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Spin 2.0

Let the kite fly you

Nov 26 09:43

Why fly a kite when the kite can fly you? Hooking yourself up to a mini parachute while racing across the water, on a surfboard, and going speeds up to 75 mph pretty much sums up kitesurfing. If you're looking for the ultimate adrenaline rush, the adapted version of this sport is amazing. Instead of a surfboard, a seat fused to a snowboard is used, and Christophe Martin, a paraplegic from France, is the king of this adapted sport.

Martin, who was paralyzed in 2002 in a snowboarding accident, can take on any extreme sport, even after one landed him in a wheelchair. It’s an understatement to say kitesurfing isn’t easy. It takes a tremendous amount of upper body strength to be good at it. I have yet to see any low quads try it out. Despite the kite being tethered to the chair, the rider still must hold on to a bar to control the direction and speed and any tricks under your belt.

With the sport being so difficult, it should come as no surprise that it has the reputation of being highly dangerous, but only if you take it to the extreme. In the able-bodied world, kitesurfing actually causes some of the highest number of spinal injuries of any extreme sport. One of it’s founders in fact, Kinsley ThomasWong, was paralyzed last April while kitesurfing and is now a high quad (read his story here).

Despite the dangers, kitesurfing has become one of the hidden gems in extreme adapted sports. The thrill is too enticing and the sport is relatively easy to adapt….for being an extreme sport that is. Christophe Martin even created the penultimate kitesurfing seat for paraplegics, dubbed the Handikite, which is a must for anyone serious about the sport.

One of the most recent paras to try out kitesurfing is from Ireland and she’s letting her personal trial and error process of learning the sport, from starting out in her chair and surfing across the beach to the first time she tries it out the water, is being documented online by the Australian kitesurfing organization Seabreeze (watch here). Here’s what she said about getting out there and trying it out:

"I know its dodgy, its mad but hey aint that why we are living...... I know all the risks and dont worry I am not wrapped in cotton wool and i aint putting anyone else at risk! I have surfed, paddle boarded, knee board, kayaked, I am a diver, I can bench press my own body weight and have some hang time on the olympic rings. ... oh yeah bungee jumped to the only thing I cant do is walk. The ocean is where I am at peace, enough said."

- Watch Christophe Martin doing some amazing kitesurfing tricks

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1. Shark7 | Nov 28 02:35

Hi Tiff, WOW!!! Fantastic blog, thank you for sharing! Martin has indeed created a mind-blowing adaptation. This looks sooo cool! I also appreciate that you openly discuss the dangers of the sport. I was paralyzed (T10 complete para) in a skiing accident in 1985. I became an avid mono-skier when the sport was invented a few years later, for me being able to ski again was better than being able to walk. Unfortunatly, I also had a massive sacral/lumbar fracture from a mono-skiing crash. I would go back and do it again--but it's important to understand the risks, and make an informed decision--Is the risk worth it? Can I accept having serious spinal or shoulder damage--is it worth it? Then again, if my lower spine wasn't so damaged, I would start kite-surfing right away.

2. Mikel Ortega | Jan 03 04:56

Original picture link (CC-By-SA): http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikelo/5009355567/

3. Mikel Ortega | Jan 03 04:57

Original picture link (CC-By-SA): http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikelo/5009355567/

Spin 2.0

By Tiffiny Carlson

Tiffiny Carlson Disability buzz, travel, fashion and dating — fun things to amp up everyday wheeling life.

Tiffiny Carlson is freelance writer and writes the “SCI Life” column for New Mobility. She's also a C6 quad from a diving accident that occurred when she was 14 years old. A lifelong resident of Minneapolis, Tiffiny has been a writer in the disability community for over 10 years and writes for several publications and blogs, as well as her personal blog BeautyAbility. Her work has also appeared in mainstream publications such as Nerve.com and Playgirl.