Gabriele Steindl: Professional Kitesurfer & Freelance Writer - Action, Lifestyle & Travels

Do I need to be able to windsurf before learning to kite?

NO, absolutely not.  Kitesurfing is very different to windsurfing. Of course a sportive background helps as kitesurfing is physical and a knowledge of windsurfing helps in that way that you understand already how the wind works, however, there’s still the kite-control that you have to learn. To learn kitesurfing is mastering 2 skills:

1)     Boardskill
2)    Kite-control

Just like windsurfing, any boardsport (i.e. snowboarding, wakeboarding etc.) helps and so does any wind-related sport (such as paragliding) in speeding up the process of learning how to kitesurf.

Related content : board, control, kite, learning, safety, skill