Forum for kitesurfers
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pj sofine
- Very Frequent Poster
- Posts: 1022
- Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2011 2:21 am
- Kiting since: 2001
- Style: silly
- Gear: naish pivots 9,11, rpm 7,8,10,12 cf raptor ltd 136,140
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Postby pj sofine » Sun Jan 21, 2018 3:12 pm
I've had to self launch more,used to have 10 -15 kiters on a nice day.Now maybe 4-5.Ok with me.
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Sun
- Very Frequent Poster
- Posts: 543
- Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:03 am
- Local Beach: Tybee Island
- Favorite Beaches: Cape Town, Cumbuco
- Gear: 12m, 10m, 8m Dice SLS
6m Dice (2017)
Reedin Dreamstick X
Reedin Kev Pro 136 board w/ North Straps
Nobile XTR LW board
12m Hyperlink for LW
Mystic MajesticX Hardshell
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Postby Sun » Sun Jan 21, 2018 4:25 pm
Maybe golfing was a bad example, but it does go against my anecdotal observations. Seems liked every new housing development has a golf course.
In any case, some other results I found interesting:
Other things roughly in decline:
Hacking, Dating, Racing, Cycling, Fishing, Hunting, Gambling, Knitting, Gardening, Messaging, Searching, Flirting, Fighting, Sharing, Skiing
Things Not Declining:
Loving, Helping, Shopping, Painting, Robbing, Hiking, Running, Cheating
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Kykeon
- Medium Poster
- Posts: 141
- Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 4:25 pm
- Style: Freeride
- Gear: .
- Brand Affiliation: $iemens
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Postby Kykeon » Sun Jan 21, 2018 4:28 pm
I see internet declining against kiteboarding!!!
People get away from their computers and fill our beaches!!!
https://trends.google.com/trends/explor ... g,internet
Do you get it now that this is a misinterpretation of the google trends?
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juandesooka
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- Posts: 1193
- Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:05 pm
- Kiting since: 2011
- Local Beach: Sooke, BC, Canada
- Style: Canada's Kai Lenny (in my mind)
- Gear: Ocean Rodeo wings&kites / GoFoil
- Brand Affiliation: Open to offers
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Postby juandesooka » Mon Jan 22, 2018 5:36 am
Has kiting jumped the shark?
My observations from recent trip to Maui:
-- average age seems to have increased, seems mostly middle aged plus
-- very few young rippers blasting big airs and doing tricks; mostly foil and surfboard cruisers, even on big wind days
-- friend who runs a kite school there says it has been dead this year, less newbies in general
-- Naish store closed down
-- beach vibe felt less friendly, stand-offish; most people self launch and land, people seemed less eager to lend a hand [felt more like surfing vibe]
General observations:
-- Pro kite circuit seems to have faded into obscurity, few recognizable personalities, average kiter hard pressed to name more than 1-2 people involved
-- Less and less actual little innovation in gear; now all focused on refinement
-- So many kiters moving to foiling ... is foil that fun or just bored of same old? (and yes, I foil more than anything else these days, LOL)
-- The popular videos increasingly are either freak shows (jump off a building, tow ups, Fonzi jumping the shark) or best-of compilations.
-- The magazines are super repetitive, barely warrant a flip through now, much less a good read. 75% ads posing as articles.
-- This forum and others seem less active, less humour
It may be this is just my experience and perception ... 5-6 years in, at the end of the kite honeymoon period, getting jaded. However it seems to be going around. There's a few newbies starting around here, but doesn't seem like the big surge of when I was starting out.
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longwhitecloud
- Very Frequent Poster
- Posts: 3676
- Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:15 am
- Style: Master Baiter. Oracle of windsport.
- Gear: 2 sets of Flysurfer VMGs 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 15, 18. Foilboards ( Masts 75 90 110 125 Wings 880 950 1100 1350 1750) all with Ronix Ones attached. Soon to retire to Wingfoiling.
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Postby longwhitecloud » Mon Jan 22, 2018 7:56 am
Great observations.
Adding.
IKAs involvement in kite surfing bummed out a lot of kiters as they tried to steal kiteboarding, they really missed the pkra days and simply couldn't believe IKA claimed authority of waveriding and freestyle despite knowing nothing about it/ no previous experience. Pros were super bummed that their world positions and titles were threatened with legal action as iko/ world sailing now owned the term " world champion/ championship". The inventor of kiteboarding came out against IKA/ world sailing!
Many Pro freestyle riders of 5-8 years ago are no longer able to afford to kite full time as the sponsorship money dried up. Therefore they are no longer influencing and motivating other riders online.
I don't think kitesc0op ( kind of dead now) helped, young people are more easily influenced with regards to trends. There are kitescoopers entering koa now, nothing more really needs to be said.
Today we have Facebook posts almost begging parents to get their kids to try racing for the time - there first time will be for Youth Olympic qualification (sounds safe? It isn't) .
Do you know that there were protests trying to disqualify competitors for having an incorrect measurement written on a board ( printing error- board was actually permitted size)... There you go .. kiteboarding 2018 just climbed up it's own ass!
The structure and stoke has gone. I lived in a (happy) bubble as far as non commercialisation is concerned for many years, but I now know if you don't have grassroots riders prepared to put in the hard yards and grassroots commercial enterprises influencing and stoking riders, a few core riders will continue, but scenes and influences are going to die.
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Chicken-loop
- Medium Poster
- Posts: 74
- Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 9:35 am
- Kiting since: 2005
- Weight: 100kg
- Style: Wave/Freeride
- Gear: 2019 Naish Pivot 8m
2020 Naish Pivot 10m
2021 Naish Boxer 14m
2018 North Nugget 5.3
2021 Duotone Fish SLS 5.5
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Postby Chicken-loop » Mon Jan 22, 2018 9:55 am
Is it less people using google to search for kitesurfing / kiteboarding ...or is it just less people using google as a search engine?
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Toby
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- Posts: 50470
- Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2001 1:00 am
- Kiting since: 2000
- Weight: 95 kg
- Local Beach: Cumbuco, Brazil
Barra do Cauipe, Brazil
- Favorite Beaches: same
- Style: Airstyle
- Gear: Rebel 2015 18
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- Location: World (KF Admin)
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Postby Toby » Mon Jan 22, 2018 10:19 am
Longwhite:
I am sure you meant IKA and not IKO!
IKO is the school Organisation
IKA is the association under world sailing.
I changed your posting accordingly.
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Frappes
- Rare Poster
- Posts: 27
- Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2011 4:06 am
- Local Beach: Crissy Field, CA
- Style: Waves
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Postby Frappes » Mon Jan 22, 2018 8:38 pm
Nor-Cal kiting spots are getting more and more crowded every year. In the summertime, weekdays are getting uncomfortably crowded at the popular spots and on weekends pretty much everywhere within 2 hours of the Bay Area is a gong-show.
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tkachuk
- Medium Poster
- Posts: 71
- Joined: Thu May 04, 2017 1:57 am
- Kiting since: 2013
- Weight: 75 kilos
- Local Beach: Squamish, Nitinat (formerly: Cherry Beach, Allanwood, Presquil)
- Favorite Beaches: Presquil (Ontario), Long Bay Turks, Silver Sands Barbados, OBX, Key Biscayne Florida
- Style: boosting, carving my jibes, waves on TT
- Gear: CORE, Shinn
- Brand Affiliation: None
- Location: West Vancouver
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Postby tkachuk » Tue Jan 23, 2018 2:18 am
At the risk of being anecdotal, my impression is that episodic, seasonal kiteboarding in the cooler, northern hemispheres (accounting for the Aug-Oct peaks in the google hit graphs) is on the decline but kiting in warmer, longer season, windier spots (including destination tripping) is holding steady. Makes me think growth in the industry is stalling, but like many poster have stated, who cares and it is probably better for those of us sticking with it.
If true, prepare for even better (and more costly), specialized high tech equipment. Geez, with a light, heated wearable, the season here in Toronto would be 10 months and we could enjoy the nuclear winter winds. Just my take.
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Archer77
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- Posts: 374
- Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2016 1:42 pm
- Kiting since: 2015
- Weight: 80Kg - 175 lbs
- Local Beach: Porto Pollo, Sardegna
- Gear: Shinn Bronq 135/41 V1, 136/42 Luigi, 148/47 XL
Ozone Alpha V2 12m 10m
Ozone Edge V10 10m 8m
Ozone Catalyst V1 7m
- Location: Italy
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Postby Archer77 » Tue Jan 23, 2018 2:39 pm
I think today people are searching specifically the name of the brand they are interested on!
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