Kiteboarding Lessons Syllabus

The following is a list of skills that are required to be completed in order to be a proficient kiteboarder. Depending on your level of experience, these can take different amounts of time. Some of them can be skipped due to previous experience if you show that you are already proficient. You should have experience flying a trainer kite before you take a lesson. Board skills are optional but will make it much easier for you to learn to kiteboard. A great way to practice your board skills is wakeboarding behind a boat or a cable park.

Land Lesson

1. Orientation - Introduction of instructor(s) and the Blast Kiteboarding School, filling out liability waiver, questions and answers, and a breakdown of any past experience that the student has with respect to kiteboarding.
2. Establish Goals - What are you as a student hoping to gain from this lesson? Make sure that the student knows the skills that he/she is going to be expected to learn, the risks involved, the training site and conditions, equipment, and safety concerns.
3. Wind Theory - Understanding the wind window, the power zone, the neutral position, the edge of the wind window, and where the kite is launched and landed. Check out these graphics
4. Setting up Equipment - Choosing the right equipment for the conditions, inflating and securing kite, unwinding and walking out lines, checking line length, hooking up lines to the kite, explaining the use of the bar and safety system.
5. Introduction to Kiteboarding - Pre-flight checks, including checking to make sure lines are correctly connected, establishing a safe launching and landing spot, hand signals, and knowledge of kite movement in order to create consistent power on one side of the wind window.
6. Flying on Land - Launching and landing the kite safely at the edge of the wind window, kite control, kite placement in and around the power zone, figure 8s on each side of the wind window, keeping the kite stable in the neutral positions, flying the kite using the feel of the bar without looking at the kite, self-launch, and actual use of the safety system. These skills will be taught first on short lines with less power and then on longer lines with more power if conditions permit. Once on longer lines, the student will learn to fly while hooked into the harness, using the depower loop, and flying with one hand.
7. Simulated Water Starts - Using the power of the kite to pull the student up from a sitting position in shallow water using both an upstroke and a downstroke of the kite into the power zone. At this point the student should be comfortable flying the kite, and understand the reaction of the kite in the different parts of the wind window. All skills on land will be done unhooked from the harness so that the student can release the bar and activate the safety system at any time.

Water Lesson

1. Body Drags - With the kite on the side of the wind window closest to the water, the student will fly the kite slowly up and down in a controlled manner while hooked into the harness steering with one hand on the control bar, while using the other hand to help guide them perpendicular to the wind direction out into the water. Once safely away from the launch area, the student will then unhook from the harness and steer the kite in a figure 8 motion on each side of the wind window to pull them back through the water without the board.
2. Water Relaunch - Once the student is comfortable using the kite to pull them through the water, they will purposely crash the kite into the water on the edge of the wind window, wait until the kite moves directly downwind, raise the control bar over their head and then lunge towards the kite in one motion to cause the kite to flip onto its back in the water. Then they will steer the control bar in the direction that the kite is moving, and once it has reached the edge of the wind window, straighten the bar and pull slightly in the opposite direction to bring the kite slowly up out of the water and up into the neutral position.
3. Water Starts - Using a bigger board and smaller kite than a competent rider would use for the wind conditions, the student will learn to control the kite overhead while hooked into the harness with one hand, sitting in shallow water, and place the board directly downwind while inserting their feet in the footstraps. This will include knowing what to do if the student starts to rotate to one side while trying to put the board on. The student will then use an upstroke of the kite to lift them up into a standing position on the board before letting the kite slowly return to the neutral position and come to a complete stop. The objective here is not to actually gain speed and ride on the board, but simply to get the feeling of being pulled to a standing position by the kite.
4. Riding - Once the student is comfortable with the kite, putting the board on in shallow water, and using an upstroke to lift them up to a standing position, they are ready to learn to ride. First of all, they will hook into the harness and use the kite on the edge of the wind window to pull them out into deeper water well away from the beach and any downwind obstacles. Then they will put the board on their feet, and dive the kite to one side with enough power to pull them up on the board, but not over and onto their face. If they don't have enough power on the first dive, they can use the upstroke to pull them up onto their feet, and then dive the kite to produce enough power to gain speed and begin to plane out on the board. If they get up on the first dive of the kite, the student will immediately pull back in the opposite direction and then dive the kite once again to keep enough speed to stay on plane. Since the student is learning on a smaller kite, it will be necessary to work the kite up and down in order to keep enough speed to stay on plane. Keep in mind that the rider will want to have most of their weight on their back foot at this point.

Advanced Topics

1. Going Upwind - If the rider shows competency with water starts and staying up on the board while working the kite up and down through the power zone, then they can begin to learn to go upwind. This requires the rider to keep a stable body position while using their arms to steer the kite and edging against the kite with the board using the heelside edge. With enough power, this should enable the rider to come back to the same place where they started, and even tack upwind of where they started with enough practice.
2. Slow Turns - Once the rider is going upwind, they can begin to learn transitions from going one direction to going back in the opposite direction while still up and riding. While working the kite up and down one side of the wind window, the rider should begin to edge hard against the kite and slowly start to bring the kite up towards the neutral position. As the rider slows to a stop, the kite should approach neutral, and then the rider should dive the kite back in the opposite direction before they stop completely and sink down in the water. As the kite starts to pull in the opposite direction, the rider should shift their weight onto the new back foot.
3. High-Speed Turns - After learning slow turns, a more stylish and functional way to change direction is to first switch directions with the board, and then pressure the opposite edge to arc a smooth fast turn around as the kite is turning across the power to the opposite side of the wind window. This will take some practice at first. While riding normally on the heelside edge, the rider should slide the board around 180 degrees to where they are riding toeside facing the opposite direction. When they are ready, the rider should start to turn the kite back in the opposite direction of travel and then shift the ankles to pressure the heelside edge and initiate a turn. Note that the kite should start the turn first, and then the rider follows the kite, not the other way around. As the kite turns through the power zone, it will keep a consistent pull and cause the rider to accelerate through the turn until they are riding back in the opposite direction still on their heelside edge.
4. Jumps - After a rider has spent a sufficient amount of time in the water with the kite to feel comfortable riding back and forth and is proficient at going upwind and doing turns, then it's time to do what everyone really wants to do, and catch some serious air. There are 2 ways of jumping, turning the kite back in the opposite direction of travel and up to pendulum the rider up into the air, and bringing the kite up while edging against the kite using a pop off the water to catch air, which is known as no-whip. The first method requires the rider to be traveling at speed, edging hard against the kite, and then turning the kite back and up while edging even harder to build tension against the kite's power. At the last minute when it feels like the rider can no longer hold their edge, the rider simply releases the edge and jumps straight up into the air while steering the kite back in the direction of travel. Once at the peak of the jump, the rider should continue to steer the kite back in the direction of travel so that the kite remains in the power upon landing and the rider lands on the water with speed. For a no-whip jump, the rider simply turns the kite straight up into the air or brings the kite high and edges against the kite as in the previous example. When they feel the pull of the kite, the rider pops up off the water while pulling slightly in the direction of travel to keep the kite in the power and land with speed. This type of jump can be done off of waves or chop to get even bigger air.