I've surfed , windsurfed and kited in my opinion is Robby Naish the greatest exponent of the individual wind genre sports
^^1. Laird Hamilton for me.The ultimate waterman. I remember getting my surfing mag in 2006 and seeing that barrel that changed big wave surfing forever...
Ive heard he's not bad on a pole...
Jason Polakow, Robby, Keahi, Kai, Dave Kalama, maybe Martin Vari? who knows... , how about Daniel Kereopa....!
+ a heap of new generation that are growing up right now surfing kiting and suping and or windsurfing...
Yep .hes definitely been one of the biggest innovators of both windsurfing and kiting, always remember watching him boost those huge airs on his windsurfer years ago with that trade mark pink sail.take ma hat of to him..
I don't like to draw comparisons but I would have loved to see mike waltz on a kite as a younger man the moves he developed on gear that today you couldn't give away was quite a big deal. Any how it's really about tomorrow, boards waves wind keep me young or at least young at heart
LH did one of the biggest jumps I have ever seen on a pole board years ago(maybe 20) in a Gaastra or Neil pryde (can't remember who he sailed for) on a speed board in the surf. Sure someone can find the clip. He bails but impressive none the less.
Out of all the above I only see two who have been world champ 12 - 13 times.
Robby and Kelly.
To be world champ overall Robby had to do it in waves, slalom and course racing.
NOT to take anything away from Kelly Slater's achievements but what Robby did is fkn amazing.
The best in any sports have been Robby Naish, Kelly Slater and Bjorn Dunkerbeck (in no particular order)
You can throw up names of talented people all night, but in ANY sport how many people have been overall world champ say 12 - 13 - 14 times?
NOW to have to do it in 2 or 3 disciplines within that sport also...... that really is something. Only Robby and Bjorn have doen that.
Show me a person in ANY other sport who has 13 consecutive world titles?
Laird rocks but you mob should love Robby as he and Pete practically invented kitesurfing.
I don't really agree with much of this thread. Except that Robby Naish and Jason Polakow are amazing windsurfers.
Show me people who actually rip in all these sports (kite (all styles), surf, windsurf)... I can't think of many.
Keahi rips in both waves and flat water and can surf pretty well, but he can't windsurf to the best of my knowledge... But he's about as close as I can think to a great water "all-rounder".
How about adding sports other than kiting as well??? I could probably make a vid with 10 different sports in one day, that would make me cooler than Kai Lenny right??? Where's my cash?
Robby owns a multi million dollar windsports corporation after having been a multiple windsurfing world champion. In the game since 70's
He's the man
Actually Mark... I would say Rodney Mullen is one of the most (if not the most) talented people ever (sports wise). He invented almost every modern skate trick and only once did he ever not win a competition he entered in his entire life... I would say that's talent.
Surfingboye - its hardly "crap" if it is true.
You dribble some crap.
Mr Rowdy, never heard of him. He sounds mega talented.
If that is true then we have another contender. Andagain he is not in the mainsteam sports and that adds to my point (not that surfingtrollboye will see it). IE: there are superstars in our "marginal" or non-mainstream sports that are not on telly all day every day and they are ignored. We have all heard of Robby Naish et al but nobody else has and that is a shame.
I surf, sup, kite, swim, run, ride a bike and can yodel. Plus i won a rubber plant at our local church raffle today.
Do i count?
I grew up watching Robby Naish windsurfing vids too and admire the mans skills, however he is just as human as the other super talented humans you have never heard of...and where do you account for the evolving generations...gear/technology, number of opponents,
If, as some previous points suggest,(winning 12-13 world titles etc) you are looking for someone who has dominated a sport as much or more and during the early periods of a sport before it hit its peak in popularity, then check out Heather Mckay...Squash player and Australian field hockey player...
"Heather McKay, completely dominated the sport of women's squash in the 1960s and '70s. She lost only two matches in her entire career (in 1960 and 1962), and was unbeaten in competitive squash matches from 1962 through to 1981, when she retired from active open squash.
Winning 16 consecutive British Open titles (considered to be the effective world championship of the sport at the time) between 1962 and 1977, and capturing the inaugural women's World Open title in 1979, whilst remaining undefeated during that period. Heather also proved to be a talent in other sports, including field hockey, where she was a member of the Australian Women's Hockey Team in 1967 and 1971
In racquetball, she won the American Amateur Racquetball Championship once (1979), the American Professional Racquetball Championship three times (1980-81 and 1984), and the Canadian Racquetball Championship five times (1980 and 1982-85). She was inducted into the USA Racquetball Hall of Fame in 1997
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_McKay
But then again this is all just a wank fest and will always be personal opinion, so I say admire who you will and be done with it because there is probably someone else who has a supposedly comparative yet better record in some other sport/s....
http://oracle-team-usa.americascup.com/team/management/russell-coutts
to name one guy who is still at the top of his sport 30years from winning his first world championships.
www.tomslingsby.com/www.tomslingsby.com/Results.html
has won world championships in a range of different classes and tom is only 28,
another sailer is nathan outteridge won multiple world championships in multiple classes at only 26.
joe davis won 15 strait world snooker championships.
michael Schumacher 7 world championships in F1
Phil Taylor in darts 14 world championships
Arnaud Tournant 14 world championships cycling
Giacomo Agostini 15 world championships motorcycling
Chad Hedrick 50 world championships inline speed skating
this is just a small percentage in other sports, mark you constantly dribble these bold statements with no backing simple wiki will show these results look here mate en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_championship
yes the guys mentioned are champions, and undoubtedly talented to the bone but there are these guys and girls in all sports and have been for years. to say they are 3 of the 4 most talented people on the planet is just crazy. At there chosen sports possibly and probably.
have you seen the reaction times that are shown by F1 and moto Gp riders at 300+ kph??
have you seen the precision the darts player can pick off any number on the board.
have you seen the tactics involved in a sailing world championship that has over 100 boats on coarse?
have a think and research before you make big statements.
John John Florence skate / surf. There are some Brazilians and Tahitian multi sport surf rippers. Lairds delta kiting pic in surfer mag?! in late 1990s got me thinking about kiting.
Is Robby greatest all rounder? he's up there for sure but there are for sure a new generation of multi wind sport riders taking it to the next level progression wise for sure.
AGK
I am talking overall champion, 13 years consecutively - that rules out a lot of your list.
And to be world champ you must win racing, waves and slalom (back then) - all quite different disciplines.
To be the same some of your list would have to win all the MTB races as well as road races - 13yrs in a row.
Those sports do not have the variation within them that ours do, so I still claim Robby and Bjorn to be the best or at least top 3 or 4.
I never said anyone else was crap, yes I know about motorcylce racing reaction times they are ......but it is irrelevant IMHO until we see 13yrs in a row on GP and sidecar and speedway bike for example.
Yep
Robby Naish and Flash Austin are two reasons that I started to look into kitesurfing. Its debatable if thats a good thing
but guys like Robby are inspirations for sure.