Hi all. I've been a windsurfer and waterskier for years and thinking about giving kitesurfing a go. Where do I find a good beginner's book or video that will show me all the basics. Also, what kind of kit would suit as a starting point (say for 12-20kn winds). Any boardsailors who've made the transition ... I'd love to hear how it went I am confident in most conditions on a windsurfer (short board), can jibe, jump, and used to ride a trick-ski so the board handling should be no probs. but I read a bit of stuff about kitesurfing and the kite control looks really complex and confusing.

Thanks

Hey, I'm an instructor at Longreef Sail & Surf in Sydney and the money you spend on a couple of lesson is invaluable when you consider the possible cost of trying to teach yourself through books and DVD's ie. Somebody elses kid Besides the safety issues, learning through a qualified instructor is going to give you a much better experience and I can guarantee that you'll learn a million times faster than you would through friends who give you a kite to fly while they're out on the water. Another plus is that you can bash up the school kites rather than your own. Kite control takes a little time to get used to, but with the right equipment we can help give you confidence in flying smaller kites and build up to the bigger kites as your ability improves. This way your not going to get yourself into any trouble and it usually only takes around 2 hours of kite flying to get to the stage where you are ready to learn self rescue techniques and water relaunching etc... Anyway, good luck with your kiting and for the record I'd say over half the kiters around my area are ex-windsurfers so I guess kiting must have some attraction to you blokes. See ya.

Thanks everyone. I do indeed intend to get some lessons. All your points are very valid, particuarly the start small and build up to a bigger kite! same as WS really. What I was looking for a book or DVD for was to get my head around the basic terms/techniques/equipment etc. so that when I get some lessons, I'll get more out of 'em. So anyone read a good introductory book on kiteboarding or DVD?

quote:

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Originally posted by directone
start small and build up to a bigger kite!

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You may have got that impression from your replies but IMO its definately NOT the WTG. You heed a kite that will have you up & learning for the max time possible.
Go small & all you will do is not get it up often enough. (& you probably know how disasterous that can be :-) )
This bigger/smaller beginner argument just doesn't hang for me at all. A small kite in a big wind = a big kite in a small wind. If you are going to limit yourself to a quiver of one to start with - as any sensible person would - go with the kite that will suit your local conditions most often. There is no point having a "safe 8M kite if you can only get it up 1/4 of the time ???"
Check with your local kiters and if guys your size fly 12M kites 80% of the time go for a 12M.
Just MO - but hey - I have just been there/done that & thats what I reckon will work ?
Almost forgot - What I reckon is important for beginners is Go Low Aspect - they are much more user friendly & can only speed up your progress.
Good Luck - you are starting out in the greatest sport of ALL time - ENJOY !

"He who enjoys most - WINS"

Lessons sound like the way to go, but reading up on it is also a good idea aswell. Just dont confuse your self to much and expect there is soo much to know because that will jus stress you out. hope all goes well. toodals

Howdy Directone, get yerself a 2 line stunt kite on a bar and start flying it now!!!. The sport is all about the kite - the more second nature flying the kite is, the faster the curve. Then get the lessons Then bust out some moves [}:)]. Later

Contact [email protected] he has the latest book and DVD called the secrets of kiteboarding, very helpful.

Hi directone,
Funny when I started I used to look at the windsurfers and use them as some sort of cross reference for my kiting. If they were going 6-6.5's i'd be OK on a 16M kite. If they were on 5.5's it was too strong as a novice. But I only had 1 kite back then. I still do it to some extent to see what the wind strength is out back.
Anyway to answer your question...knowing your weight is quite important. I'd buy the right size kite for your weight and wind but being a beginner go out in a lot less wind to start with until you build your skills to handle the correct range the kite is designed for. These are my ranges, I'm 100KGs and 3yrs experience.

Board: Airush Switch 142 x 40.5
Rhino4 18 range 12/13-19 Kts sweetspot 14-17 Kts;
Flexifoil storm III 15 range 15-27 kts sweetspot 17-22 Kts;
Wipika AirBlast 2002 12 (old 8.4) 19-28 Kts sweetspot 22-26;

Change boards above 22Kts to Airush compact 133 x 36 as the compact is more comfortable and holds more power:
Wipika Airblast 2002 12 24-30+ Kts sweetspot 24-28 Kts.

These are all 4 line high aspect kites which I like but these Ranges are, I suspect quite different for med. aspect kites and 5th liners. You got to try them out. For a beginner most people wouldn't recommend a high aspect kite and some of the new med/low aspect kites are probably better to learn on. However for me the hardest part of kite flying is to control a fast/fast turning kite. Many of the new med/low aspect kites are very fast so if you get one slow them down as much as you can on the rear line settings. Also any kite below 10 flys really fast.

My guess for weight differences is if your 80Kgs go 2M down on my kite size. If your 60 Kg go 4M down.

Frankly learning in 18-22Kts wouldn't be for me - way to dangerous and scary. For that range heavy guys on 14 medium guys on 12/10 but remember they are experienced. If it were me I'd get a 14 and learn in lower winds.

PS I had 6.5, 5.3, 5.0, 4.7 and 4.2 and 2 boards. Now I have 3 kites and 2 boards. Kites have big wind ranges (esp small ones). All my mates were once windurfers now we can't remember how to rig!

Thanks g_dog and Alan,

Great info and really good to hear from some people about their learning expreience. I'm 77-80kg (wish it'd just stay still!!). In w/s my quiver is 4.0 (rarely use), 4.5, 5.2, 6.0 & 6.9. I was beginning to think a 12m kite would be the right starting point with say a 145'ish twin tip board. I imagine water starting on a kiteboard to be similar to waterstarting on a wakeboard or a trick ski (which is about same size as a wakeboard but with no fins at all) which I mastered some years back.

Any comments?

OK, as it#347; Australia Daty and I;ve had a couple of drinks I´ll try to keep this as simple as possible to stop myself looking like an idiot who can´t sleep. While I agree that a large board will be easier to learn with, I think something around the 130 mark will suit you best being between 75&*80 kg´s.
I´m riding a 120=125 size boards and about to go to a 118 cause smaller boards are more fun, BUT 130 should be sweet and get you going but keep you going at a later stage until your cutting sick in the water. What ever you do listen to Alan cause he#347; got a good idea on what´s going on and he´s a good guy that;ll steer you in the right direction. See ya.

Hey directone,

If you have decided to get into kiting, come down to Kitepower Australia.

For beginners we have;

My advice for you regarding gear - 140cm twin tip board & 11 - 13m2 LEI kite

We have the best instruction team on the East Coast.

Cheers
02 9529 6894
www.kitepower.com.au

Woops!

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Cheers
02 9529 6894