Kiting lessons

[Bobson]

Okay, I'm going to take kiting lessons at Nitinat this year. Ya, everyone else is doing it so I thought ... why not..??

What I would like to do is practice before going up and taking them. As I've flown a 12m C-kite before on the beach I thought practicing first would be a good idea so I'm comfortable so I can get the most out of the lessons that I can.

What I'm looking for is a good kite to practice on. Size and type.?? I'm 210lbs. I'd like to go out on 'lighter' wind days at Island View for instance to practice flying perhaps doing some body drags even...?? Thoughts..??

I'd love feedback and suggestions.

thanks!!

[AC]

Any practise you can get is good.
experiance even if it is a little crazy sometimes you can really only learn
what works and what does't.

As long as you can fly a kite. I think that when you take lessons
you should be up and riding in the first day.
Maybe upwinding on the second
I would Honestly say . Just wait for the nat to get going.
and you will learn in two days what it took me a year to learn
by yourself.

We would love to see you tearing it up ,

[Skeltic]

If you want to practice on land get a small kite with short lines. Way less likely to hurt yourself. Get a 6 or a 5m. This kite would be good also at learning to body drag and later on you can use it in high winds once you are proficient at kiting

[JL]

But remember: " Big kites can hurt you, little kites can KILL you " ... Looping a 5M on land can be startling Dude

[thankgodiatepastafobreaky]

Yes Matt is correct. Only short lines on land. find some old lines and cut them in half so you have about 11 meter lines. much safer. but lessons in the beginning are the most benefit since this is when you get hurt!

[kitesurferdale]

Hey Bobson,

Stoked to hear you wanting to try out kiting, think you will enjoy it alot. As for practicing beforehand with a large kite, I would encourage you to reconsider, for a number of reasons. First and foremost, location location location. Should you choose a poor location (island view's logs and powerlines for instance) you can get into trouble quickly with high potential for injury. As a professional athlete yourself, I know you will agree with this second point, if self teaching you can pick up bad habits that will hamper your success further down the road. The small trainer kites fully prepare you for what you need to know to move onto the water with a larger kite. the basic push/pull to steer, power zones of the kite and learning where the wind edge is how it expands and contracts can be learned with a 3m trainer. Get a solid grasp of all that and your own natural abilities as well as your experience with windsurfing (balance) will no doubt allow you to be ripping in NO time. My two bits anyways....look forward to seeing you out there! Should you show up at the lake early season and I am out there, would be happy to help you out with a trainer or provide hints/advice on the basics.

OH as for sizes of kites, it really depends on the age and type of gear. The newer kites are in my opinion alot more efficient and have the ability to move larger guys forward or up! with aplomb (sp?) for instance an old bronco to a new razor.... one crazy freight train of a kite, and one wippy, super fast kite, a 10m razor more than likely has the same pull as the old 16m bronco. As I don't fly O.R. anymore I can really compare with the new razor. I can say my 9m rebel probably has the same pull as my old 16m bronco, and my 12m rebel definately has as much or more. I weigh about 230lbs these days.......(sigh)

Dale

[JL]

Listen to Dale. You want to crash on water !!! A 2-3 m kite is enough for land flying. Putting short lines on a 5 -7 m kite turns it into a powerful / fast weapon

[KUS]

Baaah, Rob's not a pussy! You can have my 16M Bronco to get some real land flying action, Bobbleson! I can let you have some extensions too and a not too old bar....the kite really only powers up properly when you get a good dive going on The logs or powerlines at Island View provide some good incentive to learn quickly, your first move could be the standing/horizontal wide-eyed-dog-shit-slider handle pass. Make sure you launch upwind of the gazebo tho like those other guys from Bulgaria they really got that body twist down quickly whipping past those steel uprights

[jim mckenzie]

Get a little trainer to learn with. I did the same as you are considering in a good location but with a fair amount of kite knowledge and I still managed to damage the kite. In retrospect it wasn't particularly helpful.

[Skeltic]

..... and get a friend who kites to help/ hold your harness the first while. Don't fly the 5-6 meter in any more then 17 knots on land

[Bobson]

Thanks for all the suggestions and support. Sign me up for the first weekend training session up at Nitinat, I'm excited to get out now. I'll get a 3 meter 4-line trainer kite till I'm ready to practice in the water. IV on a warmer light wind days when it's ime seems like a good starting point. Jimmy, I'll be looking for you.

thanks again.

[BenB]

...the first weekend training session up at Nitinat

I'm just starting out as well. Is there any other safe places to learn other than Nitinat? Seems like such a long wait considering it doesn't start until June/July.

Are Port Renfrew or Island View Beach acceptable for learning?

[OtLunch]

I'd be hesitant to say IV and Port Renfrew are safe for learning unless someone has taken 2 days lessons already. Even so those places are hit and miss as to when they would be safe and fun for someone learning.

Renfrew can be challenging as it is near straight onshore with a shore bubble. To someone who has good kite control already and is working on staying up wind it can be a decent place to get some time on water in.

IV can have currents working against, large logs on the beach, and a frustrating shore break.

The wind in both places can very quite gusty, or smooth, depending on the day. Both places also have a lot of non-kiters on the beach who have never seen the sport and could be hurt by your equipment, or you, should something go wrong.

[SmallWaveSteve]

^As someone who's just got their first real season under their belt I'll second what OTLunch has to say.

The current can haul past IV pretty quickly, and on the days when the shore break is more manageable at IV (lighter winds), the winds seem to be flukey (I've only made a couple big kite attempts there, but each time it has totally shut down on me).

If anything San Pareil seemed more beginner friendly than IV to me (as long as you can keep your lines out of the seaweed) since its an open sand beach, stays shallow, no logs and minimal pedestrians, but I've only been there once, and I could see it getting crowded (and maybe big swells depending on the direction?)

There were some pretty spectacular days at Nitinat in early May last year, so it's not that far away!

[BenB]

Thanks for the info. That's awesome.

3 days under my belt and am working on going upwind but can stay upwind fairly reliably.

Any other known beginner spots closer to town? Cook st is obviously out due to launch/landing and traffic. Although perhaps on a steady 20 knot thermal? Not the storm cycle we're currently in?