Zero to Hero in about 4 hours !

I LOVE teaching kiting to the right people !
(Rainy morning here)

A friend I always knew had the " right stuff " finally came around to wanting to kitesurf.

I took him out last weekend for his 1st experience with kites ever. We did the theory / safety talk on the way out. maybe >30 minutes flying the 2.5 profoil I was able to leave him alone while I collected the 7m Pulse , harness and board. He was flying hooked in and had brake turns , loops and downloop dialed by about 1 1/4 hours.

I then did my side by side showing him how the depower is working and having him replicate ( think about ) it hooked in on the 2.5. . He took to the 7 right away and was only held up because the light wind made it slow to respond. The rest of the day he got friendly fast with the Pulse and was even trying to jump. We had about a 3 hour session / lesson and tons of fun. He even did a downwind home run on the ATB to end it off.

Last night we met. I had my Syn up. He set up the 7 pretty much unassisted and launched. I showed him the basics of a board start / ride and set him to it. He seemed to have it figured out but was struggling. I moved over to the Pulse to feel he was dreadfully underpowered. He hesitantly took over the 15m Syn and almost immediatly said . " This thing responds a whole lot faster doesn't it ? " He flew it like he had a year under his belt and was just trying an arc for the 1st time.

Now he was powered proper he took off in his strong side on the 1st go. He wiped out trying to return only because he hadn't tought out the change in stance / angle. He saved the kite 1st ( as I taught him ) and made me proud. Within an hour he was riding both directions and had transitioning figured out. Under a 15m kite in about 8 - 11 knott wind . Another keen observation as he road by. He said " It really is all about the kite control , isn't it ? " :wow:

He fell only a few times and never crashed the arc once in the next hour or so that he was out !!!!

The KEY to His quick progress.

#1 Lots of hand eye + balance sport background.

#2 He took it slow at each step until he understood . He took control of the kite in ( fast ) baby steps . The kite was never controling him. This kept his fear / stress level down.

#3 I think getting somebody hooked in and thinking about the brakes as soon as possible essential. Showing them how you are doing similar moves with the bar while they are immitating it with a fixed bridle brakes helps a lot.

# 4 I would try and leave him alone to work it out / think about it at each level when I saw he had the basics. Then push him to move up a notch as soon as a saw he had it set.

Sorry, for going on but I am very stoked by this friends quick progress. The last 2 folks I have taken on have been Extremely rewarding to teach