At the end of August, Islander Tom Court – a man who’s no stranger to being out on the water – took the first commercial kite boat out on the Solent.
Tom’s a professional kiteboarder, so it probably seemed only natural for the inventor of what’s being called the KiteTender, Peter Renssen, to ask him to give it a spin.
The KiteTender is a glassfibre monohull, specifically developed for kitesailing.
Spectacular footage
As you’ll be able to see from the video below, the results are outstanding and the footage pretty awesome.
Tom said,
“After speaking with Peter Renssen, the brains behind the KiteTender project a few months ago and talking about the great sailing around the Isle of Wight and Cowes week, he threw the boat on the roof of his car and drove from Holland to my home spot on the Isle of Wight.
“This little clip is us putting the KiteTender boat through its paces, taking it out to pit it against boats much larger to see how it performs. Getting speeds on 21knots and averaging 17knots, this little two man kite powered dingy is a formidable sailing machine that has an interesting future.”
An exhilarating ride
According to Tom, the kite boat provides a great opportunity to help bridge the gap between sailing and Kiteboarding.
Tom’s Channel
A keen filmmaker, Tom has his own channel on YouTube, where he shares his kiteboarding and kitesurfing videos, as well as tips and tricks of the trade.
He even has videos of one of our favourite Isle of Wight bands, Born ina Barn (warning: they can be quite sweary).
To find out more about the new kiteboat visit the official Kite Tender Website.
