Every Major Brand Announcing an Aluula Kite in 2020!

[longwhitecloud]

The Emperors New Clothes, what an awesome tale.

The world most embarrassing kite competition... ever created - the GKA, run by some of the kite industries brands, and more expensive kites.. go figure.


The GKA is a complete joke:


They claim exclusive title to the term world champion through an agreement with world sailing (huge legal $$$ to blow), independent competitions, those without a huge conflict of interest, were legally threatened for running their own world championships despite the fact that sailing has had nothing to do with kiting and that there were world championships long before they got involved to try and save their funding from IOC.

In fact Liam Whaley won the world championship tour one year and was legally threatened with using the term "world" by world sailing.... he pretty much was the best rider...

GKA brand members pay for their own team riders to travel to and pay accom to their own competition and yet offer prize money that doesnt even cover a flight for those that are not sponsored by member brands if you place outside the top 3.

The competition is judged by judges that they pick / control themselves

They count points from dangling with a surfboard between your legs on flat water towards a "surf world tour title"

They think it is a good idea for competitors to compete in one freestyle heat on 2 forms of equipment (riders swap kites and boards mid heat from airstyle to wakestyle)


it's an interesting product, you know you could make skateboards (olympic sport) out of magnesium (trucks) and decks out of graphene/carbon composites but they are sensible enough to know that increasing the cost an inexpensive piece of aluminium, wood and urethane is not the right thing to do.

Business is business, you don't get rich being nice generally or with other peoples interests as your main goal$, but i would say it is also easy to destroy an industry in this way... has happened many times before, kiteboarding already headed in that direction as we know.

[edt]

I think you meant to start a new topic? I don't keep track of the politics of the GKA too hard for me to follow.

[downunder]

Don't read. Simple.

[longwhitecloud]

you cannot equate this kite material to a result... it isn't about the equipment, even the . lightest kites fall ou tof the sky with no line tension - and no line tension will happen almost instantly waveriding fast as you outrun your kite

gka is pretty straight forward - just read what i wrote.

[jumptheshark]

I didn't equate anything more than the material has been tested for a full season of competitive kiting.

[Greenturtle]

LWC im not sure what anything you are saying here has to do with new materials. Is my kevlar or carbon kayak or canoe an elitist bullshit product? (Purchased used for less than price of new plastic ones) I would bang my head against the wall repeatedly if I had to paddle a plastic boat. Should bicycle companies that produce carbon frames be hated on? There is a place for everything and everyone.

Lighter sporting goods rule dude. Everyone knows that.

And btw a pro tour skateboarders board/trucks/wheels cost more than (Ive paid for) any kite or board I own. You want kiteboarding to cost the same and be as mainstream as skateboarding? You got your wish already just get a china direct trainer kite for $40 and a skateboard you already own and hit the parking lots, done. That’s exactly how I started and its still a blast and harder core than water kiting in many ways. Kite skate parking lot (KSPL) pro tour anyone? Sign me up when you organize that. But Im not paying more than $5 entry and my 10th place finish prize money needs to cover travel expenses.

Cheap, reliable, all-purpose kites and boards are more available and accessible to use than ever.

You have to be the change you want to see, and in this case that would mean organizing your own kite events and running them however you see fit. Legal battles with WS and all if necessary, if you want to call it a world championship haha.
I am very sure, that kiteboarding is not the only sport facing the same issues.

[jumptheshark]

Issues that have less than zero impact n 99% of the sports participants.

Lets get back to gifs of tumbleweed!

[cor]

Marketing? C'mon, I did not see any marketing for Carved boards, and they still sell well above 1000Euros.

Carved is a custom brand that lives from its reputation and word of mouth marketing. Core, owned by the same company (Hiss-tec) however invests tons of money in marketing. Just like other "huge brands" like Duotone etc.

Internet marketing is cheap as chips.

What? That is just not true. It's very expensive given the fact that a lot of brands use a freaking army of "influencers" (shopriders and teamriders) who are basically paid by discounts on kites and need management as well. And what about all the marketing videos for new products etc, sending teamriders, filmmakers etc. to spots all over the world? What about advertising on websites and dynamic ads? I work in Marketing (not kite related) and I can assure you that real internet marketing is expensive af unless you think that this term means posting a status update on facebook once a month.

Today, people who ride well are just not that better. If better at all.

Who said that Aluula will make anyone a better kiter? Well ok, maybe Langeree can megaloop a 12m now, who knows. However, in lightwinds, but also in high winds kites could become more stable and agile. And no, that does not mean at all that anyone will ride better. But it means that kiteboarding could become more accessible and yes, that means more and more people mowing the lawn.

[edt]

I wish I was an influencer free gear

[Greenturtle]

I propose to OR (for better or worse ) that one exclusive-to-kiteforum aluula demo kite be issued, that we can pass around to each member who has expressed total stoke for the concept thus far, (me), to triple loop, drift, slack out, recover, crinkle in cold weather, compare to the standard version, and post all videos and impressions of said activities here making tumbleweed gifs obsolete and filling the void of content surrounding the material, while at the same time creating a well used aluula kite for someone (me) to buy at a nice discount