For local kiteboarding enthusiasts, the sport is rooted in community, and the connections made therein feel more like family than mere associations. Then there are those like #JPLAY Lurkin, for whom kiteboarding is actually a family event. Lurkin explained, “Charleston’s popularity and the community of kiteboarding have grown a lot. I have a whole family that rides, two older boys in their 20s, and my youngest all ride. It is to us kind of like golf or fishing or tennis, you know, are to other families. Fortunately for me, I turned a hobby into a profession and raised my family around it.”
Lurkin continued, “I got involved in kiteboarding just kind of as a hobby. A friend had come to Charleston from Hawaii and brought a kite and I had been kind of a longtime surfer and the waves in the Southeast aren’t that great, so I quickly realized that the kite and the surfboard with a twin tip was a great way to get in the water here. Because we have good sea breezes in the afternoon on the island, it is a user-friendly area. I had the opportunity in 2003 to start teaching, so I quickly at the beginning of the sport got involved in getting other people involved and then after moving here in 2007, I quickly became involved in teaching others the sport.”
He added, “This area is unique because of the tidal changes that we have and the sandbars and the shallow water. It tends to be a really easy area to learn, and then because of Charleston’s popularity, and the surrounding places really, the community of kiteboarding has grown. I grew up going to the beach pretty much every day chasing the wind.”
Wind direction is an important safety component of kiteboarding, and venturing out during onshore winds helps in mitigating the risk of being swept out to sea. Lurkin explained, “Both Sullivan’s Island and the Isle of Palms have really good riding areas, and the wind direction is super helpful in this area too because it’s side-onshore, which makes it pretty safe. You know if you go out then something happens, you can end back up on the beach because of the wind direction.”
Lurkin elaborated, “I got involved in the sport because my background was navigation search and rescue for the Navy. I realized that folks who might get into this sport might not have quite as much expertise as they need. I had decided then it’s important to nurture the sport and grow people in a safe way, and 20 years later, I’m still doing it, and every once in a while, get people reaching out to learn more about it.”
Respect for the water and the community around it are of utmost importance to Lurkin and his fellow kiteboarders. Lurkin described his connection to the islands. “The community has always been amazing to me, not just in the kiteboarding side of it. It’s one of the reasons my wife and I moved here. We just felt like it was a nice water culture. It’s just a really tight community, and safety is top of the list for all of us.”
Jamie Grant agreed that safety and respect for the community are key to successful kiteboarding. Grant explained, “I’m a safety guy; I do risk assessment and safety for companies that are trying to improve. I do a lot of sports, and I love snowboarding and I love kiteboarding, but kiteboarding is insanely fun. The other thing is this location is amazing for it. We’re really lucky – we don’t have good waves, but we have pretty good wind. It’s not inexpensive to get involved and get into it, though. The question I get asked the most is: ‘How long does it take to learn how to do this?’ What I tell people is that it’s a steep learning curve, but it’s not very long.”
Reflecting on his beginnings in the sport, Grant said, “I got started when kiteboarding got safe. In the early days you would connect to the kite and there was no emergency release or anything that would depower (reduce the pulling force generated by the kite). So you were kind of stuck. Then somebody invented, like 20 years ago, the Ironheart, which allowed you to depower safely. Back then it was still pretty intense because the kites weren’t really designed as well in the early days. That’s the reason I got into it. Before that, it was kind of crazy.”
Grant continued, “When a storm front comes in, and the wind is blowing from the north, that blows you offshore and the only way to get back is with the Coast Guard. We are really careful about that, and we also like to be in groups for a couple reasons. One is we can’t talk on the water, but we help each other launch, which is helpful because that’s one of the points where you don’t want to do that wrong. So we help landing and launching. It’s really addictive and so the people that do it that are in my friend group, we’ve been doing it for 20 years and we look at the wind all day. It’s a lot of fun and it’s really good fitness too. It’s something we’re passionate about.”
Grant further emphasized the importance of being respectful and cautious on the waterways. “We self-police. If anybody is not being safe, we will remind that person. We consider it a privilege to have the opportunity to do this, and we don’t want to be a problem for the community that allows it. We look out for the community, and we look out for each other. We are just a very well connected, tightknit group – like family.”
By Laura Fogarty
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