Small Community
The main reason why kitesurfing is so expensive is the popularity of this sport. Or the lack of it to be exact. Kitesurfing is NOT that popular. There are about two million kiteboarders in the world, a relatively small market if you think about it. Given the small number of manufacturing companies and the frequency at which we are buying new gear, production quantities are very small, so you can call kitesurfing a unique, boutique, specialty, elite, custom, exclusive and limited edition type of business. None of those words sound cheap. There is no wholesale, it’s mostly a drop-ship situation.
Gear
One solid fact about kitesurfing gear is that you need more than one piece of equipment to start riding. The saying goes that you need three things: the kite, the board, and the harness, put simply, but in reality, you need TEN (plus) items, and we explain this HERE. And as you may guess each piece of gear comes with its own price tag. Sometimes a few items come in a package, some retailers offer “all-inclusive” packages for beginners, which is a sure way to save money, especially if you are just starting out.
Materials
About the materials used to make kites. These are neither linens nor handkerchiefs. And those long-long kite-lines are no shoelace either. Both are made of very strong yet lightweight materials and this combination gets only more and more expensive when the materials get stronger and lighter.
Labor
Now about the craftsmanship. It’s flawless! Well, it should be, at least. And to achieve this high level of quality the kites are not stitched in a sweatshop but are crafted by skilled professionals who are very passionate about kitesurfing and it is done on the equipment that is not designed in China. Many kites are made by the same companies that produce parachutes and paragliders as an additional product line, yet with the quality that is on par with parachutes and paragliders.
Research
Now let’s look at the pre-production process. There are lots of formulas in aerodynamics, yet the ultimate prooving method is the experiment, and believe me, there are many of them. Too many at times. So we should factor those in.
Boards
Let’s look at the boards now. They look pretty trivial at first, but the appearance could be deceiving. Knowledge of hydrodynamics (read: engineering degree) is often involved at the design stage. Trial and error during the experimentation phase. The materials used are expensive. Manual labor takes a big chunk of production. I hope you can see where I am going. Look at any other board sport: surfing, snowboarding, skiing, skateboarding, SUP, wakeboarding – all of them can get pretty expensive even before you go “custom”.
The verdict – Why is kitesurfing so expensive:
Now if we add all these aspects together you can see why kitesurfing is so expensive. And HOW expensive kitesurfing is we explain HERE.
