Nearly every year my wife, Karen, and I return to the Outer Banks (OBX). It’s the perfect spot to get away from it all in this Mecca for adrenaline junkies. There are long stretches of empty beaches, quiet waters, beautiful gardens plus recreation galore: kayaking, cycling, in-line skating, SCUBA diving, horseback riding, kiting, surfing, airplane tours and hang gliding.
We first came to the OBX over a dozen years ago to take up the sport of hang gliding. The soft sand dunes are ideal for learning how to land a hang glider without injury, meaning mostly belly flops. After a few lessons we succeeded in landing on our feet. Kitty Hawk Kites is the nation’s leading hang gliding school.
In addition to teaching foot launched hang gliding on the dunes, they offer aero-tow tandem flights with a certified instructor to 2000 feet at nearby Currituck County Airport . In aero-towing, the glider is towed aloft behind an ultra light aircraft in the same manner as a sailplane is towed aloft by a single engine plane. The instructor initially handles the launching and landing of the glider and allows the student to control the glider after releasing from the tow line. With each additional tow, the student takes over more and more of the launching and landing control until the instructor feels that the student is ready to solo. Thanks to these instruction techniques at Kitty Hawk Kites, Karen and I now spend nearly every weekend flying hang gliders and soaring for hours in the updrafts created by wind and sun.
Currituck is about 45 minutes north of Kitty Hawk , NC . Kitty Hawk , as everyone knows, is the birthplace of powered flight. Orville and Wilbur Wright also used the sand dunes to launch and fly their prototype gliders. The glider designs eventually led to the development of the Wright Flyer, the first aircraft. The thrill of aviation continues in the OBX with a new way to get into the sky, one where sky meets water: kite surfing.
I felt completely helpless as I floundered in the water. With my legs outstretched before me and my unsupported bottom starting to sink, the instructor Mike grabbed my feet and shoved them into the rubber footholds of the wakeboard. While Mike dealt with my feet, I steered a kite above me and prepared to dip the crescent-shaped wing towards the water. In theory, sending the kite towards the horizon would lift me up to my feet and then I would be pulled along on the wakeboard as if I were water-skiing. I’ve never been very good with theories.
Our first kite-surfing lesson had started at 10:00 a.m. the previous morning at Kitty Hawk Kites in Nags Head. Our instructor, Chris, was half our age, a lad of only 21 years. The course is taught in two sessions. Chris first described the physics of kite surfing. When the kite is directly overhead (or anywhere along an arc extending from overhead towards the ground on the left or right side of the body) it is in the neutral position, not providing any pulling force. To create a pulling force, the kite is steered towards the ground (or water) in FRONT of the body, the horizontal wind catches in the kite and creates a pulling force. This area is called the power zone.
There are three different strokes for minimum, medium and maximum power. For minimum power, the kite is only lowered partway and then held at a constant position. For medium, it’s steered deeper towards the horizon and then turned back upwards in repeated strokes. Sending the kite even deeper in repeated up and down strokes creates maximum power. Different sizes of kites are used for different wind conditions and different body sizes. Usually kites range in size from seven square meters to 12 square meters. Most kites have a thin inner tube along the front edge to keep the wing afloat when it’s in the water.
For the land lesson we used a practice kite of only two square meters. Long lines attach from the parafoil kite to a control bar, which can be hooked to a waist harness. In a field next to the shop Chris demonstrated how to lift the kite into the sky and execute the power strokes. Karen and I each took turns and found it to be pretty easy.
Pulling the bar left or tight turned the kite left or right. Raising and lowering the bar helped to steer the parafoil up and down. Wind conditions were perfect, blowing about 15-20 mph. We practiced running with the kite to simulate being pulled along the water. We sat on the ground and used a maximum power stroke to lift us up onto our feet. Maneuvering the kite was very addictive and we were surprised when Chris told us that the lesson was over. He lent us a kite for more practice before our next lesson.
After dinner we ventured out onto the beach to play with the kite. Winds were blowing over 30 m.p.h. The little practice kite almost yanked me off my feet and pulled Karen straight up when a gust came through. We hadn’t expected to be flying so soon, but we played around until sunset.
The second lesson was the following afternoon in the Currituck Sound, which is only waist deep. Chris had the day off and a German kite-surfer, Mike, taught the lesson. Another student, Scott, joined us. We piled into an inflatable boat and motored across to a small beach on the other side of the sound. Mike reviewed everything and we practiced all of the previous skills while standing in the warm water.
Before trying to get onto the board, we had to perfect a body drag, basically being pulled along by the kite face first through the water. It sounded like a horrible idea, but it was blast. It felt like body-surfing and the kite would lift my torso clean out of the water when executing maximum power strokes. We also spent a lot of time learning how to untangle and re-launch the kite if it crashed. If at any point the kite becomes too difficult to handle, letting go of the control bar de-powers the wing, sending it into the water. The winds also diminished and then picked back up during the lesson, making us switch to a larger kite and then back to the small one. By the time we got to trying out the board, only 20 minutes remained in the three-hour lesson.
Once Mike secured the board to my feet, I swung the kite into a medium power stroke, came up onto my feet and immediately crashed face first back into the water. Mike had warned me this would most likely happen. I tried again without success. I kept dipping the front of the board into the water. Neither Scott nor Karen had any success either. Thus frustrated, we asked Mike for a demonstration. We all felt a little better when he fell on his first couple of attempts. He claimed that he was used to a larger kite. But on the third try, he took off and started surfing back and forth along the water. Back on shore, Karen and I were disappointed in our lack of success. We could kite, but we couldn’t board…..so we signed on for another lesson! 
This time Karen and I were the only students with Mike. He gave us a brief refresher on launching the kite from shore and then it was time for body drags. We shared a kite, but Karen (much smaller than I am) was somewhat overpowered by the large wing. Mike had to hold onto her during several of the practice drags. At one point a wind gust lifted Karen completely out of the water. Mike seized her ankles as she levitated above the sound and it looked like he was flying her as a kite! Skilled kiteboarders take advantage of strong winds and leap skywards and perform aerobatic flips and turns. Using waves as ramps, kite surfers have jumped as high as 30 feet into the sky!
Karen decided to take a break after her unintentional flight. Mike grabbed the board and helped to shove it on my feet as I balanced the kite overhead. He told me not to try to get all of the way up this time. “Try a gentle power stroke,” he said. “And just feel what it’s like to move through the water keeping the board in front of you.” This worked well and I skimmed across the sound on my butt, not letting the board plow under the water. I stopped and hovered the kite while Mike and Karen waded to catch up with me. I was ready, once again, to attempt standing on the board. I dove the kite down into a power stroke, came up to my feet, lasted about three seconds and face planted forward.
Mike said I almost had it! It didn’t feel like I almost had it and I thought that maybe this wouldn’t be my sport. I gave it another go, not really caring, and suddenly I was upright and riding the board. I steered the kite up and down through the power stroke and glided over the water’s surface. It was so much easier to handle when standing on the board. Cruising across the sound I worried that I might be getting too far away from Karen and Mike. So I tried to stop and turn… and immediately fell. They rejoined me and I gave it another try. It took two tries, but I was back up on my feet and kiteboarding again. Woo Hoo!
I turned the board and kite over to Karen. She also fell on her first two attempts, but the third time was a charm and she was up and flying over the water like a pro. We each rode the board once more before the lesson concluded. What a blast! We still need to learn how to stop and turn and tack and jibe and, in general, make the thing go where we want it to go instead of just hanging on for the ride.
We’ll just have to return to the Outer Banks once more for another lesson or two, but who really needs a reason for a getaway to the beach?