Pro kiters earn HOW MUCH?! | Fight for Flight S1 E5 | Kitesurfing Docuseries
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- čas přidán 16. 12. 2023
- Kitesurfing is an extremely expensive sport and outsiders may look at the pro's thinking that they’ve got it made. But do they? Episode 5 takes you beyond the Instagram posts and behind the scenes, offering a glimpse into the challenging and often overlooked realities of life as a professional kitesurfer.
Follow us on Instagram: / bigairkiteleague
Thank you to Makani Beach Club and Core Kiteboarding for believing in BAKL’s vision for this sport and making this production possible!
Production:
Thank you to our fantastic production team for pulling off this project. Special mention must be given to Michal Jagniatkowski from Nonoise Media for his fantastic editing, film work, and huge back-catalog from years of working with The Big Air Kite League.
We would love to hear from you! Please email Mike at mike@bigairkiteleague.com if you'd like to get in touch.
CREDITS:
Directed by: Nadia Negm and Michael Mac Donald
Produced by: The Big Air Kite League, Michael Mac Donald
Director of photography: Nonoise Media
Editor: Nonoise Media
Assistant Editor: Matthew Bosworth Smith
Colour grading: Nonoise Media
Score: Nonoise Media
Sound: Paperklip
Production designer: Jasmine Cho
Interviews: Nadia Negm
Motion graphics: fullhd.co.za
Thank you to Michi's kite repairs
Starring:
Adrian Kerr
Andrea Principi
Angely Bouillot
Beto Gomez
Cohan van Dijk
Evan Klijn
Giel Vlugt
Hannah Whiteley
Janek Grzegorzewski
Jasmine Cho
Jett Bradshaw
Johanna Disdier
Lewis Crathern
Liam Whaley
Lorenzo Casati
Luca Ceruti
Marc Jacobs
Mikaili Sol
Michael Mac Donald
Nathalie Lambrecht
Nick Jacobsen
Oswald Smith
Pippa van Iersel
Ruben Lenten
Stig Hoefnagel
Zara Hoogenraad
Additional riding footage provided by:
Andy Troy
Colin Colin Carroll
Core Kiteboarding
Evan Klijn
Hannah Whiteley
Janek Grzegorzewski
Jett Bradshaw
Julien Leleu
Kyle Cabano
Lewis Crathern
Lorenzo Casati
Luca Ceruti
Marc Jacobs
Mikail Sol
Mystic
Nathalie Lambrecht
Pippa Van Iersel
Ruben Lenten
Stig Hoefnagel
Tom Seager
#kitesurfing #kiteboarding #bigairkiteleague - Sport
Publicity & awareness - it’s growing and the kite suppliers should, in my view, collectively add communally to the prize funds. Mike, you’re amazing at building up our sport & you’re a treasure. 👍
Yeah, kiteboard companies ain’t about to put more money fwd. you got to understand that kiting is the only industry or 1 of a few where extremely low demand = high as the sky prices. With aluula being made now, that is even more apparent. They, if I had to guess, pay their kite makers in China $1 a kite, but I could be wrong. So they are not trying pay outside of free kites to riders
Pay the riders! 🔥
This series is exactly what the sport needs in every way! Learning to know the rider fleet a little bit better makes it so much more interesting to follow them and the events 🤙
Awesome Video 🫶🏼 Let’s bring this sport to a new level!
Thank you so much! And thanks for sharing it on IG 🫶🚀
Mike is there an appetite with fans to use a crowd fund type platform to raise money for prizes? Is there anyone with experience in professional surfing, tennis, golf who could offer advice or mentor on how to grow this epic, visually stunning sport? It's bizarre that major Brands like Land Rover, Guinness, Rolex, TagHuer..... don't see value in the sport.
Addicted to this series! It’s crazy though that the pay is so little especially given the risks involved 😮. You guys inspire me every day to keep pushing this amazing sport ❤
Thank you James! Yeah pro kiting isn’t the most prosperous career path at the moment, but hopefully we can change that!
Very interesting video!!! Having competed in all these events (minus the BAKL) 8 years on the PKRA, living from event to event, 10 years on the triple-s, uk events, racing, speed, wake style, freestyle… and needing to produce media to stay liquid. Spreading thin, in the end, reduces performance across the whole spectrum… and I consider myself lucky with it all!! I will do a doc a some point… I spent everything I ever made on hospital treatment and surgery in the end! 👊🤟🙏 respect
Such an interesting video! Would be interesting to see some actual and specific figures though hahaha
those competitions live, like KOTA, are some of the best sporting events I've ever seen, I would easily pay for a ticket to see it if there was some added infrastructure
Thank you BAKL team for this amazing serie and all the effort you put into growing our sport ❤
A few years ago watching KOTA I was shocked by the prize money. These guys are incredible athletes and deserve 10 X times the prize money.
How can it be exposed more to the general public? Approach national TV stations with clips from competitions? I don't know how but these guys deserve much more!!!
Great series ! All shared!!!
Thank you Toby! 🙌
Great video! More of this!
Probably the best Kite movie I ever saw !!!!
Thank you from our team! 🫶
Great watch guys!
Love this series ❤
Great stuff, keep it coming.🎉 Kiting deserves more ❤
Mike (and the entire team), this is just an amazing project you did!
It reminded me a lot of Drive to survive which I binge watched without knowing much about the sport. This time I binge watched Fight for Flight while waiting for the wind to enter here in Brazil.
I really hope that this series can impact people to understand this sport much more and understand how little support it has vs how risky it is plus how amazingly thrilling it is.
One thing I don't get is the minimum support from kite brands to the prizes and the possibility to train more.
Kites are very expensive. The brands make sh#@$t loads of money, the whole kiting industry seems to be mainly for wealthy people (while I totally dislike it) and then, those who are bloody amazing at it, doing all crazy tricks and risking their lives, are those who often have no money at all!
To get to be sponsored by a brand takes a lot of effort, which is not only a lot of training but also filming, taking professional pictures etc which often is not something they can afford or should focus on... Social media should not be their selling point... It should be their skills firts and foremost.
Spending a lot of time in Brazil, seeing firts hand Baby's Shark progress, knowing his family and the difficulties they are going through to help him to be where he is, is heart breaking when I see next door kite centers whose public is majority of rich Europeans who kite a few weeks a year and have no trouble to come to Brazil with the newest models every year...
And all around the world, there is just so many little Baby Sharks, Betos etc that had to work extremely hard to be noticed just because they don't come from a wealthy family and started kiting on an old equipment, broken boards etc.
I really hope the big brands that are involve in this sport, one way or another, brands thatcash out a lot of $$ can really step up their game and start supporting those guys and girls who are doing all the crazy stuff that we love to watch!
And that this series will make people realize how amazing this sport is and how much it is lucking...
Great job again! Now time to go on the water 😁
Thank you so much! We really appreciate being compared to Drive to Survive 😍
There's a documentary about Baby Shark coming soon and we can't wait to see it! What a champ!
Amazing ! Thank you for doing that ! 💪🏻🙌
super good show! Cant wait for season 2
This is a really good vid. Keep it up, you are a champion
I really love these, very well made.
Great video and good vibes especialy at the end❤
This is such a great video! I'm a huge fan of seeing these athletes' true personalities and thoughts. Connection is key in my opinion, and the sport and the athletes are connecting with many riders/fans all over the world. I think we would all love to see more events, tough financially and logistically I'm sure, but even countries like Canada have a growing kiter population, and I'm sure that events could have a positive impact here. Maybe a more open membership option to worldwide amateur riders could help harvest some money towards the sport. Can't wait for the next video!
Great documentary!!
Awesome! This is super interesting and very well made!
this got a "With A Kite" feel to it
Awesome video !
What a great quality and interesting video, it really helps connecting with the riders.
so cool !!! top !!! congratulations !!! Im with you !!!
I didnt realize mike was so heavily involved in kiting like that. Go MIKE! As a kiter and any board sport enthusiast all pros in these genre are massively under rated. kiting i find though has a few issues, its expensive to get into and a little frustrating to see new gear come out at 1500k average and then drop to half in 2 years. or, if you know some1, you can get the half off in the same year it came out. If the sport was a little cheaper which it has room for it would be more accessible to more people.
Great Video! It shows the reality. I always see some videos on instagram and didn't know how little people do on these competitions. Time for a change!
Great Job! Keep it going. The awareness is already way better than a few years ago. Only downside: the spots are becoming crazy crowded 😂
Kudo to all the riders who spoke up!! Definitely more money should go in this awesome sport and the way to do it is what Mike is doing! Thanks a lot Mike for all the stuff you and your team are doing. You are definitely elevating the sport. KOTA is bigger than ever thanks to you. The young guys took over the competition side of the sport. Couple more years of grinding/learning and GKA / BAKL will become one. The sport need Mike to disrupt kitesurfing to bring it to the next level.
But not too soon, still enjoy my empty spot 😋😁
Absolutely SICK docuseries bruuu!! Thanks for this incredible production Mike & BAKL team. Absolute legends!!!
Thanks so much! We're glad you enjoyed it!
Mike good move to make this video! And interesting.
Thank you! 🙌
Totally awesome series - Great work guys. I cannot wait for season 2!!
Thanks so much! 🙏
great work. Cant wait for season 2
Thank you!
Sooo Sick!! as always Mike Mac Donald leading the charge , super cool Bro, Super Cool!!
Shared EVERYWHERE 😉🤙
Thank you so much for sharing! ❤️
Great series, very interesting! Keep it up 💪 greetings from Switzerland
Thanks so much!
Great work Mike, keep it up - met you last year in Capetown and bought your 8m Core XR! Great guy!
Thank you so much! And thanks for choosing to get your gear from me 😁🙌
Cheers
Mike
I think the moment big air / kitesurfing will be actually rewarding the level will go even faster then it is right now . People will actually push harder. right now people are pushing So Hard and doing a tricks that can kill them for nothing which is shame . REWARD THEM !!!
Riders are so talented and they really go through alot and put their bodies on the line to send some crazy crazy tricks i think that our sport needs more attention it’s crazy some of the tricks that the riders send and they can really really hurt themselves like look what happened to janek an insane rider and i think that the sport needs more people but its the people and riders that build alot of the stoke and the companies put out some really really nice kites but i think that the sport needs more attention because its getting crazy what some people send these days
Dude… I love the intro
Thank you Josh!
Awesome, very well done thx. As much as we like to see the sport grow, we also don't want it to become mainstream. We do not have enough space (spots).
The sport's unfair in a skill/risk to pay ratio indeed. When you look at sports like tennis, football (soccer) or basketball, of course those players got a ton of skill but non of their skills involves so much risk and overcoming fear as with kitesurfing.
When it comes to what athletes get paid you can't compare kitesurfing with tennis, football (soccer) or any other common sport. Any kid can pick up a ball, tennis racket, etc. Only a few have access to good kitesurfing spots and conditions and even less have also the opportunity to get lessons and equipment.
When a kid see's a kiter nuking it, the kid might be blown away, but it will not think I can do that too, immediately there's too much resistance. The kid doesn't live close to water, parents have no money for equipment, etc.
If a kid sees Messi score, they immediately can relate to it and feel possibilities to be like him.
So sponsors will not fill this income gap because there's no big advantage.
Kiters compare much better to the motorcross scene and gymnasts (calisthenics, freerunners, etc). High skill and risk but no pay. So where's the money? In the fanbase. Where's the fanbase? Oh yeah on socials. So there's all your money guy's. All the money you deserve is going to TikTok, YT, Insta.
Your answer is right here in the comments. Fans like to see the insights of the action.
Might as well create your own platform and create some premium content, don't have to give it all away to YT and Insta.
Thanks for the feedback! What about comparing kitesurfing to Formula One? Most kids will never be able to afford a racing car, yet billions upon billions of dollars make it to that sport…
@@bigairkiteleaguethat's exactly what I was thinking! Kiting compares to F1 for sure. The risk, the skills, the body condition, but not the money. Of course F1 is a next level but the crazy amount of money that is being pumped into it is just insane. And kiting? To buy a decent kite you need really decent amount of money. So my question is where is the support of the equipment producers? I know they provide the equipment (and it's not easy to get into this special group of ppl who do get sponsored by them) but I would expect them to contribute to the prizes much more!
@@bigairkiteleagueFormula 1 has backing of the car industrie which is a huge market.
I'd say with premium content, like you guys make here, you could make a difference. Pretty sure many wouldn't mind to drop a buck or two for a subscription to watch this kinda content.
Great video, it’s really sad and unfair guys are paid so little, they’re leaving their harts on the water, it should definetely change. Fingers crossed!
same like windsurfing in the 90s - it will stay at the same level means not mainstream, so forget earnings.
Marketing money dried up.
"On top of these internal issues there was a coinciding drop in major sponsor support, directly caused by the steady introduction of international bans on cigarette advertising during the 1990s. Cigarette industry advertising had become the dominant source of sponsorship support during the early and mid 1990s boom years for the professional level of windsurfing. With the internationally legislated withdrawal of these large companies, the money spent on promoting the sport and paying for add space declined steeply and Windsurfing receded from public view across global advertising and media generally."
Thx for providing this additional background info, seems reasonable and never got an money matching sponsorship in the last two decades.
Actionsports have always come a long way until people could make a decent living but there will always be the financial struggle. Kiting could be compared to snowboarding IMO. There is some that have the money and fame, a few that have some of it and a lot that are struggeling. And it is way older and popular than kititng. In snowboarding where prizemoneys extremly high and it got less and less. The have the same issues. But at the same time that is what keeps it humble, real and creative. What i realise more and more in kiting is that there is so much passion, that people take the risk to compete and push the limit no matter what. You wouldnt have that if there wasnt this kind of struggle.
This series is a great example for the passion for kiting.
You guys need to squeeze better the sponsors! You have to create the PRO cartel and ask for more money during competition
Wonder how much Langeree is netting with Reeden ????
It's kinda funny that they are all crying that they are having tough live being kitesurfers XD
TBH, I like it better when it remains niche. Not every sport has to have huge marketing, tournaments and business attached.
Great series tho :)
Interesting that surfing is so much bigger. I do wonder why that is.
if Qatar Airways want to promote themselves with the connection to sport, they need to claim the 1 big bag with kite equipment for free ;) they are flying to many interesting destinations, but the raw ticket price is a little bit higher than with another company
Unfortunately like surfing, windsurfing, wakeboarding etc there is very little money. This is because it has very little appeal to the non participating audiences. It’s a lifestyle sport and the people who compete have a fantastic time. But you can’t make a living from it and that is that . I love kitesurfing and I love watching it, but my family definitely don’t and I can’t force them to.
The reality is that kiting just isn’t a popular sport. It’s inaccessible to most people due to the few locations that are kiteable, cost, and complexity of learning it. Until the sport grows significantly, I don’t expect payouts for pros to change much.
Wow, I was really amazed by what these people, who are top atlethes, earn with their sport.
Makes it even more impressive how much effort the put in it, it's definitely not for the money as you sometimes see in other sports.
The problem is probably it's a niche market... And the brands in it sell mostly niche products, maybe apart from some apparel.
If I compare this to the sport I've been in for years, motocross, it's different.
Motocross in itself is a niche sport as well, not to many riders compared to other sports like soccer.
But the brands here make money in selling other types of bikes to a way larger group of consumers, and their revenue there is way bigger than selling motocross bikes.
It's more a marketing and love for sport thing why these brands put a lot of money and effort in the sport.
Another comparison might be downhill mountainbiking, the brands sell normal bicycles to normal people, shitloads of them.
That's where the money is generated, not in the sports part itself. And that money can be used to support teams etc.
The challenge might be to find products for a larger public, not just kiteboarders, that generates a flow of money that can be used for marketing and part of that is supporting competitions and teams. Most brands already have some apparel, maybe it's time to stepup and be creative in finding more products to have common people identify with the brands.
Great comparison their Werner! Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts 🙏
@@bigairkiteleague I saw the video a few days ago and was still thinking about this. I really have no clue how I can contribute to solve this problem as just one normal human being without a shitload of money. If you have ideas how I or others can help here please let me know.
Kites just aren't selling, you don't upgrade every year , it's a niche sport and always will be , it's crazy how surfing is bigger and they have to wait in a line up and then get only a short ride , it doesn't make any sense 😂
It doesn't make sense to you, but to others it does. I really like kitesurfing, but surfing will always be on top. When I was in SA I was surfing all the time and kiting only a few times. There's so many top notch surf spots. Surfing is very likely also the oldest extreme sport and has laid the foundation of kitesurfing.
Kiting will never be big imo. This is made possible by Cabrinha, Core, Reedin, Ozone, and others charging $2100 for a Dacron kite and up to $4500 for Aluula. God forbid they charge based on location. A person in Turks and Caicos or a country where the medium pay is $20,000.00 can’t afford to buy 1-3 kites and replace one if it is damaged or lost
Come on it’s a niche sport, tennis makes its money because it has so many viewers ie media coverage dollars, surfing is struggling the wsl are basically going bankrupt, not every sport has the potential to hit the mainstream, if you can make a few quid doing this be happy, this will never be football or basketball! Just enjoy it for what it is!