Home > People > Allan Bora

Hello Hullonians

Allan Bora's Extreme Learning Curve

By Cindy Beth Bittker

If you see a human being attached to a kite gliding back and forth along the ocean and the bay about 200 yards offshore, chances are you are watching Hull resident Allan Bora enjoying his latest extreme sport addiction -- kiteboarding.

Unlike surfers whose time up on their board is limited to the length of time they can catch the wave, kiteboarders can tack back and forth along the water for hours. Sitting back in his harness powered along (and sometime above) the water by his kite, Allan Bora makes it all look smooth, easy and effortless.

Not so, says Bora, who says he spent much of his first six months trying to master the sport either being dragged along the beach or untangling his kite. "Tangles are rated in hours. You have a 1 hour tangle, a 2 hour tangle or a hopeless tangle."

"It was a very humbling, trying experience. This sport is harder to get into than surfing. It's more gear intensive, and you have to master two skills — flying a kite and boarding."

"It was very frustrating to learn. You have to have enough wind. The wind has to come from the right direction and you have to have the proper place to launch a kite. I'm stubborn by nature and that's the only thing that kept me in the sport because I took a beating for seven months."

Bora discovered kiteboarding on a trip to Key West in 2004. Although totally taken by watching the kiteboarders there, he had no idea how to get into the sport. It wasn't until several years later that he began seeing the sport in Cape Cod and went with a friend to "Zero to Hero Camp," a training camp in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina in the spring of 2006. After 3 days of training in safety and equipment, and practice drills with small kites, "I got up on the board for maybe 5 seconds. I bought a kite down there and then spent the next several months here trying to figure out how to make this thing happen."

Now as an experienced kiteboader, Allan has different sized kites for different wind speeds and is able to check wind speeds and direction on various websites. As a beginner, he didn't have that information and only had one size kite.

"I drove down to Newport, RI one day to go kiteboarding with a friend. I was just beginning and I didn't know the difference between a 13 MPH wind and a 23 MPH wind. And, I only had one kite size. I thought the wind was a little strong, but figured I'd driven a long way and might as well go. It was a stupid decision. I had to water launch my kite and it ended up into the wind instead of on the side of the wind and so it came up with a tremendous amount of power and it threw me out of the water about 15-20 feet. All I had to do was let go of the bar, but it happened so fast that I didn't. I was upside down flying, then went underwater doing summersaults."

"Not too long after that I thought the bay here in Hull was the perfect environment to kiteboard. But the bay is a horrible place to launch a kite because it is all rocks. I came home from work and I'm down there futzing with my kite. All my neighbors are watching and it's starting to get dark. I finally got the kite up in the air, but I was 30 feet out in the water and my board was still on the beach. Because it was already getting dark out, I decided to go out without my board and "Body Drag." It's one of the skills you practice when you are learning the sport and you lie on your stomach and fly the kite for power. It's actually a lot of fun."

"The wind was coming from the Northeast and I figured I'd take myself down wind to the end of the bay. So, I had a ball. I was having a great time tacking back and forth. I get down to the end of the bay and put my kite down safely, and my neighbor comes running over the seawall shouting, "Are you okay?" I tell him I'm fine and he says, "You're fine?" like he is angry that I'm fine because I shouldn't be fine. He says, "But the kite was dragging you all over the place." I told him I meant to do that! Meanwhile he had called the Fire Department and they were there along with the police!"

After months of trial and tribulation, Allan's breakthrough finally happened in January of this year in Aruba, where he hired a coach and practiced 3 hours a day for 3 consecutive days in the right conditions.

"Once that happened, it's really fast and you learn to get it. Now it's all good. There's a bit more to go for me in the sport, but I now have a high level of confidence in my ability to control the kite."

Allan is mastering actually flying or hanging in the air for a little while. "That is probably what everyone wants to do at the next level. You can get extended hang time in the air. There is a way to fly the kite and deliberately snap it to get airborne. The kite is not designed to sustain flying, but it can pull you out of the water."

"The thing I never liked about surfing is that just when you start having fun, it's over. That's what I love about kiteboarding — the perpetual, never ending fluidity. It's so smooth, quiet and peaceful when you harness the wind. I've wakeboarded behind a boat and you are tugged vertically and there is a lot of noise. With kiteboarding, you can just sit back in the harness and cruise. It's very comfortable. You can hear your board whipping through the water and you don't hear any other noise."

"I've never been so taken by any other sport in my life and just can't wait to go again."

Allan Bora's suggestions for people interested in the sport:

"There is a local chat group, bostonkiteboarding@yahoogroups.com. This was recently created by a beginner for beginners to network and help each other along the learning curve. Also, a good place to get information on lessons. A Google search will also provide options for lessons. A note about learning and lessons. It should be progressive, as you want to really understand safety, equipment and feel comfortable at each level before progressing to the next. Someone looking into lessons should expect to do a lot with understanding equipment, theory and safety before getting behind a real kite. Beginners typically start with a trainer kite, which behaves like standard kite but much smaller and therefore not enough power to pull you. Trainer kites will run about $60 and I recommend a lot of practice time as the kite flying skill is most challenging and the most important skill."

Back to Top