ciscokitesurfer wrote: ↑Tue Jun 26, 2018 3:29 am
if you just want to learn before the trip borrow a malibu (longboard) and practice and practice.
the shorter the board the harder to learn strapless
This is literally dead wrong advice. It's pretty much the worst thing you could do to learn. Riding a longboard with a kite is so much harder than a shortboard, like 10x harder.
That 6-0 x 18 board is also not a good choice (but nowhere near as bad as a longboard) to learn on. The #1 thing that makes learning directionals easier is width.
The perfect board for you is actually the Catch Surf Wave Bandit 4-10. They cost $150 USD and they are amazing. Sadly they aren't sold online anymore but you can get the same board from Storm Blade (the WaveStorm people) online for $140.
I'm 75 kg / 165 lbs and I ride this board 90% of the time.
It's so good that I sold my other two $700 epoxy kitesurf boards.
This thing:
- is 20 inches wide and very stable
- is 4-10 so super easy to get on airlines
- super durable and you don't even really care if you break it at $150 (one of mine is going strong after about 25 sessions while another one I hit a solid reef and split open but repaired with hot glue, an epoxy board would have shattered too)
- slashes in the waves, loose and playful but can still do a bottom turn
- easy on the knees with the foam absorbing the chop
- feather light at 5.6 lbs so brilliant for strapless airs and helps keep your bag under 50 lbs for the airline
- rides very well backwards (ability to ride backwards is actually quite important when you are learning amongst waves and need to dodge a closeout without risking a tack/jibe)
- a bit more sluggish than an epoxy board so doesn't tend to get out of control
- super buoyant to get you through lulls
- soft on the feet
- doubles as a great wakesurf board
- doubles as a great prone surf board if you are a high level surfer (reason I started riding this board was watching Ben Gravy rip it)
- wont knock you unconscious or break your nose
- one of the few boards I'm willing to wear a leg leash with (leg leash is important for onshore conditions in waves otherwise if you lose the board it's a 10 minute task getting it back and getting back upwind)
Here's a video of me ripping it up on some knee high waves:
https://youtu.be/KV4k7rAeb-4
And here's some head high waves:
https://youtu.be/Il8CAwNsxIk