Loving the strapless kite surf!
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 12:24 pm
My kiting buddy has been extolling the virtues of riding strapless for years. I had a bad experience trying a strapless surfboard when I was still a kite kook that put me off the idea for a year, but eventually I was becoming aware that the straps on my surfboard were the limiting factor in my enjoyment.
The same guy was kind enough to sell me an Airush Chop Top 5'3" for $100 which turned out to be a super fun and easy surfboard to master strapless riding on. I ended up spending the last 2 weeks of a month in Baja last winter riding strapless everyday until it felt as normal as riding strapped. That was a cool feeling...
My original surfboard was a Slingshot Tyrant 6'2" and I've tried that strapless a number of time and never loved it. So I put the straps back on it for jumping and so my GF who is just wrapping up her kite learning curve can start on a directional. I figure get her riding the Tyrant with straps and then when she is solid on it move her to the Chop Top strapless.
I bought a Slingshot Celeritas 5'8" last month [strapless version] which is super fun and feels more high performance than the Chop Top. I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time on it this winter.
And to keep the strapless stoke rolling I sold a TT and bought a Beachdog Skim to ride on the less than epic days where my surfboards are like bringing a chainsaw to a knife fight...
http://www.thekiteboarder.com/2012/08/r ... kite-skim/
Funny how after a year my quiver went from zero strapless boards to 4 out of 6 strapless...
Anyways glad I found this board. I'm stoked to learn lots from the posts here.
safe riding,
Vik
http://www.thelazyrando.com
