Kitesurfing Lessons – The Beginners Guide

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Kitesurfing Lessons – Equipment you should be using during your Kitesurfing Lessons

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Kitesurfing Lessons

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Kitesurfing Lessons – Kite Line Length and the Effect on the Performance of the Kite.

25m lines are the average length of kitesurfing lines but some people ride on 20 or even 15m lines…Why?

During your kitesurfing lessons you may well find that you fly kites on a variety of different lengths of lines. Kite lines for learning can vary from 5m to 25m and even when your up and riding some people still prefer to ride on much shorter lines than is usual. As the lines on a kite get longer the power of a kite increases, this is due to 2 different reasons. The first of these is gradient wind, as the wind gets further away from the earth the turbulence caused by objects on the earths surface gets less and so the wind speed increases. In all honesty however the difference in the gradient wind over 25m is generally negligible and this is unlikely to have a huge effect on the power in the kite…notice I say generally, sometimes it can have a marked effect say if there a line of short trees just upwind of where you are flying your kite.

To discover the main reason that a kite with longer lines will generate more power we have to delve slightly into the mechanics of the wind:

Imagine you are sitting in a stationary car sticking your head out of the window and the wind is coming from an angle 90º to the front of the car (the wind is hitting the car side on) you feel the wind on your face in the exact same direction the wind is traveling…obviously! This wind is called the true wind. Now the car starts to move slowly, as the car cuts through the air it generates wind over the body of the car (and your face) in the opposite direction to the direction of travel. This wind is the induced wind. The problem here is that the wind cannot come from two different places at the same time so a third wind, the apparent wind is the actual wind you feel on your face, this will be somewhere in-between the induced wind and the true wind. As the car moves faster so the apparent wind will veer to an angle closer to the induced wind (the front of the car) and as the car slows down the apparent wind will veer around towards the true wind (as the airflow over the car becomes less). If this is unclear let me know and i’ll try to rephrase it or include a picture or two…you should cover this however in your kitesurfing lessons (where it gives your instructor a chance to show off how clever he/she is!!).

A kite flies on apparent wind so as it moves it generates airflow over the surfaces of the kite thus generating lift…or power. So the faster, and further a kite can move the more potential it has to generate lift. A kite on longer lines has a larger area to move through and thus can move faster and further than a kite on shorter lines and thus can generate more power. Or put in another way longer lines give a larger power zone which means quite clearly more power!

Shorter lines mean less transmission time from the bar to the kite, also any movement of the bar, due to the principles of leverage has a greater effect on the kite (as the bar is a greater percentage of the total length of the lines). So a kite on shorter lines will turn much more quickly than a kite on long lines.

For these reasons shorter lines tend to be favored by wave riders and people who like a quick responsive kite whereas longer lines would be more common in speed sailing or racing or just everyday cruising/freestyle.

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Kitesurfing Lessons – Kitesurfing Disciplines

At the IKA website (International Kitesurfing Association) we are informed there are 5 main disciplines that make up kitesurfing at a competition level. Wave, Freestyle, Course Racing, Slalom and Speed each of these has various subcategories such as high jump and hang time.  Which of these various disciplines you care to pursue after your kitesurfing lessons is a matter of personal preference and physical ability. Lets break them down and look at each one in a bit more detail, examining what each discipline is and what it demands from the rider, so once you’ve completed your kitesurfing lessons you’ll be perfectly poised to pursue your chosen path.

Wave – Possibly the most spectacular of the disciplines, find a big wave..ride it! With the explosion of wave boards into kitesurfing this is a discipline that is becoming more and more popular and accessible. Many people are now using their old surfboards without footsteps to catch whatever waves they can find, I regularly take out my 7′8″ mini mal on the lighter days. At the top level its a quest, an obsession that sees riders traveling the globe in search of the perfect break (think point break…but with kites and less fighting!) but it can be enjoyed at any level. Take out a big surf board and a little kite and you can be messing around on even the smallest of waves while you brush up your technique. Pursuing this discipline requires a fair amount of patience as you now have to look for waves as-well as wind but if you’ve got a surf board in your quiver it gives you a great light wind option.  at a basic level it doesn’t require a great amount of fitness, but as the waves get bigger and the boards shorter you can find yourself really working and your courage being put to the test more than once! Unless you ride on a lake I would really recommend you getting a surf board and having a go at this, its a great light wind option and will add a whole new dimension to your riding, if the school your learning at has any surf boards you should ask to try one during your kitesurfing lessons so you can feel the difference first hand…believe me you’ll never look back! 

Freestyle – Probably the most popular of the disciplines and the one that people most readily associate with kitesurfing.  Take out a twin tip board and jump, twist, rotate (and crash!) to your hearts content! Almost everybody who kitesurfs will be into freestyle in one way or the other, whether its simply pulling off big jumps or getting into the more advanced rotation and wake style tricks. This is a discipline that can be enjoyed by everyone. Again at its most basic level it can be pretty straightforward, jumping for example requires very little in the way of physical fitness or finesse to achieve, the more advanced powered up moves however can take their pound of flesh so if your going to go for these I would recommend that your fairly fit and prepared to take a bit of a beating initially at least.  You’ll probably get an intro into freestyle during your kitesurfing lessons with all the (unintentional) jumps you pull off…go with it and enjoy its part of the process!!

Course racing and Slalom are both about racing against a load of other riders around a course of buoys. Competitions are held either with all the riders launching together or competing against each other one at a time in time trials. With large fleets of up to 100 riders competing at any one time all hustling for that no 1 spot this can be hugely entertaining for any spectators and quite an adrenaline buzz for the riders themselves! Race boards are becoming more and more common in kitesurfing and many people own one as they make great light wind boards.  Realistically it’ll most likely be a couple of months after your kitesurfing lessons before your ready for one of these disciplines but they can provide a lot of fun. They do however require some organizing and as such are quite difficult to find, if your really interested why not talk to your local club/shop about hosting one in your local spot.

Speed – put up an unrealistically large kite in nuclear winds and try to hold on! Not for the faint hearted or the physically sluggish. Riders can reach speeds of over 50 knots so wipe outs are spectacular and generally painful. Definitely leave this one a while after completing your kitesurfing lessons.  For those interested many companies now do GPS units that will track your speed over a session nod give you detailed reports when you get back off the water.

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Kitesurfing Lessons – How Much Should You Spend On Your First Set Of Kitesurfing Equipment?

Probably the most common question I get asked is after giving kitesurfing lessons to someone is, “How much will it cost me to get into kitesurfing?” Most people don’t want to spend hundreds of euros on new kit in a sport they haven’t even mastered yet. This is a fair concern as kitesurfing can get quite expensive quite quickly. So now I’m going to give you some tips on how much you should be spending and some tricks to cut down the entry cost. 

The first thing I would say on this subject is that if you don’t want to be one of those people that takes kitesurfing lessons and then never goes kitesurfing again make sure you buy your own kit when you’ve completed your kitesurfing lessons. The amount of people that I teach who I then see a year or so later and who tell me they haven’t been kiting since, when I ask them why not the answer is always the same…”no kit.” It may seem like a big expense at the time but it’s infinitely preferable to wasting all that money and effort you spent on taking kitesurfing lessons in the first place! Buying kit not only means you have the kit ready and available in your house, staring back up at you constantly saying “Use me…Use me,” it also means you’ve made a financial (and most likely emotional) investment in the sport and thus are that much more likely to force yourself to get up and hit the water.  Now the costs of doing a course and buying kit may push your budget to bursting point so lets look at a couple of options to make the whole process a bit more friendly on your wallet.

Learning with a friend is a great way to reduce your costs, that way once you’ve done your kitesurfing lessons you can buy some a kite and a board between you (I’d recommend you get your own harnesses) and practice together, this not only halves your costs but means that you have someone to look out for you down the beach when your learning (and someone to laugh at you back in the pub afterwards when you mess up!). 

Ask the school your learning with if they have any old school kit they’re looking to get rid of, most schools try to cycle out school kit as it offers a great, cheap way for beginners to get into the sport on great kit and also means that the school is constantly teaching on new kit, so everyone wins. this ultimately provides a great route for you to get into the sport on the cheap.

Hiring kit is generally not something I would recommend, because of the high chance of damage to the kit hire costs are usually very high and after a few sessions you can find yourself having spent more than it would have cost you to simply buy the kit in the first place. Buying second hand is a great way to reduce your costs and the kitesurf second hand market is booming at the moment.

Actual costs of kit will vary but in general for you first kite your looking for something round the 350 – 600 € mark, (thought this depends entirely on your budget, a new kite can cost upwards of 1400 €) this should ensure that the kite is in good enough condition that its not going to fall apart the first time you drop it on the beach and that it’ll be modern enough to fly well and safely. There are also many more inexpensive brands appearing on the market these days many with the express aim of getting more people into kitesurfing by offering low price entry level kites, brands such as Griffin, Faith and Kangaroo are some examples.  These kites tend to be very well built and perfectly functional, simply lacking the magazine coverage and marketing power of the bigger brands as these companies obviously spend a lot less on marketing as they are trying to keep their costs down.  The kites fly as well as any any other major brand and are a great option for beginners as a first kite that doesn’t break the bank and will last you through to becoming an intermediate rider. For a more detailed discussion of kites see the other articles on this blog.   

The board is a fairly straight forward bit of kit (as far as the beginner is concerned, though not if your a board shaper i’m sure!) and indeed it is possible to go kiting on a tea tray…though not advised!! For a beginner the size is the most important thing, aim for something between 135 cm and 150 depending on your size and weight, as you get bigger/heavier so does the board. But apart from that just go for the cheapest one you can find until your confident, at which point you can purchase yourself a nice, new, shiny, expensive one!!! With a board I would look to spend between 150 – 300 euros on your first one, but you may be able to pick up some real bargains for 50 quid or less. As long as it has footstraps and at least heel side fins it’ll get you going! 

Harnesses can be picked up very cheaply, from 25 €, many schools will have old harnesses they’re looking to get rid of, so just ask during your kitesurfing lessons, as with all the other kit this is a great place to start. I would recommend you spending a little more on your harness as a comfortable harness can make a huge difference to your enjoyment of the sport. The plastic moulded harnesses are often the most comfortable and it will make your day on the water that much enjoyable not having it up under your armpits all the time!!

Well I hope thats cleared up some issues, as always if you have any comments on this article please leave a comment, I love hearing from you and its your input that’s most important to me.

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What is Kitesurfing?

Before you even think about taking Kitesurfing Lessons you probably asked yourself this question. Is an obvious question but one that deserves a bit of attention to answer. Kitesurfing at its most simple is the art of attaching yourself to a high power kite and using a combination of the wind in the kite and the resistance generated by the board to ride across the water. There are many different names for the same sport and it can be referred to as kitesurfing, kiteboarding, fly surfing to name just a few. There are several different styles of kitesurfing mainly freestyle, wake style, wave surfing, and speed, generally different styles require different types of kit and work your body in very different ways. Kitesurfing is presently the fastest growing water-sport in the world and because of this many of the safety aspects of the sport are becoming better and better, led by the change to de-powerable bow style kites.

The idea of using a simple kite as a means of propulsion dates back to the 12th century when the Chinese used kites to pull their canoes across the water. This kitesailing as it was known was then re discovered in the 1800’s by George Pocock who took the basic kite design and by increasing the size was able to pull carts on land and ships on the water. His kites were built with 4 lines and the carts and baots they were pulling could travel upwind and the kites could generate enough power to lift them off the ground and power them for a period of time.

It wasn’t until the 1980’s when Wipika solved the problem suffered by all these earlier kite designs…how to launch it from the water. The Leading Edge inflatable (LEI) kite was born and the rest as they say is history.

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Kitesurfing Lessons – The Wind and Weather

By its very nature this section could have gone on forever but I’ve tried to break down the information to what’s important to you right now as someone who is looking at doing kitesurfing lessons and possibly (hopefully) practicing with a trainer kite. So we’ll look mainly at different wind effects which will alter the way your kite flies.

There are several types of wind effects we need to be aware of when flying a kite anywhere but these become especially pertinent for those of you flying kites in built up areas or around obstacles.

Gradient Wind:

The wind will get slower the closer to the earth it is, this is because as the wind passes over the earth (or sea) it generates friction, slowing it down, the more uneven the earth (or sea) surface the greater the effect of this friction and the higher the difference between the wind at ground level and the wind higher up in the atmosphere. This effect is called Gradient wind. The earth generally causes more friction than the sea which is why often on beaches with an onshore wind there is a line of ‘dodgy’ wind at the shore line as the wind hits the beach and slows down due to the increased friction. For us kiters this means that what we feel on our face will almost definitely not be the wind that our kite is feeling 25m up in the air.

Wind Shadow

A wind shadow is created by an obstacle in the path of the wind, which is why we huddle behind walls to shelter from the wind sometimes.  The wind however does not simply stop when it hits this obstacle but attempts to get around it any way it can.  That is it will go over, under or around it, this creates a patch behind the obstacle where the wind is very turbulent as it is coming from potentially several different directions at once.  The best way to envisage this is to imagine rapids in a river, when the water hits a rock you get white water around and behind the rock as the water tumbles over the top and around of it in a struggle to carry on moving downstream.  This is exactly what we would see if we could ’see’ the wind. An obstacle will cast a shadow (disrupt the wind) up to 7 times its height down wind.

Updraft

An obstacle in the path of the wind will not only create a disruption downwind of it (a wind shadow) it will also create a disruption upwind of it.  Think back to our example of the rapids, not only do you see white water behind the rock but also infront of it this is caused as water that cannot get out of the way hits the obstacle and is reflected back into the path of the oncoming river causing disruption and forcing the water behind it upwards and over the top of the reflected water, thus creating updraft. This is an extremely important effect to know about and it is for this reason that we should not kitesurf too close to large cliffs or practice kite flying in-front of large obstacles. The upwind disruption is equal to 3 times the height of the obstacle.

The Venturi Effect

This is particularly pertinent to me here in Tarifa as this is the reason why its so bloody windy here! The Venturi effect states that when wind passes between two obstacles the wind speed will increase as it is forced through the gap.  So here at Tarifa we have the straights of Gibraltar and on either side we have mountains, the Riff Mountains in Morocco and Gibraltar on the Spanish side, wind coming from any direction is forced through this gap and accelerated out the other end giving Tarifa its famously consistent Levante and Poniente winds.

Got it?!

Don’t worry, your Instructor will take you much deeper into wind and weather during your kitesurfing lessons but with these basics you should at least be able to stay safe and recognise the different effects taking place in any one area

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Kitesurfing Lessons – Landing Your Kite

Landing your kite

Anyone can crash a kite. When you first start flying your Trainer Kite or taking your kitesurfing lessons you probably will do it a lot and that’s OK! I used to crash my kite all the time. But don’t do it if you don’t have to – your kite will last much longer and you will look like a pro! To land your kite all you need to do is this:

• Fly the kite to the edge of the wind window. It doesn’t matter where; just get it to the edge.
• With slow, smooth movements, work the kite towards the ground either at the 3 or 9 o’clock positions.
• Bring your kite down and land it gently on the ground at the edge of the wind window.
• Move to your kite and secure it.
• Pack it up and away you go!
• Landing your kite is quite simple, and like I said, it will extend its life. When you are good at this you’ll look like you’re a pro!

A few top tips: (no doubt you’ll get many more in your kitesurfing lessons, but these will get you started

• Try to keep your arms extended and in front of you, do not twist the bar around the side of you, move your body to follow the kite in the sky so that your arms are always in front of you.
• Keep the bar flat, do not be tempted to use the bar like a steering wheel instead use it like the handlebars of a bike. Think of your arms as pistons when one goes out the other comes in.
• To start with be gentle, make tiny movements with the bar as you get more confident make the movements bigger.

Things to remember:

• You will crash your trainer kite! Just walk over and set it back up for re-launch. Try not to crash it directly down wind as it is possible to blow seams out of a kite if crashed directly into the ground at 50 miles per hour. Yes, they can move that fast.
• Wind is like a road; sometimes it’s bumpy and sometimes it’s smooth. Your kite may behave well one day and fly terribly the next. Most likely the wind is very different, do not let this get you down and disheartened you, learning to fly a kite in ALL conditions is part of the training.
• Be careful in high winds. Even small trainer kites develop a lot of power. in general a 3m trainer kite will allow a 200lb person to jump 6-10 feet forward when the winds are over 18mph. Always leave yourself room for evasive action (3-5 line lengths).
• If you have someone helping you launch the trainer kite, make sure they move immediately after launching. Also, be nice and share your kite with them.
• It takes most people anywhere from 30 mins to 3 hours to learn to fly a trainer kite proficiently. Don’t expect to be a great flier in 5 minutes.
• Twists in the lines. All kites will still fly exactly the same even with a twist in their lines. To untwist the lines, either fly a complete loop in the other direction, or spin your body quickly around. Most kites can fly with 2 or 3 loops before the lines begin to bind up.

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Kitesurfing Lessons – Advanced Trainer Kite Techniques To Improve Your Kitesurfing Skills

Advanced Techniques to practice before taking your Kitesurfing Lessons

Parking the kite

Parking the kite simply means to keep your kite stationary. With your trainer kite, this spot will be in the edge of the wind window. You want to park your kite when you aren’t focused on your kite, you are preparing for a certain maneuver, or whenever you need your kite to be in the shoulder of the wind window (when you don’t want power, etc…).

Why is it Important?

Parking you kite is an important skill to learn before your kitesurfing lessons because your kite will be parked on the edge of the wind window where it has little power. When here, you will be able to focus elsewhere without worrying about what it’s doing. What to do – To park your kite, simply:

• Fly the kite to any spot at the edge of the wind window. As the kite approaches the edge it slows, eventually coming to a stop on the edge.
• Once the kite has come to a stop, your goal is to keep it in one spot. If the kite starts to drift in one direction, gently correct for the motion by steering it in the other direction. Make sure that you don’t overcorrect.
• Keep the kite in that spot until you know you have it under control and can keep it there for as long as you want.

Smooth motions

This skill is simple but often overlooked. Steering the kite in a smooth and controlled manner is very important when you start flying larger kites. If you steer a large kite in a jerky fashion, the kites pull will vary, and thus, cause it to jerk. Imagine being towed by a wakeboarding boat that speeds up, then slows down, then speeds up, then slows down, then speeds up, then slows down… It makes my arms sore just thinking about it. In short, you want to steer your kites smoothly so you might as well start practicing now. Here are some things you can do to help.

Pay attention when you are flying – if you ever feel a jerk and there was no gust of wind, you may be doing something to cause it. Try and figure out what it is and make it smoother.

Think about what you are going to do in advance – Often times a split second decision to do something results in a quick change in the kite’s movement; it’s this type of thing that causes the kite to jerk. E.g. You realize that you are about to crash your kite so you suddenly increase the tightness of its turn. This will cause it to pull harder, giving you a slight tug. (of course this is preferable to crashing the kite, but you get the picture.)

Practice flying your kite in circles without adjusting the tightness of the turn. The pull of the kite should still increase, which is natural, but it will do it in a smooth manner.

Flying figure eights will get you comfortable flying your kite all over the wind window, steering your kite, and will help you practice steering smoothly. In addition, the vertical figure eight is the basic movement to what kiters call ‘sine-ing’, which is a way to create more power while moving.

What to do – You will spend a lot of time doing this in your kitesurfing lessons so might as well get a bit of practice in now! Steer your kite in a figure eight pattern both vertically and horizontally across the wind window as illustrated below.

The Most Important Trainer Kite Practice Exercise on this Page!

Power strokes are where the rubber hits the road in you kitesurfing lessons and are the most important trainer kite practice exercise on this page – get good at them! You use them when you want to generate a lot of power with your kite, and are most often used when water-starting or getting up on your board. Depending on how much power you need, you can do a power stroke for low, medium, and high power. See the diagram below for a visual explanation:

Now that you can fly your trainer kite, here is a list of things to practice to allow your skills and muscle memory to develop more fully. The more time spent on these skills, the less time you will spend swimming and the more time you will spend riding.

Sliding during the power stroke

As you work on the power stroke, work to keep your centre of gravity behind your feet and not to get pulled forward into a running position. You should slide forward on your feet.

Practice your board starts.

This will develop your muscle memory for leg and hip positioning for getting up on your board. The goal of this practice is to make sure you point your board downwind when trying to get up and ride.

Riding to your right side: Put your kite in neutral (hovering straight above your head), sit down on the ground, extend your right leg forward and bend your left leg in a little bit. Now send the trainer kite into a power stroke toward your right side. You should stand up (if you have enough power) on your right foot with your body turned at about a 45 degree angle to the wind.

Now move your trainer kite to the 1 o’clock position for your power stroke; notice how your hips and body naturally point your leg more down wind. One of the number one problems for new kiteboarders is not keeping their kiteboards pointed down wind when attempting a water start. Now work on your left side. If you decide to learn to snow or land board, make sure to use the same technique of pointing the board downwind.

Moving with the trainer kite.

Run, ski, snowboard, buggy, land board or roller blade. Now that you are flying well, start running with the kite in the direction the kite is flying. You will notice different dynamics in the kite as you move. When you are kiteboarding, you are always moving with the kite and need to learn how to control the trainer kite during this movement and take advantage of the apparent wind you are generating. Use any of the vehicles listed above to help work on this. Remember to wear padding and a helmet.

Fly the trainer kite in high winds and very aggressively.

The more you get used to being pulled around, the better you will do when hanging on to a large power kite. Try spinning your body under your bar, fly while looking backwards (yes, this will happen to you in the water), fly with your eyes closed, and if it’s really windy do some little jumps as you send the kite up the middle of the power zone.

Fly one-handed.

If you can hold the bar in one hand and fly with one hand, this is a skill that will build your confidence and get you used to hanging onto the middle of the bar.

Add a harness and bar loop.

To get the full advantage of a trainer kite, get a harness and add a fixed loop to the bar, (you can buy one of these from your local windsurfing store or a bit of rope will do). Now you can begin to practice flying while being “hooked in” and work on kite control with one hand. This is a skill that is an absolute necessity for learning to kite in the water. You will need to fly one-handed while carrying your board to the water and trying to put it on your feet.  Another great thing about adding a loop and harness is that you can snow or land kite for hours once you get hooked in.

Thats it by mastering these skills proir to taking your kitesurfing lessons you will guarantee yourself that you fly through the course and be trying to get up on the board in no time. Remember, 80% of learning to kiteboard is learning to fly your kite! That said do not try these exercises with anything larger than a trainer kite and always adhere to the manufacturers recommendations regarding windspeed.

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