Buying Guide - Beginner Kitesurf Equipment

Buying your own first set of kitesurfing equipment is a big step for most people and the decision can be hard to make on which brand and model to buy. This guide should help you to avoid some mistakes when buying your first kitesurfing material and help you make a decision that is most suitable for you.

There are many different brands for kitesurfing equipment out there. Some are more expensive, some more affordable and they are all good in their own way. There is not the one right brand that fits all, but it really comes down to personal choice. So while listening to more experienced kitesurfers about their recommendations is definitely beneficial and helpful, it is important that you find the kite, board and harness that fits you and you are happy with! Because in the end you are going to spend hours with this equipment on the water and you want to come home with a smile on your face. And buying a whole set of kites is quite an investment, so you really want to be sure to buy right the first time.

Buying Guide

Harness

When buying your own equipment, start with buying a harness that truly fits you. Even if you only want to buy one piece of equipment and keep renting, we recommend buying your own harness. If you have the chance to test different ones in action, do it! If not, go with the one that feels most comfortable to you. As harnesses are not too expensive, it is always possible to buy a different one later on if you do feel you have issues or pain when kitesurfing.

Board

Board Size

Your board size depends on your weight and size. Board sizes range from 130cm to 165cm, for normal freeride kitesurfing in moderate wind conditions you will be looking at board sizes between 133cm - 145cm depending on your size and weight. A 2m guy does need a bigger board then a 1.5m kite chica :)

In general, try to go with a bigger board in the beginning, as it will make it easier to ride upwind in lighter winds. Personally, we have also found that a slightly larger board will help you jump higher and progress faster as an intermediate and advanced kitesurfer, as it can build up more pressure for your jumps. As a reference, I am 168cm, 53kg and ride a 137x41 cm board. Brendan is 175cm, 63kg and rides a 139x41.5 cm. These are definitely big boards for our sizes, but we prefer it as it is great for light wind days and getting a powered up feeling for jumps and tricks.

Board Type

The type of board is also important. Boards have different shapes, rocker, flex and stiffness. Without going too much into detail, most kite brands categorize their boards and as a beginner kitesurfer, a board from the category Freeride or Allrounder will be a good choice for you. They have a moderate rocker and flex, therefore making it a forgiving board in almost all conditions.

Most importantly, you should try the board if you get the chance to. Some people prefer stiffer over more flexible boards and therefore it is vital to know and have tried the board in various conditions before you buy.

In our opinion we recommend beginners to stick to riding with straps. You don´t benefit from riding boots unless you start freestyle tricks. With straps, you will decrease the risk of breaking a leg when crashing a trick.

Kite & Bar

Kite sizes

When choosing your kite size you should think about where you will be kitesurfing the most and what the prevailing wind conditions are at this spot. It also depends if you want to buy a 2 or 3 kite setup. For most people, a 9,12m or 7,9,12m set up is a good start and covers a big wind range. If you know you will be kiting mostly in light wind, move the sizes up 1 or 2. Same for your size. For girls, an 8,11m setup for 2 kites might be a better choice and bigger guys more a 10,13m. We recommend not going too far apart in sizes if you only go for a 2 kite setup, espessicaly if you have smaller size kites. Go for maximum 3 sizes apart to make sure you cover all of the wind range.

Kite shape

The best shapes for beginners are delta or bow kites. Stay away from C kites when you start, even though a lot of pros ride them, they get advertised a lot and you find they are super cheap online. C kites are good for freestyle and certain disciplines, but they also have different characteristics and work well only in smaller wind ranges. Delta kites are good all-around kites, cover a big wind range meaning you can kite in almost all conditions with a small number of kites. The kites are very forgiving in almost all conditions and can be used up to a highly advanced level unless you start going into wave or freestyle kitesurfing.

Kite Bar

It is always easiest to buy all your kites from one brand and the matching bar with it. You will only really need one bar for all of your kites. It is possible to use a kite bar from one brand with kites from a different brand but depending on the design of both bar and kite, it might not fly perfectly. Kites will always fly best with the bar designed from the same brand. If you can, we recommend to stick with one brand.

Our Tips and common mistakes

• Test as much equipment as you can before you commit to buying your own

• Don´t buy a board too small for your size. You benefit from a bigger board much more.

• Don´t buy C shaped kites. They are in the media a lot and can be quite cheap, but they are not good beginner kites.

• Ride with straps and not with boots

• Stick with one brand for your kites and bar to get the best flying characteristics

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Our recommended beginner Kitesurfing Setup

The above guide should help you guide you through the process of buying your own set of equipment that fits you best. A lot of people ask us, which kites we recommend so we also want to give you our recommendation. Please note: this is our personal recommendation based on our experience and years of testing and kitesurfing. It does not mean this is the perfect set up for you but you can use it as a guide and we encourage you to test this equipment to see if it could be your perfect match.

Core XR & Sensor 3 Bar:

This Freeride Kite is great both for learning and up to a high advanced level. Very forgiving, easy to relaunch on the water, great for jumps and a wide range of freeride tricks. The valve and other parts of the kite are kept simple but it is also hard to break them.

If you don´t like Core, the Evo and Trustbar are the Duotone alternative to this setup. The kite shape of the Evo is similar to the XR and it is a great all-round kite as well. The Duotone kites have a bit less pressure on the bar compared to the Core kites and we have found that the valves are a bit more delicate on the Duotone kites, so be extra careful when pumping up your kite.

Core Fusion Board with standard foot pads:

We can´t recommend this board more. It is a full carbon board making it super light. The board is quite flexible, making landings and riding it in choppy conditions soft and forgiving to your knees. The standard foot pads are extremely soft and comfortable and we prefer them over the pro foot pads.
Due to the full carbon built it does not fall into the cheap board category, but it is definitely worth it.

Mystic Drip / Dutchess:

Mystic Harnesses are great, affordable and super comfortable. We mainly use the Drip model, I like the Dutchess as a girls harness as it is a bit smaller but still offers great back support.

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We offer our guests to test equipment on the Egypt Kitecruise or at the Panama Kite House. Get in touch if you would like to test some gear.