Kitesurf Superheros
About how you become a superhero with this amazing sport
As a child I liked to imagine I had super powers like Superman, Flash or Hulk. As I got older I never stopped imagining. I think this happens to many adults, otherwise Batman and Spiderman movies would not be in all theaters in the world with great success.
Can you imagine yourself jumping as Hulk or running as Flash? Since I started kitesurfing some of these dreams become true or are pretty close to. And this is one of the things that make you feel the passion for kitesurfing. It aloud you to do great deeds and sometimes, just for seconds, you feel yourself super powerful.
In the kitesurf world we also have our super heroes, each one with their own super power. Let's have a look:
FLASH would be Rob Douglas, the American kitesurfer who holds the world speed record. He even defeat the Hidroptere, a vessel of many million dollars built with space age materials. So dear reader, the world faster object driven by wind is not a high-tech sailboat, it’s a kitesurfer who used a normal kite gear with a lightly modified board. He did so in Lüderitz (Namibia) in a channel of 6 meters wide approximately, where one mistake means broken bones if you are lucky. In fact Rob broke his wrist when getting it. Too bad he did not have the Wolverine powers to heal and continue sailing the same day.
HULK would be Lewis Crathern with his incredible jumps. He even jumped the Brighton Pier. Many called him crazy or unconscious for trying. He is not crazy because he takes calculated risks. He waited about a year to reach the perfect conditions to jump the pier. I consider him a hero because he seeks to save the planet using his media pull to raise awareness about ecology and the benefits of wind power.
AQUAMAN would be Ben Wilson, who surf the biggest and more powerful waves where a mistake can be fatal. Not coincidentally, he surfed the largest wave driven by a kite; this is because he is a storm seeker and that day in Namotu (Fiji) he found the perfect storm. In my case this would be my favorite superhero because the waves are my passion.
These three cases are extraordinary sport-men breaking records and bringing the kitesurf to new frontiers but don’t think that to jump and navigate you have to be a great athlete or very good technically, anyone with a little practice can jump, navigate and feel the super-powers.
The videos of the records:
