Ideally, you have previously read our blog post on things to consider before purchasing your first kite. The purchase of your first kiteboard for kitesurfing will be discussed in this article.
The Hampshire Kitesurfing Centre, a subsidiary company of The Watersports Centre, offers instruction 363 days a year, ranging from day one introduction courses to three-day courses all the way up to boardwork lessons and advanced riding techniques. The takeaway is that after students have finished their classes and are eager to go solo, we are frequently asked for recommendations on what kites and boards are good for them.
purchasing your initial kiteboard8Purchasing Your Initial Kiteboard
Considerations to Make Before Purchasing a Kiteboard
If you simply go to Google and type in “kiteboards,” you will be presented with a vast array of things that you are completely ignorant of!
When you reach waterstarts and begin taking your first rides, the instructors at Hampshire Kitesurfing Centre will have discussed the board that was used in lessons, but many clients are receiving so much information that they won’t recall what the board was. It didn’t really matter how long the kiteboard was, how much rocker it had, or what form it had when taking lessons to learn how to kitesurf.
You will have completed classes by being placed on a board that was the appropriate size and style for your level at the time, and here’s the surprise: it will have changed as you advanced!
purchasing your initial kiteboard1 purchasing your initial kiteboard
introductory kiteboards
novice boards? Is there such a thing in reality? We don’t believe that at all. Although cheaper materials can be used to construct boards, this does not necessarily qualify them as “beginning boards.” They are therefore reasonably priced for a beginner kiteboarder. Consider your initial board to be an entry-level board.
The kind of board you used in your lessons was what we call “oversize,” giving it a greater surface area, and it had a flatter rocker line (the contour of the board from tip to tip) meant to get the board up and planing early. The displacement of the boards is everything. This is crucial in the beginning of your progression because you need all the help you can get to be able to get up and stay up on the board because later on in your progression, edge control will also need to be worked on while still having to put the kite in the proper position to generate the power you need to get up and stay up.
These reasonably cost boards also frequently have a wood core, which offers excellent flex and rebound characteristics. This means that the board will provide you with a smooth ride by absorbing the rough circumstances much like a car’s suspension. When you begin to ride for longer periods of time, upwind performance is also crucial. So a flatter rocker line and a mild flex will help with this.
Customers frequently tell us that they prefer to keep their entry-level boards and find it difficult to upgrade to a stiffer board because they do not enjoy the feel.
What Level Am I at is a question you must ask yourself.
Don’t try to purchase now in order to develop in your kiteboarding! We mention this because if you buy based on where you anticipate being, your progression will be more difficult and you won’t advance as quickly as you could on the best board for you.
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buying your first kiteboard5
weight to board size
Size is important!
It’s crucial to avoid buying your first board too tiny. Why? Since you’ll need more kite power to start you going and keep going, Your ability to go upwind will suffer as you bog down, sink, nose dive, and crash a lot more. Even though riding upwind is one of kitesurfing’s “Holy Grail” skills, the secret to riding upwind is to keep moving forward over the ocean without trying to get upwind. Although it seems like smoke and mirrors, it’s real! It makes prudent to ask for advice rather than purchasing a board because of a possible deal.
Having already mentioned that your beginning point when deciding what board to choose for your first board is your level, your weight is the second extremely crucial consideration. You will ride a bigger board if you are heavier. BUT there will be stages throughout your development. You need a bigger board when you first start going out alone and for around 3-6 months, depending on how frequently you can get out, of course.
Here we must state that if someone comes to us looking to purchase a board after having been out on the water alone for more than six months, or let’s say about 10-15 sessions, we would typically recommend the following:
A board between 134 cm and 138/140 cm in length is recommended for a rider weighing approximately 70 kg.
A board between 138 cm and 144 cm would be appropriate for a rider weighing approximately 90 kg.
There is frequently some misunderstanding regarding the length and breadth, thus we must be clear that the width is also crucial for getting a board planed.
However, for the first six months, we advise using a board that is between 138 and 140 cm for a rider weighing around 70 kg and between 144 and 148 cm for a rider weighing about 90 kg.
purchasing your initial kiteboard6Purchasing Your Initial Kiteboard
Don’t be afraid to use a larger board.
This will reduce the amount of power you initially require from the kite. The board will plane earlier, making it safer, and it will also reinforce proper kite technique. Your current board can be preserved as your light wind board until you are ready to go to the next level.
Let’s elaborate on it. The power of a 9m kite will be felt by a rider weighing 90 kg using, let’s say, a 140 cm board. The power in the kite of a 10m kite will be available to the same 90kg rider flying a 9m kite on, let’s say, a 145/148 centimetre board. Because of this, during lessons you might have been using a kite that is somewhat underpowered for the wind, but with a larger/oversized board, giving you the equivalent of riding a kite that is one size bigger.
Expect to pay between £500 and £750 for a brand-new board that includes fins, a grab handle, and cushions or straps. Depending on its age and condition, you might be able to find a secondhand board for between £300 and £450.
The Ozone Base V1, which will soon be followed by the V2, the Shinn Pinbot, the Airush Switch V11, and the Cabrinha Spectrum are some examples of the appropriate style of board.
Purchasing Your First Kiteboard
That concludes our advise on the decision-making processes for choosing your first board, so when you are riding upwind without difficulty and may have mastered those transitions, when do you start to consider what follows next? For more information on that, please check out our upcoming blog post. At that point, kiteboards start to get really fascinating, and the next board you consider will take you into 80% of the kiteboard market. In the following category, all of the brands are producing a wide variety of boards. Despite improvements in building techniques to increase rigidity or weight, the shape is mostly the same. For a board in this category that comes with fins, a grab handle, and padding or straps, budget somewhere between £500 and £1,000 in advance.