Kitesurfing or kitesurfing is the latest water sport that is taking the world by storm in the new millennium. If you’ve seen someone kitesurf, you know that this sport not only looks amazing, but it’s also fun to watch. Many kitesurfers became captivated and obsessed with learning the sport after seeing it for the first time. “…but it looks so easy” is a common statement I hear from students who thought they would be riding in the three-hour lesson. The truth is that kitesurfing is not that difficult. It’s multitasking from wakeboarding and flying a kite. And learning how to safely launch and fly kitesurfing kites takes some time. A minimum of approximately 3 hours of class time is a must. There is no rabbit hill in kiteboarding; at any second, the wind can pick up and you’re on the triple black diamond. The first goal of new kitesurfers should be safe and independent.
Some things you might look for that make learning much easier include: a lesson location with plenty of shallow water, boat/jet ski support, and radio helmets. Deep water makes relaunching the kite more difficult and often has more waves to splash you in the face. Boat support will cost extra but it’s worth it as you’re practicing with the huge kite that pushes you around in the wind, walking back is a waist of valuable time and energy. In a 3 hour lesson you could easily end up 3-5 miles downwind from where you started, no problem if the instructor follows you in a boat. Lastly radio helmets, without one your instructor will be yelling at you and you will be trying to hear instructions over the sound of wind and splashing water.
A kitesurfing lesson will begin with a discussion including considerations of the launch site, wind theory, and equipment terminology. Also, we will take a look at the equipment and talk about the functional parts of the kite: the control bar, the kite leash and the harness. Here special emphasis is placed on the safety systems incorporated in the control bar and the kite leash. Although not the fun part of the lesson, the safety information is essential. We should practice releasing quick releases or security systems several times. In the event of an emergency, we must fully understand them.
Next, we will learn how to set up and launch the kite. This first kite can be a small foil kite or training kite (usually for land use only), or it can be a small inflatable kite (the kind used for kitesurfing). Again, it’s not super fun but it’s mega important. Inflatable kites are mainly run on 4 lines; being 100% sure we understand how and where each line connects is critical. A poorly armed kite is dangerous. If you start with a trainer kite you won’t cover this yet as trainer kites are often simplified 2 line systems and also launch quite differently than inflatable 4 line kites. The idea of starting with a small kite is that the smaller kite will not have too much power as it takes most people a while to understand how, when and why the kite pulls hard or soft. Once we have control of the smaller kite, it’s time to move on to a larger kite.
We now have a set of skills that we need to master before trying out the board for the first time.
These kite control skills include:
- holding the kite still (either two-handed or one-handed)
- fly the kite with one hand while carrying the board
- stroke the kite through the power zone and stop the kite at any given position
- stroking the kite through the power zone continuously
- relaunch the kite out of the water after a crash
- performing directional board drag (technique to retrieve your board)
- hovering on back while holding square to kite and fly with one hand
- put table while holding float position
The kite petting skills listed above are performed in the water, as this technique powers the kite, if done on land the kite will likely make you lose your feet. In the water this is fun and includes some splashing. On land this would be front planting and hard hits. Is not safe.
This is a very simplified version of what a lesson could look like and I would argue that this is the minimum amount of instruction that everyone who wants to get into the sport should have. After you understand the basics, you can buy equipment and continue practicing kiteboarding. The reality, in my experience, is that many people are not 100% comfortable right now. Most people take a total of 6-10 hours of lessons before heading out on their own. If you are interested in getting started in kitesurfing, you can find me, just Google Air Padre Kiteboarding.
I hope to see you in the water!
