SPORT & WATER AUSTRIA 2018

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aukepalmhof
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

SPORT & WATER AUSTRIA 2018

Post by aukepalmhof » Wed May 30, 2018 8:52 pm

Sport & Water

Surfing with a kite
A new series of special issues from Austrian Post is being dedicated to sport. The focus is on less well- known sports and the stamps will be issued in themed sets. The theme for the first stamps is water sports.
In kitesurfing, also known as kiteboarding, you have to master both the kite and the surfboard on which you glide over the water. The surfer is powered by the wind. He is attached to the kite via a rope of up to 30 metres in length and steers using a kitebar. The board is generally similar to a wakeboard, the surfer standing with his feet inserted into footstraps.
It is difficult to say who invented kitesurfing. In the 1980s and 1990s synthetic fibre kites with inflatable tubes were developed, so-called tube or leading edge inflatable kites. This made it possible to start the kite from the water, an important prerequisite for the modern form of kitesurfing.
The original kitesurfer’s paradise was Hawaii, which was also where the first kitesurfing schools were set up and the first competitions held. Experienced kitesurfers execute jumps at lofty heights, traversing over 100 meters, which is sure to provide a major adrenalin rush. Kitesurfing is a dynamic sport which is increasingly gaining in popularity and is also permitted on many of Austria’s large lakes.

Gliding with the wind
A new series of special issues from Austrian Post is being dedicated to sport. The focus is on less well- known sports and the stamps will be issued in themed sets. The theme for the first stamps is water sports.
For many hundreds of years, sailing ships were the only means of transport for crossing the seas. Sometimes ships were also fitted with rudders to enable them to advance during lulls. Large sailing ships travelled the seas of the world both as battleships and as merchant vessels.
Nowadays sailing is primarily a popular leisure activity and a spectacular competitive sport. In sailing there are many different classes of boat with different hull constructions, masts and sails, from the small optimist dinghy – often the entry vessel into the sport for children – up to the large sailing yachts with cabins, which are more often used for leisure purposes.
Austria has produced many successful sailors: for example, the tornado yachtsmen Roman Hagara and Hans-Peter Steinacher enjoyed outstanding success, winning gold medals at the Summer Olympics in both 2000 in Sydney and 2004 in Athens. The tornado is a catamaran with two hulls, which is able to reach top speeds of over 30 knots. Tanja Frank and Thomas Zajac won bronze in the Nacra 17 class at the Summer Olympics in 2016.

Skiing on water
A new series of special issues from Austrian Post is being dedicated to sport. The focus is on less well- known sports and the stamps will be issued in themed sets. The theme for the first stamps is water sports.
The first attempts at waterskiing are ascribed to the US American inventor Ralph Samuelson, who first rode across the water on two wooden skis in the 1920s.
For waterskiing people generally use two skis, as for downhill skiing. The skis turn up slightly at the ends. The feet are inserted into rubber bindings and the skier holds on tightly to a handle on the towing rope, with which a motorboat or waterskiing lift pulls him across the water. The correct posture and body tension are of particular importance in maintaining one’s balance.
Experienced waterskiers often switch to a single ski. In this case both feet are placed one behind the other on the same ski, with the back foot only being inserted into a strap. By contrast, wakeboarding, a fashionable sport which is becoming increasingly popular in Austria, is more like snowboarding.
Competitions are staged in the fields of waterskiing and wakeboarding with boats or lifts, racing, bare foot and for the disabled. The disciplines for competitions include slalom, trick and jumping. However, even today waterskiing is not included in the Olympics.
Water sports on stamps
The special issue stamps for the new series will be presented at ÖVEBRIA 2018 in Klagenfurt, where the topic of water sports is particularly fitting since they naturally play a significant role on the Wörthersee.
The powerful, dynamic images of the sport, created using a mixture of photography and graphic illustration, really come into their own on the – for water-related topics atypical – blue-violet background. By contrast, the colour in the right-hand section is bright and eye-catching, making it easy to differentiate between the different denominations as well as making them instantly recognisable. The jazzy magenta colour of the kitesurfing stamp represents youth and dynamic daring.

https://www.wopa-plus.com/en/stamps/product/&pgid=44527
Austria 2018 0.68/1.70 Euro sg?, scott?
Attachments
2018  waterskiing (3).jpg
2018  kitesurfing (2).jpg
2018 catamaran sailing (2).jpg

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