By Darl DeVault
What is that? What are they doing out there? Those questions arise in motorists’ minds while driving on Hefner Parkway on windy weekends, and they spot large kites skimming across Lake Hefner above and below the lakeshore horizon. They crane their necks as they see kiteboarders jump and spin skyward under those kites, the wind providing tremendous lift.
Perhaps a better question is: Who are those people brave enough to ride on small surfboards, attached to inflatable kites, in Oklahoma’s wild and often fierce winds on a surface sometimes as equally wild, the waves stirred up by strong winds?
These kiteboarders are continuously skimming along the surface, looking up to check the fullness of their kite from the strong wind. They change direction to find more wind, and suddenly they are lifted off the lake as they go skyward. Some do tricks and spins while sustaining the arc of their liftoff for 30 or 40 yards to a landing.
Landings are mostly determined by the kiter’s skill, but toward the end of a long session on the water, fitness plays a part in how much they care about pretty landings. For some, it’s all about the launch and what goes on in the air rather than sticking the landing.
“When you pull the kite down to catch the wind for the first time and feel the power as it gets you going, it’s pretty exhilarating” novice Michael Foshee said. “It’s amazing how much power the kite produces, and that sensation gets you hooked on the sport.”
Kiteboarding enthusiasts at Lake Hefner assure anyone who will listen that the rewards of boarding on a windy day far outweigh the long, steep learning curve and how much the lack of wind slows their sport. Lack of wind in Oklahoma? Yes, it happens, but only a small group of about 35 kiteboarders bemoan a lightly windy weekend at Hefner.
Although a recent development in the last decade as an extreme sport, the use of kites to power watercraft goes back to the 13th Century Chinese. Kites helped power their transportation, harnessing the wind to propel their canoes. Much later, the kite’s power allowed evolution into an inflatable water re-launchable kite that gave birth to an extreme sport in the late 1990s off the coast of Maui, Hawaii.
Although kiteboarders at Hefner often pull off showy aerials well above the water when wind conditions provide a strong, steady breeze, kiteboarding requires concentration and physical stamina to even launch and ride. That concentration – being “in the moment” – carries right into kiteboarding sessions because wind and wave conditions change moment to moment. So far, only 15-20 kiteboarders have taken on that challenge at any one time at Hefner.
Learning is often based on location, says Daniel Nicholson, one of the first to learn kiteboarding at Hefner in 2000. The unofficial Mayor of Hefner’s “Kite Beach,” 43-year-old Nicholson teaches legal writing to attorney-hopefuls as an assistant professor at OU Law School during the week; on windy weekends, he does some of the most adventuresome flying at Hefner. He explains that Oklahoma is far from an ideal place to learn this sport.
“Learning in South Padre or Corpus Christi, where the wind is steady and the water is shallow, is better than this (Hefner),” Nicholson said. “If the new kiter has taken good lessons and gets good feedback through a radio receiver in their helmet from someone following in a boat while they ride, they can learn to kiteboard in four days to a couple of weeks. This can be a tough sport to learn, depending on the location.”
Because the winds at Hefner often blow at plus or minus 15 mph and then turn 45 degrees in a strong gust, it makes learning difficult, and safety a real concern, Nicholson said.
Early kite rigs didn’t provide the boarders many safety mechanisms. Nicholson explains that he barely lived through an incident early in his kiteboarding career, where a safety release from the kite would have been helpful. Now, kite design and integrated safety releases allow the kite to de-power quickly once the bar is released.
The safety mechanisms have somewhat relaxed the difficulty involved in learning a sport with so many variables. Talk about being “in the moment” – this sport can overwhelm the enthusiast with decisions needed every second, and it often takes a long time before a kiter’s reactions are second nature. This takes training and acquiring sport-specific muscle memory to allow them to concentrate on position and tension on the kite so they can pull off a leap or turn while in the air.
Nicholson takes his role as Mayor of Kite Beach seriously, recommending that everyone wear life vests and helmets while on the water. This reflects his decade of boarding and the trend for more experienced boarders to do a form of self-policing to make sure riders are safe. The older group stresses to novices that they don’t want anyone to get hurt, whether it be kiters, bystanders or other water users.
But the wide variety of background and skill in the sport makes for an interesting demographic, with every level of skill chasing an elusive goal – having fun in Oklahoma’s unpredictable wind patterns. Nicholson says Hefner features two men who kiteboard in their 60s, and at present, two women – Connie Cooper and Tammy Dobry. Like Foshee, a second-year dental student at OU, the youngest often come to this sport with a precursor in wind surfing.
On a recent Sunday, Nicholson points at five or six kiteboarders at Hefner, explaining that they, like many previous wind surfers, now make up the ranks of Hefner’s kiteboarding elite on any weekend.
Another indication of how difficult it is to learn and master this sport is the fact that people give up and sell their equipment. That has sparked a tradition of most people buying used equipment to begin their kiteboarding career. Nicholson warns that buyers need guidance while buying their gear, as some people will sell improper equipment to the unsuspecting.
Three women have learned to kiteboard at Hefner, with only Connie Cooper, 55, still doing it regularly. “This is primarily a male sport, because it is an extreme sport,” Cooper said. “On the East and West Coasts, more women take part; this is a great sport to help women stay in shape because all you really need is good balance skills and a lot of tenacity.”
Cooper points out that the sport is fun and nearly free once a kiteboarder has made the initial investment in their equipment and learning. She recommends taking a three-day course at South Padre Island for about $1,000, which includes all the equipment for the training. She is quick to point out that once kiters return to Oklahoma’s gusty winds, they have to re-learn some of those lessons to handle the unpredictable gusts.
“I am a scuba diving instructor, so I thought learning this sport would be easy,” Cooper said. “I was totally wrong; you take this sport in small steps, learning to handle the kite, the harness, your body, the wind, the water, your board and all the variables.”
Kiteboarders at Hefner must be 18, wear a helmet and life vest, and learn self-rescue skills.
With great spectator interest, this extreme sport has developed a professional circuit. “You will find professionals competing along the East coast, the Caribbean and the north shore of Venezuela,” Cooper said. “They are judged by their jumps, the length and height, time in the air, maneuverability and style.”
For those wanting to watch this extreme sport, enter the Lake Hefner area from Britton Road and turn north until you reach the final parking lot. You are now at what locals call Kite Beach, or the area north of the lighthouse at Hefner.
Expressing that kiters are all extremely grateful for the opportunity to kite at Lake Hefner, Cooper says the only thing lacking is shade for the many spectators who come out to Kite Beach to watch the kiteboarders.
The kiters express their willingness to share their sport with spectators, photographers and people thinking about taking up the sport. They only ask that spectators be aware of everything going on around them, and be ready to move so they can safely launch and land their kites.
