You want to learn how to kitesurf. When you inquire about how long it takes others to learn, the majority of them will have a different idea. You merely want an understanding of what to expect and how quickly you’ll be able to feel the heavenly sensation of being propelled by the wind!
What is the average time to learn to kitesurf? Learning to kitesurf should take between 15 and 20 hours, including instructor training. Actual learning time is determined by many factors, including your learning abilities, fitness level, wind and water conditions, the number of times you practice each day, and the quality of your teaching.
So, in a nutshell, if you really set your mind to it and have the right circumstances and teacher, what they claim is true: you can actually learn to kiteboard in only a few days.
Let’s look at each of the steps separately and how much time they usually take.
Flying and security: instructor lesson
The first thing you should understand is how the wind works and how to fly a kite. You’ll most likely start with a trainer kite, which is a tiny, low-powered kite that you simply handle without wearing a harness.
Basic wind theory is covered. It usually takes less than half an hour to learn how to fly a tiny kite, master turning it around, provide power, and feel the traction.
Then you’ll go ahead and purchase a real kitesurf kite, which has the ability to pull you and needs you to wear a waist harness to connect the lines.
You’ll learn how to set up your kite and lines, how to fly it in the neutral and power zones, how to land your kite safely, and how to depower the kite and use the fast release emergency function.
Body dragging: instructor lesson
The fourth stage is body dragging, which is being dragged by your kite in the water without a board in a controlled manner and direction. This is generally a tiring step, especially if the wind is strong or gusty.
That’s when the rubber meets the road: while flying a kite on the beach is pleasant, this becomes somewhat more difficult.
Learn how to get into the water with your kite up, be dragged downwind, left and right, away from and back toward the beach. You’ll learn how to control your kite while it’s detached (bar disconnected from harness).
You also acquire some important self-rescue skills. This phase generally takes another 3 hours of comprehensive guided instruction, as well as full safety gear (floating vest, helmet etc). Because the body dragging will frequently take you far down the beach (downwind), you’ll spend a portion of this time walking back up it on the sand.
Water start: instructor lesson
The next step in kitesurfing is to use your kiteboard. This is a challenging phase because you don’t yet have complete control of your kite, especially when in the water, but now you’ve got a new major issue to worry about: your board.
This section challenges you to draw a new design each day for three weeks, which is only enough time to master it if you work fast.
Here, you’ll learn how to get in the water with your board in hand and put yourself into a water start position with your feet in the straps while maintaining control of the kite position through the bar to pull your kite into standing position on your board, ride forward for a moment before recovering your board by dragging it upwind.
Another negative aspect of an electric skateboard is that you must also become accustomed to riding your board in both directions, which for some people feels unusual and takes practice.
You’ll most likely end up even further down the beach in this step than you did in the previous one, as a result of all of your attempts to get riding on your surfboard. So, again, be prepared to walk upwind on the beach with your kite flying behind you!
Although this may be frustrating, it is an unavoidable element of the learning process. It’s just a matter of whether or not you have someone pick you up in a buggy or something.
Actual riding: instructor lesson
At this stage, you’re finished with the majority of the work; now it’s time to have some fun.
This step is all about paddling. However, you can’t yet ride upwind, so you’re just riding downwind and not coming back up, which once again implies long tedious walks on the beach with your kite pulling in the other direction! This takes up over half of your time.
This area teaches you how to bend your board and maintain power in your kite while edging it and keeping it flying following a water start. You learn to improve your body posture, board stance, and leg pressure to edge your board and keep power in your kite while maintaining tension in your lines.
And you’ll waste a lot of time waddling back up, getting back into the water, and repeating the process again. As a result, you’ll have little effective riding time to work on your stance and edging pushing your board upwind in opposition to your lines’ direction.
Riding upwind
At this point, you’ve spent around 12 hours training your brain and muscles to power and depower the kite, get yourself pulled in a controlled way in the water, and get up and stay up for a moment on that board while appreciating the traction in your harness.
Your last major challenge, however, is learning to ride upwind. You’re getting tired of spending the bulk of your lessons walking on the beach. Plus, you feel stupid walking while all these more experienced kitesurfers sit out for hours without coming in for miles!
Take note that this is where many people abandon, even though they’ve put in all of the effort. The problem is that up to this point, most learning processes and times are quite predictable for most individuals: give or take a few hours, most people can learn to ride downwind within these parameters.
When it comes to riding upwind, however, things are more unpredictable. You must achieve this aha moment when your body understands how to keep tension in your kite lines and how to really propel your board upwind. There are a few factors that might prevent this blissful moment from happening:
- Between beach upwind strolls, you’ll get little worthwhile exercise time.
- Flat water and steady, yet sufficient wind are seldom ideal for sailing.
- The majority of individuals do not have free time every day or week to kitesurf.
- Not everyone has kitesurfer pals who can provide laser-targeted advise on how to stay upwind.
The good news is that you are not the first kitesurfing student to experience this, and you will be able to relate with most kitesurf instructors – girls and boys, young and old, big and small. So you may rest certain that you will as well; the challenge now is how long it will take!
As a guideline, you should be able to reach upwind within 3-8 more hours of independent practice (including beach walks!) However, if you have previous sailing, windsurfing, wakeboarding, or even surfing experience, things will go considerably faster.
Beginner kitesurfing tips to learn faster
Finally, I’d like to offer you a few final suggestions that might assist you in cutting down your learning curve:
- Once you’ve completed the above steps with a teacher, ask your institution if you can pair up with another learner of the same level, borrow one kite, one board and two harnesses, and trade turns to practice riding upwind and assisting each other walk back up for as long as required.
- You might want to plan a set of several independent kitesurf sessions right after finishing your last guided lesson so that your body and mind are still fresh from the training and you may immediately build on it. If you wait too long, you’ll have to restart part of the process – but much faster.
- If at all possible, take a trip to a kitesurfing location known for its excellent wind – meaning consistent onshore or sideshore winds of 15-25 knots, if feasible in a lagoon or lake surrounded by sandbanks with a broad beach to launch and land your kite. This will be well worth the investment, and it can really help you get up to speed!
