Well every single kiteshop you talk to or review you read will tell you that if you try to teach youself you WILL die or something big like that, i accept that its a pretty dangerous thing teaching yourself.
Is there anyone here that has tought themself to kitesurf that can tell me how it turned out?
I can manage most boardsports which will help but only for the board skills part if it which is worth about 20% or skill in kitesurfing right?
But then i have been sailing quite alot in my life and sail moths plus i windsurf.
On top of that i have got my skill up on a 2.5 ozone trainer.

Could someone explain what would happen if i tried to teach my self the skills of LEI flying in a controlled environment with a 7m kite?

I know im going to get a shredding from some people here but am looking for peoples experience from teaching themself.
Thanks heaps

Mate, This is just as stupid, as saying you want to learn to drive a car, with no instructions in the middle of Pitt Street Sydney. I suppose the outcome may be the same as teaching yourself kitesurfing.

YOU COULD KILL AN INNOCENT BYSTANDER IN YOUR MADRUSH. I'M NOT WORRIED ABOUT YOU INJURYING YOURSELF, AS YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T CARE.

KR


What is the issue getting a lesson??

Being a 16 yr old male means to me that you are more likely to need lessons than anyone. I never thought that at the time but am certainly wiser now. What you learn in lessons about safety and self rescue is best learnt with someone experienced there with you. You can read all you want about kiting but when you're on the water you realise that you need hands on experience. You have a head start by flying your trainer and flying a small sle you a good idea but be supervised by and instructor and you'll understand stuff lots faster and crash their equipment not yours. there are plenty around that taught themselves on what are now considered **** scary kites but every single one of them has **** scary near miss stories and or decent injuries. There is a fair bit that can go wrong. In a lesson or not make sure you are with someone and there is NOTHING downwind. When things go wrong you go down wind very far very fast.

Good luck with what ever you decide. Hope it goes well. PS other kiters may be more willing to help you out if you've had a lesson or two as without experience people with kites can be very dangerous to others and also really annoying to fellow kiters.

if you teach yourself - you can only learn from your mistakes.........
shell out on a couple lessons and go from there

How bad can it be?
Whilst learning you WILL do something stupid. In a controlled environment with an experienced instructor you will more than likely be fine - both from a public liability standpoint and from a live & learn standpoint.

Injure an innocent bystander, crash your kite into a powerline, get dragged across a road... anything remotely similar to this will be an open invitation to your local council to have kitesurfing at that location banned. That's probably the quickest way to turn every single kiter in Australia against you.

Find yourself a kiteshop that's local to you and talk to them. If your going to be getting into kiting then you'll need someone to buy your gear from... unless you planning on buying everything including a reel leash from eBay.
If you really are adept at board sports and think your 95% of the way to being a safe kiter, then just go an get a single lesson. If you progress enough in that one lesson then that's all thats required. If it's a budget thing and you don't want to waste money, or you think the lessons are too expensive... then please don't take up kiting. I can assure you that $100-150 to safely get you started will save you many MANY tedious hours of learning and avoid you damaging your own equipment for that inevitable first kook-out.

For what it's worth, i was in a similar situation to you when i started out a few years back. I heeded the advice of many and went and got two lessons - that was all. They taught the most important things a kiter needs to know; safety, water rules and kiting etiquette.

if you are as experienced as you say you are you should only need 2 3 or maybe 4 lessons at like a cost of like maybe $400 in total . Trust me this is well worth it. Its not you that i am worried about it is the innocent people on the beach and surrounding areas. Also kites flying up beaches doesn't look good and that is how we get banned from beaches. GET LESSONS

I had to teach myself years ago on old scary c kites as there were not any instructors around. I thought i would be able to take it slow, progresively go out in stronger breezes, I to had been in to other board sports, sailing, Bmx and motorbikes and wasnt scared of to much. Untill i tryed to kite i had a few scarey moments draged for hundreds of meters up the beach, draged out of the watter and parking the kite in a tree(lucky really there were power lines behind the tree). I got lofted off the beach and landed 40m out in the watter. Just to name a couple of scarry moments, i allso had some injuries Wrist,ankle and others at times. But i persisted and after a great deal of time i was up and ridding but by then it was the end of season and i found the sport verry frustrating. The next season i did a lot better and got some new gear 2 kites and a good board and have had a ball ever since.

If i could have got a lesson when i started i would have it would have saved a lot of frustration time, injurys. I watch the learners going through instructors now and after just a couple of lessons they are competent kitters that know the safety side, body draging up wind self rescue, and a lot of them are allready up on the board doing runns in both directions. After 3-4 lessons most of them are going up wind and starting to learn basic turns. So in just 10hrs of training they learnt more than i did in a season.

The number of lessons you get is up to you but definatly get atleast one full lesson. It could save your life or someone elses.

Yesterday there was 2 beginner at Leighton trying to teach each other.
I had a chat with them, it turns out that they didn't even try a trainer kite before and they decided to start with a 9m SS Fuel
No helmet no PFD no control on the kite and kite was dragging them at the beach.

Last time I brought up this issue I received a lot of red thumbs.
Lets hope that you're a real person and you care about the answers you getting here.

I prefer to see you on the water not on the cover of news paper.

But what do I know? I'm just an idiot

One or two good lessons saves you hours of pissing around

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Sam Holmes said...

Well every single kiteshop you talk to or review you read will tell you that if you try to teach youself you WILL die or something big like that, i accept that its a pretty dangerous thing teaching yourself.
Is there anyone here that has tought themself to kitesurf that can tell me how it turned out?
I can manage most boardsports which will help but only for the board skills part if it which is worth about 20% or skill in kitesurfing right?
But then i have been sailing quite alot in my life and sail moths plus i windsurf.
On top of that i have got my skill up on a 2.5 ozone trainer.

Could someone explain what would happen if i tried to teach my self the skills of LEI flying in a controlled environment with a 7m kite?





back in 2002 i bought a second hand 2 line kite i had absolutly no experience i even thought that you only had to pump the kite up to stop it sinking in the water and thought well if i fly it on land i'll be fine well this was not fine try launching a 2 line kite dead down wind in thirty plus knots on edithvale beach (vic) the only thing that saved me and tapeworms life that day was a local kiteboarder who ran to us just before letting go of a un inflated wipika 8.6 free air in the new scale its about a twelve. after that we befriended the local crew who taught us to kite thank god. just an example of what not to do and the importance of lessons not only do they save lives but will get you out there twice as fast as teaching yourself.

Sam, I had similar experience to you when I started - experienced sailor, good standard snowboarder, confident in the water. All this experience means you will pick things up faster - you have an appreciation for the way the wind works.

But for the sake of a few hundy, lessons are great, basically you are paying for the accumulated experience of all the guys who went before us, being dragged up the beach, hurting themselves, working out self rescue methods etc, so YOU don't have to go through the same experience as they did.

Even someone like Hookworm, who didn't have benefit of formal lessons, was lucky to hook up with a crew who gave him the benefit of their experience.

Thing is, nowadays, you won't get people will you to teach like that - they will all say "get lessons" as the schools are all far better equipped to deal with teaching than an individual usually is.

I also think back to when I was a kid learning to sail and while my training was handled through my local sailing club, I spent hundreds of hours being trained - so 6 hours or so to learn to kite is nothing!

Hi Sam,

There are some really good replies to your question in this thread so it would be wise to heed their collective wisdom.

When I look back over the 10 years I have been in this sport and teaching this sport, I shudder at some of the accidents, injuries, deaths and most frightening near misses I've either been witness to or endured myself.

Providing everything goes right for you, this sport can be very easy to learn and is certainly great fun. The basics can be taught to you by a trained monkey. It's the choices you make that put you into situations, and then what you do in that split second when time stands still before you're about to get wasted, and how you handle things in that moment that makes the difference.

If I or any other decent instructor could save you from even just one of the scares we have had, then your money would be well spent. This says nothing of how much faster you'll get up and running and not trashing your gear.

Get Lessons and have fun,

KH

yeah get lessons mate, my advice is don't listen to kiters from WA. Everything is too dangerous to them. At least your from NSW, the kiters here will point you in the right direction.

Sam definetly teach yourself, nothing will go wrong, and you can earn a prestigeous Darwin Award!!!

Teach yourself mate! The less kiters around the better and you won't be around for long!

What a load of sh!t... You know what people had to do before kiteschools were around? Yep they had to teach themselves, the person teaching you at a school probably taught them self, to make matters worse back then there were only 2 liners and non-depowerable 4 line kites. Kitesurfing is safe as piss, if you have a mate that does it get them to show you the ropes, stepping straight in without any help could be pretty dangerous if your not sure what to do.

Sam mate, please get a few lessons, I am a newbee and having lessons and its worth every cent.
I only wish I had learned years ago and not got put off by really bad advice.
So hang in there mate, have a lesson a.s.a.p. and have fun and stay safe.

Im a qualified sky diver so i thought i had all the canapy skills and it would transfer straight to my kite skills. I wasnt to bad at wake boarding and a good surfer. what could go wrong hey!!!

second day out i broke my ankle and lost my brand new kite out to sea. i had my name and number on it so luckly it washed up the next day and i got it back but it was stretched, ripped and desroyed.

so yes!!!!!!!!!!! you need lessons.
your not as good as you think you are becasue there are thousands of kiters out there who thought that (me being one) and 99% were wrong.

for those who say they havent hurt them selves while tring to teach themselves you are either liers or very very lucky.

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assmaster said...

What a load of sh!t... You know what people had to do before kiteschools were around? Yep they had to teach themselves, the person teaching you at a school probably taught them self, to make matters worse back then there were only 2 liners and non-depowerable 4 line kites. Kitesurfing is safe as piss, if you have a mate that does it get them to show you the ropes, stepping straight in without any help could be pretty dangerous if your not sure what to do.

Hey assmaster,

A lot of us did learn in the early days and most of us survived, but there were a few who didn't. In the first few years the average was 2 deaths per year from kiting. This doesn't sound like much, but in those days there were probably only 100 kiters in all Australia in '00 and maybe a few hundred in 01 etc etc. Every year the ratio has dropped. This speaks nothing of the people who didn't die, but were permanently damaged (I know a few personally).

The numbers of deaths remained the same for the first few years and to my knowledge, there hasn't been a death from kiting for a couple of years now. I put this down to the invent of better kites and safety systems, more schools and easier access to quality instruction and also a shift in the perception of the kiting community. It was only 3-4 years ago on this very forum when many were advocating learning without instruction, but there has been a massive swing in favour of lessons.

I think this has come from most people now knowing someone who has been injured learning on their own, or that crowding and beach issues has gotten people worries about kooks taking out the public or creating havoc in general. In the early days the usual question was "Where do you get the gear?", to nowadays where nearly everybody asks "Where do I get lessons?".

Equipment is better, technology is better for instructing and I think people are sick of untrained people screwing up at their local. The progression is faster and safer and gear doesn't get wrecked as bad. Lessons are the way forward in this day and age.

Cheers,

KH

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Kitehard said...

The numbers of deaths remained the same for the first few years and to my knowledge, there hasn't been a death from kiting for a couple of years now.

Are you talking globally or just Australia-wide ?? ^^^
There have been many fatalities globally in the recent past.
I believe the total number is around 60.

Hey 'slave,

Speaking in reference of Australia only. World figures, as you say are much higher.

Cheers,

KH

I came from a sailing background too and had one lesson. At the end of the lesson I was going small distances on the board and had the skills to teach myself from there. The lesson was very valuable to my knowledge but one was sufficient with a few questions to the local crew as I progressed. It really depends on the instructor, mine was really good and skipped stuff I already knew i.e. wind etc and gave me some extra time after the lesson to muck around on the board. The best things you'll get from it are self rescue, launch and landing etc.

Sam, i'm teaching myself. Just getting out of the learner stage and have survived. I came from surf background with no knowledge of wind. yes you'll cop some hammerings and shred some kite. It really depends on how you like to learn.... if you're up for a wild adventure, go for it - but there ain't no "controlled enviroment".

But listen to all the above- lessons are obviously the majority view

whilst i recomend lessons, lessons can be a pain in the arse... you've been waiting for a long time to get into kite surfing, and then once you are finally ready and have the money, you book the lesson only to have to wait two weeks for an open slot, and then you come and there is no wind, then you reschedule for another week or so and show up only to have your clothes blown off by 40 knots wind so again nothing... (this is happening to a friend of mine as we speaK)

So if you are really keen on minimising dependency on others, at least get one lesson on the following mandatory topics:
- rigging up
- safety / release systems
- launching / landing

i've done this my self (pretty much as kaleidoscope couple posts above did), and had no issues... was riding the board much quicker than if i had to wait for open slots at kite schools and somewhat slow teaching tempo of the instructors than what i'd prefer...

bottom line - get at least some lessons - better to be safe than sorry.

The biggest problem with teaching yourself is that you are very likely to go try and do too much far too early.

Expecting to self-teach yourself in three or four sessions is a recipe for disaster.

If you are willing to spend dozens of sessions with a whole bunch of kites, talk to fellow kiters, read plenty of mags/books and watch every dvd you can get your hands on then you may well do a good job of teaching yourself. It will prob take you at least two seasons. And if you did this I would bet you would learn a hell of a lot more than "just getting up and going on a board".

This is NOT cheaper or faster than getting lessons.

This does not mean buying a 2m trainer followed by a 7-9m kite.

This means buying a 2m trainer and spending hours and hours learning how to use it exceptionally well. Then buying a 3-4m kite and doing dozens of sessions on it. Weeks and weeks later maybe buying a 5-6m LEI kite and doing dozens of sessions on it in light conditions. Don't worry about a board, you won't even go near one yet. There is no short cut. You will probably thoroughly wear out if not rip to shreds at least 2-3 of these kites.

Whenever my mates ask to be taught I tell them its just far easier to get lessons. You will progress faster and have access to the right gear at the right time.

But, in my opinion, teaching yourself is a very rewarding experience. And you can always pick a kiter who has spent plenty of time on a variety of kites.

IMO if somebody (good friend preferable with say 2 seasons exp) or trainer (are able to go to the beach with you and explain the following, they would also need to know your specific gear:
- safe wind speeds for kite and experience
- how to rig your specific kite safely and explain various settings
- wind window, power and neutral zone
- safety - rules on water and beach, self rescue, self land, self launch, assisted landing and launching, hand signs
- demonstrate how to fly kite, show bodydragging upwind etc.
- demonstrate emergency releases and systems
- some tips on boarding
that's all you need to get going. I never had lessons but have a friend whom had lessons explain the basics. However, my experience is that most friends just want to get in the water themselves and never do it properly.
So, you will need someone to explain the above to you properly - there is no way without help that you will figure it out on your own safely. If you are able to get a commitment from a friend to not take his kite gear to the beach and help you for 2 sessions, that should be fine too. Generally your friend will be happy to pay the instructor for you instead of missing two epic sessions!!!

Didn't know we were all rocket scientists,

Go for the lesson, I did one and got a lot of interesting helpful pointers from it.

You don't need to fly a trainer for hours and hours, the fact is that it is easier than most sports and anyone with some board skills and a little wind understanding will pick it up in no time.

However, a kite has amazing grunt and it takes about 2 seconds to find yourself in a very scary situation.

If you want to avoid this, keep getting lessons until you are confident enough to get out there safely.

Keep a big smile on your face and enjoy every second of it.

If you are going to teach yourself then just get help from people on the beach. Befriend some kiters and when the wind is too crap for them to stay upwind - Im sure they will devote time to you.

If the wind is good - dont try to learn. It's probably too windy. Wait until it is 10-15 know and then muck around and learn.

But do try to get some help from kiters (if not a lesson). A six pack of beer would buy you 1/2 an hour with most kiters after a crap session.

hey guys just wondering if anyone can tell me how much I should pay for my first lesson. The local guy here is charging $290 for a 4hr lesson or $250 if I do it with a mate. Is this a little expensive?

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Singdizzle said...

hey guys just wondering if anyone can tell me how much I should pay for my first lesson. The local guy here is charging $290 for a 4hr lesson or $250 if I do it with a mate. Is this a little expensive?

that sounds about right 4 hours is a long lesson.