Hey learners!
I've just written my first article for learning kitesurfers. Most of what I've written so far has been targeted at experienced kiters. Have a squiz and let me know what you think! Please share it with any of your buddies that want to learn. After a few people have got into it, I'll write a few articles about tips on getting your first set up and different ways to learn.
Stoked for any feedback, would love to make improvements to the article and will be happy to reference you if you'd like me to.
Take it easy,
Jo The Upwinder
upwinder.weebly.com/become-a-kitesurfer.html
Peter C's website has all the info I needed when I started, after lessons of course. But great effort anyway champ
Hi Jo,
I liked reading your articles. They are informative, well written and it's obvious you spent quite some time writing those.
I understand the idea of your latest article is to encourage people to get into the sport (and it does that quite well), I just think the whole fitness aspect and the ease of getting into kiting is taken slightly out of proportions.
More than ever before, kiting attracts an older and less active population. I've heard quite often students tell me they want to get into kiting to get fit while they actually haven't been active for a very long time. Needless to say those are the students who often lack the most coordination and have a hard time going through a 2h lesson without getting exhausted, this means they progress far slower than most others. Many of those say they can swim 200 meters (medical questionnaire) but won't have enough fitness to swim after their lost board after a self-rescue for example.
The way I look at it is it should be the other way around, newbies should ensure they have a minimum fitness level to get into kiting, so they can actually enjoy the lessons and not physically struggle to learn. It's also a matter of safety, having enough fitness to get yourself out of trouble... and that 77 YO guy who has his safety leash attached to one the back lines 
...I wouldn't want to see him release his safety in strong wind with no one around to help... 
Of course you don't need to be athletic to get into kiting, but having a minimum amount of strength-endurance in your legs, back and core is important along with swimming endurance. Doing a few weeks/months of cross-fit classes would be great way to prepare the body to learn kiting.
It's during and after the first few lessons that students will spend the most energy (walking upwind, body dragging, board recovery), but once you're up on the board mowing the lawn won't do much good to your fitness level. The majority of kiters are just cruising around, which uses a low amount of energy and once your technique is right, not much muscle effort either. This means for the majority of kiters, the health and fitness benefits of 1h of kiting are far from those of a 1h workout at the gym.
Of course it's better to go out kiting than sitting at home watching TV, but to have real effects on your fitness with kiting you'd have to go out for multiple hours at a time, more than 4 times a week AND do more intense riding (waves, racing, freestyle, etc.) and not just mowing the lawn.
Many students are disappointed by the amount of effort, time and skills required to learn to kite after being told things like '' learning to kite is VERY easy'' or ''you'll be cruising around in a few hours''... Of course it's a nice sales pitch and a great motivator to get in the sport, but it can have an adverse effect setting unrealistic expectations.
People who are learning to kite ''very easily'' represent about 20% of students and are almost always the ones with the most active lifestyle and/or a heavy sports background.
Of those 80% left, I'd say about 60% (your ''average'' learner) will find learning challenging, not so easy but definitely within reach and can become independent and competent kiters within a month or so, assuming they took multiple lessons and got out multiple times a week after that. This could take the entire season if students can go out say once a week on average.
The 20% left is those for who learning is much harder. The progression is slow paced and kite control is difficult even after 4-5 hours of flying. Often, a lack of fitness and/or a poor sports background (i.e. no board sports) slows the progression down even more. Those students need to be highly motivated and have an above average level of perseverance. Some of them will make it, but it typically takes many months even with regular practice and double/triple the amount of lessons usually recommended.
I know it's not the best sales pitch, but it's the reality I've noticed after teaching close to 700 students.
In my experience, being able to dedicate enough time to learn, progress and practice is the biggest obstacle for students. Let's face it, it's a very time consuming sport, especially when learning. You can get a gym session done in 45 minutes, same for practicing a lot of sports as well, but to learn to kite you need to allocate multiple hours per session and go out multiple times a week otherwise you probably won't get the results, which won't motivate you to continue. Not many people can dedicate that much time and have a flexible enough schedule to get out on the windy days.
The second biggest obstacle would be money. Students often don't realize they will eventually have to fork out up to a few thousands just to get a basic kit and multiple lessons, only then to realize they need to spend more to go out in all conditions...
The third biggest obstacle I think would be perseverance and unrealistic expecations. In my experience, people who tend to give things up easily and are just ''curious'' and ''want to give it a try'' thinking they will be on the board within very little time and effort are very unlikely to become kiteboarders.
that's the way I see it anyways... Assuming someone lives somewhere windy with the right locations. If someone ticks all those boxes the rest will come naturally and the chances of becoming a kiter are very high.
Christian
Select to expand quotecbulota said..
The third biggest obstacle I think would be perseverance and unrealistic expectations. In my experience, people who tend to give things up easily and are just ''curious'' and ''want to give it a try'' thinking they will be on the board within very little time and effort are very unlikely to become kiteboarders.
To me this is the key to getting more people into the sport. Rather than lowering the bar to say "it's easy" or "it's pretty safe", you need to raise the desire for people to push through the time, effort and expense to get going. Luckily the sport is rather spectacular and somewhat sells itself, but the other big factor is people sharing the stoke of what a kiting session feels like.
cbulota
Love your responses to anything in this forum and always take the time to read everything you say. I got a lot from reading your response to become a kitesurf instructor and what the different accreditation groups do.
Best of all, you're full of good Stoke!
Green thumbs bro. I'll work on making changes.
Just wear a pair of boardies over your westuit, BOOM, you're a kitesurfer..... or a kitesurfie...... I forget which one
Love your articles Jo :) As a newbie I have to agree that it can be really difficult to learn this sport if your are not a natural. My first month or so was pretty tough, and not that much fun to be honest. So much crashing, body dragging, drinking seawater, and walking the beach. I was also pretty scared of my kite, so would get very anxious. I also remember feeling disappointed in myself that I was not up and riding in three lessons like many schools claim you should be.
I was surprised by the line "Kites are so easy to use that under good instruction you will be able to fly it using just one finger from each hand, with your eyes closed in a few hours!" I could probably do that, now but I have been kiting 1-2 times per week since January. Yeah I am definitely not a natural. So my experience was that learning is hard work, and took me five professional lessons, and much struggling, but so worth it. 
Select to expand quotecbulota said..
Nice triangle. ^^^
(or is it supposed to be a pyramid)?
Where did you find that ...at the Generic Shop ?
I guess you could re-use those words as all-encompassing tips and hints,
for doing and achieving god damn everything in life.
lol.
By the way, I need more kiters out in the break like I need a hole in my head.
Select to expand quotecbulota said...
Hi Jo,
I liked reading your articles. They are informative, well written and it's obvious you spent quite some time writing those.
I understand the idea of your latest article is to encourage people to get into the sport (and it does that quite well), I just think the whole fitness aspect and the ease of getting into kiting is taken slightly out of proportions.
More than ever before, kiting attracts an older and less active population. I've heard quite often students tell me they want to get into kiting to get fit while they actually haven't been active for a very long time. Needless to say those are the students who often lack the most coordination and have a hard time going through a 2h lesson without getting exhausted, this means they progress far slower than most others. Many of those say they can swim 200 meters (medical questionnaire) but won't have enough fitness to swim after their lost board after a self-rescue for example.
The way I look at it is it should be the other way around, newbies should ensure they have a minimum fitness level to get into kiting, so they can actually enjoy the lessons and not physically struggle to learn. It's also a matter of safety, having enough fitness to get yourself out of trouble... and that 77 YO guy who has his safety leash attached to one the back lines ...I wouldn't want to see him release his safety in strong wind with no one around to help... Of course you don't need to be athletic to get into kiting, but having a minimum amount of strength-endurance in your legs, back and core is important along with swimming endurance. Doing a few weeks/months of cross-fit classes would be great way to prepare the body to learn kiting.
It's during and after the first few lessons that students will spend the most energy (walking upwind, body dragging, board recovery), but once you're up on the board mowing the lawn won't do much good to your fitness level. The majority of kiters are just cruising around, which uses a low amount of energy and once your technique is right, not much muscle effort either. This means for the majority of kiters, the health and fitness benefits of 1h of kiting are far from those of a 1h workout at the gym.
Of course it's better to go out kiting than sitting at home watching TV, but to have real effects on your fitness with kiting you'd have to go out for multiple hours at a time, more than 4 times a week AND do more intense riding (waves, racing, freestyle, etc.) and not just mowing the lawn.
Many students are disappointed by the amount of effort, time and skills required to learn to kite after being told things like '' learning to kite is VERY easy'' or ''you'll be cruising around in a few hours''... Of course it's a nice sales pitch and a great motivator to get in the sport, but it can have an adverse effect setting unrealistic expectations.
People who are learning to kite ''very easily'' represent about 20% of students and are almost always the ones with the most active lifestyle and/or a heavy sports background.
Of those 80% left, I'd say about 60% (your ''average'' learner) will find learning challenging, not so easy but definitely within reach and can become independent and competent kiters within a month or so, assuming they took multiple lessons and got out multiple times a week after that. This could take the entire season if students can go out say once a week on average.
The 20% left is those for who learning is much harder. The progression is slow paced and kite control is difficult even after 4-5 hours of flying. Often, a lack of fitness and/or a poor sports background (i.e. no board sports) slows the progression down even more. Those students need to be highly motivated and have an above average level of perseverance. Some of them will make it, but it typically takes many months even with regular practice and double/triple the amount of lessons usually recommended.
I know it's not the best sales pitch, but it's the reality I've noticed after teaching close to 700 students.
In my experience, being able to dedicate enough time to learn, progress and practice is the biggest obstacle for students. Let's face it, it's a very time consuming sport, especially when learning. You can get a gym session done in 45 minutes, same for practicing a lot of sports as well, but to learn to kite you need to allocate multiple hours per session and go out multiple times a week otherwise you probably won't get the results, which won't motivate you to continue. Not many people can dedicate that much time and have a flexible enough schedule to get out on the windy days.
The second biggest obstacle would be money. Students often don't realize they will eventually have to fork out up to a few thousands just to get a basic kit and multiple lessons, only then to realize they need to spend more to go out in all conditions...
The third biggest obstacle I think would be perseverance and unrealistic expecations. In my experience, people who tend to give things up easily and are just ''curious'' and ''want to give it a try'' thinking they will be on the board within very little time and effort are very unlikely to become kiteboarders.
that's the way I see it anyways... Assuming someone lives somewhere windy with the right locations. If someone ticks all those boxes the rest will come naturally and the chances of becoming a kiter are very high.
Christian
How do you write so many words with such tiny hands. .?
