Hi Penguin, There is obviously a lot of choice these days when it comes to choosing a kite school...
The problem with newbies shopping for lessons or kiters recommending schools is that they think all schools deliver the same quality of training and that all teach at the same standards.
Students will say they had great lessons because of how nice the instructor was and how much fun it was to get going a few meters on the board. They will also say how safe the lesson was because the instructor was always next to them helping them out…
The other issue is most newbies buy into the dream idea that they will not only easily cruise around on a board after only 4-5 hours of instruction but also be completely independent (as advertised by some schools), regardless of their actual skill level, rate of progression, background, knowledge, etc. in that same 4-5H time-frame.
When I was learning myself about 8 years ago I took one lesson with a professional instructor who I was highly recommended to go with. Only many years down the track and after I became an instructor did I realize how poor this lesson was. He put me on the board within 2 hours (I had prior flying experience) with very little training, no safety drills whatsoever, no location or wind assessment skills, and no ability to recover my board or relaunch my kite in deep waters…but I had a lot of fun and I was told I was ‘’independent’’ and good to go on my own, so on I went! It’s no surprise that I got myself into many different accidents, damaged a few kites, ended up in the power lines, lost my first board…only to name a few. A year after my first lesson I had to chase down more lessons with a different instructor so we could go back to basics, and only then was I actually really ready to go on my own safely and independently. Needless to say I really wish I had that second instructor in the first place!
It only takes a quick read in the Kitesurfing-General section of this forum to realize the potential for danger this sport has and also how easily and frequently things go wrong in our sport. Longtime member and regular poster Eppo recently said this:
‘’Us old hacks have watched the sport grow with quiet apprehension as the numbers have significantly grown with inverse proportion to the overall kiter skill.’’ I couldn’t agree more and this is due to no small part to the explosion of cheap schools who specialize in cutting corners and giving students a similar lesson style to the first one I had 8 years ago.
I’ve rescued countless people in deep waters over the years at my local spot where I run a school and none of them were students of ours. One thing is clear with almost all those being rescued is that even though all of them have had lessons, none of them were actually independent kiters and none of them were competent at performing a self-rescue... which is a basic skill all instructors should teach properly, but don’t
Every week we have to re-train students who already had lessons in shallow water and that simply aren’t trained well enough to be independent in deep waters.
Most schools will actually give you something much closer to a
kitesurfing experience than a lesson, especially if they offer group lessons and a "guaranteed” progression on the board in a few hours…
The bottom line is you need to decide whether you want: 1- A kitesurfing experience for your family where the focus will simply be put on getting on the board quickly no matter what. The issue is after those group ‘’lessons’’ I can guarantee that if you and your family members want to carry on with kiting by yourselves, you won’t be confident and competent enough to do so, especially not in deep waters.
2- One-on-One kitesurfing lessons for each member of your family with individualized training where everyone progresses at their own pace and each person takes as many lesson as they need until they become genuinely independent.
Here’s a video that re-surfaced on the Web a few days ago, this 77 year old guy is pretty much an internet sensation and certainly a great inspiration for your dad.
It all looks like fun and games, but there are two big safety concerns with his setup, which of course you would never notice if you didn’t have quality training:
1- He’s using a board leash… everyone will tell you that board leashes are dangerous, simply because the board can come back to hit your head when you get dragged forward off your board. Check out :
kiteboardleash.com/ 2- His safety leash is connected to one of the back lines, which means when he activates his Quick Release (something beginners do a lot to get out of trouble) his kite will be sent into an endless loop, dragging him non-stop in the water, which would require immediate external assistance or a complete release of his kite.
This video perfectly illustrates my point and the problem our sport has with instruction these days… If this 77 y/o kiter was a Perth local you would want to ask him where he had his lesson so your dad could get the same instructor as well, right? But you would be totally unaware that with the highly questionable quality of training this guy had, your dad (and your kids) could end up being hit by their own board, or even worse, drowned by a constantly looping kite after activating the safety system. I honestly fear what would happen if this guy ever got in trouble in strong winds…
You don’t recognize a well-trained kiter when everything goes well, you only recognize a well-trained kiter when things start to go wrong.
Happy lesson hunting,
Christian
