Jesse's Jump: The Real Deal

[gideonlow]

Steve has a great point. Apples to Apples bro. Keep them oranges off the table. Let's not get off the subject, we are talking kiteboarding here. I am almost certain they have hang gliding forums out there is cyber space.

And until you can get 22+ seconds of hang time, any thing you say has the taste and sound of sour grapes. Until then, enjoy yourself.

Apologies to you Steve for making the improper leap from "hyping" to "personal gain". You're right on that one. Despite the rest of the vitriol thrown in my direction, through, I otherwise have a valid opinion and everyone of course has a right to disagree. The language and attitude displayed in responses to my opinion say more about the posters than they do about me. I sense some kind of orthodoxy and group-think about this whole thing, and I've never been one to back-down just because my opinion is unpopular.

The very fact that somebody was doing a tow-up from a jetski is (though not directly related) the reason I'm so concerned about safety. Somebody posted/hyped this practice with a video, many many folks discussed it and agreed that it is an extremely dangerous practice (just ask Neil Hutchinson), and now people show up trying it in our back yard.

Of course gliding is a completely different sport . . . That's exactly my point. The 22 second jump starts to blur the distinction, and if folks really concentrate on longer and longer hang times, then eventually the distinction will get very blurry. Don't be surprised if somebody next year shows up with a FS Speed or modified paraglider with the sole purpose of setting a new world record. What do the organizers do then after the new record is 120 seconds? Where exactly do you draw the line? Eventually the "record" becomes meaningless exactly because you can't draw the distinction anymore. To be honest, it kind of bums me out, because it would be awesome to have a "longest hangtime" record to pursue that doesn't end up in this conundrum.

I have one idea for a rule that could keep such a competition more viable in the long-term: once you have reached the peak of your jump, you can't cause yourself to lift back up again (I.E. the jump goes up, then down, and that's it). Now I'm going to duck before I take another direct hit of nasty invective :-)

Cheers,

Gideon

[davewsail]

Man, people get so zealous about this stuff. Props to Jesse for getting a record but I personally don't think it will become a huge deal or safety issue in the future. Once the record has been broken a few times and it's up to 30 seconds or so, will people care who gets 31? Jesse caught everyone's attention because he did something not seen before. Personally I'll find it boring to see people tack on a few seconds to a stunt like that. I don't think it will have the same effect in the future. Someone else will do something completely different and capture everyone's attention on some new cool trick. Just my 2 cents.

[sailor]

I think even three seconds of hang time is amazing. That's probaly because I'm a noob.

[steve]

sailor:
But that's the cool thing about kiteboarding...your 3 secs of hangtime gets you excited, another rider may be getting 7sec and they're excited and so one...everyone is motivated and having fun regardless where they are in experience
steve

[friggin old guy]

Yeah, the reason I went from windsurfing to kiting is because I like to jump.....and compared to windsurfing, every jump I do kiting is CRAZY in comparison. Nice soft landings too (except for the unscheduled loops). Much better on the knees and broken ankle.......

Gideon, I see your point but I don't think you should worry too much about it. People are always going to do stupid stuff regardless of whether there's a record out there to break. Natural selection will sort out people that take it too far. If they don't get the hangtime record, they might win the Darwin award.......

This sport is sort of where windsurfing was in the late 80's......design innovation is going to be really interesting in the next few years so who the hell knows what we're going to be riding.....but probably something that is safer and has a higher fun factor anyway.

WOOT!