The Biggest Mistake I Almost Made

Let me give you some background. My first power kite experience was with a guy I work with. He was telling me about this kite he had and I wanted to try it. We were sitting, watching a storm blow in when I said, “Hey man, you have your kite?” Well, of course he did. We took it out into the parking lot and he gave me a quick lesson. I was itching to get the bar in my hands so he passed it over to me. I promptly flew the kite across the power window and was nearly pulled out of my shoes. I regained control of the kite and was feeling like I knew what I was doing when a gust came and promptly crashed the kite into the ground. Truth be told, the kite never really hit the ground. It was caught gently by a tree. At that moment, the rain started. We spent the next half hour untangling the kite from the tree. Soaked, cold, and tired, I was hooked.

My next flying experience was in much nicer weather. My wife and I met up with my friend and his girlfriend in the park (no trees this time). The winds were calmer and it was sunny. I was paying more attention as he explained (again) the wind window, power strokes, and control techniques. After taking a turn, I passed the bar to my wife. Now she was hooked. Imagine a slightly nefarious (my son’s word) laugh at this point. My plan was working perfectly.

My friend was leaving for a week so he let me borrow his trainer. I should let you know that his trainer is a little 2 meter kite. I was enough to give me a pull in strong winds, but most of my winds are on the light side. I wanted something bigger. It was at this point that I started looking for my own trainer.

After doing all my research, I settled on a 4 meter traction kite as my first trainer. There aren’t a lot of kite shops near me (by “not a lot”, I mean “none”) so before I shelled out my hard earned cash on a somewhat expensive kite, I wanted to know if I was getting what I needed. I fired off an email to an address I found online asking if the kite that I chose was right for me. In the email, I explained that I was a big guy. I wanted to use the kite as a trainer and also something to pull me around on the snow. I also explained that my wife would play with it, but she would likely never use it to be moved. The response I got put the brakes on my whole plan.

This is what I learned. First and foremost, the 4 meter kite is too big to be a trainer kite. It will generate too much power. Second, a kite that is big enough to pull me around on skis will be way too big for my wife to use as a trainer (more about the importance of this a little later). Third and this is the biggie, trying to get a kite that will be “ok” at a couple of things will get you a kite that is not “good” for anything.

Let’s look at each of these in detail

A 4 meter kite is not a trainer. As an industry, the kite manufacturers have decided that trainer kites go up to about 3.5 meters. Once a kite passes this size, it begins to generate too much power to allow someone to train. The purpose of a trainer kite is to allow a person to develop the skills necessary to control a larger kite in various wind conditions. If the trainer kite is too small, the person learning will not be challenged and will just learn to fly a small kite. If the trainer kite is too big, the person will not be able to control the kite and the skills will never get mastered. Look at it like this. When someone is learning to drive a car, they shouldn’t learn on a go-cart. Sure, they can learn the ideas of breaking and turning, but a go-cart is going to act a little different than a Honda Civic. On the other hand, a beginning driver shouldn’t be put in a semi-truck either. The driver might eventually master the parallel
parking, but really, the semi is just the wrong tool. A kite is the same way. Size does matter and 4 meters is just too big.

Problem number two was that I was hoping my wife would be using the kite also. It was explained to me in very simple terms that if I purchased a kite that was too large for her, she would have no fun. If she didn’t enjoy it, there was a good chance that I wouldn’t get her support in this adventure and I would end up dropping the sport. If you are married, you know what I’m talking about. It was very important that she enjoy the kite. Again, 4 meters is just too big.

Problem number three is what killed the deal for me. Life is about compromises. It’s a give and take sort of thing. When it comes to sports equipment, there isn’t a lot of room for give and take. This becomes a problem. I was looking to get into Kiteboarding on the cheap. I wanted to use my trainer as a kite for snow kiting. Here’s the deal. If I had purchased the 4 meter kite as a trainer, I probably would have been ok with it. It would have been a little big, but hey, I’m tough, I could have dealt with that. It would have probably been ok as a snow kite also. I would have been stuck using it only on high wind days and I would have to use it in fairly packed powder conditions. Again, I probably could have dealt with that. The problem is that as I’m dealing with these limitations, I would be missing out on everything else. The 4 meter kite was wrong again.

For what I was looking for, there was no “perfect” kite. In fact, the three purposes that I had in mind were completely incompatible. I could not have one kite that a) I could fly as a trainer, b) my wife could fly for fun, and c) I could use as a snow kite. I didn’t get the 4 meter kite. I ended up with a trainer kite that was the perfect size. Now that I have much more experience with different size kites, I am glad that I took the time to ask my question. I would have ended up with a kite that just didn’t work for me. The kite would be sitting with all my other unused sports gear (anyone looking for a pair of racquetball rackets?), and I would have missed out on some of the greatest rushes I’ve had. Instead, I took the advice of a more experienced kiter and now I sit looking out the window waiting for the wind to blow.