|
|
|
5 Tips For Whitewater Rafting Novices
Did you know that...
Whitewater rafting is becoming an increasingly popular past
time for thrill seekers. Many however fail to fully research
their trip and the result can be at best one of failing to
live up to expectations and at worst...
A Guide to College Baseball Bats
In the mid 1850s, when baseball was in its infancy, players made their own bats. They experimented with flat bats, round bats, and heavy bats. They ultimately discovered that the barrel shaped bat was the most effective. Today, college baseball bats...
Exploring New England’s Shore By Sailboat
Of the six states that comprise our country’s quaint New England, five are on the coast, making the area a prime place for enjoying water sports, including a top favorite, sailing.
Whether you make your home there or decide to take in the sea...
Kitesurfing techniques - Launching & landing
There are many different kitesurfing techniques that are important to kitesurfing sport. This article will focus on some basic kitesurfing techniques that will help you improve you kitesurfing skills and will allow you to have more fun and enjoy...
The Formula One Final Race Review - Shanghai
Date - Sunday October 16 - Shanghai, China -
Fernando Alonso won the Chinese F1 Grand Prix and in doing so has won the constructor's title for Renault after de-throning Michael Schumacher of the driver's championship in September.
For...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
What Is A Kitewing?
You propably know what a Kite is, but have you heard about the Kitewing?
The kitewing is a lightweight hand–held wing shaped as a kite that can be used for sailing on ice, snow and land with a pair of skis, skates or a snowboard. This is done in wintertime. For summer use one can sail with the wing using roller blades, a mountainboard or a skateboard. I haven´t yet made it in summer, but winter usage is really cool. I mainly ride at frosen lakes, but snow-covered open spaces like moun-tains are maybe even better - You just need some more wind to get it going in the mountains. On plain ice you just need a little as 4-5 m/s of wind.
I´m no extreme rider, but some other people have found out that the wing is also capable of doing jumps. Well, several 100 meters is maybe more flying than jumping? The current world record from 2004 is 505 meters (1666 feet) made by a Kitewing team rider and helicopter pilot
Andreas Laurent.
If you like speed the wing gives you a good ride. In optimum conditions, you can reach speeds between 60-80 km/h, but the speed record on ice was 107 km/h the last time I heard about it.
I have found out that people interested in Kitewing riding are usually also interested in snowboarding, downhill ski-ing, windsurfing, mountain boarding and other action sports. So if you are into those sports you might get hooked. And if compared with wind surfing, this sport is easier to learn and the Kitewing has much better jumping qualities. The good jumping quality is because the symmetrical wing can be turned quickly into horizontal position - the sail can literally be transformed to a flying wing.
About The Author
Nicolas Fogelholm is a Kitewing rider and webmaster for the Kitewing online community http://www.windsports.net/.
|
|
|
|
|
|