Kitesurfing

Kitesurfing, also known as kiteboarding, is a sport in which a rider uses the pull of a large power kite to cross water, and sometimes land, snow or sand, on a board. It borrows from paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding and wakeboarding. Most riders use an inflatable or foil kite on about twenty metres of lines, fixed to a control bar and a harness, and ride a twin-tip board like a wakeboard, a directional surfboard or a foil board. Its pieces came together over decades: the Dutch inventor Gijsbertus Adrianus Panhuise held a 1977 patent for a kite-pulled board, Dieter Strasilla and the Legaignoux brothers in France developed kites in the 1970s and 1980s, Bill and Cory Roeseler marketed the KiteSki in 1994, and the sport reached a wide audience in the late 1990s. It has freestyle, wave-riding and racing competitions, was an event at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics, and Formula Kite was chosen for the 2024 Summer Olympics.