The only way to change what happens in a comp is to change the rules. I just watched those vids and thought F**k i'm glad i took up SUP. If you want to compete at the top level then take the straps off. If anyone thinks doing a handle pass with straps on there board is hard then they are dreaming!!!! I have done both, i ride mostly unstraped but i have put straps on my board from time to time but F**k it's easy!!! hell i even won a Aussie tittle with them on and only because the rules stated that they would scored as high as unstapped, so you would have to be stupid not to wear them!!! Really it's not hard just change the rules. By the way i'm back this year so look out NATs..
Jacko
I thought the Guilly vid was good. He rides both styles good to me. I personally think the strapped looks more progressive.
that vid of mitu was like horrible remake of something from the early directional days, have to agree with jacko & rowdy, it just looks like gymnastics for boys. Make it more like a REAL surf comp. real riding, no training wheels.
There is no better judge than someone who hasn't been exposed to the sport.
If it looks amazing to their untrained eye then it is amazing.
A back roll going down the face of a wave certainly doesn't impress me too much but i believe that it should be done.
Why dumb down the sport by attempting to copy surfing and miss out on the entire added dimension that the kite gives us: BOOSTING
I say keep those straps on and push the limit to crasy level.
Always wanted to pull a massive floater on top of a huge barrel for 10 meters then poke through the roof by pointing the nose down into the wave,land inside the barrel and ride on
(try that strapless)
If we put the brakes on kitesurfing, real surfing would become a more progressive sport than ours. Those guys push the limits of themselves, there gear and there sport and if new gear became available that let them go further i bet you they would.
You look at the development of toe surfing allowing riders to catch bigger and bigger waves never ridden before, i'm no surfer but that looks impressive to me. But maybe they should just take off the straps and paddle in so they dont cop **** from a heap of kitesurfers that probably couldn't paddle in to a wave if there life depended on it.
I agree that strapless is more like real surfing, but it is never going to be as popular to the average spectator, and if they don't like it sponsors wont sponsor events.
People that want to ride strapless and unhooked i don't have a issue with because you are doing what you like going out and having fun. People don't come up to you guys and start giving you **** for the way you want to ride. So why do you guys need to give **** to people that don't share your same view. This whole thread is a prime example of how bigger bitches the pure kitesurf community is, let people ride the way they want. Who cares about comps, if someone thinks they can make money from your style of ridding they will develop a product and sell it like the PKRA has, it's just business. get over it.
[}:)]
[}:)]
Hey look, the winds up
but, no swell
Looks like the strapless boys need to stay home today, while the rest of us enjoy this wicked sport for what it is.
, while the rest of us enjoy this wicked sport for what it is.
re footstraps
July 2010..A step forward for our sport! the future is happening, in our own backyard, (cheers will).
thanks
Watching the pkra wave event video it was saying it was 30 to 50 knots.
That is pretty mental wind.. Friken hard holding that down in any conditions, so maybe straps in extreme conditions just to keep a bit of a toenail onto your board???
Kiting - MOVING FORWARD - strapped or not ......
Who gives a rats arse!
Good on the competitive body for doing something - those whinging should get amongst it or start their own circus?
This forum is so lame. All this energy and diatribe tearing other people and their choices apart. You need to clean your livers.
Count the posts. There's more negative ones than positive.
When was the last time you were actually stoked?
If you want kiting to be only like surfing..... ditch you flucking kite and go surfing!!!
If you want kiting to only be about wakestyle and boots... buy a flucking boat!
I like to watch it all and it all makes me stoked.. I watched an old dude on a home-made board and a PL foil the other day.... his smile was so contagious.
I like to do downwinders on a twintip on waves.... it makes me smile. Sue me!
bunch of miserable sad sacks
, i think my is growing.
