Post: #1

Is anybody doing kitesurfing? Im looking for a new hobby and I have always wanted to try this. How to get started, what the check when buying equipment(used)? Maybe some tips and tricks?

Post: #2

I have been kite-surfing for about 9 years. It is great sport/activity all around and a lot of fun. For me kite-surfing is a combination of 3 activities of which I already partook beforehand; flying, sailing and surfing.

The quality that is most helpful is a kinesthetic or proprioceptive ability. How can you adjust your body while it is in motion in all three dimensions while the surface under you is a moving like a carpet. There is a sense of balance that is needed in surfing, and it translates to kite-surfing, but it is different in that you have a kite counter-balancing your weight; as well as pulling your body in three dimensions. It is like flying in the sense that as you get better (after a few years) you do more aerial maneuvering and you will actually hang in the air for modest periods of time as your kite pulls you through the sky. However, it is more like sailing in that your kite acts like a sail in the wind to direct your motion. Tacking at 90 degree angles is the most efficient.

Kite-surfing will help you build a strong upper body (arms, shoulders, back), but a significant amount of endurance is required like water skiing. If your upper body is not strong, you adjust more slowly and your sessions will be shorter. Also a stronger core will help you balance your body with the forces acting upon it.

When you start, I recommend about 6 or so lessons (about 2 hours each) before you go out alone. The first (two) lesson(s) will normally be on land and you will learn to control your kite. After this you will move to the water. Very often a good location for wind surfing will be a good location for kite surfing, but here is the big caveat; you want an offshore breeze. This means that you want the wind to be blowing at your back and approximately ninety degrees to the beach. When you launch, it is like night and day with the wind at your back, as you get better you can have some the wind at a modest angle off of your back. One of the biggest errors that beginners make physically is that the try to muscle their way through the session and not let the wind to carry their body. You want to be slightly seated so as to not force your back to do the work (a little like windsurfing). The second biggest issue, which is solved with practice, is that your mind conceptual understand how to operate the kite, but when you translate it to action, there is a delay and that delay causes you to wipe out. The third issue is going out into open water before you have enough experience ridding in both directions in the relatively calm water near the shore. It is helpful to note that normally a good spot for surfing is not a good spot for kite surfing.

Your equipment is a board, a kite, a harness and lines (rigging). I recommend a vest unless you are a very strong comfortable in the open water), and a hat. Sun glasses are usually not practical until you have experience. Make sure your toe nails are rounded, especially your big toe as many kite surfers lose their big toe nail.

The boards and kites come in many shapes and sizes depending on your skill level, but here are the basics. The boards today are normally bi-direction and twin tipped (curved upward with small fins) which means that you can surf with either foot leading. You will want to learn to do this and be balanced (like surfing a right or a left). These boards have foot pads and straps that are used for free styling, wake riding, and cruising. The wake style board is shorter and has boots (bindings). The wake-skate board is also shorter, but does not have boots rather a gripped surface for tricks. There is a wave board with foot pads and mounts for straps that is better for open water cruising. Then there are race boards that are optimized for speed. In general a shorter board needs more wind compared to longer boards. When in doubt use a longer board, you will not turn as quickly or spin, carve or do tricks as well, but you can always get another board as you get better. Shorter boards also float less. The longer boards are more stable at higher speeds. Like a surfboard, the wider the board the more stability you will have and the easier it will be to learn, but you will be sacrificing speed and maneuverability. There is also a mutant board that is used for wave riding, but it is very specialized.

The kite is attached to your body via a harness. It is important that it fits well. If it does not fit well, your experience will be greatly diminished. There are two types of harnesses, the waist harness and the seat harness. The waist harness will general give you the best range of motion, but sometimes it can rough on your ribs, if you will jump and do more tricks this has more advantages. A seat harness is the best for support and comfort which will decrease fatigue, and is more advantageous for cruising.

There are two basic types of kites with many variations of these two types. First there is Leading Edge Inflatable (LEI) kite, and the second is called an Airfoil kite or Ram air kite. The LEI kite has internal air filled bladders in the struts and leading edge to make the kite have a rigid skeleton and float on the water. This is the most common and there are three major types; the Bow kite, the Hybrid kite, and the C-kite. The Bow kite is sometimes called the SLE (supported leading edge) kite. This kite has the largest wind range (depending on the speed of the wind you use a different kite). The Hybrid kites are the most common and are often referred to as Delta kites, but sometimes as an SLE. Hybrids generally turn faster and are able to slow down or depower more quickly and have a stable arc design. The C-kites are the ones where you go airborne and touch the sky. These turn very quickly and you can pop up easily. This type of kite is for the experienced kite surfer. This kite has a more narrow wind range and can be a challenge to launch.

The Ram kites are generally lighter than LEI kites, they are not (as) buoyant, they are flatter and have a high aspect ratio that develops more lift (power) and allows for more airborne maneuvering. These are better in steady winds and slightly unstable with gusting winds. They are generally better on a (mountain) lake or at altitude. Foil kites are designed with either an open or closed configuration; open foils rely on a constant airflow against the inlet valves to stay inflated, but are very difficult to re-launch if they hit the water and get soaked. Closed foils are almost identical to open foils except they are equipped with inlet valves to hold air in the chambers, thus keeping the kite inflated even in the water. Foil kites are more popular for land or snow, where getting the kite wet is not a factor.

The last part is the kite lines that are connected to the kite bar which you use to maneuver. When you use shorter lines while you learn, you will have a much safer and easier experience. Shorter lines will give the kite less maximum power by reducing the distance it can travel. Using shorter lines allow the kite to steer faster with less lag-time, an give the rider a more responsive kite. This also gives better feedback to the rider. Short lines are easier to untangle, and need less room to maneuver. Normal lines are 4m (meters), 7m, 10m, 12m, and 15m. There are also 17m, 20m, 22m, 25m, 27m, and 30m that can be used in combination to allow the rider a greater range with wind conditions.

A normal kite is between seven and eighteen meters. In general, kites are sized by rider weight, wind speed, board size and type, and rider skills. The bigger the kite, the more power at a given wind speed. The bigger (heavier) the rider, the larger the kite needed.

Depending on water temperature you will need a shirt or polypropylene suit, boots and maybe a hood. The thing to be mindful of in cold water is your swim back in, if you are unable to sail in or do not have a spotting boat to come get you. I only do kite-surfing in warm water.

Post: #3

Thats some good pro tips, thank you very much for the writeup

Post: #4

First sailing, now kitesurfing! Two of my favorite on the water activities with RVF threads. Not surprised to see Nasa Test Pilot here dropping some great knowledge as usual. Men who like to sail and surf often get into kitesurfing, it is a natural combination and extension of those activities.

To me, it is perhaps one of the most exciting and rewarding solo sports I have done. I tend to enjoy it far more than surfing these days, although conditions have to be perfect and its a bit of a hassle to drag everything out, pump up the kite, untangle the lines, launch etc compared to grabbing the surfboard and heading out.

But man, nothing like flying through the water and air on a massive kite.

OK on to the more practical aspects of the sport.

(03-03-2016 07:05 PM)NASA Test Pilot Wrote:  When you start, I recommend about 6 or so lessons (about 2 hours each) before you go out alone. The first (two) lesson(s) will normally be on land and you will learn to control your kite. After this you will move to the water.

I totally agree with this. Find yourself a good place to learn. If you can manage a trip to Southeast Asia (Vietnam in particular has some great beaches and academies where you can learn for short money), Boracay in the Philippines has a bunch of resorts (though I'm unsure of their quality), Thailand has quite a few learn to kite places as well, or Dominican Republic, you can combine an epic vacation into a "learn to kite" experience that you will remember forever.

They way I was taught had perhaps 4 real distinct phases:
1) On land - Kite Control with a small "trainer" kite
2) In water / no board - Kite control with a "real" size kite, although one on the smaller side. In this activity you basically do what they call body dragging, learning the basics of downwind kite control and the power stroke, which is the all important basic method of powering and depowering the kite to get speed.
3) In Water with board / downwind - Once you master body dragging and the power stroke, now its time to get on the board and stand up. Kitesurfing is really 90% Kite / 10% board skills so once you can manage the kite you can learn the board aspect pretty quickly, especially if you have any surf / snow wake board experience at all its pretty similar IF you can control the kite. Lose control of the kite, and your board skills don't matter at all you are probably face planting into the ocean mighty quick.
4) The last step before you are really "independent" is learning to tack and go upwind. This takes a bit more work than just going downwind or a broad reach (basically perpendicular to the wind), heading upwind is an essential skill that could save your life and you better learn it or you could find yourself not making it back to shore.

This brings me to a rare bit of disagreement of one point:

(03-03-2016 07:05 PM)NASA Test Pilot Wrote:  Very often a good location for wind surfing will be a good location for kite surfing, but here is the big caveat; you want an offshore breeze. This means that you want the wind to be blowing at your back and approximately ninety degrees to the beach.

While I get what you are saying here, I would disagree. I think this is quite dangerous for a beginner. I would recommend beginners only go out with an ONSHORE wind only. It may be a bit harder technically, but its a lot safer.

The main reason being is no matter how bad you screw up, an onshore breeze will blow you right back to safety...on shore! And believe me, screw-ups will happen when you are learning and you will plant your kite into the water plenty.

If you are going out with an offshore breeze, and you sink your kite and maybe can't even re-launch it, you are going to be blown away from shore rather quickly. And now you are a liability and somebody has to come rescue your ass. If its an onshore breeze, you will be blown to shore and more than likely self-rescue as you can simply get back to shore and re-launch, or call it a day safe and sound.

I didn't feel comfortable going out with an offshore breeze until I was quite competent with my skills sets. Learning to go upwind (step 4) really made all the difference, and I may be a slow learner but I did't pick up that skill solidly until sometime of my second week on the water.

I learned by taking a lesson a day, 5 days a week, at a kite resort for 2 weeks. It was a drink fest at night, and kiting all day with great instructors. Amazing way to spend a vacation.

As for the equipment, well its expensive. You can buy used (a complete kit with kite, lines, and board will be about $1000-$2000 give or take on size, condition, etc). And you may want at least two different sized kites for different conditions. And you should definitely buy a vest, maybe a wetsuit if you don't have one, probably a helmet wouldn't be a terrible idea also. Anyway, you can see the dollar signs adding up...

Lastly, consider, how many times has your used kite been abused by somebody learning? There is no "kite fax" so....good luck with that. Have it inspected by a pro, you can only crash these things full speed into the water so many times before they lose integrity in their ribs.

Still I bought used when I was getting started and probably a good way to go until you know what you are doing. Or you can rent easily enough at the resorts. However most places won't rent to you unless you know what you are doing (meaning you can go upwind on your own) and you won't be needing a chase boat to come pick you up. The best bang for your buck is definitely to go take a week or two of classes where instruction, rentals, and support / chase boats are included in the price!

Hope that helps! Happy kiting!

Post: #5

I was talking in general with the offshore wind. When discussing activities like sailing, surfing, flying, wind surfing, kite-surfing and others there are usually so many nuances that become apparent when you move through the stages of newbie, beginner intermediate, advanced, and more professional. For me, because I have been doing some of them for decades, it is like a second nature and have a doing mindset is different from have a teaching mindset. When most of us talk about activities, it is the doing mindset that flows naturally into words. This is the great thing about having multiple contributors sharing experiences to bring out the best.

I concur with General Mac Daddy that a more onshore wind is better to begin especially in the first three phases which he describes. Having shorter lines will help with kite control. My guess is that many people learn with 12 meter lines. My experience is that kite surfers are located on beaches with the off shore wind as it generally facilitates the sport. Having a helmet is solid advice for when you begin. Protect your grape (head)!

Post: #6

I have now been doing training for the kitesurfing. So far I have completed the onshore kite flying, body dragging and yesterday I tried to actually get on the board with the kite. Wasn't as easy as I figured but nothing impossible either. Today if the wind is ok, I will go back to the beach and try to get on the kite. So far I have enjoyed it to the max and i'm excited to get better at the sport.

Post: #7

You still Kiteboarding? I'm actually from Florida and heading to bocaray next few days. I'm a huge kiteboarder been all over the world. Let me know where you are from or where you are traveling or Kiteboarding.

In the spirit of things let's get all the kiteboarders on here to respond. I don't mind hitting up different places in the world to game but honestly I also need something else to do to fill my time otherwise I get bored, Kiteboarding has been my saving grace.