I'd like to try kitesurfing, anyone happy to help?

Hello, everyone!

I'm a female in my late 20's who has randomly found themselves stranded on the West Coast, and would love to at least try, and even better get a handle on, kite-surfing before I have to get back to the East Coast by the first week of July. Are there any locals (I'm near Bunbury, but really anywhere from Perth to Margaret River) who are happy to show me how?

My aim is to get a basic handle on kite-surfing in half a dozen sessions or so, and then hopefully get my own second-hand kit (in the odd chance that anyone is selling anything good for cheap, please also contact me!). I'm told I'm going to need these skills for an upcoming work experience adventure. I no longer have wheels, but am happy to pay petrol if someone can collect me from Glen Iris (next to Bunbury) on the way through, otherwise I'll have to try to work something out with public transport (which is looking tricky). I have my own wetsuit and I might even have booties and gloves in my snorkelling gear (if you also dive and are happy to take out a newbie with a PADI license, please also hit me up!).

At this stage I'm fairly readily available, unless I get temp work somewhere, which is looking unlikely in the current job market here. I'm not free this weekend 23-24 May, but otherwise I should be, weekday or weekend.

I hope someone is available and happy to get in touch with me soon! :-) Thanks in advance!

...... Bit of side boob in the avatar pic and you might have been a chance with some punter. Best of luck anyway....

I am happy to help...

^^^ As above, unfortunately you'd be lucky to get 2 good days of wind between now and July.

I was the only person out at Pinnaroo point on Saturday last week, nothing for about a month before that, and even though I brought the right kite for the conditions, I was struggling for enough consistency to avoid drifting downwind. Needless to say, the conditions were inappropriate for learning.

My own personal advice, would be to go to Bali (ripcurlschoolofsurf.com/courses-reservation/kite-surfing/). I learned there, they have a boat to drag you up wind which is amazing when you're learning, and after attending schooling in Tarifa and England, I would have to rate my experience in Bali the best.

I was actually standing up on my third lesson (the first one where they let me use a kite in the water), but that is by no means a guarantee. And indeed, I benefited immensely in Tarifa from practicing water starts with just my feet dragging on sand. But the instruction was good, I just didn't get enough of it.

There was also no lesson if the conditions were unsuitable. Something that I have unfortunately not seen other schools doing.

The wet season is pretty much wound up right now, and although it doesn't look like they have particularly impressive winds at the moment, next Saturday and Sunday afternoon look like sweet predictions (www.windguru.cz/int/index.php?sc=208480). That should give you enough time to buy tickets and book somewhere to live.

School holidays don't kick in 'til the end of June either, so accommodation should be cheap if you slip in asap. You will probably find that it doesn't cost all that much more than where you're currently renting as long as you don't stay in the tourist districts. Although it would be cheaper again if you could split the bill with a +1.

If you want to fit in 6 good days of kiting, I would be looking at maybe 3 weeks in Bali, just because winds are not consistent, and because when I was learning, 2 days of consecutive kiting was just murder.

Creepeeee ^^^^^^

?

You mean, aside from pinnaroo, mullaloo, alkimos and safety bay?

It's not clear it's a northeasterly yet, and I have already kited a stormy one two weeks ago... wind is wind and I'll take what I can get.

But I take your point, I probably shouldn't be advertising sketchy weather to a learner.

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GarryA said..
Creepeeee ^^^^^^

I'm so sorry guys, I thought no one had responded to my post, I was expecting email notifications!!

I am totally serious, and I'm here until the beginning of July.

Yes, it's a legit work experience thing... I'll be crewing a yacht (total n00b lol, some but minimal experience) with a bunch of kite surfing fanatics... If I can't get some lessons in I'll be totally left out because literally everyone else is going to be spending all their spare time doing just that. Plus I've admired the sport from afar for a while now and have been interested anyway, so this is just the push I needed to start! :-)

I'm genuinely serious about this, if anyone is interested in helping me out, please PM me :-) Side boob is only possible in person :-P Lol!!!

Best thing for you is to get a trainer kite with de power similar to a full size kite, and fly it on light wind days in parks, ovals, beaches, wherever you can everyday. Fly it til you can do it blind folded and learn to run along the ground with it, even ride a skatey later if you have a place to try.

then when you get out on your yacht somewhere with steady wind, I'm sure the crew will teach you the ol water start on their rest breaks. Side boob should close the deal too.

Good luck, living the dream!


ps. Quality call by hybrid haha

Found a good spot in Mandurah, ended up being perfect for the trainer, good control followed up by a few more hours on the trainer then master freezing cold body dragging of the joys of learning in winter