For the past two hours, I've been flying an enormous sail 20 meters in the air as the first step in learning how to kitesurf. A relatively new sport, this ocean- based pastime has been gaining in popularity all over the world. Your body is harnessed to a kite, while your feet are secured to a surfboard with straps. Once you know what you're doing, the winds pulls you along the water and potentially up and out of the water.
For kitesurfing, the ocean and its surf isn't as important as the wind. On Flanders' coast, one can expect ideal kitesurfing weather at least twice a week. I'm not so lucky - depending on whom you ask. Having just spent the last 10 minutes reviewing the various safety releases and emergency eject scenarios, I'm relieved the wind has changed directions.
I'm on the coast at Knokke, and my kitesurfing instructor, Ellen Bauwens, determines the conditions both unsafe and difficult to manage for a beginner. We trudge the rain-hardened sand back to drier land.
Bauwens has been blissfully ignorant of my lacklustre response to what is obviously the love of her life. With bleached-blond hair and a freckled face, she looks more like a Californian beach bum than a 27-year-old nursery school teacher from Ostend. Her sunny enthusiasm is not quite contagious, but I can certainly understand the appeal.
"There are so many things I like about kitesurfing," she says, convincingly. "You determine how far you go, you choose the risks you take." She pauses, then repeats something she's mentioned a few times today. "And freedom. You go out there on the water, and you forget about everything."
I'm having a hard time forgetting about the miserable weather. She laughs. "Some don't want to be in the cold water, the rain. It's not for everyone." But, she continues, "anyone can kitesurf."
Back inside, we're at the company headquarters of Surfer's Paradise, where describing the attitude as laid back is an understatement. A large wooden building with a wide porch, bustling café and plenty of flip-flop wearing tweens is where owner Frank Vanleenhove works. Tanned, straightforward and also totally hooked on surfing in all of its forms.
After winning the Belgian windsurfing championships in 1980, Vanleenhove took second in Europe and fourth in the world in 1982. A few years later, he opened this club in a small, white, summer shack. A year later, it was three shacks, and now we're sitting in what feels like a very cool tree house.
He added kitesurfing to his programme around 2000 and also runs a summer camp (which explains the kids). Vanleenhove has taken great pains to make Surfer's Paradise a Mecca of all things beach related, with surfboards on the wall and reggae music playing. He points to the various decorations, revealing a story behind each one. "The Tiki god is from Tahiti. The cow skull is from Mexico."
Travelling to kitesurf is very much a part of the sport's culture. Vanleenhove goes away every October, when things slow down on the Belgian coast. This winter he is heading to the Philippines. Bauwens went to Mexico and Brazil this year. Another of their instructors winters annually in India.
A bit further down the beach at Belgium Kitesurf School, you find Thibaut Michiels, Belgian kitesurfing champion in 2005. "Kitesurfing is a way of life," he explains. "My team works during the summer season in Belgium and go abroad in the winter to teach in warmer countries."
But it isn't simply chasing the wind. Kitesurfing can be a dangerous sport, which requires focus and an awareness of a number of factors: your gear, your surroundings and the constantly changing weather.
Sadly, it took a woman's recent death in Ostend for the authorities to set down regulations.
"We already met all the standards," says Vanleenhove, "but it makes it safer for everyone else. Now you have to have lessons from a recognised school, and you can only go in a kitesurfing zone." Those are just two of the regulations; also included are wearing a lifejacket or wetsuit and having specific insurance. "These are important to prevent tragedies," says Vanleenhove.
A way to ensure one meets all the new criteria is to take lessons with instruc- tors certified by IKO, the International Kiteboard Organisation. Both Surfer's Paradise and Belgian Kitesurf School have certified instructors.
"Kitesurfing is our core business," says Michiels. "We have over 10 years of experience and 15 kites, so we can teach in every condition."
Standing on the shore watching the kitesurfers with various levels of expertise, from learning to fly the kite to trying tricks out on the ocean, it's easy to see the need for lessons. This isn't simply grabbing a surfboard and paddling out to sea, not with the ropes, lines, bars and the kite. In addition to the equipment, understanding the weather is vital. Yet despite these technical aspects, it is gaining in popularity. "You cannot imagine a beach without a kitesurfer if there's wind," muses Michiels.
And, unlike windsurfing, which has unwieldy equipment, or surfing, which can takes years to master, kitesurfing is relatively easy to learn. "A full set of kite equipment easily fits in a small car," Michiels says. "The big advantage is that you can do it with light wind, while for windsurfing, you need more. Plus you can ride waves and jump up in the air up to 20 metres!" He clarifies the last terrifying comment: "Twenty metres for professionals."
For beginners, most schools offer starter packs that feature three to four classes, costing about €300. But be forewarned: you'll start on the shore simply flying a kite, but you might end up like Bauwens, staring wistfully at the ocean and dreaming of freedom.
Flanders Today is a 
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