Flying high

Danette Goulet

They streak across often rough and choppy seas, gliding at speeds up

to 40 mph and jumping anywhere from one to a legendary 80 feet in the

air.

They are the adventurers that can be seen out on the ocean in the late

afternoon who appear to be attached to both a parachute and surfboard.

After four years in existence, the extreme sport of kite surfing

boasts a relatively small yet growing number of enthusiasts in Huntington

Beach and across the world.

Steve Kent, owner of Kites Etc. on Pacific Coast Highway in Sunset

Beach, has been kite surfing for a little more than two years.

“It’s one of those sports that’s just encompassing once you get into

it,” said Kent, 47, who offers lessons to those wanting to learn the wild

new sport.

For him, the sport was a progression from kite flying, stunt kites and

dune buggy kite racing across the dessert.

“It encompasses everything -- surfing, windsurfing, kite flying . . .”

Kent said.

Powered by a huge, arching kite, similar to that of a para-glider and

harnessed to the waist, a kite surfer is pulled across the water on a

small surfboard with straps. As a kite surfer becomes proficient they can

begin to catch air on waves, jumping progressively higher into the air.

Most often, Kent said, people come to him with some form of board

knowledge, from surfing or wake boarding, but no kite knowledge. It is a

relatively easy sport to catch on to, he said, but before people even hit

the water they need to learn how to fly the kites that power the sport.

Before Kent will sell anyone kite surfing gear, which runs upward of

$1,000, he requires them to take a six-hour class -- on dry land.

Proficiency and know-how are key, kite surfers say.

Before even talking about how cool their latest sport is, a group of

friends who have been ripping it up at the north end of Bolsa Chica State

Beach for 15 years on surfboards, sail boards and most recently as kite

surfers, wanted to talk about the potential dangers of kite surfers

sharing the waves.

“Wind surfing and kite surfing don’t mix -- they can never be in the

same traffic zones,” said Hank Bruflodt of Huntington Beach. “It’s the

skier/snowboarder dilemma, but even more so. Outside of that it’s a

bitchin’ thing to do.”

Created in France and made popular in the huge surf and heavy winds of

Hawaii, Bruflodt, who has been kite surfing for four months now, first

witnessed the sport three years ago.

“A long time ago I was surfing with friends who had gotten into sail

boarding. I told ‘em they weren’t real surfers anymore. I got on [a sail

board] once. I was hooked -- that was 14 years ago,” Bruflodt said. “When

kites came along I wasn’t going to let that happen again.”

Although he has learned to maneuver and respect the power of the

kites, Bruflodt and his buddies come into the sport from the water angle.

“Anything you can do on the ocean -- kiting is one more excuse to get

in the ocean,” Bruflodt said.

For his friend Mike Green, a big part of the attraction was that it

took less wind than wind surfing, which is limited by the light winds in

the area.

“[Kite surfing] is something you can do more often,” explained Green,

a Newport Beach resident and the avid kite surfer of the group. “There

aren’t that many suitable days for windsurfing -- there are a lot of

kite-able days.”

In the summer there are easily four days a week that a kite surfer can

find ideal conditions, Green said.

The prerequisite to be a kite surfer: “You have to be born stupid and

insane,” Bruflodt said, laughing.

It can be potentially pretty dangerous, Green added.

“You’ve got be to willing to take your licks,” chimed in their buddy

A.J. Aschenbrenner, a longtime windsurfer who has been kite surfing only

once. He wanted to wait until it had been around a little while and the

equipment had been thoroughly tested and upgraded.

“But it’s a cool sport -- I’m sure I’ll do it more,” he added. “I’m

just too stoked on windsurfing.”

Despite the crossover in participants, tensions between the different

water sports have been high, the group said.

“There’s a lot of politics in the mix,” Aschenbrenner said. When kites

go down, effectively blocking the surf zone for other water sports they

can potentially cause a wind surfer to wipe out and damage equipment

worth thousands of dollars, he said.

Proficient kite surfers are constantly policing themselves and others,

the group said, in fear that some careless, reckless kooks will get them

all kicked out of the surf.

The lifeguards at Bolsa Chica State Beach know them, they said, and

know they are capable and careful, but one careless, inconsiderate person

could ruin it for all of them.

The spot to learn, they said, is Belmont Shores in Long Beach, where

there are no waves and students are less likely to tangle lines.

So why can you always find this new age Pump House Gang of the winds

at the north end of Bolsa Chica?

Easy.

“It’s one of the windier spots right here at Warner point,”

Aschenbrenner said. “If you look at a map, the beach comes out. The wind

comes right through here -- that’s why we come here.”