RealSurf Surfers' Forum

Working with a bloke at the moment who is an avid kite surfer.

He's made me think a lot than I ever thought I would about giving it a go as it sounds pretty good.

The plus to it, as I see it, is that it would give you an option to get into the water when it's too windy for a surf. Wind in my part of the world is a rather frequent thing and hence kite surfers aren't an uncommon sight.

So who's given it a go? What kind of costs would I be looking at to get going etc...

You can get into it pretty cheap by buying S/H gear, around the $1000-1500 online should get you some reasonable beginner stuff. The learning curve is steep if you have no experience in sailing, but its a pretty easy step from windsurfing. Use an onld surfboard to learn on rathen than the double ended wakeboard style. Have fun.

2k for a decent (not great) setup.

have you ever sailed?

edit: what he said^

^^

Nope never. Damn I guess that means I'd be in for a steep learning curve?

Get some lessons first up. If you can find a local club with an orientation/introduction day it'll be cheaper.
Uni clubs are a good place to start.

disclaimer: I've never kite surfed, just controlled the kite on land (and snow).

Done a lot of windsurfing.

Kitesurfing (according to my windsurfing buddies who have all given up windsurfing once they started kiting) it's easier to learn and more fun. Certainly control of the kite takes less thinking than the initial steering of windsurfers.
You don't seem to need as much gear, e.g. extra sails and boards for different winds. But the bladders on kites seem to go pfft pretty quickly. Though that may not be as much of an issue in cold weather.
It can go badly a lot more quickly, with a windsurfer you need some basic skills to be able to get yourself in big trouble. A lot of kitesurfers power up too hard before they have control, from what I see.

When you start, only go out in onshore winds, and preferably with a board that floats.

Get a good harness with an easy safety release.

alakaboo wrote:
Get some lessons first up.


It can go badly a lot more quickly......

Thats it in a nutshell right there. Not that I'm an expert but I did a 3 day beginner course and was getting around pretty well by the end of that. Faster to learn and easier than windsurfing BUT

Don't try and teach yourself. Even experienced kite surfers can get themselves into trouble with wind shifts, gusts, kite failures etc. It can be a long way back to shore when your kite is dead in the water or the wind switches direction. For that reason its not really a solo sport.

You need to get proper tuition with a depowerable beginner's kite. Pretty quickly you'l be wanting to change up from that so don't go outlaying big bucks straight off the bat.

If your serious hit up the Seabreeze forums . This is their sort of territory.

I hate the hassle that comes with it. Clips, ropes, handles, buckles, belts and heaps of bits of shit that can go wrong and tangle up. And you only can use the dreaded thing when the sea is at it's ugliest. I saw them buzzing about yesterday on the Narra stretch during my run. Half of them had their rigs on the sand trying to set up, looking completely fustrated, cold, wet and tired. The other half were getting dragged half in the water trying to stop the contraption from ripping them in two. There was one guy who looked like he was having fun way out to sea. Maybe it best suits people from a sailing pov rather than a surfing one. I mean, of course it'll be fun when you get going. I just dont see the sea in the same way.

yeah, I'd never actually want to ever own and maintain any of that crap.
I just joined a club and got free gear usage.

Totes agree Coops.

I dont mean to offend any Kite rider either. Like i said, when you get going, it looks fun. But i like the idea of riding the energy created as a result of the wind in liquid form, not the wind itself.

I remember watching a guy kitesurf at Burleigh once. Turned out it was his first crack at kite surfing after laying down nearly 3 grand for his setup.

He carefully selected his day for his first run.

Cyclonic onshore winds and brown soup ocean.

He struggled down to the water line and then started pumping his kite upward to get her airborne. Up into the sky it went, taking the guy with it, cleared the first line of bunya pines and then he slammed into the second at the edge of the carpark right before the Gold Coast Highway. He broke his leg and pelvis and had to get fished down by fire rescue.

He must have been 20 metres in the air screaming for his life. I've kinda never been tempted to kitesurf since that day.

Coops@DY wrote:I dont mean to offend any Kite rider either. Like i said, when you get going, it looks fun. But i like the idea of riding the energy created as a result of the wind in liquid form, not the wind itself.

don't have to be exclusive, Coops. You can use the wind to get you onto unbroken waves, depower and surf it.

Lots of fun to be had.

heaps at Lakey;s this year looked like a major hassle operation with all the crap they need to carry, each Kite surfer had an indo bloke lugging it all around and helping them set up at the beach and hold their kite or board for them on takeoff then packing their crap up while the kite surfer gave instructions on how to deflate, fold, roll, coil, stow, strap and so on.
Good work for the locals but apparently they only pay the rate it would for them to take you down to Nungas with just a surfboard.
sure it looks cool and probably is but seeing the sight of these kitesurfers coming up the beach after slaying Low tide pipe carrying nothing with their indo retainers struggling under the load def put me off.
Then its also their wave count if ones half descent and surfing the same break as you don't expect a lot of waves unless you drop in or are given them.
They can be (in the wrong hands ) the ultimate wave hog machine nothing comes close to them.

dragon wrote:Then its also their wave count if ones half descent and surfing the same break as you don't expect a lot of waves unless you drop in or are given them.
They can be (in the wrong hands ) the ultimate wave hog machine nothing comes close to them.

That is definitely true. A few descended on me on a particularly windy day in Westernport once. They were building up speed from way out and pulling into them so easily it was ridiculous. Lucky they didn't hang around for long.

Ive kitesurfed since 2002.

Once you can fly the kite with control, the rest is easy.

Its just like surfing once your on a wave except - and this is the p000 bit, your anchored to a point in the sky by the kite, so it restricts you from changing direction heaps. ie cutties - if wind is anything but sideshore.

also you cant kitesurf offshores, unless your f good, or have a rescue boat.

it is good fun, and its easy to learn how to jump and land.

if what you looking for is massive airs and pulling funky moves then youll love it.

but beating upwind is VERY hard on the knees in any thing over 15 knots of wind (due to the legth of the boards)

launching the kite in crowds is a pain, water launching after ditching is plain dangerous.

So after 8 years I went back to windsurfing as a surfing alternative, as it allows heaps more manouverability on the wave face, and thats what its about for me - carving waves.

Where you from squidlips?

West VIC

Ok, I know a heap of guys down Newy way who have done the same swap back to windsurfing, for exactly the same reasons.