It’s been a windy year in the Metro Vancouver area so far. I recently posted an article on here about a big windstorm we had back at the beginning of April called ” The first windstorm of 2010,” and since then, it seems we have had quite a few more, though not quite as bad as that one.

A few days ago, it was windy again, with gusts approaching 80 km/h, and a few more trees came down, but this time I got to see something different than the usual branches and limbs strewn across sidewalks. I was walking along the seawall near English Bay, checking out the large waves breaking against the rocks quite nicely, and I noticed what appeared to be a couple of kites flying around above the water. As I got closer to the bank, I could see that each kite was actually attached to a person on what looked like a surf board.

Click for high resolution image

Click for high resolution image

What they were doing was not surfing, but an activity or sport called Kiteboarding. When it’s done on water, it might also be called Kitesurfing. Wikipedia defines Kiteboarding as “a sport in which participants ride a form of surfboard or wakeboard harnessed to a large kite which is controlled by strings most commonly attached to a bar.”

Click for high resolution image

Click for high resolution image

If you feel like you want to try kiteboarding yourself, expect to invest quite a lot of money in the equipment. When I checked out the prices for the required equipment at a local store’s website, I found out that kite prices start at around $1000, and boards are usually more than $500. Of course, you would need to have some training, too.

If you’d like more information about purchasing equipment, the Airtime Boardsports site is a good place to start. Also, you can find out about lessons at the Vancouver Kiteboarding School website.

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