Amanda and the team from Kitethrills...

This week we bring you something inspirational. Can you imagine being paralyzed from the waist down, and thinking “You know what, I think I’ll give kiteboarding a try”…

That’s what Amanda Boxtel did, and when she got in contact with Mike Walker from Kite Thrills on the Sunshine Coast, he made it his priority to make it happen. For months now, those of you on Facebook will have seen little snippets of Mike creating a contraption that began with an old twintip. It then grew a seat, and some footstraps, by then the purpose was clear, this was a board with a difference!

Amanda herself was flying trainer kites while all this went on, her disability meant that she had to sit in the sand, and as you’ll see in the video below, that didn’t always work out so well. The trainer kite skills were then passed to a small inflatable in the shallows, where the vital skills of body dragging were learnt before making the transition to a board. With the help of some skilled instructors and kiteboarders, Amanda went through the same learning process as everyone who gets up on a board, you get up, you fall off. Repeat the process a hundred times and it becomes less about falling, and more about riding, and of course that’s how Amanda progressed. By the end of the day, she was popping up on her board and riding a short distance downwind, which of course was truly incredible for not only herself, but for everyone who was a part of the team which made it happen.

Now Amanda isn't the first to go kiteboarding with this level of paralysis, there's several people all over the world who have made up similar boards in order to get themselves towed around by a kite. Drawing designs from the wakeboarding world where it's commonly done, these sit down kiteboards are obviously the only way to accomplish the goal, but it's certainly not easy to ride! Next time you're out on your twintip and get bored, try sitting on it and riding along, in some ways it's easier than you think, but try doing it without moving your legs! The guys who are doing this every day are truly amazing and should be looked upon with utmost admiration for getting out there, and working out how to make their dreams of kiteboarding come true. 

Check out the video below for some feel-good action, and thanks to Glen Bowden for filming the whole process.