Let's Go Fly A Kite, Up To The Highest Height

Kitesurfing I'm just getting into, so I'll have to collaborate on this post. All I know is that today, it was strong and gusty.

It's another great sport that, like paddleboarding, is not limited to the ocean. Sports that transcend the ocean into freshwater environments obviously have a much larger geographic appeal whereas surfing is typically limited not only to coastline areas, but accessible coastline areas that have waves (though surfing lakes and rivers is not unknown).

At first this sport didn't excite me. It seemed too gear intensive, especially in comparison to surfing. But as I began to look for ways to access bigger and bigger surf, I began looking further and further off shore. I saw two options: jet skis and kites. Gear intensive took on a new perspective.

Hawaii is an amazing place to be a kiter because a general rule of thumb is: on at least one side of an island, the wind is blowing. Kailua is an amazing place to learn to kite because it is a large U-shaped bay with pretty consistent side-onshore wind. This basically means that the wind is not blowing you straight onshore into the trees, but if you screw up, eventually the wind will blow you into shore.

Kiting is still a young sport so the gear and moves are in a very progressive phase. If I were to guess, I'd say it is a product based on experiences by windsurfers, surfers and wakeboarding. If you've been pulled behind a boat, that's like being pulled by the kite. Except that you have to control the kite, which requires sailing skills. Board manipulation is like other board sports, except that you also have to focus on keeping your kite flying.
More to come.