Same here.reinis wrote: at my home spot good waves usually come with 30+knots of wind and pretty harsh conditions on water.
I'd say its not so much imitating surfing as much as it is using a kite to surf in conditions where paddling makes no sense.
Throw straps on and most of the time it's a kiteboarder's imitation of surfing more than surfing with a kite or kitesurfing... whatever the semantics. From what I see, the strapped riders tend towards bigger one hit wonders with tons of kite power and spray but also more time riding on edge under power into the flats where the wave can't sustain the ride. The guys without the straps are the ones working to keep their turns on the wave and using its power to sustain the ride. Thats surfing more than imitating it
Just look at the boards. Strapless riders tend to use actual surfboards not smaller heavier imitation surfboards.
The "fuzz" for many is the shift in sensation that you get once you feel yourself riding the wave without any real tension in your lines. That and the challenge. The bigger the conditions and wind, the more challenging it is to go strapless.
If you prefer riding strapped, no big deal, but to try and call strapless riders posers is a bit of a stretch. I bet if you poll riders out there you would find the higher percentage of people that can and do surf in the strapless group. I also bet this correlates geographically, where at windswell spots that have no surfing there is a higher percentage of strapped riders. Pretty natural, those guys are coming from twintips. At surf spots your more likely to see a lot of strapless riders as many will have surfed first.
