Taking off on the Central Coast

Cal Poly electrical engineering major Jason Lee kitesurfs just south of Pismo Beach. Kiteboarding is gaining popularity locally. brian kent/mustang daily

By Josh Petray
mustang daily staff writer

Few know about it. Even fewer do it on a regular basis. Still, many marvel over it when they see it.

The sport of kiteboarding is taking off in San Luis Obispo.

“The ocean is a playground with air on demand, extreme hang times and the freedom to catch at least 50 waves in one session,” said electrical engineering senior Jason Lee, a certified kiteboarding instructor and operator of centralcoastkiteboarding.com.

Alternative sports have always had a place here, and being a county clad with outdoor enthusiasts seeking the next big thrill is just the fuel in the fire when it comes to kiteboarding, aka kitesurfing.

Just when it seemed that San Luis Obispo county couldn’t possibly offer another outdoor recreation activity, along it came, and with it a new wave of enthusiasm and curiosity fueling the relatively new sport to unforeseeable heights.

Kitesurfing is a young, growing board sport that’s still in its infancy but rising in popularity. Riders are attached by a waist harness to a large kite that propels them on top of the water on a board similar to a wakeboard, with some modifications. On a more advanced level, riders perform tricks like rotations, grabs, flips and no-handers as they boost off the pounding shore break.

Kinsley Wong is one of those people. From the parking lot at Oceano Dunes on any given day of the week, Wong can be seen busting huge air whenever the wind picks up. A pioneer of kiteboarding on the Central Coast, Wong is a certified instructor for his company, xtremebigair, and U.S. representative of IKO, the international kiteboarding association, as well as a huge boarding enthusiast.

“Back in 1998 there were just myself and Scott Metzger, in 1999 there were about five local riders,” Wong said. “Now, we have at least 30 local riders.”

Since its introduction in the 1990s, kiteboarding has gained both international and local attention. There is a national monthly magazine dedicated to the sport, Kiteboarding, a professional competition circuit for men and women and enough awe-inspiring videos to instill the urge to go kiteboarding in almost any boarding enthusiast. There is also the CCKA, or Central Coast Kiteboarding Association.

Snowboarding, wakeboarding, surfing, windsurfing and paragliding are all extreme sports that Wong has participated in.

“Kitesurfing is just an extension of my interests,” he said. He offers lessons for eager kiteboarders of all levels, and he even does intermediate and advanced kiteboarding lessons for the technically inclined boarders, he said.

In wind-blown places in both Northern and Southern California, kiteboarding is also growing in places like San Francisco Bay, Lake Tahoe, Malibu and San Diego. Riders compete for space with windsurfers and sailors, said Graham Sanders, a certified kiteboarding instructor who began kiteboarding at Lake Tahoe in both snow and water.

“Kiteboarding has grown a lot in the past year, especially up in Lake Tahoe,” he said. His Web site, www.laketahoekiteboarding.com, has helpful tips for beginners. “And it goes off in San Luis Obispo,” Sanders said.

It seems like everyone is curious about kiteboarding and constantly asking us questions when we get out of the water,” said Lee, who is also a team rider for Airwave kites. “That’s when I realized that I could help a lot of these people to learn and enjoy a sport that’s still foreign to so many people.”

Nonetheless, kiteboarding isn’t cheap. A full rig, from kite to board to harness and ropes, will probably cost from around $700 to $1,000 for a beginner-level setup. Still, prices rocket up to a couple thousand for an advanced rig, which have different designs for high performance.

“It’s just that initial investment and the question, ‘Am I really going to like this sport?’” Lee said.

The boards range in price and performance as well, offering different styles like the twin tip, directional and wake-style board.

Once you’re geared up, it’s time to head out to the beach. But where to go? The Central Coast along San Luis Obispo County offers a variety of kitesurfing destinations, including Oceano, Pismo Beach, Morro Bay, Cayucos, San Simeon and Piedras Blancas — all common terrain for kiteboarders at different times of the year with various wind conditions.

Ideally, cruising at somewhere between 10-and 20-knot winds is perfect. Side shore winds are ideal, Wong said.

“Pismo Beach, with its 6 miles long of soft sand, clean water, nice waves, side on shore wind, is one of the best spots to practice kiteboarding,” he said.

But the wind conditions aren’t always predictable. Chances are, you’ll probably spend the afternoon kite flying and not riding with little wind or getting pulled around way too fast when the wind’s too strong, if you don’t have the right equipment, Lee said.

Nobody said that kiteboarding was easy, but with a little effort and a lot of patience, progress is definitely possible, and after the first day of lessons it’s possible you’ll be up and riding, Lee said.

“Kite control is the most important thing for beginners,” Wong said. “And take kiteboarding lessons from a certified IKO school, plus purchase an instructional kiteboarding video and a trainer kite.”

Practice flying a trainer kite as much as you can if you can’t afford to take kiteboarding lessons, he said.

That’s not to mean there won’t be some downfalls to the learning progress.

“There is no avoiding it, you’re going to take some falls,” Lee said.

At the end of spring as the winds begin to downshift, many kiteboarders head north to Piedras Blancas, just a few miles north of San Simeon, for optimal wind conditions through the summer months.

“The kiteboarding season is beginning to fizzle out,” Lee said as he emerged from inside the breakers at Oceano Dunes last Monday. “When June comes around, it’s time for me to head up to Arroyo Laguna for some better wind.”

There’s also a huge array of different kites to use for kiteboarding — whether it be on land, snow, or water — which are all good places to kiteboard, and each kite is designed for different wind and riding conditions.

“For example, you’d want a kite with a larger surface area for days when the wind hasn’t picked up,” Lee said. “But when it’s howling, you’re going to want a smaller, more aerodynamic kite.”

Industrial engineering senior Charles McBride is a relative newcomer to the sport from Malibu.

“I’m trying to get more Cal Poly students and my friends out in the water, because so many people are clueless about it,” McBride said.

When you start to get into it, you realize that there’s equipment for almost every condition, McBride said.

“It’s a mix-and-match game with kiteboarding,” he said. “There’s so much variety in kites and boards.”

For more information on kiteboarding or a lesson, contact Kinsley Wong at www.xtremebigair.com, Jason Lee at www.CentralCoastkiteboarding.com or Charles McBride at www.californiakitesurfing.com.