Earlier I showed some pictures of kitesurfing from the old days. then from Harald Mijnsbergen, at the time owner of kitesurf shop Extremity that no longer exists. This time I will go further back in time. Perhaps to 1999. To the time of the first generations of kites and kiteboards in production. I'll take you even further back in time but first this cool kitesurf photo.
Kitesurfing without depower
You see me here set off on a wave like a rocket launching into the sky. Still a beautiful jump and certainly in combination with a directional kiteboard. The kiteboard in the photo is a Brunotti kiteboard sponsored by, and in the colors of, energy company NUON. Now Vattenfall. This kite is a Wipika Free Air 8,5 meters.
An old-fashioned two-line drawstring bag as we called it after that.
The Free Air could already be converted to a 4-line kite, but in this photo I'm going old school with two lines. Completely without depower. The only help was the trapeze as windsurfers know it. The photo was taken by my brother. He also wanted to learn kitesurfing at the time, but kept it after a one-way ticket Oostvoorne - Maasvlakte seen.
Pumping with the legs
You can imagine that kitesurfing in the early years was very different from kitesurfing today. And so it is. The force on the legs and arms was considerable. It was more than a workout to kitesurf over the water and keep everything in line. The wipe-outs were unprecedented and it took a while to come to a stop. Let alone slow down when you had a gust of wind for your choosing. Yet we were unable to keep away from the water. That has always been the case for me.
