hey all

another newbie here looking to the gurus that breeze through here.
im really keen to get into the sport, but lessons in perth arent that cheap. im also up hillarys way.
i have recently purchased,
a 2004 wipika 18m ( big i know)
wipika apocalypse 151, plus harness, bar/lines etc.
so basically im ready to go.
im 85 kilos, have played with a trainer for ages and looked at every instructional website known to man.
is it possible to teach myself?

Its possible,but not recomended!

You have gone this far,best thing is to get a lesson.

They are not cheap,but neither are repair or hospital bills!


Also,18m is a big kite to start on.You should have got a 12.

Be carefull,get lessons!

A lesson or 2 will save you a month or 2 of trial and error and maybe a broken bone or 2.
Well worth the coin.

ok, your either a troll or suicidal with an 18 and no prior experience.

its possible to teach yourself if you had a 7m bow/hybrid and a huge beach with no one else on in 15 knots and you knew the basics.
an 18 will probably make you hate kiting and give up pretty quickly as there is a reason it was cheap. If you cant afford a right sized kite and lessons you cant afford kiting. once you have these though you dont have to spend much more.

Get lessons dude...

i had two lessons and still Axxed my self while learning on a C kite...


tore an ACL in my knee and delayed my learning by 2 n a half months.. plus 2 n a half months of excruciating re-hab....

JUST GET LESSONS!!!

Take kite hards advice,....
You can play around in sub 15 knts on a 18m but you are not going to learn a lot

Lucky bugger that got rid of that 18m

rig big and go large.



Not.

Be careful dude u can die.

quote:

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Originally posted by as mustard

hey all

another newbie here looking to the gurus that breeze through here.
im really keen to get into the sport, but lessons in perth arent that cheap. im also up hillarys way.
i have recently purchased,
a 2004 wipika 18m ( big i know)
wipika apocalypse 151, plus harness, bar/lines etc.
so basically im ready to go.
im 85 kilos, have played with a trainer for ages and looked at every instructional website known to man.
is it possible to teach myself?

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The old 'big arse kite' trollthread hasn't been seen for a awhile.
lol.
Wink.
That's the one about the newbie who buys a 18m blimp on a budget....
and then skimps on the expensive lesson.
It always cracks me up.
The el cheapo author, 'As Mustard' is keen for a stiff 30 knotter breeze.
He's sick of the trainer kite and his brain has turned to mush from watching too many instructional vids.

And to answer the question;
"is it possible to teach oneself" ?

Yes, the old gurus did at one time or another, and they still rip.

quote:

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Originally posted by padi

Many people got seriously injured especially on old c-kites with limited depower which I believe yours is. When I say serious, I mean serious, do a search on kiting accidents and you will know what I mean. Lessons are must, and only from qualified instructors. This is the top school in WA:

actionsportswa.com.au/

Do not even think of trying it yourself, especially on such a big kite. You obviously havent seen this -

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Hey! I thought the Eric Video was banned?!

the X4 is a high aspect super boosting kite, i used to have 10m X4 that was the business.

If you can fly the X4 and relaunch it 100% then any of the newer kites will be a breeze. An 18m is too big to be learning on.

Get an 8-10m ANYTHING to learn technique first and save trips to the hospital.

I'm secretly interested to know if you can make it to the Whitfords Shopping Centre on a windy day with the 18m, ... go on, give it a go, whats the worst that can happen !!!

I got an old 17 from 2002 and on a day when you go to the beach and realise the wind just didn't hit as hard as promised, your dieing to get out, a kite with that size can still get you going. But then again I used mine about 5 times over the last years.
If you live somewhere where the wind rarely gets above 15-16 knots you could be fine.

If you consider learning on that dinosaur and you're not even quite sure what you're doing then you could/will get hurt.
If you go out there just be very aware of the conditions and don’t even think about going out there if you see white caps on the water.

I learned on a 16 with my mate and never had a problem, but there were no schools around to learn where I lived and strong wind was quite rare.
My advice is: Get a smaller kite and you will have way more fun and progress much quicker!
If you find a cheap 12 bow that would be great, but a C shape will be absolutely fine.

mustard,

the way to go on a tight budget is to hunt around for a second hand 9m -13m kite because u will always damage the first one when u r learning. Spend a couple of bucks on a introductory lesson even if its just to learn the safety / self rescue / water launch's and all the good stuff that get you out of a piclkle. once you are up and ridding around you will meet people in the sport who will help you out with pointers etc but at the end of the day its not how much u are willing to spend on your gear, its what price could u put on your safety.

only from personnel experience mate i have been in some dodgey scenarios eg tangled, blown vavles self rescue it is not an uncommon event when you r trying new manouvers or even in the surf. When i look back to when i first started i wish i would of been able to find the time to learn more basics instead of trial and era

best of luck mate

Randy