Ok, so I have flown for years on land and I want to progress to water. Looking for thoughts on how much learning curve advantage I have from my experience. Did you find it relatively easy or from the beginning again?

Kite size? [15 mph, ocean] I have a 140 board

Get a lesson.

Your previous experience will help and the water is for sure softer than land. I took my first water lesson this week and can tell you that there is still alot to learn and you can still get seriously worked! Kent is right and the lesson was worth it.

My instructor took into account that me and the wife have already been flying depowers and got us straight into the water after a very quick overview. No time was wasted repeating stuff we already new.

for the guys at Kiteboarding.com in Corpus Christi for a kick ass weekend of lessons and fun!!!

If you have ever been wake boarding then that makes it 10 times easier. Personally if you already know how to wake board and are confident with your de-power abilities, you can probably go out and be up on the water in about 30 minutes or less. If you have never been wake boarding then I don't know because you wont know what it feels like to come up out of the water and when to plane off and stuff.

I don't really think lessons are necessary, because when I went out to kitty hawk last summer I went out for my first time on a stormy day with an 8m Neo and it took me about 5 minutes to be up and riding. I got about 1 hour in and it started to rain so we packed it up. Two days later we went out again, this time it was stormy overcast with high winds. I got out the 6m Neo (great beginner closed cell) and was immediately up and riding. I ended up riding around six hours strait without stopping, and only stopped because it got dark. By the time I was done I was able to easily land 8 to 10 foot jumps no problem. Still possibly the most fun I ever had with a kite.

The only reason I don't board anymore is because anytime we go kiting we go to Ivanpah (I know, poor me).

So the question is do you know how to wake board, because if so you probably don't need lessons

Also if you like foil kites, the Neo Or Matrixx would be good, you will want to get out more kite than you normally would because it takes alot of power to get you out of the water. so 8 to 10m

I think the closest crossover from land to water is actually snow to water. The board skills are much similar in my opinion. You should have the good kite skills but your best bet is a lesson to be paired with the right equipment, right conditions, and feedback to make the transition the easiest possible. I probably had at least a dozen sessions that were wasted because of borderline conditions that could have been great had I taken a lesson at first and understood what I needed.

If decide to skip the lesson be prepared to spend a lot of time struggling. You will exchange time for money.

15mph is about 13 knots - if you're about average weight, buy my Xbow 16 that's for sale and you're set :D
Well... you'll still need to get lessons cos yes, there's still stuff to learn but the more I learn, the more I realize that this sport really is all about the kite skills! If you can fly the ass off the kite, you're miles ahead!

I agree about the wakeboarding experience. I didn't have much but now that I can kiteboard I have figured out how to wakeboard too. So that leaves the question, How much experience do you have and in what?

Seeing as how you dont have any depower kites in your quiver, you might want to seriously consider taking a lesson. The fact that you know how to fly kites will greatly improve your time learning them, but there are safety aspects that you will want to go over. Take a lesson.

I personally went from buggying with fixed-bridle to buggying with depower, to snowkiting with depower, to water. And that transition made a LOT of sense. And things were very easy to pick up.

Still, I strongly recommend taking a lesson. Having someone there to point out your mistakes and give you instant feedback will greatly increase your learning.

I love kents reply!! No B.S.- just the facts! And as much as I would love to skip the lesson I know he is right. I have not wake boarded so I do not have that experience going for me either.

I have already started looking for a good lesson and then its time to start going liquid to buy some gear! Our hobbies are not cheap! Wish I never sold my harness and that bar but I had to have that 5M Ace when they 1st came out!!:frog: Still get chills thinking about how high I got with that kite in small winds!

Realize that Wexler had been wakeboarding for 6-7 years at the point he learned on the water. He also had been flying depower kites for 4 years or so. Add to that a high level of coordination and he was able to add all that together and what I was able to explain to him and he was up and running. Also, he was in the sound at OBX and could always stand up if he got in trouble. You need a lesson from "someone".

I was taught by tridude and we didn't skip any steps. Again, I had decades of high level experience behind a boat and was familiar with depower kites and could fly upside down and backwards and even underwater sometimes. :embarrased: All that with tridude walking me through the steps and the second time I had enough power, I was up and running. OBX just locked it all in place for both Wexler and I.

I think with me, I needed someone to hold my hand for a while and "Yes you can go out in this wind without killing yourself and we'll pick you up when you wind up 400 miles downwind"... a safety net thing.