i taught myself how to kitesurf. for years i watched people kite down at my local. watched them launch and land kites asked heaps of questions and one day decided to give it a go. i watched a mate have a lesson once and learnt about self rescue b4 i even flew a kite. 1st time i flew my kite 07 torch 10m i did it in light winds and it was struggling to stay in the air. 2nd time was windy as and accidently did a kiteloop and i got ragg dolled in the air over a distance of approx 10 m and then crashed the kite hard. 3rd time out went to the beach and wind changed to semi offshore and when i dropped the kite i was struggling to relaunch and getting pulled out to sea and was ****ting myself. then the 4th time i somehow managed to get the fifth line caught around the bar fully powering the kite and teabagging me out of the water, after that no more dramas except for a broken ankle after a carve gone wrong. you have to respect the power of wind and the kite.
i see so many beginners grab the bar hard when it all goes wrong and they get mega drags. just let go of the bar if anything goes wrong in theory the kite will slowly drop out of the air.
best to get lessons and then you will get good advice on kites and gear and probably a good deal $$. you will also always be able to have a chat to the instructor in the future for new tips. supporting your local kite school is great also, these guys do a lot of unpaid work like checking your lines to see if they are stretched, letting you demo kites,boards. if you support your local kite school they will support you and you will get a lot more back for your measly 250 bucks spent on a lesson. and you will greatly reduce the risk of something going mega wrong or really hurting yourself or someone else.
my biggest fear is that beginners will hurt innocent bystanders. if you are going to self teach yourself do it on deserted beach so that the only person who can get hurt is you.
I went for 1 lesson - learning how to fly the kite and body drag upwind. It cost $190 and was well worth it.
I spent about 10 sessions flying ONLY the kite body dragging myself around the water, learning to do sine waves consistently... was probably a bit excessive but in the end when I got on the board I could concentrate 100% without thinking about the kite. So long as you are very progressive and get instruction for the potentially dangerous bits then I reckon that would be responsible.
The rest I taught myself, but learning to ride on the board isn't nearly as dangerous as learning to fly the kite - make sure you get lessons with the kite at LEAST, it's a danger to other people.
answer --> real bad!
i don't want to sound like a pessamist, there are those who have been able to self teach and progress. i would like to congratulate them on their achievement.
then there are foolish noobs who hit up ebay and buy a full kite kit because the previous owner no longer likes the sport. this is ofcourse bull $h!t, you are generally being sold a full kit because it's crap, but that's okay because you know better being self tought and all.
you will then arive at the beach with your outdated dangerous kit and will 1/2 inflate your kite and take up a crap load of room as you do the long legged run or face slide as it's also known down the beach when your kite is in the air. again it's okay you have been watching youtube where everything is easy.
after you have pissed off all the locals who have learnt the right way to do things you will hopefully F*#k off back home and re-list your cr@p on ebay for the next sucker trying to do it on the cheap and on their own.
so save us all the hassle of coming to bail your dumb @$$ out and go get some lessons from someone who knows not only what they are doing but also someone who knows how to teach.
this will do a few things for you,
1. learn the basics
2. learn how the whole system works, including respect for other kiters
3. establish a relationship with a local guru (if you choose your teacher wisley)
4. won't piss off everyone at the beach
5. keeps other beach user groups from complaining about kite surfing
so if you don't get a lesson for yourself do it for everyone else and learn how to body drag and never ever put on a leash... (that's what noobs do)
I learned myself and I have to say that it was most rewarding. There was next to nil danger involved as I followed excellent advice from Neil at Hold the Line Kites in Perth and Steve at Kitepower.
The secret is in the learning to fly the Kite. I chose this route because I was four hours drive from the sea and had to learn on land.
Learning to fly a power kite is like learning to operate an excavator. It takes time to develop the skill. During the period of learning the size of the kite you are learning on will impact on the seriousness of the errors you make.
Start off with a three meter kite and learn to fly it until it is second nature and the transition to a water kite will be very rapid and you should be able to get away with one lesson from the supplier at no cost. Try and fast track the process and you may end up joining the choir invisibule before your time.
You can bet that Casey Stoner's first bike had much fewer cc's than his current one.
you have the black and green 9m Rev yeah? you were ripping 
you have the black and green 9m Rev yeah? you were ripping 
Learning solo is possible and the right individual with modern gear and a decent mind set can do it. Same can be said for most things. it is far, far from ideal though.
Sigh..The problem with advising that learning solo is ok is that it effectively bypasses the majority (and experienced) view that it is not a good idea. This then tempts the noob to ignore the other majority views that it should only ever be done in a secluded area, away from public etc. This aint that flash if you come to grief either BTW.
Next thing is "Well 3 guys just suggested that I should have a smaller kite today but I read a review somewhere that sys this 12m can cope with 28kts so I'llk be right mate." (or fk orf - as is common). Can you hear the ambo sirens yet? 
Maximise your chances of fun, knowledge, safety and staying injury free for you and everyone around you. Lessons are no garauntee of safety either, the attitude, and to an extent luck, of the rider will still matter, but just find the dough and do the lessons. I don't know of anyone who regrets doing at least 2 2hr lessons.
It depends on why you dont want lessons, if your a tight with the $$ or just too proud then you probably wont get lessons anyway.
I taught myself, and haviong done so I always recommend newbies to get lessons, only because of safety, not because of competance or difficulty.
If you want to learn yourself then do lots of reading about the wind window and how a kite reacts, rent a learner kite, have a go of a mates in low winds say 12knts on the sand, be very very cautious with your first few goes, use a big board so you dont need to worry about the board.
Saying that I gave myself whiplash of the neck when first learning. I also had two kitemares, but these were at a stage where I was going out by myself and beyond the basics of lessons.
$70 is steep, but then its not too bad an outlay if you use someone else's gear, you may find out that you dont like it and save plenty
as for me it gets worse.
i have also taught 2 friends how to kitesurf and they are both up and running now on my trusty old 10m torch. its had 3 repairs now form them smashing the kite hard into the water.
i always feel bad when i teach someone how to kite, ( a bit anyway) however i have never taken any risks and i have always taught them self rescue relaunch eject and made them do it and then spend 30mins untangling lines.
one of my mates who i taught how to kite went up to wedge this weekend and used a 2005 airush kite. i went straight to neil at hold the line kites and am getting my torch fixed because i told him it wasnt cool or worth the risk to fly a low depower c kite.
but i never taught them when there were other souls on the beach. i always had a harness on also and if they got in trouble i would grab the kite back from them and even saved them the walk of shame by kiting back up wind for them.
if the wind is around the 15knt to 20knt mark a bigger kite eg 10/11m is probably the safer option as it turns slower.
ill never forget putting a mate on a 7 in 20knt plus and seeing them freak out at how fast the kite was moving in the window.
if anyone can get hold of a 2007 torch i believe it is one of the best learning kites it is very stable and has heaps of grunt but great 5th line and depower.
hey ezza, fun to meet you guys. Had to leave early next morning- looked like you would have a great session with the wind still holding up
Sam, i suggest you borrow a kite and have a session on some soft sand. It's fricken scary getting a handle on launching, manouvering and landing in decent wind. You'll know real quick whether you want to self learn or you're better off getting lessons
Sounds like you were in a similar situation to me when I started. Money for me was a big issue, and I took the advice of a few people and waited an extra month to get into the sport so I could get gear and a lesson.
I would highly recommend getting at least one lesson, if not more. Not only will they teach you the basics, improve the learning curve and more importantly make it safer for you. You will also not have every kiter in the state trying to hunt you down because you got their spot banned from taking out a swimmer or something.
mate just go down your local beach where their are experienced kiters and ask around if any1 will give a quick lesson most kiters will help you out for a carton.
Just dont ask them when their in the middle of a sesh cause that will piss them off a little.
8-10 years ago you had the right to teach yourself, you no longer have this privellege, as the number of kiters has gone up, so has the pressure of the general public and local government on us kiters to not stuff up. So unless you are the only guy on the beach for miles around, take a ticket and get in line at your local friendly kite school
