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3-Pointer by Gary Whittaker (Feb 15)
Point 1: Basketball's Mr. 3000 Lakers celebrate Bryant's return with a loss against the next great one. Hopefully Kobe, who was watching King James on the court for 41 minutes, was able to take enough notes to see that you don't need to be a...
Creatine is just more than a supplement
Creatine is proving to be one of the most promising, well researched, and safe supplements ever discovered for an exceptionally wide range of uses. Although creatine offers an array of benefits, most people think of it simply as a supplement that...
Make A Slam Dunk With Great Sports Gift Ideas
Do you have a sports fanatic in your family? Perhaps you’re just looking for a great gift idea for an acquaintance who happens to live life for sports. Whether you have a big budget or a small one, there are plenty of great sport ideas to choose...
Never Fear Hills Again
Having run cross country in high school and college, I've seen a good number of hills. I'd begin a race in great sprits, but after a few hills I would fantasize about crossing the finish line and resting. Even after many miles of training, and many...
The rising popularity of windsurfing
As with any extreme sport or sport in general, there is only so much one can do on a surfboard. Enter windsurfing, a popular way to gain speed and air by using a sail attached to the surfboard itself. A windsurf setup consists of a bi-directional...
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History of kitesurfing
KiteSurfing is by far the latest craze in extreme sports. The idea of using a kite to enhance speed and gravity for the surfer seems like a new and exhilarating challenge, yet the art of KiteSurfing dates back to the 13th Century Chinese when it was used as a simple mode of transportation. KiteSailing, as it was known, was a medium that used the wind as an aid to harness its momentum and energy to mobilize their canoes across water. The earliest recorded history of KiteSailing dates back to the early 12th Century.
In the 1800’s George Pocock took the basic kite design to a whole new level by increasing the size of the overall kite and used them as a sail to glide carts on land and ships on the water. The designs of the kites were engineered with 4 lines, the same setup being deployed today. Both carts and boats were able to turn and sail upwind. The wind would generate enough lift underneath the kite to raise it off of the ground and powerful enough to sustain it for a period of time.
These kites have been able to propel a man-made vehicle across the ground, snow, ice and water. These kites are codependent on the wind and its necessary to get off of the ground or water to get
them to fly. However, once the kite is in the air it manufactures its own wind, which is proportionately faster and creates a higher rate of speed for the vehicle.
Yet one issue still remains most of the earlier kites were deployed from the land and off of the flat ground. Not on the water where KiteSurfing takes place. In the 1980’s Wipika, Kiteski, fOne, Concept Air, C-Quad, and Naish Kites marketed water launch kites. These kites could be sailed again after falling short of wind into the water.
In the late 1990’s off of the Hawaiian coast of Maui, Laird Hamilton and Manu displayed the extreme sport opportunities to radical surfers and wake boarders. Its popularity has since skyrocketed as one of the fastest growing water sports in the past two years.
Today there are organizations, competitions, videos and magazines worldwide dedicated to this increasingly popular sport and the thrills associated with it.
About The Author
Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.kitesurfingnow.com. Visit his kitesite for the latest on kitesurfing equipment, kiteboarding lessons, places to surf and much more!
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