+1

Peninsula Kite Boarding Rosebud in the winter or Saint Kilda in the summer.

Agree with Tarzan, I did my lessons with the zu in st Kilda and they were good guys. After kiting a while I met Trent and the guys and girls at peninsula kite boarding and shq in Sandringham (part of peninsula some how). If I had my time again if go with Trent and his crew as they are super helpful even when your not parting with $$$. (That means a lot and it all comes back to them in the end I guess). Having said all of that it depends where you are and where is convenient. There is an Italian instructor who is always at Brighton kite beach (Jo I think) who works with shq in Sandringham and he is always nice and helpful and quite often he and I will try each other's boards and kites. I think you'll find the sport is small enough still that most instructors are friendly and helpful because they all need guys like you (and me) (and him) to get lessons to make a living.

Good luck and good choice on a great sport!
By the way, it is a safe sport if you learn with an instructor and learn the basic safety stuff well!

pKtito said..
Thank you guys for the replies! I will definitively have a look at all options, specially the guys from Peninsula Kite Boarding.

Something that came to my mind yesterday while reading the forum. Do you reckon it is a good a idea starting now with the lessons or better waiting until end of September/October? The reason why, is because of the winter winds... I was reading they are quite unpredictable, going from 0 to 100 in seconds.

Hope to have the chance to meet some of you in the coming months!

Thanks!

If you start now it will be
- colder
- less predictable (no 3pm seabreeze guarantee like in summer), you'll have to be flexible...no point in scheduling lessons 2 days in advance

but
- less crowded (much easier to learn when you don't have 10 other kites slamming into the water around you!)

Winter winds only go from 0-100 in seconds when fronts come through, check out yesterdays wind graph...I'd call that pretty consistent. The northerlies are only gusty in the northern bay area because of turbulences by the land (and offshore=potentially dangerous). Compare the St. Kilda graph to the South Channel graph in a Northerly, go to Rosebud/Rye and you'll be fine. Southerlies/westerlies in winter are always driven by fronts and typically very gusty with squalls and rain...you don't want to learn in those.

Good luck!

+1 PKB. The guys at Peninsula Kite Boarding are all fantastic and keen to help out.

I had my lessons at GoKite (who were great) but ended up grabbing both my kites from SHQ and PKB.

Rosebud is a perfect beach to start. Being shallow enough to stand up and fairly quiet - I don't think I've seen more than 2 people having lessons at the same time this Winter.

Also - chat with PKB about using your lessons towards grabbing a kite etc. I think they used to give you a percentage discount at the end of your lessons??

Good luck
S

PkB or Kr They are both good.

PKB