Kitesoul Magazine #27 Iternational Edition

David Ingiosi
The pink side
of sessions
Until recent it was quite unusual to see a girl on the beach, ready to get on the water
and have fun with the kite. Today though, thanks to the development of materials that
guarantee higher safety and basically unlimited access, women are a regular presence
in all spots worldwide, they take part in competitions, kitecamps, work as school instructors
and raise the technical level in every discipline, from Freestyle to Big Air, from
Racing to Wakeboarding.
Initially, kitesurfing was not only purely a male sport, but also restricted to a limited
category of brave men, fairly crazy and with solid foundations of past water activities,
surfing and windsurfing just to mention two. The potentials of this discipline, the thrill
of being pulled by a kite, the glide speed and the excitement of flying in mid-air were
already there, but the equipment in general needed improving in terms of performance,
power control and especially emergency systems. It was still a sport where getting a
wrong manoeuvre or just a simple distraction could be very costly. It took nerves of
steel, be a darer and have toned muscles. Therefore, it’s normal that up till then women
just waited and watched.
Grace, technique and solidarity the secret weapons of
female riders
Now that kites' performances are perfect, the quality of the materials unquestionable
and safety measures widely proven, kitesurfing has almost completely lost that early
aura of extreme sport. On any dedicated beach you’ll go, you'll see all sorts of people
having fun, giving it away on the water: tall people, short, thin, fat, young, adults and
them, women, who year after year, have slowly increased in number and still do.
Of course, girls have their own approach to this discipline, very different from males,
but these differences, bodily, head and heart are where their strength lies. Women
have a unique complicity and ability to support each other. Where they lack in physical
strength, they make it up with grace, agility and technical skills. Of course, a wipe out or
a crash on the water it’s just the same for them, that's why they need to work out, tone
muscles up and pull out all the grit needed in water sports.