Learning to Kite Surf

December 29^th-January 2^nd, 2014-15

After leaving my family at the Dreams resort I headed to a “farm” called Cometa Copal to take some kite surfing lessons.  It was a toss-up between this place and one called Kite Costa Rica but I had read some good reviews about Bob at Cometa, an instructor from the States.  Bob had promptly replied to my previous day’s inquiry stating that a room was $20 a night and the beginner lessons were $400.  The other place had answered back but only gave me their identical room rate but not the cost of their lessons so I went with the known costs plus the positive reviews of Senor Bob.  I was not disappointed.

When I finally arrived at the farm in the dark around 8:30pm, they already had a room ready for me, albeit a pretty basic one.  I met Stein, a guy in his early fifties who when I asked where he was from gave me one of those goofy hippy like answers of “Well whose from anywhere?” but eventually I found out that he was originally Norwegian but grew up in Michigan.  He was a wealth of information when it came to kite surfing as he was an instructor of instructors.

The next morning I met the main man Bob and we ventured down to the beach with a truckload of gear.  My first lesson with him started on the beach, flying a small 2.5 square meter kite after some initial theory.  With my paragliding background, Bob whipped through some of the initial stuff, knowing that I’d pick up on the kite flying aspect fairly quickly.  Later on we ventured out into the water, without a board, to practice what is known as “body dragging”.  This entails using the kite to pull you through the water but angling one arm out to the side in order to work your way upwind.  This technique is necessary in order to return back to your board should you wipe out and lose contact with it.  Bob is an excellent instructor and I knew that I had made the right choice.

On the playa:

Okay, my hair is getting a bit wild these days:

The next day the wind was howling big time and my body was a bit sore from the previous day’s activities so I sat that one out, although I did do a bit of playing with the trainer kite.  The following day one of Bob’s other instructors, the blonde haired 24 year old Tyler from Connecticut took me out for some more body dragging which included dragging with the board.  Later on I tried getting up a few times on the board but without any success.  In fact, I experienced my first “Superman” in kite surfing.  I dove the kite too hard in what is known as a power stroke and was launched out of the board, flying head first over the water.  Kinda fun yet not overly graceful.

Someone getting some serious air:

On New Year’s Eve, everyone had dinner at the restaurant on the farm called Plaza Copal, which is run by an Austrian guy Ulf and his Costa Rican wife.  A handful of us ventured down to the beach close to midnight and Tyler and another American hopped on their boards in the partially moonlit night and rode in the New Year…pretty cool.

Tyler and Bob on New Year's Eve:

Check out the rainbow which is more of a "rainline":

I left shortly after to head back into Nicaragua to meet up with yoga master Jeff from Miami whom I’d met on Ometepe Island.  My body, specifically my lower back, was sore from this new activity and Jeff was running a yoga retreat near San Juan del Sur, a surf town near the border so I figured it was worth backtracking to learn some good techniques for healing my poor back which has been busted up by not one, not two but three paragliding crashes over the years.  I figured I’d head there for about 10 days and then return to finish my beginner kite surfing lessons.