Gobsmacked to see that the Olympic RS-X gold medalist has swapped his kit so quickly!



Apparently Dorian's first kiteboarding event:
http://www.sailing.org/news/32656.php

Check out the video here featuring an interview with Dorian:
www.seabreeze.com.au/News/Kitesurfing/World-Kiteboard-Racing-Championships-show-whats-to-come_6484321.aspx

Gotta admit that kiteboard course racing appears to be very spectacular (on the vid), though wondering what gear Dorian will be on if windsurfing happens to get voted back into the 2016 games considering the much talked about Olympic windsurfing vs kiteboarding voting fiasco!

Brett Morris said...
He really didn't have a choice.
He is a professional athlete and thanks to Yachting Australia driving the dumping of windsurfing from the Olympic's, he no longer has a job.

Not knocking his decision, certainly an amazing athlete who needs to put his talents to use anyway he can, but it wasn't only Yachting Australia driving the vote was it?

GazMan said...
Gotta admit that kiteboard course racing appears to be very spectacular (on the vid)

I assume you are being sarcastic? This is about as exciting as watching question time on the ABC.

BenKirk said...
I see Izzy Hamilton entered. She was a real up an coming UK RS:ONE sailor.

34 female competitors - a lot more than last year.

I think she started kitesurfing in June - along with Tom Squires, who finished 43rd out of 150+ men.

Izzy finished 11th, so only just missing out on the Medal Race.

It does show that RSX windsurfers can progress very quickly but it will depend on how much kiting talent they have when they start to get to the very top.

GazMan said...

Brett Morris said...
He really didn't have a choice.
He is a professional athlete and thanks to Yachting Australia driving the dumping of windsurfing from the Olympic's, he no longer has a job.

Not knocking his decision, certainly an amazing athlete who needs to put his talents to use anyway he can, but it wasn't only Yachting Australia driving the vote was it?

It was for Australia !!

i reckon kite course racing has a lot of potential to be amazing - the biggest challenge would have to be light wind - what are the minimum consistent winds required for kite racing?

I can totally understand why a sharp trained sailor would side step on formats- why waste all that learned tactical excellence?

And what will be the ideal body type - rsx had s definite window / body size that you had to be - i wonder if the kiting dynamic will yield the same - or be more rangey.

So much easier for the guys to travel around with the gear

And with good camera coverage - such as a live go pro feed from each kite as well as a helicopter - and great commentary- it would be spectacular. The olympics sailing coverage was spectacular this year.



I know Formula gear if left to go to 75 cm fins and 12m sails could be consistently on the plane in 6 knots. But boy boy the gear sure is heavy and unpleasant (to me ) to sail. Whereas from what i know of kites 8 knots and a big kite and big race board are a lot more dynamic / manoeuvrable

Of course RSX or long boards could be sailed in 0- 1 knot (i often used to race in these conditions) - but that makes for some pretty boring racing for the spectators

All the Olympians are switching to kites ... my whole FB feed is dedicated to it. Even the Gold Medalist from Spain ...

So far, the windsurfers are pretty behind. From what I could find out, Dorian has killer angle but he was really slow in the tacks/gybes as he'd only been on a kite a couple of weeks.

Enter 3 years of an intense Olympic training program with the highest tier of funding behind it and I think we might even see the EXACT SAME sailors who were on the podium for RS:X on the podium for Kites in 2016.

So what did we achieve here? ha.

The YA decided that they were too far behind to win a medal in windsurfing, even though they opted not to send a represent to the Olympic's (FYI, Australia had qualified)...
The thought process was that it would be better to level the playing field with a new discipline and start again. Hence Australia lobbied to change to Kites and voted to dump windsurfing.

I'm sure the YA have a different story, but we will never know since they have gone into hiding....

For the record, I don't have an issue Kites being in the Olympics, in fact I'm actually Pro...I have an issue with windsurfing being pitted against Kites and being dumped in extremely dubious circumstances. Hence the pending court cases...

GazMan said...

Gobsmacked to see that the Olympic RS-X gold medalist has swapped his kit so quickly!



Apparently Dorian's first kiteboarding event:
http://www.sailing.org/news/32656.php

Check out the video here featuring an interview with Dorian:
www.seabreeze.com.au/News/Kitesurfing/World-Kiteboard-Racing-Championships-show-whats-to-come_6484321.aspx

Gotta admit that kiteboard course racing appears to be very spectacular (on the vid), though wondering what gear Dorian will be on if windsurfing happens to get voted back into the 2016 games considering the much talked about Olympic windsurfing vs kiteboarding voting fiasco!

Why are they riding SUP's

^ There are some people on some bay that complain about the other sailors being too light and having an unfair advantage. cough cough.

GazMan said...

stehsegler said...

GazMan said...
Gotta admit that kiteboard course racing appears to be very spectacular (on the vid)

I assume you are being sarcastic? This is about as exciting as watching question time on the ABC.

No, definitely not sarcastic, I'm entitled to my honest opinion just as you or anyone else on these forums is.

FYI stehsegler, 'spectacular' and 'exciting' have different meanings, suggest you pick up a dictionary and do some research!

I watched it and I can see they all have big spectacles on. Spectacular.

Then I watched Polakow hit some lips at Jaws. Testicular!

Kiting should prolong the competitive life of the athletes as you remain hooked in. You dont pump with a kite.
Alex Aguera came 20th
Ken Winner came 30th
old time windsurfers will know these legends. Good result for these two guys.
Mike Gebhart not so good

Dorian is super athletic and his fitness pumping skills wont be so important but he is the complete sailor so I will not be surprised if he wins the kite worlds.