It’s amazing quite how many world class sports people there are on the Isle of Wight.
After a couple of calls, thanks to the Island network, I was arranging to meet up with Chris Burke, a 24 year old pioneer of Kite Surfing.
He’s been doing it nine years now, the last three at competition level, which brings him the helping hand of equipment manufacturer Liquid Force.
Being a veteran – funny talking about a 24 year old in those terms, isn’t it? – he’s progressed through all the many different strands of Kite surfing as they’ve evolved, leading him to his current buzz, Kite Park Jam. Indeed, he organised the first event in the UK.
Think skateboarding taken to the sea, with kites and boards. Ramps, sliders and kickers are there to test the skills and finesse of all.
He and fellow Island Kiter, Stu Munns, have progressed things further since then, building one of the only five ramps in the world. Bobbing up and down just off Appley beach, they’re getting a little heat from the Queen’s Harbour master due to the Solent being a shipping Channel.
They hope it is all going to be smoothed out shortly.
Lovely guy too.
Many thanks to Island band The Operators for use of their track The Knife (whoops) Goodbye Stereo for use of their track Light Years Away on the video, which you can find on Island CD, Transitions vol II.
Podcast
Have a listen through the chats that we recorded with Chris to find out what gets him excited about Kite Surfing and a begginers guide to the sports (’cause we knew close to nothing about the sport).
[audio:http://otw-audio.s3.amazonaws.com/Chris-Burke-Kite-Surfer-Interview-pt1.mp3]
Listed as Chris describes how you go about learning Kite Surfing on the Island?
[audio:http://otw-audio.s3.amazonaws.com/Chris-Burke-Kite-Surfer-Interview-pt2-learning-kite-surfing-on-the-isle-of-wight.mp3]
Photos
(Click on the images below to see larger version and step through – then click on the image to return to blog)
[nggallery id=13 ngg_gal_ShowDescription=desc]
