Hi newbs, oldies, anybody...

This is a brand new love affair for me, but I'm feeling a bit disheartened as I don't seem to be making much progress... I practised heaps on my training kite before booking my first lesson, but have now done 3 lessons and am still body-dragging. Can you let me know what your experience is to give me a feel for what to expect? Obviously some people will be naturals and up and off like they were born on a twin-tip, but I'd like to get a picture of what it takes for the average Joe/Josephine..

You're not the worst by a long shot! After getting sick of superman crashes, what made it work for me was finding a good learners spot - waist deep water, plenty of room, no waves; accepting you'll end up 500 m or more downwind. Then start slowly doing 12-1, 12-1, 12-2, 12-2 etc until you get the feeling of controlling the board and kite. Make sure you keep your front leg extended and back leg bent in. You'll get to a 12-4, and pop up in control. Important! Start to bring the kite up while its on the way down way sooner than you think you need to. One time soon, it will just click and you'll wonder what all the fuss was about. I'd say it took me 10 hours to be up and riding, 15 hours to be having a lot of fun - say another 2-3 sessions?

You're assuming you're average, you might be below average!

Lessons are just about safety, they can't teach you the muscle memory required to manage a board and a kite at the same time. Guys that come from a wake/surfing background have an advantage and will pick it up quicker, half as much to learn. Get some kit and keep doing it, it's the only way to get there. You can help yourself by eliminating as many difficult variables as possible, i.e. current, waves, gusty wind, incorrect board size, incorrect kite size, other kiters, light wind. If you're like most people though you will go out at the first fart of a breeze on a following tide and spend your time wrestling your kite from the water.. which has its own elements of adventure/learning, time well spent.

Soon enough you'll be thinking this mowing the lawn caper is boring as **** and be looking for new ways to endanger yourself. Enjoy the ride.

Try the progression dvd's they helped me out a lot after my lessons. But dont be disheartened most people really suck even after 6hours + of lessons, youll be fine if you stick to it and keep trying, but word of warning dont try and kite in too shallow of water, always body drag out when learning otherwise you might find yourself tumbling down the beach and injuring yourself, also be aware of your surroundings and other kiters, dont just dive your kite without looking first.

practice **** loads,im going at least 3 times a week or more.look at other as see how they go,pointing the board the correct way and knowing the wind helps.this is my first proper season and will be upwinding by March-thats my goal!

Everyone progresses at a different pace and unfortunately you'd be lucky to find a competent instructor who can adapt his teaching methods to slower paced learners.

The majority of lessons are structured to make you achieve certain goals in a specific time-frame regardless of your skill level. Slower paced and less skilled learners are the ones who least benefit from this type of approach. The majority of students are put on boards way to early without enough skills to even fly the kite and carry the board at the same time! This actually makes you progress slower, makes your more nervous and less confident to go out on your own!

To optimize your progression, what you need is a competent instructor who can adapt to your pace and break your progression down to easier, more realistic and manageable goals. You will actually learn faster this way. You will avoid disappointment, build confidence and reward yourself with achieving each smaller goals along the way.

If and when you find such an instructor you can start by doing 1 or 2 hour lessons at the time and set a written plan with the instructor to practice specific skills after the lessons by yourself. You then build confidence on your own and benefit more from doing additional lessons.

As others said, it may take a while to get going on the board, but with the right approach and some persistence you will get there eventually.

Christian

fingerbone said..
the longer they have you body dragging for the richer they get...

After spending a hole 2 1/2 hr lesson at $250, just body dragging and that is after touching on body draging the lesson before hand, if I am told I now need to learn how to bodydrag with a board I think I will drown someone.
I totally understand that you must walk before you can run and I want to get things right. But I have no problems water dragging, relaunching and self rescue,
I think I have picked up a lot however as the wind has been very crap, so I have spent a lot of time doing water relaunching.

But is it common to see newbies down at the water just learning water relaunches by them self's, and maybe grabbing a board for the first time with out an instructor.
Spending more $$$ on lessons than a second-hand kite.

More nervous about looking like a total Nob

kts said..
Hi newbs, oldies, anybody... This is a brand new love affair for me, but I'm feeling a bit disheartened as I don't seem to be making much progress... I practised heaps on my training kite before booking my first lesson, but have now done 3 lessons and am still body-dragging. Can you let me know what your experience is to give me a feel for what to expect? Obviously some people will be naturals and up and off like they were born on a twin-tip, but I'd like to get a picture of what it takes for the average Joe/Josephine..

It took me a while to work out that in addition to being a way to retrieve your board, self rescue, etc, learning body dragging had other important aspects.
Downwind body dragging teaches you about what the kite does when you dive it, an excercise in getting familar with the power stroke - so when you put a board on your feet and try to get up and going, you'll embrace the power and not be nervous about it.
Imho the real issue you deal with when you first start upwind body dragging is the fact that you're now controlling the kite with one hand.
Flying one handed (which you may have found with your practice kite) exaggerates any lack of confidence/ability in your kite control. Developing that confidence is a key to your future progress.
When your instructor can see you're (relatively) comfortable with one-handed kite control, I reckon you'll move on pretty quickly.
Don't get too frustrated, enjoy every session in/on the water - it beats lots of other options.

kts...here is my progression or lack there of story.

I come from a windsurfing background and had had enough of all the gear/lack of wind......etc. Finally had enough of watching people kite and decided to do it for myself. That was about five years ago, so I had two lessons then decided I couldn't be bothered going through the learning curve and went back to pole surfing as I had all the gear and could sail alright.

Three years ago I decided to give it another shot, bought a kite and had a brush up lesson from a competent kiter. This was unfortunately at the end of the summer so only got one session in before packing it away for the winter months. Last season I again went out about two times as it was easier to just windsurf again, plus my mates windsurf.

This year however, I have had a complete change of heart and have taken a now or never approach to kiting. Kiting has taken priority over my other sports (windsurfing gear is packed away). If the wind is in I will hit the water. Fortunately I have shallow, unpopulated open water where I live so I don't get in anyones way, however on the down side, all learning has been by myself and with the trusty help of youtube. There have been many sessions where I have come back battered from getting tea bagged, I have damaged my kite (blowing out an entire panel on the canopy), however through it all I am now kiting at a level that is now making me look at "how to jump high" on youtube. I am also confident to kite around other people and have gotten to know a few kiters down my way who I now kite with.

I suppose what I am getting at, is that persistence and time on the water is what it is all about. I am now what I refer to as a kiting tragic....two boards, three kites, forgoing big nights on the pi$$ so that I can get up fresh and ready to hit the water, making up excuses for not going to functions because the wind is in...

Will I touch my windsurfing gear again??? Its not worth selling as it won't fetch much as the gear is a few years old. So possibly, its a bit like an old girlfriend, happy to catch up for coffee but won't jump back into bed with her.

Keep at it, because when things start to click you won't wipe the smile off your face.

P.S. as for more lessons?????? If you know the safety features and the basics, you need to get on the water and spend time practicing, not paying someone to watch you from the shoreline.

Hey everybody that replied to my post - thanks to each one of you for great tips and also giving me a sense of what a supportive and friendly community this is

I've been holding back from replying 'cos I wanted to come back with some concrete winner stories of groundbreaking..uh.. waterbreaking success, but not to be! I have gone out to Kurnell (southern tip of Botany Bay for non-NSWs) FOUR times anticipating a lesson, and been stymied by the wind FOUR times - too much as well as too little. I've used the off time to watch, be a good little groupie, fly my training kite and watch the recommended Progressive videos (thanks for that)

More than anything, from your replies I was reminded that I should enjoy the journey, that any time spent in the water is time spent 'learning some core skills just by being out on the water' (thanks BFG). Just wish the wind would stick to a neat range and blow the right way, and summer would last forever!

see you out there
kts

cbulota said..
Everyone progresses at a different pace and unfortunately you'd be lucky to find a competent instructor who can adapt his teaching methods to slower paced learners.

The majority of lessons are structured to make you achieve certain goals in a specific time-frame regardless of your skill level. Slower paced and less skilled learners are the ones who least benefit from this type of approach. The majority of students are put on boards way to early without enough skills to even fly the kite and carry the board at the same time! This actually makes you progress slower, makes your more nervous and less confident to go out on your own!

To optimize your progression, what you need is a competent instructor who can adapt to your pace and break your progression down to easier, more realistic and manageable goals. You will actually learn faster this way. You will avoid disappointment, build confidence and reward yourself with achieving each smaller goals along the way.

If and when you find such an instructor you can start by doing 1 or 2 hour lessons at the time and set a written plan with the instructor to practice specific skills after the lessons by yourself. You then build confidence on your own and benefit more from doing additional lessons.

As others said, it may take a while to get going on the board, but with the right approach and some persistence you will get there eventually.

Christian

You can't ride your board
if you can't fly your kite

remember...

a bad day on the water
is still better than a good day at the office

Just did my second lesson today ( first real lesion first was a group).
was nearly on the board at the end, wanting to get of the water to avoid the jellies was real motivation .