The best kite for Teaching?

[Teabageppo]

Run a kite school do you? I know someone who runs the biggest kite school in these parts and using expensive neos is not an economic choice.

[fernmanus]

The best place to start people is on the snow (ideally with skis if they know how to ski already). In that situation, the Peak 4 is the best kite for teaching on snow. The snow is a good primer because one can learn good kite control skills which are essential when learning the water start.

[drsurf]

I don’t understand why people recommend the Peak4 for beginner kiters, not that it’s a bad kite, but relaunch would be tricky

The reasons are:
- the kite generate zero lift, by far the safest kite to teach on
- the kite is amazingly well behaved in the sky
- the kite pulls hard but then depowers well allowing the use of a 5m kite in sub 20 knots
- the kite flies extremely well in low winds making it safer because you can teach in lower winds

Since you are teaching you can simply relaunch the kite for the student. You'll also find the student will crash the Peak 4 less than an LEI kite.

After the Peak 4 I would highly recommend a 1 strut kite for teaching because they have a very good characteristic for beginners: they still fly well when way over sheeted.

90% of beginners are over sheeting their kite all the time and the 1 strut kites fly better over sheeted than anything else on the market.

+1 Peak4
I must add that if you haven't tried a Peak4 don't condemn it as an option. I couldn't see the point of a cheap, single skin kite for hydrofoiling with surf wings when I had the option of using my good performing twin skin foil kites and wave oriented LEI's. However once I flew a Peak4 I hardly used anything else.

The same characteristics that make the Peak4 good for foiling are just what i wished I had when teaching people to kite years ago. As well as what Slappysan has stated, I would add that if you are teaching, the Peak4 is cheaper than virtually all other comparable kites. Your students can also fly it into the ground repeatedly without the worry of bursting/puncturing bladders or cells. However your student is unlikely to hit the ground/water as often due to the easy flying & depowering characteristics of the Peak4, even in 4-6 knots of wind.