Several months ago a mutual friend, Adam Koch, introduced Nuria Goma and me on Facebook on the basis that we both ride Liquid Force, we were both going to be in La Ventana in January and February, and we love to promote the sport. Online we started talking about hosting a free kite boarding clinic with Liquid Force here at Playa Central Kiteboarding and we were both very happy with the turn out.
Watch the 1:30 minute candid video clip of Jessica explaining how to water start on a strapless.
Nuria and I decided we would focus on encouraging intermediate riders on strapless boards. We covered water starting, difference between tacks and jives, how to jive, hot to switch to Toe Side while heading the same direction, turning into toe side, etc. We also covered twin tip technique and how to turn, jump, ride toe side, do jump transitions, etc.
Nuria and Jessica helping Rosalie, a Bay Area kiter who visits La Ventana every year.
At sign up we gave everybody a piece of paper and had them write down 1-3 key skills they wanted to work on and had them drop it into a Liquid Force helmet. We drew out the questions and together covered them all. After the lesson Liquid Force provided kites and boards for demo and the clinic. People loved the Fish, a great beginner surf board.
Nuria handled most of the twin tip and freestyle questions while I gave the strapless tips and pointers. Once on the beach we decided to divide the group in two, and each one of us work with our area. While rigging the gear, La Ventana just started nooking. It went from 18-48 mph in about 90 minutes from when the clinic started. Only the more advanced riders decided to go out on 5m, 6m and 7ms. We were all overpowered and decided to just free ride. Although we would have liked to get close to the students and give instruction, it was still pretty fun to just have a session with them.
For lessons and more kite camps in La Ventana, we recommend Playa Central Kiteboarding.
