OK, since kitesurfing kites are known to be able to harness enough wind power to not only pull you along through the drag of the water, but also to be able to suck you up into the sky for huge vertical air and hangtime - maybe this isn't the safest thing to be doing on a skateboard, over a very hard asphalt parking lot, on a skateboard:
But to be fair, I was only using a 3m kite used mostly for training (too small to air with - full size kites are more in the 10m-15m size range), and I was keeping my speed in check. In fact, this run here was just the back half of the short parking lot at the school, and wasn't even downwind, as you can see.
Rich Stadium (home of the Buffalo Bills) is a better, bigger parking lot, when the wind isn't shadowed by the stadium. And until the fat security guards tweedledee and tweedledum up to you in their golf cart and kick you out.
...Ironically - they have stated they could care less that I'm flying a traction kite and yanking myself around the parking lot - they said the problem was I was riding a skateboard!!
Anyone else broken out their kitesurfing gear with their favorite board?
Looks like fun. I sold my Sector 9 bamboo pintail to a dude locally that was planning to mount a sail on it much like windsurfing. Said it was fun, but I windsurfed once and wouldn't dare to try it on pavement.
It's not hard to turn at all, in fact you can go both downwind and upwind, just like sailing - and IMO even easier than on the water or snow... urethane holds a solid edge.
With a big parking lot (watch out for those light poles) you can cruise all around, any direction - just like a sailboat - same rules, same techniques.
I just put on a jacket and hold the ends of the zipper in each hand like a cape. 60mph tailwind = 20-30mph across a bike path. It was intense. My friend's dad has a big lexan kite...
the faster the wind the better! I was on vacation riding around the casino parking lot (which is huge), and getting hit by microburst winds, it was a lot of fun!
I used to work at a restuarant and they chuck out these huge flattened bits of cardboard from the boxes some of the food comes in. A couple of times since I quit from there I have gone down the back of it and stolen them before they reuse them because they make really really good sails for a nice windy night when there are no cars on the road. Just on a regular trick stick I managed about 20-30kph in fairly good winds at night, but It was a bit dodgy because I was on a trick stick so when I started to get even faster I had to footbrake to prevent speed wobbles. Great fun.
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You definitely NEED an open area - houses and even trees create what's called a "wind shadow", where your kite may have plenty of wind when you are flying it high, but when you attempt to drive it lower to give you pulling power, your wind dies because the trees and houses are blocking the wind.
Besides the college campus parking lots, stadiums often have good open areas...
The college that I was in there actually has property that is directly adjacent to Rich Stadium, home of the Buffalo Bills - so it creates a tremendously large treeless area, with the stadium way way way at the far end - all the parking is on the college campus side, and in fact meets up with the college campus parking lots.
I don't think you'd want to do jumps with a kite - not over pavement. Bear in mind, I'm going very slow as my wind was actually nearly 90 degrees to my left, as you can see - not even in front of me. I was using my traction and steering my kite to get a little forward pull - it takes work, it's hardly boring!
With a regular kite - say, on the water - you can pull air enough to yank you a good 20 feet or more into the air...
...NOT a good idea over asphalt! :-O
But, if you decide to try (I'M not encouraging you, lol), please take video to share!!!
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Very cool...
Same thing as a kite, but a little more limiting - less control over the wing (little movements become darty), plus windspeed at the ground is a lot less than it is up higher in the air - that's why kite lines are so long. You can get a lot more airtime with a kite!
I bet that's a lot less expensive though, that's a huge plus.
a 3m trainer kite is actually perfect for skateboards- that's what i use anyway. any bigger than that and it will pull you off the board if you let it get into the power zone. but learn to fly the kite before you jump on your skateboard. with proper technique you could have been carving all over that lot.
you can pick up a trainer kite with an instructional video on ebay for $50. watch the video and take the kite out for awhile before you get on your board. it will make it a lot more fun and less painful when you get on it.
highly recommended!
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Ok I've done something like this, not as extreme as attaching a sail to your board and not as lame as just holding out your jacket. On a windy day on the boardwalk in VB (no buildings to block wind coming in off the ocean). That's also why the surf sucks on the east coast, because the wind always blows on shore. We took an old sheet and ripped the seam at the top where it's folded back on itself, threaded a broomstick through the pocket that the hem makes and made a hand sail. You ball up the other end and put your front foot on it so it doesn't catch your wheels and go sailing. The advantage to the kite is you don't have to fear buildings and light poles. You can go anywhere there is wind. If your on the coast in the winter there's lots of wind. We even rode double with each of us holding 2 corners of the sheet. The biggest disadvantage is you go so far so fast it's a long walk back. With 2 cars you can manage. Drop one car off at the down wind end. Drive up wind. Skate back to the first car, then drive back and get the other car. You'll want to go far so you won't have to make to many trips and you can skate longer. That video of the parachute brake suits reminds me of what we did only in reverse. We used it to gain speed instead of losing it. We go going at least 25 or so, it was really windy.
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I kiteboard.
I do it on the water mostly these days.
I still kite landboard once in a while.
I have a 3.3 meter foil and a 5.5 meter foil for land.
I have a whole bunch of LEI kites for the water 9m c kite, 11m c kite, 11m bow, 12m c kite, 14m bow, 14 m c kite, 17.5m c kite, 17m c kite, 15m c kite.
I kiteboard every single day I can possibly get out.
For landboarding you wanna maybe start looking at a mountainboard or a Dirtsurfer and get off the pavement.
I also have a Kitewing, it's not less than a kite.
Kitewing and a Dirtsurfer on the beach is badass.
I kiteboard quite a bit - albeit not on a skateboard often...
Understand two things about that video:
1) the parking lot was perpendicular to the wind direction, nearly exactly.
2) the wind was hardly up enough to keep the kite up - in fact quite a few times we had to jump off the board and run backwards, tugging, just to keep the kite up.
3) we aren't on the beach here - there's wind shadowing everywhere, if not the college campus in the video, the trees behind us, and Rich Stadium to the left.
Skateboarding by wind power, with a sail
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