How difficult is it to learn kitesurfing ? Is it hard to learn?

One of the most crucial questions that somebody who is up to learn kitesurfing is; Is kitesurfing easy to learn? How hard is it to learn to kitesurf? Can you learn kitesurfing on your own? Well, let us tell you that kitesurfing is not a sport which is really hard to learn. Like everything in life, you need to commit yourself, be positive and keep practising until you achieve your goal.  we can not really say that kitesurfing is hard to learn as we cannot say that kitesurfing is easy to learn on either. We all have different skills and the learning process is different for each of us. Understood that, let´s see some myths about kitesurfing that will help you to clarify about how hard or how easy is to learn kite

>> You may also be interested too in our post about how long it takes to learn kitesurfing…

The 6 Myths for those who don’t know what kitesurfing is

1. It takes a lot of arm strength

At the first contact with kitesurfing, everyone gets the idea that the strength the rider exerts is in the arms, but that is just a myth. Contrary to popular belief, most of the strength a rider does is distributed between the core and legs (when done with good posture). Which is not to say that you don’t use strength in your arms, depending on the sport you practice, more or less strength may be needed.

2. It’s a sport for men only

This might be the biggest myth of all. There are more and more women practising this sport, and if you don’t believe it, the three of us are a good example of that.

It is not because we are women that we have more difficulty in learning. And there are many female role models we can follow. Women like Gisela Pulido, Bruna Kajiya, Annabel Van Westerop, Hannah Whiteley, Vera Klabbers, Francesca Bagnoli… If you still have doubts, check out some videos of Mikaili Sol, who is only 12 years old…

Even the kite industry itself is increasingly producing specific products for women taking into account our needs in this wonderful sport.

3. It is a dangerous sport

Everything is dangerous in this life, some things more than others, that’s for sure. But kitesurfing, if practiced with all safety measures, can be considered a safe sport. There are rules that must be followed, in addition to the common sense of the rider in question.

4. you will freeze

The cold is not a myth, it exists… but when kitesurfing you have to go with the right equipment, the right size kite, the right board, and the right suit for the water temperature in question.

We have to know the temperature of the water and then adjust the choice of a wetsuit, so that we can have comfortable sessions without the cold. If we take this precaution, I guarantee that they won’t freeze, and with the adrenaline we get kitesurfing, it’s hard to get cold.

neoprene suits
Take a look here at the various advantages of kitesurfing in winter!

5. It has a great logistics yarn and more yarn

We’ve all seen riders trying to figure out the “thread to the skein”, literally, when for some reason our bar has the threads all tangled up in “spagetthi” mode. But beware! This is not supposed to be normal. When arranging the bar we must pay attention to the way we store it so that it is easier to “open” it in the next session. If we pay attention to this, we can quickly set up our set and be in the water in two times 😁

6. kitesurfing It’s very hard to learn

Each one has its own pace of learning. However, they cannot expect to learn everything at once in just 5 minutes. Classes are taught at the student’s pace, and progressively they introduce more kite elements. Depending on the control that the student has, he moves from exercise to exercise, to the point where he becomes independent. But all this requires a lot of training and “flight hours”. If there is no commitment on the part of the student, the student will hardly evolve. But it cannot be considered a difficult sport.

And when we finally learn and navigate, it feels amazing!

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How complicated is it to learn to kitesurf?

Now that we have already gone through all the main myths about kitesurfing, let´s see how hard it is to learn kitesurfing step by step:

How difficult is it to learn the kite control

Let´s start regarding how difficult or how easy is to learn to kite control. To be a good kitesurfer you must know how to fully master your kite. As many say, kitesurfing is 90% of kite control. Start training preferably with 2 lines and then move to 4, always with not very strong winds. Choose your kite size according to your weight and the wind force, so that you don’t have problems with the excess force exerted by the wind. Piloting the kite requires: assisted take-off, unassisted take-off, knowing neutral zones, power zone, flight techniques and landing techniques. Rest assured that little by little everything will become easier, just practice. First, ask a teacher or friend to explain these techniques, and when you’re sure, try it yourself. With the kite outside the wind window (with the wind transverse to the leading edge of the kite) try to go up and bring it to the neutral zone (on top), doing action and reaction, that is, without strong movements, go up a little and stop, go up a little and stop and so on, don’t do it fast so you don’t fall into the power zone, which can be dangerous for beginners. Repeat the process several times. Attention, your bar must always be parallel to the leading edge of the kite. Don’t forget that kite reaction times vary according to its size, large kites have a slower reaction than small kites. In general we would say that control the kite is easy to learn. The average time to learn it is from one to three hours

Difficulty of learning kite control: Low difficulty

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Before trying body dragging, you have to know everything about kitesurfing safety, in addition to all the techniques already mentioned above. Also, you should already have a lot of sensitivity in controlling the kite, as you may not be able to keep looking at it. Plan your takeoff and your entry into the water. After that, start taking off your kite from one of the corners of the wind window until you reach the neutral zone, enter the water slowly, and then start doing the 8 (lying down), so that it approaches the power zone at times. Stay lying down and doing 8 letting the kite take you, do it several times and be very careful for the kite not to take you too far. Remember, if the kite goes down don’t swim towards the lines ever, wait for help or try to re-take off if you know-how.

Learning body dragging downwind is quite easy for many people. The hard times come when we need to recover the board by performing a very good body dragging upwind (with one hand). This stage is harder to learn, especially with strong winds or big swells.

How hard is it to learn to recover the kitesurfing board: Medium difficulty

In the water, look around for things that could be dangerous for your water start, such as people, windsurfers, swimmers, etc. If everything is ok, lie down in the water with your feet in front of you, always looking at your kite and keeping it in the neutral zone. Bring the board closer to you and holding the front strap with one hand, the kite with the other (the bar must be attached to the trapeze), place your foot on the back support and then the other on the front support. not to make the kite enter the power zone.

Remember: the kite must always be parallel to your bar!

Repeat this process several times: place the bar attached to the trapeze, keep the kite being held by one hand, pull the board by the leash, hold the front support with the other hand, place the opposite foot on the side of this hand and then the another foot.

Don’t worry if at first, you have difficulty keeping the kite in the neutral zone, this is normal for beginners. Try to keep looking at the kite at all times if it’s difficult to keep it in the neutral zone, and practice doing the above process without looking. If you really can’t after that, you need to know how to keep the kite in neutral more

If you cannot do this in water, then you may need more practice maintaining a neutral position. Always keep your knees bent and keep your centre of gravity low, don’t be afraid to fall backwards. Once on top of the board, try to go making “wave” movements towards the side you want to go (within the limitations of the wind window) and keep the balance “aiming to fall” backwards and not forwards. This is the most complicated part to catch and requires a lot of training, try to watch the other kitesurfers too, it can help with some things you are having difficulties.

Normally learning to waterstart is hard for many students

Riding on the board. Is it easy to kiteboard?

Contrary of what many people believe, it is not hard to learn to kite. After having mastered the waterstart technique, riding your first metres is quite easy to learn. After being lifted up by the power of the kite you won´t find super difficult to stay on the board if you have a “minimum of body balance”

You already stay a few meters on the board but there are times when you get a lot of power and others, very little. This is normal and there are several reasons why this is happening: you may be trying to go downwind more than you can, unbalancing the board; you may be entering the power zone too little, and therefore not getting enough speed; you may have entered the power zone too much, and have gotten too much power, anyway, all these mistakes will only stop being made with a lot of practice and patience, never give up. The solution can also be obtained by reviewing all the principles mentioned here, or by looking closely at the others.

Try to practice the figure of 8 on the beach, trying at the same time to control the power, letting yourself be carried away in a slow and controlled way. When you’re fine, try again with the board in the water

How hard is to ride: Medium difficulty

Upwind riding, another difficult step in the kitesurfing learning progress

It’s difficult for someone just starting out, but the sport is much more fun when you acquire this technique. After learning how to maintain kite power and being able to change your board feet with ease, luffing is just the next step.

The key is to maintain enough speed with the board, but not so much. Always maintaining the same power is essential and for this all you need to do is control the kite correctly. By now you should have also learned to focus your effort center further ahead than before, this will prevent you from being held back as much as you were otherwise. Remember that the rail line helps a lot with budgeting.

 How hard is it to kite upwind? This step is probably the one that requires more hours of practice. We would say at least 50 hours on average.

Jumps: are they hard to learn?

The advanced kitesurfer can reach a height of six meters in the air and achieve a perfect landing without too much difficulty. In this modality, the best athletes are reaching twelve meters in jumps from still water (no waves), and covering the distance of a soccer field. With waves, the limit is the sky. It may seem very difficult to learn kite jumps, however, once you are able to ride upwind, it may not present a great difficulty. Like everything in life, keep trying! 🙂