A controversial decision last weekend by the ISAF, the international sailing federation, to include kiteboarding at the 2016 Olympic Games but drop windsurfing has left both sections of the local boardsailing community, 'brothers' as one top official called them, with conflicting emotions.
The kiteboarders, a tiny and fledgling group, are stunned but happy. While other sports spend years trying to achieve Olympic status, this small and little-known discipline of sailing has swept in under the radar.
'We were very surprised to hear kiteboarding is in the Olympics from 2016,' said Jay Chau Hong-wai, vice-president of the fledgling Hong Kong Kiteboard Federation. 'It is great for the sport, but at the same time we feel for our brothers and sisters in windsurfing. We didn't think they would be out.'
Stunned windsurfing officials, meanwhile, are bitter with disappointment. Everyone from Lee Lai-shan, Hong Kong's 1996 Olympic windsurfing golden girl to Cowen Chiu But-kau, president of the Hong Kong Windsurfing Association, was in shock. They have been effectively told to go fly a kite.
'It is a pity windsurfing has had to make way for us,' Chau said. 'We are the only two board sports in sailing, the two disciplines which are the most accessible to the public. Sailing is generally regarded as a rich man's sport, but that is not the case with us two.'
Hong Kong-based Englishman Neil Godbold, founding director of the KTA Kiteboard Championship Asian Tour, is busy preparing for next week's leg in Pingtan Island in China. He agrees it is a pity the ISAF had to sacrifice windsurfing to make way for what is regarded as the more hip kiteboarding. 'It is a shame it has boiled down to an either/or situation with kiteboarding and windsurfing as both meet all the criteria and merit being part of the Olympic sailing programme. Ideally both sports should be represented,' says Godbold, who has been involved with kiteboarding for more than 20 years.