Private advanced lessons: $50.00 per hour or 6 hours for $250.00 equipment not included.
Equipment rentals: $25.00 per hour or 6 hours for $125.00.
The Gorge is a windy place with a strong river current. It is a great spot for advanced kite surfers, the current can help you stay up wind and a good kite surfer can get on his board and get out of the crowd. Advanced students have a blast as we kite surf together and improve your skills in a wide range of conditions. As we kite surf together you will be able to follow my actions and see how it works. I will also be able to give you instruction every time you stop.
Advanced Gorge Kitesurfing Lesson topics include:
Kite Surfing Control -
Jibing Your Kiteboard
Kiteboarding Upwind -
Jumping and Big Air
Cruising the Columbia
Kite Surfing Control
We will start with a review of how to waterstart and center your weight over the board. Next we cover getting on a plane, accelerating and slowing your board, as well as how to stay down on the water (instead of in the sky). We will practice the basic stance on land and review board handling and turning. Once on the water I will kitesurf with you as we work on controlling your speed and direction.
Kiteboarding Upwind
Moving upwind with a kite requires that you be powered up consistently and that you maintain control.
You need to be able to get up to full speed quickly and keep the kite in the sweet spot. By carefully controlling the relationship between you and your kite you can create a situation where the kite pulls you across the wind instead of down wind. Learning to control your speed by fine tuning the angle between you and your kite allows you to translate your excess speed into upwind movement. We will cover the theory on land then work on it on the water. The strong up-wind river current makes the gorge a great place to work on this skill.
Jibing Your Directional Kiteboard
Directional kiteboards plane off with less power then wakeboard style boards because they have a much flatter tail. This means you can kiteboard with a smaller kite, but you need to switch your feet in each turn. Going back the other way without getting in the water is critical to staying up wind and greatly increases the time you spend on the water before becoming exhausted. We will work on land to get an understanding of the timing and get the footwork down, then move to the water.
Jumping and Big Air
Jumping is the thing that makes this sport so special, the sensation of being lifted out of the water and into the sky is unlike any other sport. Learning to jump in control is the key to enjoying this sport safely. After a discussion of flight safety and the theory of kite path, ramp timing, flight position, and landings we will work with a small kite on land to get the image of the kite path in your mind and the motions in your arms. Then we will move onto the river where the landings are a little softer. The lesson will first focus on small controlled jumps and perfecting timing, flight position, and landings before moving to larger air.
Cruising the Columbia
This river is big and with the extreme light wind abilities of a kite we can cruse the river and travel extended distances with a reduce danger of losing our wind. Doing long downwinders (6 miles or more) gives you room to run and can take a lot of the pressure off, allowing you to concentrate on something other then trying to stay up wind. When the wind is blowing up river the current makes it possible for an advanced kiteboarder to go up wind with relative ease allowing upwind / downwind combinations. This also moves us away from the crowds into the open waters between launch spots. Kiteboarding in empty water is a lot easier and more fun then focusing on not hitting one of those sailors coming straight toward you.
