Kite now: The fast-growing sport of kiteboarding is taking o

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Kite now: The fast-growing sport of kiteboarding is taking o

Post by jstjohn3 » Fri Jul 07, 2006 9:52 pm

Posted on Fri, Jul. 07, 2006

Kite now: The fast-growing sport of kiteboarding is taking off in South Florida
By BRETT O'BOURKE
bobourke@MiamiHerald.com


It's a blazingly bright Wednesday afternoon. As I step from the soft sand beach of Key Biscayne's Crandon Park into Biscayne Bay, it occurs to me that I am in seriously hot water. Not because I am kicking around on the beach on a work day (not only does my boss know where I am -- it was her idea), but because I'm in actual hot water.

The sun has heated the shallow water to bath-like temps, but it's crystal clear and cools as I make my way out to the sand bar. I feel a slight pang of sympathy for all the downtown desk jockeys as I gaze across the bay at the high-rise office buildings.

''This is a pretty good place to work,'' says Christophe Ribot, owner of Miami Kiteboarding, as he wades out with me.

Ribot is a former pro rugby player (in France), former wind surfing and sailing instructor (in the Caribbean) and current Hobie Cat rental operator and kiteboard instructor (in Key Biscayne). And, of course, he is absolutely right.

''If we had consistent 20-25 knot winds, Miami would be the Mecca of kitesurfing,'' he says.

We don't have consistent winds, so Cabarete, Dominican Republic (where the 2006 Kiteboarding World Cup was held) holds that title. What we do have is decent wind and, especially around Key Biscayne, miles of shallow water, waist-deep sandbars that Ribot -- who got into the sport about six years ago after a friend brought equipment from France -- says enable a ``much faster learning curve.''

And that's exactly what I'm hoping for.

I've been watching kiteboarders over the past year or two, surfing across the offshore shallows of the Key, using wind and kite to launch themselves 20 feet in the air, twisting body and board, then landing and charging again across the water for more.

''Kiteboarding is all about freedom,'' says Ribot. ``It's an extreme mix of skimming on the water and flying -- challenging gravity -- when you pull on the kite.''

Ribot says you need at least 10 knots of wind to learn; 12-15 is ideal. He says his school stops teaching at 25 knots; experts can go out in up to 40 knots of wind, ''but that's the extreme,'' he says.

While gear is getting more specialized as the sport evolves, the typical setup looks like this: a control bar, connected to a 10-16 foot kite by four 100-foot lines, is attached to the rider by waist, chest or seat harness. The rider positions the kite into the wind, creating ''traction'' or drag.

The rider's feet are attached to what resembles a wakeboard (typically made from wood or foam). When the kite catches wind, it is ''powered'' and pulls the rider forward, or downwind. With practice, riders learn to tack side to side to return upwind and to use the kite to launch themselves into the air.

Ribot says it's even more fun than it looks (as well as difficult and dangerous).

As a typical, frustrated South Florida surfer who waits for the oh-so-occasional ridable (and overcrowded) storm-generated wind chop, the idea that there may be a better way to spend my time on the water has occurred to me on more than one occasion.

Apparently, I'm not alone. Ribot -- who says kiteboard instruction and gear rentals now make up nearly 50 percent of his business -- has seen the sport grow rapidly over the past few years, estimating there are as many as a thousand kiteboarders in Miami.

''The sport in Miami is growing 100 percent per year,'' he says. ``When we started there were 10 of us. Now on a windy day there can be as many as 500 people out.''

***

Civilizations have been trying to harness the power of the wind for centuries. For our purposes, however, we jump all the way to 1985 when accomplished watermen Bruno and Dominique Legaignoux filed a patent for an inflatable gore-shaped kite.

The genius of the inflatable kite -- rather than the rigid-frame foil kites that, with water skis, were being experimented with to move across the water -- is that the kite not only floats when it hits water, but it's also relaunchable. This made things way more fun, seeing as you could stop and go as you pleased.

It took the brothers nearly 10 years before they got the funding and market interest to get a kiteboard company up and running. Now, there are myriad kiteboard companies, experimenting with designs, pushing the possibilities of the sport.

''At the begining, there was no way to depower the kite. If you fell -- it dragged you,'' says Ribot. ``But manufactures have created quick releases and devices, similar to the flap on a airplane wing, to control or kill the power. A kite from 2003 is not even sellable on the market as safety and ease-of-use have increased. Kiteboarding is growing like sailboarding was 10 or 15 years ago and it's all being driven by the technology.''

***

Standing out on the sandbar, the wind is blowing at about 10 knots, the sun is high overhead.

''Practicing board skills doesn't happen till lesson two or three, depending on your ability,'' says Ribot.

The kite floats flat on the water. I give a hard tug to one side of the control bar, which lifts the edge of the kite, filling it with air. I have to brace myself as it pulls hard on my harness until I get it straight overhead in what Ribot calls the neutral position.

A slight pull on the left side of the control bar and the kite dives left, a slight pull to the right and it dives right. The wind is blowing side-shore, so each time I send the kite left or right it powers and pulls me 5-8 feet forward. I practice body dragging, moving the kite side to side in an effort to maintain consistent forward motion.

Ribot, one the few instructors in the Southeast certified by the sport's two major organizations, IKO and PASA, says I've done pretty well and could probably get up on a board in my next lesson.

***

If it weren't for the fact that the price tag for kite, harness and board usually starts just under $2,000, I would run out and buy a rig. Though it's probably for the best. As I have found with other sports (rock climbing, for example), I am just enough of a natural athlete to be dangerous, picking up the physical aspects rather quickly, but lacking the brains to slow down and assess all the risks.

Those 100-foot lines that are connected to the kite can become like razor wire if the kite dives fast enough. And kites powered by offshore winds can take you awfully far from land pretty quick -- without proper piloting skills, you may not be able to get back.

''In the beginning, shops were selling equipment to people with no clue and they hurt themselves ... this is not a beach sport,'' says Ribot, citing the potential dangers of a kite coming down on a beachgoer. ``It's a water sport -- away from shore.''

Miguel Clavero, owner of Big Kite Miami, a kiteboarding school in Matheson Hammock Park says safety is the No. 1 issue in the sport in Miami.

''It's so critical that people get the proper instruction,'' says Clavero. ``Eighty percent of accidents happen on the beach because people either don't know how to rig the kite properly or lose control.''

Crandon Park has instituted regulations for kiteboarders and Ribot and Clavero both stress that safe use by participants is the only way to ensure access to beach launch spots.

Kiteboarding is not the kind of sport one just picks up, at least not very easily. Good instruction quickens the learning process and keeps you safe -- but it doesn't come cheap.

The introductory three-hour course with Miami Kiteboarding costs $250. Big Kite's two-hour intro class costs $155. Gear is included with both.

Many riders launch off Miami's beaches (though the practice is prohibited) before or after lifeguards go on duty. Boat owners can simply drive out to one of the many area sandbars and practice there.

***

Just about the time I begin to think I am getting seriously hooked, our lesson ends (somewhere, my wife, the family banker, breathes a sigh of relief). Ribot grabs his board so we can get some photos of someone actually riding.

We decided he'll do three passes. The wind isn't really strong enough for him to come back upwind, so he rides in to the beach and runs back downwind about 300 yards to make another pass.

On the third run, he and the photographer have finally worked out the distance in order to get close shots. Here comes Ribot, blazing across the water, digging in with the edge of his board. He pops the control bar and the kite jettisons him 10 feet into the air. He spins, grabing the board and extending his body out like a skateboarder launched from a ramp, lands and then blazes across the water for more.

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