I'm in the same boat bro. Here its $150 for the first 2 hours and your only using a training kite and not getting on the water. Then you have to pay $150 per hour with a 2 hour minimum and you might get on the water practicing body dragging and it will probably be longer than 2 hours. Then the third class, where you work on the board on the water which again is $150 per hour with a 2 hour minimum again.

So at bare minimum I'm sitting at $750 for lessons... Screw that. If they really wanted people to be more safe on the water they would drop the prices. I mean its rediculous.

Anyways I have been out practicing the since last tuesday and today I attempted going out on the water. I did some body dragging for a while and I can now body drag upwind, slowly but surely. I also got up on the board after a while of trying. The first time I went barreling downwind and the second time I kept the kite right in the side of the window.

I think I am progressing quite well. I know someone who has been kiting for a while and he said he will work with me for a while next week if the winds are good enough.

Yea u deffinatley dont NEED lessons
i dont have any money seeing as im 15
all i did was be friendly and polite to the kiters and mainly the insturcters at the beach and they helped me out when i needed it
so thats my tip

oh and if ur at a crowded spot just walk down the beach a ways cause theres nothing more annoying than someone who doesnt fully know what there doing in the middle of the pack or rite in the way when im about to go for a trick

So the only ones who agree you don't need lessons are someone still peeved about a scuba lesson they had to pay for and a 15 year old kid.

Just ask someone on the beach to help you. Yeah thats just what I want to do after waiting for wind and getting to the beach have to babysit some shmuch who is too cheap for lessons. Think of it that way, kiters aren't just sitting on the beach waiting for beginners to show up so they can spend their precious wind time defusing some bomb that just walked onto the beach.

Once again not doing yourself a favor by insulting the lesson process. Its funny to hear someone dissect a lesson plan and make it out to be a rip off when you have never had one. You have the wrong idea about how the lesson is scripted. Time spent on any exercise is determined by the students ability to understand the concept and move on the next one.

You can not put a price tag on safety, and time or maybe you can.

You don't teach yourself how to hang glide, scuba dive, fly a plane or helicopter, skydive, why should it be so weird to have to take lessons for something equally dangerous to you and anyone unlucky enough to be around you when shit goes wrong.

good luck,
don't come to any populated public beaches till you have your shit together

So crash&burn, you don't find my first post credible?
I had two very experienced friends teach me and I have never gotten myself in trouble. However, my learning curve has been longer than a typical rider because I didn't have the official 5hr lesson. Im still alive with no injuries.



Kiters should always be welcoming. At my beach, I get tons of people coming and asking questions. Im always lending a helping hand and excited to tell people about kiteboarding. I even let friends try my gear out while I sit on the beach. Real joy in life comes from watching your pals have fun.


Back to my question: why are kiteboarding lessons so darn expensive compared to other extreme sports?
Like i said before, you can skydive and scuba dive for 150$ for 5hrs. Why are kiteboarding lessons 400$+++?
If everyone demands you take lessons then why aren't lessons cheaper? Just doesn't seem fair to tell a guy that he has to spend more money taking lessons than to buy his gear.

In the long run, it is much cheaper to pay for good lessons from an instructor with a good rep. I would even say it pays to go somewhere safe to learn like OBX or SPI. You will ride better and destroy less equipment doing lessons....invest up front=less money down the road, and a whole lot more fun.

More important then that is wind. We have no wind. It is a valuable asset and must not be wasted. Trust me you want to get good fast. You won't be able to get out enough to muddle allong and actualy learn. If you don't learn fast you will forget what little you can teach yourself between sessions. Oh and the reason we all want you to get lessons is simple. We don't want that one woops to get our local spot shut down. It was and still is a massive pain in the ass getting Chicago open after the CPD banned kitesurfing. We like to stay stealth under the radar.

Oh and if you need to know who is going to be at what beach in wisconsin go to bob's sight.
http://www.kiteridersllc.com
The Bottom of the lake use the chicagokitesurfing board.
http://www.chicagokitesurfing.com
It also has a great list of all the launches for Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.

If your ever in San Diego there is a great instructor in Mission Bay (at Stinky's). It cost me $179 for 4 hours and he was phenomenal. Everyone in town will recommend you to him. I just finished and getting ready to buy a kite. I can say that without going to the lessons there is no way I would have known what to do in certain situations (safety features, etc.).

Agreed that a good instructor will save you money and time in the long run.

At least find someone who knows what they are doing to teach you if you aren't going to pay for them.

And definitely stay way downwind of everyone so when you get blown down the beach, you won't ruin everyone's day.

http://www.powerkitesdirect.com