‘Go fly a kite’

John Sedberry takes advantage of a winter storm to kiteboard the Hermosa Beach surf. Photo by Bo Bridges

If someone tells John Sedberry to ‘Go fly a kite’ he is more than willing to oblige… as long as it’s on the water.

The Hermosa Beach resident is one of many extreme athletes who have taken advantage of the strong winds to hit Southern California recently while enjoying the surface water sport of kiteboarding.

Riding a small surfboard with an attached kite and up to 90 feet of line length, kiteboarders utilize the power of the wind to propel themselves across the water while jumping and surfing the waves. Laying the lines out on the sand in the correct position, boarders can walk the specifically designed kites up into the wind.

“With kiteboarding everything is magnified, particularly the jumping,” Sedberry explained. “For most converted windsurfers such as myself, kiteboarding was the light wind alternative, but with the evolution in equipment design it is now the high wind alternative as well.”