The kite is pulling... and I'm going with it!

Cockpit Briefing

One week in Portugal, a kitesurf camp, and me: someone who had never held a kite in his life. The first days were scary, wet and full of hard landings. But by the end of the week I was riding across the water with a huge grin on my face. Here’s how I got there.

The Moment

The first time the instructor handed me the bar and the kite filled with wind, I got a shock. That thing is powerful. One small movement in the wrong direction and it pulled me forward like I weighed nothing.

And that’s how the first days went. Steer the kite a bit too far, get pulled, land hard on the water. Get up, try again, land hard again. A lot of salt water, a lot of sand, and more than once the thought: “What did I get myself into?”

But then, slowly, something changed. I started to feel the kite. Where it pulls, where it rests, how little movement it really needs. I could keep it more or less where I wanted. More or less. I was still being dragged through the water, but now at least it was in the direction I chose 😂.

Then came the evenings. Lying in bed, YouTube tutorial on the phone, and my hands moving an imaginary bar in the air. Kite up, dive, power, board on the feet, stand up. Again and again. Exactly like chair flying for my pilot training, just horizontal and with worse posture.

And the next morning it happened. Kite in position, board on the feet, a dive with the kite… and I stood up. And kept standing. And rode. My first real ride across the water. I was so happy I almost forgot to steer.

Now I know why people kept telling me this is so much fun.

The Lesson

Kitesurfing is learned in small, clear steps, and skipping one doesn’t work:

• Understand the wind first. The most important theory is the wind window: the area around you where the kite can fly. In the middle, the “power zone”, it pulls hard. At the edges, it’s calm. Knowing this changes everything.
• Learn to control the kite before the board. First on the beach, then in the water without a board: you let the kite pull you through the water (it’s called body dragging). It looks funny, it’s funny, and it’s where you learn control.
• Safety systems are your friend. Every kite has a quick release. Knowing how to use it without thinking is the first thing you learn, and the most important.
• Then the board. Water start, the first metres, falling, again. The pull of the kite and the position of your body have to work together. That takes time.
• Rehearse in your head. The imaginary kiting in bed really helped. When my body finally did the movement in the water, my head already knew it.

And the next goal? Riding upwind. At the moment, every ride takes me a bit further downwind, so the walk back along the beach is getting longer and longer. Learning to hold my position, or even gain some ground against the wind, is what makes you independent.

At the end of the camp I also got my VDWS licence. It’s an international kitesurf licence that shows which level you’ve reached. Many kite stations around the world ask for it before they rent you equipment or let you ride on your own. A small card, but a big step.

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To get a better feeling for the board, I also did a session at a wakeboard cable park. No boat, just a cable running back and forth above the water that pulls you along. Different sport, same idea: balance on the board, edge, keep your weight right. And honestly, it was just a lot of fun too.

The Personal Part

I love learning something completely new. Being the beginner again, falling, laughing at yourself, and then feeling the progress day by day. It’s the same feeling I had at the start of my pilot training, and with pump foiling.

And there’s a funny connection to flying: in both cases it’s all about the wind. Reading it, respecting it, and using it. A kite is basically a wing on a string. The more I learn about one, the more I understand the other.

A big thank you to the instructors at the camp, who were incredibly patient with me, even on the day I crashed the kite a few times in a row.

One Takeaway

The scary first days are part of it. Every hard landing taught me something about the kite. Keep going, rehearse in your head, and one morning you’ll just stand up and ride.