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.