Should I learn to wakeboard prior to kiteboarding? Would it help?

Hi Guppyboy

2/3 lines foil Trainer kites can be counter productive especially if flown for countless hours through the power zone with a heavy hammer-style grip. We discuss this in details in our blog here: www.kitebud.com.au/kitesurfing-trainer-kite-yay-or-nay/

Many will tell you to fly a trainer kite as much as possible but this is outdated advice. Your time and money are better spent learning the proper habits from scratch with a competent instructor on a small 4-line inflatable kite with a harness.

Will wakeboarding help ? Maybe, maybe not. You'll often hear that kitesurfing is 80% kite control which is true. Board skills are a small part of the equation and can be learned gradually when you are ready for that stage. Just like the trainer kite, wakeboarding often brings bag habits which take more time to brake vs learning the proper habits from scratch.

You should also consider learning to kitesurf early in the season (October-November) If you start in February you will only have 2-3 months of practice before winter. Students who become kitesurfers are those who are putting in lots of practice time on a weekly basis after and in between lessons.

hope this helps

Christian - KiteBud

One of my friends has been wakeboarding for years, I gave him a go on my kite (he had flown trainer kites before and knew how everything works) took him about 15 minutes to be able to go upwind on a port tack, still struggling to go to starboard. I think his wakeboarding helped as he sort of already knew how to edge and stuff like that, wether that will be the case for everyone, I don't know

It was suggested to me that I should go to a wake park when I was having trouble water starting. I had many, many attempts on the wakeboard cable and got absolutely no where because I couldn't handle the force of it. In hindsight, now that I can water start and even ride for a bit I think the cable park was probably counter-productive because the whole point of kiting is that you control the amount of power/force. Maybe it would be useful when you are more advanced and want to develop your board skills (I am definitely not at that point yet so can't speak to it) but I personally found it a waste of time as a beginner.

I wakeboarded before I ever kited. I think it helped me learn to kite. If you can't stand up on a wakeboard you'll never be able to kite. I think it helps to be comfortable on a board, and being pulled out of the water. There's a lot to think about when learning to kite, having some competence at wakeboard water starts couldn't hurt your kiting.

I found that when I was learning, I would get up on the board and then not know what to do. My kite skills were pretty good, but adding the board made it another thing to worry about. I had access to a wake-park, especially during winter, and it fixed that up in no time. I even preferred the wake-park sometimes. (Nice smooth, dead-flat water in the middle of winter.....)

Granted, cable-wakeboarding is a skill in itself, but it will teach you board control. The starts from the dock will teach you how to weight your board and unweight the front of it. You will also learn how to ride a board on both sides.

You 'can' go to a wake park and not learn how to edge, but its your fault if that's all you learn. Its much more fun to go around and carve nice big arcs and get those edging skills working. Turning teaches you good board control too and is harder on a wake board than it will be on a kiteboard with a kite. Then again, some kiteboarders don't do much other than go straight either.

Cable wakeboarding does put a lot of load on your arms and shoulders too, so don't assume you will take to it straight away or find it easy. It gets much better once you develop the muscles required, but initially hanging on is hard work.

I'ma go get some popcorn while I wait for Christians response to KPSS. Last time this happened Christian's response included broad empirical evidence leaving no space for opinions, I expect much the same again.
And in response to the question, wakeboards are fun, give it a go.

Most definitely (wake boarding etc)..
But i wouldn't waste too much time on it if you can't or haven't done it already

Waterstarts was a complete piece of p#ss and easy after kite control
I mentally replaced the consistency of a running 50hp etc motor with the current knots of wind and kite size at 10 and 2 o'clock etc
It's exactly the same thing really...the boat moves you(or cable-park ski) at a certain speed..so does wind in knots complementing kitesize
V easy.so waterstarts and balance etc would be easy

This is going to be great loving the small argument here ..but wasn't expecting it..
a bit like the control freak secret spot salesman who turned up at my local 10 or 20yrs behind everyone else.. clogging it all up and suddenly thinking he's God of the place only interested in 'selling' that sounds a bit familiar

R.e trainers
To be honest when I learnt I just bought myself a 2m inflatable and guided myself I found those 2line bar things pointless after about 25minutes....but...
I believe for some who are pretty clueless about it they are useful
Each to themselves I guess whatever suits whoever it is is probably the best idea... ...so maybe they can still be useful..to some extent..

The argument against them used to be that it was wasted time. Because they aren't depower kites you don't learn the kite control muscle memory - sure steering is there but not sheeting the bar - same as with 4 line buggy kites on handles. Sure an experienced kite flyer can convert but why bother learning the wrong thing to convert later.

You also needed close to the same amount of wind to make them worthwhile anyway so if you are going to the beach to fly a 2 line trainer kite you might as well be going to the beach to fly a kitesurfing kite (you still need something like 10-11knots of wind to keep it in the air)

I've got one from decades ago and beyond making a quieter sound when you crash it into the sand it isn't really any better than an old LEI. I've had a few nephews and nieces fly it and they don't trust kitekillers so are more reluctant to let go of the bar if they make a mistake so they still get dragged down the beach when they accidentally loop the kite (top tip - take a flask of water so they can wash the sand out their mouths).

I'm personally in the - Yes - to learning wakeboarding because learning to kite in less than 15knots is a rubbish experience and you'd have more fun at a cable park. A few wakeboard sessions learning to turn on a 2 tower cablepark and you'll never have problems going upwind as your edge control will be spot on. Either that or you'll give yourself concussion catching an edge and decide that boardsports aren't for you - in which case you have saved a bunch of cash not forking out for kite gear. Still winning!

Wow, I haven't been on here for over a year and the topics are all the same. As for trainer kite: I had a 2 line trainer that taught my kids kite control. My deal was "fly it 15 minutes without crashing and I'll buy you a real kite" got them a 5m inflatable LEI. When they started kiting, they could go left, not right, took them to cable park and after making them switch front foot every round, they got comfortable riding to the right. Next time they kited, they stayed upwind both directions.

I flew stunt kites years ago at the beach for fun, before I'd heard about kiteboarding. We used to cheekily dive-bomb dogs and fly level with the ground, tracing shapes etc.
Once I wanted to get into kiteboarding I bought a trainer kite and spent a lot of time down at parks basically doing the same thing as the stunt kite.
IMHO flying any steerable kite will definitely transfer over to learning how to steer a kiteboarding kite.
Of course there is the learning curve on how to control sheeting in and out once you are flying a full kiteboarding kite, but control of steering is key.
Once you have kite control semi-down, putting the board into the equation is less stress, but of course there is a learning curve, the steepness of which will vary on the person.

I didn't wakeboard prior to kiting, but hit the wake park finally the other year and found it easy to pick up. So it was the other way around for me. Before the wake park I had had a couple of goes getting up on a board behind jet skis and found it easier to dial in. I don't think I could have done it as easy without the kiting experience.

One thing I did find helped, ever so slightly, was having done some snowboarding a year or so before learning kiting. That gave some feel for edging the board and switching toe to heel etc.

The biggest factor I'd say is just spending time actually doing it.
I primarily did my lessons to learn the safety aspect of kiting. How not to get into trouble and if I did, how to get out of it.
Once I had that knowledge I was confident to get in the water and just practice on my own.

The key here is I guess, once you know you can practice safely, just get in the water and try till you get it.
It doesn't really matter if you don't have experience in anything else, just do it.
But for me, kite steering was the key.