Teenage Kiteboarders? Where are they?

[buckidge]

are we the rollerbladers of water sports? ... we might be the rollerbladers of water sports...

God I hope not. I don't think so though as fanny packs are darn near essential for rollerbladers and we rarely see kiters out with fanny packs.

[kitenaked]

My boy Nic will be 14 in August, but still worry about him on the water as shit does happen. In my opinion kids and teenagers dont have critical problem solving skills which is a big part of kiting.

He has taken lessons a few years and finally this year, we can do downwinders together without help from me. He kited Maui a few weeks ago without any issues. Was nervous, but i feel that is good.

Unless you grow up on the water or live in Maui or someplace windy, it is harder to be that advanced early teen rider. Yes, there are exceptions.....

There is a handful of young riders that are just turning teenage or mid teens up in the delta...

[mikelu]

Mentally Criss and I are teenagers

[kitenaked]

Mentally Criss and I are teenagers

Just trying to set good examples for our kids!

Enjoy life!

[JRaut]

God I hope not. I don't think so though as fanny packs are darn near essential for rollerbladers and we rarely see kiters out with fanny packs.

I sometimes sport a waterproof (fluorescent yellow) fanny pack when I kite to carry a radio, phone, power bar, ... Maybe I'll stash a flask in there one day; that might up the cool factor.

J

[behindThePeak]

You had me convinced for a moment there Phil, but then buckidge brought up the fanny pack and i started thinking about my harness. now i'm not too sure.

@NCKite, haha agreed: if the analogy held the windsurfers would be the OG guys on rolerskates in short shorts and headbands.

[NCKite_Ryder]

Im not sure what the big deal is with Fanny Packs? Not so bad imo

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[marinkiter]

Cant speak for lower launch where the experts are - Because I kite at the third upper launch as well.

well. perhaps you should come and throw down with us. I like to kite around people who are pushing it. it inspires me. hopefully I can inspire people too. I don't kite at the upper launch cause nobody does anything up there.


as for the talent pool around here vs. elsewhere? I dunno, i've travelled a lot for kiteboarding and I think our ratio of expert vs. intermediate vs. beginner is pretty normal. Even in the lagoons in brazil, there might be 3 guys doing handlepasses but there's still like 100 other people mowing the lawn.

i think you'll find that in the popular kite spots around the globe, yes, you get some young rippers, but you also get tons of intermediate riders, so the ratio isn't any different.

the reality is, it takes a ton of practice to become an advanced kiteboarder, and most people would rather cruise around than spend an entire season crashing.

Speaking for myself, I picked up kiting at age 42. I've been crushing my body for years playing sports, wakeboarding, motocross, and just generally being a hammerhead. My back is shredded from al the wakeboard landings, and my knees are starting to do less than they used to. I don't see myself doing a lot of wakestyle stuff with hard landings - I want to make the next 10-20 years last as long as possible. Cruising and jumping and reasonably sized waveriding is about as far as I feel I should go. Ah but if I had started at 25 or even 30...but of course then I wouldn't have had the time or the money to do it I don't think.

As far as kiting being dweeby...a wind powered wakeboard that you can jump 20 feet or more on...that's dweeby? Not as cool as an Iphone app I know but still.. ](*,) :::)

[sloughslut]

Roller bladers of the ocean. That girl looks pregnant

[adamrod]

Cruising and jumping and reasonably sized waveriding is about as far as I feel I should go.

I feel like the whole strapless freestyle movement is something to aspire to as well. technically very difficult, but relatively low impact. I would never accuse someone who does a strapless front roll of "mowing the lawn"..