I am often questioned at the beach, "What is that sport called? How much for one of those? where do you get one of those?"
Well, the sport is called kiteboarding add waves and it becomes Kitesurfing.This sport is not for the faint at heart, it takes a lot of time and effort to learn. If it was easy everyone would be doing it, like jet skiing.
If you want to fast track through the learning faze, you need to book a trip to the Outerbanks, Cape Hatteras, NC, where they offer a kitesurfing course called "zero to hero in four days". This course will cost around $400, but it is well worth it. This will cut out months of anguish. A lot of Caribbean destinations have these courses as well.
If you opt to go it alone, first, you need to get a trainer kite which runs around $150. You can call http://www.myerskitesurfing.com/ at 751-9234 and he will set you up. Second, it would help if you know how to wakeboard.
Best beaches to learn to fly your kite are Woodlawn Beach near the Ford Plant, Bennett Beach in Grand View Bay USA and Pleasant Beach in Canada, or any wide open area with clean wind. You may see a lot of kiteboarders at Hamburg Beach, but this is not a good place to learn, the beach is crowded narrow and has a lot of rocks, if you look like you do not know what you are doing, someone may ask you to leave. So do your self a favor and do not go there until you can hold your own. Also, make sure no people are in the kite crash zone, because some one can get hurt. If you have swirling wind, where the kite just falls out of the sky because of a wind shift, you need a new spot. This type of wind is dangerous.
After mastering the trainer kite, then it time to buy some real equipment which may run $500 used to $1500 new. After learning how to marry flying the kite and getting up on a kiteboard, then you will need 2 to 3 kites for different wind conditions. For example a top of the line North 12 meter kite retails for around $1300, a new top of the line North board may run $400 or more.
Best beaches to learn to fly your kite are Woodlawn Beach near the Ford Plant, Bennett Beach in Grand View Bay USA and Pleasant Beach in Canada, or any wide open area with clean wind. You may see a lot of kiteboarders at Hamburg Beach, but this is not a good place to learn, the beach is crowded narrow and has a lot of rocks, if you look like you do not know what you are doing, someone may ask you to leave. So do your self a favor and do not go there until you can hold your own. Also, make sure no people are in the kite crash zone, because some one can get hurt. If you have swirling wind, where the kite just falls out of the sky because of a wind shift, you need a new spot. This type of wind is dangerous.
After mastering the trainer kite, then it time to buy some real equipment which may run $500 used to $1500 new. After learning how to marry flying the kite and getting up on a kiteboard, then you will need 2 to 3 kites for different wind conditions. For example a top of the line North 12 meter kite retails for around $1300, a new top of the line North board may run $400 or more.
After all is said and done, this sport is a money pit but is worth every penny. It is full throttle adrenalin. Once you are ready for the best equipment on the market then my shop urban threads can get you any North Kite product for a good price, or buy your stuff from Bill Myers. In any case buy local!!!
Do yourself a favor and book a week-long trip to North Carolina.
Good Luck, Wardo.
