Need to start on flat water in a spot with not many kiters. I think the best wind for learning is around 18-20 knots. If you are in WA I can suggest a spot.

It is much harder to learn with waves - recommend holidays in Perth

Just need to persevere and ideally concentrate on one thing at the time - for example practice the control of the kite (body dragging) until it becomes a second nature, so you don't need to think about it much or look much at the kite. Then add the board - try go get onto the board and consider it success even if you fall straight after you stand on it, etc.

If classes are not expensive, you can keep taking classes, but I read somewhere that an average person needs spend between 40-60 hrs in the water before they can get up and going. This was the case with me - took me about 15 trips with about 3 hrs in the water before it clicked.

We've all been there - it's part of the natural course of becoming a competent kiter. This is my 5th season now and I found that it was a good idea to set myself a goal to achieve by the end of the season so that all the frustrating sessions that happen along the way end up being part of the process. i.e.

End of season 1 goal was to be able to get up on the board and travel downwind and return back to the shore (followed by the inevitable walk of shame)
End of season 2 goal was to be able to go up wind and return back to the same spot on the beach consistently without having to do the walk of shame
End of season 3 goal was to be confidently going in and out and to attempt and land my first decent air time / jump
End of season 4 goal was to be confidently getting air and landing jumps on my good side and attempting some air time and jumps on my bad side
End of this season goal is to be confident in jumping both ways

Bear in mind that I only manage to get out once or twice every couple of weeks, so my progress would probably be considered slow compared to someone who has the ability to get out more often.

Moral to the story is to just stick with it and keep practicing because believe it or not, it will just click one day, and then you will never look back

Good luck

Hey it might help not trying to ride straight away. I find a good way to get used to combining the board and kite together is to get it strapped on your feet and do little figure 8's above your head so you can get used to the pressure under your feet.
Don't worry about drifting downwind, just keep going to you are used to the feeling.
Then just start building it up until you are tea bagging up and down and eventually riding.
once you are there you can focus on trying to edge and then riding upwind.

Aaahhh the number of times I turned up to the beach as a learner and my tummy flipped every time to the point that sometimes I could only just watch the others...

Happens to us all ! Definitely not good to start in waves though....

Like Alysum, I use to go to the beach and end up sitting watching people kite because I was nervous of handling the kite. I would try and time getting to the beach when the wind was at the bottom end of it's rating, i.e. my Catalyst is rated from 15 to 25 kts. What I found however is its easier to fly the kite at 20 knots and more of a handful at 15 knots and becomes more unpredictable.

Waves are a pain when you are trying to learn with the board. I live in Perth and was practicing at Woodman Point where there are small waves but enough to make it another level of difficulty to deal with. I went down to Shoalwater Bay where the water is pretty flat and that made things a lot easier. It sound like you don't have a choice but to tough it out.

People say things just click and they are right. I went from only being able to ride downwind one day to holding my ground / riding slightly upwind the next. To this day I don't know how that happened.

You might also want to get the Progression kiteboard videos. You can get them on disk or download from the App Store on iTunes. They gave me good tips and when I thought about techniques when I was kiting it definitely helps.

It it takes time but have the confidence to get out there and practice. Regretfully none of us will get better by sitting on the beach.

Good luck, you will have great fun

windreams said..
So true DEECEE but it's funny how many times I heard "oh man it only took me a few sessions (not seasons) and I was riding my board". As a beginner, didn't that make me feel disheartened and disillusioned because it was taking me a lot longer than that. Truth is while there might be an occasional natural that picks it up very quickly most of us take a hell of a lot longer.

I was at the beach yesterday and a stranger came up to me and said he was thinking of taking up kite surfing and proceeded to tell me he had done water skiing and cable park wakeboarding and because of that somebody told him it would only take a day of 2 before he would be on his board riding..... well I nicely burst his bullsh!t bubble.

I wouldn't say bullsh!t... I taught a guy who had been wake boarding 10+ years to kite in under 3 hours. Sure he couldn't transition, but he was able to hold an edge upwind, ride downwind, setup and packdown etc. AND, he knew the how to use his safety and was able to do a deepwater backdown.
I taught a 13 y/o to transition on his second lesson (~3-4hrs total experiance), 12 months later and he is now better than me (I have been riding for 4 years) which sucks but hey.
The order of people who pick it up best goes: cable riders and wakeboarders, snowboarders, surfers and skaters, then funnily enough, pilots, their kite control. is amazing. I had one pilot who didn't drop a kite in his 2 hour lesson, having never touched a kite before.

I disagree with that. I'm an experienced sailor and even though I understood the physics of water/could spot gusts on the water, it actually made it harder to go kitesurfing in 20-25knots. Because we know that sailing in those winds is very hard work ! So a lot of beginner nervous moments too.

Lol the first time i thought it said "session" not season, OMG you took 4 season's to jump both ways.
Sailors are good for understanding the wind, sheeting in and out etc. BUT they have never had to make move their sail from 3 to 12 o'clock, do figure 8's, loops, water relaunches. How is a mainsheet similar to bar and lines?.
So no, i don't see how they can straight away jump into board work. Then, come board work, there is no relation, maybe they have been on a trapeze but that feels much more secure... (coming from an ex sailor too btw..)

Oh and a good way to ease the nerves, I find a few chilled bevies does that for me, wether you want to use this technique for kiting is up to you

Hey go easy on me guys, I only get out a couple of times a month and I only ate the bag of cement to harden up after 4 seasons, so I reckon I'm doing ok for 40 year old. and don't exaggerate fingerbone - at this rate I'll be riding unhooked at 65 thankyou

When in doubt, sheet out! Many problems early in learning are caused by over sheeting, "choking" the kite. Push the bar out, let the kite breathe. Also, I would have to say that windsurfers pick up the sport the fastest...