I recently bought a depower kite for my 11 year old- he has been flying scouts un hooked on a mtn board for year and a half and is really getting good. He can travel in both direction and is beginning to get the transition/ direction change without having to come to a complete stop. If you have kids flying when did you let them start hooking in and if so what were the main points you stressed with them since he wont be able to "just let go."
He is very comfortable and understands the window and flying the kite but I think I am more afraid of him getting hammered then he is himself. Any guidance or helpful information would be appreciated. I am hoping to get him on the snow (softer then grass) this winter with a depower kite.

Anytime someone is moving to "hooked in" they should run their bar& lines to a tree/post and practice popping the grenade(chicken loop safety) and re-assembling it for a hour or so, so it's a muscle-memory type of thing. Plus its a lot easier to learn how to re-assemble it when there is not a kite on the other end trying to yank ya.

I had my kids hook in after about a half hour of flying. As soon as I saw that they understood how the brakes work they get straped in. I use a open hook system at first so if somthing goes wrong they just have to push down and they are unhooked.
BTW. I do the same thing when I am teaching new people how to kite/Buggy. It is so much easier to learn hooked in.

I'd have to agree with Krohn. When I was teaching Elizabeth (Juan's Daughter) she started flying in the morning and maybe an hour later she was hooked in and tearing up and down the beach like a pro. Although we all say she's a quick learner I think it's much easier for them to control the kite and buggy when hooked in. For people learning, the first time they get in the buggy there's an immediate challange that one arm is shorter than the other since you are no longer facing the kite like you would be flying static. Being hooked in allows them a better sense of steering the kite without inadvertently putting more pressure on one handle over the other due to the position your in. Of course, all that being said, it's really condition dependant also. The day Elizabeth learned there was a perfect buttery smooth onshore breeze of 15 mph and she was on a small low aspect kite that wouldn't get her going too fast yet it still had enough power that she could park and ride. If your in gusty conditions or don't have a size that's just right for the wind then I'd probably say its safer for someone learning not to hook in on that particular day. Just my 2c

My kids started kiting at ages 6 and 8. I let them hook in to my 10m on their second session. :wow:


Sometimes I miss them.

Kidding.

They are now 8 and 11 and I bought an Access this summer with the intention of making it theirs but I love the kite too much to give it to them now so they remain on handles. I would like to move them to depowers but they aren't flying as much these days as soccer runs their lives. I'm hoping this winter they get back into it more on skis and depending upon how that goes I may reconsider moving them to the access. But like you, my concern is how quick can they pull a top hat as compared to drop handles when things hit the fan.

b-roc have your kids give up soccer,more time for you to ride and they will show you how to send it,ha ha.

My son was 8 I think when I got the depower hydra and I let him hook into that. That was after he took out my 3m legend in light winds. He got it out of the bag opened it up, unwound the lines, straightened them out and launched the kite all while I was setting someone else up on a kite. I turned around to see him flying it all by himself and no one helped him. Winds were 6-8 and I was a pretty proud dad.