Gabriele Steindl: Professional Kitesurfer & Freelance Writer - Action, Lifestyle & Travels
What board/kite equipment is good to start of with – choosing the right equipment?
Today’s kitesurfing-equipment is almost incomparable to only 3 years ago and recent technical advances in performance and safety do certainly assist in learning.
Kite manufacturers have put a lot of efforts into the development of preference- and skills-specific lines of kites – there’s bow, hybrid, and C-kites, intermediate- and high performance kites, wave- freestyle- and so many more… – and kitesurfers today have a wide choice of different brands, models, and of course sizes. Yes, the range of kites in the market can be confusing and the decision which one to get, especially if it’s the first kite, often almost veeery tricky. Pretty much the same with boards.
It’s somehow a little like buying a car. All cars will get you from A to B, however, which one is the best for you, that depends on many factors such as your style, preferences and image of brand etc. but should mainly be determined by: your level and the conditions that you’re likely to ride the most. Thus, there is no ‘the best kite or the best board’, there’s only ‘the best kite/board FOR YOU’. Every kite, model, brand has its pros and cons. Mind you, North kites have way less cons than other brands that’s because North invests heavily into research and development and sets trends which others try to copy later…
Also budget is a factor and if I was you, I would go for a ‘last season used but in good shape kite without any repairs’ perhaps similar to the ones that you learned with. One thing that I would like to highlight here again is: more and more schools teach with bow-kites as it’s very safe and a bit less complex, however, that’s exactly also the problem solely with bow-education: you o n l y know bow and eventually you might want to change to a C-shape or hybrid … and you will have to re-learn.
With regards to boards, for the beginning, the size will be the determinant factor for choosing your first ‘baby’ and that will depend on ‘your size’ (as in weight) and also skills in other boardsports. For example for a male kite-beginner, of about 80kg, who’s pretty good in snowboarding/wakeboarding, I would recommend some freestyle board, around 135- (max) 140 x 38 cm. Please note, additional width will make up a bit for length, however, will also make it harder to learn to ride toeside or to hold the edge in chop.
To come to a conclusion, try to decide your aims and what kind of kitesurfing you want to progress into. Do you want to ride in the waves or on snow or is freestyle your cup-a-tea etc. Then do some research and compare different brands, read reviews, check into quality and warranty and most importantly try to figure out the wind conditions you’re most likely to go kitesurfing in.
Graphics and colour should of course be secondary, however, once you determined what type of kite and board is best for you, obviously trying to get it in your favourite colour, is perfectly fine 🙂
North kiteboarding is at the forefront of all brands and has a huge selection of beginners- as well as advanced kites. Check out www.northkites.com for their extensive range and details on all their products. The same accounts for Fanatic, one of the most established brands in board design, check out www.fanatic.com .
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