equipment for beginners

hi all!

My friend and I are brand new beginners and we would like some tips about which equipment we should buy. I'm a 1,80m female / 67kg and my friend is a 1,93m guy / 100kg, we need everything from wet suit to harness, kite, board and all the rest.
The school I had lessons with recommended me a 9/10m kite...??? What sort of kite should I buy, any brand in particular?
We live in St Kilda east in Victoria, where should we buy our equipment? We were thinking second hand gears as we are a bit short those last months.

Any recommendation would be HIGHLY appreciated, many thanks in advance!

Sofie

try rpm in elwood, or shq in sandringham. both stock 2nd hand gear, (they used to anyway), and make sure you get a decent discount for buying 2 complete setups.

67kg person in VIC bay, learning, you will be looking at a 9-10m kite as a "one kite" quiver. this will get you going from 15-25 knots usually, depending on the kite.

the 100kg bloke will need a 12-13m i reckon.

Hi Sofie

You would be best with a 9/10M kite and your mate will be best with a 12/13M kite.
You need kites that are easy to relaunch with a good safety system, well made and well supported by a dealer network, the most important things though are easy relaunch and safety system.
I recommend you get 2 kites of the same brand and model, so that both of you will be familiar with the kites safety system if you use each others kites (you will).
Go to a shop where you can try on your harness and make sure is comfy, get a girls harness, the latest designs from Mystic/Maui magic, Pat Love, Dakine are all excellent.
Boards, go for something around 1.25-135 for you and something around 1.35 to 1.45 for your mate.
For shops to try all this and get a good deal I recommend SHQ or Kitepower down in Geelong (and online), they both sell Cabrinha, Ozone and several other brands of gear and have years of experience. I'm not familiar with the other shops, but no doubt they have good gear and deals too.
You don't need to buy used gear, unless you budget dictates that. I think new gear is better value then most used gear, unless you score a bargain from someone that gave up the sport without using their gear much. There are some great deals on last years (2009) Cabrinha Converts, Switchblades and Ozone Light XC's as well as runout deals on Underground boards and Cabrinha boards. Its possible to get a package of board kite and harness all new, for around $2100 -$2300.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve