Hi guys, I want to tell you my story, it's a lot of drama but I will try to make it short as possible but the reality is much worse than it will sound. I started learning ks by myself, I bought cheap equipment and watched videos and practiced by myself (I know, I am a crazy bastard) this was until I got stuck at one point and couldn't make any further progress. So I decided to have a lesson and get good equipment, I talked with a kitesurfer I met at the beach about ks and he suggested this other guy he knew. So I met this guy and we started talking and he offered me free lessons if I bought my equipment from him and I thought it was a good deal but turned out to be a nightmare. He was so happy to sell me the equipment and it happened all so fast but when it came to the lessons I had to chase him for weeks. Then, he finally decided to give me a lesson.

When we first arrived, he told me to practice body dragging (which I did before by myself), meanwhile, he took his board and went out kitesurfing. After about 45 minutes doing that I wanted move on to serious things. He just stood with me a few minutes then left me. I was stuck at the same part I always get stuck at. I succeeded to do waterstart, then after surfing for about 4 meters I lost power and I just went down in the water. And he wasn't there to give me the advice to fix this. The whole point of the lesson was that he help me with this part. I kept practicing by my self and i felt more confident to do that because he was around but I ended up by losing my new board. The ridiculous thing was, nothing ever happened to me when I was practicing alone but when I was getting my first "lesson" I lost my board!! After that I had a chat with him and he told me some people just get stuck like that and they need a lot of practice where as other people can just do it.

I would like to know if this advice was true or can I work at fixing this alone? Does anyone have any advice on how to get past this point? Or, should I be looking to get more lessons?

Man there’s some low life’s in this world- couldn’t live up to his end of the deal.

Has any one shown you the safety mechanisms on your kite, talked you through what to look for before entering the water like storm fronts, rocks, emerging cloud cover, lighting to name a few. What about self rescue, right of way rules, death loops, inverted kites? If the answer is no to any of these I would seriously think about a lesson.

If the answer is yes I would still consider a lesson but I reckon you are choking your kite because that’s what I use to do and the outcome was the same as what you have described. Basically you are pulling back on the bar too much. Google “choking a kite” and you will find some info and most probably the links will be from this forum.

He’s right, you will get passed the issue with practise but it would have been nice if he had told you what you were doing wrong so you didn’t have to guess. Hope you get your board back...

Plummet said..
If you have progressed to water starts by yourself in a short amount of time that is really good. Most people take ages just to be able to fly the kite in the wind window.

You may only need a lesson for a couple of hours to sort the water starts. Also make sure you know solo launching techniques and self rescue.

As for advice. Work the kite up and down more to keep power in it. That's the main reason newbies sink after a few meters. thye dive the kite down then don't keep it moving.

lessons are the way to go mate

yep same thing happened to me when i started off, just surfed a couple of meter and then boom, sink back in, loss of power in the kite,
It still happens to me some times, and as you I never took a lesson, only a couple of fellow kiters helped me out here and there, who were amateurs them selves but could do jumps, so they knew more than me anyways.
My last kiting I could barely keep an edge, i started off nicely but then after going through the surf I lost my speed and bang back in the water i went.
I was using a 10m ozone slingshot in 20 knots wind,
but before I was using the slingshot I had another kite, a 12m jekyii which was great, pulled me through the surf like no stoping.
But then an disaster happened, I boosted of a wave and landed crashing, of course when i did that soon enough my kite ended up in the surf where it got trashed by the waves.

I barely made it back to the beach and decided than to use the 10m slingshot which as I said earlier didn't pull me.
But my advise to you is just keep practising, when you start of throw the kite from 11 o'clock the opposite way you about to go in the power zone and once you have confident speed start edging.
Don't edge to hard or you will lose the power in you kite, although when you have the power in the kite you will feel when you can start edging up wind, If you kiting in 20 knot with a 12m kite or bigger then you can start edging up wind almost immediately.
Works for me.

Some more things to think about:
Since you are able to get up the first time you know how to dive the kite to get it into the power zone. The trick is to keep it deep so it continually generates power. Don't let it get out to the edge of the wind window. You can do this by either speeding up yourself so that the kite speed forward is matched by your board speed (hence it never makes it to the edge) or by moving the kite to get it back deeper into the power zone. GreenArrowz covered pretty well how to get the kite back into the power zone, so here's a few tips on getting your board speed going:
1. First priority is getting up on the plane. Try pointing your board at the kite (usually this is about 45 degrees downwind) and let it pull you as fast as it can. Use the power to get out of the water and going faster than running speed. Once you're on the plane (leaving a smooth wake behind you) you can start to think about cutting across wind or upwind.
2. Don't wait until the kite is deep in the power zone to start getting out of the water, you need that power to get up to speed. As soon as you dive the kite and feel it pulling, get up onto the board ASAP. I like to think of it as 'jumping' onto the board in a crouch so that you're out of the water with the minimum of kite power used. Keep the board fairly flat on the water, not leaning heavily backwards. You should be up by the time the kite hits the most power.
3. If you're still running out of time to get up on the plane, try diving the kite from further back in the window (or even from the other side of the window when you're confident) or concentrate on getting out of the water quicker.
4. You need LOTS of wind. More wind = more power = easier to be pulled out of the water and get going without being incredibly efficient. If there are other kiters out there, you are probably going to need a slightly bigger kite than what they have. Stay within your comfort zone though.

I'm in a fairly simular postion. Though I had a couple of lessons. Found in reality I learned more from surfing these forums and watch progression videos on youtube.

The best thing I ever did was just go down the beach and talk to some kiters (maybe a little harder now in winter). Even if you don't kite just launch them, share some stories and take any advice they offer.

I also got on facebook and found a couple of other newbies. When we ride together we watch each other and point out things (we think cause we still suck) that we might be doing wrong.

If you think a lesson would give you more confidence then go for it. But in my opinion

Ramzi said..
Thanks guys, I really appreciate all the answers and it really cleared my head. I have decided to have one lesson, I will take all your advice and do my best when I have my lesson and see what will happen. I contacted the guy today and hopefully if it's windy this weekend I will do a lesson with him. It will be great to build my confidence again and pick up any new skills I don't have already.

firstly ask him what he's going to teach you in this one lesson. If it's the same old body dragging, kite control, etc, then you're wasting your money. I think you"re at the stage where you need someone experienced to watch you, pay attention, and offer honest advice. You seem to have got the hang of it (no pun intended) so it's a matter of practice, practice, practice, but at this stage with someone you're willing to pay to give you professional tips.
good luck mate. You're part of the team now!

if you have made it to waterstarts it just takes practice. Watch waterstart vids and have a go, you dont need lessons if you are already flying the kite and attempting waterstarts. When its windy it will be easier to not loose power

Have to say theres some good advise there , but some pretty horrible stuff too.
If your a beginner get lessons ... Simples.
It'll save you time and move you to where you want to be , Up and riding.
I've taught literally 100's of peeps to kite and it is very rare these days , with modern gear and new technique that most people will not be at least at the stage of riding for several meters before crashing or loosing power after their second session on the water.
However prior to this in their first lesson they have learnt kite control , setup , launch/land , body drag , emergency release , deepwater packdown , self rescue , site assessment , kitesurfing theory .
Dont get lessons from a cowboy goto a proper school with certified instructors that teach a recognized syllabus .
Good luck with the lessons , hopefully we hear your up riding real soon.
Oh btw the guy who sold you that kit is a asshole .. i'd like to know what he sold you and for how much??
And tbh he deserves to be named , at least it might save someone from the same experience you had.

Its good to hear that not everyone is telling you to get lessons. If you can control the kite enough to body drag then you will be OK. All the videos tell you what you need to know about the safety gear, so you will be sweet with that.

Your problem sounds that you just need to pump the kite a bit. Not with the bar but working the kite up and down. Talking to the locals is the best way of learning. Unfortunatly if you rock up to the beach and ask someone for a hand when it is your first time everyone is too scared to offer advice. So you are then left with having your GF to help you launch the kite (or in my case I hot launched it, was Sh!tting bricks at the time but it all worked out ok).

Once the lads at the beach see that you can body drag and can control your kite they will be more inclined to help. Maybe just take some beers down with you every time and hand them out at the end of a session. People will talk to you if you have beer!!! Then next time you see them they will talk to you at the start of the session if they think that you have cold beer in the car for after kiting is finished. They may even launch you and spend 20min or so helping you before they go out.

Plenty of people have been self taught. The guys that got lessons hate it. Good on ya for having a go.

I had lessons from a IKO instructor, legit, expensive and was a complete waste of time. The guy just didnt give a s*** and didnt care and like many people in this sport just wanted to make fast money from learners. I've seen some legit instructors on the beach just yelling at some confused learner.

When learning you need good advice from a kiting friend (this is the best IMO), or an instructor that cares. You really need to ask around for who is good and who isnt and do some checks. I s*** on the IKO.

fingerbone said..
NAME AND SHAME. A5SHOLES.
If you feel you still need a lesson then get one. You took a short cut and it DIDDNT work for you ( does for some ). But don't give up. It's a great sport and will give you lots of happy endings. ??

Yeah I kind Of agree and disagree with fingerbone here, I disagree that you took a shortcut.

Every shop going offers this deal of free lessons for gear. New gear obviously gets you more bargaining power.
I'm just wondering what type of gear he got you onto?


I agree with fb that the guy is definitely a selfish prick. That is the worst lesson you could get. Dicks like that give instructors a bad name
If he is running a commercial operation you should definitely name the C U Next Tuesday that ripped you off so others can
totally avoid him or at least
get a heads up on how to deal with him if he becomes their last resort. Like you would, sort your price out, get the lessons,
pay for them then get the kite at the pre-arranged price & hopefully not have to get more lessons from someone proper!

Do a bit of googling (add the name seabreeze to your search!) and you'll find a good instructor down your way.
Like most folk here have said, ''stick with it!'' , you'll be gliding along in no time.

I also highly recommend you to take some lessons with a good instructor. If possible in some lagoon with flat water like in http://kiteboarding.photos/images-videos/soma-bay-kiteboarding-spot.

Guys FYI for some reason Pattiecannon's revived a 2 month old thread here and OP has run off after his 2 posts.. so you're just barking at the moon here..

Ramzi said..
Hi guys, I want to tell you my story, it's a lot of drama but I will try to make it short as possible but the reality is much worse than it will sound. I started learning ks by myself

I stopped reading there.

The answer is YESSS !!!

Do it!

EDIT: Dogh! Just realised how old this thread is. IGNORE

Hi guys!! first of all I would like to thank you all for your support and advice. I am so happy today I realised my dream I surfed today and I really enjoyed it a lot. What happened is that I contacted an instructor here but because it is winter and rare for it to be windy, we couldn't do it so we decided to leave the lesson until October. In the same time I contacted a newbie but he is better than me and we were lucky to have some windy days last weekend. He helped me with some advice and the next day a local kiter was watching me and he gave me some tips so I gave it a go today and it work out!! Now, about the guy who sold me the gear and promised a free lesson; he really wasted a lot of my time and money and made me so depressed in that time. I even thought about quitting kite in that time, I shared my story in the SAKSA group in Facebook mentioning his name so people know who they are dealing with now. I have moved on, he is a part of the past so I don't care anymore...