A mixture of kite flying and surfing! (Kite surfing)

Member Name: Beanie8844

Product:	Kite surfing
Date:	16/12/08 (168 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: sounds great if you could master it

Disadvantages: also sounds very dangerous

Kitesurfing is a relatively new extreme sport. It's a mixture of windsurfing, wakeboarding and kite flying all mixed into one to create an exhilarating sport. The idea is that 'surfers' fly their kites into the wind to propel themselves across the water, reaching phenomenal speeds, the stronger the wind the faster you'll go. So long as you have a large body of water and wind you can kitesurf. There are actually two different disciplines, kitesurfing and kiteboarding, they're similar but a bit different. Kitesurfing refers to using the kite to jump waves, while kiteboarding is where you just board across open water.

It's now a massively popular sport, especially near the coast, with the number of people buying the equipment and having a go for themselves increasing year on year. The only problems are that it can be quite dangerous if you're a beginner and therefore it is a good idea to take lessons from some more experienced riders. The second obstacle is the cost involved. If you're thinking of taking the sport up seriously then you'll probably want to buy the equipment, which isn't at all cheap and there's lots of it too: kite, board, lines, control bars, harness, wetsuit and a helmet, these are just the basic pieces.

I've tried windsurfing and normal surfing and loved it, so this sounds like something I could really have a go at, but I would be a bit worried because it is quite dangerous; there are water hazards you need to take into consideration when surfing normally, but to fly a kite at the same time surely increases the risks.

Thanks for reading, feel free to comment.

Summary: i'd probably have a go, but be a bit concerned about the safety apects