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.