Jesse's Jump: The Real Deal

[steve]

On July 28, 2007 Cabrinha's Jesse Richman went airborn for 22 seconds...probably a new world's record for kiteboarding...a water to water jump.

check out the video at:
www.cabrinhakites.com
www.richmanbrothers.com

video should be uploading as I write this.

[windhorny]

MAN, maybe i should get a cabrhina!

[jono]

Can you post the specific URL? I downloaded the video from richmanbrothers.com, is there another location?

[steve]

you can also view at:
www.myhuck.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOwb6sDCZM4

[gideonlow]

Yesterday I was at Marina (near Monterey) and watched somebody destroy this "22 second record". His "kite" looked like a Flysurfer on short lines, and his whole setup looked like it was designed for SAFE hangtime that just goes and goes.

It struck me how graceful this person looked gliding around for 1/2 hour never more than 50 feet in the air, and how stark a contrast that was to Jesse's spinning and bobbing oddity.

Jesse's jump was indeed something very skilled, but positioning it as some kind of record is, to me, simply absurd. His gear isn't designed for this kind of thing, while other gear certainly is and for very good reasons. Do we need is folks to start injuring themselves and potentially others by encouraging the use of kiteboarding gear for this purpose (for which it just isn't designed)? Do your posts on this forum, kiteforum, ikitesurf, and who-knows-where-else really help our sport in any fundamental way, or are you trying to promote traffic to your site???

Keeping it real . . . .

Gideon

[jrg]

watched somebody destroy this "22 second record"

So paragliders are launching off the water now?

Do we need is folks to start injuring themselves and potentially others by encouraging the use of kiteboarding gear for this purpose

I suspect this jump is much safer than some of the 30' kite loops that Ruben Lenton does. Should we ban all his videos?

Congrats to Jesse who used skill and some luck to set a water to water hangtime record.

-J.R.

[gideonlow]

watched somebody destroy this "22 second record"

So paragliders are launching off the water now?

Do we need is folks to start injuring themselves and potentially others by encouraging the use of kiteboarding gear for this purpose

I suspect this jump is much safer than some of the 30' kite loops that Ruben Lenton does. Should we ban all his videos?

Congrats to Jesse who used skill and some luck to set a water to water hangtime record.

-J.R.

Paragliders aren't launching from water yet, but if people decide that they really want to beat Jesse's record, then they will be soon. That's kind of my point . . . if you want a lot of hangtime and you are eager to break Jesse's "world record" how does this play out? Do we have some kind of new kiteboarding "discipline" for "The Most Hangtime"? NO, because all you need to do (assuming the same kind of rotors/updrafts conditions) to break his "record" is to take a paraglider--or even a Flysurfer Speed 19--put it on the right line length, and you'll by cruising around in the air for A LOT more than 22 seconds.

Does anybody see my point, and where the promotion of this "record" is headed? Props to Jesse, I definitely recognize the skill and instincts that kicked-in for him that day, but this hype about a "world record" doesn't amount to squat. There will be no continuing competition of any interest to break that record because all you're really doing is transitioning to another very well established sport (I.E. paragliding).

Safety? Jesse's jump was safer (I happened to see it in-person) than a 30' mega kiteloop, but that doesn't mean encouraging others to do it so they can "set a new record" is a good idea. My personal reaction when I saw the jump was that it looked really goofy. Nice crowd pleaser, but it doesn't help to move kiteboarding competition into the mainstream. In fact, quite the opposite.

Cheers,

Gideon

[moblvet]

You've taken an extraordinary feat, and amplified an alternative beneficial esoteric theme to benefit yourself, a career even.
Thousands of us were cheering a thunderous crescendo during the 22 seconds. Most memorable quote heard, "never saw anything like it" from an experienced pro!
I sense you have to have last word, or not.
He stuck it like it was casual. Amazing art.

[Ravenquest]

No offense but your reaction to his jump is mystifying to me. No one that i know of has done anything like that before. It is a completely new idea to increase hang time by kiteboarders. It is nothing like paragliding and certainly safer than going 50feet up and doing it.

I for one hope people are encouraged by his jump and start trying to duplicate it on equipment we currently have available. Hell I'd like to learn how to do that.

People have been doing stupid shit with kites for a while from Tow-ups to jumping off mountains with them, that is stupid and dangerous. What Jesse did was just plain cool and in no way would i say encourages reckless or dangerous behavior. So what if in the pursuit of breaking his record a whole new sport is born. That is just cool.

[gideonlow]

Wow! There is some serious hostility here. Let me make my position clear:

- Love the jump, I'll be psyched to try my luck at that technique sometime for fun.

- But, hyping this as a "world record" doesn't make too much sense to me for a few reasons . . .

- Attempting to "beat" this world record ends-up in one place eventually--being able to stay up indefinitely.

- Safe conditions like there were at Crissy are rare. Not so rare are onshore updrafts in certain topologies, and the very fact that there's a hyped "world record" to beat will attract some pretty unsafe behavior at such spots.

- For every person trying to beat this record that is very skilled and focused on safety, there will be 10 that will put themselves and possibly others in harm's way.

- Did somebody write the word "ban"? That's a serious leap. I'm about the last person that would try to "ban" a video or any form of free speech. Post whatever you want, but I have just as much of a right to respond to it.

- Finally, I want kiteboarding competitions to be as serious and successful as possible over the long-run, and for me that means meaningful competitions. Will "longest hangtime" make it as a meaningful competition? Mere curiosities in sport don't have staying power.

Maybe I have it all wrong. Maybe somebody can in-fact describe what the exact rules should be to qualify for breaking the record . . . I'm all for any kind of competition that isn't based on judged scores.

Cheers,

Gideon