King of the Air komt steeds dichterbij ds is het ook tijd om terug te kijken. Greg Thijsse, Kaapstad local van het eerste uur en nu jurylid, kijkt terug op de beginjaren van het kitesurfen in Zuid-Afrika.
Tell us a bit about the early days?
The early days of kiteboarding were quite hairy. Firstly there were no formal schools and almost no way to buy gear. Most people imported their own kites or brought them into the country after seeing the sport abroad where it took off before it did in SA. This was the late 1990’s. People took to water on literally any big power kite capable of pulling you into the air. They also used all sorts of boards from windsurfing boards to skis.
Once you had your gear you were on your own, the lack of schools, meant no help or lessons of any kind. Crashes and broken equipment and bones were inevitable. There’s no doubt that everyone who learnt how to kite board during these early stages has a few ‘kitemares’ to share.
From around the year 2000 and onwards formal kite shops popped up here and there distributing certain brands and offering lessons. From here onwards things became a little easier. The equipment however was still in its infant stages as the sport was so new. The first kites had no depowering mechanisms. This meant that if you were in sh*t you were in sh*t and that was that. It was like going into a corner at full speed and being unable to brake.