Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper. One may be tempted to dismiss the burgeoning sport of kite-boarding as a pastime of the wealthy, but it’s the fastest-growing sport in the world, is enjoyed by the likes of Richard Branson and Barack Obama – and South Africa is uniquely positioned to benefit. The combination of wind, beach and waves means the strip of coast between Blouberg and Milnerton in Cape Town is the busiest kite-boarding beach in the world. The sport generates more than R480-million a year. Taken collectively, ocean sports, which includes surfing, surf ski, stand-up paddleboarding, sportfishing and scuba diving industries, generate revenues of R1.4-billion a year, largely in the Western Cape, according to research in 2018 by the University of Cape Town. Not bad for an industry made up entirely of small businesses, but it could be better.