Hi guys,
I have been toying with the idea to pick up this hobby for a long time.
Previously I did a one day course at Botany Bay.
I now live in Manly close to the water and thought it's time to get serious about it.

I saw some amazing kite surfers at Manly beach yesterday and the conditions seemed great.
Manly beach can get very crowded and I would imagine it is not the place to go if you're not experienced in the sport.
I am a reasonably good sufer and wakeboarder, so was hoping this might help me a little. So here are my questions:

Are Northern Beaches generally a suitable place to learn to kitesurf?
Are there any schools up there?
Would I need to travel to Long Reef area in order to have a safe place to learn?
I haven't seen many kitesurfers in general around here (esp. compared to surfers). Is that because the conditions are often unsuitable for kite surfing?

I'm sure a few more questions will be raised by me as the discussion takes place here (hopefully) :)

Thanks for your reply bigtone. Yes I haven't seen kitesurfers in Manly before in a long time. But y'day they were out in force there...

Thanks for pointing out Nara to me.

So how often is it possible to go out and have conducive conditions for kitesurfing?
Also from memory it took a while to set everything up etc until you actually hit the water and get going. What I like about surfing is I just grab my board and get going really quickly and I can surf most days (provided it's not completely flat).
Is that very different when kitesurfing?

The reason I ask is that I have family commitments and usually don't get much more than a 2hour slot Sat or Sun.

I do think that that might be the case lol.

Another thing that I really am looking for is a community. Something that basically doesn't exist in surfing. It is a very egoistic sport if you know what I mean. No commeraderie, plenty of competition for the waves and often even arguing in the waves or worse.
This seems to get worse the more people are out and the less waves there are to share.

The helpful responses so far do paint a very different picture with kitesurfing which I would really enjoy. Different kind of people?

And I kite all year round and average probably six hours every week during winter and probably 16 hours during summer.

bigtone667 said..
And I kite all year round and average probably six hours every week during winter and probably 16 hours during summer.

You're obviously not married or have a very understanding wife

If you partner is engaged in a time consuming hobby of her own, at least you get plenty of time to do your own thing lol.

Another question that is concerning me a lot is safety. I used to be quite the risk taker (think snowboarding in avalance territory) but now with family have become rather risk averse. Too much to lose.
I know kitesuring used to be more dangerous when it was in its infancy.
Has this changed a lot? Do people hurt themselves or even die on a regular basis (esp. Sydneys Northern beaches which is where I would ride)?
Is it much more dangerous compared to regular surfing (which I do a lot and it can get hairy at times if the swell kicks up and you're tired...)?

Northern beaches doesn't blow as hard as Botany Bay, from what I've seen maybe 5 knots less. So if its 18-20 knots in the bay, and everyones out on 12's, forget it unless youve got a 17. Also correct if I'm wrong here, but there are little, if any flat water locations up there so that may make learning difficult, or even dangerous when the swell is up. Be prepared to have to drive down occasionally in the beginning.

Speaking of which, does anyone know when the season openers are on? They are usually in the first or second weekend of October. One in Narrabeen one at Dolls point.

Thanks again for all the useful replies.
Ok I did not really intend to travel all the way to Botany Bay in order to pick up kitesurfing. Happy to do my training down there for a few days though.

Would you recommend buying a trainer kite and getting some serious experience flying it at the beach in Manly (if not too difficult)?

Thanks Antisense. I'm pretty excited actually to finally start...and so far the sense of community here has been wonderful and something I have been looking for (and never found while surfing...).