<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> kite Surfing Holidays - Outdoor Activity Holidays in Wales,UK

Activity Centres| Brochures | Packages | Images | Articles

Home | Add Site | Vouchers | Contact Us | Archives

Kite Surfing holidays in Wales UK

For more information on kite surfing holidays in Wales call activity Wales on 01437 766888 or email fran@activitywales.com

It's not every day you get the chance to say "I told you so", but back in 2001 when Activity Wales were first interested in looking at the new sport of kitesurfing, this was a sport, we claimed, that was going to be the 'next big thing' for extreme/wind sports enthusiasts, not just in Wales either! Four years down the line (three at the time of writing) those appear to be words that will not, for once, have to be eaten, as kitesurfing/kiteboarding has indeed established itself as the most happening new extreme/wind sport out there. If you're a dedicated follower of street fashions you'll already know, Kitesurfing is the new black. And not just in Wales either!

Back in 2001 when we took our first look at kitesurfing in Wales, we were dealing with a sport that was very much in its infancy (less than 3 years old at that time), and a Welsh kitesurfing scene that had barely begun to develop. The infant has been growing fast and we're now looking at a vastly improved and developed sport in general and a level of activity in the Principality befitting what Wales has to offer this latest addition to the world of radical board action.

French Connection...

So what's all the fuss about? After all, as our windsurfing friends will tell us, there's nothing new about powered boarding, they've been at it for over 20 years! What's interesting about using a kite to power a board is the mixing of old and new technologies: while a modern board is shaped to the millimetre and made from space age materials, the kite is said by some to be the second oldest toy in pre-history. So when record breaking French speed windsurfer Manu Bertin pioneered a working principle for using a kite instead of a fixed sail to power his board in 1997, he not only unlocked the doors to a whole new world of powered board sport, he was following in a great tradition of kite power invention that can be traced back through centuries and across continents.

In the modern context, people had been trying (without great success) to use power kites to move along on the water ever since British design/manufacture house Flexifoil International released their first, eponymous, Flexifoil Stacker kite in the late 1970s. Until Bertin's crucial intervention, the closest anyone had come was American Cory Roeseler who had developed a kite-powered water ski rig by the early 1990s. Although 'KiteSki' worked it wasn't particularly 'user-friendly' on a mass level and the idea was never properly commercialised. Bertin's board savvy was combined with another piece of French innovation: a kite which used inflatable tube stiffeners to give it a frame structure and, importantly, enabled the kite to float on the water awaiting re-launch if it crashed.

Maui wowie...

When Bertin took his rig off to the epicentre of the surf world in Maui, Hawaii, the cat was well and truly out of the bag and slick, aggressive, American commercialisation was quickly applied to the stylish French concept. Windsurf legend Robby Naish was first to see the potential, immediately buying a license for Naish Sails to manufacture kites using the 'inflatable' frame concept under the Naish Kites banner. Other manufacturers, such as Britain's only serious contender Flexifoil, were using a paraglider-inspired air foil kite principle at that time, but the inflatable framed kites quickly began to dominate in competitions and, inevitably, the market place. Today, even the most principled old-school air foil kite manufacturer has water re-launchable, inflatable kites in their catalogue for the very simple financial reason that that's what people see in the videos, DVDs and mags, ergo that's what the market wants.

What people are seeing, and what makes the sport so attractive, is the ability not simply to have a great boarding experience ON the water, there's an incredible amount of action going on ABOVE the water, several metres above at times. The pioneer kitesurf generation quickly discovered that kites could be used to catapult you into the air, with a succession of increasingly gymnastic and technical tricks to perform once up there. The 'freestyle' discipline quickly became a massive crowd-puller and was a natural basis for early kitesurf competitions to be judged. Freestyle is still the most visually exciting kitesurf discipline and there are two freestyle competition world tours, which kitesurf manufacturers heavily support as it's far and away the biggest draw for potential new customers. Britain can already boast two world champion freestyle kitesurfers: Canary Islands based exile Mark Shinn winning both world tours in 2002 riding for Robby Naish's company; followed by Flexifoil sponsored teen sensation Aaron Hadlow, all 16 years old of him, winning the coveted PKRA world title in 2004. Other disciplines have now joined the competition circuit, with wave riding, speed sailing and long distance crossings now able to operate as stand-alone activities and attract the necessary sponsors.

It's true to say that the kites, with their increasingly sophisticated design, control systems and safety systems, are a world away from the early models which, by today's standards, were dangerous to the point of being lethal. In fact, as you'd expect from an extreme sport, a lot of the attraction is in the combination of risk and fun, the ideal stimulus for that big adrenalin rush many people demand from their 'leisure' these days. Accidents will happen and in the early days they certainly did, some of them fatal, too many in avoidable circumstances. What kitesurfing has learned since is that it's better if the risk is whether you can do the move/trick you're trying, not whether you're going to end up in hospital. Safety first, second and third. There's plenty of thrill to be had just getting up on the board without taking foolishly unnecessary risks with your life.

Westward ho...

Not surprisingly, kitesurfing's first toe-hold in Britain was down in that south western enclave of (subversive) board sports, Cornwall, but once it broke out of Cornwall it quickly established itself in centres all over the country. Exposed to the Atlantic and Irish Sea winds as it is, and with hundreds of miles of coastline and outstanding beaches, Wales has quickly become a serious focal point for kitesurf activity, natural really considering that kitesurf's predecessor, windsurf, has been well established for many years, all the way round from the Severn estuary in the south to the Dee in the north. Wales was soon able to proudly boast not just one, but three British champions of the fledgling sport. Ben Hanbury and Kirsty Jones, of Big Blue Kitesurfing, carried off the 2001 UK men's and women's titles from their base in Pembrokeshire, and in 2002 Anglesey-based Alex Tritten, of Fun Kite Sports, followed them by becoming UK men's champ. Wales' place as a centre of excellence - past, present and future - is well assured and you can learn whatever it takes to become a future champion from these past champions, now sharing their skills and wisdom at kitesurf schools here in Wales.

Keep the wind at your back and go big...!!!

Kitesurfing equipment is now fantastically sophisticated. Competition in the market has led to incredibly fast evolution, boards and kites are now designed with the benefit of seven years of hindsight and development. There's no more 'make it up as you go along' about it, the progression is technical, scientific and totally awesome. It's all geared to max-ing your fun while minimising your risk. The kites are designed for smooth, responsive flying and now incorporate de-power and quick-release safety systems as standard, to help you control whatever situation you might find yourself in on the water. It inspires confidence and helps you learn faster. Symmetric, twin-tipped boards (inspired by snowboards) that can go in both directions have simplified the learning process still further and when you decide to give it a try, everything will be geared to you getting real excitement on your very first day, safely. And the good news is that there are two permanent round-the-year centres in Wales where you can learn kitesurfing, not simply from an expert but, as we said, from a champion!

Words by Jeremy Boyce, photographs flexifoil, Alex Tritten FKS & Bill Stark