You might have heard, but Keahi De Aboitiz is out of action for a few months while his ankle repairs. Then this week, Jason Wolcott Photography shared a great photo of the man taking somewhat of a beating, from underwater; which really highlights how good a kite is it saving your butt when being pummeled by surf.

“For anyone wondering, this is what it look like when you get worked pulling into barrels kiting.” Says Keahi. “A big tip to remember is to always focus on steering the kite up to help pull you through the back when you fall. If keep the kite up you'll come trough relatively unscathed every time.”

Now what he means by ‘relatively unscathed’, is that if (and that’s a big IF) you’re kiting in water of a sensible depth. For instance not over a reef that’s sucking dry on every wave. Using the kite to pull you up and out of the whitewater is somewhat of a god-send to kiteboarders. Surfers are now wearing all kinds of silly looking PFD’s and taking rebreathers into the lineup to cope with the hold-downs and nasty wipeouts involved in normal surfing (and stand up paddling, and bodyboarding).

Do we kiters need it? Nope, just keep that kite in the air and BOOM, you’re popping out of the whitewater in a flash. Plus we get all the other awesome advantages of having a kite, like not needing to paddle, jumping and looking way cooler.

To see what’s possible with a kite, and what Keahi was up to before he smashed his ankle, check out the video below which has just been released by Cabrinha and features Alby Rondina, Annabel Van Westrop, Liam Whaley, Moona Whyte, and Tobias Hölter.

#News #Kitesurfing #Paddling #Cabrinha