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Young fella wants to kite

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Created by HENDO 77 > 9 months ago, 13 Dec 2020
HENDO 77
WA, 285 posts
13 Dec 2020 7:13PM
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My young fella wants to kite.
Here i am thinking of giving it a crack after a few years windsurfing .
Now the young fella is telling me he want to have a go to.(he never seemed to keen on the windsurfing)
What sort of gear would suit a 50kg , 12 year old
????
6m , big twin tip ,
any advice is appreciated
do they make kids harnesses or buy a chicks one ???

KiteBud
WA, 1515 posts
13 Dec 2020 7:19PM
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Hi Hendo,

the usual advice is to get lessons. I would add to look for a good instructor who is used to working with kids.

We wrote a comprehensive blog post about kids learning to kitesurf here: www.kitebud.com.au/how-young-can-you-start-kitesurfing/

As explained in the article, for kids, it would be best to have a kids seat harness (yes, they make some for kids like the Prolimit Rookie Seat Harness) combined with a bar with short throw that also has a mini chicken loop (Airush Access bar is an example). The combination of these 3 things (seat harness, short throw bar, mini chicken loop) make the bar much easier to reach for kids.

A 6m for Perth would make a lot of sense @50kg. There is not much need to get a twin tip bigger than 135cm. At this weight they don't need a big board and a board too big would be too hard to handle, heavy and difficult to control/edge.

Hope this helps

Christian

IanR
NSW, 1237 posts
15 Dec 2020 9:35AM
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Make sure the instructor has had a Working With Children Check

Deefer
VIC, 117 posts
15 Dec 2020 3:47PM
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I taught my kids when they were young and I spent a lot of time on the beach using myself as anchor, tethered to the kids so that they felt the power of the kite and got used to flying it smoothly. Had a 3.5M and a 5, but the kids were 40Kegs wringing wet. They moved on to the board and water but not until they had all the skills down pat, launch, land and especially punching out. Best thing I did with them.

raggedflyer
WA, 64 posts
20 Dec 2020 9:22AM
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Hendo, I got my kids a 1.5m two line foil kite to start on about 6 years ago and they loved using it so moved up to a 4m Uno a couple of years ago, we use a small Ozone bar with 20m lines, small loop and short throw using the Ion ripper convertible harness. I found it tough to find an instructor with insurance to teach kids so I've taken a long time to teach the basics of reading the conditions, safety, flying the kite & self rescue before recently introducing the board, similar age & size to yours. We had a few ok water starts on an 8m Catalyst in about 15-18kt and I've been looking for a similar 6m kite. Progression may have been quicker with an instructor and more gear but I've been overly cautious, perhaps risk averse and I've used a tether to myself to ensure the skills are there before letting them go & body drag. I've learned their time threshold for following instructions and for fatigue, when they start making small errors that lead to mistakes.

There will no-doubt be those claiming it's dangerous and I'm doing it wrong but I'm comfortable that we've been cautious, and safe. If we're starting to ride the board this summer we will book lessons with Christian & the Kitebud team to go over everything from the start.

If you aren't an intermediate to advanced kiter then I recommend you both start with lessons. Safety first, it's not all about getting up and riding... sh!t can go wrong quick so it's important to know how to react.

AquaPlow
QLD, 1051 posts
20 Dec 2020 11:36AM
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Suggest pm Eppo. He has been thru this couple years back and good posts made at time..
The key here is all DIYers who post have alot of experience b4 they teach...
If u are new to sport Christian's advice is smart...
I did DIY intro then lessons then next stage followed by more lessons-- 2007-8 had ball was cautious plus insisted going thru nippers... As confidence in water key... He went on to get sponsored with Airush.. Which was g8...
Cheers
AP



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