Kitesurfing Lessons
Kitesurfing appeared in the late 90’s and Kevin started dabbling in it then. Over the years he has kited in the Gorge, Texas, Hatteras, Florida, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and in many locations in Wisconsin. He was not comfortable teaching kiting (because of all the accidents and close calls) until 2006 when Naish came out with the bridled SLE kites. These kites as well as other brands have significantly more depower which made them safer and easier to ride. He started teaching kiting then, preferring to teach in the winter because the learning curve is much shorter and easier. See the Wind Power Blog kitesurf posts.
Kitesurfing Lessons
Wind Power instructs Kiting safely. Small Trainer Kites are used first to get used to steering a kite with a bar. The student then moves up to a slightly larger 4-line kite with 100% depower, learning the skills needed to launch, depower, fly and park the kite. After one is confident and comfortable flying the kite on land they move on to the next step: flying a larger kite and doing body drags in the water. After one has learned the skills to do controlled body drags they are ready to progress to learning how to ride the Kiteboard.
| Time: | By Appointment, call 920-251-1002 to schedule a time. |  |
| Equipment: | Safety gear is required! Its best to bring your own helmet, knee & elbow pads. Wind Power does have safety gear but it may not fit as good as personal gear, use at your own risk. Wind Power will provide the kites and harness. If you have a kite and/or harness bring it along. Wind Power can get you comfortable with your equipment. |
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| Cost: | $50 per hour |
LEARN KITESURFING in the WINTER! Proven SUCCESS with Wind Power!
Kevin prefers to teach KiteSurfing lessons in the winter because it’s so much easier and quicker to learn. In 2 – 3 hours of lessons a beginner will be kiting on skis or a snowboard. Skis are the easiest, if one is very comfortable on a snowboard that will work also. In the winter the same learning process is used, except the body drag portion is eliminated. Instead at that point one will start kiting.
Click for winter photos and video
Why is the winter so much easier?- It takes a lot less power to get one moving on ice or snow than in the soft water. To wakeboard it takes a lot of horsepower to pull one up on the water. That power has to be generated by the kiter. To learn that skill plus balance on the board when you get pulled up takes a lot of trial and error learning, (body dragging).
- Wind direction in relationship to the shore line is very important in summer kiting. You need side to onshore winds. In the winter it does not matter you just go far enough out to where the wind is good.
- Its much easier to learn how to stay up wind in the winter the first time you kite. In the summer one learns how to get a ride on the water first and then they have to get pretty comfortable kiting to start learning the skill of staying upwind. So in the winter you don’t have to constantly walk yourself and the kite upwind.
- Learning a new sport in 2 – 3 hours is way more fun for the student and the instructor. Plus it’s much easier on the wallet.
Kiting as much fun in the winter as the summer, there are even kiting events in the winter. The same inflatable kite you use in the summer works great in the winter. If you practice enough in the winter and develop and perfect your kiteflying skills come summer (soft water) you will be skilled enough to fly the kite aggressively enough to pull yourself out of the water with minimal or no lessons at all. Most of the kiters in this area have learned in the winter first. So schedule your kiting lessons in early winter and develop your skills so you can join in the summer fun!