Sport Today

There is an article from David Ezzy titled WHY WINDSURFING WAS NOT
CANCELLED. Well, it looks like it has caused quite a stir in the
kitesurfing world. Here is the thread to the kiteforum that includes
the article.

http://www.kiteforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2324498

madspaniard

I almost choked when I read the claims that kiters never say anything
bad about windsurfers.  Where do they think the "windsurfing has been
cancelled" BS came from in the first place?

Companies like Ezzy, Sailworks and Exocet, who have refused to divert
their attention to kiting, will get my future business.

Benefit of a doubt...his *real* comments were prolly heavily edited...;-)

Our local paper captured a classic "Mary Poppins" kiting moment of
"Skippy" on Wednesday...while local handglider, Kippy, glided along with
soul...

http://surfingsports.com/images/mary_poppins.jpg

http://surfingsports.com/images/fukenkuken.jpg

WARDOG
http://surfingsports.com

I've never kited, and probably at this stage of the game I never will.  But
if it had arisen 20 years ago when I was stranded in a locale that offered
8-10 knot winds during the (very) short sailing season, I probably would
have gone that way.  Endless shlogging on the the WS gear of the day sure
pales in comparison to ripping (and possible air?) available on a big kite.

One thing I envy about kiters is being able grab all their gear and fit it
in the back of a small car.  Mind you, they need a football field to get set
up, but travel sure seems like a snap.

I read Dave's article. It is a bit inflammatory, but calls it pretty much
the way I see it, and there were plenty of Kiteboarders
on the Kiteboard forum who said "Hell yeh I went to Kiteboarding because it
was easy to learn".  That's humility, and not something
I was expecting in a Kiteboard forum.

If  Fabio Ingrosso had written an article in a similar tone about how Kites
are the future of wind powered sports, because they're less
location specific, and easier to learn (I concur with both these
statements), I wonder how magnanimous this forum would be  ;*)

Anyway, I found the attitude there surprising and refreshing (now where did
I put my Kiteboard).

-Craig

Folks should come to Michigan; lottsa kiters & windsurfers sharing the
beach. Kiter's go sailing, & sailors go kiting.  Folks seem to
understand that it's normal & nice to make space for each other.  I've
seen excellent self policing of *** kiters by the non-***s.
Apparently, getting along w/each other is not possible elsewhere.

Personally, I was kinda surprised that Ezzy would refer to Robby Naish
as a "has been".

Guess I fail to see how they are less location-specific?  They need
planing winds, unlike say the Kona or any long board from the good ol'
days...  they need more wind to plane than the light wind gear of
today...  gusty winds must be a nightmare... too much wind is also
bad...  lots of room is required to lauch one....

Where can they sail that a windsurfer can't?  I can think of lots of
places where a windsurfer can sail and a kite wouldn't work.

"Hes a Windsurfer that doesn't like kites. Big deal. Thats HIS problem.

He is not alone. It is Hookipa syndrome.They live in a fantasy World.
Windsurfers get the Primo spot. Kites go down to the dump.

Oh,and Pierdreporto......Go *** yourself,you piece of Euro shit !

PeterPotty...Vai a foda voc mesmo, voc uma parte de merda europia"

Actually, the kiters on Maui get to kite near the turd farm...not the
dump...this is one of the reasons why:

http://SportToday.org/

WARDOG
http://SportToday.org/

There are a couple of Kiteboarders

Here's a counter example by Kitesurf66

-Craig

I'm not slamming kiters, but the nature of their gear is that they have a
much larger potential to damage others around them, and in a larger radius.
I'm in favor of launches being segregated when space is an issue.

The has-been pros and those who weren't going to make it, and the
people who were sitting on

the fence who weren't that stoked about windsurfing - that's who kiting
took."

What other "has been pros" are kicking ass on kites, and/or making good
business selling & promoting kites?  Robby is, I think, the only one.
And, "bubonic plague equals kiting"(?)......Personally, I think Ezzy
sounds pretty sour grapes on the whole thing.  I was disappointed; Ezzy
is one of my heroes, but in this case, he sounds pretty tiny.

In our little corner of the world, some of the best sailors on the Big
Pond go both ways; it's just another set of skills for getting into the
wind.  Comparing some of the soul sailors I know to "bubonic plague" is
quite a bit over the top.

I never cease to be amazed that folks can't get along & find space for
each other; it's a freakin' ocean fer chrissakes.  I do agree
completely that obnoxious kiters are the worst; if they don't
understand that they gotta move to the periphery so that there is
access for all, they don't deserve wind.  I can imagine the Gorge
getting kinda messy, but it's a big chunk of water;  I've been in the
ditch enough to know that there's always someplace w/wide open spaces.
Heck, out east it's nothing but wide open space.

Maybe I think different because I remember getting run off of a lot of
beaches in the 80's w/my Mistral Competition SST; people thought it was
DANGEROUS!  Not.......

Anyways, I personally think his theory is mostly right about a certain
segment of born-again kiters who turned their backs on
windsurfing...there were a bunch of wannabe pros and posers that jumped
on kiting initially to try and make a name for themselves...maybe they
didn't have their heart and soul into the glide of windsurfing to begin
with...

I've also seen quite a few lukewarm, mediocre, windsurfers gravitate to
kiting...and I've seen some of the same become lukewarm, mediocre
kiters...only now they have waaaay more safety gear on and don't move as

they are kewler...;-)

WARDOG
http://surfingsports.com