FAQ
- When is the best time to visit Thailand?
There are 2 distinct seasons in Thailand – dry and wet. You can kitesurf in the wet season (june-september) but it’s not very pleasant! Best to wait a bit and come from November to May. November to mid January we get the north easterly monsoon winds – cold powerful winds that start early. Then February to June we get thermal winds building as the land gets hotter. Like any true sea breeze it comes in around lunchtime and finishes after dusk.
Fortunately at our spot in Pranburi we catch the best wind whatever the season. We get 7/8 months of kitesurfing per year here – that’s a longer season than most parts of the world!
- What’s the wind doing this week?
(Forecast provided by Windguru.com)
Other forecasts
But remember – it’s not exact! Ask me what the weather was like today and it’ll usually be similar tomorrow…
- The wind is always light in Thailand – I thought strong winds were necessary for kitesurfing?
Strong winds are great if you are experienced and have good safety equipment. If you’re learning then light winds are much better – you take a bigger kite so you have as much power but bigger kites turn slower and that gives you more time to react. When you get it wrong in strong winds you get dragged a long way – with light winds the kite just falls in the water and stops. Strong winds usually mean big waves and that’s just not very pleasant to learn in!
- Can’t I just buy some equipment and try on my own?
You can – that’s the way most people learnt 5 years ago – but it’s not the best way. When you’re learning you’ll crash kites. That’s a fact. If you crash your brand new 1000pound kite the wrong way you’ll break it pretty quickly. A good repair costs between 50 and 200 pounds depending on how big it is. You’ll wreck your kite pretty quickly!
It also will take you much longer to learn. How much time do you have? If you don’t work then that’s fine, but if you do then you’ll want to get up and riding and having fun as quickly as possible. We can teach you in 3 days what it took me 6 months to learn. And you’ll learn all the safety which you won’t learn if you don’t do a course. - IKO structured courses – do I need an IKO instructor?
If your IKO instructor is experienced, yes! But an inexperienced IKO instructor won’t be able to help you. It takes time to get good at anything, and it’s not an easy job to do if you want to do it properly. It’s easy to stand on the beach and shout at a student, but that’s not what being a good instructor is about! In kitesurfing, the worst thing your teacher can do is shout orders when you’re panicing. It just doesn’t work! A more experienced instructor will be able to deal with this stress calmly so learning is all fun!
And beware also of the ‘coolest cat’ on the beach! You may find the best kitesurfer is the best instructor – but not always. Good instructors are usually teachers or watersports teachers before they become instructors. Unfortunately the most boring teacher makes a very good kitesurfing instructor! Why? Safety! You’ll be excited enough when you get kitesurfing… - Homework – no other kite schools give homework so why do you?
We try to keep the sitting down theory part to a minimum – you want to be flying a kite don’t you?! But there are some important things you need to understand before you fly a kite – it’s a very safe sport if you’re in control but can get dangerous quickly if you lose control. If you know what you’re supposed to do before you get on the kite you will learn more quickly. That’s why it’s important to do your homework!
If you are a sailor or windsurfer you already have a good knowledge of the dangers that can come from wind or water. If you’re new to the water you might not see danger approaching and that’s when accidents can happen
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