I am keen to get into a healthy, fun new sport on the water. I have been trying kiteboarding latley. Got some lessons, got a Cabrinha Contra 12m with Prodigy 152 board. Went for a month long sabatical to progress and ride everyday and only managed to get the right conditions once where i could go out and go upwind and back.
At my spot, usually a world class spot, there was good wind, but offshore alot, and i am not good enough to go out in that. And nobody around too, not good at self launching or landing.
While i am messing around the whole time, guys are out there having a ball on windsurfers, both beginner and advanced sailors. So i grab a windsurfer and head out on that too, and it was fun.
Is windsurfing more versatile than kiting, requiring less conditions to come together for fun times on the water?
Set up and go alone no problems with a windsurfer - with more experience can i do this with kites?
In the end the weather does what it wants, and it was a unsettled month for sure.
As a first trolling attempt I'll give you 2/10. The windsurfing questions/comparisons are too obvious, and having every water sport already listed on your profile smells a little fishy too.
Hawks Nest is a great spot for many wind directions so I struggle to believe your "always offshore" and "only one day in a summer month" claims.
The sport of trolling is potentially more versatile than either kiting or windsurfing, but you need an initial level of subtlety to get yourself started.
Back to the drawing board with a new login. Good luck.
Assuming you're not a troll, and 'cause I just thought of this and felt like typing it out...
Of course windsurfing is fun. Everything to do with the sea and a board is fun. Is it as much fun as kiteboarding? Given that I, and everyone I know used to windsurf, and now we all kite, I guess the answer is no.
- Sailboards are better in super light winds where the wind drops out to nothing. You can uphaul them and drift along. If a kite crashes in light wind all you can do is self-rescue or swim in. (Realistically these conditions will only happen once in every 20-30 times you go. You're probably better off on a SUP or a surfboard or a bicycle in these conditions.)
- Sailboards are better if you have very limited space to launch in (but they are crap in heavy shore break).
- Sailboards are arguably safer in ultra-extreme conditions where you really shouldn't be out on the water in anything, let alone with a powerful kite that can lift you to great heights.
- The initial learning curve on a sailboard is a little shorter. I was up and riding upwind on a sailboard within an hour. Most people take about a month of practice before they get to kiting upwind and playing easily.
Those things aside, kiteboarding is so far superior in every other way as to not be comparable. You can do everything that a sailboard does, but do it easier, and better, and with less gear and it all fits in the boot of your car. Then there's all the stuff that sailboards can't even dream of doing.
As for versatility, you can kite with a twintip, a strapped surfboard, unstrapped surfboard (of any size), on a skimboard (even a sheet of plywood works fine). In huge surf, flat glass, 2 inch deep, snow, mountains, you name it and you can kite it.
Yeah ,he does sound a bit soft(trollish),windsurfing for sure.
Just learn the right of way rules in the waves,not just sailing in the bay,,then teach the other windsurfers as well
And if your not just trollen,
my apologys,
And keep kiting,way more exciting than poledancing
How about taking a novel approach and doing both? Then you will be able to make your mind up for yourself and not have enough time to post ideas reached under the bridge!
its always fun until someone looses an eye!
on a serious note, i notice windsurfers in decent waves tend to take a beating far more regularly than us kiters... respect to them and no doubt rewarding to them as well , but that doesnt make it fun for me so i will stick to kitesurfing.
Having sailboarded (windsurfed) for many, many years before swapping to kites I am in total awe that you were able to grab a windsurfer and immediately go out and have some fun...........
