Kitesurfing Lessons in Pranburi

February 7^th-15^th, 2025

Since I’ve been “dabbling” in kitesurfing over the past 10 years, and still not quite proficient at it, I decided to commit my last week in Thailand at a beach to try and put in the hours. 

 

It’s almost embarrassing how long it’s taking me to learn this sport, but a lot of it has to do with not having dedicated some time to develop my skills.  I first did some lessons in Costa Rica at the end of 2014, spending more than a week but only getting past the basics (flying the kite, bodysurfing) and a couple of decent days trying to ride.  Nearby Lake Nicaragua had a huge influence on the winds and there always seemed to be decent sized waves plowing down the river inlet towards the ocean, which made it difficult for learning.

 

I didn’t touch a kite again until 2021 in Peru where I had 3 lessons, and made some good progress as we were in a bay where the water remained relatively flat, even with the wind howling.  Another three years passed by before just barely obtained my intermediate rating in Kenya in December of 2023.

 

Trying to stay on the horse, somewhat, I did a refresher lesson in Vietnam back in this past December on this trip.  Unfortunately, of the three days I was there, only one was good but the waves were still quite big, and it was a very busy place.  Luckily, my instructor was excellent and I did learn a lot.

 

I researched where to kitesurf in Thailand and one of the meccas which is good at this time of the year was a small city called Hua Hin, about 230 kilometres south of Bangkok, situated on the Gulf of Thailand.  Unfortunately, it looked like a very busy place for kitesurfing and after my experience in Vietnam, I had hoped to find a quieter spot, which turned out to be only half an hour further south at a beach called Pranburi. 

Moped Madness in Bangkok on the morning I caught a bus to Pranburi.

Reaching out to one of the two schools there, Go Kite Asia replied to my email within an hour or two, which impressed me, so I booked a refresher lesson with them.  The first couple of days that I was in Pranburi, the winds were light, so I had some chill time. 

 

The quiet beach of Pranburi.

Hua Hin and Pranburi are primarily resort locations for rich Thais who live in Bangkok.  Pranburi’s quiet, with many beach homes, a lot of them empty, lining the beach.  So, there were very few beachgoers enjoying the fine sand and warm water, even on the weekends.  

I hiked up to the viewpoint on that hill a few days later.

This also meant that there that there weren’t many restaurants/bars, especially on the beach.  I ended up frequenting a bagel joint for 4-5 breakfasts, another restaurant called Ley for about the same number of lunches.  Dinner was primarily at a place called Schnitzelwirtin, which I know, shockingly had German food, but also some local dishes, and another place called View Moon.  There really weren’t many choices, especially without a scooter.

Some live music at one of the two nearby restaurants called View Moon.

This guy was fun.  He kept saying "S'bai s'bai" after his songs.  I asked him what it meant and he said "relaxing".  It's the Thai equivalent of India's "Shanti shanti" which I hear a lot when I was there.

This was stuck on the wall in the bathroom...it had some napkins in it.  I just thought the translation at the bottom was funny: "Air cushion hanging paper pumping"!

This is why it's called the "View Moon" restaurant.  It's actually a 5-foot diameter model of the moon in a room.

This guy's hauling a lot with his motorcycle!

A few kilometers down the beach there were some trees providing a bit of shade.

Whew...I walked a long way on this day, on a quest to find lunch.  That's the hill near my accommodation in the distance, probably 3 km away.

"Oh, I'm just taking my cow for a swim..."

That's a big jellyfish.

The shirtless boys kneeling down are going through some kind of hazing ritual which didn't look too pleasant.  They were instructed to do things like fall face first into one foot of water without putting their hands out to break the fall...silly boys.

After a day of no wind, I had a scheduled lesson for Sunday.  The owner, Kai, seemed like a very friendly person.  I was introduced to Rooky, my instructor, who did speak English but wasn’t as fluent as Kai.  We sorted out gear and headed to the beach, which was just 50 meters away from the shop.  The waves were a decent size, not quite as big as my last lesson in Mui Ne in Vietnam six weeks ago but still challenging.

The Go Kite Asia shop, just across the road from the beach.

The lesson didn’t start out well.  I had trouble water starting and the few instructions that I received from Rooky over the radio were of him shouting at me and telling me what I was doing wrong.  There was one point where he was telling me “Turn, turn, turn”.  The wing was just hanging limp, at about 10 o’clock, and my bar was fully pushed to turn left.  What else does he want me to do?  I’m trying to turn.  I even pointed with my left hand at the bar, that I was trying to turn.  The wind slacked off and the kite eventually fell into the water, and unfortunately on its trailing edge, the worst way you want it to land in the water.  I couldn’t get it to flip over and eventually came into shore.

Not my kite...but a kite nonetheless.

 

I asked him what he was trying to get me to do, and he wanted me to turn the kite left and right, left and right, to try and generate some power.  Well, that to me is a bit different than the repeated instruction of just “Turn”.  We were about 45 minutes into the 2-hour lesson and I almost wanted to say “Fuck it, I’m done”. 

 

Being an instructor myself, there were some things that I felt he was doing incorrectly.  First off, this is supposed to be for fun, so don’t yell at me.  Second, if your instructions to a student aren’t working, try saying something else.  Now I know English is his second language, and I’ll give him some leeway there, but I still felt like he could do better.  Additionally, you should try and be positive with a student, not saying “Don’t do that!”.   Instead, after a run, “Well I liked how you did such and such…and on this next run let’s try to focus on this”.

 

The radio conked out for a little while too, which can happen.  But then during my next few runs, he gave me so little feedback that I questioned whether the radio was working.  When I came in and asked, “Did you say anything on the radio because I didn’t hear you for the last 5 minutes?”  His response was “No, you were doing things right.”  Well, tell me then!  People like to receive positive reinforcement.

 

I told him about my frustration and what I would like him to do, and he was a bit better for the second half of our lesson.  When we were finished though, I didn’t feel like I had progressed much.  Kai came down to the beach as Rooky took some of the gear to the shop, and I gave him my feedback, that Rooky was probably the worst kitesurfing instructor I’ve had.  I asked if someone else could do the next lesson, which is always a good idea anyways as you learn different things from different instructors.  Kai responded that Rooky was his main kitesurfing instructor (they also teach riding a foil).  Ugh.

Another guy about to head out on the water.

Kai told me to come back the following day.  I thought that maybe I’d be allowed to go out on my own, with basic supervision, and not a full-blown lesson as I felt that I hadn’t learned much from Rooky, I just needed some time at task.  But no, it was another session with Rooky.  Before we started, I had a chat with him about what I didn’t like from the other day, and what I would like from him.  This lesson was definitely better, and I made more progress including one transition (changing directions without going back into the water), but still there were times where he barely spoke on the radio…what am I paying for?

Neither of these are me...that's the trouble with doing lessons when travelling solo, who's your cameraman?

The next day, the wind seemed a bit light, but after having my bagel pizza lunch I wandered down to the beach near the store to observe the conditions.  I received a message from Kai to come to the store.  I told him I was at the beach and the only ones I saw in the water were guys on foil boards and one on a surfboard (with kites).  Both of those have much less drag than a normal kitesurfing board, so it didn’t look promising.  However, a few minutes later, a woman named Noey (“no-ee”), whom I saw at the store the day before, showed up and after a few minutes she said that we should give it a go.  She was going to be my instructor today.  Sweet.

A guy doing what I'm trying to do! 

Noey competes in kitesurfing and some of her trophies and competition jerseys were displayed in the shop.  Her English was much better than Rooky’s too, so I was hopeful that this would be a good lesson…and it was.  She coached me a lot more on the radio, was clear and concise, provided positive reinforcement, good tips and even remembered my name! (which I know Rooky didn’t…another fundamental in being a good instructor)

 

By the end of our two-hour session, I felt much more comfortable on the board, did half a dozen transitions and was occasionally going upwind.  I was pleased with the progress.

My one piece of evidence that I did some kitesurfing lessons.  This was taking by my instructor Noey, without me knowing.  Thanks Noey!

My most frequented restaurant for dinner, the Schnitzlwirtin.  They cooked German food, but also Thai dishes.  It was the best place to eat within a few kilometers of my guesthouse.  This makes it look empty as it was near closing time, but they were always busy.

My first meal at the Schnitzlwirtin...it was tasty.

The wind was quiet the next couple of the wind wasn’t good, so on one of them I hiked up the small viewpoint on the hill at the south end of the beach called Khao Kalok.

A nice rock bridge at the beach by the hill with the viewpoint.

The short trail up to the Khao Kalok Viewpoint.

There were some small caves and partial tunnels to walk through on the way up.

A nice view of the Pranburi Beach.

The next day, I rented a scooter to visit the Phraya Nakron Cave, which was phenomenal and deserves its own blog entry (which will be the next one). 

 

This was a toilet at a Wyndham Resort that I stopped at for lunch one day.  I thought it was interesting as it is open to the outdoors on one side, with a pond coming right up close to the toilet.

I was down to two days left to get some more kitesurfing under my belt before having to head back to Bangkok to fly back to Canada.  Friday looked the most promising and I met up with Noey, and the “beachboy” Nine (a guy who helps set up the gear and rides the gear upwind for me between runs) at the shop around 2:30.  Noey asked Nine to go out and test the wind, which was questionable, but he did fine…however, he’s a tiny guy (Noey joked that they call him “toothpick” as that’s what his legs look like), and he’s skilled, so it wasn’t necessarily a good gauge for me.  I got in the water and attempted a few water starts but could never get enough speed to get going.  After 10 minutes we gave up and sat on the beach for the next hour and a half hoping for better wind, but it never happened.  Tis the nature of the beast.

Here's Noey having a "bath" after going out for a brief session with her wing foil, where she couldn't even get up riding properly due to the light winds.

This is a wing foil, a newer contraption than a kitesurf and what Noey was trying to ride.  It looks super tricky.

A simple idea...just hold a wing in your hands!

So, after committing 8 full days to kite surfing in Pranburi, I did three lessons for a total time of just over 5 hours…damn, that sucks.  It is the end of a shoulder season with the wind changing from a predominant north to south, and the conditions are supposed to be best between mid-February to May…I guess I was just a tiny bit early.

 

Oh well, I still had a good time in Pranburi and my kitesurfing journey will continue…someday.