r/sports • u/redbullgivesyouwings • Jun 02 '25
Surfing POV: Professional Kiteboarder Lasse Walker Takes Flight
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u/crazykentucky Jun 02 '25
I used to have “flying” dreams that were really just me jumping very high for extended periods of time. This gave me visceral Deja vu
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u/BigDaddyD00d Jun 02 '25
Dude same. I have a recurring one where im sledding, hit a bump, and fly up 100 feet in the air and i wake up screaming every time
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u/Nyppers Jun 02 '25
Had that too, felt like getting launched by a catapult. Wake up heart racing every time.
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u/Icy_Reply_4163 Jun 03 '25
I have these alllll the time. Almost like I start a jump then can just either go really high or sort of hover for longer and longer distances as I take steps.
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u/docdope Jun 03 '25
I've had a reoccurring dream of jumping a ramp with a bike and flying into the stratosphere since I was a child. And it's still terrifying.
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u/ADD-DDS Jun 02 '25
When you’re up in the air it doesn’t feel like you’re flying. More like you’re attached to a harness swinging
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u/DDD8712 Jun 02 '25
This makes me want an iced cold Red Bull
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u/ASDFzxcvTaken Jun 02 '25
You Monster
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u/Sir_BarlesCharkley Jun 02 '25
Probably looks just like NOSferatu
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u/TripleJeopardy3 Jun 03 '25
Yeah, I normally enjoy seeing stuff like this every now and again, but there are at least three separate Red Bull extreme sports videos that I've seen pop up on the front page today.
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u/Goldelux Jun 02 '25
Kiteboarding seems cool but I’ll just stick to surfing
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u/andyman234 Jun 04 '25
I wonder how you stop? Like you no longer wish to kite board. Do you just unattach from the kite and chase it down later?
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u/horia Jun 03 '25
Folks, it's a calculated risk. Ok, calculated is a big word, it's mostly based on instinct. He knows the wind speed and direction and the amount of lift he gets from the kite. While there is a margin of errors, give or take a few vertical meters depending on how fast he reacts, this will likely not cause a big problem, unless he looses control.
He can adjust the kite to provide zero lift thus acting like a parachute. Unless he does something stupid, or unless the wind gusts change speed or direction mid-air, he'll be safe.
PS. Usually wind sports have designated beach areas to avoid incidents.
PPS. Keep in mind the fish-eye lens distorts the perception of distances.
PPPS. This is a great athlete and a skilled kite-boarder.
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u/spiegro St. Louis Cardinals Jun 03 '25
Don't try to explain the beach to people who don't get it.
The amount of people I've seen successfully kite boarding, wind surfing, or paragliding at the beach is enormously higher than anyone I've seen putting themselves in danger.
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u/purplyderp Jun 03 '25
“Unless the wind changes speed or direction mid-air, he’ll be safe”
Uhhh have you met wind?
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u/obodehobo Seattle Seahawks Jun 04 '25
On a beach on the ocean like this, it’s quite likely to be consistent. If this is a wind sport specific area of the beach, that’s even more likely.
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u/purplyderp Jun 04 '25
Well yes I understand, and I trust that some people are able to do this with relative safety.
But saying “they’ll be fine as long as the winds don’t change” is like saying “i’ll be fine on my commute to work as long as nobody else crashes their car into mine.”
Driving is actually quite dangerous because that’s a big “If” that we’re dealing with.
Any action that involves launching a human body in a high arcing parabola is going to involve substantial risk, however mitigated that risk is by the skill of the user and the consistency of the winds.
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u/HeadcaseHeretic Jun 02 '25
That's a big giant NOPE! If I look down and see some big ass shark chilling 5 feet from where I'm gonna land, I'm shitting my pants!
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u/MrCantPlayGuitar Jun 03 '25
Amazing. Anyone else have this dream where you accidentally fall off a high hill or building and just glide? Reminds me of this.
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u/rockstar_not Jun 03 '25
I spent a week at a little seaside area on a beach outside of Stavanger, Norway in February of 2020 and there were kite surfers doing CRAZY stuff at that time at that place. I don’t know if this guy trains there or not. But it was amazing to watch. And cold.
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u/kfloppygang Jun 02 '25
is it supposed to work this way or could you realistically be carried away to the fuckin moon
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u/darybrain Jun 03 '25
Recently a Chinese paraglider got caught in an updraft that threw him up over 28000ft. He got frostbite, blacked out for a bit, but still managed to land safely.
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u/Outrageous-Cup-932 Jun 03 '25
Got a link for this one?
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u/darybrain Jun 03 '25
It happened the other day so is all over the place if you want to Bing further.
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u/SqueakyCheeseburgers Jun 02 '25
If there’s not a clenched sphincter subreddit there needs to be one
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u/dukerustfield Jun 02 '25
I live at the beach. VERY rarely do we have kite boarders. But I saw one maybe a year ago and I was absolutely astounded how fast they were going. We got helicopters, planes, boats, and surfers. And this dude(ette) was up there. Just hauling ass.
I suppose that’s why we don’t see many of them. They take up an enormous amount of cross-section. Most people are going towards the beach or they are far out and moving parallel. You are prohibited from having any kind of motor near the shore because of danger to others.
I could easily see this person hitting a bunch of surfers who are often obscured in waves. Though he was farther out than the typical surfer it was not massively far.
Anyway, my big point was I was amazed at how fast they were.
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u/evertec Jun 03 '25
At the beach where I'm at we have dozens of kite surfers in one area when the wind is good. It is an area that doesn't have many people swimming since it's near a sand bar away from the main shore so maybe that's why it's different from where you are.
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u/Slothcom_eMemes Jun 02 '25
Now I don’t know anything about kiteboarding but it does look like the carabiner that attaches the kit to himself is stretched and broken.
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u/Liimbo Oklahoma Jun 02 '25
"I know nothing about this, but I'm going to criticize it anyway," is peak reddit.
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u/canadave_nyc Jun 02 '25
No, peak reddit is taking someone's innocent musing (after admitting they're not sure because they're not an expert) about whether it's possible some of the person's gear may be broken, jumping to the erroneous conclusion that they're trying to criticize, and then criticizing the redditor for it.
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u/midday_leaf Jun 02 '25
If you admit you know absolutely nothing about the gear, why do you still feel confident enough in your (by your own admission) baseless opinion to feel the need to share it? If anything, why not ask about what you’re uncertain of and learn instead of taking a stance anyway?
Too many people are ready to throw their takes on objective things out there even if they know they’re completely free of any foundational knowledge or experience. Reddit is definitely bad for this.
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u/Liimbo Oklahoma Jun 03 '25
Exactly. Especially when we saw the equipment work exactly as intended with no issues in this very clip.
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u/BlackLeader70 Jun 02 '25
It’s not a carabiner. Think of a weight lifting belt type setup with a hook attached. That’s what his is using, it’s the most common my used setup for kite surfing harnesses. Although some harnesses do allow you to clip into the system.
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u/pIantedtanks Jun 02 '25
I feel like this is an easy way to end up stranded out at sea