Kitesurfing - Kiteboarding Versus Sailboarding

Kiteboarding Versus Sailboarding

	Kiteboarding	Sailboarding
Record Speed	55.65 (WR) knots	49.09 knots
Upwind Capabilities	About 70° from wind direction. The more a kite board tracks upwind, the more its leeward side must edge into the water to resist lateral drag. Upwind riders adopt a similar stance to kite fliers onshore, who slide their feet forward in the beach sand to brake the kite. The kite board's center line is way off the track line, dramatically reducing speed.	About 45° from wind direction (strong wind) depending on the skills of the rider. The sail board's center line runs virtually parallel to the track line, as most lateral forces are encountered by the tail fin and little edging is required. Because of this, upwind courses are fairly fast. Fastest speeds are achieved at broad reach.
Physical Strain on Rider	The traction force of the kite is partly transferred to the rider via the harness loop attached to the harness hook. When "hooked in" the rider uses muscle strength to steer the kite and control the kite power by pushing the bar in and out. When "unhooked" the rider steers the kite using their arms with no depower, which can be very strenuous.	Windsurfing without a harness requires a lot of physical effort, especially in strong wind. With a harness, recovering from a fall or when maneuvering (jibing, tacking) the rider needs to detach the harness completely from the sail, which means that both traction and steering forces are to be countered solely by the rider's muscle. Hooking into the harness again requires additional muscle effort. For jibing maneuvers, muscle effort diminishes as the rider becomes more skilled in maintaining board speed in the jibe.
Fall Recovery	The kite is fairly easy to keep flying during a fall, with 'Hindenburgs' being rather exceptional. The rider can be pulled out of the water by the lift forces of the kite when it is overhead. The kite power can be regulated by changing the angle of attack of the kite.	In light winds, the rider needs to get on the board and pull the sail out of the water. However, in stronger winds, uphauling the sail increasingly requires strength, and eventually become impossible. At such point the board will need to be 'water started'. This means positioning the board-sail combination through swim-tugging into the right wind angle, pushing the sail from underneath (where there is no air) out of the water to let it catch wind, having the body pulled out of the water onto the board using the sail and arm muscle, and effecting a final pull to hook back into the harness. Exactly at that highest point of a beginner's physical exhaustion, the board-sail-rider combination requires full trimming-power attention as it starts to accelerate, often leading to a new crash. This Catch-22 of you-can-only-ride-strong-winds-if-you-can-waterstart and you-can-only-learn-waterstarts-in-strong-winds means that a good number of beginning windsurfers give up, possibly venturing into kitesurfing.
Changing Tacks	Twin tip kiteboards are designed to be bidirectional. If the rider wants to change tacks only the kite's sailing direction must be reversed, while the feet can be kept in the footstraps, as the windward edge doesn't change sides. The terms "jibing" or "tacking" therefore cannot apply. Falling into the water is not a major problem, as riders can quickly and fairly effortlessly execute a water start using the kite to pull them out of the water.	The rider has the choice between tacking or jibing. In both cases the windward edge changes sides, so the rider will need to change footstraps. At high winds the only option to change tacks while maintaining speed is to carve jibe, which is a maneuver that may require hundreds of sailing hours for it to be performed with a reasonably low risk of falling.
Jumping	Kitesurfers can use their kite to jump, without the need for a launch wave. Jumping is relatively easy but can be hazardous.	The rider needs forward speed and a (relatively large) wave as a jumping ramp to get airborne. The sail serves to stabilize the jump. Because of its technical complexity and the required conditions, jumping (and thus 'air time') is reserved to experienced riders only. Jumping is usually practices some distance offshore so object collision (except with other riders) is rare in case of a 'wipe out'.
Aerobatics	Most aerobatics and tricks (tail grab, barrel roll etc.) can be executed without the airfoil's position in the air having to change. Therefore, executing "aerobatics" is only marginally different from executing them on shore suspended by the harness from some fixed point. Beginners may start attempting some basic tricks after the first few weeks or even days.	With most aerobatics the airfoil's position in the air tends to change dramatically, very much like it does in an airplane. Each figure has its own ideal airfoil movement. With some aerobatics like the barrel roll, the rider needs to jump sufficiently high to allow the full length of the mast to rotate forward underneath. Often the risks to the rider of having fast moving and relatively heavy (board + mast + sail) gear so close by are substantial. None of this is similar to any action onshore, and therefore the learning curve is very shallow. As aerobatics are considerably more complicated than jumping (which is a feat on itself), they are the reserve and privilege of only the most experienced of riders, commanding huge respect within the sail boarding community.
Clearance	Clearance of at least 50 meters upwind (from any object) and 30 meters downwind (from another kitesurfer) is required. The risk of being blown into an airborne situation by a strong wind gust is real, effectively turning the kite boarder into an uncontrolled para-glider in risk of hitting any object downwind.	Since there are no kite lines, no upwind or downwind clearance is required from any object other than a kite surfer or fishing lines, which means that windsurfers do not need to worry about 'rotor' or strong wind gusts. Also, they can emergency stop almost immediately. Experienced riders will do this by 'crashing' (with some risk to themselves) while beginning riders (who typically do not wear a harness) can depower the sail instantly by releasing the back hand or letting the mast fall on water. The risk of hitting hard objects or other water-goers is therefore minimal.
Learning Curve	Handling the kite can be largely taught on shore, as kite boarding evolved form beach kiting. On the water, recovery from falling is relatively easy (the kites, especially the newest models, stay normally aloft to pull the rider out of the water, with little effort) as is changing tacks, even in strong wind.	Handling of the airfoil (sail) is learned mostly on the water with some dry practice for beginners. Advanced high wind techniques (e.g. water start) can only be learned in deep water. Recovery from falling is relatively hard, as the rider needs to either up haul the sail standing on the board or water start, which both take physical strength and balance. Water starting is an advanced technique that takes many heavy wind hours to master. At the same time, the risk of falling is relatively high (experts will still have a considerable fall rate in carve jibes). This 'double whammy' of a beginner's high fall risk and high recovery effort results in considerable 'down time' for beginning riders. Changing tacks becomes more difficult in stronger winds, eventually requiring the rider to master the art of carve jibing.
Equipment Safety	In case of material failure or accidents, normal kitesurfing equipment offers limited rescue possibilities. Kitesurfers can perform a self rescue and use their kite to sail back to shore. The last option for the rider is to abandon the kite and kiteboard and swim to shore.	Any sail board will allow the rider to keep the body sufficiently out of the water to postpone or avoid hypothermia. Smaller boards may require that the mast be detached, to avoid sinking. Thus, as a rule, a rider should never abandon the board. Windsurfing equipment is inherently safe in high winds against tea bagging or collisions due to loss of control: In case of too strong wind, the rider can depower the sail instantly by letting go with the back hand or letting the sail drop on water. Doing so (or falling) means that the board stops almost immediately as the sail will act as a floating anchor in water.
Equipment Transport	A kite and kiteboard will fit in most vehicles. An average rider may need two to three kites and one board to ride in a wide range of wind strength.	The sail board and sail mast (even telescopic) do not fit in most vehicles, and need to be transported on a roof rack or trailer. If they do, they will often exclude passengers from the vehicle. Several different sails and boards (and often masts and booms) are necessary to cover the full range of rideable conditions.