing has started up, over here is not one of them. I've found almost all kiters/windsurfers/carvers to cool, not too much attitude, although I'm not sure that's why the sports either grow (or not), probably helps get new people in. Kiting has grown from nothing in tapping into the skate/wake/wind/surf markets but unless it gets a lot more simple, none of the kiting industry would be naive enough to think it will grow to the size of body boards/surfing - too much gear and it requires some skill to get going whereas any clown can get a body board then go surf (and many do). You need water, you need wind, etc etc - same as snowboarding, pretty hard sport to do in Singapore! Carving is a bit the same. To suggest the growth is different down to cost and sharing between people riding carving boards seems kind of simplistic. You can pick up the equivalent of 10 years old windsurf gear for same sorts of prices as old nitro scorpions and the like.... fine for some stuff but simply not as good as the new gear. let's face it, in the world where image matters more than substance, and people want something easy, neither windsurfing nor carving up the hill delivers too much on the image and easy front. Bordy 'Windsurfing was replaced by kiteboarding, enjoy the old guy sport.....go kiting!!!!! , Sure it cost money but it has a much lower end, I can plane in 8 knots and jump in 10. The high end can be better in windsurfing, kiting gets scary in over 40k, but it can be done I have a 4m Ozone instinct light that I am willing to launch if its hairball. Plus the air is unmatched." Up to you to slag off windsurfing all you want (after all, you did it in 1982, so obviously that makes you are expert to comment on it ;_) but I wouldn't agree that kiting has a lower end than windsurfing formula gear. THe apollo boards with a 75cm fin you can plane consistently in a tropical 6-7 knots, when guys with the biggest kites are still struggling to get them flying. When i was racing, our race minimum is min 6 knots, avg 8 knots, and we are racing windward leewards. Plus there is displacement windsurfing as well - but I don't think that counts exactly - at least you can still race though. Don't dispute the airtime though - kiting is craaaaaaaaaaaazy airtime. I'd say kiting is cheaper actually than windsurfing BTW, 3 kites, 3 boards....windsurfing for the same range is probably 2 boards, 3 sails, 3 masts, 2 booms, etc etc etc - adds up. try star-board.com has a pretty decent site for windsurf.

maybe he can teach us the J tear in the park ;-)

forgot about.... Ogasawa which is japanese like moss.

I remember that, yeah, in the mid/early 90s, Steve Klasson owned Wave Rave, and Ronnie McCoy owned the other big snowboard shop which was up near the first stop before driving up the main lodge side. next to the northface shop before that entire area got upgraded to include the wanky Mc'village' as per Whistler/Vail/Aspen/etc etc in that area. The year the scorpions came out, 5 hole pattern, I got the last year of asym boards, nitro epic I think it was called, broke it, then started riding the by then 4 holer scorpions which I agree were an awesome board - really enjoyed both the shorter and longer ones. Still have one of the 163 scorpions at my condo here in BKK, but she is a bit soft and sad these days ;-) By 1996 when I next went to Mammoth, there wasn't any alpine gear hardly anywhere. And last trip in 2004 I think it was, there was like 1 pair of old boots that I saw. Might have improved since then. As my addition, I am fairly sure that Tsunami and Snowstix and both dead as brands; built in NZ in the early 90s in the same factory and then the guy Dave Partridge went stateside and worked for Apocolyse I think it was.

Yep, grew up in Auckland meself, and used to ride at Whakapapa on a nitro scorpion red board, black jacket and pants back in the day. Big difference when you upgrade gear; just be careful not to look at that deck too much; you might give yourself a headache ;-) I might head down in 2009 for a session, will bring my 185 to carve up the Knoll ridge then :-)

loving that shot of, well what I call Chair 2, but has some new fancy pants soft as name these days no doubt. Yeah, Mammoth has the man made going on early season along with some natural stuff, gets a big of a mega season and the mountain is well good for carving with no rocks poking through on chair 1 or 2 to speak of. Man.....I miss that place ;-( been 3 years since I got to ride in USA :-(((((

instead of doing all of that, I reckon just get hardboots or learn how to ride using your calf muscles more. I've ridden with the guys with the fully soft hardboots, and they can ride EC style without too much problem; the whole issue of the board imediately going on edge is a lot to do with how you set up going out of the previous turn. I've ridden with complete jibbers that could really carve with ultra soft set ups, so obviously it is not mandatory to have the 3rd strap. I also used to think at one point you could survive on soft boots, back in 1991 I think it was when I then switched to hardboots. Way better solution. As a windsurfer, basically trying to carve in softboots with a 3 strap system is like using a late 1980s course board and same era sail to sail back and forth; sure you can do it, but it is making life a lot more difficult than just getting a decent modern futura with a sailworks retro that will just cr*p all over the old board. Learn how to use your 2 strap system the best you can, probably is the simplest.

Tell him he is wasting his time if he doesn't buy the latest sailworks hucker on an Isonic 2008 board :-) With a custom fin :-))))) Great to hear you found a convert mate, windsurfing is great. Have been having a 'few problems' with dickhead kiters where I windsurf taking me out, but when there is wind and out there with a few friends (both kiting and boarding) sure is a great sport ;-)

Looks great there Sailman. Have to ask though...what is the boat you are sailing there? I also race yachts as there isn't much snow here in Thailand....sportboat Shaw 6.5 (www.shaw650.com) one of these....that looks similar lenght maybe a fraction longer??

speaking as a consultant to the medical industry well acquainted with the dangers of plastic surgery, and in particular, the numerous studies addressing capsular contraction, immune system, leakage and the potential for other side effects, I likes dem big titties. And now for something completely different. Seriously...a Lange girl? Isn't this all a bit 1980s bimbo?

stump alley LOL That brings back a few memories; chair 2 and the, what is that area right under chair 2 (since renamed) right by the lodge called? Great place for some euro carves :-) 3 years since going to mammoth last time....those were the days.

whiskey creek mammoth lakes babeeee 21 oh yes. Well done mate; just don't drink and drive and you'll be 'sweet as'.

'I'd say that they were fairly stiff planks which for me was good but not for Joe Normal.' who is this Joe Normal? I see he is very popular to talk about, but doesn't he post here anymore? Is he part of the Bordy/CMC group?

For cooking fries, do you any Americans actually do this job, or is it entirely illegal Mexican immigrants stealing those 'prime jobs'? :-) Crazy warnings, as is often said, 'only in America'.

Yeah, those Sailworks guys go big. Dale Cook just flies on the huckers; I love the way big air looks on a board with sail. I dunno, being a sailor, kiting looked a lot harder to learn than windsurfing; horses for courses i guess! For sure, kiting looks easy to travel around with; the winter kiting is the bit that appeals to me most actually; the idea of being hauled up a hill and enjoying it; well I can think of a few places where i ride that this would be awesome! Willy are you seeing some of the trends of kiting with longboards, and all that down where you are?

They run a lot of courses here in Thailand as well, you might like to check out whether it is cheaper to go to some island in the caribian to learn kiting there and might work out cheaper. Personally, I find kiting like shown in that pic to not really be my thing, and ironically find the feel of a windsurfer to be a lot faster, smoother, and more like the slide feel of snowboarding, but to each their own; our winds mean that the kiters get somewhere less than 1/2 the days of the windsurfers, due to the lack of constant onshore/cross on/cross shore here. Of course, they also stuff up the beach area near the clubs as well, so it isn't a bad thing that they get less days :-) If you get a chance, try both, as they are pretty complementary to eachother. For kiting, the modern bow kites and gear make learning and safety a lot easier, definitely worth it to do the course no matter what the cost. Virtually all the kiters I know (and one of my friends/clients is a kite company) suffer injuries from time to time; it is a pretty full on sport, so the course should help get you through it a bit easier.

I have a dose of flegmatic carving, but after some antihestamine and a good night's sleep, it cleared right up :_) Always nice stuff. thanks :-)

Aside from having rampant gun problems, Some south african take a guy at gun point and glue him to his bike...what exactly is the point of this, that guns made it worse or better? Sorry, for being dense, don't use english much these days and am totally confused what you are trying to say; this is a pro gun or anti gun thing>??

thank god you are not a statistician. Anyway, perhaps in the interests of learning a bit about maths, you should try a similar exercise by giving guns to everyone in say, south Central or Harlem. That could be kind of cool. Almost every statistic on either side of the pro and anti gun sides are twisted beyond comprehension. I trust you are all ready to overthrow the government with your concealed pistols and stuff :_)

I am not questioning your info, but really??? This is a huge liability waiting to happen for ski resorts; you are telling me they don't carry insurance for this sort of stuff and just have a wad of cash to handle it??? holy moly. A large corporate with 3D insurance - death disability dishonour - seems kind of odd.... maybe the premiums are rediculous?!

So you are recommending to stay in southern California then; sounds good to me :-)

friend of mine is in the kiting business. OUt of interest are you guys all going to the new bow kites, or sticking with the traditional C kites?

THank god you don't snowboard in NZ or even worse, drive out here, you would probably die :-) Down there and up here, we figure out how to look out for ourselves reasonably early; as spidey says, with great power comes great responsibility. Ability to go high off a jump at least iMHO for an adult requires some semblance of looking out for oneself. In the case of Thai driving, the incredibly high death toll reflects stupidity of motorcyclists mostly, who are quite willing to ignore any semblance of common sense for the most part; the option of suing the state for ill thought out roads is not there however. That said, because there are signs on everything else, it encourages people in USA to assume everything is ok unless there is a sign to state otherwise. Which is not the case many other places in the world. Curiously, my guess is the number of signs might not correlate too well with reduction in injuries.