Unstrapped and sandshoes

Just needs to unhook and remember to take his shoes off next time and it'll be purrrfect!!

^^^ T O T A L C O C K

Nice shots !

What's with the shoes ! Does he run grip tape on that board ? Like a wake skate ?

Hey Kit33r nice shots thanks for taking and sharing them- pretty fun day.
To answer the why the shoes question, i do like to wear them like wakeskating when trying kiteloops and kickflips. Landing hard with the heels is not nice and shoes spreads the load out which is great for my feet and the board. It also doubles the chance of landing these tricks as it adds a bit more grip. I also ride my skimboard which has full grip tape on the deck with shoes for the similar reasons- Much easier on the heels, board, better grip, no smudging wax etc.
95% of the time i ride this UG board i go barefoot as it has better feel and less clumsy. I've added an extra layer of deck grip on the board and the material grips well with skate shoes so left the grip tape off this one.
Thanks for defending me Ricardo but i don't think they Foosh meant anything negative by it. Definately unhooking doing the same tricks is a step forward, though sometimes the wind strength and direction make it too awkward or impossible to unhook. Rich

Riders like Richie make it easy to get good shots. Around here Richie is a bit of a pioneer when it comes to new ideas on the water. If my aging memory serves me correctly, he took a place at Mambo a few years back riding a skimboard.

If conditions and opportunity come together I'll get out my video camera and get some footage of Rich at Wanda just to show how hard these moves really are.

Hi Foosh,

Richie has always been a great rider on whatever board or kites he has used, he's never copied anyone else's style and has quite the opposite in fact, done his own thing.

To critique his style saying he should unhook is a bit lame, sorry. Richie makes it look good whatever he does and is still one of this countries best riders with his own unique style. Gees he can even make a Cabrinha look good

No offense, but this assumption that unhooked, unstrapped or whatever is the ultimate in riding style really rips my bib and is complete crap. Oz will never develop or produce great riders so long as everyone is so busy trying to emulate other top riders.

You don't become great by copying others, as you will always be compared to the one you are trying to copy and you'll never be as good because they did it first and pioneered it and you'll always pale into insignificance. The most influential riders all had their own style:

Wainman, Tobius, Fluery, Lenten, Hadlow, Wilson, Dre, Koch, Solbach and some others too. They all had individual styles and forged new paths for our sport by doing things that were different by NOT following the well worn path.

Good on you Rich for keeping it real and never becoming a mindless sheep and following others.

RESPECT!

KH

Lets go easy on Foosh, he did post and say he was taking the p1$$ after all!

Rich is unaffected by what others think of how he rides anyway, he does not ride to impress or please others, he rides because he absolutely, really wants to and loves it.
Same as when you see him zooming around the local streets with his amazing dog pulling him along at warp speed on his skater longboard, the tow of them are a team and they live for it.

Rich can and does unhook, can and does ride without shoes, in fact can do just about anything with a kite and a board, and he is a good teacher too always willing to have a chat and share tips and advice! As Pro Merc and Kitehard say he is the one to watch and a true original thinker.

I notice he is riding without the back fin. Anyone can comment to it?

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I guess when the surf is 1 foot nothing... ^^^
the rider's tennis-shoes become an interesting distraction.
lol.

Carry on.

Its not that the surf was 1 foot nothing, tts just that richie has taken shrinking tablets and is now really small!