Sizzlin’
The best wave kiter I know happens to ride the oldest gear on the water. Joe “Sizzling Al” Turkiewicz bought a set of original 2001 Wipika Airblast kites and has been riding them ever since. In the meantime, the kiteboarding industry — and more specifically kites — have evolved significantly by introducing safety features, higher performing designs and new materials. Despite all of the new whiz-bang features on kites, it remains that on the windiest days in the Gorge you might see only Joe out terrorizing waves on his original kites and strapless surfboard. Hoards of new gear have emerged, but they still haven’t made someone smoother or more aggressive on the “nuclear” days than Joe.
Photo courtesy Jim Semlor
This entry was posted on Monday, July 2nd, 2007 at 4:10 pm and is filed under Outdoor Sport, Sustainability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 3rd, 2007 at 5:50 am
“Hoards of new gear have emerged, but they still haven’t made someone smoother or more aggressive…”
So true of nearly every gear-based sport/lifestyle. Talent and passion still accounts for the majority percentage of what it takes to excel. Gear is secondary to the pursuit…
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:02 am
Here’s a pretty cool vid of high performance windsurfing in The Gorge. Its worth a quick peek.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a__6CpXm3YM