Hi guys and girls.
My father bought myself and my brother in law lessons from vit in botany bay last weekend. All I can say is that I'm hooked and love the idea of progressing further.

Being from cronulla, I mainly only know of kurnell, Wanda and botany bay to kite board at which is fine and the only store being kite power at sans susci.

I'm in 2 minds on what to do, and looking for some assistance. I understand wind (i think) as I have sailed and wind surfed before and hooked on both of those. But I'm not sure if I should get a kite yet or get a training kite still.

Vit had taught in the lessons and we went through the safety aspects, body dragging exercises and we tried water starts with a board. I couldn't get up on the board unfortunately as I found it tricky in the water to body drag towards to board and then hold the kite at 12 whilst putting feet in. Is there any reason of why I couldnt ditch the kite in the water and then bring it up once feet are in the board?


I was looking at getting a Core kite from kite power and teaching yself body dragging better and when wanting to use a board, use one of my wake boards till I get a kite board, is that a good idea??

What level and ability should you be at till you do some investment in the gear?

Cheers guys

Dave

Davereid said...


... I couldn't get up on the board unfortunately as I found it tricky in the water to body drag towards to board and then hold the kite at 12 whilst putting feet in. Is there any reason of why I couldnt ditch the kite in the water and then bring it up once feet are in the board?....

You can put the kite on the water at the edge of the window, but it will probably cause more difficulties than solving them. For instance if you have released the bar there is a high risk of the kite stalling and rolling downwind - not good.

Much better to learn to get your kite overhead and steady and then put your board on with one hand whilst holding the kite and bar steady with the other. You do have a handle on the board right? If you have difficulty practice on the beach for 5 mins sitting on the sand leaning back and looking at the sky and putting the board on your feet without looking.

Also ensure that at ALL times you have board pointing at the kite (but perpendicular of course) ie you should always be able to line up the kite directly between your feet. If you are off centre you will not have a hope and get dragegd sideways every time.

cheers guys it seems like i should get another lesson :)

maybe the footstraps were too tight and i was wearing my sailing booties so they have a fair amount of grip. Dont want to go blaming the equipment though as its my 1st time out and im guessing it was more me than the gear :)

Good tip on getting the kite between legs and putting board on - i must say i didnt do that (or what i can remember of), i was just too focused on trying to body drag my sorry ass up the water to get the board and once getting the board trying to get it on my feet whilst holding it at 12. :)

still sounding like though i shouldnt really be buying a training kite but getting another lesson and then looking at investing into my own gear.

stay in contact with the guys from kitepower, they will guide you in the right diffraction and give you great deals on your gear. i have done so my self from the beginning and have never gone wrong.

haha cheers guys :) love the help im getting here its really good.

Sounds like i have a bit of a progress plan atleast and learning how to get the best out of what i need to do :) must say, bit excited.

appreciate all the help its really great.

Looking forward to hopefully catching up with some of you out at botany / kurnell / wanda :)

fingers crossed :D

In my opinion as a fresh starter....I can say that besides having a bit of fun on my lunch brakes at work, the training kite didn't really teach me that much. I spent 177 dollars on a stupid training kite instead of spending them on lessons and learning heaps more. Plus, after flying for about 10 hours the training kite, when I first flu the LEI it was heaps different.

As one of the other guys said it's so much better to learn on instructor's gear, because you will trash your kite while trying to learn.

So definitely YES for lessons. Definitely NO for training kite!

Cheers,
Mike

BurkeyBoy said...
I've seen too many instructors giving "essential" trainer kite lessons simply because the wind was too light for actual lessons and they were taking people's money unnecessarily.

Now that does suck. There should be somewhere you can report that sort of BS.
Hopefully soon there will be - an all OZy schools accreditation org.
Its happening.

Sorry guys - Im going to have to pull rank here.
From my limited time running a school I can say with absolute certainty that flying a trainer is DEFINITELY a great way to go for kiting - esp when starting but even beyond.

YES I agree flying ur LEI seems quite different but its not - just slower. Its all the same kite control. Flying a zippy little trained - esp if you work to a program - rather than just whizzing it around aimlessly - will develop all the mind & muscle memory needed for skillful kite flying.
I have tested and observed lessons objectively for all of this summer. What I see is kiters being pushed along by instructors who are very conscious of the time/cost factor. If you are pushed thru to advanced stuff - body dragging, board on etc while you are still struggling with kite control there are 2 consequences
1) you have students stuffing up the learning part of the lesson because they are not flying the kite properly. NOT because they cant get the body position (or whatever ur teaching) right.
2) you have students so intent on trying to control "this monster that might kill me any minute" unable to 'hear' the instructor. Nothing shuts down your attention, concentration and ability to hear & learn more than nervous overload.
We had one student (in particular) who was going no-where at the body drag stage. 2 x lessons just trying to get her suspended in the water preparing to body drag. Sent her off with the loan of trainer and a set of exercises to work on. She did 20+ hrs in a week before coming back with every move and action fully dialled on the trainer. She then went thru all the prep lesson stages and was up & riding in just one more lesson.

Your experience may be how it was for you but its not fair to put other ppl off what is proven to be beneficial.
At Woodies we get the No1 world champs every summer training at our Beach 3 flat water. What do those guys do when theres no wind ?
They fly their trainers - for hours on end.

As my instructor told me when I was learning - "Kiting is all about flying your kite"
Especially those who are concerned about the cost of lessons should ensure they get full value by learning to fly a kite first. Borrow, beg or steal but its THE BEST way-to-go. (No dont steal!!!)

I think we may have missed the point here a bit. I didn't say trainers are useless. I simply suggested that if your kite control is good enough you can move on quicker than others. And in regards to "pulling rank", we all have opinions, and another poster who is a newbie commented that he didn't rate the trainer kite. That doesn't make him wrong or his opinion less valuable, it's just his opinion and experience. And whilst running a school and having lots of posts does give you good experience and advice that you can pass on, it doesn't infer a "rank" higher than others. How do you know that I haven't been kiting for so long that my first kite which I still own was a liquid force spectrum 1 and would now be considered extremely hazardous to your health? No, I haven't taken my instructors course or posted thousands of times, doesn't mean I don't know what I'm talking about. Sorry if this sounds whingy, and I do respect your opinion and completely agree with it, I never said I didn't.

puppetonastring said...

Sorry guys - Im going to have to pull rank here.
From my limited time running a school I can say with absolute certainty that flying a trainer is DEFINITELY a great way to go for kiting - esp when starting but even beyond.

YES I agree flying ur LEI seems quite different but its not - just slower. Its all the same kite control. Flying a zippy little trained - esp if you work to a program - rather than just whizzing it around aimlessly - will develop all the mind & muscle memory needed for skillful kite flying.
I have tested and observed lessons objectively for all of this summer. What I see is kiters being pushed along by instructors who are very conscious of the time/cost factor. If you are pushed thru to advanced stuff - body dragging, board on etc while you are still struggling with kite control there are 2 consequences
1) you have students stuffing up the learning part of the lesson because they are not flying the kite properly. NOT because they cant get the body position (or whatever ur teaching) right.
2) you have students so intent on trying to control "this monster that might kill me any minute" unable to 'hear' the instructor. Nothing shuts down your attention, concentration and ability to hear & learn more than nervous overload.
We had one student (in particular) who was going no-where at the body drag stage. 2 x lessons just trying to get her suspended in the water preparing to body drag. Sent her off with the loan of trainer and a set of exercises to work on. She did 20+ hrs in a week before coming back with every move and action fully dialled on the trainer. She then went thru all the prep lesson stages and was up & riding in just one more lesson.

Your experience may be how it was for you but its not fair to put other ppl off what is proven to be beneficial.
At Woodies we get the No1 world champs every summer training at our Beach 3 flat water. What do those guys do when theres no wind ?
They fly their trainers - for hours on end.

As my instructor told me when I was learning - "Kiting is all about flying your kite"
Especially those who are concerned about the cost of lessons should ensure they get full value by learning to fly a kite first. Borrow, beg or steal but its THE BEST way-to-go. (No dont steal!!!)

BurkeyBoy said...
And in regards to "pulling rank",

I was pulling rank on grounds of seniority.
Ive got lots of seniority

Not dissing your opinion Burkey Boy (and others). Just dont want ppl here taking the valid experiences & opinions of a few individuals without giving them a balance of the weight of evidence from lots.
We all find out sooner or later in kiting that there is just about nothing - gear, style, advice and opinion - that is right for all.
Heap of kiters out there having fun though.

Hi Davereid I will be reading this post with interest as I am also a windsurfing convert. I am learning a lot just reading. Good luck

loved the trainer

different strokes for diff folks some use the right hand some use the left its what ever comes natural to you