Hey All,
Pretty new to Perth and have pretty much fallen in love with Kitesurfing. Done a fair bit of surfing and snowboarding back home so I hope that puts me in good stead,but after doing all the sorta research and finally getting the money together to get a kit and some decent lessons there's only about 6 weeks left of the 'season'. After reading and hearing stories I don't fancy my chances in winter with no clue! So I wanted to know when the earliest time I should be starting my lessons over here,and are there any recommendations at all,or does everyone look after each other so it doesn't matter??? This is gonna sound pretty lame, but is there any decent DVD,books or sites for beginners, just it seems theres a lot to learn about the rig,kites and obviously the wind or is just an experience thing,im getting the impression you can't just throw yourself at this sport like the others.
Cheers guys and help would be cool
If you have the money for the lessons get them in now and get the extra lessons if you need it .Practice every available hour.If you have 6- 8 hours of lessons with a board sports background you should be able to enter the world of free riding through March.In april there is stuff all wind and May the storm fronts start there raging menace.
In the winter there are some light wind days where there are no clouds and it is sunny.Its serious light wind stuff and you need the light wind gear to have fun in it.17 m kites and big wider twin tips or race boards.
Easterly winds are common in the winter so river kiting is the go.
If its cloudy forget about it .The wind can go from 15 knots to 50 knots on a storm front .Its technical kite flying in these conditions.Its dangerous for an even an advanced rider to kite in it.
There is a couple of cheap options in Asia through the Australian winter around Bali or Thailand .If you got the cash go to the Cocos Islands.
Just a note these books and websites, DVD's ect are only good compliments to full kiteboarding course with a really good instructor.
grab the DVDs etc to learn the basics.
Get lessons in Feb / March if you can. See how you go, and if your doing good, only kite in winter on the back of the storm-fronts (after the clouds, rain and gusty winds have gone. There are generally some lighter / ok winds behind the storm front that last a few hours, then the wind is dead. Only kite this stuff if you've well mastered the basics in Feb / March / April.
Get a 1m or 1.5m trainer kite and practice with that all winter in the storm winds so you know how to handle a kite really well by next summer.
Get more lessons next summer and get amongst it!
Have fun, but be safe. Absolutely nothing can replace the essential safety skills you learn from professional lessons.
Cheers.
If you don't get around to sorting your lessons this season you could always head north of Perth at the beginning of next to get yourself a head start. We were kiting solid seabreezes as early as August this year in Exmouth, pretty fine ground for learning too..
