FUEL TV

[Browbry]

Any of you Windancing chatters watch this station like I do. They play lots of cool skateboard,snowboard, surfing,motocross, music, and wakeboard vids. Since they do I recently wrote in asking them to start covering KB. Here is their pretty lame reply:

"WE actually only cover the core action sports right now. We may have touched on KB as a leisure activity, but there are no plans to go into it any further in depth at this juncture. Thanks for watching."

I am mustering up a reply to this now as I instantly disagree with his take calling it a "leisure" activity. Maybe some of you have some ideas you can share as to why KB coverage would be beneficial. I think it goes without saying we can all learn alot from watching others do it. Let me know if you have ideas to share. I'd someday love to watch KB & WS vids on a mainstream cable television channel like this one. If your in favor of this idea let me know, or just reply with a yes and I'll take a petition type list back to the guy and see what he thinks.

Thanks,

Bryan in MPLS

[Chad in Sioux Falls]

I emailed them several years back and didn't even get a reply. I am with you and can't believe they wouldn't feature KB as one of their sports.

[wings]

I used to think the same thing: watching professional cinematic and journalistic presentations of our sport would be really, really fun. But then I came to the realization that the exclusivity of our sport merits special treatment. The most obvious examples that come immediately to mind are beach access, inherent danger to bystanders and the attraction of numbskulls. I really think that we should enjoy this sport in its infancy and not necessarily promote its expansion; its gonna happen, but what's the point of hurrying it unless you stand to financially gain from it?

The real question of why its not on fuel is because the other boarders (skate, wake, surfers, etc) don't view it as legitimate in terms of not fitting into a defined category of riding or not having an associated fashion. A brief reading of Kitescoop.com will give you an idea of what I mean. Although I agree with them, I don't really understand why it matters...

[Nathan B]

go to http://www.kitescoop.com and post this topic there to get the real deal on this subject.

[Arthur]

RE Fuel, believe it or not my brother in law started it for Fox in 2004 and has run the station ever since and I been gently harassed him for years to get some kitesurfing on Fuel. I realize that this was a mistake. Here's what he's told me and some of my own editorializing thrown in for good measure.

The market for Kite surfing is very limited compared to Fuel's staples - Surfing, BMX, Snowboard. And that market is predominantly very young, i.e, teenagers or even younger. (Now for my first cultural observation - there were more kids actually surfing when I was growing up in CA in the seventies than there are now. Kids today are getting into surfing by watching others do it on TV more than actually surfing which is requires practice, forebearance and a willingness to get up at 5am and jump in some cold water.)

Fuel has been very successful with this market. You can also see it playing more or less 24 hours a day in any bar from Santa Cruz down to San Diego so there is some adult market but my guess would be that it's primarily surf bums drinking beers when there are no waves and they haven't drummed up anything for their drywalling or pool cleaning business.

And as my brother in law said, and we all know, the barriers to entry for kiting are substantial and not diminishing. Namely, cost, fear, and time. This is a spendy sport. And the wipeouts are spectacular and sometimes fatal. How many people have you tried to convince to take it up without them taking the bait? I must be up to at least one hundred. Compare this to surfing where all you really need is 200 bucks for a used board and an afternoon off by the ocean and, voila, you are a surfer.

However, I think we should all console ourselves with the following thought. Surfing in California is often a pain in the butt. When there are waves, the crowds emerge and everyone is out there vying for the same position at the peak. Much of the time it's flat out obnoxious. It's as localized as kiting is friendly and supportive. Guys talking trash, dirty looks, threats, the occassional fist fight, etc. etc.

And does anyone out there think for a moment that paddling out into pounding surf and taking waves on on the head for the pay-off of a 5-7 second ride compares to using a kite to get to the same take off position in one fifth the time with style? And launching 20 foot boosts off the rolling ramps in the bargain. . . ? I don't think so.

So here's my advice: avoid the frustration that I've gone through trying to popularize the unpopularizable. Leave them in the dark. It reduces the risk that a yahoo surfer will do something stupid and get the sport banned on a beach near you. Those that are made for kiting know the moment they see someone doing it that they have to learn right away.
Viva
Arthur

[Browbry]

Appreciate the insight sofa peeps. Although I want to add my interest personally in bringing KB into the cable tv world is purely to watch video/learn, not to popularize the sport. I get it. Since I started I have quickly realized its a common concern amongst kiters in general. One bad apple could really ruin it for everyone is the worry. One uneducated kiter goes out on a lake they should not (i.e. Calhoun) and a simple formula emerges as he/she gets into possible trouble. Local news + local authorities = KB has been canceled. We can thank the windsurfers for keeping the ones who do not know not to kite on a city lake to not do it. Thanks again for the discussion. Happy Holidays!

[Nathan B]

Broybry
If the reason you want to see KB on fuel is to watch and learn , then buy videos or watch youtube or something theres so many resources for kiteboarding vids out there now, heres a good place to start
http://www.sideoff.com/ you can learn alot more from watching a video over and over to memorize and visualize tricks ... and theres tons of them out there for free that you dont have to buy if thats a issue.

well heres your chance to chime in or just check it out,, funny quensidence this topic just kinda came up on the Scoop.
http://www.kitescoop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3265

[wings]

Well, I guess this settles it:

"In Melbourne I met Pauly, he’s filming a 100% dedicated kiteboarding Tv show which will air on Fuel Tv in January.
He’s a cool dude and I hung out with him quite a bit.
We went over to the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast were I did some of the hosting for the show. Which was pretty cool to do." RL
http://www.rubenlenten.com/home

[Nathan B]

Hell Yea ! cant think of a better rider to prtray out sport to the main stream media

Wings you almost made it look like you were saying that there is a quote thingy on here. Thats a Quote from Rueben that is in the link wings put up.

way to go Len10

[Browbry]

How cool is this thread discussion? Ask and you shall receive as the ole saying goes! Thanks for the report Wings! I am excited about this news & will watch for it in January! Any more specs on dates/times in Jan 09 let us all know!

[Nathan B]

yea its cool but ,, you have to be in austrilia to watch it steve you might be able to tune it in !! it will not air in the USA from what there saying hopefully it will!!! ,, and cmon give me some cred I posted it before wings, I just gave the link to kite scoop where it came from

again, cant think of anyone rider better to Portray out sport than ruben!! he has every style!!
http://www.rubenlenten.com/videos/46/LE ... Gorge.html

[wings]

Yep, its true. In the constant battle to avoid ever actually doing what I should be doing while online, I perused through kitescoop. If you take a very,very large metaphorical machete to cut through the teenage-level bs, its kind of interesting. Plus, lenten and dre are members and its always fun to hear from insiders. So yeah, Nathan did plug it.

Anyway, I bet that in spite of not airing here somebody is gonna get their paws on it and we'll see it right away; everybody is craving some video that doesn't involve body-crunching ridiculousness.