I´m buying my first kiteboarding gear and I would like some help:

1) Is Cabrinha swtichblade a good kite for someone starting? I want a long lasting kite.

2) How do I shop for boards? What features should I look for?

3) Any recomendation on harnesses?

Thanks a lot,

Fernando

Welcome to the forum and glad to see your interest in the sport. First a couple of questions before you make your first purchase.

Have you flown any traction kites before?

Have you already taken some lessons for kite boarding?

Before you make any purchases, I would strongly suggest some private instructions, it will save you a ton of frustration and will be much safer for you in the long run. You need to learn how to fly the kites, how to drag, how to relaunch , how to self rescue, and much more.

If you have already had instruction, guys with more kite boarding knowledge will speak up for sure.

I don't kiteboard on water, but it might follow a similar progression. Here's how I started.

buy a stunt kite, buy more stunt kites, buy a stunt foil, buy more stunt foils, buy a proper 4 line traction kite, buy more 4 line traction kites, try to build a buggy, give up and buy a buggy, sell traction kites, buy different traction kites, buy a twinskin depower, buy a nasa kites, buy more nasa kites, sell a twinskin depower, buy a landboard.

It's still a work in progress, but as you can see it's fairly straight forward. :D

Just kidding. You won't have to do all of those steps, but as stated above, learning how to fly a kite with instruction will be step 1

You need a bigger than normal board when you start kiteboarding than what you will end up with later after your skills increase. Also, your size will depict what size board you should choose.

Typically my recommendations are a 135 for under 200, 139 to about 230, and 144 for us big guys in the end. I also sometimes use a 161.

You want to start with as tame a kite as possible starting. You will also use this kite later when the winds are just above your comfort zone on your more advanced kite purchases...so it wont be going to waste and will last you a long time.

Dakine harnesses.

The Switcblade is a good kite for learning on water but NOT for learning the ropes. The size depends on your size and typical winds. Plan on needing more than 1 size of kite.

If you haven't put in time on a trainer foil you really want to. You can crash it as much as needed while you learn kite control. It is the tried and true way to start. It is step 2 in lessons so getting one and mastering it shoots you to head of the class.

As mentioned above taking lessons is money well spent. They will take you from zero to hero in 3 days. You get to fly / crash the schools gear and will come out of it with a much better understanding of what style and size of kite + board will work best for your location. You will get priceless safety knowledge.

Hello everybody,

thanks for the quick answers. I´m having private lessons right now, but you know how that works, the teacher always want to sell me his equipment but I´d rather buy a new one from another brand, that´s why I was asking about the switchblade.

I live in the northeast coast in Brazil, and the wind here is very constant most of the year. I learning on a 10m kite, but in 6 months I will problably have to use a 12m.

So what I´ve decided from here is that the kite will be switchblade, the harness dakine( I was wearing an ION on my lessons but it kept coming up even being well tight) and the board is there another feature besides size that I should be looking for? I was looking it up on north website and they seem to have a lot of features that I don´t know which one will be right for me.

Regards,

Fernando