if it were me I'd just borrow a friends, or hire one for $15 a day.

Actually they are supplied during a kite lesson, and you may well progress past the point of needing one after the lesson. If not then you can decide whether buy one (or what type to buy, as padbury points out).

Although now I want to get a real 1.5 or 3m one to take on my skateboard! So don't despair if you've got one already, the second hand market for trainer kites is stronger then the real kites!

Hi All,

I use the Airush 3m Trainer kite in my school and with friends or family. The difference with using a name brand like the Airush 3m is for a start you get top quality bar and lines and also a well made kite.

The Airush one comes with a safety leash so you can let go the bar and practice like with the real thing. I recommend the 3m over the 2m as I have found in my experience of teaching that the fast, smaller kites do not represent the way a "real" kitesurfing kite feels in respect of turn rate and power.

It is possible to teach people using the smaller faster kites with less power, but some have difficulty in transfering those skills to a full sized kite as they are used to a much faster reaction from the kite. The lesser power can also give learners a false sense of security with regard to dealing with the power of the larger full sized kites. These are real life experiences I had with students over the past 5 years.

The 3m has a considerable amount of power even in 8 knots and turns at roughly the same pace as a 10m inflatable. This causes your reactions to be more in line with a real kite and prepares you and gives you respect for the power of the real thing also.

The slingshot 3m trainer foil is also good but does not come with a leash.

As Matt suggests, I have fixed a quick release fitted Harness Loop, to the bar for one handed flying and practice of flying hooked in. I dont really think that it is important to fly with your eyes closed, that is a skill you will master with time anyway. More important is to learn to fly using your peripheral vision to see the kite rather than focusing on it directly.

A half dozen hours of trainer kite flying will save you 1-2 lessons in money and time and will allow you to have heaps of fun while learning and offer the ability to share with friends and family without huge concern for their safety or the safety of your full sized kite. They are also heaps of fun on a sk8 board or buggy. Just dont hook in in gusty winds on a sk8ey unless you want to lose skin.

Hope we all get some good wind soon!

Darren Marshall
Australian Kiteboarding School

There's only one person who posts on here that has been flying kites longer than me, and his name is Neil, from Hold the Line, he makes the Quokka.
We can both attest to the FACT, that kiteboarding requires excellent kite control, the safest way to get that is by flying an appropriate sized power kite on land, that has a safety leash.
Buying and flying a trainer foil is the best thing any prospective kiteboarder can do. It will pay for itself by them not needing as many lessons, and by them learning to kiteboard faster and easier.
Kitepower stocks a large range of 2 and 4 lined parafoil trainer and power kites, more than any other store in Oz actually, because it is what we specialise in - Kites.
The Best trainer kite is $199, complete with bar and safety leash, it is marked as being 1.8M, but I have put it on top of other 2.5M kites and it is only slightly smaller, I estimate it is 2.4M
This kite is actually a 4 lined kite, and can be very easily turned into a useful power kite to pull a landboard or a buggy.
Ozone have just released their famous Imp in 3 sizes, the larger one is 2M and retails for $199 also.
We also have the Eola brand from $89
My experience is that it does not matter if you learn to fly on a bar or separate handles, the skill learned is tensioning one line or the other and the positioning of the kite in the wind window and the various power that comes from different positions in the wind window.
Muscle memory of the arm movements to execute turns and mind memory of the wind window can be learned flying any 2 line kite.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve McCormack
www.kitepower.com.au