For starters I am hoping to get a lesson soon. Yesterday I just wanted to take my 17m Waroo out and just body drag. The winds were the usual gusty 10 - 20. I had a heck of a time with it wanting to fall out of the sky, overfly my head, and other problems. But the biggest problem I had was when this thing did hit the water, before every relaunch it would contort itself into every imaginable position before I could get it back in the sky. Big wet and floppy! If my wife hadn't been out with the jet ski to help I would have been in deep #@%$#!.. What I'm wondering is a big kite like this harder to learn on? Should I be looking into a smaller kite like an 11m and more wind to learn on. I know most is beginner error but this thing was a nightmare to keep untangled.

Looking around the site for info I see I vented about this last year and received some good info!! Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to buy another kite.

Kiting on inland lakes is difficult due to the unstable winds, learning in those conditions adds to the difficulty. Depending on your weight, yes an 11-13m kite would be better with more wind. If you don't know how to wakeboard, start there first. Maybe your jetski would be strong enough to pull you and get the basic board skills down: ride both ways (regular and goofy), edge heelside and toeside, 180s, etc. The more boardskills you build, the easier it will be to focus on the kite and the change in winds

I am just guessing but .... It sounds like you didn't have the kite pumped up hard enough ?

If you pump it upon a warm beach and then it hit cold water there is a chance it lost some pressure ?

Maybe try a little more air pressure next time. I had it pretty hard and the lake I was on is shallow and warm. I figured that this big of a kite might tend to fold up once in a while. South Dakota winds are pretty unpredictable. I have learned that from sailing. I use to windsurf so switching stances should come a little easier.

If your kite jellyfishes when you fly it, then you need to pump it up more.

The more a kite is pumped up, the better low wind performance it has since it will keep its shape better.

And yes, learning on a 11/12m kite in more wind will be much easier than learning on something that large.

I couldn't imagine trying to keep a big kite up like that while learning. It must be like trying to learn how to drive a semi-truck with a double/triple trailer. Big, slow, and a tonnnnn of pumping.

You will crash your kite so much, so get one that is easy to relaunch.

Don't want to open up a big discussion but what are some 250.00 - 300 dollar 12m kites that would be a good fit for gusty conditions. I noticed a guy teaching lessons is flying slingshots. Must be user friendly..

Slingshot Rally's are good and relaunch easy. But it will be hard to find a kite for 300 with bar/lines. Cabrinha Nomads are awesome kites too, they aren't classified as beginner kites but are super easy to relaunch, which is what is most important when learning. I'd suggest staying away from kites labelled as beginner kites (slow turning), you want something that you won't get bored of after a few months. Griffin kites are good too especially in inland conditions and cheaper than slingshots and cabrinhas. ikitesurf.com and kiteforum.com have good for sale sections for LEIs (inflatable kites), not too many on this forum since it is mainly foil riders.

Nfleech has a couple of PL fury's in the for sale section for what seems like a good price for very new gear... $600 for the 13m, $450 for the 9m $150 for a Nav bar or $1000 for the lot. If you've already got the bar/ lines for your waroo, you could go KO and get a nice kite either 13m or 9m.

Looks like more than you want it spend though.