>>>well OK I was lucky but if you take your time and are stingey lol
>>>10 y/o freerace, $150 Sail free here Boom secondhand $180
>>>mast secondhand $400 $800 to do warp speed in 14kn and just as it gets too much I can just dog out on wave gear.

$180 for the boom and $400 for the mast? I guess it's a carbon boom, and an RD mast.
An aluminuim S/H boom, and a STD mast would save you another $400 and you would still enjoy it the same

But...you are right. Windsurfing equipment is more resilient.

I started stingy, bought a 6 years old kite for $150...guess what, it leaks...

I guess the twin-tip kite board is more resilient than a windsurfer, but the kites certainly don't last.

Having said that. I'm not ona brink of selling my windsurfing equipment, just complementing it with a kite in order to get more time on water.

Yuppy said..
I got my first kite in 2001. It was a two string foil kite with about 36 little strings keeping its shape.

It was early technology.

it took me two sessions to hook in and maintain position. I could already wakeboard and practiced flying he kite on the beach.

On my third day out I got the string wrapped around my wrist and dragged toward a jetty. Luckily someone saved me. I sold it after that.

Tried again in 2005 with a 4 string arch kite. Ie today's technology. After re-learning to turn around and get launched high ( it doesn't feel like jumping because you don't actually jump. The kite pulls you into the air. Riding an elevator is not a jump.) I then thought what else is there to learn? so I went back to windsurfing for these reasons:

Kiting is very dangerous and too easy.

There are soooo many things to learn in windsurfing. I love a challenge and to achieve goals.

Windsurfing is more of a work out.

Topkek.
You are doing it wrong

^^ Not at all. Somebody suggested if windsurfing ends below 16kn and kiting would help, I assert no. Up to you if you think boosting in 14kn is the only parameter :)


I think you may need to try the new awesome gear and I'll let you have a red hot go for as long as you want. Trouble is its March.... wish u asked in Dec.

Mark _australia said..
^^ Not at all. Somebody suggested if windsurfing ends below 16kn and kiting would help, I assert no. Up to you if you think boosting in 14kn is the only parameter :)


I think you may need to try the new awesome gear and I'll let you have a red hot go for as long as you want. Trouble is its March.... wish u asked in Dec.

Thanks for the offer. I've still got a couple of windtechs which were the bees nees back in the day. Can't imagine how anything could be quicker but would love to try.

And yes I do like boosting. Simply doing runs up and down gets boing pretty quick, even on kites. Even when I was windsurfing, the only interesting bit, at least for me, was the jumps or the gybes at either end. Anyone can sail in a straight line. Few people can jump or gybe well.

I have been windsurfing from the age of 5 and spent 2 years more on the kitesurfing side back in 2007-2008.

The speed of progress is something that could lure anyone away from the continuous struggle of windsurfing. It is really rewarding to be able to plane upwind within 10 hours and get into jumping and doing rotations and kite-loops within a few months. However, the fast progress also ended up being what had me move back to windsurfing more. The fact that things just work with little sacrifice ended up boring me.

Now I am back to windsurfing only. The only conditions that draw me back to kitesurfing are low winds with shoulder high waves. Basically where planing with a 5.7m sail is a struggle but with a 12m kite and a wave board (strapless, with straps there is no challenge) things are possible.

Mark _australia said..

Obelix said..
Mark, what are you riding in 12-14 knts that is small enough to work in waves and can sustain your weight?
What sail size?

I don't really know what is the wind speed at Pinnaroo Point except when referring to what Seabreeze shows for Ocean Reef and god knows where the meter is.

118L and 6.2
May as well use 5.8 though for what its worth. Of course that kind of float n ride works better with beach breaks, and I am talking normal sized people wavesailing in 14-16kn not so much me lol

Windsurfer first.
Still got my wooden wish bone boom. First windsurfer distroyed by the dagger board hitting a sand bar and chopping through the dagger well wall.
Been kiting for the last 5 years. Surf in the morning, kite on the qld / nsw sea breeze commonly 12-16Knt range, which used to be just not enough for a 90Ltr wave board and a 5.8m sail (late 80's gear).
I've watched over the last few years design and development changes in sail and boards (travelled in France last year, way more windsurfers than kite boarders). Marks comments really keen to hear more on chosen quivers and wind range, I'm 75kgs. Whats the range of 5.8m wave sail now?
I'd love to have the option of both.

MrCranky said..
FWIW, I know one guy who kited for 2 years first, then switched to windsurfing because kiting was "too easy". Another guy who's been kiting for 7 years, but started windsurfing as well 2 years ago because kiting wasn't challenging enough. But I suppose most transitions are the other way around.

Harder and safer seem to be the main reasons people windsurf. Interestingly, no one has said it is more outright fun.

I am a reasonably accomplished windsurfer and kiting is easier but I choose to kite because it has a lot more "woo hoo" grinning ear-to-ear moments.....period.

I can't believe I read every post so far.

I often get asked by people who don't wind or kite surf why I don't kite surf? Next time I get asked this question I think I'm going to find out why they ask. It seems to me that they just think it's more modern (a newer sport) or that they only really see kiters, who knows.

I find myself having to explain what windsurfing even is, and perhaps justifying why I have chosen the "old school" sport out of the two. Funny though as the reason I got into windsurfing had nothing to do with new or old school neither did I even consider kite surfing. Sure I had seen people kiting and having fun, and I had not really seen to many people windsurfing prior to buying all the gear. In fact the reason I started windsurfing was that I wanted to buy a 16ft skiff and go sailing like I did as a kid with my parents but I didn't like that I would be looking for crew if I wanted to go. Being an owner of a offshore boat I know just how hard it can be "sometimes" to get (the right) crew. So I looked into windsurfing. It's been about 3 or even 4 years since I started and only sail in the summer, and not very often (in the last two) but I love the sport and haven't looked back. It's just great that I can just grab the gear on a windy day and head out for a surf, and chat to people with the same interest.

I definitely find kitesurfers don't give way and travel in whatever direction 'they' want, so I just head either up wind or down wind and get out of there way, and smile like all is good. I'd also be more than happy to strike up a conversation with a kiter back on shore just as much as I would another windsurfer. After all is just a sport that people do to get away from it all and enjoy being on the water.

Not sure I would try kite surfing at the moment though, not for the fact that it's to dangerous or boring, but for the fact that I have limited time to get to the water and when I do I've already got a bunch of windsurfing gear that needs to get some use.

I like to see that survey completed again, as there is a supposed resurgence in windsurfing. Which i tend to believe.

Freddofrog said..

MrCranky said..
FWIW, I know one guy who kited for 2 years first, then switched to windsurfing because kiting was "too easy". Another guy who's been kiting for 7 years, but started windsurfing as well 2 years ago because kiting wasn't challenging enough. But I suppose most transitions are the other way around.

Harder and safer seem to be the main reasons people windsurf. Interestingly, no one has said it is more outright fun.

Mr Cabarete did. Well, implied heavily in his para#3

after uncountable knee traumata and OPs it seems that my windsurf career is going to be shorter than I hoped. so the question: which is the more knee-friendly sport? i do kitesurfing to in lighter winds, no huge jumps just strapless forth and back. maybe waves some day.

freeskiing said..
after uncountable knee traumata and OPs it seems that my windsurf career is going to be shorter than I hoped. so the question: which is the more knee-friendly sport? i do kitesurfing to in lighter winds, no huge jumps just strapless forth and back. maybe waves some day.

Mate, my first and only attempt at kiting gave me a grade 2 tear of the knee MCL ligament. Yes it was my first attempt but after using a trainer kite for about 9 years, I was up on the board with a good grip on the windward rail within one hour.

As for windsurfing, my biggest injury has been some bruised ribs... That's just me but...

The biggest thing that I found is that with windsurfing, you can de-power the rig instantly by dumping it in the water. For kiting, that de-power movement is not instant - resulting for me, an awkward fall off the board in shallow water whilst still slightly being powered forward. This awkward fall caused my lower leg to bend about 45 degrees in the lateral direction. I guess I'm lucky it wasn't a full tear...

Good luck!