Hi everyone, looking to getting into kiteboarding and understand I should get a trainer kite first before even venturing into the water. Would appreciate any input on which kite(s) to check out. Thanks

love my HQ Hydra 3.5, easy to fly, stable and provide solid pull in decent wind. I highly recommended it!

Depending on what your goals are... Getting a 3-meter fixed-bridle kite isnt a bad choice. However, if you plan to ride on nothing but water, then that might be a waste of money. The hydra isnt a bad choice, though bit pricey compared to some of the other trainers out there. I know Ocean Rodeo offers a 2-meter LEI trainer. Complete with bar, lines, and a tiny little pump. Slingshot also offers an open-cell trainer on a bar that is pretty good, from what I've heard (Real occasionally has sales on these kites, i've seen them listed for $50). I'm sure other companies have trainers as well, but those are the ones I've physically seen.

Good luck!

Thanks for your quick responses.

I've looked at the Hydra 3.5 and was under the impression it was just for shore based training,is it possible to use it with a board on the water for just some basic sailing before moving up to a larger kite ?

I checked out the Rise 2m at Ocean Rodeo and that looks nice too. Is that able to be used in the water also.

I'll just be doing kiteboarding with these kites right now.

you probably won't be riding anything on water with a trainer kite. There are winds that would get you going with a 3.5 but I wouldn't say it would be very safe. I wouldn't get a two line trainer. You would benefit from a third or forth line to be able to relaunch the kite. You can get a hydra modified for depower and that will show you wind window and depower. I imagine there are not a lot of other ways to get both for so cheap.

The other way to look at it is if you are going to take lessons anyway (which I recommend) the main thing you will learn from the trainer is the wind window and powerzone. The more you spend on a kite you might not use later the bigger the waste. No body has mentioned a 2m or 3m pansh legend yet but they are about $110 and 4 lines.

If your plan is to ride on water, which it sounds like it is... What are you getting the kite for? This is not going to be a kite that you can ride on. The trainers we listed are kites for you to learn how to FLY the kite. Not ride. Riding generally takes more power, and the reason you get a small trainer is so that you can take something out, get a feel for how it flies and not be in danger of getting dragged all over the place out of control. The 2m Rise is something you can fly in winds up to 20mph without any real risk of danger. The Hydra gets dangerous over 15mph (in my opinion). The Slingshot trainers will also be fine up to around 20mph, as long as you stay with the smaller ones.

Your lesson is where you are going to really learn how to ride, and your instructor will point you in the right direction for what kite to buy for actual riding. All this trainer is going to do for you, really, is get more out of your lesson. This will be the time saved that you would spend in the lesson learning how to fly the kite, and what the wind window is.

If you dont have this experience time, you will spend that time during your lesson doing the same thing. This is time you could be learning how to control your board, or something else in the water.

I want to emphasize that what you can do with a trainer will not give you enough knowledge to just start riding. A lesson is really a good, important, first step...

I am planing to ride on the water but I thought that first I would get used to a kite. Like you said I want to get used to the wind window and be able to fly the kite. I thought that a kite like the HQ Hydra could do that, then I could use it in the water as traction but it doesn't sound like that's really possible.

Since I'm on the east coast I would use this time to experience the kite then when the weather gets a liitle warmer take lessons. I'm 2hrs from East of Maui in Dewey Beach, De and 2hrs from Green Hat kites at the Jersey shore. Once I've gotten some lessons then I would move up to an LEI kite.

you might be better served to spend money on lessons instead of training gear you'll soon grow out.
if lessons pay off and you become skilled enough to do the sport you will most def know what equipment you'll like/need.
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yeah...like what ragden said...:wee:

You don't need lessons til you hit the water with an LEI. You can pick up how to fly the trainer on your own, lessons would be a waste of time / money at this point, IMHO.

Ten hours or so on a trainer will give you what you need to head for a lesson with some prior kite skills in hand, the more time you spend flying the trainer the better your kite skills will be. You'll still need to transfer those skills to the LEI when the time comes.

I agree with the "get a trainerkite, save some cash on lessons" theory. There's plenty of trainers for land only, think Peter Lynn Impulse, HQ Rush and Rush Pro, Ozone Imp Trainer, stuff like that. The HQ Hydra is pretty much the only one that can do a water relaunch, so you can use that one for body dragging.

The trainer kite is not a kite you'll use on the board, hence the name trainer kite. Train on the beach before you go boarding, that's the thought. When you take a kite lesson afterwards, you can skip the whole "learn to fly first" step, and go directly to attaching an actual surfkite. You'll be on the water for 2.30 hours of a 3 hour lesson instead of just 30 minutes.

Can you wakeboard, snowboard, or skateboard? Can you fly a 4 line kite?

Get any decent stunt type kite and fly the snot out of it. Kitesurfing is first and foremost a kite flying sport. I tell newbies they really need to be able to fly a kite with their back to the kite, eyes closed and laying on your back. Guaranteed your first hard kitesurfing wipe out you'll crash with your back to the kite, with your eyes closed and probably upside down.

If you've got good kiteflying skills then kitesurfing is quite easy. When I first tried kitesurfing it was with a LEI kite because I figured I would always crash the kite when I wiped out. Well it turned out since I had super duper kite flying skills I never crashed my kite while learning to kitesurf. So make sure you build up your kiteflying skills before attempting to hit the water.

-Scott

Well the nice thing about getting something like the hydra is that for one you can learn how to control a kite on a bar. once you get an LEI or something similar, you are going to have to learn to fly on a bar. Second, once you learn to control a Hydra on land, you can also use it in the water to train yourself in the art of body dragging, an important part of kiteboarding. Also once you get in the water, you can learn how to relaunch if the kite hits the water. All of these things are important in kiteboarding, and can be done before you start to spend hard cash on lessons. You will still need to invest money in the lessons, but at least you will have mastered some of the other important things first. IMHO

I am in DE as well and can meet with you and let you have a go at the hydra if you like!
U2U sent

Check this video out from Chris at HQ

This is a great demonstration as to what is possible with the Hydra as far as training.:wee:

2011 PL Impulse 2.0m or 3.0m (comes new on 3 lines, and complete with bar)

there is however other trainers too out there that are good a well. getting a trainer foil that water relaunches will not teach the fundamentals of water relaunching an ARC, LEI - SLE, BOW, DELTA, C, etc.

IMO, trainers just teach you flying - whats its like on a bar. the basics of the wind window.
why cant you just learn on a smaller LEI, many crashes = future repairs.