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I live over in Western Australia, which happens to be one of the windiest places in the world!! (apparently, according to google).
So I thought why not learn a sport that needs the wind, since it is constantly windy here.
My dad does a little bit of kitesurfing so instead of getting lessons which are a ridiculous price (from $90-$150 per hour), I thought I'd have a go of flying the kite with him before I committed to outlaying some money.
Well lets just say that was a complete disaster.
Basically, for people who aren't familiar with kitesurfing, you wear a harness around your waist that connects to the kite. You then hold on to a bar that allows you to steer the kite.
So I'm wearing my dads harness, which is about 3 sizes too big. I've never flown a kite before and I'm freaking out. They are pretty strong and it can all be pretty dangerous without the proper safety instructions.
To get to the point of my story, I lasted about 45 seconds before yelling 'GET THIS THING OFF ME'.
I then decided that I hadn't given it a fair go. I should probably go and get some lessons before I completely write off my new hobby.
So I begrudgingly forked out my $100 and went and had a lesson.
I'm now on week 3 of lessons and I am sooooo happy that I didn't just give up after that first time.
It is an awesome sport.
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At the moment I'm learning how to get up on the board. It basically involves powering the kite up (a lot) and then trying to get it to lift you out of the water and up on the board.
It doesn't really work that way when you're learning though.
From my experiences, I basically just get a face full of water if I don't give it enough power, and then I give it too much power and I end up getting yanked up and over my board and 5 meters forward. It sort of looks like a cool superman trick but in reality its not very graceful at all.
Does anyone else kitesurf here? Let me know how you learnt and how long it took you to get up onto the board. I'm hoping my next lesson I'll get up because unfortunately my bank account can't afford to keep getting lessons!!