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Investing in a Billiard Cue.
Buying your own pool cue can be a confusing business as there are so many different brands on offer. Because of this it is important that you do not jump straight in and buy the first cue that catches your eye. I agree that most people will...
Lose Weight Faster With High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
The one of the latest buzzwords in fitness and weight loss
circles is High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT. This method
of exercise has the potential to allow an exerciser to lose
weight faster that any other form of "aerobic"...
Pree-Teens Look to Steroids as "Magic Pill" for Fashionable Figures
Healthy fitness guru joins doctors, educators, coaches, event organizers, and others in urging young people to do things the old-fashioned way…with diet and exercise In an alarming trend that has continued to grow since the early 1990's, government...
The Base Hit
The Base Hit © William A. Patsis 2004 Sometimes there is that rare moment that causes one to reflect on those matters that are deemed important and deflect those that are not. It is a very humbling experience but a nice feeling nevertheless. I had...
Your Best Bet
You spent the last two hours handicapping a football game that is now approaching kick-off. Your efforts tell you that the Green Bay Packers should win the contest by at least three points. At the time you started picking apart this Monday night...
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What Is A Kitewing?
You propably know what a Kite is, but have you heard about the Kitewing?
The kitewing is a lightweight hand–held wing shaped as a kite that can be used for sailing on ice, snow and land with a pair of skis, skates or a snowboard. This is done in wintertime. For summer use one can sail with the wing using roller blades, a mountainboard or a skateboard. I haven´t yet made it in summer, but winter usage is really cool. I mainly ride at frosen lakes, but snow-covered open spaces like moun-tains are maybe even better - You just need some more wind to get it going in the mountains. On plain ice you just need a little as 4-5 m/s of wind.
I´m no extreme rider, but some other people have found out that the wing is also capable of doing jumps. Well, several 100 meters is maybe more flying than jumping? The current world record from 2004 is 505 meters (1666 feet) made by a Kitewing team rider and helicopter pilot
Andreas Laurent.
If you like speed the wing gives you a good ride. In optimum conditions, you can reach speeds between 60-80 km/h, but the speed record on ice was 107 km/h the last time I heard about it.
I have found out that people interested in Kitewing riding are usually also interested in snowboarding, downhill ski-ing, windsurfing, mountain boarding and other action sports. So if you are into those sports you might get hooked. And if compared with wind surfing, this sport is easier to learn and the Kitewing has much better jumping qualities. The good jumping quality is because the symmetrical wing can be turned quickly into horizontal position - the sail can literally be transformed to a flying wing.
About The Author
Nicolas Fogelholm is a Kitewing rider and webmaster for the Kitewing online community http://www.windsports.net/.
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