Below is a video of JohnO after his initial 2-3 hour beginner kite lesson.  He has great speed and form for only kiting about 10 minutes in his life.

Now that JohnO has completed his beginner lesson, he needs more time on the kite to get comfortable handling more power.  John also needs to improve his light wind kite flying.  In light winds, technique plays a big factor in keeping the kite up.  John was flying a 5 meter Naish Helix (4 line SLE Kite with 100% depower).  Don Altmeyer, an excellent kiter was kiting with a 12 meter Naish Helix at the same time.  On soft water John would not have enough power to get up and go, but Don with the 12 meter would have had enough power to get up and even jump.

After the beginner lesson one needs to put another 15 – 20 hours on the kite to build on their skills so they can handle the power required to get up on soft water.  One can shorten that time with another lesson or two.

The Winter is more than half over so don’t procrastinate if you want to kite this summer.  GET OUT and RIDE!