Me and my friends want to get into kiteboarding but after lessons we won't have money left for gear this season. So how bad of an idea would it be to just buy gear and teach ourselves? We are good with our trainers and are working on wakeboarding skills. We also have access to a boat to chase after each other. Obviously we would only go out when the winds aren't too strong.

Depends ... how good is your insurance cover?

I'm like you guys - I had mad skillz with my smaller foils and could snowboard ... but I still got lessons and still spent several months thrashing around like a fool. Weren't that many lessons though ... mostly, aside from safety pointers and telling me what I was doing wrong, they were there to hold my hand and make sure I wasn't doing anything dangerous. After I was headed in the right direction (and knew I was) then it was a matter of putting the hours in ...

Thing is, you NEED to go out in good wind - a big error with beginners is trying to go out in too light a wind. But without experience, stronger wind that would get you riding and smiling in a few months, is just dangerous NOW.

Better to have lessons and get some cheap ass gear to thrash for a few months. It's MHO that unless you're some kind of prodigy or spend all day every day at it, you won't be up riding and making the most of your gear for 6 months or more, anyway.

What he said. ^^

I've been there - the water is a whole new animal and the things you're going to learn in your first lesson will be invaluable. Body position, timing etc. What you'll also learn which if you ever need to utilize the skills you'd have glady paid ten times the amount for is self rescue and emergency procedures.

I know it sucks to drop the dough but it's the right way.

You've already helped yourself though - keep flying to the point that when you do hit your lesson you just have to show the instructor that you're competent so he/she can carry on from there. Ditto that with the board skills. Wakeboard till your toes are wrinkled. Dial in the board skills, regular stance AND goofy and THEN hit your lesson. You'll ride first time out. I'm sure.

It's worth it just for the safety aspect and shortening the learning curve.

How much money will you have after you plunk it all down on one kite setup - and then find it is the wrong size, or the wrong type.....or worse, you get the right size, take it out and because you are not familiar with it, you end up slamming it straight down into the water and it blows up, tearing the sail from leading edge to trailing edge?

Yea, that is so very common!

If you go that route, you wont have your kite, you wont have your lessons and you will be flat broke.

With lessons, if you do happen to blow up a kite, it is the schools kite and it doesn't come out of your pocket. Seriously......it is cheaper, faster and SAFER if you just get lessons. Without proper training, you are like a doctor who says "Hey, I carve turkeys every thanksgiving, why do I need to go to school for 6 years, I can just get some patients and learn heart surgery as I go....." Sure that is a ton cheaper route...but in the long run he will probably end up in jail and broke. Taking the longer and (as it seems now) more expensive route, later on he will be much further ahead and be rolling in the dough.

I did kite on land for a year before going to water ,,,, so .... my kite skills and confidence was there ,,,,, when at local kite beach someone ask me do I want 1h lesson to help me convert ..... I hesitate for a minute .... then I did go for it ...... That 1h with a pro help me so much .... I was riding in no time ... There was so much info that you would never find on you own ...... So .... I strongly recommend to get one .... It will help you a lot ....

understanding wind thresholds for learning and actually riding are so different. i would avoid using a power boat for assist.

i am huge advocate of sailing, if you don't have good sailing practice this attempt will be long and frustrating.

understanding conditions is your first handicap, get the lessons

I would strongly recommend lessons over gear. There are people at some of the spots around me who have been kiting for 5 years and still can't go upwind, not to mention they have no idea about right of way, body dragging for their board and many other things regarding safety. They are a hazard for the rest of us.

If you have good skills flying your kite then you have half the battle won. Instead of 4 lessons you may only need two. It's so easy to buy equipment that isn't right for your spot or conditions and get yourself hurt. Get yourself some lessons and you'll be around the sport a lot longer.