by Sarah Brueggemann Photography by William C. Minarich

A bystanders asks if the practice kite could lift me off the beach. "Nah, it's like putting her on a pony where her feet still touch the ground," replies Cliff Stone, a teacher at South Padre Island Kiteboarding. "She wants to be on a real horse."

I get my wish. Cliff straps me into a harness and sets up a kite with a 20-foot wingspan. As I launch the equivalent of a frenzied stallion, it dashes off, dragging me face first across the water. "How...do...I...make...it...stop?" I gasp between dunks.

"Crash it," Cliff advises. No problem. I let go of the bar, and the kite depowers. (A safety leash still connects me to the lines.) I raise my soaked head, beaming, and shout, "I want to go again!"

In the relatively new sport of kiteboarding, riders attach their feet to boards (similar to wake or snowboards). They are pulled by large traction kites. "It's the best way I've ever found to enjoy two aspects of Mother Nature," says Cliff. "I flirt with he waves and play with the wind. It's complete freedom."

Before students jump on boards and into the air, they spend time learning proper techniques. Most folks require six hours of instruction prior to buying gear and going out with a buddy. My first effort reveals these truths: No one can out muscle the elements, and newbies need all the help they can get.

Luckily, I'm in one of the best spots for beginners. On South Padre Island, Texas, a narrow strip of rolling dunes cradles calm, clear Laguna Madre. "It's very safe, with no obstructions such as rock jetties or markers," says another coach, Shane Gordon. " And since it's so shallow, if you crash you can just walk back to the beach." He adds, "It's kind of like we're cheating, but really we're taking advantage of our natural surroundings."

Almost anyone can master the basics of this daredevil activity. Women excel at kiteboarding because it doesn't require much upper-body strength. A harness lets legs and the midsection do most of the work. Adverturers from ages 68 to 9 (children must weigh enough to handle the kite) have honed their skills here.

Already a surfer, 12 year -old Eddie Hall watched the big guys aviate a times and wanted to try it. On shore today, Eddies pinched, determined fingers straighten out 100-foot-long red and blue lines. "He's getting to the age where it's like pulling teeth to get him to do anything with us," says his dad, David. " Hopefully this will be something we can do together."

When asked if he wants to go pro, Eddies replies matter-of-factly, "Of course."

Just watching the pros is sheer exhilaration. These dynamos hang by a thread, performing back flips, loops and handle passes. Explaining some of the more advanced moves, Shane says, "A varial is when they combine tricks together, sometimes 50 to 60 feet in the air."

"Did you say burial?" I ask.

"No, if you let go, then they call it a burial," he retorts.

This afternoon, at least, I won't get to tackle any tricks. The wind dies, and slight breezes won't sustain larger kites. Any puff of air and I leap to my feet ready for liftoff. "For people who feel the buzz, it's the biggest thing going," says Cliff. "To the rest of the world, well they're still learning."

Kiteboarding in South Padre

Wind, beaches make this island a popular destination

By Julie Bonnin

SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Sunday, May 16, 2004

Why do people from Costa Rica, New Zealand, California and Portugal vacation on South Padre Island, when they could go anywhere in the world?

A big reason that has surfaced in the past few years is kiteboarding.

The extreme and trendier counterpart to windsurfing, kiteboarding first caught on with Europeans, migrated to Hawaii and finally landed on South Padre. The Texas coast’s uncluttered beaches and daily average wind speed of 18 mph make it a favorite destination for kiting, says Brenda Davoren, who teaches the sport and rents equipment there.

Though participants range from kids to 60-somethings, this demanding sport appeals mainly to hard-charging types in their 20s and 30s, Davoren says.

It involves maintaining control of a board beneath your feet as you’re propelled across the water by a large inflatable kite. Imagine waterskiing, sort of, with a kite pulling you along instead of a boat. With any luck, and a great deal of skill, kiteboarders eventually are able to perform stunts 10 to 30 feet in the air.

Padre’s lack of rocky jetties, pesky piers and buildings makes for smoother landings, which is why all those international visitors — and many from across the United States — choose Texas beaches for kiteboarding excursions.

As with skiing, responsible outfitters frequently require lessons before you’re allowed to rent equipment.

“The kites are so powerful,” Davoren says. “Stuff happens.” And the learning curve is akin to snowboarding, she says: “Steep but short.”

Her business, South Padre Island Kiteboarding, offers a six-hour initial lesson, equipment included, for $450. After that, supervised rentals cost $125 a day. Beginners can also purchase land-borne kites to get the feel of things before they get to the beach. Buying all the gear you need can run around $1,500, Davoren says.

The equipment is more compact than a windsurfer’s gear, she says.“It’s easier to get a thrill and to learn,” Davoren says.

And lots of people are learning. Among this winter’s visitors were a group of nuclear physicists from Boston and some snowbirds from Alaska. While they were taking advantage of South Padre’s year-round rentals, Texans are more apt to crowd the beaches for kiteboarding May through September.

If you go . . .South Padre Island Kiteboarding offers a variety of lessons and rentals. For $35, you get a trainer kite and video rental — there’s a basic introduction to get you started and then you have a full day to master your kite skills and watch the instructional video.

But Davoren says most people require six hours of lessons before being able to safely practice on their own. Each three-hour session is $225. There are only two students per instructor. Lessons include equipment and waverunner support. Private lessons are available for $90 per hour, minimum two hours.

Students taking a minimum $225 worth of lessons get $225 credit toward the purchase of gear.Information: (956) 245-8343 or www.southpadreislandkiteboarding.com

JOURNEYS From Sailing To Soaring, The Sea Beckons

By ANNA BAHNEY

Published: May 23, 2003

IT did not take Neil Hutchinson long to get hooked on kiteboarding. A longtime windsurfer, he went out on the water in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., four years ago to try this newer sport, which involves planting your feet on a five-foot board, attaching a waist harness to a kite and then being pulled by the kite as it whips around in the wind 100 feet in the air. (An expert kiteboarder looks like a marionette skateboarder under the control of a manic water-loving puppeteer.) It was exciting and adrenaline-packed, Mr. Hutchinson, now a professional kiteboarder, said recently. "After two weeks of kiteboarding, 20 years of windsurfing went straight out the window."

That is the thrill of discovery, the exhilaration of mastering a previously unknown sport and becoming devoted to it. And there is no better time to go for it than summer, when the nation's oceans and lakes beckon those who have been spending most of the winter lounging on the sofa and watching "American Idol.

"Whether it's kiteboarding or wakeboarding — another relatively new and fast-growing sport — that has piqued your interest, or you have decided that this is the year when you will finally learn a more traditional water sport, like sailing or kayaking, the good news is that most can be learned (if not entirely mastered) over a long weekend. And whether you want to spend that weekend fighting the winds off the coast of Texas, gliding around the islands of Alaska or skimming the warm waters of southern Florida, there are a lot of appealing options.

Kiteboarding

Needing a wind of 8 to 40 knots (as opposed to windsurfing, which requires at least 18 knots), kiteboarding can be found off the Oregon coast, along the Jersey Shore and around the tip of Long Island. But for excellent schools — almost mandatory for a sport that is gear-intensive and tricky to master — avid kiteboarders suggest heading to places like the gulf coast of Texas or Cape Hatteras in North Carolina.

Ryan Riccitelli, the editor of Kiteboarding magazine, said, "If I had to send my mother to learn to kite, I'd send her to Texas or Hatteras." He said these areas are ideal because they have waist-deep flat warm water and consistent wind.

When you have your kiting legs beneath you — or above you, as the case may be — you may be looking for ever-greater challenges. Mr. Hutchinson has begun taking small groups to Cabarete in the Dominican Republic for weeklong kiting trips with his company, X-Rated Kiteboarding. (The "X" is for "x-treme.") With other professional kiteboarders as guides, Mr. Hutchinson's program takes participants to a different area each day for experiences on flat water, on waves and in choppy conditions. ANNA BAHNEY

REAL KITEBOARDING47170 Highway 12, Buxton, N.C., (866) 732-5548; www.realkiteboarding.com

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND KITEBOARDING5208 B Padre Boulevard, South Padre Island, Tex., (956) 245-8343; www.southpadreislandkiteboarding.com

X-RATED KITEBOARDINGwww.xratedkiteboarding.com