bahflorida wrote:Thanks again all. Keep the suggestions coming
Dude, stick with it, I also learned here in Florida, it was rough at first say the first 20 sesh (yup I marked them on my board), cause everyone said, about 40 times you'll be ridding, so I was impatient about it, so I wanted to know how far along I was, lol.
But what did it for me, was going to the keys. The local crew I now kite with, back when I started invited me to the keys, and that was the day I got up for the first time, and really experienced kiteboarding for the first time, everything clicked, all the videos made sense (progression DVD is killer), what the instructor said totally made sense, I couldn't go upwind for the first half of the day, but the time we left, I was ridding upwind, not gracefully, but I was able to come back where I started from.
That smooth flat water really helped me concentrate in putting it all together. Before that, well lets just say I was meeting my yearly sodium quota with every sesh!
If I had to do it all over again, I'd definitely find a friendlier place to learn, current is a bitch in the ocean, and when not properly powered, really makes the experience sucks.
Good luck!
p.s. If you need an instructor, I hear Jeremy Lund, is awesome, very responsible, and very well equipped, I've met him a few times and he's a really cool dude. And I hear he has a secret spot thats killer for learning. When my wife decides if she wants to learn or not, I'm getting her lessons with him.
http://newwavekiteboarding.com/