I was wondering how many in this forum started out taking by taking kiting lessons or just sort of muddled through on thier own.

I'm self taught but I'm a proponent of taking lessons when if you want to get into the sport. There are several reasons for taking lessons in my mind.

First, you have access to the knowledge and expirience of someone who knows what the hell is going on. Second, you get to learn (and potentially destroy) someone else's equipment. A lesson may be over $100 bucks in some cases but if it saves you from dropping $200-$300 on a kite and destroying it then I thinks it's worth while. And third, shorter learning curve. You get up and running more effectively with some qualified guidance. Sure you can do it on your own but you'll probably do it ugly.

I sure did at times.

My suspicion is that most of us are self taught. That may be a due to the fact that when we got into the sport there were no instructors available. But now that things are getting a little bigger maybe this is less the case?

Taught myself how to fly kites (2-line DIY stunter then the Rebble 5m) and ride a landboard - kinda - but had lessons on the water... got lobbed face-first into the sand a few times with the Rebble till I figured out that not ALL wind was appropriate...

self taught

hard way ..... now I know how much I was risking when I did what I did .... lol .....

did some stunt kite flying, then a one day snow lesson (bit of time on the trainer, and then some on an 8m kite).
I wouldn't have wanted to try alone unless I started with a 4-5m kite max. But, still, lessons gives a lot of start up tips, much faster way to go.

No lessons. I learned all I could off this and other forums to give me the best head start. If there were instruction I would have taken it though. I'm working on the water part now, and definitely want to take a lesson or two in that department. Lessons are a great thing woulda helped me a bunch in the beginning, and even now I'm sure there are some things I would learn.

Both! A lesson, then plenty of tough learning.

Lesson one. Don't fly an 8m pansh ace in more than 11mph winds for your second day ever of kiting.

When I got into it, I knew i was in it for the long haul! So no lessons, taking it slow (not that i want to these days...) work and wind and low tide conflict perfectly most of the time, lots of static jumping and getting going on landboard when conditions allow..

Maybe lessons for water, primarily for the safety briefings.

land lessons? Never heard of em. but I too lessons for water. Important to know self rescue and other such thing to not drown.

I go half and half. Taught myself to fly on the land- started with stunt kites, then moved to relatively small FB foils (2.5 and 3m).

When it came time to put a big LEI up and head into the water though you can bet I signed up for lessons! :D Would never have flown a big kite without them.

Taught myself to buggy though (with the help of the forum and some great online resources). With the smaller size kites you can buggy on I feel like you could safely learn if you exercise some caution and read up ahead.

Self taught to fly/buggy.

Taking it slow on the landboard since i haven't seen lessons(Do Carltb videos count as lessons?)
For water I am just starting and taking it slow(with help from more experienced riders). Will definitely take lessons when the kiteboarding schools open for the season.

I had lots of great friends help me along with my kiting. Never took a formal lesson, but I did have lots of guidance from very skilled pilots that got me where I am today.

Still, I always recommend formal lessons for anyone considering heading towards the water.

i know i have said this before but SAILING is paramount, hangout with great sailing models and the kite control you work hard to master NOW has good model direction.

without this fundamental element in place you will experience directionless abandon, which i'm sure many of hopeful kiter has found himself due to the lack of sailing knowledge.

In the process of learning the hard way. I've been mountainboarding for a little over a decade now and decided to give kites a try this year. Just taking things slow right now, working with lighter winds (especially since things tend to be a little bit gusty out here). I have a kayaking buddy who's been kiting for a bit that's going to give me some pointers next time out, though.

Quote:

Originally posted by PHREERIDER i know i have said this before but SAILING is paramount,

OK so maybe I cheated a little then- been sailing for years :wee:

I suspect that if you have good mountian board skills you'll learn to ride with a kite relatively easy. My ski skills were well dialed when I got on the kite, the kite was relatively easy to learn the basics of flying but it took about 4-6 yrs for it to become intuative.

I've been playing with the mountain board a bit. Not even close to feeling like I have it figured out but I enjoy trying and there is a wealth of knowledge available here in the forum. The biggest hold up has been wind and now We've had good wind lately, tons of it, but the ground is too soft and I don't want to track out any fields.

I don't know squat about sailing. I think Phree is right, a little sailing knowledge helps. It's always funny when I talk to people who kite and come from a sailing background and use term and expressions that are totally alien to me. Terms like "leeward"(downwind). It's like when I talk in mountian bike speak and use a term like "babyhead" (baby head size rocks just sticking out of the surface)

But only my life in general expiriences directionless abandon, not my kiting.

Learned to kite "the hard way". Later I found our about kite killers :puzzled:
Heading out to Wasaga Beach with a new buggy tomorrow, and hopefully there'll be someone there that's willing to take pity on me and provide a few tips so that it's somewhere between "the hard way" and "took lessons" :wee:

i was born this way, ha ha ha , back in the twentieth century i started single line kiting, went to dual line kiting, progress to quad line kiting.our mentor brad gwynn started in 1991 i gave it a try a lot later bought my first traction kite in 1996 buggy 1997, bin crashing and learning sence,the hard way.

Hard way for me.

I got a LOT of advice here on PKF as well as from Dino over the phone and Angus at JIBE, but no formal training. I would say hard way but all of you have given me so many pointers, it wasn't very hard.

So....no lessons but not TOO hard because of all the pointers. :bouncy::bouncy::bouncy:

No lessons but I am a big fan of them. I have definatly learned the hard way and sometimes wonder if I am "doing it wrong" but it works for me. I read and followed a lot of advice from here too. I have and will continue to encourage lessons especially for water. Until then I encourage safe practice to develop good skills.

Trial and error. But if I had someone around that I could have learned from, I would have gotten better sooner.

Thanks too all the PKF members for helping through the learning curve getting started. I am going for my first water lessons for me and the wife this weekend.:wee::wee: I am super stoked! My first water session was not good w/o the lesson. I am hitting up the guys at Kiteboarding.com for lessons on Friday to get us pointed in the right direction. It is spendy but I think it is going to be worth it.

Learned the old school way of trial and error. Lots of reading, heeding everyones advice on the forum and good ol' fashion common sense went a long way to progress. I've been a skier all my life so those two together felt very natural to me. The other disiplines, we'll just say I have a long way to go....I def would take water lessons if I chose to go that route in the future.

I always consider myself a "You Tube" certified
I will recommend lessons to ANYONE who ask to get into this sport, it's faster, easier and like some here already said, MUCH safer.
I started with a two liner from a local gas station, got the bug after I saw someone on the beach with a 7m kite, got myself one, practice A LOT (!) and then got a bigger kite with board, suit etc' and hit the water. That water/send in Michigan lake are not so tasty.. .. at all , but got on the water, then landboard and finally, my personal favorite and what I like to call, the 'lazy buggy' kiting. L--O--V--E to buggy.....

Stay safe out there...

hard knocks.
wish I didn't have such big scars though....

I took a lesson, but honestly I didn't learn so much. I couldn't even ride 10 meters after my course, Lots of trial and error followed.

Quote:

Originally posted by Nekro I took a lesson, but honestly I didn't learn so much. I couldn't even ride 10 meters after my course, Lots of trial and error followed.

thanks for posting Nekro, here' a considerable issue.

proper expectations. ( not you N, but the whole lot of kiters to be)

if considering lessons the lessons don't magically make you a rider. for every ONE hour of lesson, the student has to apply the lesson to mastery. for some its about 10hours(about 3 sessions) of PRACTICE for others could be 50. for what ever is taught PER LESSON, even just rigging the unit properly, i have seen quite a few people show up at the beach after their lessons and can not even rig and launch alone much less control the unit safely. typically experience in good conditions is seriously lacking. TIME! doing it! 60-80 hours in good conditions yields an independent flier (maybe not a 'RIDER 'yet) but can handle the gear safely. the time thing also includes the learned experience of condition selection and location. if you can't realize these elements independently a mountain of frustration will be at hand.....and i 'll buy your "like new" junk for a1/3 of what you paid for it