
How kiteboarding was invented - hhs
https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/how-hackers-won-the-water
======
random3
Chris Moore was one of my kiteboarding trainers in Providenciales, TK. While
hanging out he shared quite a few stories. A few years ago, after I learned
how to stay upwind in TK I flew to Maui. I flew Cabrinha and Naish kites only
to realize that both were born in Maui. That prompted me to dig more into the
Kiteboarding history, how things started, what everyone was doing around the
world and how they intersected to merge into what is now kiteboarding. It was
fascinating, I wish I had documented it ..

I'm glad this article came out, although I think it would be worth a deeper
look and more details about how the hacking took place - the story of how a
modern sport gets born. It's amazing how things that were happening across the
world crossed paths and merged into the modern kiteboarding just before the
Internet became a thing.

I think kiteboarding was very much a hacking exercise. Couldn't see the
article mentioning this but here's a bit of youtube history
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxtZzMMYO_I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxtZzMMYO_I)

------
Maarten88
The connection between kiteboarding and hackers might be a bit far fetched,
but somehow there are many entrepreneurs who are into the sport. There is a
Founders Kite Club, exclusively for entrepreneurs who kitesurf. In the
Netherlands we have an Kiteangels community, who do regular kitesurfing
"downwinders" along our coast, kitesurfing trips and network for our
businesses.

Kitesurfing is now more or less mature, the hacking is now happening in foils:
surf foiling, wing foiling, sup foiling, e-foiling, many people are tinkering
and hacking to invent new sports.

[https://www.founderskiteclub.com/](https://www.founderskiteclub.com/)

~~~
character0
I don't think the article is claiming kite boarders = computer hackers, but
instead is saying that the innovators in the kite boarding community hacked
together better kites and rigs using a variety of tools and methods

------
paulgerhardt
This article if fairly accurate. Kiteboarding is unusual in that everyone
basically agrees it was "invented" by a bunch of people and not an individual.
The contributions of the Legaignoux's, Roeseler's, Don Montague, and not
mentioned Lou Wainman all helped popularized it.

A lot of this is captured in "UPWIND - Launch of a Sport"[1].

In terms of prior art, there's an amusing anecdote of Benjamin Franklin(!)
pulling himself across a pond with a very large home built kite in the
1710's[2].

As a sport, kiteboarding is wonderful. It's mentally demanding in the same way
piloting aircraft is while physically demanding in the way, say, snowboarding
is. There is immense satisfaction in throwing around a huge 12 square meter
sail with the flick of wrist while an intimacy and sense of flow that comes
with riding out on the water in solitude exposed to the elements and not boxed
in by a vehicle or craft.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLKMSJTtypU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLKMSJTtypU)

[2] [http://mentalfloss.com/article/71431/time-ben-franklin-
casua...](http://mentalfloss.com/article/71431/time-ben-franklin-casually-
invented-form-kitesurfing)

------
amelius
They added the kite because they couldn't invent a proper hoverboard ...

------
CapitalistCartr
" . . . he sold everything he owned, laid off more than sixty employees at the
business he’d built, and moved east from Missouri to rebuild his life on the
ocean."

Only an entrepreneur thinks that's OK.

~~~
ghaff
What do you mean by "OK" in that context?

Based on what it says in the article, it's reasonable to assume that he tried
to sell the business as a going concern and didn't find any takers. If I own a
business and want to move on (or retire) and I'm unable to sell it, I'd be
sorry for the people affected but ultimately have no obligation to keep going
no matter what.

If you mean taking that kind of risk is unusual, sure.

~~~
hashkb
You'd think based on his desire to live by the sea, he'd have been prepared to
"go down with the ship". It's a maritime tradition.

------
teddyh
Even though the headline contains the word “Hackers”, nothing in the article
mentions anything about hackers or hacking.

I suspect this is another knee-jerk submission from someone with a Google News
alert set up.

~~~
dang
Alright, we'll dehackerfy the title above. Please don't cast aspersions on
your fellow users, though. hhs is a fine submitter.

------
hashkb
Isn't "inventor" just a meatspace word for "hacker"?

