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While you learn, get instruction from a certified instructor! You won't regret it! Learn how to kiteboard away from any people and from any obstacles that might be downwind. Preferably, you should learn in shallow (not too shallow) shoulder high water first. Make sure that you can control a trainer kite first. When you are learning intermediate tricks and unhooked tricks, you should have a place where you can crash the kite comfortably. Always attach your safety leash and don't be afraid to let go of the bar if you are practicing unhooked tricks. The best way to get our sport banned is to practice tricks etc. in places where others could get hurt. Try to have someone assist you in launching and landing your kite.

Virginia Power Kites gives lessons in the flat, mostly shallow water at Factory Point in Hampton, Virginia. For more advanced riders, we will give lessons on the waves in Virginia Beach at 88th street (just a little beyond 88th street so there is no one at the beach) or south of the Sandbridge Pier away from any bystanders. Our number one policy is safety and kite skills. You must know how to control the kite. We do teach intermediate tricks (basic unhooked riding, strapless kitesurfing, raleys, etc.) to intermediate riders, but only in the middle of the Back River, in deeper water in the ocean (you must know how to water relaunch), and along the Chesapeake Bay at select locations.

You don't have to progress to advance tricks. Kiteboarding can be based on freeriding (just riding back and forth and enjoying the experience), freestyle (big air, kite loops, unhooked tricks with the kite above 45 degrees, back and front rolls, etc.), wakestyle (unhooked tricks, rotations, etc. with pop and the kite at 45 degrees or less), and racing (riding to generate extreme speeds. You also can kitesurf on a surfboard!

As you grow as a kiteboarder, you will slowly progress to different tricks. People of all ages can even learn more advanced tricks as most of the tricks involve skill with the kite. Unhooked riding involves more upper body strength and should be performed in lighter wind with a smaller kite initially.

When you learn to kiteboard, you spend a long period:

1) learning the water start, turning, riding upwind, launching the kite, body dragging, the wind window, freeriding

After you feel more comfortable, you learn (if you wish to learn freestyle):

2) more advanced transitions, simple jumps using the kite, toeside riding, downloops, pops, backrolls, frontrolls, even kite loops

Then, you progress to unhooked tricks where the kite does not move (you generate the jump by gaining speed and riding upwind to generate pop):

3) unhooked riding, pop, unhooked back and front rolls, unhooked kiteloops, s-bends, handle passes, etc.

How to do the water start: