Better than asking for the time you´ll need to go solo, is to ask for a good instructor. Probably in 3 days (that depends on the person) in the water, you´ll be able to kite few seconds downwind. Then when you finish your lessons it will take you some more sessions to go upwind. I recommend to kite with a experienced mate, which will take care of you when riding alone. I think only 1 hour won´t be enough...

If your goal is to ride strapless, I don't see a need to start with them, I've never used them, otherwise, straps are fine, but a typical surfboard is not the best board to learn on. A flatter board, less rocker, is much better. I used a liquid force kite fish.

Get your hands on a smallish foil kite and fly the ** outta it before you do your lessons.

This will reduce the amount of time you need to have an instructor by your side, because you'll come into the lessons with an understanding of the wind window and power zones etc, and the steering will feel a bit more natural.

Your background in boards sports will come in very handy when you get to the stage of riding on your board, but unfortunately has little to nothing to do with learning to fly a kite. It's a bit like combining two sports: kite flying and wakeboarding/surfing

Everyone reacts differently when comes the time to learn to control a kite. I've had many very experienced surfers who were simply not ''natural'' with kite flying and needed a few extra hours of lessons just to get decent kite control and get used to the power of the kite.

Your first lesson is the most important and at the end of it your instructor should be able to assess your skills and recommend the best course of action depending on your own learning pace and recommend a certain amount of lessons or practice time you will likely need.

My best advice is to try and pace yourself: don't try to take shortcuts and beware of people telling you things like ''you will be up and riding in just 4 hours''.

Shallow water areas are very easy to learn in where you can feel safe and can progress to the board in 3-4 hours with an instructor next to you. Unfortunately, those over-simplified teaching methods in those environments do little to prepare you to deep water kiting (most common locations) and the one as a surfer where you'll likely spend the most time...

These days, lessons are becoming more based on delivering a fast paced thrilling experience with constant hands-on assistance rather than genuinely preparing you to become independent and safe when practicing on your own. The difference between the two is huge and mostly noticeable in deep waters when beginners get in trouble or fail to recover their boards (just look at the lost and found section in the middle of the season )

Flying a 2-line trainer kite can help, but I wouldn't recommend ''flying the $hit out of it'' without supervision or exercises to follow. Although it can be a lot of fun, this usually leads to learning dangerous flying habits that have little to do with your first experience of flying an inflatable kite and can become difficult to break during your lessons. A more efficient way to prepare for your lessons is to get your hands on the beginner progression DVD and read the forum, watch learning videos online, etc.

As per the board, I would recommend to even the most experienced and skilled surfer to at least learn on a twin tip until competent going upwind and doing transitions before going onto a surfboard, even if it has straps.

Hope this helps,

Christian

Chris_M said..
Get your hands on a smallish foil kite and fly the ** outta it before you do your lessons.

This will reduce the amount of time you need to have an instructor by your side, because you'll come into the lessons with an understanding of the wind window and power zones etc, and the steering will feel a bit more natural.

Why the red thumb?

great posts here as you can see everyone learns at a different pace. i only had 4 hours of lessons..

I also recommend getting a two lined foil kite, take it down to the beach or park and fly it for about 10 hours. If you can get an old bar and attached it to the lines so you get used to pulling the bar to turn the kite. here is the one i used http://www.flexifoil.com/powerkites/bigbuzz

this will mean that in your first two hour lesson you will be able to learn how to set up, move the kite over the window, body drag down wind & begin to body drag upwind within 2 hours.

If you dont have any two line kite flying experience you may take up to an hour and a half to learn how to control the kite.

In the next two hour lesson You can then take another 30mins learning to bodydrag upwind & learn self rescue and then spend an hour water starting.

I didnt want to spend any more money so

after then i just went out on my own at a well known area and practised heaps! do it where you learnt so there are people to assist if you have a kitemare, which is 100% certain!

If you practise every windy day you'll be able to get upwind in around 2 weeks. BE PREPARED FOR A LOT OF WALKING!

I reckon the IKO have it right.

1st lesson 1 hour on the beach
2nd lesson 2 hours in the water without a board
3rd less on 2 hours in the water with a board

That was enough to make me feel safe in the water and to be sure that I was sufficiently into the sport to buy my own equipment. I got out a few times on my own after that but have also had two further 1hr lessons and will have at least one more.

A copy of this DVD helped me to get the most out of my lessons.
http://www.kitepower.com.au/progression-kiteboarding-beginner.html

I have sailed something since I learnt to walk, but the initial learning curve for this sport is steep. I found it initially much harder to learn than windsurfing but can see that at the end of my first season I will be as good at kitesurfing as I was at windsurfing after a couple of years.

Once you have your own equipment there will be days where there is too much wind or too little wind for your one kite. That is a great opportunity to have an extra lesson using the instructors bigger/smaller kite and to learn a new skill and put off buying a second kite for a little while.

Generally 3 lessons is the norm. So do your research, find a good instructor that people were genuinely stoked with and start from lesson # 1.
A good instructor will save you more than just time wasted teaching yourself stuff that doesn't work. They will get you on good gear increasing your joy & saving your hip pocket much pain.