wolverine From Germany, joined Aug 2006, 409 posts, RR: 0 Posted (1 year 8 months 2 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 741 times:
Hi, folks!
I need some advice, on which of those 2 sports I should go for. In october, last year, I moved near the sea, and since then, I'm thinking about taking lessons in kiteboarding. A friend of mine also wanted to join, but he couldn't find the time, yet.
As we are living in northern Germany, kiteboarding is nothing you can do in winter.
So I came up with another idea. Archery. I already did in my youth, I was quite good, made the 7th in german masters in my group of age. Starting again would mean, I could use the equipment of the club for a while, would only need to have my own arrows.
For kiteboarding I also could rent the equipment at the school.
I would love to do both, but I haven't got enough money, this time. And I really can't decide, what to do... Got any ideas?
Pyrex From Portugal, joined Aug 2005, 3537 posts, RR: 28 Reply 1, posted (1 year 8 months 2 weeks 12 hours ago) and read 702 times:
Have you considered arch-boarding? It is like biathlon, but instead of a set of skies you have a kite-board, and instead of a rifle you have a bow. Ok, nothing like biathlon. And I just made it up. But seriously, give it a try.
Read this very carefully, I shall write this only once!
Geezer From United States of America, joined Aug 2010, 1413 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (1 year 8 months 1 week 4 days 15 hours ago) and read 645 times:
I have watched guys kite boarding in Florida, near the big bridge between St. Pete and Sarasota; yeah, I'm sue it can be a lot of fun at times, but just remember, you can only do it certain places, at certain times, under certain weather conditions, and I'm sure the equipment isn't cheap; not to mention, every "now and then", I hear about a kite boarder being bitten by a shark. No joke ! I watched guys take off right by the beach, and in less than 2 minutes they are wayyyyyyyyyyy "out there", never having the slightest idea how deep the water is beneath them from minute to minute; trust me.....kite boarding can be a VERY dangerous sport. ( But then again, I suppose that's half of the appeal to many who do it. )
Consider this; when I was in the Navy back in the 50's, several times when far out to sea, and I'm talking maybe 500 to 1000 miles from land, the Captain stopped the ship ( 512 ft, 18,000 ton disp. Submarine Tender ), and we had "swim call"!
A couple of guys "stood by" with rifles and watched for sharks, and the crew all "jumped in", and we're having a grand time, swimming in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean ! Now I'm not afraid of water, as I've always been a very good swimmer; but I damn well AM "afraid" of many of the "creatures" that LIVE in the sea ! So I'm "questioning" my division officer as to the relative safety of swimming in the middle of the ocean; ( remember, this is like 55 or 60 years ago, I was "young and daring" back then, etc ); the division officer pointed out to us, that swimming in the MIDDLE of the ocean, is a hell of a lot safer than swimming a few hundred yards off of most beaches. The reason being, every damn "big" fish in the ocean is at all times trying to eat a smaller fish, and the smaller fish are all trying to eat even smaller fish, and the smaller fish always end to heading for shallower water ( to avoid being eaten ), and the bigger fish ALWAYS follow the smaller fish, right to where most guys are kite boarding !
So my advice is...........get back into archery ! ( it's a lot safer ! )
Charley
Stupidity: Doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting a different result; Albert Einstein
BMI727 From United States of America, joined Feb 2009, 14323 posts, RR: 26 Reply 3, posted (1 year 8 months 1 week 4 days 14 hours ago) and read 640 times:
johnkrist From Sweden, joined Jan 2005, 1339 posts, RR: 5 Reply 4, posted (1 year 8 months 1 week 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 632 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW HEAD SUPPORT
Kite surfing in northern Germany is just cold, and the odds of shark bite is extremely limited...
Had I been younger I would have kite surfed for sure, and with a good body suit you can pretty much do it 11 months of the year even in our part of the world! And kite surfing builds better bodies than archery
7D, 17-40 F4 L, 70-200 F2.8 L IS, EF 1.4x II, EF 2x III, Metz 58-AF1
MD11Engineer From Germany, joined Oct 2003, 13336 posts, RR: 64 Reply 6, posted (1 year 8 months 1 week 3 days 23 hours ago) and read 606 times:
Kite boarding is fecking lethal to swimmers. Once I almost got hit by a stupid kiteboarder while swimming from a normal beach in Italy.
Concering archery, when I´ve got a bit of spare money tinkling in my wallet again, I´m going to buy a replica medieval English longbow together with a sheave of clothesyard arrows, both broadhead and bodkin (the medieval amourpiercing arrowheads).
Aesma From France, joined Nov 2009, 4783 posts, RR: 9 Reply 7, posted (1 year 8 months 1 week 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 566 times:
Both build biceps, so there is that :d
Archery, I've practiced for a time (and still have the basic recurve bow), I ended up stopping for several reasons, one of them being that I couldn't afford the upgrades (new limbs, new sight, stabilizers, and an endless list of things), another that it was just a little boring. I ended up doing something even more costly, but definitely not boring : skydiving ! Until I ran out of money completely, that is.
Kite surfing is definitely on my list of things to try, but I don't live close to the sea.
[Edited 2011-09-14 18:05:34]
New Technology is the name we give to stuff that doesn't work yet. Douglas Adams
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