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Whoot!

[toby wilson]

99.999999% of all of us locals paid for lessons even if we didn't have the money to do so and the other 0.000001% aren't much smarter than Ben Roethlisberger riding a crotch rocket without a helmet. There is always a way to pay for lessons if you try hard enough, take a personal loan, take a cash advance, borrow from a friend. Work a payment plan out with a local instructor. The best way to earn immediate respect here is to take lessons. You seem to have "found a way" to pay for your gear, lessons should have come first. Give me one sport in which athletes "wing it" as a general rule. They all have coaches to teach them how to throw the football, run the bases, hit the tennis ball, shoot the puck, ride a wakeboard behind a boat, etc. This is not your everyday sport, you can DIE in a split second or worse yet, kill someone else. Take lessons.

[inferno]

not to prove you wrong toby but i didnt take lessons to wakeboard, or to snowboard, or skate, or rollerblade, or surf..... :lol:

but i will agree lessons are a very good idea, and that doesnt mean hours and hours of lessons cause not everyone can afford it, i know i couldnt, but even just a two hour lesson so you can learn the proper and safe way to do things could save you alot down the rode

[toby wilson]

And Gio, Inferno is the .0000001% jackass that I was talking about. Noone likes him and we make faces at him and call him names on the beach!!! :lol: J/K Danny!!!

[inferno]

Originally Posted by toby wilson

And Gio, Inferno is the .0000001% jackass that I was talking about. Noone likes him and we make faces at him and call him names on the beach!!! :lol: J/K Danny!!!

:cry: :cry:

you mean you make faces at me FROM the beach as im out tearing it up and throw sick hello kitties just like E. :lol:

[toby wilson]

Yeah, then I go and do my own thing...no "just likes" for me...until I get out there and you start saying "I wanna ride just like Toby"... :lol:

[bryanleighty]

hey Gio..

Here's the scoop my man...

Learning to kite w/o supervision (lessons/good friend that is an experienced rider) is a huge risk.. as well it puts a cap on your learning curve. If you are not good friends with someone that is a seasoned rider, I really think you need to invest a small bit of cash into a lesson with someone that will take what you already know and get you pointed (litterally) in the right direction.

I am POSITIVE there are many rookie mistakes you are making. These can be weeded out with a couple hour lesson from one of our local instructors.

As someone with a lot of "other" sports in my bag I also thought I could just jump right in. I did get a 3 hour inital lesson that got me up to speed on rigging a big kite and some other things.. but of course I had blinders on the whole time thinking "JUST GET ME OUT TO THE WATER!!!! WHEN CAN I START JUMPING??!?!?"..

I did not absorb enough in my lessons and looking back on the next month or so that followed I did some STUPID things that I will not mention here.
I did not get hurt and more importantly, I did not hurt anyone else... but my riding did not improve and I spent a long time in "Waterstart Limbo" and took a number of vactaions to "Long Walk Back Up The Beach Resort and Day Spa".

I was very safely orientated and only went out in the right conditions.. I simply did not improve as quickly as I had hoped.

It was not until I met some of the local riders that gave me some pointers to fill in the blanks I had forgot from my lessons did things start to make sense and now I am having the time of my life (except for this insane no-wind spell).

Saftey for you and others are the first concern..

Next is the fact that having everyone at the beach be able to go upwind makes the day better for everyone.

I really recommend you getting a lesson to ensure you are kiting safe and get yourself upwind ASAP...

-B

I am eating a sandwich.

[shawnwar4586]

Here is the scoop gio, I work at real as a coach and also i kite in st. pete. If you look at the warning on the begining of zero to hero and evolution it says that these dvds are not a substitute for professional instruction. I fully agree that these are great dvds but you still ne instrucion from a qualified pro. Thats just my 2 cents.

See you in the fall

I am eating popcorn and agree that lessons are a no brainer (especially if you want to keep yours inside your head).

I have heard the "I can waterski, wakeboard, unicycle, race bikes" thing several times and usually end up watching the guy get worked, anyway.
The thing is, learning this alone is quite hard.
Secondly, and probably most importantly, it shows a lack of respect to others to not take lessons and insure ALL of our safety. If you can't afford the lessons, honestly, you might want to reconsider hobbies. Kiting by its nature costs some money each season (even with used gear and so forth). In the scheme of things (I have been kiting awhile) its a small investment up front to insure your own safety and earn the respect of fellow kiters. It's the respect of fellow kiters which is literally priceless. If you show up w/o a lesson and get worked most guys will write you off (I know I would).
If however you took a lesson but still got worked, most guys would understand, try to help, and be more than forgiving (I would be).

Just got off work and its 17