As the name suggests, the Death Loop is a very dangerous situation that can happen to virtually anyone due to gear failure or a line getting wrapped around your bar or hooked through your harness in some way. Year after year many kiteboarders around the world get hurt or even die because of the so called “Death Loop”, and in many cases, releasing your safety system has no effect. It can even happen to highly experienced kitesurfers if caught off guard.

For this reason, Anton Chernyshov from Advakite.com put together a great video tutorial demonstrating a number of techniques to quickly and safely get your kite back under control without ever having to release your safety system.

We highly recommend you watch the entire video tutorial below, however we’ve also summarized the various techniques in case you can’t watch the video for some reason.

Surviving the Death Loop Video Tutorial

If you are reading this tutorial in an email or RSS feed, please click here to watch the video tutorial.

Examples of Situations that can cause the Death Loop

• Centre depower line (front lines) wrap around the bar
• One of the steering lines gets hook around the bar end or clip
• Steering line wraps around your harness hook

Activating your safety system may not help, as the depower system is locked around the bar or the steering line is hooked on your harness. It also makes the situation worse, because now the bar is out of your reach, making it impossible to rectify the situation. Your only option left is to cut away from the kite entirely.

How to Stop the Loop of Death

To stop the kite, simply grab the farthest steering line and pull it hard. That’s it… the kite will stall and fall out of the sky. If you are battling to pull this line, wait for the kite to hit the surface of the water, as it will be much easier to stall the kite while it has briefly stopped moving.

Securing the Kite Afterwards

Once you’ve stopped the kite, pull the steering line in even more to ensure your kite remains depowered. Then you have several options:

1. Untangle your lines and carefully relaunch your kite. Make sure the lines are completely free before attempting to relaunch the kite. You can untwist the lines once your kite is in the air.
2. If you are worried about your lines being tangled or there is a dangerous obstacle ahead of you, you can proceed straight to the self rescue. First wrap the steering line you already pulled in around the bar about 10 times to secure the kite in a depowered state. Then proceed with the self rescue as normal.
3. If you are in shallow water, you can just walk up the steering line towards the kite. Be sure not to get yourself entangled in any loose lines and don’t wrap the lines around your hands or fingers in case the kite does power up and relaunch accidently.

Practice

We don’t recommend practicing death loops on the beach or even in the water, as you could potentially hurt yourself or someone else. But you can practice preparing for the various scenarios using your bar and lines at home as demonstrated in the video. Repeat a few times with your eyes closed in case your bar is under the water when you’re in a tricky situation.

If you have questions or you’d like to share your own experiences, please post them in the comments below. And please share this information with others, as you might save someone from serious injury or death.

PS: A big thank you to Anton Chernyshov for taking the time to make this great video and for sharing his knowledge and experience with everyone.

Surviving the Death Loop was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

Before We Start

Unhooking for the first time should be done in the right conditions, meaning you slightly struggle to pull the bar in fully and ride without getting dragged downwind, or any lighter than this to the point where you can still generate good pop hooked in (without sending the kite). You’re best off learning on a 9-14m kite. Make sure you pull in some trim line on your kite to stop it backstalling and to reduce the power slightly, then attach your leash to suicide so the safety doesn’t pull each time you crash. Every bar has a different setup so check the manual that came with your kite. It’ll either be a loop you can hook onto, or hook straight onto the chicken loop.

Choose Your Trick

Choose either a back roll or a raley to land first. I think back rolls are probably easier but they don’t teach you the best technique. You could also learn flat 360s or unhooked kiteloops first but they don’t teach you powered trick technique.

Now Let’s Get Started

1. Prepare

Gain a comfortable speed and keep the kite quite high to start with (60-75 degrees). Keep your body compact and elbows tucked in, most importantly move your hands to the centre of the bar so the kite is less responsive to steering.

2. Unhook

Point your board downwind and keep pointing more downwind until you can unhook comfortably. The video below shows me pointing downwind. Because the water is so flat, unhooking is effortless. A beginner will want to point much further downwind for their first attempts.

Video: Bare Off Downwind

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3. POP

Raley

Edge hard against the kite and then slide the board out the water just as the kite gives you a big yank. Have more weight on the back foot but keep the distribution quite equal. If you pop hard enough it should almost be second nature to fly the board up behind your head.

This is a little hard to describe in words, so check out the video below. You’ll see that you need to slide the board out the water in the direction you’re travelling while pushing off with your feet and sweeping your heels back towards your bum with the board behind you. In other words, the board gets released in two directions as illustrated in the image above.

Video: Pop Into a Raley

Back Roll

This is a very different pop. You want to edge hard against the kite with more weight on the back foot, not releasing your edge until you’ve almost done half a back roll. Time this edge release with the maximum pull from the kite and you’ll get a nice rip off the water. With the back roll you only really slide the board out of the water where your feet are pointing and then push off with your back foot to help the rotation. Keep looking over your front shoulder and tuck your knees in until you want to stop the rotation.

Video: This is a back roll to toeside to emphasize the back roll edge release

4. Stabilise

You’ll want to pull the bar into your front hip as you come in to land. This usually comes naturally, and will keep you stable and ready to land.

5. Landing

Land with your board pointing downwind. This will take the power out of the kite, letting you focus on your balance to land the trick.

6. Hook Back In

Keep pointing downwind while you hook back in. If possible keep both hands on the bar or take one hand off to guide the chicken loop in. As a last resort grab the chicken loop with both hands to hook back in quickly.

That’s the theory complete. It’s the easiest part to understand; now all you need to do is keep putting this into practice and eliminate any common problems you’re having. You’ll feel uneasy unhooking with no depower to start with, but it’s a case of unhook more and you’ll get used to it.

Common Problems

Overpowered

Don’t unhook while overpowered in the beginning. Make sure you can land a raley or back roll before trying in more wind. Make sure you pull a bit more trim line in first. When overpowered bare off downwind more and make sure you are fully committed. Don’t go into the trick half hearted as you’re likely going to mess it up and progress slower. Here are more tips for Overpowered Unhooking.

Choppy Conditions

In choppy conditions, ride slower and pick your takeoff more carefully. Try to launch your trick off a piece of chop for a cleaner release.

Kite Drifts to 12 or to the Water

This is your hand balance. Make sure you counteract whichever side of the bar you naturally pull when unhooking. Eventually it’ll become second nature. If you’re sending the kite to 12 then try to get the kite flying slightly downward just before you unhook.

Over Rotation or Getting Twisted

Tense your core and pull the bar towards your front hip.

Being a Wuss!

You have to commit 100% to unhooking for it to work. My first raley I committed 100%, lost the kiteboard mid air and did a superman with perfect technique (minus the board). It didn’t take long to learn. When I learnt to land blind I spent months crashing kites and half committing, so it took me much longer than it should have to land.

You know you’re under committing in decent winds if you get a soft pop or let go of the bar each time you take off.

Board Comes Off

Release the board more to the side (the direction you’re travelling) rather than backwards, lock your feet and tighten your straps. Or just chuck on a pair of boots, they make unhooking feel great.

Don’t Practice This

In my opinion, don’t practice raleys hooked in, or doing small pops unhooked or just riding around unhooked. They don’t replicate much technique needed for a powered raley or backroll. You’ll learn much more by not putting it off and practicing unhooked raleys or backrolls straight away, I find raleys more comfortable than unhooked pops or riding around unhooked.

That’s all you need to know, now think less, practice more and start pushing your riding!!!

Let me know if this post helped you or if you have any questions in the comments below.

Charlie

Charlie is an aspiring professional kitesurfer, dedicated to progression and pushing himself on the water in every session. You can follow his progression at: blog-charlieprice.com, or on instagram/snapchat/twitter: charlieprices or facebook.com/charlieprices.

Learn To Unhook Effortlessly was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

To continue the growth of kitesurfing as a sport, we need to recognize and overcome the barriers to entry these newcomers are faced with, and amplify the existing kiting community’s voice at the same time. We asked a number of pros who didn’t let anything get in their way what barriers you might run into when learning to kitesurf professionally, how to overcome them and why it is all worth it in the end.

Helena Brochoka

“At a beginner level, I think a lot of it comes down to fear. People are scared of a big powerful kite that can pull them out of control. Understanding the wind and kite’s “power zone” is really important in order to feel comfortable with a kite. It may seem hard at first, but it just needs a bit of practice. In the end, it’s a relatively safe sport, as long as you don’t engage in risky actions (such as launching close to trees, buildings, or rocks etc). I think it is most important to be familiar with how the wind works, and how to control a trainer kite fully before you switch to the actual big kite.

At a more advanced level, kitesurfing is very dependent on the conditions. In many other sports once you learn a trick, you usually know how you do it, and you will probably land it nearly every time. In kitesurfing you often think you’ve nailed it, but it might not work the next day or at a different spot due to varying wind and water conditions. Learning a trick is a much longer process, and it takes years to gain consistency. As frustrating as this might be, the key to success is to not give up, and just to keep trying again and again.”

Alex Arseneault

“I would say that the biggest barrier when learning to kitesurf is probably our ability to make decisions. When starting the sport, we are not always aware of the danger or risks of a spot or wind conditions.

To overcome that barrier, surround yourself with experienced people. Don’t be afraid to ask questions at a kite spot. Many kiters are present anywhere there’s wind and water. Take your place in a community; even if you are a beginner, we’ve all been there before!”

“Kite schools and shops are also there for you. Find the best Kite School you can trust and continue to ask questions. Kiteboarding can be complex (kites, boards, bars, lines etc). We learn every day, that’s what makes this sport so special.”

Jessica Perigny

“I would say that for someone who has never participated in any wind sports, understanding how the wind works is really difficult. I remember when I was teaching at Real Watersports, I would spend so much time explaining the wind. The best way to overcome this, in my opinion, is to watch videos and spend LOTS of time flying a trainer kite. It’s so much easier for a coach when students arrive having watched videos because they at least have a basic idea of what to expect.”

Dom Granger and Annie Carrier

“I would say, and I think it’s different for men, but for women, aside from money and/or time, I would say fear is the biggest barrier. Fear of not to being able, fear of the water, fear of not being strong enough, and fear of not being able to afford it. The best way to overcome this fear? Just do it! It’s definitely possible if you want it to be.”

Jana Schader

“The biggest barrier in learning how to kiteboard for me was getting back on the board after your first huge crash. To overcome your fear, you have to start slowly and think back to something great that happened before the crash. Watching others crash and get back up helps too.”

Brandon Bowe and Brandon Cordina

“Time and dedication. Kiteboarding takes anywhere from 5-8 hours to learn the basics, and the first stages of learning to kitesurf are very difficult. Just stick with it and learn to stay up wind, which is the key to success. Oh and make sure to get proper instruction! It’ll save you a lot of frustration!”

Jake Kelsick

“Mastering the kite. I always tell people kiteboarding is 80% kite control and 20% being on the board. Once you master the kite, your kite life will be much easier. Aside from that, if you are persistent and motivated, you will be ripping it up in no time!”

These kitesurfers and so many others are passionate about working with new and experienced kiters to help keep this sport growing to the level that it deserves. You can check out our kiting community, what they can do and what they can teach you on MentorMob by clicking to their profiles above.

What barriers and challenges have you faced to get to the level you are at now, and how did you overcome them? What tips can you offer potential newcomers to our sport to keep them motivated? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

This article was contributed by MentorMob, a community for kiteboarders and various other interest groups, and a great place to get free online learning guides.

Overcoming Barriers to Become the Next Pro Kitesurfer was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

Lars has put together The Complete Kiteboarding Training Guide, and it’s now available for you to download for free! That’s right… it’s yours 100% free of charge!

Why You Should Download this Guide

In the words of Lars himself, “The Complete Kiteboarding Training Guide is your new training bible”! You can use it at home or in the gym, and it’s not just for the pros. There are programs in it for all levels of kiteboarders. Beginners, wave riders, freestylers, wakestylers, wake skaters, course racers, landkiters, snowkiters, freeriders, newschoolers, oldschool freestylers… all will benefit from the right training. The Complete Kiteboarding Training Guide will teach you how to become a stronger and more powerful kiteboarder at the level you are at, while minimizing your risk of injury. If you want to progress, this guide is a “must have”.

In all other sports, pro athletes engage in highly developed sport specific functional training in addition to the actual training they do for their discipline. Pro athletes have strictly planned training programs laid out 6-18 months in advance, with several resting periods and various levels of exercise intensity, depending on when their next competitions are. Athletes do this to ensure they are in peak condition at competitions, and to minimize their risk of injury… and of course to progress! More pros in kiteboarding have opened themselves up to functional training as a way to improve, and it’s slowly spreading throughout the industry. However we’re still way behind other sports, and this is possibly one of the reasons why there are so many injuries in kiteboarding.

KiteboardingExercises.com, or just KBX is a website dedicated to making you a better kiteboarder through sport specific training and rehab, and you get all this cooked up in the kiteboard training guide!

Outdoor Training Program

In the latest version of this training guide (V3), Lars has added an outdoor training program which you can execute in a public park or playground. Here’s a video with some of the highlights.

So, get your complete training guide now!

About the Author

Lars Jørgensen has been working in the fitness industry since 2002. His specialty is rehab, posture and sports specific training. He has a bachelor’s degree in nutrition & health, and a number of smaller certifications in training physiology. He’s been managing personal trainers since 2008 and he educates personal trainers in sales, physiology, nutrition, dynamic mobilization and coaching in both Denmark and Sweden. He started KiteboardingExercises.com because he believes there’s a need for training education in kitesurfing.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the Kiteboarding Training Guide, and whether it has helped you take your kiteboarding to the next level. If you have any training tips and advice of your own, as always, please share them in the comments below.

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The Complete Kiteboarding Training Guide was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

Since many kiters are aspiring to be pro kitesurfers, and based on the response to an article I wrote last year “How to Get Sponsored”, I thought I would do a follow up article on becoming a sponsored rider. I feel it’s important to show the progress I’ve made since creating my profile on Hookit.com. Their platform for sponsorship was instrumental in me gaining confidence in pursuing kiteboarding as a career.

When I first started I had no idea how the business of sport worked, besides competing of course. I first heard about Hookit.com when a representative from Monster Energy drink told me to register on the site, and when a sponsorship opportunity opened up I could apply. Upon creating my profile I discovered many great opportunities for sponsorship with companies like GoPro, Fuel Clothing, Skull Candy, Dakine and more. I began to learn what companies were looking for in athletes and what I needed to work on. I ended up getting 8 different sponsorships in my first year. I began to promote myself within the industry using my sponsor’s brands to gain recognition.

Jessica Winkler (Epic Kites) | PKRA Mexico

The first media connection I made was with inMotion kitesurfing. Brendon provided a platform for me to gain the exposure and credibility required to attract bigger sponsorships and interest from the industry. He published articles I wrote, and promoted them tirelessly. Fortunately these articles were well received by the public and lead us to create the Most Influential Girl Kitesurfer competition (MIGK). The MIGK is an online competition intended to showcase female kiteboarder’s talents in our sport, as well as their commitment to the industry. The success from our first year was outstanding, so we intend running this competition on a yearly basis.

I realized people started believing in me when I began to believe in myself. This in turn made me spend more time on the water, really pushing myself to do more complicated tricks. Eventually when I could afford it, I hired a photographer to take good quality photos so I had something to present when applying for better sponsorship deals. In addition I set up fan pages on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and my own website www.jessicawinkler.com. At first it feels egotistical to do all this, but it’s important in order to establish your professionalism as an athlete. Once you see yourself as a professional, others will start to see you as one as well.

Jessica Winkler (Epic Kites)

Here is a list of steps you can take to become a pro kitesurfer, or to increase the value of your sponsorships.

5 Steps to Becoming a Sponsored Kitesurfer

#1 Register on Hookit

Register on Hookit and keep your profile up to date. Post all your sessions, photos and competition results (if you compete)

#2 Promote Yourself

Set up fan pages on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, My Space and any other sites you frequent.

#3 Post, post, post….

Content is very important, and helps get you the exposure required to attract quality sponsorships. Let people see what you are doing to pursue your career. Write interesting, unique articles and try and get them published on kitesurfing websites like inMotion Kitesurfing, or start your own blog.

#4 Train

Get in the water and push your boundaries as much as possible. Don’t be afraid to take a course or hire a private instructor to help you get to the next level.

#5 Fun

Always have fun and enjoy the ride!!

One year after embarking on this journey, I received the biggest sponsorship offer of my life, Epic Kites. Getting the opportunity to ride professionally for a big name kite company actually brought a tear to my eye. I felt completely overwhelmed with joy and a sense of accomplishment.

Jessica Winkler (Epic Kites) | PKRA Playa del Carmen

After the announcement of me joining the team, amazing opportunities keep presenting themselves. A local Mexican airline magazine contacted me for an interview, as they are writing an article about kitesurfing for their in flight magazine. In the July/August edition I will be featured representing the sport within the Yucatan. It’s a pretty big honor for me, and I’m very thankful. The second big thing is I was head hunted by an extreme sports agency, Viral Technologies, who wanted to represent me. They will now take care of all my future sponsorship and media deals giving me more time to concentrate on running my kite school and training for competitions.

Since the Epic sponsorship, I’ve been going through a lot of different emotions. The world changes a bit when you are looked at as a Pro all of a sudden. You realize you need to walk the walk. You’ve spent so much time and effort marketing yourself to get to this point and now it’s time to live it. It’s an interesting shift. The biggest thing I’ve learned on this journey is you have to believe in yourself. You can do it, but it takes hard work and patience.

Written by

Jessica Winkler

Jessica will be participating in the PKRA women’s freestyle and downwind competition on May 18th in Bucerias, Mexico. She also recently competed in the PKRA freestyle exhibition and big air comp in Playa del Carmen in the men’s category, as there wasn’t one for woman yet.

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How to Increase your Sponsorship Deals was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

Kite Design: Is it really what they say it is?

Kite design is a hugely complicated field and one I’m not going to attempt to dissect. It is further complicated by marketers who bandy the terms around with little concern for the actual design specifications of each type of kite. Thus they might call a kite a delta kite even though, in the strictest sense of the word, it isn’t, but only something similar to a delta kite or with delta like qualities. This is generally done because the boundaries between the different types of kites are so undefined that it’s easier to put kites with matching flight characteristics in the same bracket even if technically they don’t belong there.

The easiest way to understand the difference is to break things down into basics and then use your own common sense to decide which family a kite belongs to.

Types of Kites

C Kites

C kites are recognizable by their square wing tips and lack of a bridle. If you laid a C kite down un-inflated and looked at it from above it would look like a rectangle. The lines attach at the 4 corners of the rectangle. Their profile when viewed from the front also looks more like the shape of the letter C, when compared to the flatter profiles of most other kite designs.

C Kite

As a beginner coming into kitesurfing if I could give one word of advice when buying a kite, it would be stay away from C kites. Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against C kites, and they are great fun when you know what you’re doing. I just think that for the beginner they offer a difficult learning curve and are unnecessarily dangerous when compared to other types of kites. They have little in the way of de-power, so if the wind picks up or you’ve put the wrong kite up (a common mistake for beginners) you’re in trouble. To my mind this makes their safety questionable for a beginner or someone unfamiliar with how to use one, which is my chief reason for advising you against them. While again the lines are blurring between C and Bow kites and many C kites do now offer a degree of depower, to make things simple for yourself stay away.

Bow Kites

Bow kites we will classify simply as any kite with a bridle (a lot of interlinking lines running across the leading edge). Again if you laid a bow kite out un-inflated and looked at it from above it would be more triangular in shape, due to the swept back nature of the wings. The lines do not attach directly to the leading edge but to the bridle which is itself attached to the leading edge.

Bow Kite Laid Flat

Bow Kite

Bow kites, as a family, offer much more de-power than C kites (principally due to the bridle, and the flatter, more “wing like” profile) so when you let go of the bar the kite loses all, or most of its power and slowly drifts back to earth in a controlled manner. For this reason they are generally considered to be a lot safer than C kites and this is why nearly all schools will now teach on some type of bow kite. Bow kites come in several flavours: pure Bow, Hybrid and Delta style kites. All have the same general characteristics (ie lots of de-power) with a few subtle differences.

Hybrid Kites

Hybrid Kite

Hybrid kites are somewhere in between bow kites and C kites and generally aim to give the feel of a C kite combined with the safety of a bow kite.

Many old school riders complained when bow kites were first released that they did not turn with enough power. Bow kites tend to turn very fast but they sacrifice power in the turn for agility. C kites tend to turn in massive arcs, which gives you a huge pull, which is great if that what you’re after…for kite loops etc, but not so good if you’re taking your first tentative steps towards riding. Hybrid kites were designed to bridge this gap offering kites with de-power (like bows) but that also turn with power (like C kites).

Some hybrid kites will be nearer the C end of the spectrum and others nearer the bow end. Again if you’re going for one of these kites as your first kite my advice would be to aim for something at the bow end. The easiest way to tell which end of the spectrum the kite is…look at the shape.

Delta Kites

Delta Kite

Delta kites are bow kites with a much more swept back wing profile…think of an F14 with its wings drawn back in Top Gun! The precise angle of sweep is what defines a Delta kite, but most manufacturers now classify any kite with this type of profile as a Delta kite. They will tend to be short and fat in shape. If I had to recommend you to buy any type of kite as a beginner it would be one of these. They are easy to re-launch, offer forgiving piloting and the power tends to ‘turn on’ slowly (meaning you can feel the power rising gradually rather than just appearing out of nowhere and hoisting you over the front of the board!), giving you much more time to react to what the kite’s doing. Please don’t think these are just beginner kites I still enjoy riding them and they are great for improving your skills on and unless you’re heading for the pro circuits I doubt you’d ever outgrow their capabilities. What they will do is cut a lot of the frustration out of learning and the re-launch ability will keep you smiling for years!

(I’m not in any way affiliated with any Delta kite sales…we just use them in our school and I think they’re great!)

Note from editor: If you are still thinking about getting into kitesurfing, we highly recommend reading our Beginners Guide to Kitesurfing: Getting Started, which will introduce you to the sport, and highlight your most important first steps. And if you’d like to know where these modern day kitesurfing kite designs came from, who invented the first inflatable kite, and where the sport is headed in the future, check out at our history of kitesurfing article.

Delta Hybrid Kite

Test, Test, Test…

This is a massive over simplification of kite design and I imagine over the years you’ll learn that a lot of these things are only half truths. By breaking things down like this I hope to help you to start getting a feel for the different types of kites you’ll see down on the beach and the differences in how they perform. As you progress as a kitesurfer the best way to get a feel for these different kites is to try them, so any time your mate buys a new kite ask them if you can have a go. We all have different styles and each will find kites that they like and hate…get out there and experiment.

Written by

Sam Guest

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Kite Designs: Types of Kitesurfing Kites Simplified was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

While my own road to sponsorship centres around kitesurfing, these tips are not just for kitesurfers, and can be applied to virtually any sport.

I should also mention that I am not claiming to be an expert in the field of getting sponsored. Instead, this is an account of my own experience in finding sponsorships, and of what worked and didn’t work for me.

My first encounter with sports sponsorship was when I was in high school. My best friend and I were one of the first girl snowboarders on the mountain (yes I’m that old) and she wanted to be in the Olympics when they decided to recognize snowboarding as a sport. She went down to the only snowboard shop in town and they worked on hooking her up. The sponsors got her the exposure she needed to start competing on a global scale and although she didn’t get into

Jessica Winkler for Oneill Eyewear

the Olympics she did capture 2nd in the world for women’s boardercross.

Getting Sponsored

Sponsorship is an important part of gaining exposure and progressing your career in a sport. When I first decided I wanted to start entering competitions and making a name for myself as a kitesurfer I started emailing companies like Red Bull, Monster and Roxy. Red Bull told me I needed to compete and place in order to be considered but Monster told me to register for a site called Hookit. They would only sponsor athletes who have profiles set up on this site.

Sponsorship Services

Hookit is a free service focused mainly on individual lifestyle sports, although anyone from any sport can sign up. The site is user friendly and full of potential sponsors. Athletes have the opportunity to showcase their talents via photo, video and competition results. It also allows you to register your riding spots and sessions. Once I had set up a full profile I began applying for sponsorships. The application process is simple and there are so many companies to choose from. I ended up getting 7 out of the 8 sponsorships I applied for which honestly really surprised me. The one company who denied my application allowed me to try again 6 months later to which I’m currently waiting a reply on my reapplication.

You can also set up a profile on SME. They recently redesigned their website to make it easier to use. They don’t have a section for kitesurfing yet but neither did Hookit 4 months ago. On SME you upload your best riding videos and you can win a sponsorship and $25K. Another website you can try is SponsorSpace. There are free basic level profiles you can set up to apply for sponsors. I like the site but out of 100 or so people, I’ve only seen 1 person who received a sponsorship so I’m not sure how effective it is. The other sure fire method is to ride hard and compete, sponsors will then approach you!

My Fuel Clothing Sponsorship

Having sponsors really gave me the confidence to write articles, find photographers to film me and to promote myself as an influential kiteboarder. One of the hardest things when you go from casual riding to starting a career in sports is confidence in yourself. I’ve struggled with feeling like I’m not good enough to be sponsored and not wanting to embarrass myself when people expect too much from me. These feeling are normal, but what I’ve learned is that for me it is not about being the best rider or competing, but rather being able to encourage and influence others to achieve their goals with hard work and dedication. Competing in kitesurfing to be well known is no longer my goal. Instead I want to use my support from my sponsors to encourage other athletes to give it a try, and to show other girls that you don’t have to be the best to be admired.

Get Started Today

Taking the first step and creating my profile changed my life because it gave me the confidence to pursue my passion and believe in myself. If you are looking to pursue a similar path, try setting up your own profile on one or all of the above mentioned websites, or nominate yourself on inMotion Kitesurfing’s upcoming “Most Influential Girl Kitesurfer” competition. The top ten girls will be profiled on inMotion Kitesurfing and the winner will receive great sponsorship’s (see competition page for details).

Jessica Winkler

It’s not easy to get recognition for all your hard work in the sports world, so take advantage of the opportunity to be profiled as a real athlete, not a bikini model. Leave a comment below if you want to be notified when the contest begins. Good luck ladies!

Feel free to share your own experiences finding sponsors in the comments, and if you have any questions please ask!

Written by

Jessica Winkler

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How to Get Sponsored was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

Jessica is an accomplished kitesurfing instructor and is best known for pioneering a kitesurfing business on her own in a third world country.

We asked her to share with us her take on kitesurfing and the vital role the sport plays in her life…

A Burning Passion for Kitesurfing

From the first time I saw kites dancing above the water in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada) 10 years ago I was hooked. I used to go down to the water on windy days and just watch the guys practicing jump after jump. I kept saying to my husband at the time, “I want to do that” to which he just replied I would never be strong enough. This is the greatest misconception in the sport but at the time I believed him, so for 5 years I just watched. Finally after my divorce I decided I was not only going to kitesurf but I will excel at it!

I took a 6 month trip around South America and did my first lesson in Mancora, Peru. Leading up to taking this lesson I had only spent a couple of weeks learning to navigate ocean waves and was still pretty intimidated by the power of the ocean. Twice during the lesson I needed to take time out to try to build up confidence in myself. I was never a big swimmer and tended not to excel in water sports due to my discomfort in being underwater.

Jessica Winkler Kiting in Nicaragua

After 6 hours of lessons in Peru I was unable to find another place to complete the course until Jericoacoara, Brazil. I ended up staying in Jeri for over a year. I fell in love with the sport and kited every day. During my progression in kitesurfing I was also taking swimming lessons 3 times a week in the ocean to learn to handle currents, waves and rip tides properly. This was one of the most important things I could have done because kitesurfing can be a dangerous sport and the ocean is a very powerful force. It is very important to understand how to read the ocean and to stay calm in the case of an emergency.

I now absolutely love the water and spend most of my time in it either kitesurfing, surfing, wakeboarding or swimming. Once I got over my fear, I had the confidence to become a sponsored kiteboarder. I am currently sponsored by Fuel, O’Neill, Jet Pilot, You Scared?, ProTec, GoPro, Heart & Huntington, and I have just finished a film for Oxbow.

Jessica Teaching in Nicaragua

Starting the Kitesurfing Romance

Kitesurfing is an extreme sport and people should never try to learn it on their own. A certified instructor is always necessary for a minimum of 6 – 8 hours of instruction. People who attempt to launch a kite on their own without clear knowledge and understanding of the wind window and the equipment, often result in injury or in some extreme cases death.

When choosing a location to learn in I would recommend looking for shallow, flat water with as few hazards as possible. The school should have relatively new, well maintained equipment and knowledgeable capable staff and instructors. You can find this information by looking on Kiteatlas.com or here: Kitesurfing Schools Directory.

Kitesurfing Safety Tips from Jessica

Water safety in kitesurfing is extremely important. When you have so many elements to be concerned with, board, kite, wind, water, waves and other people, safety is number one. For me, I tend to be over cautious with my students. If I see someone kiting in an unsafe manner, I will point out to them how their behavior is endangering themselves and others.

One of the most important things is being aware of yourself in relation to others. You need to keep a good 30 meters of space between you and anything or anyone downwind of you. Always assess your surroundings before launching. Even as a spectator, never stand between the kite and the rider.

Secondly always remain in full control of your kite, on and off the water. If you feel over powered then you need a smaller kite or wait until the wind drops. Accidents happen really fast and the last thing you want is to put yourself or anyone else in danger.

Building the Dream Home – Kitesurf Resort Nicaragua

I ended up taking a surf trip to Costa Rica in June of 2010 to see my mom who was living there at the time. I decided to go to Nicaragua and check it out because it was close. About 10 minutes after I crossed the border I saw a sea of wind turbines facing a big lake with an island made up of two impressive volcanos. I asked the taxi driver to pull over so I could have a look up and down the beach for kitesurfers or windsurfers, but I didn’t see anyone, yet there was a good side onshore wind that day.

Kitesurfing at Amayo Kite Beach, Nicaragua

When I finally got to the beach town of San Juan del Sur, I spent the next week asking everyone about kitesurfing. The only thing anyone knew is that there was a guy who tried to open a school a couple of years ago, but it never worked out and at the moment there was no one doing anything here.

When I got back to Canada after my month trip I decided to start looking for a way to get down to Nicaragua. At the time I was working as a travel agent so I was exposed to meeting all sorts of people traveling to the area. About 2 months later I ended up selling a ticket to a guy who was building an action sports resort in San Juan del Sur and he thought the idea of opening a kitesurf centre was great.

By November I was on an airplane to start my new life. I’ve had experience with starting a kitesurf / windsurf centre in the past. In 2008 I was the Director of Operations for a million dollar Club Mistral / Sky Riders resort project in northern Brazil. That project gave me the confidence and knowledge for starting and working in a foreign country.

Jessica Winkler

Currently I’m living in Nicaragua trying to start the first kite business in the country. There are 330 days a year of wind and strong side onshore winds Nov – May on Lake Nicaragua. I’ve started working with a Nicaraguan family who owns 800 acres of water front property on the best part of the lake. We named the area Amayo Kite Beach after the wind farm consisting of 39 turbines which line the beach. The spot is beautiful, private and empty!

My business Kite Nicaragua is slowly getting off the ground as I am still looking for an investor to help me build it. I myself have been fortunate enough to pick up a few sponsors who believe in me for trying to pioneer the business of kitesurfing by myself in a 3rd world country.

If you would like to know more, or you have any questions or comments, please post them in the comments section below, or contact me directly from my website.

Written by

Jessica Winkler

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Kitesurfing Love Affair with Jessica Winkler was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.

But first let me just say this… kitesurfing is hands down one the most insane sports on this planet! I’ve tried many extreme sports and some not so extreme sports, and this is honestly the one I would choose to do every single day of my life. Now if only the wind would blow every day… well maybe in Cape Town… Anyway enough of that, you’re probably dying to know how to go about getting into kitesurfing.

Will I Be Able to Learn Kitesurfing

Girls make great Kitesurfers!

Well the good news is that anybody can learn to kitesurf. From the age of 10 through to 85, Boys, Girls, Men and Woman are all enjoying this thrilling sport! In fact, as long as you are mobile, you can learn to kitesurf. Contrary to common belief, you do not have to be extraordinarily fit or strong, and girls make great kitesurfers too btw. Naturally you will get super fit and strong if you kitesurf regularly, but this is not a requirement to learn. The bad news is that you can’t just go out and buy a kite, head to the beach and figure it out on your own…

Learn to Kitesurf the Responsible Way

Unlike many sports that you can teach yourself through trial and error, kitesurfing is a sport that requires the supervision of a qualified kitesurfing instructor. This is in the best interest of your own safety and the safety of other innocent beach goers and kiteboarders. Besides, do you really want to risk ripping that sexy new kite you just bought because you don’t know how to set it up correctly or launch and land it safely? Investing in a few lessons with a kiteboarding instructor will be money well spent, as you’ll not only become a safer more responsible kitesurfer, but you’ll also learn much quicker.

Some of the critical things you need to learn before you attempt to kitesurf on your own are:

• Safety, rules and regulations on and off the water
• Weather conditions and how the wind window works
• How to set up your kite correctly
• How to launch, land and fly the kite safely

More on this in upcoming articles…

What Do I Need to Get Started

All you need to get started initially is a few lessons with an IKO qualified kitesurfing instructor. You will find a list of recommended kiteboarding shops and a list of recommended kiteboarding schools or instructors on this website.

Tail Grab – Well Almost…

So head on over to either of those pages and contact your nearest IKO certified Kitesurfing School to ask them about their lessons. The school will provide you with all the training equipment you need, so you really just need to come with your baggies / bikini, sunscreen and loads of excitement.

Once you’ve completed the course, or you’re in the final stages of your lessons, you can consider buying your own gear. If you can afford it, I highly recommend buying your gear as early on in the course as possible, so that you can practise on your new equipment while still under the supervision of your instructor.

To get started with your own gear, you will need at least one kite (your local shop will advise you on the different types of kites and the best size for your weight and local conditions), a kiteboard and a harness. The bar, lines and pump come with your kite in most cases.

How Much Does it Cost

Well, the truth is kitesurfing isn’t the cheapest sport to take up, but trust me when I say this, it will be well worth the investment, and the best decision you will ever make… A brand new rig will set you back in the region of R 18 000 ($ 2 600) depending on the gear you choose. But you don’t need to buy brand new equipment to get started. Your local kitesurfing shop should be able to set you up with second hand gear that could cost you as little as R 7 000 ($ 800 in the USA). The beauty of this route is that you minimize your start up risk, and by the time you are ready to upgrade, you already know you are addicted to kitesurfing and the investment will be well worthwhile. Also, you will have a better understanding of what equipment will suit your needs best.

Wow, that’s Expensive!

Not really… I know the equipment might sound quite expensive at first glance, but let me put things into perspective for you. If you’ve ever taken up any other kind of lifestyle sport such as scuba diving, skiing, snowboarding, wakeboarding, sailing and even deep sea fishing or angling, you’ll know that this isn’t a lot of money to spend on something that’s going to bring you so much pleasure and keep you fit and healthy at the same time.

Wave Riding – Off the Lip!

Here are some numbers to get you thinking:

• Scuba Diving will set you back roughly R 20 000+ for a full set of entry to midrange gear
• Snowboarding: roughly R 8 000 – R 20 000+ for entry level gear, but largely dependent on where you are in the world
• Deep Sea Fishing : R 10 000 – R 30 000 depending on your requirements

Now the real difference is that once you have the kiteboarding gear, you hardly have any other costs to go kitesurfing, apart from the petrol / Gas to get you to the beach and your sunscreen. In contrast, with scuba diving you still need to pay for your dives and cylinder fills each time you want to dive, and there may be extensive travel and accommodation costs involved if you don’t live near a great dive spot. With snowboarding, you will need to travel to a skiing region, pay over the top accommodation expenses and buy a not-so-cheap ski pass. And fishing? Well if you don’t own your own boat, then you have to pay for a fishing charter or hire a boat for the day. If you do own your own boat, then I’m sure I need not tell you what it costs to maintain that bad boy…

You see, not so bad after all? So do yourself a favour and book your first double lesson, and see if you like it, how much you love it! Your first double lesson will cost you roughly R 800, so you have nothing to lose, but R 800 perhaps… You won’t regret it.

In coming articles we will break the kitesurfing course down into its individual modules, which will give you a better idea of what to expect and we will also be bringing you plenty of gear reviews and helpful advice and tips about kitesurfing.

Also, if you’re curious about how kiteboarding started, who invented the first inflatable kite, and where the sport is headed in the future, check out at our history of kiteboarding article, and definitely watch the video.

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See you on the water!

Beginners Guide to Kitesurfing: Getting Started was published by inMotion Kitesurfing.