I always start them off on my scout and in mild winds. Depending on the person ill have them in the harness even if they arnt strapped in so I can grab onto the handle of the back of it... I've found this helps a lot in giving them confidence and helping them get into the proper position of leaning back and such.

My question... For moving onto a bigger kite, what if I was to attach a small rope to the back handle so I can give them a little bit more room, but still have some hang onto them in case they were to start to get picked up and get scared.

I've seen a ton of the manlifting videos and I know thats a horrible idea, but I'm just wondering if theres a way of having a rope attached without it turning into something like that. Because my goal is to keep them grounded or to small lifts.

If there is a danger of a noob getting lofted, then there is TOO much kite and/or TOO much wind, for their skillset. They should not be in a situation like that at all. Just my 2 cents...

Gotta agree with WG, when i first started out teaching friends I would want to get them dealing with the full power as quickly as possible, now I start 'em off on the 1.7, let them get past the crashing stage on that, and then I'm guided by their confidence and skills as they work up through the sizes.

Haven't hurt any of my buds yet!

2-5 hours generally sees them to their first scuds, then to their first semi-controlled jumps. I teach on a soft sand beach which is a BIG help for the safety and learning curve (easy to hold power and begin scudding)

I used to help them out more, grabbing handles and such when they were about to screw up, but now I find it's better all around if I make sure they have appropriate skills before getting into the power.

If they wanna jump NOW w/o going through the learning, well quite frankly I tell to go buy their own kite and hurt themselves somewhere else please. If they're not willing to start small they don't get free lessons and free use of my kites.

Right I totally understand.. I just feel like, after spending so much time on most of my kites that jumping with the V19 in 10-12mph wind was much better feeling than any jump ive ever done on my scout. The Gentle Giant! I've gotten sore ankles from jumps on the scout, yet I've done pretty huge jumps on the V19 and never had any sort of injury at all. But its so huge that it could be very intimidating. And it's not like I could get the V19 launched in any less wind for them to try with...

I have and make them wear a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads btw.

I'm complete agreement with Furbo and Weld. I used to try to kill all of my friends by hooking them up to full lenght lines. After years of destruction, I found this video. It totally changed how I teach friends. I don't know how it would work with foils, but It is AMAZING with inflatable kites. by keeping them on short lines, nothing bad can happen! I firmly believe in having them develop they're skills this way first, and slowly adding line length.





Again, not sure how this can be adapted with foils!

Hmmm yea that is pretty awesome, I only have 27m lines for all of my arcs..

Omni,
You can make your own 5 meter lines. just buy some hardware store construction string, cut them and tie loops. it's only temporary so the line can be hack. give it a try, you'll find the kite can't get out of control. again, I've never done it with an arc, but figure it's worth some investigation.

Hmm cool, well what about hooking it up to the bar? I have my lines always attached to the bar and their a bit of a pain to reconnect to the bar. Or could I come up with a makeshift training bar... OOoh summer projects!

Edit: That wouldn't work too well probably, I was a little tipsy last night.. :saint: