observation 8

On Saturday the 17^th I met up with Paul Ricciardi at 1:20 P.M. Paul is a Hollywood local who heard about kite surfing five years ago on TV. However, it was not until two years ago that Paul’s friend inspired him to try kite surfing. Paul stated, “Kite surfing always looked like so much fun, I just didn’t know how to get started.” Paul’s friend Jason taught Paul how to kite surf on his own equipment. John said he learned quickly and after only a few sessions in the water he was looking into purchasing his own gear. Paul managed to get used gear online at a reasonable price through Craigslist.com. Paul still uses the same gear today, showing how durable and well built some kite surfing gear is. Paul said the hardest part about kite surfing is riding against the wind. Paul also stated how his favorite part was jumping and riding with his other friends. Paul plans to continue kite surfing recreationally into at least his 40’s, as he often sees people even older out kite surfing. I thanked Paul for coming out to meet me on this rainy day and bid him goodbye.

Observation 7

Today, I went to East Coast Kiteboarding, a local kite boarding shop in Ft. Lauderdale. I first walked around and looked at different prices of gear and equipment like kites, harnesses, bars and lines, boards, and pumps. Most of their equipment was pretty expensive, and a few of the expert kites even cost more than $2,000. I talked to the one of the shop assistants about prices on gear packages, and he said that they sell a complete best setup for $1,500. However, this price does not include the board and a few other small objects that can add up in price. East Coast Kiteboarding also gives kite surfing lessons at multiple locations throughout Southern Florida, in four different stages. Each stage teaches different techniques, for example the first stage teaches safety features and basic kite flying maneuvers. Shockingly, each stage cost $350 and with four stages this can be a very expensive way to learn to kite board. After talking to the shop assistant for 10 minutes, I took a business card and bid East Coast Kiteboarding goodbye. It seems like they provide quality lessons and gear, but only at a very high price.

Observation 6

This past Saturday, I went to Ft. Lauderdale beach at 10 AM to observe kite surfers. It was a beautiful day at 80 degrees without a cloud in the sky. When I arrived at the beach surprisingly it wasn’t filled with “spring breakers” as I had anticipated, but I figured the beach would be getting more crowded as it got later in the day. I walked South down to the less developed area where the kite surfers usually go in the water, because they have room to set up their gear and more importantly they do not have to worry about hitting anyone while in the water. There were only about five to ten people kite surfing in the water because the wind wasn’t particularly strong, and it looked as if most of them had larger kites at around 12 meters. I proceeded to sit on my towel and watch these kite surfers for 30 minutes as they continually ran back and forth along the beach. One kite surfer who seemed to be peculiarly good got up 15 feet in the air on a gust of wind while doing what looked to be a grab. I spent a few minutes continuously watching him, focusing on the techniques he used when he made his turns, and how he controlled his kite. Kite surfing still looks much easier from the shore then it actually is, as I have found out on multiple occasions. When I walked back up to the developed part of Ft. Lauderdale beach it was getting more crowded as I had predicted. From my observations that day, I noticed that when jumping it is important to make sure you aren’t close to the beach or anyone else, because while in the air you can travel a significant distance.

This past Thursday, I talked to Jody Stowe a Miami local that kite boards recreationally. We met through her daughter Patsy Stowe, who also is a student at Nova Southeastern University, after I told Patsy that I was taking kite surfing lessons. Patsy explained how her mom has been kite surfing for the past few years, so I asked to set up a meeting to talk with Jody about her experiences kite surfing. Jody is a very unique kite surfer because she is not only over 40 years of age, but she is also female in a predominately male sport. Jody has been kite boarding for the past five years, but she only goes out every other month or so. Jody knows she may not be as skilled as other riders that spend more time on the water, but she still enjoys going kite surfing occasionally. Jody said that one of her main problems while kite surfing is tracking her board down after she falls. This problem is because the Jimmy Lewis board that she uses has a sandal harness instead of a boot, meaning that your feet aren’t strapped into the board. Jody explained how she has lost her board on two different occasions and had it returned to her by fellow kite surfers. Jody was very light hearted in the interview making jokes and telling me other stories about her kite surfing adventures. I got to see all the equipment that Jody uses including her 8m Cabrina kite and harness. Talking to Jody proved to be very useful because it diversified my view of kite surfing, giving me the view of a more recreational kite surfer, in contrast to all the “diehard” kite surfers I had interviewed previously.

INTERVIEW

I interviewed Josh Noe a employee at Adventure Sports Miami whose been kite surfing for the past 9 years. Josh put extra emphasis on how kite surfing has changed his life getting him his job and most of his friends. I learned how Joshes least favorite about kite surfing was the amount of gear you need and how if you forgot little valve at the beach you couldn't do anything. I also learned that the average age of kite surfers is from 35-40 years old from a poll that he recently collected. Josh wished that there was more media portrayal of kite surfing so instead of getting just kite surfing sponsors for the event they could get sponsors like Red Bull and Gillette that would bring in a much more substantial amount of money. Josh also talked about the dangers of kite surfing and how the recent shark attack on a kite surfer in Stuart has been the only shark related fatality in kite surfing to this date.

http://www.kitesurfingnow.com/kitesurfing-safety/kitesurfing-dangers.shtml

http://kiteboardingmag.com/equipment/2009/11/02/the-gear-to-get-you-going/

This past weekend I meet up with a sponsored kite surfer to look at gear she was selling and to learn more about kite surfing. Her name was Mila and she was sponsored by Best Kite Boarding. Mila had been kite surfing for the past 10 years, which was when the sport really started to develop. Mila explained how she worked at a surf and sail shop when they were sent kite boarding equipment. The kite boarding company wanted Mila and the other workers to learn how to use the gear so they could show clients and help sell it. Since that point Mila has become an avid kite surfer. Mila appeared very physically fit and healthy. She explained to me key factors when buying used gear such as, always inspect the gear before you buy it, buy it from someone you trust, look for rips or repairs, kites and other equipment older than 2005 are worthless, and the stiffer the kite feels the less it has been used. Since Mila has been kite surfing for so long she has seen a lot of the safety features develop throughout the years. Mila seemed like she could just sit there and just talk to me all day about kite surfing, but the wind picked up and it was time to go. As Mila said “it’s like the wind runs your life you plan everything else around it.”

This past Sunday I took my second kite surfing lesson with my friend Derrick. This lesson took place in Matheson Hammock Park which is about 50 minutes away from Nova Southeastern University. Matheson is one of the best kite boarding spots because of the shallow water very far out. One of the problems for me with this spot is that I spent around two hours driving for only an hour lesson. While this only is a small inconvenience for one lesson, I can see this being a problem when I want to start taking more lessons or practicing more. We decided to take a lesson with a different instructor this time as we both would be able to save 10 dollars an hour. When we got to Matheson Hammock Park we met up with our instructor who showed us how to pump and rig the kite correctly. There are multiple struts that must be pumped up on every C-kite. These struts must be filled until they are hard enough so they don’t bend under pressure. Kite boarding has a reputation of being a very physical upper body sport, but I found it actually took more energy to pump up the kite then to actually fly it. Next we learned how to hook the bar and lines to the kite. We first had to walk along the lines with our feet in between them to make sure they weren’t tangled. We then hooked the ropes up to one of three spots on the kite with a slip knot. The string on the kite that you attach the lines to actually has multiple knots that you can tie the slip knot around, with a closer knot to the kite making more power. We tied it to the closest knot since there wasn’t much wind. I helped the instructor launch the kite by holding it for him and then we made our way out into the ocean. I first practiced flying the kite and when I felt confident I tried to get up on the board. While instructor we had last week made active interjections running up and helping us, this instructor just stood behind us and yelled things to us. This didn’t prove to help us as he had an accent so we couldn’t understand half of what he was saying. After an hour of lessons I had stood up a few times for a second or two, but Derrick and I were both frustrated with our instructor. This was discouraging because as beginners we need all the advice we can get. Now were just planning on taking kite boarding one step at a time.