Kiteboarding Lesson

Kiteboarding level 1

Price: $600               Schedule

Description: Kiteboarding consists of many simple, yet unintuitive skills. We designed a set of exercises to develop these skills one at a time. Kite Skills lesson includes everything you need to know about flying a large inflatable power kite in the water. By the end of the lesson, you should be ready to start learning to ride.

Goal: To prepare you for getting up on the board (water starts) and riding

Time: All our services are FULL DAY activities (usually over 5 hours and sometimes as much as 8 hours on the water) – we start when the wind starts in the morning or early afternoon and we finish when the wind ends or the sun starts setting. On most days, we have plenty of time to complete the lesson goal; however, sometimes due to poor  weather conditions or other issues, we have to call it quits early. For this reason only, we provide a guaranteed time for each lesson. If, for any reason, we are not able to spend this guaranteed time with you, we will refund or issue credit for the difference.

Guaranteed Time: 3 hours minimum.

Students per instructor: 1 or 2 depending on the day (usually 2 on weekends and 1 on weekdays)

Wind requirement: >10 knots, <25 knots

Prerequisites ** (see Intro Package):

  • Ability to comfortably control a trainer kite (flying it with your eyes closed and one hand for at least 2 minutes in winds above 10 knots)
  • Good theoretical understanding of the following topics*:
    • Proper kiteboarding location and conditions
    • Kiteboarding equipment and terminology
    • Kite Setup
    • Kite launching and landing
    • Kite Flying
    • Body Dragging (downwind and upwind)
    • Water re-launch

Includes:

  • All necessary gear except wetsuits and other water wear.
  • Radio helmets for one way, instructor to student communication
  • An instructor will test and review the above topics with you as well as test your ability to comfortably control a trainer kite
  • Practice kite setup
  • Practice launching, landing, flying
  • Practice body dragging downwind and upwind
  • Practice water re-launch
  • Bonus: Practice water start (if there is time left in the lesson)

What to bring:

  • Booties (surf/windsurf/kite style preferred over hard sole scuba style – but either is fine)
  • Lunch and plenty of water
  • Sunscreen
  • Sunglasses
  • Hat
  • April, May, October: Full wetsuit  at least a 4/3 mm thick wetsuit may be needed; hood and gloves are recommended in April and October.
  • May, June, September: 3/2 wetsuit or a shorty
  • July and August: Bug repellent, preferably waterproof.

Bad weather?

In case of unfavorable weather condition and or insufficient wind for at least 3 (1 on 1) or 5 (2 on 1) hours, you will receive a 1 year credit for the portion of the lesson that day that can be used towards a purchase of equipment or lessons. In case of no wind at all, you have an option to receive a full refund.

Note:

* We highly recommend “Progression: Beginner” DVD for these topics; however, this knowledge could be acquired from different sources (other videos, lessons, internet, etc.) To satisfy the prerequisites for this lesson we offer an Intro to Kiteboarding package.

Please allow extra time to spend on the island and be free of any commitments for the remainder of the day until at least 7 pm as wind may not immediately cooperate.