yeah, right, who cares... but I got to go to Hatteras and since I didn't take any slides, you have to suffer my post instead.
Highlights/observations:
Nice wind (probably 10 of 14 days) but chilly. The spring chill extended up there. Even wore the full suit a couple of days when the air temps were in the 60s but the rest of the time it was a shorty with low 70s. Sailed everything from a 7.7 to 3.7. The 9.4 never came out of the bag. Why rig it when the forecast for the next day was 15-20? It was better to take a rest day and goof off with the kids. That is true luxury for the Atlanta windsurfer.
Jr. raged on the Starboard Kiddy/Hot Sails Kids rigs. It's been a nice progression from the Start (I wouldn't start out on one, though. At 88 liters, kids need to have a feel for windsurfing.) He was holding down his 2.7 and 2.1 when I was on my 5.7 and 5.0 respectively and he weighs less than half of me. If you really want your kids to windsurf, good stuff makes the difference. Sail a log if you have to so that Jr. gets the good stuff. By the end of the vaca, he was doing beach starts, foot straps, the harness and planing at a respectable clip. Not that he is the "extraordinary child" but the equipment lets a 10 yr old have more fun than is legal in UT. The shallow waters meant Mom and Dad never freaked out, too. Jr.'s buddy who'd windsurfed twice in his life prior to spending a week with us, thoroughly enjoyed the Start and was almost planing by the end of his stay.
Kites- the "hot" thing. Since it was blowing SW, we saw a steady procession of "learners" blowing past the house in Rodanthe, literally. They'd start further up the beach, blow downwind and then a jetski would come and retrieve them. I expect the kite shops to install a chair lift next summer. Windsurfing can be a pain but watching someone tea bag for a half mile doesn't look that cool either (ok, I'm biased). Yes it looks like fun but before you sign up- the last day, it was a good 25-35 (the day the 3.7 got wet) and I saw one kite go awol at Canadian Hole without a rider attached- nothing like seeing $1300 going downwind and into the bushes at such a rate. Up at our house, a jetski was looking for another lost kite. The most telling thing? We asked the mate the day we went offshore fishing if he surfed/windsurfed/kited, etc. Nope, but he had no interest in kiting as he knew of 3 broken backs last summer. Ouch.
Albert and Greta joined us the second week. Greta basically commandeered my Start. It's nice that a spouse can windsurf without having to feel PO'ed for falling in and struggling all the time. Albert made great strides and thoroughly enjoyed his downwind sleigh rides. He feels about ready for Van Pugh on a whitecapped day. Not bad for someone with only one year in the water. Thanks to them both for putting up with our family.
On the way back, noticed something interesting. We saw no windsurfers west of I-95. We saw them on US 64, in the OBX, on 95 but as soon as you went west of 95, didn't see another one. Maybe it's the soil.
So in terms of kiting, do you think the learning curve is harder than windsurfing or that the beginer screw ups are just potentially more spectacular? ???
Randy
(also biased, but then I was biased against wide boards too....)
Radny,
The learning curve is probably steeper but you are immediately learning to plane. I do have my biases but if it didn't a) look so painful and b) didn't require a jetski to "self-rescue", I mightn't be so reluctant.
I must admit that falling off a board seems preferable to drinking Pamlico Sound. I just didn't see enough to warrant the drill I saw folks enduring. Sure, the pros (kiters) loft big air but pro windsurfers do stuff I can't do as well. It seemed a lot of Joe Lunchbox-Kiters were doing the same BAFing that we were, no more air time but a lot more bother.
I'll change my mind when a screwup doesn't require your buddy with a jetski to solve, or worse.
That's an interesting observation regarding the "hassle" factor of needing a jetski. I alwasys thought the big advantage kites had over windsurfing was the gear was smaller, had fewer parts and more portable. Seems like adding a jetski to the mix would undermine a lot of those advantages. (Plus, still seems like your sailin a sinker. How many times can you do that around here?)
Radny
I have had two kite boarding lessons, both in lite Summer side-onshore winds. In my second lesson, I was planing, and yes, going down wind somewhat, but not straight down wind. It was awesome! One lesson was in Jax Fl and the other in France on the Med.
When I was in hatteras ~ 3 weeks ago, there was a day where I was the only windsurfer out and I was planing ~10% of the time with my 8.0 and Bic 283. However, there were some kites doing really nice, very long reaches with no jet ski support. They were getting back to where they started and I'd guess that they were intermediate types - not really doing jumps.
With another lesson or two, I'd like to have a kite in the quiver for those Summer breeze days - in Jax, for example. There is an area there called kite beach just North of Atlantic beach where people launch.
The forces involved with the kite can get very high - the lines are often 40 meters long and the kite can fly at speeds much higher than your rig travels as it is manuvered with the control bar.
My friend in Calif just saw Kiters in at Waddell Creek ( near Santa Cruz) in winds 30+ and said it looked crazy. I can't imagine doing that.
I do agree that you hear about people getting killed and seriously injured more often in kiting - including pros. When I had my lesson with Jeff Weiss, he really focused on the safety aspects - there are many.
These are the people that I have kited with:
http://www.kitemare.com - with Jeff Weiss in Jax, seems he is now in Cocoa Beach and St. Pete.
http://www.axelair.net - in France, Laurent, who runs the shop there was a pioneer in Kite Boarding, they were all very nice there.