Is Surfing better than Kitesurfing? | Get High with Mike

[Flyboy]

I guess the best person to ask would be Kai Lenny. He's windsurfed, kited, foiled & surfed in the best conditions all around the world ... however, even his opinion is only valid if you happen to have his talent & the opportunity to take advantage of the best conditions all around the world. For most people it's a question of what's most readily accessible in their daily lives.

[zloilyoha]

i would say - he is a little bit prejudiced ))))

[Flyboy]

i would say - he is a little bit prejudiced ))))

Why prejudiced? I would say more privileged than prejudiced. I guess he could answer the question: "under ideal conditions, what do you prefer to do"? For most of us, it's more: "given your daily conditions, what do you prefer to do"?

[kct]

I guess the best person to ask would be Kai Lenny.

Laird Hamilton BTFO

[windmaker]

FPH (Fun per hour) is way too low for surfing for me.

To this day I am still mystified why more people arent into a combo of waves and boosting at the same time. To me thats where the glory is. Ride a wave in, boost on the way out.
Boom. So much more FPH.

1) Kitesurfers priority is wave riding. The more you jump, the more you loose ground upwind = less wave riding.
2) Most strapless riders can't jump (or don't want to).
3) If you are jumping a TT in waves, you are not really surfing.

[Flyboy]

I guess the best person to ask would be Kai Lenny.

Laird Hamilton BTFO

OK Boomer.

[JTKiter]

It's definitely an "apples and oranges" discussion.

I surfed for many years, got lots of great waves in great places all over the world. Now I kite way more than I surf. You can't surf lakes, you can't surf grassy fields, you can't glide down--airborne!--a snowy mountain on a surfboard. But when it's big and good, surfing is more intense than kiting for me. It's the fine line between catching a great wave or having it pound the crap out of you...... That focuses the mind in a way that kiting does not. (I've kited big waves too. For me, it seemed like cheating to simply pull the bar in and get the hell out of there when things got gnarly. Not at all like surfing, where you have to commit and then take your punishment....)

A previous poster had the "Fun Per Hour" index, which is one way to look at it. An hour of surfing might get you three waves if it's big. Or one wave! And you might think you had the best session ever! So it's not just the quantity of the fun but the quality. Hard to measure the value of that.

Here's the best way to summarize it (older kiters will know what I mean): Surfing is Ginger and kiting is Mary Ann. If I had to choose, I'm going with Mary Ann. Not even close....!

https://i.imgur.com/L7IFKgj.jpg

[Matteo V]

3) If you are jumping a TT in waves, you are not really surfing.

You are not surfing if you have a kite.

And why would want too? Kitesurfing is observably better as it combines two things into into something greater than the sum of its parts.

Dont limit yourself to just being a surfer with a kite. Use the tools at hand to thier fullest potential, and dont handicap the physical with some strange set of mental limitations designed to simulate something observably less fun.

[longwhitecloud]

I have ridden some of earths best waves both surfing and kiting. Good days are always the best day ever what ever i am riding.. i am always saying that..

But if i remember by very best days surfing and kiting.. not having to deal with a kite but just a barreling grinding wave down a point break.......


Some spots though where you dont get perfection.. ride the right tool for the day.

[windmaker]

3) If you are jumping a TT in waves, you are not really surfing.

You are not surfing if you have a kite.

And why would want too? Kitesurfing is observably better as it combines two things into into something greater than the sum of its parts.

Dont limit yourself to just being a surfer with a kite. Use the tools at hand to thier fullest potential, and don't handicap the physical with some strange set of mental limitations designed to simulate something observably less fun.

Everyone is different and preferences change over time.

Kiting since 1999 (windsurfing before that) I went through the "directional board" to TT/freestyle, to a strapped surfboard, to the Strapless freestyle trip like so many others.

These days the kite is just the means to get out there and catch more waves than I would be surfing, I do jump a lot if the waves are small or mushy though Wingfoil is now taking over in such conditions.