Newbie saying hi and wanting some advice!Please read

[steph_rh]

Hi Everyone!

I've just joined today so sorry if this is in the wrong section!

I'm Steph and I'm 23 from Yorkshire. I work for a watersports and snowboarding company and we sell quite alot of kitesurfing equipment. I have never really tried many watersports but a customer I managed to get a really good deal on his kites for was telling me how much he absolutly loved kiteing and that I should try it. He really got me thinking about it then I saw a program on sunday that had it on and it looked great so here I am! I really want to give it a go but I thought I'd find some stuff out before I did. I'd really appreciate any advice you give me!

Is it a sport that you can take up at any age? How fit do you need to be? I know you'll have to be a pretty good swimmer!! Do you do any extra training like at the gym? I'm going to find someone to give me lessons, where would you recommend I go and is there a particular instructor that is good? Is it more of a guys sport (not that that bothers me!!lol) or are there plently of girlys that do it?

Sorry for all the questions! We do demos from work where we take loads of the new windsurf equipment to Bridlington and Grimworth and I went to the Bridlington one at Fraisthorpe (think thats how you spell it!) and it was great to watch the kiters.

Would love to hear from you, tell me how you got started and give me some advice! Would be great to meet some new friends on here too! Hears to the start of my kitesurfing career!lol! Thanks!

[tautologies]

so you're good to go!!!
I have no idea about where you can get lessons, but do get them.

You can do this sport almost at any level of fitness...normal fitness is fine (too uch chips'n gavy is not good ) . Get a good instructor, ask him about the kite size and type. If you guys sell the gear you probably get it for way cheaper than anything that the instructor guy can whip up. Most new kites are good, but not all are suitable for beginners. Depending on how much you want to spend...if you can spend any amount, get a beginners kite. If not then get a kite like the boxer SLE, it can be used by beginners, but is not a beginners kite, if you get what I mean.


alex

[ScottM]

I first saw kitesurfing in Tiree! Looked to be a perfect spot to learn, though it is a bit out the way! Great party life at night when the uni's go there!!

http://www.tireewatersports.co.uk

[Pike]

Hi Steph

I'm a kitesurfer and landboarder from Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Welcome to the kitesurf world!!

First of all go to the flexifoil forum - It is UK based and you will get loads of info and more specific to west yoekshire - there are meet threads and plenty of good folk to help you.
Which shop are you from - Robin Hood??

Anyway the way it works here ref lessons tend to be guys operatig out of vans at certain beach spots.
Call James from cumulus kitesurfing (do a google search) - he taught me, is excellent and works out of fraisethorpe and/or redcar. Like me you have the choice of west or east coast. best west coast beach for you is ainsdale near Formby, best east coast is redcar, cleethorpes or fraisethorpe.

First priority is get lessons AT LEAST to level 2 for safety's sake. then the world is your oyster - no age limitations, girls rock, you'll get fitter BUT i warn you that you will get sucked into a passion you will not be able to stop....ever!!

David

[Thermal]

Congrats on taking the first step to the best decision and sport you'll ever get involved with!

Age, sex, and to some extent fitness are irrelevant to jumping in, and rest assured your fitness level with far exceed your expectations once you're hooked and become an avid kiter.

I recommend you start with a trainer kite to get the feel on sand before moving to the next level e.g. larger kites. Once you've mastered the trainer kite e.g. can fly perfectly without ever looking at it, definitely hook up with an instructor to move onto larger kites, a harness, etc. so you can start body dragging in the water, etc. From there the learning curve grows exponentially, and you'll be rocking; the only tough decision will be which equipment to purchase.

Enjoy!

[uncleneil]

A question for you Steph. Maybe I am hereing you wrong.

You work for a watersports company that sells lots of kitesurfing gear and you managed to get someone a really good deal on equipment. How do you sell the gear if you know nothing about the sport? If customers asked you these same questions that you are asking us then what have you been telling them?

Just very curious!

[Slider]

A question for you Steph. Maybe I am hereing you wrong.

You work for a watersports company that sells lots of kitesurfing gear and you managed to get someone a really good deal on equipment. How do you sell the gear if you know nothing about the sport? If customers asked you these same questions that you are asking us then what have you been telling them?

Just very curious!

This point got raised (a damned site less politely too) on one of the UK forums. Apparently this lass works in the back office on some admin function and is not customer facing so has no need to know about product - as yet. The thing is if this is the outlet I'm thinking off the front of house staff didn't know much more about kitesurfing when I visited a while back

[ScottM]

Maybe she sells the beenies and sweat tops!! But yeah valid question as you think her coworkers would steer her right?

Then again I've seen kite reps who can't even kite, go out and make a nuisance of themselves!!

It's really funny watching them instruct their customers on how to kite.... blind leading the blind!!

[tautologies]

how about people who hardly can go upwind teaching others at the beach? It happens...

a.

[ScottM]

Nah.... I'm talking about guys who can't kite period, reping gear and giving lessons! They can tell you everything about the gear, like from a book! But say hey go out to that bouy and back, you'd have them panicing!!