Took my first Kiteboarding lesson ever with East of Maui in Dewey, Delaware last week.
I've watched many videos, flown trainer kites for fun, and I thought I knew what to expect, but I was wrong. The conditions were Gusty 20knots with gusts up to 30. We went over the safety features, which was easy. When we got into the water first thoughts were: Holy crap, big kites are a lot harder to control. During body dragging, I kept crashing the kite into the water. You almost have to feel where the kite is. After 1 hour of fighting with kite and getting saltwater up my nostrils, we called it a day. We were practicing on 12M North Orbit.
But wait, there is more. I had already purchased my gear. After lessons, I figured I go back and practice on my own. So I proudly pulled out my Cabrinha Switchblade 12M for the first time. Went into the water, and same thing. I kept crashing the kite. I tried adding the board (i know, too soon), and face-planted a few times to replenish my salt again .
Lesson learned: learn the kite first and wait for the board.
Few questions:
1. Should I buy a 5M kite and learn how the kite reacts. But I feel it may not be as productive since 5M kite is going to react differently than 9 or 12m kite.
2. How often do you look at your kite while riding? I am trying to figure out when I will be ready to add the board.
3. When I let go of the bar, should kite automatically stay at 12 O'clock or it can fall on the sides? During the lesson, the kite did not want to stay up and kept falling to the side.