Kiting in the news

pacifichigh · Since 11 May 2005 1004 Posts ATX Texan

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601093&sid=aB3RjfvgWH8A&refer=home

Mark · Fri Apr 13, 07 7:46 am

Silicon Valley Investors Fly on Kiteboards in Quest for Thrills

By Edward Robinson

April 12 (Bloomberg) -- William Tai, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, was kitesurfing under the Golden Gate Bridge when the wind died. The kite crashed and broke, and Tai, entangled in the lines, was dragged out to sea.

``I thought I was toast,'' Tai said of his close call in August. ``I couldn't kick my feet.''

Another boarder, John Gomes, saw Tai struggling and radioed the Coast Guard for a rescue. Only a few days later, Tai, 44, was back in the bay, indulging in an extreme sport that's captivating investors, entrepreneurs and executives in California's technology industry.

Google Inc. co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are kiteboarders. So are Ken Howery, managing partner at venture capital firm Founders Fund Management LLC, solar energy entrepreneur Lyndon Rive, and Aaron Gershenberg, a managing director at SVB Capital, the buyout arm of SVB Financial Group in Santa Clara.

``This is a sport that has the same characteristics that draw people to technology and entrepreneurship -- it's intense, requires a lot of energy, and the variability of the outcome is very high,'' said Tai, a general partner with Charles River Ventures Inc.

On a blustery afternoon in March, with gusts of 20 mph (32 kph), Tai harnessed himself to a kite resembling a parachute, strapped his feet into a small surfboard, and adjusted his waterproof iPod. Once the kite filled with wind, he skimmed across the waves until he was just a speck in San Francisco Bay.

Grabbed by the Wind

More than two dozen other kiters, including a sprinkling of women, were surfing off the windy point on 3rd Avenue in San Mateo, a 20-minute drive from the venture capital colony on Sand Hill Road near Stanford University.

Kiteboarding, a convergence of windsurfing and paragliding, propels riders across water at speeds as fast as 40 mph, on boards about 4 to 5 1/2 feet (1.2 to 1.7 meters) long. For steering, a crossbar is connected to the kites with lines.

Using waves as ramps, riders get ``big air'' by vaulting 10 to 40 feet high and spinning like human gyroscopes before landing. They can stop by pushing the crossbar to deflate the kite, or by ditching in the surf.

It's not for the faint of heart. Kiteboarding, also called kitesurfing, claims lives every year. Last June, in Washoe Lake, Nevada, a freak gust of wind shot a 45-year-old boarder more than 100 feet into the air before he fell to his death in a parking lot. Undaunted, Valley denizens are flocking to kiteboard schools, loading up on gear and posting blogs about their adventures.

Business With Pleasure

The boarders have turned the 3rd Avenue parking lot into an arena for networking. Like other California surf spots, it's filled with men squeezing into wetsuits and quaffing beers after their rides. Unlike other places, the lot's athletes may include a venture capitalist with a $100 million fund hunting for startups or, in the case of Brin, 33, an industry legend worth more than $14 billion.

Tai and Gershenberg, 45, are proselytizers, hosting a kiteboarding clinic on Maui next month for clients and entrepreneurs. Susi Mai, 22, a three-time winner of Red Bull's Queen of the Air kite-jumping contest, will give lessons.

``There's no better way to get to know someone's psyche than to take him kitesurfing,'' Tai said. ``It tells you a little more than hitting a golf ball.''

Kiteboarding surfaced in the early 1990s among hardcore windsurfers in Hawaii and France. Today, there are 75,000 riders worldwide, according to Best Action Sports Inc. of Delray Beach, Florida, the biggest Internet kiteboarding retailer.

Adding Enthusiasts

Ian Huschle, Best's chief executive and formerly an analyst with New York investment bank Allen & Co., estimates that kiteboarding ranks are swelling 50 percent annually, mainly with affluent baby boomers and Generation Xers. Younger athletes may not be able to afford the sport: Top-notch kites range from $400 to $1,500.

``It's extreme and it's youthful,'' said Huschle, 40, a devoted boarder himself. ``When the wind comes up, you take off your BlackBerry and off you go.''

In the gizmo-crazy Bay Area, many kiteboarders take their wireless messaging devices along for the ride. Steve Gibson, former director of strategic development at VeriSign Inc., replies to e-mails on his plastic-wrapped Palm Treo from the water.

``It creates the illusion of being in the office,'' said Gibson, 45.

A gonzo boarder, Gibson and two comrades kiteboarded from the Farallon Islands to San Francisco in 2004, a 27-mile run through waters infested with great white sharks. Marine biologists at the Farallon research station told the trio the sharks couldn't catch them if they kept a minimum speed of 20 mph, he said.

``But I fell and lost my board and I was dragging around for 20 minutes like shark bait,'' he said.

Gibson lived to tell the story, and now he and other Bay Area kiteboarders are exploring the next frontier -- snowkiting. By connecting a snowboard to a kite, riders slash across empty snowfields and jump off mountaintops.

``You can go forever in the air,'' Gibson said. ``It's going to be huge.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Edward Robinson in San Francisco at edrobinson@bloomberg.net .

forrest · Fri Apr 13, 07 7:53 am

I don't know what it is about Bay area kiters, they just don't seem phased by the idea of kiting under the Golden Gate bridge. I've heard about so many people getting washed out to see because the wind died under the bridge.

When I was at 3rd Ave (before I contracted a wretched skin rash from that dirty water) this guy told me I shouldn't miss the chance to kite under the bridge... F@#K THAT, I thought to myself. He said if something happens the coast guard is right there to pick you up.... :\

I think his name was Will.

Tony · Since 28 Aug 2006 940 Posts Portland Opinionated

forrest · Fri Apr 13, 07 10:09 am

In his defense, I just remembered that he did say you have to time it with the tide so you don't get washed out.

Mr.Onepump · Since 11 Sep 2006 66 Posts Albany

My favorite quote from that article: