^ ^ ^

Not sure where you're located etc... but from what the local retailers have advised and after heaps of research for myself, don't use a 6m as a trainer... I'm in the high 90kgs and was recommended a 2.5m trainer.

Just a thought, maybe have a look here on "Buy and Sell" and type in trainer kite, not very expensive and probably cheaper than a trip to the hospital, or just look up your local kite shop or any that sell online in Australia, if you want new.

Dafish people were flying these things for years without all that much harm before kitesurfing came along and rewrote the safety rule book. It can be done with common sense.

Tosh - if you fly it, use your head.
1. Space downwind - 100m minimum directly downwind of you with no fences cows utes etc
2. Not gusty - somewhere the wind has a steady clean path to you, not over trees/buildings etc
3. Well under 15kts, preferably as steady wind as possible around 10-12kts
4. Never tie yourself to anything. You can go up the lenth of the rope then drop on your head and die. Happened in QLD a while back.
5. Getting air on land is never advised. By all means learn to fly but don't get cocky and start sending the kite up trying to lift off the ground. Save that for over water with a depowerable kite.
6. If you get pulled forward off you feet, don't dig your heels in and fight it, rather flop forward and drag on your belly. You might go headfirst thru cow poo but you'll be less likely to break anything.
7. Don't tether yourself to the kite in any way. You have space, use it. If you get in any kind of trouble, yanked hard, or more than an inch off the ground, just let it go.

If you do all that, probably can learn safely.

Or you could sell it in the buy/sell section and save a few extra bucks and buy something like this:
www.seabreeze.com.au/Classifieds/Kitesurfing-Kites/~aj2u6/2013-Ozone-Ignition-Trainer-Kite-16Mt-16-metre.aspx?search=0cZFPRBE5LgN2Vh5TPsXnUqr5IXyPRUV

psychojoe said..

kiteboy dave said not that much harm, ha ha
people still die every year
spend the money for a 2or3m trainer kite
this is not a sport to be cheap in
you can set-up for $2,000
but by the time you've had lessons and lost a board or two it's realistic that you'll spend 4 or 5 large

Kiting less than a year and you already know it all, well done.

When I started getting interested in power kites there was no kitesurfing and the term depower hadn't even been invented.
This was the ultimate goal, to get 2m off the ground. This is a skytiger, an ancient foil with massive pull and no kill switch.


Guess what? People bought and sold them every day in this folded up thing made of big bits of paper called "Trading Post". You had to read on the front and then turn the pages yourself and scan down the columns to find the ad. Then you bought it sight unseen by posting a cheque in the mail and then you learned how to handle it by trial and error. And yet somehow people survived.

You most certainly don't need to spend 4k to get into kitesurfing. You can, if you choose, but you can go other ways too.

Hey well I just got in touch with a local kite instructor who's over teaching in Canada atm who is organising a kite for hire for cheap for as long as I want so I think I'll leave the danger machine in its bag for a while.

ToshAuer, I asked the same question about a month ago (also a newbie), and basically got the same answer from everyone: don't do it. Then I took my first couple of lessons (in the water), and realized just how powerful the pull from the kite can be, even in low winds (10-12 knots) if you drop it into the power zone. Here's my simple explanation (of why not to practice on land): if there's enough wind to get your kite up at the edge of the window, then there's enough wind to drag you extremely hard when the kite drops into the power zone, at which point you should better be in the water.

ToshAuer said..
Yeah as I said I have got a local instructor who is renting me a trainer for a good price for as long as I want to get it dialled. So I guess I'll leave the big old dinosaur in its bag for a while. Although I had some ideas on how to fly it "safely". I was thinking about tying off either end of the bar back to the winch bar on the Ute so if I lost control I could let it go. Would of been wild but fun to see. Of well guess I'll do the safe thing will keep the Wife happy anyway

Glad you didnt do that! I can imagine all sorts of ugly unforseen disasters where the lines to the ute fire up the kite in an unexpected direction.
Youre doing the right thing with an instructor. Takes a bit of time, but more than worth it in the medium term. Well done.