Its the dark side don't ya know......

So windsurfers (the good side!) and kitesurfers (the dark side!) don't always have the easiest of relationships.... To my mind its not down to a them and us mentality, but more a simple case of the best use of the space available on the water, with the kiters seeming to need a clear water radius of about 50 metres, which is tricky in the crowded south east of the UK.

I hadn't really anticipated learning to kitesurf, but the high number of kitesurfing instructors in NZ, and the lack of windsurfing kit hire made it an easy choice. I took a couple of lessons with an excellent instructor, Steve (http://www.facebook.com/pages/RipD-Kite-Boarding/183343693393?ref=ts),with a total of almost 6 hours of tuition.

Right location - wrong kiter (no camera due to rain)

I found learning to kite a very interesting challenge. I've done a bit of wakeboarding before, and the kite board is very similar, and I've also flown kites on land a few times, although I've not used a four line kite before. I've been told before that success in kiting is more down to kite, not board control, which seems only partly true, as if the board control doesn't come quite easily, then its easy to loose focus on the kite, shortly after which it either slams into the water, or it drags you face first through the brine.

At the end of lesson two i was quite consistently getting up on the board, and managed about 10 runs of 50-100 metres. The wind was perhaps lower than I would have liked - but an experienced kiter would have had much more success with getting enough power than I did. 

With diving and windsurfing I am very used to getting face fulls of salt water thrown at me, but the kite learning process certainly took this to a new level, as the inevitable body drags always seem to be head first. I really hope I'm past the worst of this.......

I'll definitely give it another go, but I'm still a windsurfer - if nothing else I don't have enough garage space for another load of kit.