“It’s pretty gratifying to be a 52 year old guy doing this.” And by “this,” Steve LeVine means any water sport you can imagine.These days, kite surfing is on his radar. “My goal is to get better at floating over water,” he said.Steve and his wife Mary own Watersports West. They moved their business into the their store on Walsingham Road 10 years ago.Things have changed over that decade for the LeVines, their customers and the environment.“The evolution of technologies brought us sports that are easier and safer,” LeVine said, “We offer kite surfing which has gotten much safer with more wind range and increased performance.”“Paddle boards are now lighter, better-looking, way faster and prices have come down on paddleboards and kayaks,” he added.The fact that none of these sports involves a gas-powered boat is no coincidence.“Green is in,” LeVine said. With gas at 4 bucks a gallon even wakeboarding has gone boatless. McCormick’s, a cable wakeboarding park just outside of Tampa, in Seffner runs riders around the lake on cables instead of towing them behind boats. “These (wake parks) are popular in Europe and are catching on in the U.S.” LeVine said.
