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By SARAH ROSE
When Louis Gomez, first saw kite surfers on Lake Geneva, Switzerland, at age 65, it didn't occur to him that he might be too old to take up such a demanding activity.
"I told my wife that sport just didn't exist when I was younger," Mr. Gomez said. "To heck with that, I wanted to try it because I wanted to do it. It was a challenge."
Louis Gomez uses larger kites when the wind is gentle.
Now he's 73 and, he says, his wife says he's "wind addicted."
Kite surfing is a relatively new sport, where a small surfboard is propelled across water with wind power harnessed in a large kite held by the surfer. It was first popularized in Hawaii by pro-surfers Laird Hamilton and Manu Bertin.
Once an avid skier and racquetball player, Mr. Gomez says growing older hasn't slowed him down—it has just changed his routine. He is no less enthusiastic about sports, only more careful about how he lands on aging joints.
A retired software engineer for J.P. Morgan Chase, who lives in Pinecrest, Fla., he caught the kite-surfing bug just before he had to undergo knee-replacement surgery in 2008. He was benched for three months. As soon as he could walk on the sandy ocean bottom without pain, he got back on the board and kept training.
Mr. Gomez kite surfs.
Mr. Gomez says it took time to work up strength for kite surfing. "I could only kite board for 20 minutes at a time when I started. I was sore all the time. But your body gets conditioned, no matter what age you are," says Mr. Gomez. "Now I have less arthritis. Exercise takes the pain away."
The Workout
Every morning Mr. Gomez checks the wind report for Biscayne Bay off Coral Gables, Fla. He kite surfs every day the winds are fair, loading up his car with a board and kites of various sizes—larger kites for light wind, smaller kites for big gusts—and drives 10 minutes from his home to Matheson Hammock Park, where there is a shallow, protected bay. "Choppy water kills your knees," Mr. Gomez says.
Kite surfing has a reputation as an extreme sport, but Mr. Gomez practices it gently, two to three hours a day. He has learned tricks and can do spins and jumps of up to 20 feet, but stays harnessed to his kite for safety. "Kids will do complicated tricks, unhooked, that are very dangerous. At my age, I don't want to try anything like that. You break a hip or femur and you're out for a year."
When the winds don't cooperate, he seeks out other low-impact watersports, such as stand-up paddle boarding, kayaking or sailing in his trimaran, a three-hulled sailboat with a pedal drive. For onshore workouts that pamper his joints, he jogs in Kangoo Jump shoes, or rides his Trikke T8, a three-wheeled scooter.
When winds don't cooperate, he sails his trimaran, with a pedal drive, left, or tries other low-impact watersports.
The Diet
Each morning before kite boarding, Mr. Gomez has a fruit smoothie mixed with flaxseed, nuts and vitamin powders. To reduce sugar and salt, he makes his own Greek yogurt. He also bakes bread in a bread machine, replacing butter with applesauce to limit fat. "I didn't eat healthy when I was young, but I had to as I got older," he says.
Gear & Cost
Mr. Gomez learned to kite surf by taking lessons with Adventure Sports Miami, where a private, two-hour beginner lesson costs $240.
Ultimately, he purchased his own equipment including boards, harnesses, control systems, bindings, wetsuits for cooler weather and several kites. A kite can cost between $1,500 and $2,500. Boards cost from $450 to $1,000. Costlier boards can be more durable, or crafted of materials specific to various wind and wave conditions, and might allow riders better options for tricks and jumps.
The Sacrifice
Mr. Gomez recently had cortisone injections in his fingers to correct tendinitis he developed from "exercising and old age—but the kite surfing doesn't help," he says.
He ices both knees every night since the titanium knee is generally stiff and he often favors the replacement joint when jumping on his kite board.
"Getting old is not for wimps," he says.
