Kiteboarding Information for Beginners

[OliverG]

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Kiteboarding Information for Beginners

Kiteboarding is a great sport - you can have a blast spending recreational time outdoors and on the water in an environmentally friendly way. While you can reap great rewards from kiteboarding it is also fraught with danger, which is why you need to learn in a safe way and practice safe methods and techniques for launching, landing, being aware of the public, and generally being a safe, responsible kiteboarder.

The first thing you'll want to do is get yourself a trainer kite. These kites are small two-line foil kites typically sized anywhere between 1 and 3 square meters. By spending some time flying these kites you can familiarize yourself with kite handling and control. Practice flying the kite with smooth, controlled movements. Fly the kite in figure-eight patterns, fly to kite to the edge of the wind window keeping it steady then bringing it back up. There will be quite a difference when you start flying a much larger leading edge inflatable kite, but you will have had some practice understanding the dynamics of the kite and what you need to do to control it. If you cannot control your kite properly, it can generate huge
amounts power when you least expect it leading to serious injury or death.

If you've already spent some time with a trainer kite, you'll be a step ahead of the game for the next step, which is to take a lesson. There are
many outfits providing kiteboarding lessons in the San Francisco Bay Area, which you can find links to on our kiteboarding lessons page. It's essential that you take a few lessons from a qualified instructor to learn the basics before you spend any time on the water with your new gear on your own. These basics should include much of this information depending on how many lessons you take. Not only will you shorten your learning curve, you will be less of a danger to others!