Kite Surfing

[ercorn]

Hi there

I have just recently returned from a trip to Australia where I completed a IKO kitesurfing course,after buying all the gear and bringing it back to BKK with me

I am about to head off to Jom Tien or Rayong and start practicing what I`ve learnt.

So I was wondering if anyone out there had any ideas on places that are good for learning and not to cowded,or anyone who has done the IKO course and would like to join me.

[p_brownstone]

Hi there

I have just recently returned from a trip to Australia where I completed a IKO kitesurfing course,after buying all the gear and bringing it back to BKK with me

I am about to head off to Jom Tien or Rayong and start practicing what I`ve learnt.

So I was wondering if anyone out there had any ideas on places that are good for learning and not to cowded,or anyone who has done the IKO course and would like to join me.

Sounds like a dangerous hobby in Thailand - almost guaranteed a bad encounter with a piece of bamboo fish trap.

Patrick

[steveromagnino]

Ignoring the completely stupid and unhelpful reply already given, I think you'll find Thailand is a great place for kiteboarding.

The winds are around a consistent 15-20 knots during the northerly monsoon just finishing, then around 12-14 knots in the southerly monsoon just starting.

Hua Hin is a popular place as it Jomtien; I have no desire to kite as I windsurf, but many of my friends kite, and enjoy the warm water, fairly consistent cross on breezes of this time of year, and nice launch site.

For Jomtien, best place is club loong chat, which has a website

www.clubloongchat.com I think it is and located near Ambassador and Pinnacle hotels. They have good instruction and fairly cheap gear, as most Kite boards are made in Thailand anyway. Airrush and a few other brands are also located/based here.

In Hua Hin, there is some crowd doing instruction and rental there, but I can't remember the name. Try a search via airrush website www.air-rush.com I think it is, and check under their dealer network to get more info.

Samui and Phuket have good kiting I would guess, but Jomtien is by far closest to BKK.

There is a good crowd of kiters already at Pop's; actually so many that I don't windsurf that much having been tangled up in lines/hit in the head with a kite which standing in the water/hit in the shoulder while standing on the beach.

You kiters (not you personally) have some <deleted> cowboys in your midst :-) But the ones who know what they are doing are great fun to sail/ride with. There are a couple of decent kiters at Loongchat's club to learn from I think.

You'll want a decent size kite though; 16-20m most likely for the lighter weather, although smaller I guess if you have one of the modern bow kites.

And there are various obstacles in the water, same same Aussie, NZ, USA, Europe and everywhere else. Best thing here is the wind pressure in the warmer temp air is not so on-off; so I think the area where kiters get into trouble, coming back to the beach, is easier to manage here compared to Aussie, where the wind is a bit more dense and packs a bit more 'punch'. Hope this helps .

[ercorn]

Ignoring the completely stupid and unhelpful reply already given, I think you'll find Thailand is a great place for kiteboarding.

The winds are around a consistent 15-20 knots during the northerly monsoon just finishing, then around 12-14 knots in the southerly monsoon just starting.

Hua Hin is a popular place as it Jomtien; I have no desire to kite as I windsurf, but many of my friends kite, and enjoy the warm water, fairly consistent cross on breezes of this time of year, and nice launch site.

For Jomtien, best place is club loong chat, which has a website

www.clubloongchat.com I think it is and located near Ambassador and Pinnacle hotels. They have good instruction and fairly cheap gear, as most Kite boards are made in Thailand anyway. Airrush and a few other brands are also located/based here.

In Hua Hin, there is some crowd doing instruction and rental there, but I can't remember the name. Try a search via airrush website www.air-rush.com I think it is, and check under their dealer network to get more info.

Samui and Phuket have good kiting I would guess, but Jomtien is by far closest to BKK.

There is a good crowd of kiters already at Pop's; actually so many that I don't windsurf that much having been tangled up in lines/hit in the head with a kite which standing in the water/hit in the shoulder while standing on the beach.

You kiters (not you personally) have some <deleted> cowboys in your midst :-) But the ones who know what they are doing are great fun to sail/ride with. There are a couple of decent kiters at Loongchat's club to learn from I think.

You'll want a decent size kite though; 16-20m most likely for the lighter weather, although smaller I guess if you have one of the modern bow kites.

And there are various obstacles in the water, same same Aussie, NZ, USA, Europe and everywhere else. Best thing here is the wind pressure in the warmer temp air is not so on-off; so I think the area where kiters get into trouble, coming back to the beach, is easier to manage here compared to Aussie, where the wind is a bit more dense and packs a bit more 'punch'. Hope this helps .

Thanks for your reply,I also have done a lot of windsurfing but as I am travelling all the time its to difficult to carry board,sails etc. around alot easier withkite and board only about 13kg

[p_brownstone]

Ignoring the completely stupid and unhelpful reply already given

May I suggest you maintain the decencies of debate and refrain from immature insults.

My comment was neither facetious nor ill informed.

Kite Surfing, like Parasailing, is a sport where the participant does not always have full control of his direction, speed and other factors – do you have any idea how many people have been killed or injured Parasailing in Pattaya, particularly in the earlier days of the sport there, as a result of falling onto bamboo fish traps?

Patrick

[steveromagnino]

May I suggest you maintain the decencies of debate and refrain from immature insults.

I will attempt to edit my previous post if that makes you feel betterm, it was impolite and inappropriate. :-)

However, it seems that you are perhaps not familiar with the sport of kite surfing, and fail to understand the difference between parasailing and kiting. I would not even call parasailing a sport, it is simply being towed behind a boat at low speed is it not? Therefore, I wonder whether you are the ideal person to comment on this, especially when you make comments regarding safety where there is, to my knowledge, no evidence to support your claim relating to safety of kiting in Thailand. The OP is a kiter already, and will have covered kite safety in the course he/she has done; are you even familar with what is taught in the syllabus of the IKO course? I am happy to lend a DVD outlining the course if you wish to understand what safety aspects would have already been taught, quite interesting.

Kiting in itself is already a risky sport, and doing it in the very moderate conditions of Pattaya is far safer than Florida, Hawaii and Australia where there are higher wind strengths, more wind sheer due to land mass and more on-land obstacles. To date, I am not aware of any kiting fatalities in Thailand, and yet there are multiple fatalities every year in these other countries, and almost everytime (I say almost, simply because I have not read every report, but so far in every report I have read) it is the result of contact with immovable objects on land, where the kiter loses control of the kite and ends up hitting cars, power poles or other fixed stationary objects.

Bamboo in the water is a necessary evil, as is weed in Hattaras, coral scrapes in Hawaii and sharks in Australia. Hardly reason not to do the sport, I fail to see how anyone would die from one of these, but I will stand corrected if there is news of a windsurfing/sailing/kiting fatality as the result of bamboo; for the life of me I cannot see how this could occur with a floating piece of bamboo, and I cannot see how this would occur with a piece of bamboo on the beach. Parasailing involves significantly more height, and yet again, I do not see quite how the injuries would occur; perhaps a high speed fall forward onto a bamboo in shallow water?

I've spoken to the kite equipment manufacturers here already, and other than the extensive list of scrapes, grazes, broken bones and bruises that are typical of windsurfing and kiting, they are not aware of any 'out of the ordinary' injuries in kiting here either.

For kiting, this weekend coming is going to be a BOOMER; expected 18-20 knots both days, and looking like it will be cross on from the northeast, also known here as lom nuea, which is colder and packs a bit more punch to it.

Pop's place will be great for sailing this weekend; if either of you want to come down and check it out, I can assure you it will be a good time :-)

[johnong]

I kitesurf at club loongchat, Jomtien quite regularly and it is a great spot. After kiting between here and the UK I can say that Thai is a very safe place to kitesurf. The wind is not that strong and the lighter warmer air means that although it can be gusty its very easy to control whats going on. The water is very flat too so no big icy waves to work through! There is the odd boat to avoid though, but this time of the year the tide is going out further so there is more room to launch and land.

The one thing though would be kite size, as 18 - 20 meter kites are the norm for most the year. I use a 2 kite quiver of 18.5 and a 12m bow. So depending what you got in Oz your kite could be a bit small.

Your best bet would be to come along and have a chat with everyone. You will find its a very friendly group and well worth a visit.

Cheers,

[ercorn]

Thanks for the advise johnong,I have 12m bow with me so I guess I`ll have to watch the weather forcast a bit.I spent some time at club loongchat last year doing abit of windsurfing but didn`t notice many farangs their anyway I will be heading down there at the end of the month and hopeing for some wind.

[johnong]

No worries,

A 12m bow should be fine. People were out them both days over the weekend. Although the wind was a bit limited to an hour or so today.

for weather sites have a look at (if you have windsurfed here I guess you already know...)

Windfinder

or

windguru

Easterly is off shore so no good.

See you on the water :-)

cheers,

[steveromagnino]

No worries,

A 12m bow should be fine. People were out them both days over the weekend. Although the wind was a bit limited to an hour or so today.

for weather sites have a look at (if you have windsurfed here I guess you already know...)

Windfinder

or

windguru

Easterly is off shore so no good.

See you on the water :-)

cheers,

yeah, took my yacht out on Saturday; it would have been 20 knots out at sea; rushed back and windsurfed only to encounter weak frigging 12 knots and that was also miles out to sea...a bit late; but better late than never. :-)

Looks like the northerly is runninig out though, I think it should swing around soon to the southern monsoon.

[LivinLOS]

May I suggest you maintain the decencies of debate and refrain from immature insults.

I will attempt to edit my previous post if that makes you feel betterm, it was impolite and inappropriate. :-)

However, it seems that you are perhaps not familiar with the sport of kite surfing, and fail to understand the difference between parasailing and kiting. I would not even call parasailing a sport, it is simply being towed behind a boat at low speed is it not? Therefore, I wonder whether you are the ideal person to comment on this, especially when you make comments regarding safety where there is, to my knowledge, no evidence to support your claim relating to safety of kiting in Thailand.

Not trying to b1tch at you, especially in an old thread.. But Parasailing is NOT being towed up behind a boat !!! Thats Parascending..

Parasailing, much like Kite Surfing is flying under a parachute / wing, usually performed in the slope lift provided by hills, less so by soaring in thermal lift, and lastly powered parasail with a rotor on your back providing forward thrust that can be translated into lift.

Parasailing and kite surfing (especially the earlier wings I think, not up on Kite surfing much) have lots in common in the control systems and theory..

[madjbs]

right ok and what exactly were these para"sailers" doing flying over the sea and trying to land on fish traps? Many people would also call your parasailing, paragliding by the way.

Edited May 10, 2007 by madjbs

[steveromagnino]

right ok and what exactly were these para"sailers" doing flying over the sea and trying to land on fish traps? Many people would also call your parasailing, paragliding by the way.

for goodness sake ; we are talking about kiting; kiting is similar to wakeboarding, except the person is being powered by a large kite that resembles an inflated wing and pulls them through the water.

They aren't 'flying over the sea' and they certainly aren't 'trying to land on fish traps'. That is some other sport paragliding, parapunting, paraplegic, whatever - it simply is not kiting.

Current kites are almost all inflated with an air inflated bladder than runs through the centre beam, with two main types the bow kites and the C type traiditional kite.

If you want to try it, let's start talking about getting you onto a kite and board :-) Alternatively, windsurfing or sailing are great sports for Thailand. Anyone who tells you that Thailand is not one of the best places in the world for learning any of these sports obviously either comes from Hawaii OR like Manuel in Fawlty Towers 'knows nahhhthing.' Bits of bamboo in the water 5555555555555555555555 they should try it in Aussie where you have 'bits of great white shark' or Valencia 'bits of raw sewerage' or maybe southern USA 'bits of typhoon' 5555555555555

[madjbs]

Actually I was being sarcastic. Its obvious that whoever mentioned parasailing was talking about being pulled behind a boat as any paraglider with half a brain doesnt fly over the sea or bits of bamboo when they try to land!! I was just slightly amused at all the perceptions of kiting.

BTW. I have been planning to do some kitesurfing here for a while, where do you think the nearest place to bangkok that would be half decent is? Also do you know of any shops in BKK?

Jake

[ercorn]

I haven`t found any shops in Bangkok though I spent a week kitesurfing at Clubloongchat as Johnong mentioned and had a great time.If you contact Pop at www.clugloongchat.com they have lesson and gear for sale just drop him an email through his website and he will let you know all the details.

I recommend IKO instructor which they have and also there is another place at Hua Hin but after contacting them they gave me very expensive prices for lessons for my wife even when I used my own equipment.

regrds Ercorn

[ebrenne]

Hi there

I have just recently returned from a trip to Australia where I completed a IKO kitesurfing course,after buying all the gear and bringing it back to BKK with me

I am about to head off to Jom Tien or Rayong and start practicing what I`ve learnt.

So I was wondering if anyone out there had any ideas on places that are good for learning and not to cowded,or anyone who has done the IKO course and would like to join me.

Sounds like a dangerous hobby in Thailand - almost guaranteed a bad encounter with a piece of bamboo fish trap.

Patrick

Kitesurfing is not dangorours at all in Thailand. Sure, if you walk into a fishing willage, set up you kite and start kitesurfing there you are in a bit of problems. However, if you go to the recomended kite beaches in Thailand you will find now bamboo poles. For a list of safe locations check with One-Two-Kite kitesurfing center

Also, check out this picture:

Enjoy this new sport. I know I do. I regullary travel to Hua Hin as the wind season has just started

[absolutelyBangkok]

In Jomtien where Pop was Kiteboarding Asia just moved in.

Pop is still in the nearby "forest", you can't miss both.

Both have excellent teachers.

Your's the choice!

The season of the Northern wind just started - Hua Hin has more stable wind again. And more on-shore.

[vane]

Hi everyone,

I am from Argentina and I am planning my first trip to Phuket and wanted about accommodation there(for 10 days). would you plase give some advise as to which kite to take and also about the wind conditions in July. I weigh 52 kg and messure 1,57 mts, I`d appreciate it if you could give me some advise. is it convenient to rent kites? is chalong bay a good spot in July?

wlling to make friends!

Thanks!!!!!!

Vanesa

[dollarman]

Hi everyone,

I am from Argentina and I am planning my first trip to Phuket and wanted about accommodation there(for 10 days). would you plase give some advise as to which kite to take and also about the wind conditions in July. I weigh 52 kg and messure 1,57 mts, I`d appreciate it if you could give me some advise. is it convenient to rent kites? is chalong bay a good spot in July?

wlling to make friends!

Thanks!!!!!!

Vanesa

In July all the kiteboards are based on Nai Yang beach in Phuket (close to the airport).