With the continuing march of smart phones and their related apps into our lives I thought it was high time I had a look at some of the apps available to download onto your phone to find out whether they are useful or simply a waste of time and money. A quick search for “kite surf” in the iTunes store brings up several apps specifically designed with kite surfers in mind.
There are games, instructional apps, session log tools and podcasts all available for download for either a very modest fee or for free. Even if non of these are your particular cup of tea it is also worth bearing in mind that there are apps for most of the major wind forecasting sites out there as well, so now its possible to get the wind forecast straight to your mobile phone. Whether that makes the forecasts any more accurate I leave for something for you to find out. I’ve found in general it simply leaves me on the beach saying “but it’s blowing 15 knots now” looking at my phone while the flags stubbornly refuse to do what they’re told!
Some applications that did catch my eye were the instructional apps. These are basically full of hints and tips to correct mistakes you may be making in any particular move or drill, for example they give examples of potential problems and solutions to help you body drag more efficiently, ride upwind, or nail that first jump. While they lack much depth as they can deal in general terms only (the app already weighs in at an impressive 30Mb +) they are an interesting tool when things go wrong and you can’t work out why…at worst they can focus you on kite surfing and what you’re going to try next when the wind’s not blowing.
