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Kite Boarding Progress

Well folks I’ve not posted in over a year and a half about kite boarding and I figured I’d let folks know how it goes. After an embarrassing amount of lessons both in Maui while on vacation and here in Alaska and lots of water time in both locations I can finally kite upwind in moderate conditions. It took a long time figuring it out. There is lot to process all at once.

I can kite with both undersized and oversized kites for most conditions. I cleaned up my body drag quite a bit and can ride both a twin tip and a directional surfboard. My turns are merely OK about half the time and the other half I drop back to a simple stop turn.  I can survive in and even enjoy riding in chest high surf without being frightened out of my wits.

I consider myself a beginning intermediate now. But, I have a lot more to learn. My progression continues.

Was it worth it people sometimes ask.  My response is a hearty, “Hell yah!  Its the most fun I’ve had with my cloths on in a very long time.”  I consider it harder to learn than skiing – even telemark skiing.  There is just a whole lot going on at once.  And those kites are very powerful and can hurt you if they get out of control.  But, its worth it.