With the holidays nearly behind us, I'm preparing to begin looking for some gear that will take me out on the water. I got a taste of Kitesurfing this past summer from a friend who lent me his gear and provided a few hours of training. Now I'm on a quest to find a 9m and 12m LEI to start learning on. I'll be in Florida for a month in the spring and on lake Michigan for a couple of weeks during the summer. I've noticed this site doesn't cater much towards Kite Surfers, so I'm just wondering if there are other forums that any of you may recommend?

here is a few
:evil:

http://www.kiteforum.com/

http://www.fksa.org/

http://www.kiteboarder.co.uk/kitesurfing/index.php

http://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Kitesurfing/General/

http://www.chicagokitesurfing.com/kiteboarding_messageboard/

http://forum.bestkiteboarding.com/viewforum.php?f=9

This is a good site ( but not a forum ) : http://www.kitesurfingschool.org/

When PKF is definitely more landkite oriented I am sure we have plenty of advance kiteboarders that will provide quality info and advice when needed . Would be nice to have few more kiteboarding topics , specially from people who try to transition to water . Since most of us have good kiting skills questions would be different then posted on kiteforum.com from absolute beginners . Questions about specific gear and kite model will get more answers on big kiteboarding forums , but will not harm anyone to ask those here too ... Keeping PKF family in one place and bringing new members to this forum is important so we can build bigger knowledge database for our forum buddies .....

Great information guys, so thanks to all. So I guess when it comes to water related questions, I may end up posting across a few different forums - that way the info can stay here too!

heres a recent post about same thing. http://www.powerkiteforum.com/viewthread.php?tid=29652

finding locals at your spot is the way to go, float plans, hazards, tides , etc.. for the area is essential. usually a retailer is first contact, for lesson, area restrictions. a good example is like in Miami, FLA.---> crandon park....good place to start there as well.

i know some folks there if u need details

There are definitely water people on here. I find this forum to be a lot more "civilized" than some of the other ones out there. It does tend to be centered around posting useful information rather than polluting every thread with random comments so much that you get 10 pages of crap and the occasional helpful info.

That being said, there are plenty of reasons to see what the other sites are up to.

Anyway good luck with the water. 2014 was the year I spent more time on water than on land and it's totally worth it. Although there are some other dangers in the water, it's much safer to learn some things in that world. In the end it will only help you with overall kite skills. Always recommend giving the water a try if you have the opportunity. As long as you have lots of confidence with the water-related safety stuff. Practicing that stuff also helps you keep from losing your gear in the ocean, so it's win-win.