Kiteboarding by Drone

Content creator and pilot Rocannon created this amazing drone video recording a kitesurfing trip to the Black Sea in Russia's Crimean Peninsula.  The video does a beautiful job of intermixing shots of the spectacular natural scenery of the Crimean coastline with some epic footage of multiple (and clearly very adept) kitesurfers skimming the water of this vast inland sea.  It looks like the trip of a lifetime, and the video was picked as a Finalist for the Drone Video of the Week contest in June, 2019.

This drone video from Zanzibar features some of the best aerial footage of kiteboarding we've ever seen.  It was filmed by air tricks prod near the village of Jambiana, which is in the southeastern part of this Tanzanian island territory in the Indian Ocean.  The Indian Ocean is emerging as one of the hot-spots for kiteboarding, an extreme sport that requires tremendous strength and balance and is even more difficult to aerially film than surfing or windsurfing due in part to the very high speeds involved.

Kiteboarding is an action sport which is made to be filmed by first person view (FPV) drones.  With speeds reaching well over 50 mph (about 80 km/hr), kiteboarding is simply too fast for most gimbal-stabilized aerial photography platforms.  FPV quads are perfect for the task for FPV pilots up to the challenge.  In this outstanding piece by FPV_Aerials, you'll see what this adrenaline-filled sport looks like from a very up-close perspective.  This video was picked for the FPV Pilots to Watch list in May of 2022.  

Top contributor IsabelleFabre travels the world to find the best extreme sports locations, and creates amazing videos using both drone and ground camera footage.  In this video, she heads to Dakhla, a city on the coast of North Africa which is in an area controlled by Morocco.  The sport?  Kiteboarding, an extreme sport which requires great skill simply to remain upright.  Ride along as she tackles the strong Atlantic winds in what has to be one of the world's most epic kiteboarding spots.

Greece is home to one of the strongest kiteboarding scenes in the world, carving out a similar place as the related sport of windsurfing.  In this drone video by top AirVuz contributor harispomonis, you'll get a bird's eye view of some epic kiteboarding around Cape Drepano.  The cape lies near the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth just east of the Rio-Antirion Bridge, on its southern side in the Peloponnese Region.  The video was captured just as Greece was beginning to emerge from its Covid-19 near-lockdown in the Spring of 2020.  

Timmy Zach is one of the world's top kitesurfers.  It's all the more remarkable because he is all of 16 years old.  In this video by RWJ Video Editing, you'll get a drone's eye view of this teenage phenomenon tearing up the waves of the Caribbean Sea.  The video was shot in Aruba, which is one of the so-called "ABC" islands of the southern Caribbean, along with Bonaire and Curacao.  The water conditions here have turned these islands into a giant magnet for some of the world's best kitesurfing talent.  

Content creator and pilot Pascha used a drone to capture some epic kitesurfing action off the coast of Western Turkey.  Ayvalik is a coastal town in the Balıkesir Province on the Aegean Sea, on the northern end of the country's Aegean Region.  It's surrounded by a number of smaller islands.  As you'll see in the video, the area has caught the attention of the world's kitesurfers.  Prepare to be amazed not only by the kitesurfing but the incredible camera work capturing these fast-moving targets! 

Mue Ne is a coastal town in the Bình Thuận province of southern Vietnam.  It is the center of a roughly 50 km (30 mi.) stretch of coastline that has become a popular spot for surfers and kiteboarders around the world.  In this video, contributor Rufus Blackwell used a drone to film some of the kiteboarding action in this tropical paradise, recently named one of Asia's top 20 beaches by CNN Travel.  He then did some post-production editing and the result is some astounding aerial video content. 

Kitesurfing is notoriously difficult to film by drone: kitesurfers can routine hit speeds of well in excess of 50 km/hour (about 30 mi./hr), winds can shift, and of course safety is of paramount concern.  At the same time, it's one of those extreme sports which is virtually impossible to properly film without a drone.  In this piece by AirVuz contributor jelipegomez, you'll get an aerial view of some kitesurfing action in Chuburna, Mexico; it's located on the northern Gulf of Mexico shore of the state of Yucatán.

If you are looking for some epic close-up shots of kiteboarders that only a drone can deliver, this aerial video by Oliver Leyba is very hard to beat.  It was shot with a DJI Phantom 4 drone at Bonaire, a small Caribbean island in the Leeward Antilles. The island is a possession of the Netherlands and is the "B" in the sub-group group known as the "ABC" islands, the other two being Aruba and Curacao.  In addition to being stunningly beautiful, the ABC's have the distinct advantage of lying outside of Hurricane Alley.  

Turkey's Aegean Region has become one of the world's top spots for sailing and yachting, so it's perhaps not surprising that the area has also emerged as one of the world's hottest spots for kiteboarding (also known as kitesurfing).  The steady winds and relatively calm waters have captured the attention of the growing worldwide kitesurfing community, and if you watch this droone video by contributor secoko you'll see why.  It was shot off the coast of Alaçatı, on the north side of the Çeşme Peninsula.  

The very talented Icarus Aerial Filming follows professional kiteboarder, Dim Softas, out on the waves off the South African coast.  In this highly cinematic, action-packed aerial, Icarus uses a drone to show off Dim's crazy skills on the water, filmed from a perspective which would be impossible without a drone.   The video features some great editing which intermixes ground and aerial footage of the South African beach world, one of the up-and-coming areas in the world of aquatic extreme sports.

Foz do Arelho is a district of the city of Caldas da Rainha in Portugal's Centro region, roughly in the middle of Portugal's long Atlantic Ocean coastline.  Once a small fishing village, it's become known as one of the country's top spots for watersports.  Initially that meant surfing, then windsurfing.  In recent years, it's also become a popular spot for kiteboarding, a more extreme form of watersports.  In this drone video by flyingbydaniel, you'll get a bird's eye view of the kiteboarding scene at Foz do Arelho.  

Part of the Windward Islands that line the eastern Caribbean, the Grenadines have become a magnet for kiteboarders around the world.  With strong, steady winds, crystal blue waters, and hundreds of white sand beaches, it's easy to see why participants in this extreme sport have flocked to these islands.  In this video, you'll get an epic aerial view of the Grenadines kiteboarding scene, compliments of conctributor and drone pilot Alex Croisiere Grenadines.

The steady winds and relatively calm waters of the Rio de la Plata estuary make for some of the best kite surfing opportunities in South America.  In this video, contributor Drone 5 flew his drone out over the water to capture the growing kite surfing scene on the Uruguay side of the great waterway, on the other side of which lies the Argentine capital city Buenos Aires.  It was filmed in the Montevideo neighborhood of Malvin, which lies near the eastern end of the city's waterfront.  

Kiteboarding is a challenging actions sport that requires considerable strength and balance.  Similarly, it's incredibly difficult to safely film kiteboarders by drone.   With speeds that can easily exceed 60 km/hr (over 40 mph), keeping the kite and kiteboarders in frame requires a great deal of skill on the part of the drone operator.  All reasons to appreciate this excellent drone video  by former Drone Video of the Week Winner Seven Roads Media, who filmed some kiteboarders cruising the coast of Hawaii's island of Oahu.     

With their strong, steady winds, the Canary Islands are considered one of the world's top spots for the emerging extreme sport of kitesurfing.  It's no surprise then that as "ordinary" kitesurfing heads for the next level of intensity - in which the kiteboard sits on a hydrofoil - it's going to happen here.  And who better to film this than Red-FPV, one of the world's top FPV pilots.  Filmed off Corralejo Beach on the isand of Fuerteventura, this made the FPV Pilots to Watch list in October, 2019.

While Brazil's long Atlantic coastline does not have many large island of note, portions of it are dotted with tropical mangroves and lagoons.  These semi-protected waters are perfect for aquatic activities like kiteboarding.  Witness this beautiful drone video by Nuculeus.  It was shot in one of these lagoon area in the state of Piauí.  Located in northern Brazil, Piauí is a large state with a very short coastline.  It's one of the nine states which make up Brazil's official Northeast Region.

While kitesurfing did not originate in the United States, like all extreme sports it has found a loyal following there.  Kitesurfers can be found in most suitable bodies of water in the United States, whether coastal or inland.  In this video, contributor Windmill36 has put together some this highly cinematic drone reel of windsurfing in the USA, both off the shores of Lake Michigan and on Oregon's Pacific coast.  Both areas have become hot-spots for this emerging extreme sport. 

Pair the leading aerial videographer of kiteboarding with one of the world's top kiteboarders and put them together in their native Greece, aka ground zero for this growing sport.  That's the magic behind this video by Icarus Aerial Filming, a Greek drone pilot.  In this video he captures Dmitris Softas cruising off the shores of an unnamed spot in Greece.  Prepare to be amazed by the stunning way in which drones (uniquely) can film this growing sport.

One of the few things more impressive than being able to kitesurf is being able to film a kitesurfer with an FPV racing drone.  In this amazing video, Outkast_FPV does just that, allowing us to see this most extreme of extreme sports from an entirely new perspective.  The video was shot near the town of Sargent on the Gulf Coast of Texas, and in 20 mph winds.   The video also captures some "regular" surfing FPV action in the nearby town of Surfside.  

This kiteboarding video via FPV drone is pretty spectacular. FPV pilot SassySander is taking us out to the dark and ominous North Sea waves that surround Zandvoort Beach, a Dutch coastal town west of Amsterdam. The kiteboarder is highly skilled at taking on the powerful waves while the time of day is making all of the difference in the vibe this video brings. Golden Hour lighting hits the waves, streaking the frame with glittering sunlight. This flight is certainly a memorable one. 

Using a TBS 7" Source One first person view (FPV) racing drone, AirVuz contributor and FPV pilot Matt Dahlberg created this spectacular action video of some kiteboarders off the coast of Florida.  Given the speed of this emerging extreme sport, FPV drones allow skilled pilots to film kiteboarders from an "up close and personal" perspective.  The speed and maneuverability of these quads make a perfect match for the kiteboarders; this video was an easy selection for the AirVuz FPV Pilots to Watch list in May, 2020.

Kiteboarding is an extreme sport which seemingly was made to be filmed by drones - there's really no better way to visually capture these fast-moving athletes being pulled along stunning shorelines by their brilliant "sails".  It's highly captivating visual content which is perfect for digital signage in a wide variety of settings.  AirVuz has been able to package some of the best kiteboarding drone footage into a series of clips, which are available for licensing for digital signage and content feed networks.