Kitebaorder Mag Australia is curently working on the 10 year Aniversary issue.
One of the feature articles is titled - Milestones
We are interested in getting your ideas on what you believe have been significant milestone in our sport.
Looking foward to hearing your ideas
KBMAg
today is a milestone for me. I officially have all the gear......and no idea!
I'll try to stay out of everyone's way :-)
Being in the sport since 1999 here are my ideas
1. 2 line inflatable kites
2. 4 line kites that offer a bit of depower
3. The formation of IKO and having instructors to teach you instead of a Video
4. Safety systems that work
5. Bow kites
6. Too many smaller brands stealing ideas from bigger companies
7. C kites still being around and just getting better
8. The big 4 - Slingshot, Cabrinha, Naish and North. From the start and still going strong. 5 if you include Wipika for kicking it all off.
competitions / pro tours are always a good sign of a sport getting organised and gaining recognition
Breaking the 50 knot speed barrier was a good thing, too
Richie
Lou Wainman pushing the sport to a legit level back in 01
Kiteboarding kooks and industry giving Lou zero respect or recognition.
10 years later kite riders/ industry recognising he was the man, but still rewarding pussy strap danglers in comps and sponsoring them to ride.
Priceless.
Add - Kite Racing too
The speed & ability to point high upwind on course race specific boards is amazing
The development of surf specific kites is happening now - racing kites will be the next to come, as it will soon (like Poledancing did) become an Olympic sport. Its easy to judge - first one over the line wins .... No Politics ![]()
HANDLE PASSES
and guess wat lou was doing them in 2000
on a two line, 7m line wipika
He was the milestone as far as im concerned
Noice clip.
Just shows the best rider is better than the best gear.
Pretty stylin stuff for 2 line kites n picklefork boards.
Must have banged his head a few times though.. how else would you explain the names of his kites! ![]()
If you consider breakthroughs in equipment design to be important milestones in a sport....
Well,
Surfing's major equipment breakthrough in the modern era would have to be the thruster surfboard design of the early 80's.
The kiting equivalent of that would have to be the development of the high-depower bow-style kite.
For me one milestone is definetly Kristin Boese cuz she really helped opening the sport for girls...
that was also a step forward for you guys, not only well trained male bodies on the beach but nice girls kiting in bikinis!![]()
Cheers to you Kristin!![]()
There's only 4 key moments. The rest is just dicking around and variations on a theme.
1. 2-Line inflatables
2. 4-line inflatables
3. Twin tips
4. Bow kites
I guess you could add Cory Roessler doing the stuff on water skis but that's a bit narrow and then you would have to think about buggying and snow and all that stuff.
Miestones are only realised in hindsight. I would say, when we learnt we could ride surfboards with kites, in the surf, and make it look like surfing.
When everyone wised up and realized that riding the smallest kite you can is way more comfortable than struggling to hold on to a big pig c kite on a mutant.
seems like its already been done. but if you need some direction you could look at kiteboarding magazine May 2009
set it out as follows:
page 28: top 10 tricks of all time:
dead man
one footer
board off
kite loop
transitions
back roll
strapless wave riding
hiting kickers and sliders
handle pass
boosting big air
page 34: 10 years of hot gear:
10 kitesto remember:
wipika 5.0 classic
wipika 8.5 classic
naish ar-5
kiteski
flexifoil 4.9 blade
ozone frenzy
slingshot b2 trainer kite
north rhino with 5 line safety
cabrihna crossbow
skingshot fuel
10 revolutionary boards:
jaime pro
picklefork
jarvis
mutant
buzz board (lunch tray)sky pirate
glide
surfboard
wave board
wake
page 42. 10 years of visions: featuring a selection of arty kite surf pics
or even the editors recap on page 18: 10 years, five editors and one magazine that ties us all togehter.
seems it all been done before! hope you can find some content for your mag or at least a new spin on the same topic.