The popularity of kitesurfing, which is basically a derivative of windsurfing, is growing steadily. The sport has become much more user-friendly as a result of more recent technological advancements in equipment like Naish kiteboarding and safety measures, which are mainly responsible for most of its expansion.
The fundamentals of kite surfing, or kite sailing as it was once known, have been there for quite some time despite its current increase in popularity; in fact, they were traced back to 13th-century China.
To boost the speed and stability of boats, kite sails were introduced at this time and used for transportation. This function remained the mode of transportation for about five centuries.
In the 1800s, British inventor George Pocock started experimenting with using kite power to pull loads. He started with rocks, worked his way up to boards, then bigger weights. in 1826 Pocock invented the “Charvolant” buggy. The carts are known as the originators of current kite buggying since they used two kites on a line that was almost 450 meters long.
The buggies used to have a top speed of about 20 miles per hour, and according to reports, the “Charvolants” passed the Duke of Gloucester as well as a mail coach, which at the time was the fastest passenger vehicle. The buggy would have to stop and let the Duke pass by again.
In later versions, a four-line control bar for steering was introduced, along with a T-bar for controlling the carriage and fast braking. Surprise that the Charvolant was challenging to handle, yet it finally managed to successfully escape tolls that were enforced at the time against horse-drawn carriages.
Samuel Franklin Cody further improved the use of kites. In World War I, the military used Cody’s idea of “man-lifting kites,” or kites that could lift humans, in place of balloons for artillery spotting.
Furthermore, Cody built a functional canvas kite boat that sailed the English Channel successfully in 1903.
in the 1970s, development of Kevlar and later Spectra flying lines, kite control improved due to the material’s increased efficiency and durability.
Gijsbertus Adrianus Panhuise, a Dutch inventor, was awarded a patent in 1977 for kitesurfing, which is currently known as the sport of being pulled along the water by a kite or parachute-like device while standing on a floating board.
By the middle of the 1980s, Bruno and Dominique Legaignoux, two brothers from the French coast who later created Wipika, were in the early stages of developing inflatable kites.
Early versions of kiteboarding continued to advance during the 1990s. Corey Roesler racing his kite ski device in the Gorge (which was partly built by his father George Roesler, a Boeing aeronautical engineer), and Laird Hamilton lounging in the seas of Maui.
Both were basically sailing downwind, making the sport economical to the majority of people even though it was beginning to attract some commercial attention.
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Then, in 1998, Lou Wainman made his debut in Hawaii, learning to perform stunts that would take the kiteboarding industry years to completely accept. Although it was initially considered an extreme activity, kite surfing is now fairly safe and keeps expanding.
So that is how the spectacular water activity kitesurfing was invented. If you also want to try kitesurfing and looking for gear to perform kitesurfing, Naish kiteboarding will be the best investment to start.