Cross Training: Cables

[bobbyboom]

There's a great article in the new "The Kiteboarder" magazine (Sept/Oct) about cross training at cable parks. Do we have any cable parks in or near the Bay Area? If not does anyone know where the nearest one is? I see in the article they are covering "ski rixen in Florida." this would rock if we had one in the area!!! I know that Marine World used to have one of these in Vallejo, but I'm not sure if it was ever open to the public?

-Bobby

[K. Cliff]

What is a cable park?

[jjm]

http://www.skirixenusa.com/

I think there are only a few in the states, Florida and Texas.

[Greg]

putting one in at the old carrior basin would be awesome :supz: , building a nerf reef of alameda in place of the rock garden we now have would be cool too, especially if it got all filled in with sand front and deep off the back...
cross training, oh-YA,
L.M.G. :rolleyes:

[windhorny]

I was actually thinking of a way to shoot beginners out into the bay and get them off the launch pad asap. I came up with the idea of putting a similar system to a bunny slope cable ride mechanism with one end the beach and the other wrapping around the far buoy. And if you wanted to go crazy in the light wind days you could speed the thing up and get a carousel of wakeboarders going for a little coaster ride. So lets say it was 1000' of cable, one strong as hell stainless pulley, and one torquey fast engine on the other end. Voila. Back up the buick to tension the cable system and hit start.

[zgur]

Just wondering if cheap kiters, yes - most kiters are very FRUGAL - would pay to use a cablel park.

Would you:
1. Pay the price of $40/day access?
2. Purchase a season pass for $600?

I, being a "get better at stuff" person, would be more then happy to fork over $600 for an annual access to an epic training ground.

Just wondering about the rest of my frugal friends.....

[bobbyboom]

I'm with you Z. I would pay the money for sure. On days where there is no wind you could go over to a cable park and ride. That would be huge.

I agree that the price is kinda steep, but knowing what it costs to get into the sport I think a year pass for $600 is pretty sweet. 365ish ridable days? Huge selling point. Nothing replaces the feeling of being on the water with a kite, FOR SURE. But knowing that I had a back up plan would be better than sitting at a spot waiting for the wind to pick up for hours on end. ;)

It might be worth talking to the guys who run the park to see if they are interested in doing something in CA? and to see how profitable they are in Florida? Now I'm curious.

-Bobby

[al-kite-a]

I would go ride a cable park before you put down the $600. If you are in siders you will like it if not I would bet you would be happier putting that $600 into something else.

[Bulldog]

Z, I gotta call you on using the term "frugal" when talking about people who are willing to spend several thousand bucks a year on new gear. :?

I love the kiters who won't pay $80 for Ikite. Is that what you mean by "frugal", cuz I think there's another more common term for it.

$40 is half what it costs to ski for a day and thousands of people do that.

[Bulldog]

There's something similar to this on the boardwalk in San Diego called Waverider. It's an artificial standing wave machine. It's usually packed even on days when the surf is going off; during the off season surfers ride it every day to try new moves and stay in shape. I don't remember how much it costs, but my brother gets a subscription every year.

Surfers are way cheaper than kiters.