I have thought about taking up Kiteboarding for a while and I've now decided to take the plunge. How many lessons/hours would you say it takes the average person to get up on a board and be able to ride. Please consider I haven't had any previous Wake boarding experience. I have done a bit of Long boarding in the past though.

Thanks

Oz

if your not totally unco it will prob be 3-4 lessons and up to 10 personal sessions on the water before you feel 'comfortable' on a board.

if your going to get into it the best advice i can give is to buy a small trainer kite first ($50-150) and fly it in the park. a lot.

kiteboarding is 70% kite control. 30% board skills. (could try wakeboarding too)

after you've had lessons, buy a second hand board and kite. talk to other riders and learn about your local spot.

beware. getting into this sport will part u from your money. fast

Hey Oz

A spot of Kite Landboarding could be a good way to get into the whole kiting scene, asit is ideal way to build up your kite control skills and balance for the water.

As Fullylit says, most kite sports are more about your kite flying ability than the board skills, and landboarding allows you to practice your kite control and also be moving on a mountainboard within a very short period of time, (probably less than an hour..!)

The initial outlay for landboarding is generally cheaper than kitesurfing, and can be done on grass, dirt, hard-packed sand, salt and mud flats. You dont need as much wind to Landboard as you do to Kitesurf and swimming skills are not required.

Once you have mastered the basics of landboarding, it should decrease the number of lessons you'll need to transfer to the water. Plus you always have your landboard for those low wind days....

Check out the KGB forum for more advice...

Thanks. I've already got a trainer kite, that I've had for about 2 months. I was thinking about just going straight into the water rather than getting the landboard though. I know Kitesurfing is quite expensive initially. But it'll be even more expensive if I buy a landboard.

Thanks once again.