The ultimate guide to beginner kitesurfing boards

Have you finished your kite course and you don’t know which initiation board is the most suitable for beginners? In this post, we will help you to choose the best beginners kitesurfing boards and the ones which you can progress faster.

There is always a hard time in every kiter’s life in which the course ends, and the school releases you free and defenceless like a bird. You know all the basics to start with a minimum of security, but when it comes about buying a beginner kitesurfing board, you feel quite lost. For that, let’s see the most important things to take care when choosing a kiteboarding board for beginners.

A beginner kitesurfing board plays a crucial role in your progression as kiters; it can sink and frustrate your progression or keep you afloat and make you enjoy to the fullest. Therefore, you must be cautious when you buy your first kiteboarding board and knowing what is best for you.

You actually have different options when it comes about choosing an initiation kiteboard. Let’s clarify some vital questions regarding beginners kite boards:

Buy a school kiteboard or a freeride board that will last us a while?

This is probably the first question everybody is asking. A good beginner board is one of the essential items to take into account. Regarding the answer, there are people of all kinds, but the most common thing when leaving the course is to buy a board that provides more benefits than the school one. Furthermore, a kite board with standard measures will serve you for a long time. But… Is that the most suitable option to progress?

Please keep in mind that we are always talking about twintips boards (bidirectional). These ones are the most suitable boards to start with. As a beginner, you don´t want use a directional board or an hidrofoil. That would get things more complicated. So, we have these options on the stage regarding twintip beginners kiteboards:

OPTION 1 – CHOOSING A BEGINNER KITE BOARD REGARDING DIMENSIONS

School board:

From a 144cm long and 43cm wide we consider a very suitable board to learn to kitesurf, especially for light winds or heavy people.

Freeride board:

Its measurements can be between 128-142cm long by 39-43cm wide. In these type of boards, better to choose the board size based on the weight of the rider and the usual wind of the spot

The heavier the rider is, the bigger the board should be and the lighter the rider is, the smaller the board. Regarding the wind, the less wind, we will need a larger board

Conclusions:

* A long board will give us stability with speed, while a short board will provide us with more manoeuvrability

* A wide kite board will give us more buoyancy and ease of upwind, while a narrow one will turn better when changing edges.

* Keep in mind that one cm wide is much more noticeable than one cm long.

OPTION 2 – CHOOSING A BEGINNER KITESURF BOARD REGARDING BUOYANCY

School board:

These boards will offer you greater buoyancy, which means that you can be on top of the board with less speed and you will have more inertia, which will help you not to sink so fast if you are starting. Moreover, it is easier to balance on them. On the contrary, you will withstand less wind than with a small board.

 

Freeride board:

By using a standard board size, with less buoyancy, you will need more wind and technique in the waterstart. On the other hand, by sinking more easily, you are making more resistance in the water and ultimately allow you to kite with stronger wind.

 

Conclusions:

+ Large = + buoyancy

+ Small = – buoyancy

OPTION 3 – CHOOSING A BEGINNER KITESURF BOARD REGARDING EDGING

 

School board:

You can edge better with this type of board as long as you use it in the proper wind range. A school board it will help you a lot to edge in this tough learning phase in which you are tired of walking on the beach. With a school board you can easily go upwind once you have minimum skills.

 

Freeride board:

With these board, you won´t ride upwind so easily as you would do with a school board, but it is not a major problem with stable wind and the proper technique

 

Conclusions:

+ Wide = + Edging and ultimately easier to ride upwind

+ Narrow – Edging and harder to ride upwind

 

We recommend you to use a small board for strong winds, and a large for light winds.

 

OPTION 4 – CHOOSING A BEGINNER KITEBOARDING BOARD REGARDING MANEUVERABILITY 

 

School board:

These kitesurf boards have been designed to ride right-left only, although, with the smallest sizes in this category you can do some freestyle with enough level, it is not what they are designed for.

 

Freeride board:

These are small and manageable boards, and it will be easier to make turns and jumps when we have enough level.

Conclusions:

+ Large = + Stable.

+ Small = + Playful.

 

OPTION 5 – CHOOSING A BEGINNER KITESURF BOARD REGARDING WEIGHT AND FLEX

 

School board:

They can weigh around 1kg more than a freeride board; they are soft and light boards.

 

Freeride board:

They are usually soft and light, around 2.5-2.8kg.

 

(Here we are always talking about boards designed for a freeride program, not twintips in general, since for example, hard freestyle boards tend to weigh a bit more).

 

OPTION 6 – CHOOSING A BEGINNER KITESURF BOARD REGARDING KITER PROGRESSION

School board:

With this type of board, you will progress very quickly; the use of this type of board is impressive for the progression of a rider. The only problem is that once you can edge comfortably, you will need to change to a freeride board at least for strong wind.

 

Freeride board:

In this case, the progression will be much slower, although it will always depend on the skills of each rider. A person who has a good level of snowboarding, surfing or wakeboarding shouldn´t need  to buy a school board, since they are used to handling a kite board and thanks to its balance it will not be a major problem to carry a more definitive board that you can use for a couple of years.

 

Final conclusions:

Depending on how skilled each person is, should choose one option or another. Also, as a critical factor when deciding it is how much time you are going to spend kiting and how often.

If you have enough time and you can spend many hours in the water, then you will have no problem struggling a little with a small board and taking a little longer to learn. On the other hand, if you can only kite a couple of weekends a month, better you buy a school board that allows you to make the most of the time having fun in the water and enjoying this sport as soon as possible. When you get upwind quickly, you can take the step to a freeride board.
The easiest option is to buy a freeride board. You spend your money once, and we already have a board for a couple of years. But if this is not the most suitable option for us and we have to buy a school board, don’t worry, these types of boards are in high demand by people who are learning and are always in circulation. This means that if we buy one of these boards second hand and take good care of it, it will be relatively easy to sell it for almost the same price to another novice kiter when we no longer need it.

The easiest option is to buy a freeride board. You spend your money once, and we already have a board for a couple of years. But if this is not the most suitable option for us and we have to buy a school board, don’t worry, these types of boards are in high demand by people who are learning and are always in circulation. This means that if we buy one of these boards second hand and take good care of it, it will be relatively easy to sell it for almost the same price to another novice kiter when we no longer need it.

Also be careful if we are tight on money not to spend too much on our first table, since when we learn there are more chances of losing the table, by not fully mastering all the techniques (I have never lost a table, but they are things that can happen). To avoid losing the table, the best solution is…. Learning to do body drag, putting hours into it and mastering this technique is essential in this sport. Do not think about using the table leash, totally prohibited, please.
And to finish the post I want to invite you to ask all the doubts you have both in comments and by mail. I am always looking at the second-hand market, and if I do not have some material that can help you, I can recommend ads so that you can buy the most suitable for you.