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Advanced
Kiteboading
combines the
excitement of
various activities
to create the
newest craze in
adventure sports
Mike Waltz flies through theair while kiteboarding in Maui, Hawaii.
Photo courtesy of Jimmy Lewis
Katie Miller
Oregon Daily Emerald
If a sailor and a surfer crossed,
what do you get? Windsurfing.
If a surfer and a body surfer
crossed, what do you get? Body
boarding.
If a water skier and a surfer
crossed, what do you get? Wake
boarding.
But what if a wakeboarder, a
windsurfer, a surfer and a
paraglider crossed?
Well you get the latest trend in
the wide variety of crossbred wa
tersports: kiteboarding.
“Kiteboarding is a cross-breed
between a lot of different sports,”
says Brian Hinde, a sailboard
shaper and manufacturer in Hood
River, Ore. “People who surf can do
it; wakeboarders are into it; wind
surfers can do it. Anyone can do it. ”
For the past three years, kite
boarding has gradually begun to
emerge from the underground
world of obscure sports, making its
way into the more mainstream mar
ket of water sports, causing a frenzy7
of windsurfers, wakeboarding and
surfers to pick up the sport, starting
a huge trend throughout the board
sports world.
Is it a passing trend (remember
scurfing?) or is it a legitimate sport
ready to be introduced to a wider
audience of board enthusiasts on
the mainland United States? But
for the majority of people who are
not involved in the surf industry,
kiteboarding remains a mystery,
and that may be one of its biggest
appeals, offering a new challenge
and adventure to a fresh market qf
people ready to experience an
“extreme sport.”
“It’s kind of a bastardization of
previous sports that people are
getting tired of,” said Tom James,
editor of the new Kiteboarding
magazine. “It keeps the board
sports world fresh, which is what
it’s all about. It’s gotta be fresh or
else it’s old news.”
Since the birth of the “extreme
sport” in the early ‘90s, athletes of
all ages have been integrating vari
ous sports to maximize the adren
aline and dare-devil factors. Cre
ating every type of sport from sky
surfing to earthboarding. These
types of sports tend to be more
trick-oriented, which is the exact
point of kiteboarding.
“Kiteboarding is mostly about
freestyle. Who does the best tricks,
hangs in the air the longest?” said
James. “There are some people
who race and are more speed ori
ented, but that’s being phased out
because that’s not what the sport
is about.”
What the sport is about is tricks.
Instead of being strapped to a
heavy board or needing the
strength to control a huge wind
surf sail, kiteboarders are able to
position their kites into the wind
and can catch huge air, twirl, skip,
jump, float, hand up-side down
and gain speeds in excess of 30 to
35 knots.
So it’s no wonder that everyone
from ultra-hip teens to jaded forty
somethings are attracted to the
sport. All it takes to kiteboards is a
little balance, knowledge of wind
conditions and patience, and be
fore you know it, you’re up and
catching a huge adrenaline rush.
“It’s not really a strength-inten
sive sport,” said James. “It’s re
markably easy. You gotta have
some patience, though, because
you get your ass kicked the first
couple of times you do it.”
Kiteboarding’s rise began nearly
14 years ago with Corey “The
Man” Roeseler, who many say is
the godfather of kiteboarding.
“Corey’s had a huge influence
on the sport,” said Hinde, who has
been in the surf industry for more
than 25 years.
In early 1987, a 17-year-old Roe
seler strapped on a pair of water
skis, launched a kite his father had
originally designed for a boat and
gave birth to kiteboarding.
Unfortunately, many integrated
sports such as kiteboarding tend
to take awhile to fully develop
into the sport it will eventually be
come.
Since 1987, kiteboarding has
continued to grow and absorb in
fluence from its sister sports:
wakeboarding, surfing and wind
surfing. However, it wasn’t until
1996 that people began to take no
tice of the sport.
Just a year ago, kiteboarders
were seen sprinkled throughout
the Columbia Gorge in Oregon,
one the of the most desired sail
board locations in the world. To
day, Hinde sees as many as 40 to
50 kiteboarders out at one time.
In the meantime, shapers all
over the world continue to reap
the benefits of this new sport and
are picking up the craft of kite
board shaping.
Jimmy Lewis, a sailboard
shaper from Maui, has been in the
business of sailboard shaping for
more than 25 years is now seeing
an increase in business because of
the growing demand for kite
boards.
“Several years ago, I was mak
ing around 300 windsurf boards a
year. That slowly tapered down
over a period of 3 to 4 years to only
70 windsurf boards in 1999,”
Lewis said. “I’ve made 170 plus
kiteboards in 1999, and I expect to
make a lot more this year. ”
Not only is Lewis world re
Turn to Kiteboard, page 8B