You’ve probably seen them on windy days up and down the coast, when the sky is filled with colorful kites pulling riders across the wave tops. Kiteboarding has been around since 1996, when the first inflatable kite was invented. Since then, the sport has spread far and wide, from the balmy waters of the Caribbean to the near-freezing currents off New York in winter to, of course, the blue expanses of the Central Coast.
Kinsley Thomaswong has been kiteboarding since “pretty much the beginning of the sport.” He trained and became certified with Bruno Legaignoux—the inventor of the inflatable kite and one of the sport’s fathers—in 1996 and hasn’t looked back since. He offers lessons and equipment through his company, XtremeBigAir, and agreed to let the Sun tag along for a lesson with one of his students.
The first thing he teaches any beginner is—surprisingly enough for a sport called kiteboarding—how to fly the kite.
“I recommend people fly the beginner kite for a couple of weeks, get used to producing power with the kite,” he said.
After that, it’s time to sign up for lessons at the water, usually at the Pismo dunes. Kinsley’s student on the day of the Sun visit was Tony Trutanich, a retired Army colonel from Paso Robles whose wife, Staci, bought him the equipment last year as a birthday present.
“I’ve been fascinated by the sport for a long time,” Tony said while Kinsley went through the basics of rigging a kite.
Staci watched while her husband learned to fly a kite in the 25 knot winds. She and her husband wakeboard, so the idea of kiteboarding isn’t entirely foreign to them. She said with a smile that she intends to try kiteboarding, too.
While watching Kinsley hold firmly onto Tony’s harness, the two of them occasionally staggering when a gust of wind hit the kite, my first conversation with Kinsley came to mind:
“So what chance I might get out on the water?”
After all, what fun is writing a sports story on an extreme sport if you’re not out extreme sporting?
“Oh no,” he said. “Not unless you’re a kiter.”
Drag. Of course, he’s the instructor and has been doing this for years. But really, how hard could it be? It’s just flying a kite on a surfboard, right?
As I thought all of this, a gust of wind suddenly turned Kinsley and Tony’s staggering into sliding across the sand. A stronger gust hit, and the sliding became flying. Kinsley lost his grip on Tony’s harness and ate a face full of sand, but Tony kept going. And going. The kite carried him 5 feet into the air—which doesn’t sound like much, until you see someone flung that high against their will.
Managing to turn almost a full 360, he landed headfirst, 10 feet downwind. Hard.
Tony was still moving. Kinsley got to him and depowered the kite. Both men looked like they’d, well, buried their heads in the sand. Tony’s wife ran over to check on her husband and rescue his prescription sunglasses.
“He’s going to feel that for a little while,” she said on returning.
Suddenly, I didn’t feel so bad about Kinsley saying no kiteboarding without practice.
After that kind of tumble in front of a reporter, I made my farewells. It’s hard enough learning a new sport without a member of the media watching. I checked in with Tony a few days later to see how things turned out, and if he still plans on sticking with the sport.
Turns out he didn’t get out on the water that day, but he wants to stick with it.
“It was a pretty good tumble,” he said. “It shifted a few things around, but I still want to try. Just going to lick my wounds and be back out there someday soon.”
Staff Writer Nicholas Walter is pretty adept at keyboarding. Contact him at nwalter@santamariasun.com.
The kit
For those gearheads who feel the equipment is half the fun, here’s what you’re going to need for
kiteboarding:
Kite(s): This isn’t wind surfing or wakeboarding, after all. Beginners will usually start with a leading edge inflatable kite, which has an air bladder along its leading edge as well as perpendicular ribs to maintain its shape and help with buoyancy when it hits the water. Kite sizes range from less than a square meter to more than 20 square meters, depending on wind speeds and rider weight. Most instructors recommend riders have two or three kites to cover a full range of wind speeds.
Control bar: It’s just what it sounds like. The lines from the kite attach to this bar, which the rider uses to control the kite.
Kite harness: No, they’re not hanging onto those kites with their bare arms. The kite attaches to the control bar, which attaches to the harness via a spreader bar to even out the load. Harnesses come in three types: seat (think of a climbing harness that loops around your legs), vest, or waist. Seat types are recommend for beginners, because they spread the load and are easier on the lower back.
Kiteboard: Think smaller, lighter wakeboard. For beginners, bigger is better. Like a 10-foot longboard surfboard vs. a 6 footer, a bigger kiteboard will offer more stability and the ability to stay up longer while you’re still learning.
Wetsuit: With the water temperatures off our coast, this is a necessity. Wind chill makes hypothermia a very real danger, and the added buoyancy means a swim to the shore in the event of an emergency is that much safer.
This article appears in Jun 3-10, 2010.