Let me preface by saying I have been kiteboarding on land for over 4 years and know my way around a kite and a mountainboard so I don't want people telling me to get the weakest stuff out there lol. I enjoy going big however I know how to respect the forces nature generates and curve what I work on based on my abilities. I don't want a starting set up that will last me a couple weeks and have to go buy a bunch of other stuff. Not trying to be snobby, I like advice from people but I have always seen a lot of cautious advice given to beginners that costs a lot of money in the end.

That being said....


It is time for me to start learning how to kiteboard on the water! I am really excited to learn, I have a decent place to go about 15 minutes from where I live. The problem is I don't know anything about the boards for kitesurfing.

I am 6'0, 165 lbs. I have harness and a few kites but my kites are all twin skins and a blade... I should probably get another LEI in my stock. I am also going to need a board and have no idea what matters in a board (size and thickness).

Anyone have any advice on a board and LEI that would be kind of intermediate level and might also be decent to learn on?

If anyone has a decent setup that is reasonably priced: LEI and board I am ready to buy one!

I also have access to a composites engineering lab that I could build a board if anyone has a good "how to build your own kiteboard" video out there. I am semi familiar with the process because we are building a small hull for a boat right now with epoxy and fiber glass and can even vacuum bag if I need to.

Why not use your twin skins? It seems people get the impression that only lei work well on water. Arcs and flysurfers are about par with most of the leis out there. They work fine on the water as well as on land. What twin skins do you have?I'm not a water guy so I have no idea what kind of board you need.

I have a 12 meter venom and a 10 meter bomba. I guess I don't know for sure but it seems to make more sense based on experience on land. The twinskins have the auto zenith feature which is pretty sweet but it seems like it would be harder to always be generating the power you need to keep the board above water. I know with practice and technique I could probably make it work pretty good but the LEI's don't want to just sit in the window with no power, you have to pay attention to them and they will always pull with the power you need to stay up.

That is just what seems to make sense to me based on video's, my experience on land, and my understanding of the physics.

Twin Skins are just fine for kite surfing. I have ridden with a 10m Venom II. The auto zenith is great when you crash. LEI's are great too. I have a friend with a quiver of Cabrinah's He is probably about 170lbs. He gets a great range out of his Switchblade 10m. He can ride that from probably 15mph to about 30mph because of the depower range. You can probably get the same bottom end with your venom.

My board is a 145x45. It seems to be a great board. A wider board like mine will be easier to get up on and end up a low wind board for you when you get better. I would get a board and try with the kites you have. If you have snow kited, you have a good idea of kiteboarding.

Good to see you back on the forum and can only assume safely back from deployment. I bought I Flysurfer that works good on water. At your size I would think the 15m would be good in most wind. Board size makes alot of difference as well.

I you are looking LEI I got to fly an Ozone Catalyst that was really nice.

Reaaaallllyyyy, sounds like a plan... and a cheaper plan which helps because I am definitely not rich! lol Thanks for the advice! I think I will just get a board to start with.

Curtis!!!! How have you been man!?!? I actually got cut from the deployment last minute because of budget cuts. I am the only medic in a military police unit and since they had air force medics down there it wasn't an option for me to go. My unit is still in Honduras right now. So last minute I decided to jump back in on school and kiting took my imagination a long time ago. I am going to school for Aerospace Engineering! It is a really cool program but I have had like no time and have only been able to kite probably about 10 times since the school year started The warm weather and wind are starting to take effect and it's got my jimmies popping! I am going to take whatever chance I get for the rest of the school year and come mid may it is ON!!! haha

Hope life is treating you well down in Kerrville. I think I am going to swing down to Jekyll Island in mid June after our autonomous sailboat competition... If time and money allows you should come out!

I found board choice quite hard. Much harder than kite choice.

The problem is that you want something long and wide when you are learning your board starts in moderate winds and then as soon as you can do that and you start riding in stronger winds you start wishing you had a smaller board...

I have a floaty 142 which I learned on and now use when its 14 - 20 mph and a more freestyle orientated 136 which is not a massive reduction in length but has far less bouyancy. Its much better in 20 - 30mph and choppy conditions.

Unless you get a lot of 20mph + days I would go for something 140cm or more to start with.

Good luck with it bud. You will never ride on land again once you get going... (well not in the summer anyway!)

DIY info:
Forum on board building. Plywood boards, wooden strip built, hollow wooden and foam/glass.
http://www.kiteforum.com/viewforum.php?f=107
how to video http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=107&t=2365117
cedar strip http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=107&t=2367286

More how-to info:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Plywood-kiteboard/

3/8 inch Baltic Birtch plywood is strong, light and waterproof.