A few years ago now Lewis Crathern jumped the Worthing pier (he’s now done the Brighton one as well!). Posted on You Tube multiple times it is thought that well over a million people have seen this video.
If you haven’t seen it have a watch of his Brighton jump, it’s awesome:
By comparison the PKRA would tour Thailand video 2010 has only 8,218 hits many years later. Surely this is sending a message to the kitesurf media and the kitesurf world tours, both of which are struggling for publicity at the moment.
People aren’t interested in seeing a triple back loop, kite loop to blind….or whatever the hell it is, I’ve been kitesurfing in Tarifa for 13 years and I have no idea what that is nor do I particularly care.
People want to see big air and massive spectacle, that’s why Ruben Lentons videos rank so well on You Tube, as he is well known for huge jumps and insane powered kite loops.
The “wow” factor in these videos is something everyone can identify with kitesurfer or not, hell even my accountant saw the video of the Worthing Pier..and wrote to me to tell me to watch it!
Now I know we can’t go around jumping piers and such like and I certainly don’t recommend the world tours adds this event to their schedule but if the world tours don’t take heed from this and give the people what they want, ie spectacle, we could find that kitesurfing becomes increasingly marginalised as it becomes harder and harder to promote to the general public.
Over the last few years the King of the Air has become the most widely anticipated event in kitesurfing.
Held once a year in Capetown the concept is simple, jump as high as you can. This event draws massive crowds and has big media coverage, indeed it’s streamed all over the world live to loads of viewers.
Can we have more of this please?
To check out this years King of the Air click here >>
Or watch this video for last years highlights: