Well, what really started as we traveled to Europe for a while back when we were in college
and when we went to Europe we saw really how big the sport could be.
There's a lot of potential in this area to do the sport so we just pushed it and tried
to get people excited about it.
Basically saw the vision when we were able to see the masses doing it and another country
came back and tried to implement it here.
It just naturally intrigued us because it just looked like something that really took
in all the elements that we like to see in any given sport.
Kite boarding is wake boarding without a boat, you're getting pulled by a kite.
It's as simple as that.
You're doing all the same elements you are in those other sports but you're utilizing
the wind to do it, that's your pull.
You can send your kite and jump 30 plus feet in the air if you want to or you can just
keep it low and cruise whatever you feel like doing for the day.
Right now I'm controlling how high my wake boarding line is.
I can put it way up almost above my head, I can put it straight down by the water like
a normal wake boarding boat is or I can do everything in between, I can put it straight
above my head and jump 30 feet.
The thing with kiting that I appreciate about it is that you can do it anywhere, you can
travel with it.
Let's say for instance wake boarding, you can't take your boat and all your gear everywhere
with you.
With kite boarding I can throw my stuff in the back of my car and go absolutely anywhere
and do this sport.
Wind surfing, you have a huge board, you have a huge sail, traveling with it is miserable.
Kite boarding, once again it packs down so small, you can do this sport anywhere.
Michigan is one of the best places in the United States for kite boarding.
It's one of the only places with freshwater inland lakes that gets really consistent wind
I believe.
Do you have to be tragically have to do this sport?
No actually not at all.
Majority of people doing this sport are middle aged, 35, 45 year old working adults.
So these are professionals that are looking for something fun to do outside of the office
on their spare time and that's the core of our scene right now all over the Midwest.
It's a great sport.
I do it with my son which is nice.
We had a boat and you got to have a spotter, you got to have a driver, you got to have
the gas.
Here you can come out and do this by yourself or with a couple people or a lot of weekends
right here.
There's a group of us that are out here so it's great and it's every day is different.
We bought the stuff used and this is actually only my second time out on the board.
What do you think of it?
Tell me a little bit about the sport.
Well like I said I haven't done it that often but I really I want to get good.
We've taught people from all over the state so those people they come here to train because
we have really good training ground up here in Traverse City and then they go to their
local spot you know on any given beach the whole West Coast is incredible.
Some of the inland lakes are really good so people are really doing it everywhere from
Chicago, Detroit, you know the Grand Rapids area, Northern Michigan, Potoskey, the UP.
So there's a chance you can see a kite on any given day when it's windy anywhere along
the coast.
So actually kite board on the water you're going to need your kite board.
The kite board has foot straps on it that you put your feet into.
You're going to need a harness which is what you hook into your bar with because you're
not always just riding unhooked like you are when you're wakeboarding.
You're going to need a bar and line set that connects to your kite and you're going to
need the kite.
So the only things you need to do this sport, you guys have seen some footage of kiting
on the water and all that type of thing but the real reality is here in Northern Michigan
and all of Michigan for that matter, kite snowboarding is going to be huge man it's
like anybody that's ever snowboarded or skied in their life there's no reason you shouldn't
kite ski or kite snowboard.
