The question:
Now that kitesurfing caught your attention you are wondering: what do you need to kitesurf? What equipment should you have to be able to ride? The saying goes that three things are needed at a minimum to start riding: the kite, the board, and the harness. Sure thing there must be wind, water, and you present 😉 . Well, the reality is… you will need more than ten things to get going.
The list:
- Kite “themselves” with bridal system
- Four kite lines, if not 5 for some models
- Control bar to steer your ride
- Spreader bar for your harness
- Harness itself
- Air pump to inflate their majesty kite
- A hose to drive air from the pump to the kite with the right adapter
- Air pressure gauge to assure proper inflation
- Board with foot straps (count these as a two)
- Safety leash to tame his majesty – the Kite, if need be
These are the things you will need for every kitesurfing session, yours or borrowed, but it’s hard to imagine a ride if you are missing a thing or two from this list. This becomes especially useful when you are shopping online and a live adviser is not available to assist you. Sometimes you may see a kite for sale and the description may be saying: “kite only”. Usually, this means that the control bar and air pump are not included. When you are buying a control bar see whether it or not kite-lines come with it. New boards may be sold without straps, simply to give you options to install the pads of your liking. And harnesses may come with or without the spreader bar, just because spreader bars vary in length and you may have a specific preference. Also, there are different attachments to choose from: chicken loop or fireball, so, make sure that the spreader bar is matching the control bar.
Well, those are the ‘things’ that you should have, and what about the skills that will help you learn to kitesurf faster? Is there something you can do to learn faster and start enjoying the ride sooner? We explain this HERE.
The quiz: kitesurfing what you need?
Now let’s see if you can spot what is missing in the following packages below. (Tip: every image is not showing at least one element that you will need to kitesurf).
** All images came from HERE so, check it out!
