It's a pity everyone didn't get to experience "kiting back in the day", because they'll never know what it was like in the beginnings when it was totally pure and it was amazing just to see another kiter. We banded together like lost souls back then and became friends immediately. The group was tight and only consisted of about 6 kiters. Myself, Paul Crawford, Paul Stockham, Sam Burns, Sean Wilkens, Duncan Place and Pete the Pilot. The original South Side crew!
Here's some more useless trivia only a few would know.
Matty Colefax (Wipika Australia) is one of my mates from Cairns.
Actually I recon he stole Beck from my flatmate
So I guess you could call a small bunch of kiters (Jack, Frank, Paula, Beck and me) from Cairns (Mat Colefax's home town) possibly some of the first on Inflato kites in Australia.
www.newkiteboarding.com
Just to clear up this stuff, here is a picture of me and the chick who pioneered kitsuffering in OZ. Ya can tell by our tans we been at it a long time,
I have videos of most of the stuff you guys are talking about. but I need a video 8 camera to access the footage. All the stuff you will see today is digital. I haven't even looked at the really old stuff.
It took me years to actually get into the water, I was having so much fun just flying kites. Bob Dawson had to push me into the dirty Botany bay water. I haven't changed, still don't like getting wet..
paul Crawford was the first on the water going upwind and Jumping, I have the footage !!
the bay is so much cleaner now !!
I bought my first kites from Bob just before steve opened the shop at Coogee.
if you guys treat me nice and are interested I could work on the Video 8 stuff or just forget about kite footage all together.
Up to you guys??
Uploading today!!
I would like to see that footage alex.. i for one have never bagged you or given you red thumbs on any of your posts.. judging by the crap you cop on this site i think thats being nice so upload away..
so upload away..
In Melbourne in 1998 Dave Mitas and others were launching their Wipikas at Sandringham and riding down to St Kilda then getting a cab back to do it again. I'm guessing Alex and Dale were among the other guys.
Dave Mitas showed me a Wipika and thought I would be keen because of my paragliding background. I thought it was a piece of **** and a ripoff at $1500 and in July 1999 bought a 4m 4-line foil and taught myself to water start on a 9' surfboard. I even managed to get up and ride downwind (I gave that kite to a mate along with a plywood TT and he still uses it to mess around in the surf at Torquay.)
In October 1999 I bought a ConceptAir WaveEx 7.2, an allegedly relaunchable foil. It sort of relaunched, sometimes, and was a bastard to launch in the first place. I kited at every opportunity (and swam in more than I care to remember.)
On 24/12/99 I picked up my Stonker kite board and I got mine just after Dave Trewern got his. I remember him picking it up at SHQ on the beach with a massive grin on his face. I had to collect mine from Alex's flat because he was waiting for the paint to dry and I wanted it for the holidays. Dave T and Dave M had learned to kite in Hawaii and I believe they had lessons from one R. Naish.
In December 99 (or maybe January 2000) we had the championships at Carrum. I remember seeing Felix Pivec do a face plant landings on the beach and get dragged up into the dunes. I came 12th (out of 13 :( ) but got a mention on the ConceptAir web site as a team rider.
I have the video of SHQ then they where down near the water and also have the footage of when they got broken into, funny selection of kites stolen??
treat me nice and I will look for it and upload!!
Choicey taught me how to kitesurf on the estuary in Mandarah (Western Australia)back in October 2000. (the year my second son was born)
Craig Rawson was working with him at this time and I thought they both had a nice act all the way back then.
I then brought my first kite , a Nash AR5 9.5M - Which I thought was absolutely huge and took it back to Bunbury, where I was the fist full time kiter on the estuary in Australind. (just North of Bunbury)
Every time I used to go out there and self launch myself with gnarly obstacles down wind of me - my heart was in my mouth and the adrenalin would start to pump. I spent endless hours out there kite surfing by myself till eventully perhaps 12 months afterwards some people started to join me.
These time spent kiting alone and trying to work it all out where very special to me.
This is when roughly Mary Littlewood from Delta Design in Margaret River (who now shapes for North) - would come up to join as to learn how to kite surf on the flat water before eventually taking the sport back down south to MR.
We need Choicey to get on line and give us his take on the start of kitesurfing in Western Australia,
also Youngy (mate) come on , give us your piece of history as well.
For me there is a couple of people that have been missed in this thread that need mentioning.
While living on Maui in 95 i used to see Laird Hamilton ride from Hookipa downwind on a tow in surfboard and a flewifoil traction kite. He would end his run trying a jump on the way, usually at Sprecs wipe out horribly then have to wined up his lines and swim in, he would then hitch hike back upwind to do the same again.
It wasn't till 99 that i saw a guy at Margret river riding waves on a wake board and a home made foil kite that I realised this was a sport that was practical and not just for some extreme Hawaiian water man.
Any one know who this dude was at Margret's?
Ian Young should post on this, he would be the guy to ask for WA.
Pinaroo Point was one of the hubs of kiting in the early days, a hand full of guys, most of them windsurfers from out behind Little Island off Hillarys boat harbour bought Wipika and Naish two line kites AR3,5 I think and about 6m was the size .This would have been 1999. A few guys from scarboro and all over the place started to come up to Pinnaroo to find other kiters for company.
Pioneers from back then: VBman, Peter Hookam, Louis Duplesis, Dave Casserly, Steve Batchelor, Steve Deleigh
Yeh Aaron is still kiting.
He called not that long ago chasing a 7m OS for charging Margs but unfortunately I was sold out.
Around 1990 I made a small delta kite with floats on the cross-bar and some small lead weights on the wing-tips - sort-of relaunched off the water but didn't think it was worth making a big one.
1993 came across Cory Roeseler's Kiteski water relaunchable waterski system and I finally bought one in 1997. 1998 Bruno Legaignoux asked me to distribute Wipika but I refused to dump Kiteski so Matt Colefax got the gig. I bought my first Wipika from Matt later that year - never sold a single Kiteski LOL.
Over the years I've flown some custom kites made by Neil Taylor and Bob Dawson, Peter Lynn Waterfoils, C-Quads and Arcs, F-One foils, Concept Airs, Flysurfer and most common inflatables. Made a variety of custom boards with Murray Smith and Dave Lewis from 1997 onwards.
Raphael Salles (owner of F-One) and I were the first to kite Margaret River in 1999 and got Aaron Cockman, Marty Littlewood and a few other locals interested in the sport.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~ianyoung/profile_kite.html
