Beginner Kite: Bow vs. Traditional

DrScoles · Since 13 Nov 2006 25 Posts Sammamish, WA

Lizzy,

I took two 3 hour lessons on a C kite here in Maui last August. Total beginner. At the end of the second lesson, I got up going downwind for a few hundred yards.... I was hoooked! Went back to Seattle, did some homework, bought 9 and 13m 07 Waroo bow kites. I'm in maui now, finished 3rd one hour lesson yesterday. The bow kite is SOOOOO much easier to use!!! I got jerked around so much with the C kite. The bow feels a lot more intuitive, and if things get out of hand, just depower it... You put this thing in the water, it doesn't want to stay in, very easy to relaunch. I had the C kite in the water a bunch, pia to relaunch... I did a ton of research online, read all the forums, it seems like in the last two years, they have made huge leaps on the technology side of things. I would buy the newest gear you can. Also, get a brand that people around you use, that way you will have help setting it up. I almost bought 06 kites, there are a ton of them out there, but for a few hundred more per kite, you can get new.

My instructor thinks I'm one or two more sessions away from being able to stay upwind. Pray for wind, I'm leaving tomorrow, and got skunked a few days...

What an amazing sport!!!

PS I just reread your last post, you are going to a place without instructors??? I would really try to get some instruction before you leave!!! Every time I come in, my instructor would dissect what I did wrong, and it made a HUGE difference. I'm on my fifth lesson, and finally feel comfortable out there, NO WAY I would have learned this fast without him, and probably would have got hurt or stranded...

Mike

pjc · Since 06 Mar 2005 649 Posts Addicted

it seems common sense that whenever you buy anything, you should at least give consideration to the best-selling make/model. toasters, kites, cars, tvs, whatever.... the most popular one may or may not be the pinnacle, but it's almost always a solid performer and a safe bet.

on this forum if you mention the best-selling kite people jump all over you so i won't say it's name.

gabe · Since 16 May 2005 476 Posts Obsessed

a somewhat interesting question is whether people who have never used a c kite will eventually develop the same board skills, or if they will have a deficiency in that key area. i don't know if this has really been resolved yet.

if i were teaching someone i cared about, i would make them begin on a flat kite, then when mildly decent i would make them use a c kite for a while until they were decent on that. then let them choose what to continue with.