The future of wavekiting

scottnorby · Mon Jul 14, 08 9:47 am

Good point...not sure why I didn't have them on that list?

Morey Y board 5 foot single fin - for lightwind
Morey Y board 5 foot tri fin
And brand new 6'6 Morey Y board QUAD fin---(like a drug it's so fun)

You still riding yours?
Tried it without a fin yet?

broadbandito · Since 26 Apr 2005 342 Posts CSO headwaters WheatHead

Yes, and no, except for when I lend it to the little kids for mush riding.

jahmbi · Mon Jul 14, 08 3:49 pm

scottnorby · Mon Jul 14, 08 5:36 pm

.......uh.
Ok?

...

scottnorby · Tue May 13, 14 7:44 pm

Soft Y quad type kitesurf boards coming soon.
Rubberized skin---picture clear liquid rubber skin.
Memory foam--no heel dents.
There were changes in the manufacturing of the core foam.
A couple businesses hit hard times.
But they are back with the core formula again.
Morey knows how to make them...he invented the first fin box and the original "boogie board."
Anyone willing to experment?

ShiverMeTimbers · Since 26 Feb 2013 381 Posts Gig Harbor Obsessed

scottnorby · Tue Nov 26, 24 8:52 pm

Randomly came across this old thread
Ive moved north
Its amazing here too
But Im curious how the kite surf scene on the coast has developed?
Or did the wings take over ?
Winging wont ever replace strapless surf kiting.

Wind Slither · Since 04 Mar 2005 2595 Posts The 503 METAL

Windian · Since 28 Apr 2008 893 Posts Newport, OR NEWPORT OG

Living here in Newport I watch this place and the surrounding spots from Flos to Beverly Beach very closely. The only change to the kiting scene that I have noticed around here is that the windsports scene (aka kiting, winging, and windsurfing) has dropped off to almost nothing. Crowds are basically non-existent and often times the beach scene looks more like a ghost town than a recreational venue. Traditional surfing is ridiculously crowded around here, but those wave riders are looking for glassy conditions so they are gone when the spots turn on for kiting.

The way I see it is that most of the kitesurfers have switched to wingfoiling, and they stay in the Gorge area since river swell riding is really best done with a foil board. The wingers started to show up here the summer of 2023, but did not return much for this last summer of 2024. Wingfoiling is more fun in the Gorge than it is in hard breaking surf like the Oregon coast. If the wingers do show up around here, it is on the smallest days and they do okay when the waves are docile and gutless. Kiters still rule the lineup when the surf is pumping and generally are the only riders out there in burly conditions. Once in a great while an expert level windsurfer will show up and excel with that craft. It is a good time to be a kitesurfer on the Oregon coast!

shred_da_gorge · Thu Nov 28, 24 8:29 am

I think it was maybe five years ago when I was kitesurfing at Third Ave in SF bay in early spring and asked a guy to help zip my wetsuit. Peter Schiebel walked by with his dog and said "hi Jeff," and that's when I realized it was Jeff Clarke that I was talking to. I asked him why Santa Cruz legends would be here in the bay, and he said they were working on winging which is much better to hone skills in the channel swell than the shore breaks. I can only imagine what they're doing to those coastal wave faces now!

scottnorby · Thu Nov 28, 24 8:46 am

Windian — sounds like a perfect time to be a surf kiter in Newport. I grew up
surfing and living in that area… and when I learned to kite while living in San Diego all I could think about was the NW wind in Oregon all summer long…..and how kiting now meant epic summers in the surf ….. which is actually why I moved back to Oregon.

Slither—As for winging being better than kiting with a surfboard— I agree and disagree.
I have been winging 3 years now and it is the best for tricky launch areas.
Its also amazing to foil around on flat water — feels like a long noseride on a glider surfboard.
And its definitely amazing in the gorge.
But when its head high and cranking in the ocean its hectic dealing with a wing and foil —-especially in the shorebreak.

And I feel being above the water numbs out the intimacy a surfboard has with the texture and shape of wave/water.
Hitting the lip, sprays, floaters, airing off a vert face, and slicing THRU the water still has my soul.
But yeah a long gliding foil session on smallish waves sounds dreamy.

Everytime I am at sunset beach (in Gearhart/Astoria) I still reach for a surfboard and a kite.
It is like living in a video game where you can point at a swell coming in 100 yards out and chase it down.
The ease of using a kite to tow from wave to wave is so empowering.
You can do (or attempt) most anything you can imagine.
But I agree— if it was blowing NW 20 with a 1 foot swell at 15 seconds I
would be psyched to wing.
Are you winging in surf above head high?
Still on the north coast?

Wind Slither · Since 04 Mar 2005 2595 Posts The 503 METAL

Gman · Since 11 Feb 2006 4910 Posts Portland Unstrapped

https://youtu.be/zW7uMH-G2JU

OG · Since 07 Jun 2011 591 Posts Addicted

related to scott norbys question about whether or not winging has taken over coastal wind sports.........

I was in the Ventura area sept/oct/nov. The wind blows pretty regularly at a couple spots and the waves keep shape and are super rideable. There wasnt ever a lot of wind sport folks out, but on the windy days (3 or more days a week most weeks until about mid nov) there were about 6 kiters and a wing or two.

Not a great turn out for good wind and great waves. But Ive also never really thought of the Ventura area as a wind spot. it was a nice surprise.

.....oh ya. Thanks for starting/revisiting a topic that has actually garnered some convo. This place has been a graveyard. Ive thought the last year or so that the excitement of the original community has died down because people have moved on in various ways, but maybe kiting is just dying. Hope not. Ive yet to embrace any type of foiling, just doesnt have the same appeal to me.

Ho-Toe · Tue Dec 03, 24 7:30 am **lips to smack**

As long as breaking waves in the ocean have lips to smack, I'm gonna be smacking them with my kite surfboard Cool

Nice resuscitated archival thread. Smile

JackAubrey · Since 18 Sep 2021 9 Posts Kook

I started kiting about five years ago. I'm 69 years old. I was inspired by wave kiters and it is my ultimate goal. I surfed many years ago (1970's) in southern and central California, but my years away from the ocean kept me from the waves. I became a fitness swimmer to stay in some kind of shape for surfing if the chance presented itself. While visiting Cambria, my wife and I spotted two kiters in knee high waves at some spot and I watched for an hour, utterly fascinated. These guys were riding like three waves every five minutes, maybe more and no paddling! Living in SoCal at the time, I got some lessons in San Diego. Progress was slow as conditions are not the greatest. I never did get in the ocean with a kite, spending my days doing walk of shame in Mission Bay. In 2022 we moved to the Gorge and now call Mosier home. Kiting at the Event Site was a bit intimidating at first, but I got the hang of it. Riding up to the Hatchery and then riding the swell is so much fun, even on a TT. Riding a strapless surfboard is still my goal. I've done it a couple times and just need to practice, but if the conditions are right I just want to get out there and ride around. Soon though, I know I'll be shredding.

Sasquatch · Since 09 Mar 2005 2093 Posts PNW Bigfoot