US Airways - May 2014 - (Page 28)

Adventure 28 MAY 2014 usairwaysmag.com Airborne on the Pamlico Sound in North Carolina SINCE EARLIEST MAN WE'VE YEARNED TO FLY, AND KITING IS A WAY TO EXPERIENCE THAT. - Roger Mosley, XL Kites instructor figure eights, feeling its power rise and fall. I learn to work the control bar (like bike handlebars, not a steering wheel), and when I crash the kite, I learn how to relaunch it from the water. "The wind's picked up - this is too much kite," says Palermo. He jumps on his board and flies it to the beach to get a smaller, 14-meter one (that means square meters; the number measures area, not wingspan). Soon I'm practicing body dragging - putting the kite in the power zone so it can pull me through the water. Choctawatchee Bay offers beginners the advantage of different shorelines to maximize onshore wind and shallow water to make it easier to recover from spills or, if need be, slog back to shore (aka the walk of shame). So does Pamlico Sound in North Carolina, where REAL Watersports has taught thousands of kiters in the steady wind that brought the Wright Brothers to the Outer Banks. "In the beginning it was all single guys and some girls," recalls REAL's Trip Forman. "But now, a dozen years later, those people have had kids, and the whole family is kiting. We've taught ages seven to seventy-five." PHOTO BY NATE APPEL/REAL WATERSPORTS with the bidirectional "twin-tip" board among the most popular. Prices for a kite, board, and harness start at around $1,500. Regular kiters have a "quiver" of two or three kites in different sizes - smaller kites for stronger winds or lighter kiters, bigger ones for lighter winds or heavier kiters. When XL Kites instructor Roger Mosley started kiteboarding in 1999, he learned by trial and error on Wisconsin lakes, which led to close encounters with shoreline trees. "What it took me nine months to learn I can teach you in six to nine hours," he says. "Our lessons last three hours. In the first lesson you learn kite control. In the second you learn how to put kite and board skills together." In the optional third lesson, the instructor uses a Jet Ski to follow the student and move the kite into position, which allows more board time and accelerates progress. Starting on the beach with a small practice kite, I learn about the wind window. Imagine: your back to the wind, a half-dome radiating from you, defined by the kite's range of motion. I learn to "park" the kite directly overhead, neutral position in the wind window, and practice flying it at different angles in the power zone; for cruising, the sweet spot is around 45 degrees. Then Palermo brings out a full-size kite in a backpack-size bag (a packed kite and a board fit easily in a car trunk). He shows me how to unfurl it, inflate it with a hand pump, and rig it. Some of his past students zip around offshore beneath their own colorful crescents. In general, he tells me, the ideal wind for kiteboarding is onshore or side-onshore (coming off the water at an angle). A ten-mile-an-hour wind is enough to get going; windsurfing requires at least twice that, which along with kiteboarding's shorter learning period and more compact gear, explains why many windsurfers have switched to the newer sport. Standing in the bay, I practice flying the kite in http://www.usairwaysmag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of US Airways - May 2014

Table of Contents
Perspective: CEO Letter
From the Editor
Making It Happen
Wine & Dine: Encinitas, California
Wine & Dine: Benjamin Steakhouse and The Sea Fire Grill
Diversions: Western North Carolina Cheese Trail
Adventure: California State Parks
Adventure: Kiteboarding
Connections: Everybody's Business
Style Spotlight: Petal Power
Great Escapes: Los Cabos, Mexico
Great Escapes: Melbourne, Florida
Gear Up: Mother's Day
Travel Feature: Victor Hugo's Paris
US Airways Feature: Serving Those Who Serve Us
Hidden Treasure: Central Arkansas
Best of Health: Miami Beach Foot & Ankle Surgery
Great Dates: Eastern Music Festival
Puzzles
Readers Resource Index
Your US Airways Guide
Audio Entertainment
Video Entertainment
U.S. and Caribbean Service Map
International Service Map
Airport Terminal Maps
oneworld alliance
Passenger Info/Contact US Airways
US Airways MarketPlace®
US Airways Fleet/Customs & Immigration
Window or Aisle?

US Airways - May 2014