by lesvierra » Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:04 pm
Hey Peter,
I'm in Ogden Valley not to far via the Avon divide. Id love to hook up, maybe bear lake. Have you already had lessons?
Its tough if not impossible to get all the knowledge you'll need to go out on your own in a lesson. If you can afford it get multiple lessons. Reasons:
1. The odds are your instructor will get you out when the wind is blowing, thus saving time instead of trying to figure out the local meterology by trial and error, also saving gas money.
2. Your instructor will should have the right size kite for the wind condition, possibly a different size from your kite.
3. Get a lesson devoted to self launching, landing, and self rescue. You've already got the board and kite telling me you're ready to do what ever it takes to to learn even if that means going out on your own to figure things out. There are alot of things that can go wrong, and a good instructor with enough time left in a lesson can warn you about some of these. Quote from this issue kiteboarder mag "if you dont know what could go wrong, you dont know how to prevent it".
4. Finally, I think we live in a hard place to learn on water, northern Utah. The good folks down south have rush in the spring, awesome place to learn with hella knowledgeable people around, and Utah lake, we'll read the posts, they are loving it. What do we get, Pineview, Willard (great places to kite if you can get the good wind, but not exactly beginner territory and plenty of hazards), Bear Lake (great place to learn if there is good wind). I learned alot trying to figure it out on Pineview. Crazy launches, long swims and tangles. I didnt really get it until I went to rush. If you can afford it, get a couple of lessons from Bordy. If you cant (who can after purchasing a kite and board) get at least one water lesson (if you haven't already) and read as much as you can, ask lots of questions here, and go kite where others are kiting even if you have to drive half the day, ie Utah Lake.