Hi guys, I have been kiteboarding for 3 years now and I finally feel comfortable enough to get into wave riding. I have a few issues with my knees and many friends told me that I should switch over to a waveboard as it is supposed to be softer on my knees. Have you got any good recommendations in terms of school and spots where to go to? I had a look on the net to see if there was any good tutorials but the internet seems to be flooded with a lot of trash, maybe someone can recommend something good, or send me some links? Advice will be appreciated!
Hi Kite-Cat, I can highly recommend to go to Capetown! It is possibly one of the best spots in the world to learn wave kitesurfing! I have learned it there myself and since then I rarely went back on my twintip. Beware though, it is a dangerous sport, so you better go to a school…(if you want to stay safe). I learned it with Kitekahunas because a friend of mine recommended them to me and it was the only school I knew of which focuses on advanced lessons/ wave kitesurfing. It took me about two weeks to learn it, but it was absolutely worth it and I learned so much there also in terms of general safety! They may not be cheap, but by far the best! (I also had a look into some other schools there, the problem is, they usually teach beginner lessons only, so they hardly have any wave riders to teach this area of kitesurfing nor do they have much experience in it, no radios etc.). You can also download their video tutorial course on Vimeo and prepare yourself before you go there. Of course you can check for free tutorials on youtube, but most of them are rather bad and don´t explain well enough how to learn it. So if you want to take my recommendation, invest a few dollars and rather skip 1-2 cocktails this weekend. Hopefully I could help you a bit and good luck with learning wave kitesuring! Here is the link: wave kitesurfing video tutorial
Boavista during Swell time (winter months).
Check out the RIU - in front, there is a long, nice beach break, and the station is good (incl. rescue)
Super easy conditions - side off wind, clean waves in sets.
Find a spot near your town with small waves and the wind going in the direction to land. once you feel confident travel to spots that have waves and side offshore wind. there are a few like one eye, pacasmayo, punta san carlos etc..... also video yourself to find more about you style also helps if you surf and can swim long distance cheers
great advice above. I would add that there is no need to get on the next plane to a wave spot. Homework first ... you can buy a strapless directional board, learn to carve, learn to jibe, get better toe-side, make series of S turns, ... All of that can be done anywhere.
when you do travel, it is great to start with a safe place (no shallow reefs) and help/rescue or at least not too bad things happening in case you drop your kite and can't relaunch, which is sure to happen at least once.
I think Eduardo advise is spot on - learn the basics in flatter water and then venture into some small waves. Obviously, it all depends on how easily you pick up new kiting skills and also what surf experience you already have - if your a good surfer then that will speed things up in proper waves. It's also worth trying to ride strapless, even if just for a few sessions, as it will force you to adapt your stance to take full advantage of the design of a surfboard - you can easily screw your straps back on later if you prefer that style of kitesurfing.
And as Dirk mentioned above I do make some instructional videos which can help - from the very basics of just riding a surfboard, through to carving and riding waves. There are a few free videos - Playing in Waves is a good one when you first try to actually ride around in waves. https://www.progression.me/player/collections/12
You can also train a proper frontside carve on your twin tip on flat water. For training on land get a surfskate skateboard. From my opinion it helps a lot for systemically training compression and body rotation for the carves. It can be a nice work out for your legs and is good fun in itself. There are several brands, I use Carver.
+1 for learning to ride a surfboard not in the waves. If you're coming from a twintip, there are two things you have to learn. Riding a surfboard and handling waves. It's much easier if you can separate the two.
I agree with toesidebas. I bought the series myself and just learned it from there. You need to start learning the turns which you can even do on flat water. Once you feel confident, try out small waves….Here is a direct link to the Videos I downloaded: [vimeo]https://vimeo.com/ondemand/kitekahunas[/vimeo]
Enjoy the waves, it is the biggest fun out there!