Well he'll probably want a 10-12m kite, preferrably a bow shape. Cabrinha Crossbow's are common with the newbies, but I believe there are better kites for beginners out there! You want to steer clear from 'C' shaped kites. They offer more speed but are no good for beginners because they dont fully depower. Hybrid's are Delta shaped kites are good too. For my first kite I bought a Delta shaped 11m. I kite in Sydney.
For a board he'll want something no bigger than 140cm. Bigger boards are easier to learn on because they provide more buoyancy and they plane slower, but you grow out of them really fast. I am learning on a 131cm board which is small-average sized and it was easy as anything to stay up, but it goes really fast - too fast for beginner!
I'd say the best kind of harness is a seat or boardshort harness at this time. He may get sick of it after a season or two but when you're learning and always smashing into the water it's a pain to have to always readjust the harness (when using a waist harness which are the most common). Harnesses are cheap so it's okay to buy another if needed of an upgrade.
Cheers - I wish my Mum/Dad bought my gear!
