KITESURFING - Basics

Kitesurfing is often also called either fly surfing or kiteboarding. Regardless of the name, this activity involved the rider to be pulled through the water on a small surfboard, wakeboard or a kiteboard. The rider’s feet are strapped or banded to the board as he propels himself across the water and simultaneously pilots the kite in the sky and steers the board on the water—a very challenging task indeed.
This sport is relatively new but has grown very rapidly and the current estimates indicate that there are approximately a quarter of a million kitesurfers around the world. To increase safety and facilitate the diversity of riders and extreme weather conditions, there have been many innovations in kite design, in safety release systems and in better and more available training. Furthermore, different riding styles evolved as well and they include the wake style, wave riding, freestyle, jumping, and cruising.

The Chinese who originated the kite for ritualistic and recreational purposes years before the first written record in 200 B.C. are also credited with using the kite for propulsion in the thirteenth century. And propulsion kites were used by many enthusiasts to move carts on land, ships on water and men in the air but it was not until quite recently that kitesurfing had its true beginnings.

Two brothers, Bruno and Dominique Legaignooux from the Atlantic coast of France developed several kite designs for kitesurfing in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984 the two brothers patented the first inflatable kite design that is still being used by many companies today.
The Roeselers in the United States were also instrumental in the development of modern day kitesurfing. Bill Roeseler, a Boeing aerodynamicist and his son Corey patented the “Kite Ski” that consisted of water skis powered by a two-line style kite and it was available in stores by 1994. This kite had very basic capabilities but could go upwind and a few years later Corey’s skis evolved to a single board very much like a surfboard.

Kite buggying is a forerunner to kitesurfing and was first introduced by Peter Lynn at Argyle Park in Ashburton, New Zealand when is used a three-wheeler buggy with a parafoil. Kite buggying gained worldwide popularity until kitesurfing curtailed its growth in the 1990s.
Laird Hamilton and Manu Bertin made an impressive demonstration of kitesurfing off the Hawaiian coast of Maui in 1996 and popularized the sport overnight.

The Legaignoux brothers designed a new kite in 1997 with a structure of preformed inflatable tubes and a simple bridle system to the wingtips that assisted water re-launch and then continued to improve with the development of the bow kite design. Also in 1997, special kiteboards were developed by Raphael Salles and Laurent Ness.

By 1998 kitesurfing became a mainstream sport with several schools opening to train novices from various walks of life. The first kiresurfing competition was held in Mauii and the winner was a rider named Flash Austin.

Single direction boards were dominant kiteboards in 1999 but as of 2001 wakeboard style bi-directional boards became more popular.
The current men’s kitesurfing speed record over a 1,640 feet course is held by Olaf Marting at 41.79 knots and by Sjoukje Bredenkamp for women at 37.26 knots.