Buying a kiteboard is something that, if you are interested in kitesurfing and want to learn it, you will have to do, sooner or later. But as in so many other things in life, it is better not to rush.
Whoever is thinking of learning kitesurfing should wait before buying until he has learned to kitesurf and is in possession of the necessary knowledge to make the distinctions and buy his kiteboarding equipment correctly.
The purchase of our kitesurfing equipment must come conditioned to several factors:
1.- First, our budget. A kite board can cost some amount of money or other very different one. There are kiteboards of a great quality, others are simpler, some are heavier, bulkier, others lighter, better designed, etc
But taking for granted that the budget we have for that purchase will be a decisive factor, the second point to consider is the most important.
2.- The kitesurfing board that we are going to buy has to be destined to the place in which we are going to kitesurf with more frequency. This means we should not buy any kiteboard without taking into account this second factor.
The most frequent wind intensity in our spot will determine the size of the kiteboard, logically, linked to our weight.
A person weighing 60 kgs and a person weighing 80 kgs present two very different scenarios, just as a navigation at 14 knots is completely different from the navigation that will take place at a spot where 25 knots blow each day.
3.- The third and last point to consider, should be the type of navigation to which we are going to dedicate ourselves. In a wave spot one can opt for a kite-surf board, or a board without sharp edges. This would make the board less agile in the water and equally, whoever wants to do maneuvers will prefer a kiteboard with more pop where the rigidity and the edges of the board are more decisive.
And to all the above described we have to put forward a matter of mere common sense: If you have just started in kitesurfing, you have finished your kite course and do not know what to buy, keep in mind the following: you should avoid strong winds, preferring gentle breezes, in which is preferable to opt for a bigger and broader kiteboard
A small board will be a good choice if you are going to navigate in strong winds but as our common sense should say otherwise, this should be avoided, therefore the size of our kiteboard should be larger since we should definitely avoid kitesurfing in strong winds and prefer lighter winds.
Thomas, our next kite club member
And after this basic explanation, a short story. The photos and videos are of our guest Thomas:
Thomas had decided to learn kitesurfing and in order to do so, he chose to do it during his holidays in Mallorca.
Before buying his ticket, at the moment of doing his booking, he consulted us about the possibility to buy a kitesurfing board on his country for he had seen online some good offers.
This was the moment in which we had to inform Thomas about the exposed above. In fact, the same procedure should be applied to the buying of a kite, that is why we suggested him to wait and have first his kite lessons, test and discover how different equipments work and get a broader comprehension of how is our sport.
I am sure the understanding of this idea made Thomas save time, effort and money and postpone his purchase of kite equipment once he was back home and knew exactly what he needed and what he wanted.
Once Thomas was here, he applied for membership to our non profit kite club Asociacion Aprende a Navegar and he took 3 days of kitesurfing lessons.
To be honest, the wind did not really accompanied him on his last day of lessons but Thomas had demonstrated an excellent control over the kite which led him to achieve an early progression.
Already during his second day of practices, I mean in the beginning of his fifth hour on his kite lessons Thomas started with his first rides on the kiteboard with a Peak kite 12 meters and he has spent his last four hours until the end of his kite course on the board sailing in both directions with total success.
