Bay area equipment rental

[Jeff]

Hi guys,
I will be attending a professional sales training program from the 6th to the 9th of September in San Francisco/San Mateo. Since I have Sunday 5th and Monday 6th free, I was hoping to get a few kiting sessions in 3rd Ave. or Crissy Field. As it doesn't make sense for me to bring my gear all the way from Switzerland for 2 days of potential wind, I was wondering if there were any shops to rent from in the SFO/SMO area (board + kite) ? Don't really want to take a course or something similar since I have a already a good intermediate level (upwind, jumps, ...), but will agree to it if no other options.
Thanks for your help,
Jeff

[OliverG]

Jeff,

You will need to bring your kites and bar/lines, but will have no problem renting/demo'ing a board here in the Bay Area.

[Jeff]

Thanks for your answer. I am a bit surprised though, since kite rentals are quite common here in Switzerland and France.
I have a quiver of Cabrinha's Co2 2005 : 6,5-10-14-19,5 ...what do you suggest for this period of the year ...10-14 ?
Thanks again for your help,
Jeff

...too bad I don't have a Crossbow 12 :|

[knyfe]

Jeff,

Ask
http://www.helmsports.com/waterIndex.html
or
http://www.kitewindsurf.com/store/default.aspx
directly

otherwise you will be well equipped with a 10 and 14 for 3rd and Crissy. Be careful at Crissy, it can be perfect but also really nasty.

CU there, K

[Jeff]

Thanks for your help, knyfe.
Jeff

[Big Al]

The reason why shops here don't do kite rentals is that the liability is too big. If you rent a kite and go off and injure yourself, you could sue the shop that rented it to you.

[Pablito]

Why do waivers work for ski resorts and not for kite shops? Teaching lessons exposes you to way more liability than renting, yet shops teach lessons... Isn't the problem more that shops don't know whether or not someone can actually kite the way they say they can?

Does IKO or some other organization certify kiters (not just instructors)? Then, you could get a card and shops all over the world would know someone knew how to kite and was not going to kill themselves/damage the gear.

It would really help kite tourism to establish such a system. I mean, if you're going on a kiting-only vacation, you're going to bring all your gear. But if you're going someplace and just want to kite a day or two while you're there, you're not going to haul it all with you...

[David (guest)]

IKO certifies kiters. At the end of my IKO lesson, I was given a kiteboarder card, as well as a "Kiteboarder's Workbook." The card is marked off by the instructor to show what levels you have accomplished in that and any previous lesson (based on your card when you came in). I think that the idea is that a business or instructor can easily see what you can do, and this provides a basis for renting equipment to kiteboarders. This makes complete sense to me.
What doesn't make sense to me is the focus locally on certification that allows the businesses to get insurance, but does not provide any kind of lasting certification or evaluation for the actual kiteboarder. So these guys are safe giving lessons, but they would be gambling every time someone asked to rent. This makes good business sense, of course, but it does not add value for the customer (kiteboarder), and lessons sure aren't cheap.
The IKO certifies to a standard curriculum. It seems that this has much more acceptance internationally, although there are many IKO schools in Hawaii, and just a few throughout the other states. Best of all, once a kiteboarder reaches a certain certification level (I believe it's J3), he or she is eligible *personal liability* insurance as a kiteboarder. Now doesn't that make a lot of sense? It sure does to me.

Details at www.ikorg.com

cheers,

David

[knyfe]

Big Al,

a good and also very sad point, but still, it was never a problem for me to rent stuff here in the US

K