Howdy guys,

I have played around with some borrowed kites and a small power kite and I am hooked. I'm not interested in any type of boarding at the moment and I am mainly after something I can fight with and perhaps extended jumps.

I've got the equivalent of a couple of hundred dollars and want to know what is worth going for for a beginner. I'm about 280lbs, but that's muscular, i am quite heavy so want a kite that can come close to lifting that, is that a possibility and what money should I be looking at for what I want.

If any of you have any suggestions/tips I would be incredibly grateful.

Thanks a lot

Mike

Hey Mike. Welcome to the forum and the sport. We get this question all the time and the answer is always that if you consider yourself a beginner, you shouldn't be buying a kite aggressive enough or large enough to lift you. The skills you need to be jumping can't be in place with some casual flying.

I personally have been in this in a major way for not quite a year now. I have purchased 6 different kites and flown another half dozen kites that other people own. Only in the last few weeks have I figured out the nuances of jumping. I only recently put all that together. You need to be to the point that you know what the kite is going to do just before it actually does it. That sounds silly now I'm sure but you will understand when it happens to you. You will probably recognize you are there while watching someone else fly and realize they didn't respond to what you already knew it was going to do.

The consensus is to get yourself a 3m or maybe as large as a 4m kite that will later become your high wind kite. I flew mine just 2 days ago and really enjoyed it. Get a quality kite from a known mfr such as Peter Lynn or HQ. The beamer III is what I started out on and even though other kites will be recommended, I don't ever remember anyone saying it wasn't a great kite to start out on. Someone your size would need at least a 6m kite in some stout winds to get predictable liftoff. That is no kite for a beginner. Especially one that is designed to provide lift. Holler back and we can continue the conversation. You can also look back in older posts on the same subject to see where others ended up while on this path.

[Edited on 3-3-2008 by BeamerBob]

Bobby speaks sooth. Look at the thread "dangerous sport" and read about the guy who went over his head (literally/ figureatively) and got hurt badly with a compound fracture.

It is the beginer's conundrum. You should not jump with your first kite. If you try that, or go straight to the big kite, you will likely be hurt, possibly badly.