This is a grassroots effort to build a community among windsport enthusiasts. Meet other local enthusiasts, ride together, coach each other, brag about equipment and definitely do some swaps. Originally started in 2008 as a windsurfing and kiteboarding Meetup group, it grew to something more, eventually expanding to Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Twitter.
Over time this portal emerged as the interface to tie together the various social networks. As a value add, this portal also provides original content, wind forecasts and real-time weather conditions, as well as information about launch spots not just for New York City metro area, but also for destinations in the northeast U.S. and beyond.
For those who are not familiar with windsports and our addiction — here is a brief intro, with some of the content below plagiarized from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Windsport activities can be land-based, on snow, on ice, or on water:
Windsurfing is a surface water sport using a windsurf board usually two to four meters long and powered by the effect of the wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and comprises a mast, wishbone boom and sail.
Kitesurfing or kiteboarding is a surface water sport that uses wind power to pull a rider through the water on a small surfboard or a kiteboard (similar to a wakeboard). Generally kiteboarding refers to a style of riding known as freestyle or wake-style, whereas kitesurfing is more “wave-riding” oriented. These two styles usually require different boards and specific performance kites.
Snowkiting is an outdoor winter sport where people uses kite power to glide on snow or ice. It’s similar to kitesurfing, but with the footwear used in snowboarding or skiing. In the early days of snowkiting, foil kites were the most common type; nowadays some kitesurfers use their water gear such as inflatable kites. Snowkiting differs from other alpine sports in that it is possible for the snowkiter to travel uphill and downhill with any wind direction.
Kite landboarding also known as kiteboarding or land kiteboarding or flyboarding, is based on the ever-growing sport of Kitesurfing, where a rider on a surf-style board is pulled over water by a kite. Kite landboarding involves the use of a mountain board or landboard, which is essentially an oversized skateboard with large pneumatic wheels and foot-straps.
Land sailing, also known as sand yachting or land yachting, is the act of moving across land in a wheeled vehicle powered by wind through the use of a sail. An ice boat (often spelled as “iceboat”) is a boat or purpose-built framework similar in functional design to a sail boat but fitted with skis or runners (skates) and designed to run over ice instead of through (liquid) water.
