Learning to kitesurf, how old is too old?

[jonjo]

I have always fancied trying this and even a few YouTube videos describing how one can die kitesurfing has not dissuaded me. The problem is all these videos feature kitesurfing "pilots" with ages ranging between 25 to 25 and a 1/4.

Is it hard and how long does it take to get off the kitesurfers nursery slopes and perform a simple jump?

 

[Tam Lin]

Dunno but apparently the average age of windsurfers at our club is 75!

 

[flaming]

I can't claim to have learnt... But I did get to the point of being able to go fast in both directions in a week. Tried again recently and could barely get to my feet.

You have an advantage as a sailor as you just know where the wind is coming from. I was much amused by the friends I learnt with having seemingly no clue as to which way the wind was blowing! But, it's very hard to learn I think! And it's exhausting. The big difference between kitesurfing and the windsurfing I used to do as a kid is that when you fall off your windsurfer in the learning phase nothing else can really go wrong... Not so with kitesurfing! You can get dragged, your board ends up upwind of you, which is a pain, and unless the kite has crashed (which brings its own set of issues) you still have to try and fly the thing whilst wallowing in the water. There's no such thing as taking a breather sat on the board!

But... Go for it, I've never been so fast on water, and it's only really the lack of time to dedicate to getting good enough to invest in kit that meant I didn't take it up properly when I got back from that holiday!

 

[pvb]

I've no idea either, but you don't say how far away you are from the magic 25 years old. I've watched loads of them, in places like Fuerteventura and Bonaire, and it strikes me as being much more physically demanding than windsurfing. If you've always wanted to try it, why not go ahead? Be sure to have good tuition and backup.

 

[wully1]

It's popular as it is way easier to learn than windsurfing and a lot less physical so age won't be an issue given a decent level of fitness and optimum conditions.

But get it wrong and it will hurt you.
I dislocated a finger, mate badly broke a leg and work colleague was very lucky to survive a nasty gust that launched him many meters into the air landing in some bushes just short of the concrete..All three above were caused by gusty conditions.

A good school, good instructor and safe weather and location will see you up and riding soon, so go for it!

 

[jonjo]

I've no idea either, but you don't say how far away you are from the magic 25 years old.

29 years and I will leave you to make an inference from that number.

Tarifa looks like the mainland Europe capital of windsurfing schools though your locations sound more interesting. Bonaire in the Caribbean?

 

[jonjo]

It's popular as it is way easier to learn than windsurfing and a lot less physical so age won't be an issue given a decent level of fitness and optimum conditions.

That surprises me since a windsurfer mast is replaced by the human body when kiting. Anyhow good news.

A good school, good instructor and safe weather and location will see you up and riding soon, so go for it!

I am thinking of a couple of days in the UK to get past the basic control theory and so make most use of the conditions somewhere warm like Spain. With cheap flights to Gib and using the hostel type accommodation at one of the beachside schools in Tarifa it could be a cheap though exhausting week. Suspect 3 to 4 hours a day will knacker me which leaves time for some proper remote work.

 

[jonjo]

You have an advantage as a sailor as you just know where the wind is coming from. I was much amused by the friends I learnt with having seemingly no clue as to which way the wind was blowing! But, it's very hard to learn I think! And it's exhausting.

I have been watching a load of training videos on YouTube and hope my sailors instincts will give me a head start. One of the Tarifa schools has a "break the rules" course variant which intends to get a beginner up on the board by end of day one. The standard RYA 3 day intro sets aside days 1 & 2 for basic stuff with nothing more ambitious than a trial body drag start in the water minus the surf board with the instructor being towed behind holding the student's harness.

Some strong indicators here that mastering the basics of kitesurfiing is hard.

 

[pvb]

Bonaire in the Caribbean?

Yes, Lac Bay was the perfect place for it. Haven't been since 2009, and in fact I think kitesurfing may no longer be allowed there.

 

[Ceirwan]

If you want to learn then go for it.
There's no such thing as too old, if you try and you fail, well at least you tried.

 

[grumpy_o_g]

Wrong question - should be how unfit/weak is too unfit/weak to kite-surf. The few times I've tried I would say windsurfing and kite-surfing both required similar levels of strength and fitness in any wind strength. I managed an hour of spluttering and wallowing in the mud in Poole Harbour in my very late fifties without any problem (at least from the strength point of view). I would say my knowledge of flying was at least as important as my knowledge of sailing when it came to kite-surfing. In fact one of my problems was that I got the kite drawing really well with my arms and upper body very easily but couldn't coordinate that with what my lower body and legs were trying to do (if they had the vaguest idea in the first place) where the board was concerned. Good fun though and I reckon I did far better than some much younger folk there. It is very like skiing though in that there is always some poncey git who is just a total natural and knows it...

 

[Mwinda]

I'd say learning to kite is more physical. Windsurfing you can learn in displacement, and gradually crank on the power until you are short boarding. Kiting is a planing only activity with power to match. I am also double the reported average age of a kiter, and having had 3 lessons enjoyed it - but felt like I'd rear-ended the car for a few days afterwards. Go for it - we need to get the average age up!

 

[ex-Gladys]

First step is to learn to fly a power kite IMHO. Sailing and kite flying skills are totally different, I (6' 3, 100kg) have been dragged across a field by an 8' delta stunt kite, and kite buggied behind a small quad line kite on Camber Sands. Some of the basic kite control movements need to be embedded, for initially a two line, then a 4 line kite.

A few years ago before kite surfing had got going a guy was flying a power kite on the Jaywick shore opposite East Mersea, and finished up in the sea half way across the gap...

 

[mlines]

Not kitesurfing, but I have fancied wakeboarding for a number of years, bit the bullet this summer when my local lake offered a lessons bundle. Pretty satisfied so far after 3 x 15 minute lessons (I thought 15 minutes was too short until I climbed from the water exhausted after the first lesson!)

I decided that if I did not just give it a go I would eventually end up on the shore when I an definitely too old wishing I had tried (Currently 55 years old)

 

[FairweatherDave]

I wouldn't underestimate the need to be fit but there are a hell of a lot of fifty year old kitesurfers. And it is generally acknowledged you will be a competent kitesurfer a lot quicker than a short board windsurfer particularly if you get instruction in a nice holiday venue. And it is less physically demanding than windsurfing (but I might be biased .

 

[Fantasie 19]

Dunno but apparently the average age of windsurfers at our club is 75!

Indeed - as an ex windsurfer of mid 50's I don't consider myself too old to go windsurfing,in my case I bought a boat and moved on/lost interest.. I still don't consider myself too old to have a go at kite surfing.... should I fancy it... which I don't...

 

[rwoofer]

I learnt kitesurfing when I was 36. Much less strength needed than windsurfing, which is why women tend to do relatively better at kitesurfing. Usual procedure is learn to fly the kite on land first, then go to shallow water which makes kite crash recovery much easier, before heading out into proper water. Do get instruction.

I learnt in the Cape Verde islands myself.

 

[johnalison]

I've seen it done a lot, mostly in Germany where they have a lot of shallow water. It looks perfectly simple to me, and I'm sure I could manage without difficulty, in spite of my 76yrs. Please don't offer me the chance, because I don't take disillusionment well.

 

[Sandy]

Will you be one of these kitesurfers that scares the s*1t out of me as I potter out of the estuary as they zoom 3 meters from my bows at 25knots. They are very, very scary things.

 

[FairweatherDave]

On that subject I have a friend who decided to buzz past a boat and give a friendly wave from his windsurfer, decided to bear away for the safer option passing the stern.......... oops....... trailing for mackerel. That taught him a lesson I can tell you!