Your first kitesurfing lesson is mostly about the kite, not the board. Expect two to three hours split between a theory and safety briefing on the beach, kite control on land, and your first body drags in standing-depth water. Nobody rides a board on day one, and any school that promises you will is selling you a story rather than a skill.
Before you leave the hotel
Wear swimwear under your clothes and bring a long-sleeve rash vest if you own one. Eat something an hour beforehand — you burn more than people expect standing in the sun steering a kite, and low blood sugar shows up as bad decisions. Bring a water bottle, sunglasses with a retainer strap, and reef-safe SPF 50.
You do not need to bring equipment. Kite, bar and lines, board, harness, helmet and water booties are included in our courses. Hotel pick-up inside Hurghada is free; Makadi, Sahl Hasheesh and El Gouna carry a €20 per car surcharge.
Leave the watch and jewellery in the room. Lines catch on anything that sticks out.
What the session actually covers, in order
The first 30 minutes: theory that is not optional
Your instructor will start on the sand with the parts of the sport that keep you alive. In the VDWS system this is Level 1 material and it is taught before you touch a kite of any size.
- The wind window: the imaginary quarter-sphere downwind of you where the kite can fly. Twelve o'clock overhead is neutral, the edges at nine and three o'clock are the low-power zone, and the middle-low arc is where the power lives
- Depower: how sheeting the bar in and out changes the kite's angle of attack, and why the bar is a throttle rather than a steering wheel
- The chicken loop and quick release: how to dump all the power in one movement, with your eyes shut
- The safety leash: the last resort that leaves the kite flagged on a single line and effectively dead
- Right of way on the water, and the local rules for the beach you are on
You will be asked to demonstrate the quick release repeatedly, on land, until it is automatic. This is deliberate. In a real incident you have about a second and a half of useful thinking time.
Kite control on land
Next comes flying. Depending on the wind strength and your body weight, you will start either on a small trainer kite of 2 to 3 m or directly on a depowered inflatable, often something in the 7 to 9 m range in typical Hurghada afternoon wind.
The exercises are deceptively simple and completely fundamental:
- Park the kite at twelve o'clock and hold it steady for a minute without oversteering
- Move it slowly between ten and two o'clock along the edge of the window
- Dive the kite through the power zone and feel it pull — first gently, then with intent
- Land and relaunch the kite with an assistant
- Rig, pre-flight check and untangle lines yourself, because you will do this every session for the rest of your kiting life
The single most common beginner error appears here: oversteering. New riders make constant tiny corrections, which the kite amplifies. The instruction you will hear most is to look at the kite less and hold the bar still.
Into the water: body dragging
Once you can park and steer a kite reliably you go in. Hurghada's teaching lagoons stay knee- to waist-deep for hundreds of metres, which is why so many people learn here. You can stand, reset and try again without swimming.
Body dragging means using the kite to pull you through the water with no board. It teaches you to control power while your body is in a completely different position, and it is the exercise you will later use to swim back to a lost board. You will practise:
- Downwind body drag on both sides, kite low, figures of eight through the power zone
- Keeping the kite in a steady arc rather than stalling it at the edge
- Water relaunch: getting a kite that has crashed onto the surface back into the air, which is far harder than it looks and is a genuine milestone
- Directional body drag with one arm extended, which is how you recover a board
Expect to swallow some seawater and expect the kite to end up in the water repeatedly. That is what the session is for.
What you will not do on day one
You will almost certainly not stand on a board. The board is Level 3 to Level 4 material, and putting it in your hands before you can steer a kite without thinking is how injuries happen. In a normal progression the board appears in your third or fourth session, after eight to twelve hours of total tuition.
Some people are quicker. Snowboarders, wakeboarders and surfers often get to a water start faster because they already read edge pressure. That is a bonus, not an entitlement.
How you will feel afterwards
Honestly: tired in places you did not expect.
- Forearms and hands ache from gripping the bar too hard, which nearly everyone does on day one
- Neck and jaw from staring up at the kite and clenching while concentrating
- Sunburn on the tops of your feet, the back of your neck and your ears, which is why booties, a hat between runs and a proper reapplication matter
- Mentally drained, because you are processing wind, kite position, body position and instructions at once
Sleep well and eat properly. Progress between sessions happens overnight — day two nearly always feels smoother than day one felt at the end.
Group, semi-private or private
The single variable that most changes how far you get is how much time the kite spends in your hands. In a large group you can spend more than half the session watching. A private lesson gives you the whole session and typically compresses the learning curve by several hours, though it costs more per hour.
A reasonable middle path many riders take is private lessons for the first two sessions, when the safety and kite-handling foundations are being laid, then a group or semi-private format once you are body dragging comfortably. Ask any school what the real ratio on the water is on the day you are booked, not the ratio on their website.
What to ask before you book
- What is the instructor-to-student ratio on the water?
- Is there a rescue boat covering the teaching area?
- Which certification system do you teach? Ours is VDWS, and your progression is logged against Levels 1 to 7
- What happens to my hours if the wind does not come?
- Is the equipment included, and does that include a helmet and booties?
If a school answers all five clearly, you are in good hands. If they get vague about the rescue boat, book elsewhere.
- first lesson
- beginner
- vdws
- kite control
