Hey all,

Is it too late in the season to start kiteboarding? Should I wait until next season?

I had lessons 2 summers ago (Jan-Feb ish 2011) interstate. With the complete lack of wind that season I had 1 lesson on kite control, and then a second lesson close to a month later on a bit more kite control and then bodydragging. No more wind so went no further prior to the cold weather hitting, not even a chance to practice bodydragging, and then I moved to Melbourne at the start of last summer. Obviously going to need lessons from scratch again.

I don't want to go through the above again of lessons --> forgetting everything by next season. Will I manage to get any decent time in before the end of the season, enough to hopefully pick it back up easily next season? I have the gear ready to go so that shouldn't be an issue, although I've dropped my weight from 110ish down to about 95ish (12m switchblade; nobile t5 140cm - hope they'll still be fine!).

Related to the above, while I'm bugging you all, I work weeknights currently so would have weekdays free but would have to be off the water before 3ish to shower etc, is it possible to kite in the early arvo anywhere close to Melbourne that's also newb friendly, or is it late arvo only? I'm about 30mins east of the CBD btw (St Kilda probably 40ish mins), but would be happy to drive up to an hour every day in the hope of finding wind. And the less people on the water the better, especially swimmers for when I screw up I really don't know Melbourne beaches yet.

As a beginner? Really? I thought the cold fronts and storms would be rolling in every day by then. Well that's awesome then!

Hi mememe,
I started in January last year and haven't stopped, kited at least once a week since.
If your keen enough you can kite all year as long as you understand the potential risks and dangers (winter frontal weather, hypothermia in a self rescue etc)
As already said there's a couple of good months left.
Get your lessons going and get out there!

Winter is great - No crowds
Get a good wet suit, 3mm booties, gloves & hoodie, something really warm for the beach and be sensible what you go out in. I learnt in winter in Melbourne and loved it!

Re: the beaches - we have plenty that are beginner friendly. Hampton and Brighton kite beach come to mind. Quite a bit of room on both and relatively safe as the wind is usually slightly onshore so even if you mess up you will wash up on the beach. Also plenty of friendly kiters around to help out if things go wrong.

As for your gear - 12m at 95kgs should be sweet. Majority of time we get winds between 15-20 and your switchblade should be ideal. You will be able to handle more wind as you get experience but at first i wouldn't recommend it.

Shame about getting off the water at 3pm. 4-7pm is the best time to get out there. Having said that there have been plenty of days when we got consistent wind a lot earlier in the day.

Yep, get out there. Sounds like you're aware that some (but not all) days in winter can be gnarlier. So long as you're careful, learn your safety and self-rescue procedures, rig an appropriate size kite for conditions and keep an eye out for approaching bands of cloud you'll be fine. Maybe add a 9m switchy to give you more options on the windier days. 12/9 will be a sweet 2 kite quiver for you in Melbourne.

I recommend sticking to the same brand kites when quiver building so you only have to learn one safety system and don't have to think twice about what to do if things get out of hand.

On the really windy days you'll learn a lot just being at the beach and watching the more seasoned riders.

Enjoy!