Safety When Launching and Landing - The Kiteboarder Magazine

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Age: 25 Height: 5’10” Weight: 165 Stance: Regular Years kiting: 4-5 Favorite Spots: St. Petersburg, Hatteras, Texas, anywhere in the Southern Caribbean Favorite Conditions: Any wind, as long as I can ride! (steady wind is the best) Favorite Moves: Hangtime Sponsors: Flexifoil, Watersports West, SPKC Gear Set-Up Boards: 120 and 137 Underground Bindings: Footstraps Kites: Flexifoils - Fusion and Ion, all sizes (favorite -12m) Bars: Standard Flexi bar Lines: 23m-27m Harness: Dakine Pyro Big handlepasses helped Billy win the Nissan Velocity Games best trick. Lens: Ryan Riccitelli Practice loading your edge and releasing without sending the kite. When and where did you start kiteboarding? I started kiteboarding at the end of 2001 in St. Petersburg, Florida. Where is your favorite place you have ridden? There are many different places in the world that are so good for kiting that picking one is impossible. What riders influence you most? Watching creative Riders like Lou Wainman, Martin Vari, and Aaron Hadlow makes me want to go ride. What do you do off the water to help you on the water? If you want to progress your level of riding, you need to increase your training. I have five: the hanging bar, the trampoline, swimming, the cable park, and wakeboarding. If you could give props to someone you really respect in the kiteboarding world, who would it be? There are a lot of good people that are push- When doing handlepasses, your body needs to travel to the bar after your edge is released. Start with jumps to blind and practice yanking your hips to the bar. Practice your tricks with different hand positions. Practice riding unhooked as much as possible and jumping unhooked as big as you can go. Billy Parker grew up fishing, hunting, and hydro-sliding in St. Petersburg, Florida. He competed in every sport he could and always seemed to have a talent for whatever he tried. When Billy lost interest in everyday activities, he ended up working for the family business (fumigation) and wakeboarding on the side. He soon learned about the cable park at Orlando Watersports Complex. While riding at the cable, Billy was told about this sport called kiteboarding that was similar to wakeboarding and the cable, but allowed you to jump higher, be in total control, and cost a lot less. As soon as he heard this, he knew he had to try kiteboarding, but little did he know how much it would change his life. ing the limits of themselves and the sport while promoting kiting in a positive way. These are the individuals that I respect and hope keep promoting kiting to others. What is something about you that you do outside of kiteboarding that most people wouldn’t know? My work. I do a lot of different trades: animal trapper, pest control operator, structural repairs, cabinet installer, and line striper. What has been your biggest accomplishment in life? Finding something that truly makes me happy and makes me want to be the best. Some people search a lifetime for something that makes them want to live or feel alive. Kiting is that for me. . Rumor has it you turned your house into a kiteboarding training compound. What is that all about? Like I said before, practice is what makes you better. Now I can practice when there is no wind, Billy and his sidekick Gunthor cross train together in his backyard pool. Lens: Tiffany Schrader and if you want to get better it’s all putting in the time. What do you think of the current contest scene? I think we still have a lot of growing to do in the sport and with that the competitions will grow to become better. If you want to do well in competition, ask the judges what they are looking for. What is your recipe for success as a kiteboarder? Lots of practice, never act like you’re too good (be helpful), and keep your word. How did you get the name Wild Bill? A few close calls, lots of hurricane-wind driven sessions, and a group of creative kiting friends. Where do you want to be in a year? I’d like to be traveling the world competing, testing equipment, and doing demos. I want to show off kites and my skills to people who I can influence to try out the sport and learn what it’s like to kite.
Melissa checks in with family in Costa Rica. Lens: Damien Leroy When, where and why did you start kiteboarding? I started kiteboarding a little less than three years ago when I moved to Miami to go to college. My uncle and aunt, Eduardo and Irene Owen, are windsurfing rippers and introduced me to kiteboarding. Irene and I learned together helping each other out; she was my partner in crime and it was lots of fun! We couldn’t have done it without the help of two good friends Lock Pirie and Tim Barber. They were our true teachers, kind enough to teach these two girls that showed up at Matheson Hammock and knew very little about kitting! What other sports helped influence your kiteboarding? Surfing and wakeboarding. What riders influence you most? Damien LeRoy, alias the “Fat Kid.” I wouldn’t be where I am if it wasn’t for him and thank him for everything. He gave me the little push I needed to excel in the sport and give competition a try. Also, Lock Pirie; he is the nicest kiteboarder, always positive, happy and smiling. I tell him I want to be like him when I grow up! Age: 22 Height: 5’4” Weight: 125 lbs Years kiting: 3 Favorite Spots: Any place with waves! Favorite Conditions: side-on with a 9m kite and waves Favorite Moves: Waves or any trick I have been trying for a while and finally land it! Sponsors: JN Kites (Jochum & Nesler) Gear set-up: Boards: JN Honey 125 Bindings: straps Kites: JN Prima Donna kites Bars: JN CBS bars with standard 25m lines Harness: An old crappy one. The only way to learn something new is by trying, and trying means crashing! Success doesn’t come easy. It means a lot of trying, a lot of hard days and failures, but the reward is worth it, so go for it! Always know you can do it; when there is doubt you most likely will fail Always be positive because what you focus your attention on is surely to happen. Never give up, because giving up only hurts your inner self. Do not wait until tomorrow because all you have and all you will ever have is now. What do you do off the water to help you on the water? Damien introduced me to a bar hanging from a tree and that is lots of fun! It helps get your body used to the movements so that you are more ready when you go out and try it in the water. I also do some Yoga to relax and stretch my aching muscles! What is the latest trick you are working on and how is it going (what is the challenge)? I have been working on the raley to blind and I get worked! I have to go past blind when I land so that I don’t end up looping the kite and going topside the other direction or crashing the kite in the water. I am close though -- I just need to pass the bar quickly when I land. I also practice the KGB in the tree and it comes easy, but in the water it is a different story! I have to control my mind and truly commit! Where is your favorite place to ride and why? I haven’t been to many places, but I do know that any place with waves is my favorite; it is so much more fun! Melissa recently placed second in the 2006 Nissan Velocity Games BoarderX. Lens: Tom Leeman You are from Costa Rica. Have you kiteboarded there? If so, how does the riding scene in Costa Rica compare to the US? I am ashamed to say I have never kiteboarded in my home. Every time I go there I simply go surfing! But I do know Bahia Salinas and Lake Arenal are good places to go, super windy! What is your view on contests? I have never competed in any sport before and I gave it a try. I am not much of a competition person but as long as you are having fun it is good. The moment it becomes stressful and not fun it is over. You just graduated in Marine Biology at the beginning of the year. What do you plan on doing with your degree? I studied Marine Biology so I could pursue my dreams of understanding and protecting my favorite place: the ocean. Ever since I can remember, I have had a passion for nature, so I would like to work in environmental protection. But in the immediate future I would like to give a try to being a professional kiteboarder because now is the time to do it!
Page 6 and 7: Kevin Langeree is one of Naish Kite
Page 8 and 9: EDITOR RYAN RICCITELLI ryan@thekite
Page 10 and 11: Bri shows off her new ride, courtes
Page 12 and 13: New School Letter of the month Dear
Page 14 and 15: Name: Chris Campbell and Lindy DeVr
Page 16 and 17: 16 hour days in front of her array
Page 20 and 21: 1 2 3 1.Send a random kiteboarding
Page 22 and 23: What is the official site name? - A
Page 24 and 25: Ben Meyer signs his name on the sec
Page 26 and 27: The King of the Bay is the biggest
Page 28 and 29: Jesse Richman proves you can unhook
Page 30 and 31: The Rail That Never Was The bigger
Page 32 and 33: Adrenaline Photographpy is not at a
Page 34 and 35: Like Father, Like Son Dimitri Maram
Page 36 and 37: North Rebel After 18 months in R&D,
Page 38 and 39: Jason does a test run on the ramp t
Page 40 and 41: S hortly after getting off the plan
Page 42 and 43: A reader sent in this photo of thei

Safety When Launching and Landing - The Kiteboarder Magazine

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