Wakeboarding Should be Taught First

[William Munney]

I realize that not all schools have the equipment to do this, but learning to kiteboard would be a lot safer and quicker if students learned how to get up on the board first behind a PWC or boat. With no boarding skills, students are "going over the handlebars" etc., looping, crashing the kites, taking a lot of unnecessary risks which could have been avoided. Not a new idea obviously, but I don't see much mention of this in safety discussions.

[Carlos_C]

No - kiteboarding skills are about the kite - not the board - they should maybe learn to landboard first.
I did 2 -3 months landboarding before I took my first lesson - up and riding second dive of the kite. Upwind riding second or third time on the water - all due to skills learnt kiting on a mountain board.

[jack_the_kiter]

wakeboarding and kitesurfing are complementary.
wakeboarding is mainly board skills, kitesurfing is mainly kite skills.

thats why a lot of the pros, wakeboard next to kiteboarding to improve specifically the boarding skills.

especially in preparation for the first start, power strokes on sand are necessary and part of the beginners course.

previous wakeboarding experience is not really necessary to start, but like any board sport it helps.

[behindThePeak]

they are complementary at the intermediate/advanced level, but contradictory at the beginning level. boardskills help, sure, but in WB the power source flows through your arms and in kiting it flows through your harness. an important difference when you're learning to water start. pull a bar like it's a tow handle and you'll be paying for kite repairs in a hurry.... an expensive habit to un-learn

[Jdizzle]

Learning to Wakeboard first is the worst thing you can do in my experience! It seriously hindered me learning to water start!

I was quite good at wakeboarding before learning to kite...this led to some serious muscle memory problems!

Wakeboarding involves pulling yourself out of the water and always pulling/holding the handle tight! This led me to unintentionally pulling on the bar and over sheeting the kite when water starting. I did this over...and over and over before I finally kicked the habit!

Kiting involves sheeting out as soon as you get up and riding, and then a lot of delicate sheeting/kite control at first!

If you want board skills try skateboarding, surfing or snowboarding....OR JUST GET ON WITH IT...IT WILL COME QUICKLY ENOUGH!

[Wakeboarder]

Well i came from wakeboarding and it was so easy it just took me a couple of down winds to control the kite and then stay up wind,

[POACHER]

I agree with the Willy Munney 100%....I've seen it a thousand times.
"Hey I want to learn to kiteboard!"
Yet they've never done a board sport in their lives and fail miserably at a lesson. Sure they learn to fly the kite ok, but then they get on a board that goes sideways for the first time ever and it's a disaster.

Required? No. Helpful? Yes.
I've seen if for the last 10 years kiting. Someone that has come from a wakeboard background vs. non-wakeboard background, the experienced wakeboarders learn faster and become more competent kiters quicker. You're not fighting the basics of board riding, and you're more focused on learning the kite flying skills. Toeside turns, back rolls, jibes, transitions, butterslides, all inverts..........hands down wakeboarding gets you there much quicker.

If I had or ran a school I would advocate learning wakeboard basics before taking it to the kite.

[Toby]

some schools learn their students how to stand and ride a board as well. They have a bar where the student holds onto, so they learn the water start like this and then the feeling for the board.
That combined with learning to control a kite helps to advance quicker for sure.

[plummet]

I'd say wake boarding will help you with weighting the board correctly and thats about it. It won't help with water starts as they are very different.

Now combine wakeboarding and landboarding and you have the kite control, board weighting and diving the kite technique down its very easy to step into kitesurfing.

[alexrider]

Kiteboarding would be a lot safer if students learned how to swim first.

Of course, wakeboarding experience, alongside water-skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding, windsurfing, paragliding, body building, dancing, yodeling... you name it, helps learning faster.