Me and my friends are gonna take out a wake kite this weekend. I was just wondering if anyone has messed with one of these....

Yeah, they are kinda fun, unless you're over about 200 pounds. Then it's just a workout and a half on the upper body. <BR> <BR>We had some fun with it, but there is no way we'd buy it at that price. You have to make sure you run directly in to the wind otherwise it's all funky. If you can get the timing down on your cut with it, you get some very nice landings in the flats.

if you look on youtube there are some rough landings that look like they would hurt

They're pretty cool- learning to stear is the key. Have fun- it's a workout no matter how much you weigh!

The regional Hyperlite rep put-on a WakeKite demo at the recent New Jersey Wakefest. It looked like a fun something different.

It's a rough workout on the upper body as mentioned. I also second the fact that you need to run it into the wind, with no sudden gusts. The most aggravating part is having the kite blow over on the water, and not being able to turn it back over yourself. It's fun when you get the hang of it though!

As both a kiteboarder and wakeboarder I think the wake kite is nothing but a clown show! <BR> <BR>Juice don't look worth the squeeze! <BR> <BR>If its windy go kite, butter go behind the boat.

Does anyone have a picture of this?

It looks like it could be fun, going absolutely huge every jump.

Yea, they can be fun. The only problem we had was that it was too windy that day and the kite kept on blowing over every time we fell.

How much are the kites?

For the 9.0 the "big one" they are 1400 and for the 5.5 1200.

It is best in NO WIND. Hard to control and a pain to get everything set up. But the air is cool and landings are soft. It's fun, but doesn't replace wakeboarding.

just got a whole kiteboarding setup for less than $500, no way would i even consider buying the wake kite.

Don't knock it til you've tried it. Having wakeboarded and kited, I'd say it's nothing like either. Too me it's something completely different from both not a replacement for either, just another toy to play with, like inland surfing, barefooting, tubing, whatever. Wakeboard will always be #1 in my book but nothing wrong with mixing it up. Wakekite does take some time to set up but no more than Kiteboarding. It is way easier than kiting IMO, by the third time out I was getting 30' of air, might get a third of that on a board, on a good jump, its just a whole different feeling.

take the worst part of wakeboarding and the worst part of kitebaording, put them together, and you get wake kiting <BR>Don't even try to compare this to wakesurfing <BR>You can compare it to tubing though

Jo Shmoe: where'd you get your kite setup for less than $500? A good buddy of mine is looking for one for around that price. <BR> <BR>Thanks

jo, you are welcome to come try it sometime so you can see for yourself. If by worst of both you mean long setup's of the kite with the need for boat/third/gas of wakeboarding, then I can see where you are coming from. But if you're favorite part of wakeboarding is having all your friends together in a boat and best part of kiting is the huge air and soft landings, then I guess you would say it is the best of both worlds. <BR> <BR>It is completely different from both, the tricks that you can do now are pretty limited, but I don't know how you can say getting 15,20, even 30' of air so effortlessly is anything but fun. <BR>I just don't get the need to bash something you've never even tried.

I see a lot of potential in the wake kite (despite i have never ridden it) sure the tricks are limited now, but i immagine that after some R'n'D that you will be able to do all the wake moves on the wake kite and more. all it needs is some kind of rotator cuff on the handle so the handle can be spun without kite lines tangling... something like the handle bars of a BMX bike (brake lines don't tangle on a bar spin). Give the wake kite a few years and i think it will start lookin realy good to a broader public. maybe i am speaking in much to simple terms and an upgrade form would take a little more than that, but i think it is possible <BR> <BR>NOW i am wondering if a winch can pull it (especially if a PWC can pull it)... sure you would need a really long line to give it the time to get up in the air. anyone with a winch and a kite? if so, try it out and get back to us

I don't know about all the wake tricks, spins eventually but inverts would be pretty tough. There is a rope to the boat in front of you and two cables to the kite behind you so I don't know how you could ever go over those without serious risk of tangling. It would be cool but I don't know if 'tech" wake tricks are really in its future, there will definitely be some new tricks invented but completely different from wake. Not to sure about the winch either, it would need a REALLY long line and probably some serious pull.