Kitesurfing Equipment, The Basic List Of Kit To Start Riding
August 11th, 2010 by Gregg Kell, under Travel and Leisure. No Comments
One of the recent extreme sports to burst onto the scene and achieve a rapidly growing community is Kitesurfing. It offers that alluring mixture of hard exercise, capturing the power of one of natures elements, and being at the seaside! We take a look at the kitesurfing equipment list to get you out into the wind and waves.
Safety should be your number one priority. The sea can be a dangerous environment, aside from the drowning risk, there is the risk of injury such as broken bones and concussion due to the surface of the water feeling extremely hard in the event of a fall from height. The wind and waves themselves are never 100% predictable either, so definitely consider personal protective equipment, especially a helmet or padded protector.
Right, on to the kite. You’ll need to be proficient in flying skills, so if you have never flown large power kites or traction kites before on land consider working up slowly to kiteboarding to make sure you can handle the power, and importantly, handle the prevailing weather conditions.
If you’re not accomplished, consider having lessons or a fast track course in the skills involved. This will quickly get you comfortable with the basics and keep you in as safe an environment as possible until you’re happy to get out on your own.
There are big differences too between kites designed for use on land and kites designed for use on the water. For starters, land power kites (traction kites) tend to be a ram air design, filling with air like a parachute when in the wind power window.
For this reason, Leading Edge Inflatable (or LEI) kites were born, these guys float on the surface and are much easier to get back up into the air if you do drop them down. Not only that, but the wing profile allows easier upwind surfing too.
Power kites for the land are normally a four line design with brake lines fixed to the trailing edge and power lines attached at the front, then connected to banana shaped handles that allow the kite to collapse and ‘brake’ when the handles are adjusted to tighten the rearward lines. Inflatable edge wings are best used with a depower system using five lines which allow mid air power adjustment.
Depowerable kites connect the power lines to either end of a rigid control bar, and then join the brake lines in the centre via an adjustable system that goes through the centre of the bar and connects directly to a harness that the flyer wears. This allows the user to quickly adjust the angle of the wing to add or decrease power. The harness connections usually have a quick release safety pull too in case of emergencies.
Naturally you’ll need a board of some kind as well to kitesurf. There are a couple of basic styles, all with lots of variation in shape and style from manufacturer to manufacturer. One basic style is a single direction board, similar to a windsurfing board; the other style is more like a wakeboard and is known as a twin tip. This is the more prevalent type of board on the waves currently. Whatever kitesurfing equipment you choose, get out there and enjoy it!
If you are looking for great details and information about kitesurfing equipment by a guy who uses board, kite, and equipment, you will find it easy and fast! Check out Gregg Kell, a sports enthusiast that offers great kitesurfing reviews today!
