Kite Jumping…extreme or just plain stupid, you be the judge

For all of you who think that kitesurfing or snowkiting are pretty dangerous and crazy sports, here’s another that brings in an extra dose of “hurt yourself pretty badly if you mess up”.  Most of the guys caught on film seem to have things under the control, but something tells me that the accident to happy flight ratio has to be pretty high.  Check it out…

I’m still trying to figure out if we should call this an extreme sport or just extreme stupidity, but then again who am I to judge?  In the end, all I can really say is that I’m glad to see these boys psyched to…SEND IT!!!

…and now for Kitesurfing Mavericks…the video!

Well, it didn’t take long for this to make it on to YouTube, but here’s Jeff Kafka doing his thing.  Note that Jeff has been a surfer for a very long time and is one of those crazies that has surfed Mavericks on numerous occasions, so he’s not unfamiliar to this territory.  As you’ll see, he’s the only one that was captured riding the BIG wave head on.

Scarier pics of Kiters at Mavericks two weeks ago

The pics that I previously posted were nice and clear, and while the swell was obviously big, it still looked like a nice fun ride. Well, now for another view of the same day, perhaps one could say a more ominous view…

…and…

…and…

These pics were taken by someone named “pdogg”, who posted them on one of the iKitesurf.com forums. Having been out riding just a couple of miles away, I can tell you that the previous pics were more representative of the day in all its sunny glory, but these pics offer another cool perspective.