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     What do you get when you cross a kite with a surfboard? Kite surfing – the latest extreme sport gaining popularity in the UAE, with dozens of enthusiasts heading to beaches around the country to fly and surf when the wind picks up.

     The idea behind kite surfing is simple - kite surfers stand on a board with their feet in straps or bindings and use the power of a large controllable kite to propel themselves and the board across the water. According to participants, this simplicity is what makes kite surfing challenging as your body is the only connection between the kite and the board and you have to control them both at the same time: piloting the kite in the sky and steering the board on the water.

     Kites originated in China thousands of years ago - two kite masters Kungshu P'an and Mo Zi flew kites as early as 478 BC - and largely remained unchanged until multiple line controllable kites were introduced in 1826. For the first time in history, instead of letting the wind fly the kite, the flyer could actually control the kite in the sky. It was this ability that turned a recreational activity into an extreme sport more than 150 years later.

     Racing kite-powered buggies across sand dunes at speeds of up to 122 km/h or skimming across water as a kite powers you forward are the leisure activities that modern day thrill seekers are turning to.  The man largely responsible for bringing kite surfing to the UAE owns the only outlet selling kite surfing equipment in Dubai - Fatima Sports - where he is simply known as 'The Kite man.' "Back in the 1970s two guys, Marry and Jones, started developing a new type of kite with central spars on the front which became known as Flexifoil," he said, explaining the history and evolution of the sport. "To get publicity for their development program, they crossed the Atlantic from the United States to the UK using a boat powered by a stack of Flexifoil kites one on top of the other.

     "Then, in the late 1980s, a New Zealander called Peter Lynn got into the business of buggy racing and, as a sideline to the buggies, started taking the wheels off and putting floats on either side in order to go on the water, but it still wasn't quite kite surfing.

     "Later he developed the kite boat, which was a board you sit down on with a steering column at the front and this soon aroused interest among windsurfers like Robby Naish who modified the design of their windsurfing boards to create the sport of kite surfing."

     The basic rules of physics enable a kite to generate enough power to pull a person across the water. When flying across the sky, a kite generates lift like an aeroplane wing. Since lift is proportional to the size of a kite, if it is big enough, it will generate enough power to propel a vehicle on land, snow, ice or water - this type of kite is known as a traction kite.  When a kite flies it creates its own wind - apparent wind -which is faster and therefore produces more power than the actual wind can provide. Since lift is proportional to the square of the wind velocity, if the apparent wind of the kite is twice that of the actual wind you will get four times as much power from the kite, but it is only when a kite is moving in the sky that power is generated.

     To start out in kite surfing you must first learn to control the kite in the sky - a skill, which The Kite man teaches to beginners on the public beach next to Wollongong University in Dubai.

     "It's incredibly quick to learn - the learning curve for kite surfing is faster than any other water sport," he said. "I teach a standard programme, which enables the most gifted people to get on the board almost within half an hour of picking up a kite. Other people may take two or three months, but on average you see people on a board within four weeks.  "Eighty per cent of the sport is controlling the kite - knowing where to position it, when to turn it and when to generate the power. Control of the kite is everything.

     On the board it's like learning to ride a bicycle - once you have learnt to balance, it just comes to you. But to control the kite it's more like learning how to use the clutch in a car - you know how to go forward, but you also have to know how to reverse uphill!" Once the kite and board are mastered, the real fun starts as you begin to learn the sort of spectacular tricks, which leave sunbathers on the beach watching in awe. "The attractions of kite surfing are varied," The Kite man explained.

     "Number one is the fact that you are controlling such an incredibly powerful tool.  You have the thrill of being free in the water and not dependent on a second person or machines in anyway. So long as there is wind, you can cruise up and down the water and have a great time. Once you have stronger winds the chance to go airborne increases as the kite lifts you off the surface of the water. The sport is primarily aimed at getting people airborne because once you are in the air you can start doing single, double, triple and even quadruple summersaults - you can do all kinds of things.

     Some of the pros can stay airborne for up to 15 or 20 seconds - which is an awfully long time in which to generate manoeuvres and displays."

     There is no risk of being caught by the wind and disappearing into the sky if you can handle the kite, as it will only generate power when there is tension on the lines. When you release the tension, the kite becomes no more than a piece of cloth in the sky, and down you go.  However, safety is paramount. Kite surfing is defined as an extreme - and therefore dangerous -sport and The Kite man says he will only sell equipment to people he feels are responsible enough to use it safely.  "I am trying to keep this sport fairly exclusive to those with the common sense to practice it in a safe, logical and respectful way because it is extremely dangerous," he said. "Not just for the person doing it, but also for the people watching.

     "You have to remember that you have a sail of anything from between 15 and 20 square metres and that sail is moving. When you start dropping it, it accelerates and can reach anything from 50-100 km/h. That kite is being held by four narrow nylon lines, which have break strength of about 350 kg. Can you imagine if one of those lines hits someone's head? It will decapitate them straight away. Likewise, if the person holding the kite hasn't got the common sense to correct his mistakes, he could end up being wiped all over the beach or being lifted off the water and smashed against a car parked on the beach.

     "There is a lot of respect in kiting. To open the sport up to everyone may make economic sense for the business, but for the sake of the sport and the safety of those on the beach, I would rather let it be an exclusive sport for those with the wisdom to respect it, which is why I will never sell a kite to anyone unless they guarantee to spend a minimum of six to eight hours learning with me on the beach before they are free to do as they please." To minimise the risks, kite surfers look for the right beach on which to practice the sport away from other people.

     "We are very lucky that the authorities in the UAE are relaxed in terms of allowing the sport to take place, but in Europe there are a number of public beaches where kite surfing has been banned. The beach next to Wollongong University was picked because it's the quietest in Dubai - or it used to be.

     "Unfortunately, because Dubai has developed so incredibly fast, more people have heard about this place and when one kite comes, three or four cars come to watch. The biggest problem we have is people parking their cars right on the waterfront. Not only does it destroy the beach by ploughing it up, but it also becomes dangerous to kite surfers because when you have to land the kite you are contending with so many four wheel drives.  "The beach needs to be wide as people are spread out more, but a beach where the dominant wind is offshore or there are a lot of rocks is no-go area.  Other beaches that we go to are near the Jebel Ali Hotel, and the Ghantoot area is good because you can go from one end of the breakwater to the other.

     "Another place where you get extremely good winds - more so than Dubai – is by the Hamriya Freezone in Ajman. But the East Coast is not so good. Because the mountains are so close to the shore, the winds are incredibly unstable and not recommended for kite surfing unless you go all the way to the northern side of Fujairah where it gets a little flatter. But those beaches have public roads very close to the water's edge, which then becomes dangerous."

     The wind is the most important element in kite surfing and the UAE, although not a perfect destination wind wise, has enough to make the sport viable, particularly in the afternoons when wind speeds increase.  "Conditions overseas can range anywhere from six knots to 50 knots - but in the UAE we have basically two shammal seasons - in the summer from about mid-May to the end of August, and then in the winter in January and February - that's when it starts pumping really strongly. In February last year we had up to 22 knots, which we consider strong. In the summer we get anything from about 10 to 16 knots and that's good enough to get you airborne and moving fairly fast."

     You can still kitesurf in lesser winds by using larger kites and longer lines, while smaller kites and shorter lines are used in stronger winds.  To get started in kiteboarding you have to own your own equipment, which doesn't come cheap. Getting fully equipped with quality equipment costs around 3,300 UAE dirhams for the basic kite system; a further 1,250-1,500 dirhams for a board and you will also need a leash to restrain the board, a harness to hold the kite and a crash helmet. But the cost, according to The Kiteman, is all relative.

     "You have to look at the cost by comparing it to other water sports, apart from swimming of course. If you go for windsurfing, a whole rig will set you back something like 10-12,000 dirhams. If you go for wakeboarding, water skiing or anything else you need a motorised boat. With kitesurfing, all the equipment will fit in the boot of an ordinary saloon car and takes about 5-10 minutes to set up from the time you open your boot to the time you are ready to start sailing."

     There are different types and sizes of kite and board available, some of which are easier to learn with and more suited to beginners, while others are more advanced.

     The Kiteman started the craze in the UAE back in 1994 when he began flying a power kite with his son in Jebel Ali Village, which soon became something of a local attraction. Then, in 1996, he bought his first kite-powered buggy to ride in the desert.

     "Once I started moving up and down the dunes and reaching incredible speeds and tackling 60-70 degree dunes, which you would never dare or could never achieve using a four wheel drive, and then look back to see there are no tracks to show where you have been, that's when I really started getting into it," he said. "This is an ecologically-friendly, fast, adrenaline-filled sport like no other, and once you start doing one side of the sport too often, you start to look for something else.  "I then brought in the first kiteboat and started going up and down the then undeveloped Al Mamzar lagoon to learn the skill of it. Then I started moving to the beaches - to Jumeirah Beach and Jebel Ali beach - but again you need to move on, and that's when kitesurfing boards arrived. As people started seeing them, they also wanted to try it out and, by the summer of 2000, there were about 30 or 40 people in Dubai seriously interested in kite surfing."

     As the numbers increased, The Kiteman set up Fatima Sports near the beach next to Wollongong University. A formal kitesurfing school is also in the final stages of development and expected to open during 2002, with the number of kite surfers in Dubai now having risen to around 100.  "Almost on a weekly basis there are a couple more people joining the sport," he said.

     "It's very mixed in terms of nationalities and gender. There's a large majority of South Africans who, because of their nature, love the wilder sports, there are quite a number of Westerners and Asians, and the number of UAE nationals is also on the increase." With kite surfing now established in the UAE and other countries around the world, what does The Kiteman believe the future holds for the sport?  "In just seven years I have gone from using a two-line kite in a field to sailing up dunes and cruising in the water," he said. "The sport and the equipment have progressed so much in such a short space of time - and are guaranteed to get even better.