Future

[Tyler Sitzes]

Where is this sport going? and How is it going to get there?

[jason_ssr]

Its really too new to tell. The big drawbacks for it have been risk and cost. In wakeboarding you can invite anyone out to give it a shot. You just thrw your board on them and let them try it. You cant just hand someone a kite and let them try it. So everyone who rides needs to be trained to do so, just like driving a car. Not everyone who is curious about the sport will want to cough up dough to be trained. I dont think I would have started wakeboarding if I had to take classes on it.

The cost has also limited the sport to those who really love it, because kites were so expensive. Any sport that plans to grow and evolve has to have a youth factor. Its the young people coming up that always push board sports. However, most kids cant afford the setup....until now. A couple of companies have dropped the old school distribution lines and gone to online direct sales. This drastically reduces the price. It not only reduces the price of new gear, but it really drops the prices in the used market. Now, for what you pay retail for a wakeboard, bindings and rope, you can get a couple of kites and all the gear.

Kiteboarding is at an exciting time. Its like wakeboarding was 7 or 8 years ago. Riders are pulling new tricks every other day and coming up with new ideas. They have alot more to work with as they have unlimited height, hangtime, and speed. They are also not limited by location or condition. This makes for alot of very different styles and lots of things to try.

[h2oslider]

Right now it looks like the sport is heading here. Thank goodness too, i hated showing all my buddies the ballerina days of kiting.

http://www.aclproductions.com/videos/autofocus/AF_Trailer_med.mov