Landboarding

Photo courtesy of Richard Bartlett

Here are all the names you might come across, with regard to kiting with a landboard or other vehicle:

• kiteboarding
• kite landboarding
• land kiteboarding
• fly boarding
• parakarting
• kite buggying
• land surfing
• snowkiting
• kite snowboarding
• kite skiing
• snow-kite skiing
• fly surfing
• kite sailing
• snow kiteboarding

That "land surfing" one gives a clue to as to one big factor that's driving kite boarding. What do surfies do when the water is too cold or there is not enough wind to kitesurf? Many can now hop on a landboard and do much the same sort of stuff, across the sand instead of water.

There's another factor too. What do snow skiers do when the snow melts? Downhill skiers that is, not cross country. For this situation, "mountain boards" were invented, so it was possible to race downhill on these oversized skateboard-like contraptions. Interestingly, in many cases the mountainboarders raced down the very same slopes that they skied down in winter!

Eventually, someone with a traction kite decided to try the obvious. Of course it worked very well, although kite boarding was best done on the flat, rather than a slope. When this got more well known, snow boarders everywhere began to realize they weren't restricted to kite boarding in winter. They could just swap their snowboard for a landboard and still go kiteboarding.

Kite boarding over land tends to attract people who just want to do tricks, or "freestyle", like some kite surfers. That's probably because they are kite surfers first and foremost! There doesn't seem to be much written about landboarders going long distances cross-country like the keenest kite skiers do. Despite this, it is possible to go very fast across land. Also, at the other end of the scale, trundling along slowly in a kite buggy (using a smaller traction kite) can be quite relaxing!

Photo courtesy of Nick Hubbard

The best place to do kite boarding is any large flat area with constant wind and no obstructions. However, with some care, any open space can be used. You just don't want yourself or the kite to crash into anything. In particular, things to avoid include power cables, buildings, and other people.

Here's a summary of the types of areas kite boarders can be seen at:

• parks
• sports fields
• farmers' fields
• large outdoor parking lots
• hard-packed sandy beaches
• school grounds
• dry lake-beds
• if you're fortunate, a nearby dedicated landboarding park!

Here in Australia you could probably add clay pans and salt lakes as well.

Oh, and don't forget airfields and airports, if you can get past the security guys. Just kidding! There's some clips on YouTube of some Russian guys doing their stuff with large aircraft parked in the background. Now that's actually true!

Talking about YT, here's a clip showing some freestyle kite landboarding in an ideal location that even signposts the activity. 

"Getting some air"

Do you want to get serious? There is a competition circuit for landboarding, although it is much smaller than for kite surfing and is likely to stay that way for a long time—maybe forever. The kite landboarding comps show off almost everything that you might see competitors doing over water.

Here's a summary of the types of stunts that can be done:

• ramp jumping
• rotations in the air, for example 180 or 360
• flips, both forward and backward
• grabbing the front or rear of the board while airborne
• "board off" moves which involve spinning or flipping the board in the air while the rider's feet are not touching it
• a variety of ground tricks such as sliding, doing "wheelies," or riding facing away from the kite

As you can imagine, getting any of this wrong is likely to hurt more than if it was done over water! So, safety gear is very important.

The best riders can put on a decent show using the older-style fixed-bridle kites on handles, as well as with the depowerable-kite / control-bar combination that is so popular today.