Kiting
Introduction
Although kiting sounds boring in fact it is not, this is because we are not talking about silly little diamond shaped kites but large 3m plus kites with enough power to lift you off the ground, pull you on a mountain board or ski board or even pull a small buggy.
There are three main variations of this type of kiting:
Power kiting
This is just flying large kites. The aim is to get dragged along (skudding) or jump with the kite. The main make of these sorts of kites are flexi foil. These are usually 3-6m wide and can produce enormous amounts of power. These kites are usually 2 lines but some of the larger kites are 4 lined.
Traction kiting:
This is also a common type of kiting. People usually develop from power kiting to traction kiting as they want to go faster and have more power. To do this people usually have a slightly bigger kite, but not always. Almost all of these kites have 4 lines. The aim of this sort of kiting is to use the kite as a source of power for a board or buggy. This is usually done on the wet sand on a beach. Once people get to high speeds on the boards, often 30mph+, they attempt tricks such as sliding and jumping.
Kite surfing:
This is the hardest sort of kiting as it combines skills with a kite with those of surfing. It is similar to wakeboarding but uses an inflatable kite instead of a boat for power. These sort of kiters can get jumps of up to 50m as they use waves as ramps. These are the largest sorts of kites as they are often over 10m wide. The boards used are similar to those used by wakeboaders. The kites are specially adapted with there large curved shape and inflatable rim. This is so that they are easier to re-launch if they land in the water.
However the basic control of a kite is the same for all types and almost all kiters start off with powerkiting. It is then up to you wherther you buy a buggy, board or just go for bigger and bigger kites. These few pages should help you learn more about kiting and improve your skills.
Goodluck top^^
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