Simple answer yes with question mark
The rocker in a wake board is so big it is almost impossible to get it to rail ie get the whole edge of the board to dig in and stop you from going down wind and go side ways to the kite . you normaly ride the wake board say flat on top of the water where a kite board is more ridden on a angle, heels into the water and toes out on the edge the only time board is flat is for doing slid turns or directly down wind .
With all that the wake dose create a lot of drag hence a lot of power so bigger kite bigger wind and after half hour you are so stuffed because of it .
Go buy a cheep second hand board the right horse for the job easer to ride and a lot more fun over all .

Slightly off-topic, but why are wake boards so much cheaper than kite boards? I was in a shop the other day checking them out, most were in the $280 - $400 range, yet the material and workmanship appeared to be much the same.. Big difference to $700 - $1100!

Phoney said..

Slightly off-topic, but why are wake boards so much cheaper than kite boards? I was in a shop the other day checking them out, most were in the $280 - $400 range, yet the material and workmanship appeared to be much the same.. Big difference to $700 - $1100!

wakeboarding is a much more mainstream sports than kiting so the manufacturing volume and budget range is not quite there yet

I was asking the same question when I first started. I already had a wakeboard and thought it would do the job. I struggled with it for many frustrating sessions not really getting anywhere with it. Once I decided to switch to a kiteboard everything just fell into place and my progress took off.