borrow you mates gear when learning and put it into a tree. then get ****ty and reverse you car into a set of concrete seats when leaving........

(Melville newbie last year)

Someone mentioned dont be too cheap with what you hook your life on. Totally agree. There is a difference between cheap gear and great condition that's well maintained. By buying used gear from the internet for eg. does increase the margin of risk. It's no secret that if we want to flog our gear off for the best price Ebay does wonders! Im not saying dont buy used gear but for beginners out there that think theyll be ok buying used gear from sites like ebay or Cash converters when they have kited before...think more carefully about the sport and equipment you are getting into. Also think about the many other kiters around who have been kiting at their local beaches everyday for years. If you are inexperienced and have an accident involving yourself or anyone else from the public you could risk the chance of banning the sport in your area. I really encourage other kiters and beginners to book in for good quality professional lessons. Getting up on the board and riggin up is one part. Knowing what to do when something goes wrong in the water may mean the difference of life and death. We can become so complacent at some beaches that we kite regularly. As a beginner ask yourself how much do you know about the wind? Do certain directions fluctuate in strength and speed? Does it change direction quickly? What size should I use? Most beginners never know and YES...many kiters who started the sport never had formal lessons. This is because the sport was so new and I know many of these veterin kiters say...it's just so much easier now. I hope current Kiters can encourage to promote proper lessons to PROTECT their own sport and beaches from inexperienced people trying to Kite. My suggestion to anyone that is on a really tight budget is to buy a runout model of say 2006 stock now that 2007 is now available. That way you are getting a new kite all beginners are going to smash around their new kite when they're new its just part of learning. Get a strong kite that will last you. If you can't afford to have lessons...think about saving up or question wheather you should be doing the sport at this stage in time.

Dont sweat it Booman,

Plenty of wind coming our way and you'll find the time

Had a great day on Sunday. 7 meter weather for me.....we were out for about 3 hours after a huge Sat night...

I'm at Sandy Point kiting till sunday. See you sometime after that.

Cheers buddy

The longer you kitesurf,
The cheaper it gets.
(If you so desire).

But in the beginning, it's expensive.
That's because you don't know much.
You might have the stoke, but you ain't got the savvy.(yet)

So ignorance makes for bad purchases.(But you can luck-out initially)
And experimentation costs dollars as well as valuable kitetime.
Think of it as money well spent on gaining information.

Resale value is the shopkeeper's empty promise.
Take what little money is offered for unwanted gear.
That will give you closure, you can now move on to the new stuff.
As you become more informed, the bargains magically appear.

I guess my point would be this:
If you kitesurf for say 5 years and the total cost was $15,000.....
(but $5,000 was spent in the first year alone)
then the annual cost over the long term was only $3,000. Only.

Nah, kitesurfing's not cheap.
Buy a boogie-board instead.