Hey all, I am just about to start some intensive Kitesurfing lessons after a full spectrum of other waterman efforts, mainly surfing and am looking at Naish kit but may be only able to buy one kite as they are expensive and I have a young family !

I was looking at the Ride Kite and Ride, Haze or Money Shot twin tips but am unsure really of length of board for starters ? is it 1" over your height ? as I am 5'11" tall and weigh 14st 11lbs / approx 208 lbs. strong build.

I guessed I would need 10-12 mtr kite to learn on due to lighter wind speeds as a beginner and for being able to get in the water more often rather than just when stronger winds.

Is it true I need to master a twin tip board before using directional surfboards ?

and I was told try a ride kite but don't want a learner only kite but something more for later on and further advanced riding, would I be better with a Bolt, Park or Torch ? or is Torch etc.. too difficult and advanced for now ?

Or even a different make board and or kite such as North and if North what model ?

Any info would be much appreciated...

Thanks, Matt
Jersey, C.I.

No kite is "too advanced", they all do the same thing, but certain ones will have better characteristics for beginners, like easy relaunch and flight characteristics. Some kites like the Liquid Force Envy are almost impossible to backstall and are incredibly easy to use but are still quite high performance. A kite like the Torch will be a little more of a handful since it'll have less depower and a little harder to relaunch.

If you think you want to ride a surfboard behind the kite I'd strongly advise just getting a surf kite, like the envy or a slingshot rally, bws noise... surf kites are some of the easier kites to handle as a beginner because of what they're good at, and will be what youre looking for down the road as well

at your weight youd probably be looking at a quiver of something like a 14/10/8/6 (smallest kite depends on what the wind is like at your spot). you have to think of it as a quiver, if you get a 12m you'll probably need a good 14 knots to really be going. just depends on what you want to ride in. my biggest kite is 12m and im riding in 10 knots at 145 lbs

you can start on a surfboard but itll probably be much harder to learn, especially strapless. id definitely get a twintip to learn on and then progress to a surfboard, and i'm sure you'll like having a tt around anyway when you want to jump or try some tricks other than just riding waves. i'm sure youll have some windy days when it's flat

for twintip size it goes more by weight, at ~200 lbs you probably want something in the 138-140cm by 40+cm width as your go to board. you can also look at a lightwind specific board but those arent fun to ride

good luck

Thanks for all that dyyylan that's great,
So yes I want to be able to surf but I do love the tt idea as always wanted to do flat water and choppy riding along and also well up for the jumps and tricks too, Board size is well helpful too.

Naish Ride is looking like easier to relaunch with a bar tug rather than pulling the lines etc and would ride a tt strapped in to progress but am not sure if Naish Park or Bolt is any better for longer time going forwards in ability ?

So I'd need like a 12 for lower strength winds as I it's going to be the only kite I can get financially NOT a quiver. So need a kite to do low winds up to higher winds too.

Winds at my Island vary but get very strong between nil and Hurricane force at the moment it's about Force 6-9 / 22- 50 knots.

We do however have many, many beaches and one is always good ! and furthest time from one end of island to other far point is about 20 mins drive max by car.

From personal experience, you can skip the whole twin tip part if you want to go straight to the surf.
I did it and had no problems with it.
In fact upwinding is a lot easier on a directional.
Nico

Cheers Nico, That's cool, I'm sorting out some kit at the moment so prob get a shortboard too.