Ah! Thems were the days!
DM
Sorry if this has already been posted, I couldn't find any other references to it.
I think I saw this a while back, I can't remember where though... It wasn't online to the best of my knowledge.
As much as I like all the old videos and history of the sport in general I found this video a bit of a wank-a-thon (minus the corey footage which was cool). I would love to see someone re-do this idea in a better way, focusing more on Lou, Shannon, Elliot etc. and how they pushed the sport in progressive direction from the very early days.
p.s.
It really made me laugh how they gave so much credit to people who were never good at kiting and never ended up even getting good, showing footage of them doing the ugliest looking jumps and spins and claiming how they "progressed the sport" just because they were there... Bull****.
It was also funny how they somehow neglected to show anything half stylish or wakestyle orientated, even when talking about Lou and how he is "the master" of everything even though wakestyle was his main focus.
Nice video, was wondering about what happened to Flash, there were so many others just doing big air with WOW factor ...
I can't believe Corey was going upwind so well back then.
I reckon I could count the amount of times I rode upwind on my wipica classic on one hand.
Interesting to see the sort of random way it went back then.
Big air was what most new to the sport focussed on because it was what was unique about kiting. If they wanted to surf, they surfed. If they wanted to wakeboard, they bought a boat. If they wanted to jump 40' in the air... that was new.
Select to expand quoteterminal said..
Big air was what most new to the sport focussed on because it was what was unique about kiting. If they wanted to surf, they surfed. If they wanted to wakeboard, they bought a boat. If they wanted to jump 40' in the air... that was new.
True, but you can't really wakeboard in the ocean, by yourself, being towed by a kite... What tricks you are doing doesn't change the fact that kiting is unique no matter what circus act you perform. Thus wakestyle in the ocean behind a kite was also new 
.
I loved it. My style is stuck in about 2003! I love boosting and riding waves at the same time. that's what those guys did back then. smashed some big air sliced up waves threw down some tricks all in massive head to double head conditions. Plus they did it at full power and aggressive speed.You just don't see that stuff today in the latest vids. its wake style on butter flat water or some dude hammering endless lips strapless on a surfboard...
My style will always be this type of riding. I love it. I get to the beach see some waves, wind and think yeha wick ramps to fly off and some nice waves to riding on. Sometimes I slow down and do a few cutbacks and stuff like a surfer but most of the time I just want to blast full throttle at the waves and along them.
Plummett said everything I want to say, except
Great flick.
Sir Rowdy I felt a certain superiority complex coming through your words, in that the video should focus on wake style pioneers. I'm sure a video shot today would however focus more on that.
Select to expand quoteeppo said..
Sir Rowdy I felt a certain superiority complex coming through your words, in that the video should focus on wake style pioneers. I'm sure a video shot today would however focus more on that.
No superiority complex coming through at all, more just a sense of disappointment in said flick. I grew up with all these videos and know a lot about most of the things that happened back then, thus I think parts of it could have been explained and portrayed far better than they were, I don't think there's harm in thinking that is there?
p.s. I actually pointed out that I liked the part about Corey and I thought it was good, but people on here just can't seem to take it when someone has some criticism for anything.
Cool vid Darren, thanks for posting it, reminds me of why I got into it, and why I got up early yesterday in the cold, to catch the dawn patrol.
Somewhat agree with Rowdy and I also think Lou deserves much more credit. The guy had so much potential, and was so far ahead of everyone else.
Select to expand quotesir ROWDY said..eppo said..
Sir Rowdy I felt a certain superiority complex coming through your words, in that the video should focus on wake style pioneers. I'm sure a video shot today would however focus more on that.
No superiority complex coming through at all, more just a sense of disappointment in said flick. I grew up with all these videos and know a lot about most of the things that happened back then, thus I think parts of it could have been explained and portrayed far better than they were, I don't think there's harm in thinking that is there?
p.s. I actually pointed out that I liked the part about Corey and I thought it was good, but people on here just can't seem to take it when someone has some criticism for anything.
Fair enough. Although Man I thought it was pretty clear from the vid that Lou was a key innovator and well ahead of his time, this was said by a number of crew on there, Flash just come across as a dumb ass drop kick, lol. The vid kinda really stopped in the early 2000s...there's been a ton more since. But it was still cool going back in time and yes I also was around for all those vids as well. They didn't really touch on the evolution of surfing enough either. Maybe look at it as the real early days only.
Select to expand quotesir ROWDY said..
I think I saw this a while back, I can't remember where though... It wasn't online to the best of my knowledge.
As much as I like all the old videos and history of the sport in general I found this video a bit of a wank-a-thon (minus the corey footage which was cool). I would love to see someone re-do this idea in a better way, focusing more on Lou, Shannon, Elliot etc. and how they pushed the sport in progressive direction from the very early days.
p.s.
It really made me laugh how they gave so much credit to people who were never good at kiting and never ended up even getting good, showing footage of them doing the ugliest looking jumps and spins and claiming how they "progressed the sport" just because they were there... Bull****.
It was also funny how they somehow neglected to show anything half stylish or wakestyle orientated, even when talking about Lou and how he is "the master" of everything even though wakestyle was his main focus.
When was the last time you watched Thrashing Rowdy....... I hope your old enough to know what I am talking about..... ;) and then watch Summer X Games and say the same about that....I would say the same about the old "foot plant back in the day" to the same jumps and spins you mentioned to say "a something" to somethings over 10 stairs to something switch......I can't keep track of the names.......you just need to watch and see the progression.......?
I just saying......
^^^Totally agree man (I think haha, hard to get totally what you mean).
To me the fact that no-one knows who Mark Gonzalez, Rodney Mullen, or Daweon Song even are shows me that the real innovators in sports never really get the credit they deserve. A great example is Tony Hawk, I mean he kills it but there are so many guys that have done so much more... he did a 900 won a few comps (no where near as many as Mullen) and made a video game and got filthy rich. Now even people who don't skate know who Tony is and give him all the credit and pats on the back in the world... meanwhile if they crossed paths with Mark they wouldn't even know who he is.
That said, I think the kite vid was still good and it's good to have things like this to educate the younger generation. That is also why I think it's important to make it good and an accurate representation of what actually happened.
I think it would have been far more watchable even with some small changes in the edit, like cutting out a lot of the wank-wank going on in it and cutting out the props for people who were and still are no-ones. Adding in some of the other guys that were pushing it at the time would have been nice as well. I mean seriously they didn't even mention Shannon Best once and he was actually the guy who showed Lou an Elliot that they didn't have to whip there kites back to do tricks.
p.s. To me this whole vid kind of seemed a little like a promotion for Red Bull King of the Air, it was like they were trying to make out as if it was some hugely progressive part of the sport or something... Yet they go on further to say Lou was killing it (and everyone) and that people in comps couldn't even understand what he was doing... sounds like a bit of an Oxymoron to me.
I enjoyed the vid. I think they did a pretty good job of capturing the essense of the sport back then and I realize it was very hawaii focused. but if you want to be critical of anything the Legaignoux bothers barely rated a mention, even though they had been experimenting with kitesurfing since the 70's.
Select to expand quotebennie said..
I enjoyed the vid. I think they did a pretty good job of capturing the essense of the sport back then and I realize it was very hawaii focused. but if you want to be critical of anything the Legaignoux bothers barely rated a mention, even though they had been experimenting with kitesurfing since the 70's.
True.
I was also waiting for them to mention them and when they started talking about Don M I thought for sure that would lead to them... but it never happened. I think most of us can agree this video was interesting, but far from great.
