Sport Today

Fascinating book/tv show, but I think he didn't get into enough detail
on the climate side of things.  Not saying his arguments are not a
factor, but you also have to include climate.  The more inhospitable it
is, the faster people develop technologies and the more they work.
Makes sense if you think about it.

In a way this is what I don't like about kiting.  There's much less
work required to get good, but then it bites you in the ass on the
other side (safety).  OTOH, if I do eventually move to San Diego, I may
pick it up... or not.  We'll see.  It's a few years out yet.

Didn't see the TV show, but read the book...
I think Jared did talk about climate in detail...reread Chapter 10...
This is a major part of his premise...
He definitely didn't make your conclusion(s) about climate...with
inhospitable climates you have to spend all of your time hunting and
gathering...trying to stay alive...not sitting around fat, dumb, and
lazy academically masturbating about windsurfing vs. kiting, or
windsurfing vs. curling...;-)

He succinctly laid out how Eurasia is situated primarily along an
East/West latitudinal line...similar climate over a broad area...same
day length and seasonal variation...major determinant of
climate...growing conditions, and ease of spread of food
production...this gave that continent a huge advantage...

Fertile Crescent domesticates spread rapidly along East/West latitudinal
lines because of this climatic adaptation...and allowed people to move
into farming and storing food , rather than being tied to
hunter/gatherer subsistence...which in turn gave their society the
ability to develop steel and guns...mount armies to move forward and
conquer other peoples...and spread their germs...

WARDOG
http://surfingsports.com

I totally agree Brian. My little brother is a windsurfer now kiter
convert. A couple of years ago he bought the now infamous sticker, and
stuck it on my rental car bumper when we were in Hatteras. I never got
the antagonism. He loves to call me a "poleboarder", and constantly
tries to change me over to the benefits of kiting.

I really like the portability of kiting. Traveling with your gear is
way easier. Loading up the car is a no brainer. Serious air also is
appealing. The current safety and unwieldiness of the sport does not. I
also have little desire to do it when I have so much fun windsurfing.
Especially now, I finally have more time to take my windsurfing to a
higher level.

The thing that concerns me, is the face of windsurfing that I
personally see. I agree some of the kiters on this one. It is
geriatric. When I windsurfed in my youth, it seemed a younger sport
than now. When I go to Corpus, the average age is easily in the late
50's. Locally, the 40's. When I went to the launch my brother sailed,
it was obviously younger. I would say we lost a generation to kiting.
There are exceptions, but that is just my observation. Ezzy can call it
natural selection if he wants, but I think it was some of his
generation that did not bring the new *** back into our sport. Note,
I said his generation, not him. Graham is awesome. Dave was a pioneer
in the development of usable kids rigs. But, it seems like we had a gap
from wonder kids like Kevin Ponichtera and company to now.

I am going to do my best to get my 7 and 3 year old to pick up the
sport. But, Darwinism may favor Uncle Gregg. It will be interesting to
see what happens.

Kiting will be a plus for windsurfing in the long run (as long as
access doesn't become limited as result of accidents) because it
introduces people to wind sports and kiting is more accessible than
windsurfing (easier and more portable). We all know the pluses of
windsurfing and getting people on the water is the hardest part. If
kiting brings them to the beach then all the better. Windsurfing's
merits will prove themself on the water. Kids want to do what is
percieved to be cool and what their friends are doing not what there
father's are doing, think snowboarding and skiing. The future of
windsurfing lies in the hands of the Connor Baxter and Kai Lenny's of
the world. If they can get kids thinking its cool then we will get more
converts.

If you thought that was good, you oughta read "Collapse", his new book.
 It's about ancient & modern societies that succeed & fail; Easter
Island, Pitcairn & Henderson, Rwanda, Iceland, Japan, Anasazi, Mayan
society, etc.  Some of them made it, & other's vanished in pre-history;
 the telling line is how they dealt w/climate change, deforestation, &
related issues.

It's impossible to finish the book & not draw a line for our society
being on a failed path.  Quite sobering.

Now, back to masturbating on windsurfing & kiting; it's much less
traumatizing........

If it keeps somebody from getting killed or maimed kiting, then it's done
something positive.
--
PeteCresswell

I'm familiar with his argument that the climate influenced which
animals and crops could grow where, in fact, I think that's his biggest
breakthrough in the book.  I guess I wasn't that clear in my post.  I
just look at Europe (where I grew up), and basically the colder it gets
the stronger the economy (all within a climate that allows for farm
animals and crops).  Then you've got places (not in Europe) where
enough food grows on the land and the weather is mild enough so that
you can basically just sit around and do nothing but fish once in a
while and survive comfortably.  Clearly, there is no reason for those
guys to develop agriculture and so on, much less nucular weapons.

I also think there is a simple human thing that happens when it gets
hot.  You get lazy, and I don't just mean lazy while it's really hot.
You're whole outlook changes, you slow down, etc., and this is a
longterm change.  You're not going to start running around because the
temperature drops for a few days.  Take that same person and put him
somwhere where he's freezing his ***off, and soon enough he'll be
busy as a bee.  I could go into details of physiology of why this is
so, but I think it's all pretty obvious.  I was just surprised he
didn't bring this more into the book.  (I experienced this first hand
after moving to a very warm climate).

Try to tivo the TV show, it's fascinating.  They have footage of people
cultivating roots with hand tools, much the same way they did hundreds
of years ago, and you can really see how growing enough food is a full
time job, and one that doesn't benefit from any kind of mass
agriculture.  We're talking one root, one tool, one person, and a lot
of work to get it into an edible state.

When are you going to start your 3 year old?  Miy son just turned 4.
Debating a Micro Freak (.08 or 1.2 , not sure, he's 46lbs) so he can
play around with it, but not sure if he is ready or not.  That
attention span thing may get in the way!  :-)   Anyway, not sure what
sail size would be best.  If it's too big, could spell trouble, too
small and they may not go at all.

After my trip to Cali (with Alan), we'll be heading to Hatteras for a
week, and I plan to rent a HUGE board for him to play with the sound
side.  That will be the litmus test.

I hear you about the Darwinism!  I have good friends that kite, and
Ian just loves to help launch and land them.  But I will say, he does
like the sail and baord too!

Bri

And that was one person in particular who when approached by me about
his stickers, vehemently defended them. I have placed a similar banner
on my site at http://www.windvisions.com/ that looks surprisingly like
his sticker.

Glenn

I'll add the vast majprity of Hatteras kiters are wonderful people and
many are very good friends of mine. I have gladly recovered many
boards for wayward kiters who end up getting downwind in the
windsurfing areas. We get along quite well down there. It only takes
one bad apple to spoil the bunch.

Glenn

On Sun, 19 Feb 2006 08:57:08 -0500, Glenn Woodell

Bri:

I was a kid that grew up hating sailing. My Dad was a screamer, and
always made me go with him on his small two person dingy since I was
the oldest kid. It wasn't until a friend of mine got a Sunfish and we
tried to destroy it, that the hooks sunk in. It was a couple of years
later that I saw my first windsurfer.

For this reason, I really do not push them (maybe to a fault). I really
want things to be fun. They love to get on the START board and try to
destroy it. We have a Sailworks Retro Ripper 2.5m2 rig. My 7 year old
can uphaul it pretty well now and get going, but struggled uphauling it
a little last year. I bought a Ripper 1.7m2 to possibly get the younger
one out a little sooner. I will cut down a mast so the rig will be as
light as possible, but I realistically doubt I will get him going
before age 5. Getting them comfortable in the water swimming is our
first priority. The youngest (turns 4 in May) really has a desire to do
what ever his older brother is doing, so I am confident his motivation
will be much stronger to get going earlier.

I would be lying, if I did not admit that I hope at least one of my
kids to becomes a windsurfing buddy. That said, I am content that it
may never happen. I want to expose them to the sport I love, but I want
them to do it because it is their interest too not just mine.

On Sun, 19 Feb 2006 09:29:53 -0500, Glenn Woodell

I agree!  Some of my best friends are kiters.  They do not pressure me
to get back into kiting or anything else.  We all meet at the beach
and enjoy our time on the water!

Bri

IMHO it's about personnel thresholds.

I like to jog, but I no longer bother when it over <NN> degrees.
I like to mountain bike, but I no longer enjoy climbs over <N000> feet.
I love to windsurf, but I no longer bother if it's under <NN> knots.

My thresholds have changed over the years as I get older, have competing
interests and other responsibilities.  Also, I've collected a set of gear
that works for the conditions I enjoy most.  So the payback for the added
expenditure, storage, wind chasing, etc, is less than heading to the hills
on a bike.

Cheers

You're right - and that's really where people's preferences come out.
In those conditions, especially if you live in a place where they
happen a lot, you either end up sailing FW gear (if you're into going
fast) or kiting (if you're into getting air). Up here in Bellingham,
I'm on of three guys who're sailing FW gear; the rest of the
windsurfing community has taken up kiting, with all of them switching
to windsurfing when it's 5.0 or better. Note that, other than
good-natured ribbing, there's really no animosity - I guess people are
mature enough to realize there are different preferences, and it
doesn't have to turn into some sort of jihad.

They do - and then the swim back can be a long and arduous process.
Something you don't have to deal with on FW gear.

/Andreas