Hey
I am about to start out and am looking to buy gear. I am from Perth and am confused about all the choice in the market. Im 94kg and was thinking of a 12m hybrid kite with a wakeboard style board (not sure the size). I have been snowboarding for 13 years so should pick it up ok. Am on on the right track or way off??

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CowboyWA said...

Hey
I am about to start out and am looking to buy gear. I am from Perth and am confused about all the choice in the market. Im 94kg and was thinking of a 12m hybrid kite with a wakeboard style board (not sure the size). I have been snowboarding for 13 years so should pick it up ok. Am on on the right track or way off??

I hope you aren't trolling... but look at all the beginners information here and GET LESSONS. Having a snowboard background is good but kiteboarding is 90% kite control and 10% being able to stand on a board.

Once you have had a couple of lessons your instructor should point you in the way of a good setup to use. Don't just go out and buy stuff and try to work it out as you go along.

Go get some lessons before you even think about buying gear.
Your instructor will give you all the knowledge you need.
If you buy before lessons you will end up with the wrong set up for you,and maybe in hospital.
Ya gunna love it.

Basically Dont go out and buy ya kit yet cause its easy to get a kite that wont suit you and your style of riding.
Go get some lessons when the season starts (around September to October)
Theres AKS, KBP and alot more schools that can give you a package to suit your riding. And if you decide that kiteboarding isn't for you it's only gunna cost you $60+(for a beginner lesson(basic control of kite yada yada)) depending on what school you go to.
Snowboarding might give you some benefits down the line but this will be when your up on the board. Now don't try to start this sport if your looking to go to the beach once a week. When the season starts you'll want to be down the beach everyday the wind blows !!!!!!!!!. The more hard yards you put in the faster you'll progress.
Im not trying to put you off but kiteboarding requires 100% commitment.
Kiteboarding isn't all that hard but you've got to use your common sence.

cheers
liam

Kiteboarding isn't all that hard but you've got to use your common sence.

most of us shouldnt be doing then

what town do you live in cowboywa?

not many schools operate during winter months and for good reason because the winds an unpredictable fickle son of a bitch to learn or teach in.

regarding kite purchase... better of to wait until summer, a benefit i see in buying this time of year is you can get some sweet deals because the second hand selling market is flat as most learners buy the second hand gear and that brings me back to the first point about learning in summer.

all the above info is good, but the first thing you should do is buy a trainer kite, you can pick one up for about $200 new or cheaper 2nd hand. Using a trainer kite will help u understand how the 'wind window' works, and how traction kites behave. Putting 20-30 hours of trainer kite flying in will speed up the process of learning imensly, then when you have your lessons you will get more out of them. Most importantly though is you MUST get some lessons from a qualified teacher. Never forget that kiting is a dangerous sport, there are numerous fatalites every year even from experienced kiters.

Everyone has given sound advice, definately take note of what they have said.

We are one of the only schools open All Year Round. As one person has mentioned, the wind is much more fickle in winter, and we generally have to wait for storm fronts (not the crazy ones!) to come through before we can get any lessons done. Lately there has been plenty of wind though!

Snowboarding definitely helps when you are trying to get up on the board, because it is similar in the way that you must maintain an edge in the water (or snow) otherwise you slide and fall on you ass. We always find that people with wakeboarding and snowboarding experience pick up the board skills faster than people without that experience. Saying that though, lostinlondon is pretty close to the money where he says its about 90% kite control.

Feel free to contact me at anytime if you want advice about lessons or gear.

Cheers

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bennie said...

all the above info is good, but the first thing you should do is buy a trainer kite, you can pick one up for about $200 new or cheaper 2nd hand. Using a trainer kite will help u understand how the 'wind window' works, and how traction kites behave. Putting 20-30 hours of trainer kite flying in will speed up the process of learning imensly, then when you have your lessons you will get more out of them. Most importantly though is you MUST get some lessons from a qualified teacher. Never forget that kiting is a dangerous sport, there are numerous fatalites every year even from experienced kiters.

-1 on the trainer kite I'm afraid. This is a bit of a contentious topic and heaps of people will post up and say 'how could you say that etc'
I reckon if anything it slows you down because you have to re-adjust you expectations (re-learn) how slowly a proper kite turns. If you get some lessons (must - you can die trying to teach yourself) they might throw you on a trainer for 3/4 of an hour. If you've got any sort of co-ordination or nouse you should be right. Let the instructor decide when you're ready and progress. Every instructor will have a trainer kite. why buy one. they're ****.

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myusernam said...

bennie said...

all the above info is good, but the first thing you should do is buy a trainer kite, you can pick one up for about $200 new or cheaper 2nd hand. Using a trainer kite will help u understand how the 'wind window' works, and how traction kites behave. Putting 20-30 hours of trainer kite flying in will speed up the process of learning imensly, then when you have your lessons you will get more out of them. Most importantly though is you MUST get some lessons from a qualified teacher. Never forget that kiting is a dangerous sport, there are numerous fatalites every year even from experienced kiters.

-1 on the trainer kite I'm afraid. This is a bit of a contentious topic and heaps of people will post up and say 'how could you say that etc'
I reckon if anything it slows you down because you have to re-adjust you expectations (re-learn) how slowly a proper kite turns. If you get some lessons (must - you can die trying to teach yourself) they might throw you on a trainer for 3/4 of an hour. If you've got any sort of co-ordination or nouse you should be right. Let the instructor decide when you're ready and progress. Every instructor will have a trainer kite. why buy one. they're ****.

great idea, discourage knowledge of how a kite performs. Thats a ridiculous thing to say. How exactly is having a better understanding of how a kite behaves, and how the wind window works a bad thing. Sure a trainer turns faster, it's a smaller kite, beginners need to understand this too, moving from say a 12m to an 8m ect. Your suggestion/ comments is proposing its better to be ignorant of kite behaviour prior to using a real kite, lesson or not. Knowledge is always better/safer than ignorance

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Jr Walks said...

Im not trying to put you off but kiteboarding requires 100% commitment.

Know what you mean Jr.
But more better would be to say kiting generates 100% committment.
Its an unavoidable consequence - not a prerequisite.

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puppetonastring said...

Jr Walks said...

Im not trying to put you off but kiteboarding requires 100% commitment.

Know what you mean Jr.
But more better would be to say kiting generates 100% committment.
Its an unavoidable consequence - not a prerequisite.

Yeah, I see so many guys that get frustrated when they aren't getting better and you ask them "How often are you getting out?" and they say, "oh, once, twice a month" and I say, "How do you expect to get better doing it twice a month? You obviously aren't into it enough".

There is that period in kiteboarding (same for, surfing, Snowboarding etc etc) I find where you keep beaning yourself and saying "why the hell am I doing this?" but you the masochist in you keeps pushing you down to the beach whenever the seabreeze comes in until one day you are fanging along wondering how you weren't able to do it in the first place.

The other case in point is I see guys being dragged along the beach on their '02 gear and they say "I used to be OK at this 5 years ago, I thought I'd just pick it up again"

When I started out I took the lessons, picked up the basics fast enough and knew I was going to love it, thats when I got the gear, but purchasing the gear isn't enough, you have to make that committment to be out whenever you can, even if it means missing out on Friday night boozing and being a social retard so you can get up early the next day and get to the beach (more relevant when I was living in London)

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bennie said...

myusernam said...

bennie said...

all the above info is good, but the first thing you should do is buy a trainer kite, you can pick one up for about $200 new or cheaper 2nd hand. Using a trainer kite will help u understand how the 'wind window' works, and how traction kites behave. Putting 20-30 hours of trainer kite flying in will speed up the process of learning imensly, then when you have your lessons you will get more out of them. Most importantly though is you MUST get some lessons from a qualified teacher. Never forget that kiting is a dangerous sport, there are numerous fatalites every year even from experienced kiters.

-1 on the trainer kite I'm afraid. This is a bit of a contentious topic and heaps of people will post up and say 'how could you say that etc'
I reckon if anything it slows you down because you have to re-adjust you expectations (re-learn) how slowly a proper kite turns. If you get some lessons (must - you can die trying to teach yourself) they might throw you on a trainer for 3/4 of an hour. If you've got any sort of co-ordination or nouse you should be right. Let the instructor decide when you're ready and progress. Every instructor will have a trainer kite. why buy one. they're ****.

great idea, discourage knowledge of how a kite performs. Thats a ridiculous thing to say. How exactly is having a better understanding of a kite behaves, and how the wind window works a bad thing. Sure a trainer turns faster, it's a smaller kite, beginners need to understand this too, moving from say a 12m to an 8m ect. Your suggestion/ comments is proposing its better to be ignorant of kite behaviour prior to using a real kite, lesson or not. Knowledge is always better/safer than ignorance

I think a small trainer is so far removed froim a say 12m (if learning in light conditions) then their value is questioanble. Their pull is so light you don't really learn about the window / pull etc. you need to experience it for real. Far better learning about it with the real kite under instruction and doing figure eights downwind in two foot of water. Body dragging is the go. A reasonably co-ordinated person can be on the board and planing on their third lesson. Doesn't justify the expense. Instructor will loan you trainer if you want to play with it more. Both kite instructors in my area dont use their trainers for very long (unless they've overbooked and need to keep some students busy!)

I agree myusernam... About an hour on the trainer is more than enough. You get the concept of how the bar steers the kite, how the wind window works, how to control putting the kite at 9, 12, 3 and most importantly if you loop the kite and have the lines twisted the bar still controls the kite the same way. But the way it behaves is totally unrealistic, turning on a dinner plate, flying horizontal from 9 to 3 and all that.

Personally I was bored of the trainer kite after that first 60 minutes of lesson. I couldn't imagine going out, buying a trainer and playing with it for hours and hours. I reckon it would have maybe put me off altogether!

After my first hour, we learnt how to rig up and launch a 5m inflatable and got to play with that in the water. It's more powerful so it gives you a better feel for what is to come and once you get that I really didn't want to go back to playing with a 2m trainer.

Edit: I'll qualify this opinion for the red thumbs out there: I am also an experienced sailor and already having an appreciation of wind angles probably helped me a lot, also, trimming a spinnaker is very similar to the processes behind flying a kitesurfing kite (not a sailing kite, which is another name for a spinnaker, esp on small boats, but I digress)

True.

In my first season I was only getting out every fortnight or so (and with new but old 2003 design gear) so the progress was painful and slow. I was determined partly cause I did have the desire but also after kitemares I keep thinking "This gear has cost me a kn small fortune so there is no way I am givvin it up!". Glad I hung in there for the sweet addiction.

My 2nd season I bought some better gear (ha ha - only just superceded recently) and committed to at least once a week and whammo! Major progression into the 'havin fun most sessions' territory.

Anybody that asks me about taking up kiting I warn them that although it is heaps easier to learn now (as most have read) it is not easy as such and they should only bother if they will make time for kiting and be prepared to do it tough for at least the 1st half of their 1st season.

No point in suger coating it I reckon.

I agree on the point of getting out more, but I also gotta add that it's hard this time of year when there's f*** all wind and what wind there is can be all over the place. Even harder if you have an office job.

F...All wind?
Depends where in Oz ya live I guess.
As for workin an office job, just organise your work around the wind so you can get out early on those days.
Doesn't the wind dictate your whole life yet?

So long as you can be on the beach, suited up and ready to go with half an hour of light left, then its worth makin the effort IMO.

If you want a trainer kite thats really fun to fly see if you can get a hold of a C-quad. The are 4 line kites and have a ton of power. Just make sure u can find some old guru to show you how to set them up and pack them away cos thats a mission if u dont know what youre doing. I have a 2.2m and Im still having a good time flying that (had it for 3 years).

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spungles said...

I agree on the point of getting out more, but I also gotta add that it's hard this time of year when there's f*** all wind and what wind there is can be all over the place. Even harder if you have an office job.

That's why you take it up at the start of the season, not the end.
Office job or not, wintertime is annoying anyway because there are limited daylight hours and you are restricted to weekends.

Summer in Melbourne you can get a good 545 to 8pm session in after work thanks to the 20th century wonders of DLS (you listening WA?)

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lostinlondon said...

the 20th century wonders of DLS (you listening WA?)

Some of us are listening, but the fossil in front of me at the polling booths wasn't. I saw his voting slip and the big fat 'NO' written on it.