VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Hi all....
I am just starting out with the Kiteboarding thing and I would appreciate any info you might share regarding "new guy friendly" learning spots and decent starter gear.
I am in Ladysmith, and reading this forum, it looks like the Parksville area is probably best suited to my skill level. I have taken 3 days of IKO certified lessons in Miami, but I still suck. I managed to get up on the board a few times, but played submarine fairly quickly.
My questions are:
-Are the beaches at Rathtrevor, Miracle Beach or around Nanaimo suitable for me to practice body dragging, standing up, launching and landing, emergency procedures etc? I haven't seen anyone Kiting there, but I don't want to be in anybodies way at the popular spots.
-As far as gear, I am thinking I would rather start off with a small set-up and be underpowered until I can manage the gear efficiently. Is that logical? I was on a 17, 14 and 12m in Miami, and was quite soundly beat up by all three of them. I am a big guy (220 ish), with limited board skills.
-1/2 of my time is spent in Frozen northern Alberta for work. I was thinking about getting some practice time in with a kite and snowboard over the winter. Has anybody tried that or have any thoughts on it ?

Let me know your thoughts, and if anyone has some used gear kicking around for me buy to to learn on, let me know. I have a seat harness and board already thanks.

There are a bunch of us, Ken, Al, Rustin, John, Rick, Noelle, Harold and Tony, Ryan and Ray who are local in Parksville. we'll help you out and we often post who's going out on the parksville qualicum kiteboad page facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1033781829975895/
San Pariel is the best spot to kite but not learn in the winter because the beach is short. Columbia has cleaner wind but rocks which will chew up a new guys kite.
Keep to the south east winds and on a good day try Nanoose down at the end...look on a google map and find the pentacostal church campgroud and launch there. The water is very shallow, so wade out far as you can...any problems and you just get blow into the reeds down the bottom but absolutely no risk of deep water accidents...you'll be able to stand up most of the time and cant lose your board.
Rathtrevor can ok sometimes but you gotta watch out for tourists and the wind doesn't come in at the perfect angle for learning...although, once again, hardly any risk of dying...lol.
As far as gear goes...most of us are gear ho's and hoard it. Ryan would be a good guy to talk to for gear and there are a lot of guys out of victoria and are hooked into ocean rodeo...check that out.
Other than that, plan to hit NitWit lake in the summer, that's where the real fun is and the learning curve will kick in.
see you out there.
Johnny Slats

Your kite skills will progress much more quickly snowkiting then in 2 degree water. Assuming you can find a safe place with fairly clean wind and no hazards.

If your 'snowboard' skills are not at a high level (regular and switch) then I would start on skis. They allow you to completely eliminate the water start and you can even skate start to build apparent wind. Crash your kite dead down wind and instead of dragging the leading edge across ice, just skate over to one side and the kite will be at the window's edge ready to launch with no pull.

You can literally walk into the middle of a frozen lake or farmer's field and set up a carabiner launch so there's no downwind hazards. And as long as you don't go out in high winds (over 20 knots for now), then it's almost impossible to not stay upwind.

I'd go with a 12m kite, aim for a nice sunny day when it's between 8-20 knots. If the kite will fly then you can snowkite. For the long term you'll probably want a 7,9,12,15 and a waist harness. So keep your eyes open.

Get your kite skills up then head down south for a week to make the transition to water. Cayo guillermo cuba (all inclusive), or Long Bay Turks and Caicos (if you have a few bucks) are the best places to learn in shallow warm water. Just don't forget to practice body drags and self rescues.

Ive got some big guy gear for you if you want i was going to put up for sale shortly here. I'm 210. Pm me if you are looking.

Thanks for the replies, this gives me something to go on for the next while. I appreciate the advice.

My Advice on equipment.
Get one fairly new kite, 12 meter...forget everything else. The new 12 meter kites have plenty of depower which will allow you to ride in the 16 to 26 knot range. As you learn, you will become more efficient and and will gravitate more towards a 10 to 12 meter kite around here but at your weight, I would say you will rarely use a ten or smaller in the first year or so. So get a fairly new kite...2 years old... lots of ocean rodeo stuff out there. We fly mostly slingshot and love the Rally as it pulls like a truck and is a great upwind kite. talk to people about what they suggest...it's good to get input.
The right sized board is important and at 220, I would suggest a 142 cm at this satge... once again, talk to others and get their opinion.
I am about 210 myself.

Try to practice flying any kite during the 'off season' but my advice would be to wait until summer when the winds are consistent and it makes everything else easier... Gusty inconsistent winds will not help you and you won't have any fun
Try to get out though but go body drag a bunch and get your kite skills good for retrieving your board... Nobody practices body dragging but every novice should
As for gear buy something that's fairly new but kinda beat up cause you'll just beat it up anyways... Get a bigger board and it's good to be overpowered when learning.. Miami is light light winds so expect to be on a 12 or even 8 at the lake sometimes... Don't go where no kiters are there are reasons why nobody kites some places

You've gone through this I assume ?! http://www.bigwavedave.ca/phpBB2/viewto ... &start=255 & perused this: http://www.bigwavedave.ca/wiki/index.php/Sailing_Guide