Kite Surfing with Tunes.

By Bill Myers

Windwz            

10/13/2005

 

Ok so now you can kite surf reasonable well enough to not get killed. Time to move up to the next level. Do you want to learn the latest and greatest high flying tricks or would you just like to be a soul rider and cruise around all day long ? Last winter I discovered the magic of the mp3 player. So I went to the local discount store and picked up a player. Downloaded some music of my choice and set out to snow kite. Holy shit what a difference my riding took on a whole new feel. I was no longer just riding I was grooving to the beat. Styling to the sounds. The music took over and I found myself carving it up to the sounds of heavy metal, classic rock and disco. I even put some rap in there like the song “jump the f**k up “ by slip knot. Sure enough when that song comes on I’m jumping the f**k up right when he says it. I was no longer concentrating so much on every detail of the kite and board but just letting the sounds inspire me and the wind guide me. I felt like I had found the key to nirvana.  How cool is this, can I make it better? I then became obsessive (like most kite surfers are), to find the perfect player and headphone combo. I bought a snowboard helmet with the head phones built in, even has a second wire for your cell phone. I rode all winter with the tunes blasting, singing along and eating up the powder.  When the batteries went dead it was like the wind died and the ride wasn’t the same. I’m hooked now.  Winter is fading and Hattereas in April is approaching. I have got to use this in the water.

 Now it’s times to get waterproof. So I bought more mp3s and used my vacuum bag sealer to keep them dry. Then I tried just a plastic bag with a bunch of electrical tape.

I waterlogged three or four of them in the process but couldn’t stop. Then I got the official waterproof ones. Still needed modifications. The ear buds didn’t work for me I needed more volume and I found that the $9.95 over the ear ones worked just as good. When you get them wet the bass goes up and if you tap the water out they still work good. Now I need to modify my rash guard to hold the player and wires in a good place. I spent a few times trying to fix the headphone wires and music volume while the kite was all over the place opps. I sewed a little mesh pocket just above the right breast, put a hole in the back ran the wires around and over my shoulder and up out the back of my neck. This way I could look down to change the volume or turn it on and off. Over the last year I must have spent $1200.00 on different style players headphones and accessories.

So what have I found out with all this expensive scientific independent research?

  1. Music when Kite Surfing is really cool. Some people are affected more than others depending on their groove factor. When the music takes over your no longer kite surfing your kite dancing. You find yourself choreographing to the music. You can have the choice of your own music and play what moves you.

  1. You have to be more aware of your surroundings since you can’t hear much besides the music. Someone can sneak up on you. So look around a lot. This can also be an advantage while you on the beach since you cant answer dumb questions from rubber neckers . Just tell them you can’t hear them and point to the headphone. Shake your head and smile.

 

  1. Size matters. The smaller MP3,s  with the flash memory seem better than the hard drive ones, they have no moving parts and are less affected by cold and jarring.  Get 512meg to1g for lots of songs. Some need a computer to recharge the battery others take AAA batteries. If you do not have a computer with you, you might want to go with the battery ones the only problem is most of the waterproof ones need a computer to recharge. You can get actual waterproof Mp3s or waterproof cases for some players. H2O Audio has some great new cases that will fit your I-Pod nano and now the Shuffle. I find the apple shuffle to be the lightest one and easiest to use.Or you can use the plastic seal yourself method. If you do this keep your receipt and boxes just incase there’s a leak.

 

  1. You can get mp3 music files from the internet. I found songs that have the word wind in them are cool, like “ride with the wind “ by Saxon. A little Pink Floyd is not bad either. Be careful too much of them can zone you out. Some players have programs that manage the files and change them to a different file size allowing for more music options.512 hold about 120 to 160 mp3 song titles.

 

  1. If your stuff gets waterlogged. Turn it off and let it dry overnight it might come back to life.

 

So now its your turn. Give it a try and feel the groove. If you don’t ride better I will be surprised. Well maybe you will only think your riding better, but who cares. In the future they will probably have watches that use your skin to transmit the sounds directly to your inner ear. Or implants that are connected to satellite radio for endless music. But by then they will probably have Anti-Gravity boards as well. So come on feel the noise and let’s rock.