Kiteboarding

The lesson I had with Air Padre was the best I’ve ever had after taking many lessons in other locations. APK has done everything possible to create the perfect learning environment. Here are the advantages that I found:

1. Shallow water and no waves so that made it easy to launch and retrieve the board after a fall,

2. A boat so that Jeff could stay with me during some really long rides and it allowed my wife to ride along and take pictures and now she also wants to take lessons,

3. Radio helmet – wow what a change – I could actually hear the instructions and make corrections while I was riding! ,

4. Top notch equipment: wetsuit for warmth, the right sized kite that was correctly powered for the conditions, and a board that he has found is good for learning and it did wonders for my riding,

5. And best of all, a great attitude that it is a team effort and he wants you to improve and have fun. We are already planning our next trip to go back and take more lessons from Air Padre Kiteboarding.

emailed in from Dave G 2-10-2008

I am really excited about the progress that I have made with Air Padre in such a short time.

Safety, Location, Instruction, Equipment, Customer Service. All are spot on.

This is how I see it.

Safety : Bow kites with instant depower

Personal safety boat

Personal Instructor

Radio helmet for instant communication

Location Shallow, flat, warm water

Away from other kiters and obstructions

Not dependant on tide

South Padre great place to stay

Instruction Instructors;- excellent, motivated, patient.

Personal boat

Radio Helmet

Safety a priority

Shallow, flat, warm water

Equipment Current model Bow kites

Beginner friendly boards

Wake board option when wind is unsuitable

Customer Service Excellent

Many thanks to everyone for a great two weeks of kiting.

Chris Mills (Second 10,000 miles round trip from England)

The Mission 138 is a sick kiteboard for popping hard off the flat water and landing with a lot of heat - its got enough rocker and vee (double concave) in the bottom shape to really edge, round upwind, and then release off the water in the smoothest way I have felt yet, and then all that rocker and bottom shape definitely help absorb the impact of hard landings (good water dispersement) If your throwing raley’s, then this kiteboard is a good choice to get higher and land softer. One thing I also noticed was that it is a really smooth ride just going across the water. It absorbs chop and sticks on its edge really nicely, making for an overall very smooth ride. It is a kiteboard that needs power to perform though, so maybe not the best for “mowing the lawn” in light winds.

First impressions: Fast, smooth, and slashy. The rocker on this kiteboard is on the flatter side, and the kiteboard is also fairly stiff overall, which I think gives it a fast, smooth feel through the chop, however the tip and tail sections of the board are “flex zones” and that flex is definately noticeable when loading and popping off the tail, and when landing as well, giving the kiteboard a smooth feeling pop off the water. Upwind ability was excellent, no doubt another benefit of the flatter rocker. The smooth bottom shape and flexy nose and tail are sweet on the rails, too, and the lay-up feels bomb proof - definitely not a likely board to break under high stress. I rode this kiteboard first in flat water in the Gorge, and was blown away by the speed and edging ability, and then in Corpus Christi in the ocean swell and chop and it was great both times

Well, I am a heavy weight, so this kiteboard is for powered up conditions. What ever you weight this board is suprisingly loose yet locks in and smokes up wind of you lean on it. Because of the sever concave, this kiteboard is especially suited to gusty conditions, you can lay off a bit when the wind is steady, then when the gusts hit this board will drive the power into a few extra degrees of up windablity allowing for impressive speed control. The wife is only 110 and she likes it, she did mention that she had to adjust to weighting her back her in responce to chop or she buried the front end of the kiteboard. Also she thought that once she adjusted, it made the ride smoother in chop than any of the boards she had riden before. I agree that this kiteboard is a smooth ride in chop………check it out if you get a chance.

Every once in a while a piece of equipment comes along that seems to take a step ahead and lead the industry. Don’t get me wrong I can’t say that this is the best harness for everyone. It is the best harness for me, and 90% of the instructors I have worked with. Now that says alot. I’m not sponcered, although I am available to be, I just want a comfortable harness that feels like it is working with me. I don’t know what it is about the harness that makes it work. Marketing guys can come up with all the cool product feature names and descriptions they want. It may be the rrt foam upgrade or the fst dynamic flex zone….whatever. In the end I want what I like, not they they think I want. I must say that I think the second lower front strap is part of the majic, but who knows.  The mystic warroir harness is by far the best waist harness I have tried and I have tried most. As always, I don’t think you should buy one, I think you should try one.

Element 140 Pictured above.

The guys at Liquid force nailed it with the Element. At 200+ lbs, I rode the 140 quite a bit. There are also a 134 and 128. The boards are some of the best carving twin tips I have ever tried. This comes partially from the contured bottoms and deep fins, not to mention the rocker. The contured bottom helps channel the water making this a good board to ride finsless if you are heading out for a session on the kicker or slider.

The great carving makes the Element my frist choice for down winders in the surf. Hey its not a surfboard, just a hard carving wakestyle stick. Lots of you love getting into the waves for some liquid kicker action with a side order of down the line riding.

On the other side the rocker on this board makes it a bit harder to go upwind. Certainly not impossible or overly difficult, just not super easy. If you are riding wakestyle it souldn’t be and issue what so ever. If you are a wakeboarder gettig into kiteboarding you might go for a slightly flatter board at first as the ‘ol walk of shame is not fun.

The other thing that sticks out with element is the swing weight. Super-light free ride boards are great for stalled out spins and rolls while dangleing under your kite. If you throwing your stuff wakestyle having a slightly heavier board helps you complete the rotation quicker and spot your landing sooner. The deal there is load, pop, throw then tuck. After you initiate the rotation bring in your knees, or tuck up into a cannon ball.
If you get a chance try one out. We have the 140 setup and ready to ride, stop in a rent it for a day or tow, as always I say try before you buy. If you ride wakestyle, I think you’ll enjoy this board.

135 Pictured Above

As an instructor for six years I tell tell you I have ridden more boards than most. The New Flexifoil Freeride kiteboard series for 2007 are surely some of the finest kiteboards I have ridden. All three sizes work great, I often take all three out and ride the one which is best for the day’s wind speed. The pro model is a 130 with wood core and the stiffer of the three. The 135 and 145 have foam core, and have more flex than the pro. The 145 actually has more flex than any other board I every felt. As flexi as the boards are they pop well. Nice smooth Lincoln Continental ride. The deep fins lock in and they hook up wind. My friends who like looser feel just put shorter fins on theirs. I ride many many boards every year and these three are all on my top five list for 2007 twin tips. Great job by the chaps at flexi, and hats off!!

Capt’n J Hoxtell

Summer 2007

Thank you god, South Padre, Best Kiteboarding, and Jeff! Whooo hoooo!!!!!! Today was one of the best sessions I’ve ever had, and certainly the best I’ve had in South Padre so far! The waves were more than triple overhead, and pushing quad overhead on the outside. What an awesome day! Got to fly an 11m Best Waroo Pro, a SurfTech JC 6′4″ surfboard, the new Spleen surfboard thing with straps, and that one super concave Ocean Rodeo board. Unfortunately, in the end, I broke everything except me and the board. My kite is shredded, every one of my lines broke, and the end of my bar broke off too! Wait, wait, my harness is still working too. It was all worth it though!
Yeeee haawwwww!

Submitted by:

Erik “Pro” Stone

Team rider Best Kiteboarding

Well y’all I can tell you that i just a new extreme water sport in the bay off south padre island and it was awesome. Have you ever heard of kiteboarding or kitesurfing?

I also tried kite-ground-boarding / kite-land-boarding which is much easier and I can do it at home, hehehe, don’t need water. I won’t always have time to drive to the a lake or the coast to kiteboard.

I started out learning how to fly this little kite, then after I got the hang of it I got to try a bigger kite. Next thing I knew I was cruising across the sand on a weird sand-skateboard-thing with big inflatable tires. Then I tried to fly the water kite…and things got more complicated. With another 2 lessons I was flying over the water. The water kiteboarding was definitely amazing. If you’ve ever wakeboarded before, its like wakeboarding behind a giant kite…….sooo sweet. I saw it the other day at the beach. It turns out south padre is some kind of paradise for kiteboarding, the guy I saw and talked to on the beach was from New York. He came here just to do this new cool sport.

Thanks to my boys at air padre….and patty too!

C.G. Dallas