fancy giving it a go, looks hard, dangerous and fun.

Have you every flown a powerkite in the past?

Have a look at the BKSA and find an approved instructor in your local area. Take a look at kiteboarder.co.uk, kitecrowd and racekites forums as they are a wealth of useful information (kiteboarder is aimed squarely at kitesurfers and probably the best, kitecrowd is clicky and focuses on kte sports in general and racekites is more about buggies/land based stuff IME)

I never made it as far as kitesurfing but have done a bit on land with boards and powerkites, immense fun but very costly.

It is all of what you said rewski, and expensive and frustrating, as the **** wind doesn’t play ball. I say this as a windsurfer who’s had several goes at making the crossover, including 2 weeks in Egypt. In the end I have it up as a bad job.(absolutely nothing to do with lack of ability, honest)

Cheers both, will see if there’s any lessons round my way.

Sorry, that was all a bit negative…iksurf is an online magazine which will whet your appetite.

As a windsurfer i’d love to give it a go however you need the right sort of beech / conditions and a lot of time as with windsurfing but more so and with more risk.

I havent given it a go because of all of the above.

headfirst – Member
Sorry, that was all a bit negative

Not at all, realistic I’d say, been watching the guys in the bay near me, looked really hard work.

Errrrm… I kite,kites more fun and way more sociable when with mates.

Get a taster session pre any thoughts of buying equipment. Then make sure you take some lessions, then join in with your local scene. You’ll need some mates and some guys/gals that are good enough to help you out in the very early sessions, then as time goes on you’ll become mates with them too.. Then buy stuff, then go out and enjoy it.

It’s a great sport spoilt by nobs who think thay can go out on thier own without any form of instruction.
And we kite near groynes and on shingle beaches where I live and we have very few incidents at all because…

Yup, we all took some lessons.

I’ve used power kites, but not on water (I’m soluble and have the same natural buoyancy as gold bullion).

If I can give you one piece of advice, it’s to find someone experienced to show you how to fly one safely, be that professional lessons or mates in the know. Otherwise, you will hurt yourself, and possibly seriously.

Terrific fun, though.

EDIT: ie, what they said. ^^

I cam sympathise with the bit about the wind not playing ball I’ve booked one holiday and two courses and not got on the water yet. Also given it up as a bit of a waste of time unless you live near the sea and can arrange your time around when the winds blowing.

T’is true that the winds the thing.. If it don’t blow then neither do you.
I’m not saying you need to live by the sea to do it, far from it in fact, many mates travel down from that there London to play on the SOuth Coasts finest. However, forcast gazing is a desperate thing when trails call for hacking, so you choose either like I do, weather and mood dependant. I’ve been skunked many times and been blow sideways too, but in the main wind between 12-23knts is the most do’able range, below that and it’s rubbish.. oh yes it is, flying 15mtr floppies is hard work for little motion, anything over 23knts and it’s getting gusty power on/off twisting power curve moments where control of the kite is the most important thing, ignoring forward motion.
There are some very basic rules to consider in Kiting. You’ll need to know a good few of them even before you string up, so be prepared to live and learn with an open mind and all will be fine.

Mags to read even before you hit the water: Kitesurf, always a good giggle at the pic of freestyleebuys and Kiteworld which is much better at the real world (IMO)

BNorrow a DVD off a mate, not a flashy travel one nor a jumptastic extreme one, just on that give a little instruction and a feel for the sport.

Babes love Kiters too.

Babes love Kiters too.

Pity I’m married.

I spend a lot of weekends down in Pevensey Bay nr Eastbourne in Sussex, seems to be perfect in the Bay, or it’s just been frequently easterly recently. I’ll have a look around for a day lesson, Cheers all.

I find this site pretty useful for wind direction and speed, I ride a lot on the downs, the wind can make or break you. xcweather.co.uk