Tech-Talk: kitesurfboard vs. surfboard construction

29.04.2020

In these Tech-Talk videos we will answer all your board related questions. From deck pads to different types of foam. Ask your questions via social media or send us an email. We will answer them in our next videos!

Is a normal surfboard strong enough for kitesurfing?

Can you just kite on your regular surfboard? Quick answer: of course you can. But there is a big difference between a normal surfboard construction and a kite surfboard construction. A regular surfboard is usually not strong enough for kitesurfing. Why not? This has mainly to do with the strain that comes on the deck of the surfboard during surfing or kitesurfing. Wieger will explain it in more detail in the video.

Don’t feel like watching a video or would you rather read anyway? Below the video is a summary of what is told in the video

Kitesurf board vs. surfboard construction

The kite constructions in surfboards are different from normal surfboard constructions. Now can you just kite on your normal surfboard? Quick answer: of course you can. It’s a similar kind of board, but the normal surfing construction is usually not strong enough for kitesurfing. Imagine this: if you’re prone surfing your paddling for 95 percent of the time and maybe you’re standing on your surfboard only 5% of the time. In kitesurfing it’s actually the other way around, so you may be off your board 5% of the time, while you on the board 95% of the time. This puts much more strain on the deck of the board, so in a kite construction you really need to reinforce the deck.

Sandwich construction for a strong kite surfboard

Just putting more fiberglass on the deck of a normal surfboard will work up to a point, but what works much better is putting in a sandwich construction. That’s why, at Appletree all our directional kitesurfboards have at least a single layer sandwich construction and some even have a double layer sandwich construction. And then even with carbon-fiber to make it even stronger.

Strong foam

Our foam is already really strong, so if you use one of our normal surfboards for kitesurfing it will last quite a long time and will not really break. However, it’s much more advisable to use a kite construction.

I will explain in another video more about our different construction levels, but this is the basic difference between a normal surfboard construction and one of these kite construction boards.

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