KITEBOARDING LESSONS
We will help you become a kiteboarder, wing foiler or efoiler. We customize each lesson according your goals and needs. We have the most experienced instructors and the best selection of equipment anywhere on the Florida coast. There's just no substitute for our 25 year history of teaching success.
For kiteboarding, the typical teaching program works like this:
Lesson 1- In this lesson, we will work you up to proficiently flying a big kiteboarding kite so that you can use it to ride the board. You will learn how to set up and fly the kites, starting with smaller ones and working your way up to as big as you need for your weight and the wind speed. You will learn wind power and how to use your kite to pull you through the water. You will also learn safety procedures of how to get yourself back to shore and how to disable the kite when needed. At the end of this lesson, some students have enough kite control and energy to get up and riding on the board, especially if you have previous experience with a trainer kite. But for most, it is best to focus on kite control without the board, using the kite to pull yourself through the water to the left and to the right, which is its own fun. After this first lesson you will have good kite control and a smile on your face.
Lesson 2- Now that you have all the kite control you developed in Lesson 1, we get straight to board riding. Riding to the left, riding to the right, and working on techniques to cut across the wind. Flying the kite becomes instinctive, and riding the board becomes natural. The feeling of it all coming together will have your rides getting longer and longer. 
Lesson 3 solidifies your status as a kiteboarder. In this lesson we focus on your self-sufficiency--how to set up your equipment and launch it yourself. In the water we focus on your techniques to ride upwind and stay upwind.
Lesson Prices per 3 hour lesson:
1 person = $375
2 people = $562.50 ($281.25 each)
3 people = $750 ($250 each)
3 Lesson Bundle Package (by far, our most popular option) = $900
Hourly Lesson = $150 per hour
Either way, if you bring additional people with you, it is half price for each additional person. This is a great way to bring down the price per person to save money because while we are teaching one, we might as well teach two or three. Groups work great because it gives everyone time to rest in between turns, and seeing your friends’ attempts as you hear the instructor’s coaching makes the group lessons go just as fast as one-on-one lessons.
We have been teaching for 25 years now. We have it figured out with the best methods and equipment so you can make the fastest progress. When you come to us, you are in the most experienced hands in the industry.
If you're already a kiteboarder and are visiting our area, we're happy to work with you on your riding skills! From jumping, transitioning, unhooked tricks, or maybe something like upwind riding, we're available for 1 on 1 instruction! We provide all the equipment, so you don’t have to worry about paying to bring your own gear! This is a great way to spend a day!
FAQ
Do I have to take all three lessons? No, you can take as many lessons as you would like. However, we've developed our kiteboarding curriculum over the last 25 years, and have found it to be the best way to develop new kiteboarders as quick as possible. Our instructors will modify your lesson to your ability and the pace at which you learn. At XL Kites, we'll never push a student faster, or farther, than they are safely capable of performing.
Can I get on the board my first lesson? As soon as you can proficiently fly the kite, you can use the kite to get yourself up and riding on the board. If you have previous experience with steerable kites, (trainer kite or sport kite), you will likely get up and ride. If you have never flown a steerable kite before, it may take you all of the first lesson just to get proficient with the kite. By the end of the lesson, you will have developed great skill with the kite, and may be able to manage some short rides, but may be too exhausted to be consistent with your kite skills. In that case, rest up, and your next day out you will be riding the board.
Kiteboarding is a sport that takes time and practice. For most people this is completely different from anything else they've ever done. We often compare it to wakeboarding while driving the boat at the same time. Much like learning to drive a boat, learning to fly a kiteboard kite is fun, but most people are not comfortable enough after one lesson to add the board.
What do I need to bring for my lesson? Nothing besides clothes to use in the water. We provide all the equipment, including wetsuits, so we can teach kiteboarding in any condition.
Kiteboarding Season
People ask "What are the best times of year for kiteboarding?"
We get wind here all year round. Not necessarily every day, but most days have enough wind to fly the kites. Develop as much kite skill as you can before trying to ride the board. The purpose is to get so comfortable with the kite that you don’t have to think about flying it.
Each season here has its pros and cons. In general, the wind is lighter in the summer (except for tropical storms and hurricanes) and stronger in the fall, winter and spring as cold fronts come through. In a way, fall, winter and spring are ‘kiteboarding season’, but summer produces a consistent sea breeze which is smooth and gentle and often perfect for learning. The water is so comfortable that summer learning is a pleasure. Each time of year has its pluses and minuses, so really, the best time to get started is as soon as you can.
Late summer can be dull or spicy depending what tropical storms and hurricanes are doing. A storm anywhere in the Gulf can shake things up and give us nice wind and waves for a week or more. A direct hit can give us too much, but without a storm somewhere there might be not enough. The typical late summer sea breeze is 10 to 12 miles per hour from the south or southwest. Because the Gulf is hot, and the land is hot, there is not much temperature difference to drive the sea breeze effect. Local thunderstorms forming inland can accentuate the sea breeze and give good riding conditions, but it is impossible to know you’ll have wind you can count on. But it does often work out.
Fall is good for kiteboarding because two wind sources are active--tropical disturbances (storms and hurricanes), and cold fronts. As tropical storms and hurricanes make their way into the Gulf of Mexico and up the east coast, a storm anywhere in the southeast can make the wind blow nicely here. Because these storms move slowly, they can give us a week of solid wind. Cold fronts provide relief from the heat, with cool dry air and stronger wind. When the front arrives, the wind can be 20 to 25 miles per hour from the northwest and north. This wind becomes lighter and less consistent as the day goes on so it is best to catch it early. A cold front will typically give at least three days of morning wind--first day from the northwest, second day from the north, and a third or fourth day from the northeast. The first cold fronts of the year typically come in late September or early October.
Winter ends the tropical activity but keeps the cold fronts coming. Cold fronts provide good solid wind, but after the front passes, there will not be wind until the next cold front comes. This pattern of cold fronts continues through January, February and March.
Spring slows down the cold fronts, but as the days begin to heat up, the sea breeze starts to work. Because the Gulf is near the low point of its temperature range, when the sun starts to bake the land in Florida, Georgia and Alabama, all that hot air rises, sucking air from the Gulf onto the land. This sea breeze effect is very reliable, and happens on every sunny day. This often gives us a 10mph breeze starting around noon, and building to 15 to 20mph as the day goes on. This smooth steady wind is really great for learning.
Early Summer: As the Gulf water warms up, the sea breeze gets less powerful, because there is less temperature difference to drive the effect. Depending how the afternoon thunderstorms build up, they can increase the sea breeze to a nice 15 or even 20 miles per hour, or kill the wind, depending where you are in relation to the inland storm. The sea breeze forms on every sunny day, but can be interrupted if the sky clouds over too quickly.
Because the sea breeze comes from the south, there is no land mass to disrupt it. This sea breeze wind is so smooth, with no gusts until it encounters obstructions on the land such as trees and buildings. And because our beach area is a low sandbar, it doesn’t cause much disturbance and the wind is still smooth when it gets to the bay side. Because it is so smooth, in light wind, you can safely fly even a big kite on the beach.