As a newcomer to Kitesurfing you are probably wondering what sizes of kites and boards are going to work best for you – here is a rough guide to your first kite and board set up that will have you on the water most often.

The biggest piece of advice we can give you is to make sure you get a Hybrid Kite to learn on and not a C Kite. Hybrid Kites are also sometimes called SLE’s (Supported Leading Edge) or Bow kites. These kites generally have a pronounced sweptback wingtip and often a bridal attached to the leading edge. The hybrid design allows for the greatest amount of bar de-power, whereas a C-Kite relies on the rider to position the kite correctly for de-power.

Basically what this means is that a Hybrid kite is safer to learn with, as if you ever don’t feel comfortable you can let go of the bar and kill the majority of the power in the kite, hybrid kites relaunch a lot easier than C-Kites and they also have a much larger usable wind range.

In Perth the majority of our breezes fall into the 15-22 knot range. There will be stronger days and there will be lighter days – gear suited to this wind range (and your weight) will, statistically, get you the most water time. There will be a little bit of overlap depending on a few factors. Feel free to contact us for more information

If you are from further north in WA (Lancelin – Exmouth) then you should get a smaller sized kite as these areas experience stronger seabreezes. If you are riding on the east coast you may want to look at getting a size bigger than recommended as there is less wind and less steadiness to the wind on the east coast.

You will see a lot of people kiting on surfboard type boards. We don’t recommend these as a board to learn on, as they are not as durable and a lot harder to learn on.

For the safety of yourself and other beach users it is imperative that you have lessons from a qualified instructor before flying a kite by yourself.