I really have to thank this forum for getting me into Powerkiting and eventually in the future on the water.
When getting into powerkiting, my first interest was to get into buggying or landboard. We just do not have any hard beach to do this in S.Fla. Soooo, Kiteboarding was the next route to take.
Have taken intro lessons and picked up my first water kite, a Cabrinha Convert 12m. This all started during the summer when the wind just drops dead except for the occasional storms that swing by. Did not have much time to work with the 12m. Spent as much time as possible flying my Beamer 4m.
After spending money on gear and trying to make my wife understand what the #*! I am doing, the funds run out and am kind of at a stand still with my progress. What to do? I really feel the stoke and want to learn quickly!
I want to be safe, do it right, not kill my self or others.

The second crew of people I would like to thank has been all the local kiteboarders at the beach that I kite at. Time spent watching, asking questions, how to rig proper, beach rules, tips on equipment. Some really good kiters have taken there time to take me under their wing and help with my kite handling. Have not even hit the water yet!
My confidence has been boosted with their help. Next stop is the Cable Park to work on board skills.
Once holidays are over, finish lessons and hopefully by early next year will be hitting the water!
The Kiting community has been great, people are super supportive, and the forum has been such a great learning tool.
Sorry for the rant,,,, The obsession has taken over:wee:

A couple of good sites for getting prepared are.

www.kitsurfingschool.org and www.Kitefilm.com

Go to downloads and trick of the week for small lesson clips.

Some of the BEST money I spent was on a good instructional DVD. It is great because you can watch it over and over. It is what you will get in the lessons and so having it imprinted in the brain is HUGE !!!

Nothing beats the local crew for knowledge. Just be aware that everyone has their own opinion on a Lot of things and there are usually 3 or more opinions worth considering !

Blade, thanks for the response. I do have the IKO Progression Beginner dvd and it has been extremely helpful.
Have also been spending endless hours on Kiteflix and roam every kiteboarding forum daily. INFO overload!

I recently bought the Real Kiteboarding 5 disc dvd set and it covers *every* aspect of kiteboarding. Beginner/intermediate/advanced/wave&surf riding/advanced tricks. I lucked out and snagged it on ebay for $75 shipped. :frog: There's a few box sets on ebay right now goin for ~88 bux. Reg price is like $130, I think.

For learning tricks, I recommend the Kiteboarding 101 and 201 DVDs. They have a really good screen layout to show you the tricks, and Shannon Best talks you through the entire trick. Again, these two DVDs focus on tricks only.

The absolute best thing to help your learning curve is gonna be more time out on the water and/or lessons. Get a fullbody wetsuit so you can keep kiting during the cold season. Well, I dunno how cold it actually gets in FL but a few buddies and I rode the last coldfront (high 50s/low 60s, winds were high teens gusting well into the 20s) that blew thru a few days ago and having a wetsuit made a huge difference. I was comfy the whole time.

Looks like you should have some good winds coming soon according to ikitesurf

Buritto, thanks for the tips. Wind is rocking at 25-30knots!
I work down on the Beach at Bahia Mar Hotel. We host the International Boat Show starting next week. My busy season starts just in time the wind picks up! Ugggh.

Another Question: What type of PFD would be good to invest in for the folks out there who wears one?
Thanks all.

When I'm on lakes or in deep water, I wear a liquid force life jacket. It's coastgaurd approved and normal-sized, but still pretty flexible. Only 'bad' thing is that I have to use a seat harness with it because it's a little too long for my waist harness (dakine tabu). My spreader bar sits beneath it perfectly on my seat harness (dakine fusion).

My buddies found some smaller life jackets for canoeing at REI that fit above their waist harnesses. I forgot how much they were or what brand they were. You might want to look into an impact vest. I hear they do provide some float, but not like a coastguard approved vest would.

I use the Neil Pryde High Hook PFD. Works well with my Tabu waist harness.

http://usa.neilprydewaterwear.com/index.php?option=com_conte...

I have a size medium Neilpryde Vapor impact vest you could have for $50 if it fits ?

I now have an impact vest / harness combo by Dakine.

Impact vests are a bit different than a PDF. They are not designed to keep your head above water but to protect your ribs and organs in a crash. + to accomidate a harness.

Some Kayak PDF's work with a harness !

Update on Learning Curve:
Took another lesson and worked on body dragging. Wind was blowing 15 knots straight east!, needless to say it was wavy, the beach was crowded, not the best conditions to progress. However I did ok and got more time with new Kite...Switchblade 12m IDS.
I decided to head down to Key West this weekend and hopefully get up on the board for the first time. going to finish my lessons at the Kitehouse.
Key west flats...cruise on a center console 10 miles to a nice flat, does not matter which way the wind is blowing and jet ski support. 2 foot deep flats. Have 2 days on the water down there. After first ride on the board...celebration at Hogs Breath saloon!!!
Hopefully will follow up with a positive update.

I was just watching a video where Ruben Lenten was talking about learning to kitesurf. He said it took him THREE MONTHS of constant attempts to get up on a board! Today, he's one of the best in the world.

I logged about 8 sessions (a couple involved a 500 mile round trip) before I was able to get up on a board and move a little. Its harder than I thought it would be... just dont give up. I told myself that a bunch of times.

Just to make you feel better, I have people that go out in my ski boat with me and leave having tried to wakeboard without getting it. I tell non-skiers that they will have certain success on the wakeboard if they learn to ski first but that's old school and they want to skip that step and go straight to the wakeboard. They do all sorts of things wrong because they can't "feel" it. Add that difficulty in with lack of experience of being towed on the water AND oh by the way you have to generate your power by properly flying a kite and its a wonder anyone gets up kiteboarding. It is a tough combination to put together for success.

I also remember how difficult it was to fly the kite while trying to learn to buggy too. I suddenly forgot 3/4 of what I knew flying static. "Brakes? What are brakes?" Planing off and changing direction on water is much more difficult than rolling along at whatever pace and changing directions in a buggy. But most people look like oafs their first time in a buggy, kite skills notwithstanding.

Bob, there is a cable park called Ski Rixen about 20 minutes from where I live. Im going to be spending time there in the summer on light wind days. It will be an excellent place to work on board skills.

Putting together the kite skills with board skills you learned separately would be a huge push through the learning curve I would imagine. I hope that is the case when I make the leap out onto the water.

I have been hung up on the " surf " portion of kitesurfing forever

My problem is I never learned a single , single board sport. I'm just now safe to be around on my ATB.

If I hadn't discovered kiting on land I would surely have turned away from this sport long ago !

B'bob I expect that with your wakeboard background you should make the transition to water pretty smoothly ?

I got into this with water as a destination for that very reason. I'll still hit the water eventually even if its with a fixed bridle. More than likely I'll go out on something with a friends water suitable kite to give it a try. I have decades of experience on skateboarding, slalom course waterskiing, barefooting, wakeboarding, shoe skis, boat paddles, etc, so coming out of the water onto a board will feel very natural to me if I can properly modulate the power from the kite. I'm already very comfortable riding a board either direction along with surface spins to change direction. Maybe this is the year to do it. I will throw a drysuit in the car on my next beach destination and if the winds cooperate, I'll get my feet wet.

Flash Austin started out on a skim board and foil kite.

No reason BeamerBob can't do the same !

Quote:

Originally posted by Bladerunner Flash Austin started out on a skim board and foil kite. No reason BeamerBob can't do the same !

Thanks for the vote of confidence. If I plane off someday, you guys will be the first to know about it.