Kite Surfing – History

Kite Surfing – History

A water sport becoming very popular now-a-days is kite surfing or kite boarding. A style of wave oriented riding using kites as propel system. This is an extreme sport where the surfer uses board with or without strips to hold and a big kite that acts as a propel system. By managing the kite, he can actually ride on the surface waters. Different styles of kite surfing exist today like, freestyle, wake style, wave riding, jumping, and cruising.

Kite surfing history dates back to 13th century in the Chinese history for the transportation. It was called as kite sailing. In 1800, George Peacock used this method for moving carts on land and ships on water. He use bigger kite taking it to the next higher level. In 1903, Samuel Cody succeeded in developing man lifting kites and able to cross English Channel in a small boat. In 1990, Peter Lynn created kite buggying which became very popular.

Commercial kite surfing model was invented by Bill Roeseler, a Boeing aerodynamicist, and his son Corey Roeseler and named as “KiteSki" system. In 1996, off the Hawaiian coast of Maui, Laird Hamilton and Manu Bertin were made kitesurfing popular. From then new inventions and enhancements made this kite surfing sport very popular. From 2001 onwards, wakeboard style bi-directional boards came into existence.


Kite Surfing – History