#kiteskating

The fascination of skating on water with the help of a stunt kite - we spoke with two talented Flysurfer team riders, Eduard Wieandt, 14-years old from Frankfurt and Volker Kremer, 32-years young from Kiel, who have been skating and kiting for years. They are the fore-riders of a new kind of trend sport on the water, equipped with a wake skateboard and a kite. No more straps or bindings - this is real freedom for tricks!  Rotations, spins, flips, everything is possible. Thanks to the combination of two kinds of sports, yesterday's „asphalt surfers" are the „wave skaters" of tomorrow, and are now called „kite skaters".

Kitesurfing has been developing consistently for the last 10-years. Various disciplines such as old school, new school to freestyle, wakestyle and kite skating continue to grow. In the 60's, skateboarding developed out of surfing, and skateboarders were called „asphalt surfers". The revolutionary development of polyurethane wheels really got the sport rolling. Today, a new generation of skateboarders are going „back to the roots" and skating with a kite. Wakestylers in Hawaii first came up with the idea to "skateboard" on the water. What was necessary to make this dream happen? A wake skateboard and a kite. Anyone with skating or kiting experience can pick up the sport easily. Thanks to the kite, wakeboard lift is no longer required.

„I got inspired a long time ago by videos of Jason Stone on Maui", explains Volker Kremer, „but the materials then were not as advanced as today's materials." In the last few years,  board development has come a long way. Wakeskates for kiters have less of an arc, so they have increased glide and upwind performance. Another advantage is: without a binding the impact after a jump is not quite as hard. „So the risk of getting hurt is less", says Eduard Wieandt. Thus, you can keep learning new tricks, high waves, spins (turning the board on the vertical axis) and flips (turning the board on the direct axis) in all of their endless variations. Volker has the optimal spot in Stein near the city of Kiel/Germany. Already an experienced skater, he lives for the mirror-flat water with constant winds. „With more wind, we get 2m high kicker waves. Landing tricks in these is just awesome", according to Volker. Since the obstacles (skating obstacles, e.g. kickers) are not stable in contrast to the ones built in urban jungles and training conditions are always changing, you have to approach tricks with a healthy respect. New moves can take a lot of effort sometimes, and you have to go step-by-step. „It just makes you happier when you finally nail the trick", enthuses Eduard.