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.
There’s no doubt you will need a kite, one of the key pieces of equipment for kitesurfing! Your skill in actually flying kites needs to be pretty high, so if you’ve never tried the sport before at all, either get yourself booked into a few lessons with a qualified instructor.
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.
Land based kites are usually ram air style kites, which use a parachute style construction with a meshed opening on the leading edge which lets air in. You can use a ram air kite for kitesurfing, however it’s recommended that you get hold of a LEI or Leading Edge Inflatable kite.
These kites float rather than filling with air and therefore are considerably easier to relaunch from the water. They also have improved capabilities for upwind travel due to the design of the wing.
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.
5 Line systems are known as depower systems, and use a stiff control bar, with the power lines (leading edge) affixed to the ends and the brake lines joining a pulley system (the 5th line) in the centre and then connecting directly to a harness through the middle of the control bar, usually with a built in safety release handle. The user wears the harness and can control the kite using one or both hands on the bar, and use the pulley system to trim the angle of the wing while in flight, hence altering its power.
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!
When you are searching for great information about kitesurfing equipment by someone who uses board, kite, and equipment, you will find it easy and fast! Check out Gregg Kell, a sports enthusiast that provides great kitesurfing reviews today!
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