Kitesurfing Lessons - From a Londoner's Eyes

I first had the pleasure of seeing kite surfing and having kitesurfing lessons for the first time some 18 months ago when I was on holiday in Miami. There I was, corona in one hand and my good lady in the other when I looked up and saw a dude being taken off into the air by a kite. Ha ha, I laughed before I realized the guy had a turtle attached to his foot. After putting my beer down I realised he was in fact flying along a great speeds with a kite and what appeared to be a boogy board attached to his feet. It really was one of the craziest things I'd seen. The guy was travelling at about 50mph and was jumping up waves before flying into the air and back down again. I was amazed and watched him all the way up Miami beach, which is dam long. I was so impressed by this mans guile and courage I decided to ask some of the locals if this was a regular thing I just saw or some secluded basket case that was doing it all by his little self.

Obviously being a resident Londoner I don't see a lot of kite surfers or boarders on my way into work so, with respect, the locals permitted my ignorance. By all accounts this wasn't the only guy, in fact the very guy I saw actually teaches kitesurfing lessons for a living and was just on his lunch break (nice job). Naturally having put my good lady on a site seeing trip of the Everglades I enrolled on the kite surfing lesson. My guide for the day was Jonny Taylor who's apparently a well known pioneer of the sport, amongst other extreme sports. The lessons seemed good value and to be honest I didn't care, I just wanted to know how to do it!

We started off and much to my disappointment we actually started on dry land. Apparently you need to get used to flying the kite before you let it take you up into the sky! Being not even an amateur kite flyer I was a bit slow learning but I eventually, after a good half hour learned how to fly my fancy flexifoil kite.

The next step was to actually get into the sea and actually let the kite drag you along for a bit in different directions so you get the hang of whats going to happen when you actually get on a kitesurfing board with the kite! This was good fun and really helps you to understand which way to turn the kite to go where you want to go. Control is the key!

Well in the end I finally got the kitesurfing board attached and the real kitesurfing lesson began! I have to be honest I was pretty awful and certainly couldn't do any of the fancy stuff I saw the guy do earlier but hey, it was my first attempt. After staying out way too long and getting minor sunburn I headed back for a well deserved beer and some food. I was completely hooked and obsessed with finding a place to do this back home, so much so I almost forgot I even had a girlfriend, who made it back safely from the Everglades. If you ever get the chance to have kitesurfing lessons, forget money, just do it. This is the future!.....

Richard has been a keen kitesurfer for some years now, if you ever get the chance, I promise you won't be disappointed.