??? about practicing behind a boat

Hi,

I don't live near an aera where I can kiteboard, but would like to prepare as much as possible before going to the effort and axpense of going somewhere and taking lessons. Never having boarded at all, what would be the best way to get some boarding experience behind a ski boat? What type of board should I get? Should I try to raise the area where the ski rope is attached to closer simulate the position of the kite? Etc?

Thanks for any help!

Hi David, I am similar to you but live in North Wales with plenty of beaches to kitesurf. I am a newbie from surf to powerkites and plan to have lessons at the end of the summer/early autumn when the tourists have gone home, the water temp is max and the winds arrive. Bought a good small parafoil powerkite (Flexifoil Bullet 1.5m, 4 lines) in the meantime (from Turbulence in Llandudno www.ukkiting.com) that is defiantly teaching me the basic skills and giving me the technical advantages of flying a mini-version before the lessons begin. Hopefully this will take a huge chunk off the learning curve. I have found loads of help online which appears daunting at first, and then gets much easier to understand. A friend helped me on my first outing as he is a paraglider and a natural 'airhead'.

Sorry, I have not helped with your board skills, but would recommend getting that second nature feeling with a good kite before your lessons. It's a laugh and good to have for when you get your full kite kit. Your chums can learn on the mini, saving your expensive gear. Safe enough to practice as you learn and go.

Just my opinion, but hope it helps. Paul www.PixelWizards.co.uk

Hi You need to leard to fly a power kite on land and get to use a Mountain board (£100+) with it if you can. This will allow you to fly the kite deep in the power zone and gain expeience. Also you need to learn to wake board. No need to buy a board, just ring up a few local lakes and see if they do lessons or try a cable tow.

Badger

Thanks. Can you suggest an older model type of kite in particular, so I can hunt for a used one? I don't know what a mountain board is, but have recently been thinking it might be good to get a buggy (I know next to nothing about them either) to use in large parking lots or something. Do you think that would be good? I already have a boat, so it would probably be good to just buy my own wake board. But maybe taking some lessons would be a good idea too, if I can find some. I did order a training video that should be in next week. What's a cable tow?

Thank you both for your advice!