Penghu Windsurfing and Kitesurfing

Kiteboarding is a natural extension of windsurfing.

In 1987, I went to Texas to study at the University of Texas at Austin. I spent one weekend at Lake Travis and saw people boating on the lake and decided I have to get one boat and do the same thing. A few months later, I bought a dingy and starting learning sailing from a sailing book. I leaned to tack and jibe on all lakes around Austin.

Later, I felt the dingy is too slow for me and like a vessel that can go faster. Being too poor as a student, I could not afford a bigger sail boat, I found windsurfer could go faster and fulfill my quest for speed. I bought a second-hand windsurfer and started my windsurfing career. I was hooked to windsurfing the moment my board started planning on the water. I became more addicted as my skill improved. I was willing to spend 5 hours driving from Austin to Corpus Christi just to get the best windsurfing condition on weekends.

I shipped two windsurfing boards and some sails back to Taiwan when I finished my Ph.D. study at UT. I would never give up windsurfing at any cost. Later, I moved to Penghu at age of 41 in order to pursue the best wind and wave for windsurfing in 2003.

I was attracted to kiteboarding in 2004 when one friend started to to do it. My daughter, Karen, and I started to learn kiteboarding together at that time. I was catapulted by a C-shaped kite in my third session. This incident stopped our kiteboarding pursuit for 5 years. I decided to learn kite boarding again in 2009 when bow kite was introduced. It was an instant success, I stopped windsurfing immediately and spent all my leisure time improving my kitesurfing skill. Two years later, Karen joined force and we became the kitesurfing duo on Penghu Islands.