Dear posters,
Having 15 years windsurfing and 6 years snowboarding experience, I learned to kitesurf in a couple of hours with an 2001 AB 8.4 (I mean I can come back where I started).
Now the owner of the kite would sell it for $260 (kite in good condition, only 2 small mylar delaminations on the leading edge). I found the kite quite easy to handle, but I read everywhere that this kite is for advanced riders only. Could somebody advise me about the risks of using this type of kite to learn jumping and transitions?

well, since you already learned on that kite go all the way and stay with it for that price. Now you know that kite how fast it turns and its pull.
It is an older model, so don't worry about too much power of lift.
It is always what you make out of it. If you can't jump, you won't fly 10m high.
If you can, you will. So keep going until you are able to do tricks and then think about a new kite with more performance.
It may has more power than others, but there are quet many out now with more power.

Enjoy!
Toby

The 8.4 is not lacking in performance, even in the 2001 model. I believe it is this specific kite that holds the world record for hang time. You can go huge on this one and the range is tremendous.

Gary

you scored dude, i have 02 ab's and my assesment of them compared to my 01 ab's was they fly about the same,the 02 has less range, the major difference is in materials dacron 02 mylar 01 in the tubes, get some sail bandage tape from murry's marine, and a needle and tread, you can sew and tape as she slowly falls apart and get seasons out of her, Keep a sharp eye a stich in time etc. nice kite good price!!! ps. don't sweat the advanced hype, think about it, what could be worse that trying to learn to kite board by flying a little baby training kite on land, thats what most people endorse, To kiteboard you need a real kite and some obstruction free water and your buds in a boat to relaunch you, fish you out when your worked, and hoot and hollar "stroke the kite", and "feel the love" the kite will teach you pronto, as you already know! so welcome to the club, this sport kicks ass on your other's don't it?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: fokiten on 2002-10-09 00:18 ]</font>

Thanks for the great answers, I'm going for that AB.
Fokiten: You are right, all I needed was a bunch of helpful kiting friends around and a nice TT board. We did not need a boat in the huge, waist-deep warm-water bay of Alacati (near Cesme in Turkey, with constant 14-20 knts southwind at the end of september). As for the other sports, now I have tons of light-wind windsurfing gear to sell, but I will keep the waveriding stuff for the autumn swells of Bretagne and Normandie as well as my snowboard for those off-piste powder sessions in the Alps (You bet, I have the chance to live in France).

The AB is very stable and easy to depower. This is good for learning to sail more powered up and progress.
Jumping with the 8.4 is other story, is very fast and needs precise steering.

But, You re gooing to have fun!

yeap, I'm with fokiten, you'll never learn to kite with some baby trainer on a beach, buy yourself a good performance kite and just get used to it, and definately buy it second hand, cos you'll trash it it in the first six months, then go by somethin shiny and new when you have the experience to not drop the kite so much. its the same as you first 6m windsurfing sail, how many times did you try and go through that baby when getting used to the harness, straps and chop

Don't get me wrong i'm all for safety and you'll have no problem with a high performance kite providing you go out kiting at the bottom of it wind range until you know you can handle the full power, and you have a big unobstructed empty beach, cos ya' ain't go to do damage if you get dragged around.

PS. when learning with perfomance kites DO NOT leave you kite at 12 O'Clock cos
A) if your overpowered - you'll get lofted.
B) if your underpowered - it will stall, fall leading edge straight for the ground and probarbly power up at full speed 20ft off the ground.