Racing Windsurfers

pkh · Since 27 Feb 2005 6548 Posts Couve / Hood Site Lackey

Had a fun time "racing" windsurfers as we passed through the Hatchery on our downwinder today. I doubt any of them knew I was racing them, but I am sure seeing a kiter just downwind keeping their pace didn't slow them down any.

Pretty fun to do... and its a lot safer racing windsurfers than other kiters (with kiters you always risk the upwind guy losing their edge and plowing into you.)

Some of them weren't any kind of match, but a few were super fast. I'd imagine in that kind of chop an expert windsurfer could smoke a kiter unless the kiter had some kind of speed board setup...

bamboo · Since 24 Jun 2005 165 Posts da 'chung; taiwan Stoked

agree...it's always fun showing them how much more interesting this sport is than theirs. racing them at mach speeds to a massive boost to a toe side jibe with huge spray to...to...to.

how could one not want to drop that pole and pick up a kite. cease to amaze me, but then again i never wind surfed.

boardrider · Since 05 Apr 2006 1034 Posts Ventura, CA XTreme Poster

Yeah, and if your losing - you can just huck a big air to make yourself feel better Very Happy

Mocean · Since 21 Sep 2005 343 Posts Newport Obsessed

I was racing a friend of mine who was windsurfing, and one tactic I used was to pass him on his upwind side, then set my kite real low so the lines were blocking his path, and even if he tried to accelerate away, he couldn't....You wouldn't want to do this with someone you didn't know, but it was pretty fun. We had a good laugh over it afterwards.

bambam · Since 15 Mar 2005 760 Posts Hood River Photographer

Just got back from the Hatchery this morning from my third "Dawn Patrol" in a row on the pole gear... It was fun to go back to the old sport that first drew me to Hood River over fifteen years ago, but something was missing. Maybe it was not having the old crew around, the huge crowds, but whatever it was I was looking forward to getting back on the strings.

In the parking lot I did run into one of my good friends who now also kites. We exchanged knowing looks and commented onto each other how good it was it have evolved. Yesterday we "evolved" to the Not So Secret Spot and had an amazing day string boarding..

Bam

blowhard · Since 26 Dec 2005 2025 Posts Windward

They are like cockroaches fast and smart,we watch them all the time as they are just out of reach,, Downwind where they belong

Kodiak · Since 01 Aug 2005 1114 Posts Slidey

Hey Bambam, I saw you were in the latest windsurfing magazine. Still passing over to the darkside on ocasion by the sound of it Very Happy

adrianczm · Since 06 Mar 2006 89 Posts Cozumel, Mexico

I tried also racing some windsurfers but no way I could beat them.

Hey Phil, Tom, Nicole, Jody, if you read this:

I made it to playa del carmen and back on my kite. 6-6-06 just that I did not want to make a big deal out of it. I had some issues on a mexican board with a local guy that did not like me doing it. Too bad But I made it!!!

Adrian

Rollo Tomasi · Since 17 Mar 2005 983 Posts Attractive

That is great Adrian. We were just talking about you last night at Phil's place. So give us more details. How was the swell? Did you run into weird conditions in between? How long did it take? What size kite?

pkh · Since 27 Feb 2005 6548 Posts Couve / Hood Site Lackey

Mike Hawk · Wed Jul 05, 06 8:51 am **why race**

OK...so...sports like water skiing and windsurfing are like wake boarding and kiting EXCEPT that there is little opprutunity for style and so speed is the only thing that makes it interesting. Kiting and Wakeboarding and most all board sports it is about STYLE, ie Dog town and Z boys...you have to be able to show off your newest move!!!

Hein · Since 08 Mar 2005 1313 Posts Possessed

gabe · Since 16 May 2005 475 Posts Obsessed

Maybe, but kiting reminds me of snowboarding where there is something of a freestyle camp and a big mountain freeride camp. Both are cool and worthy of respect. I prefer to do the latter, but love to watch the freestyle stuff—it’s also a lot easier to find it to watch. I think the equivalent of steep powder riding in kiting is wave riding. Lots of the commercial attention goes on the freestyle part of both sports, and thus, that’s what people who dream of sponsorship care about. But that isn’t necessarily what’s most fun for everyone to participate in.

I do notice though that most pro snowboarders, once they have made it, and have the ability to do what they want—choose steep powder riding, not tricks in the park. It seems that a lot of the famous pro kiters go and freeride in waves when they have their choice. I don’t think this is just because their bodies are broken Wink

Notice also that freestyle (both in snow and water) is easily accessible to most people whereas the big terrain part of the respective sports is pretty hard to find, and not a good thing to build a mainstream sport on. Anyways, I don’t think everything cool about the sports involves a “trick.”

gabe · Since 16 May 2005 475 Posts Obsessed

Hein,

http://www.kitefilm.com/video/shinnskim.wmv

I am certainly no strapless jumping expert, and just beginning to work on it. I can really only do it with the right kind of chop or steep swell. This video of Mark Shinn is awesome, and I think what you are looking for—just using flat water. At first I thought he was doing some mysterious ollie thing, but an ollie is really something you do with the board flat. I think he is actually loading the edge like wakestyle for the pop, and then doing an ollie just to keep the board on the feet. I have experimented with board flat and kind of bouncing hard on the tail—this gets about a 1 ft pop on a skim, but I don’t think it’s the right approach to go much bigger.

The easiest really is to use a nice piece of well formed chop/swell as a ramp. This happens naturally unless you try to avoid it. It’s really not hard to get the air on skim and surfboards in the right conditions, it’s more about landing it softly. I think you want to use it as a ramp, but also load against it a bit for pop—this puts you more in control of the board. The surfchip works well for this. For some reason the small chop/swell on the OR side of hatchery is perfect for this. It’s glassy in the middle, with little peaks in between—almost like non-breaking wavelets. Going right, the angle is perfect. This makes it quite easy. I also sheet in when popping off which makes it easier—good to be powered. Cant do that on pulley bar I guess. You will probably do it unhooked. I did it on some steep ~3ft swells in the middle of the channel and was able to get about chest high for the 2-3 very best ones. But I have also tried it in crappy confused chop (stevenson) and didn’t find many good clean ramps like that and it didn’t work nearly as well. I dive the kite at the end to stay on the board and ride off.

Let me know if you make any progress on this and have tips. I basically do this to entertain myself when working upwind for more swells. Even on a couple ft jump it feels pretty cool, kind of like floating off a breaking crest of a wave strapless. It would be awesome to do a small kite loop in the middle of a jump. Don’t how feasible it is. The pro skimmers grab the board for those, but it would be cool to keep it on the feet.

stagpoint · Since 15 Jun 2006 3 Posts OR Kook

Just for kicks, try racing a windsurfer from the sand bar to the Hatchery, then you find out who'z paying attention. Wink

I'd do it if its a round trip race. Very Happy

mikes · Since 13 Mar 2005 90 Posts B'Ham

pkh · Since 27 Feb 2005 6548 Posts Couve / Hood Site Lackey

Speaking of difficulty and inspring, the Shinn video is the shit! He makes it look so smooth and easy...