New to Kiteboarding

[le noun]

Hey guys I appreciate the feedback, just wanted to see if there was a way around lessons but I firmly understand now that there is not. I guess the 200 dollars for one lesson kind of price tag scared me off a bit but I suppose I can save a bit longer and get out there. I would appreciate some advice to the sport other than the importance of lessons.
Also, can you guys name some fair priced places in SF to get lessons? Thanks for all the input!
Cheers
Brian

Mean time, spend a lot time flying the trainer kite, this will make you learn much faster when you take a lesson. Spending a lot of time on train will allow you to fly the kite based on muscle memory.

+1

[tgautier]

+1 for the trainer.

I have a colleague who spent a bunch of time on the trainer. I never did. After a couple of lessons he can fly a four line kite better than I could after a year at third ave. I think the difference is with a trainer that's all you do. If you go 4 line you're immediately in the water trying to do eveything at once.

So do the trainer. All of the information on kite and beach etiquette already written is right on the mark.

But when it comes to kiteboarding on thr water the easiest mistake to make is to say oh well I l've XXX boarded for XXX years. Kiting will be easy to pick up.

The reason this is a mistake is that the #1 thing you must master to master kiting is flying the kite.

It sounds obvious buy it's not. It's so easy to pay attention to your board skills or the current or the waves when you are on the water. None of that matters if you can't fly the kite.

Most likely this accounts for the stories told about windsurfers thinking they can just kite (I never windsurfed so I'm just guessing).

So - don't discount the trainer. If you can fly the kite everything else will come into place. And by fly I mean control it with expertise not just put it up in the air.

And I gotta say that I'm glad you are taking our advice and considering lessons.

Good luck! The season is just starting so now is a great time to grab a lesson, some used gear and get on the water (safely).

[WindMuch]

Once you've flown the trainer kite some (it's actually really fun), you can see if you can borrow a mountain board and blast around on that - IN LIGHT WIND. The paved area behind Golden Gate Fields (in Berkeley off Gillman St.) is a large, open and often quite empty area for this kind of tomfoolery...

There are several of us on this forum, who might be convinced to meet you there and give you a few do's and don'ts...

[adamrod]

this sport is expensive.

figure a minimum $2k for used gear (2 kites, board, wetsuit, harness, bar), another $20 in gas per week (say, $1000 for the summer), another $500 for repairing the gear you destroy....and you're looking at spending at least $3500 this summer.

and that's without lessons.

$200 for lessons is not a lot of money when you put it in perspective with the rest of your costs.

as for where to take a lesson? there are tons of places, kgb, kite415, helm, windoverwater, boardsportsschool...swing by your favorite kite spot, make friends, ask them who they recommend. most likely if you're good enough at making friends (i.e. you bring beer) someone will even lend you a trainer kite for a few months. I know I used to have 3 before I gave them away to random people.

[kief]

Sonomakoma,wait till you learn you can combine snowboarding and kiting =-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ3QU5QL ... re=related[/video]

Heres a more encouraging formula
-1 used 2010/2011 kite and bar $600
9M if you're under 160lbs.
10M -160-170lbs.
11M-12M if over 180

-1 used board something wide 135X44-ish-$300-$400
-harness/wetsuit $300

there $1200,you're in the game

[Bulldog]

most likely if you're good enough at making friends (i.e. you bring beer) someone will even lend you a trainer kite for a few months. I know I used to have 3 before I gave them away to random people.

Hey yeah, I own a trainer kite AND a mountainboard, but I haven't had either of them in my possession for over two years. My friends are handing them off to each other before I even get them back.

[Sonomakoma]

this sport is expensive.

figure a minimum $2k for used gear (2 kites, board, wetsuit, harness, bar), another $20 in gas per week (say, $1000 for the summer), another $500 for repairing the gear you destroy....and you're looking at spending at least $3500 this summer.

and that's without lessons.

$200 for lessons is not a lot of money when you put it in perspective with the rest of your costs.

as for where to take a lesson? there are tons of places, kgb, kite415, helm, windoverwater, boardsportsschool...swing by your favorite kite spot, make friends, ask them who they recommend. most likely if you're good enough at making friends (i.e. you bring beer) someone will even lend you a trainer kite for a few months. I know I used to have 3 before I gave them away to random people.

I feel like that is a bit over estimated from prices iv'e been seeing on the forums and craigslist. Aside from that, I don't expect to be dropping 20 in gas a week considering I live right on the beach. Also, it's been ridiculousness difficult to find lessons under 300-400 dollar (per just beginner lesson) until I hit up Joe at bodega, happy to say I scheduled my first lesson :P

Plenty of great advice so far, I just feel like the main point across other than the importance of lessons is that this isn't the working class mans sport. If this is the case, i'm gonna try and make it one, lets see how far I get with $900-$1200 |||