10 Things You Need to Know to Learn How to Kiteboard

Our kiteboarding school in La Ventana, Playa Central Kiteboarding, is a great place to come and learn how to kiteboard. We hope you can make it! E-mail us for lessons. If you are not able to come to Baja for lessons, we wish you the best with your kiteboarding learning curve. As you are learning to kiteboard you will get lots of info and tips from your friends, online sources and your instructors. Just as a refference, we have made a simple check list of the ten things you should make sure you know how to do and understand about kiteboarding.

Use this as you check list for learning how to kiteboard:
Disclaimer: there are many more things that are very important when learning how to kiteboard and these are just 10 of the most important ones. For best and safest results make sure to take at least 9-15 hours of kiteboarding lessons before you try it on your own.


1.The Wind:
 Learning what the wind window is and where neutral and the power zones are and why. Understand how to generate power with the kite as well as how to depower it. You will need to know how to keep the kite stable and how to create power strokes with the kite. For this you will want to use a trainer kite.

The Kiteboarding Gear
It is important to know what gear is used in kiteboarding and the adjustments or options you have as a consumer. There are several types of harnesses, boards, kites and bars, as well as gadgets and accessories you might be interested in, some being waterproof headsets, to a GPS tracker, to safety vests with bells and whistles (popular for people who kiteboard under the Golden Gate Bridge), to Go Pro cameras, etc. Find the best gear for hometown conditions so you can enjoy kiteboarding to the fullest. Know how to put your gear up and and tips on keeping it in good conditions.

3. Learn How to Fly the Kite with Stability and Do One Handed Walking on the Beach.
You need to feel confident on the beach, so learn how to walk one-handed upwind on the beach while keeping your kite stable. Learning how to launch and land your kite is very important and is mainly about knowing how to keep you kite stable while you are standing on the beach lowering and elevating your kite. You also need to know how to launch and land other people's kites for them.

4. Re-launching Your Kite in the Water.
There are three ways a kite can land in the water and there are three ways to relaunch it. Make sure you know how to do this so that you can optimize your time while you are in the water. 

5. Self Rescue and Safety Release System
Make sure you know what a safety release system is and how to use it, know that different kite manufacturers use different safety release systems. Before entering the water alone you will want to know how to perform a self-rescue with your kite. A great way to learn this is to practice it on the beach before practicing in the water so you can ask your instructor questions and not lose time and energy practicing it for the first time in the water.

6. Body Dragging Skills.
Once you are in the water you want to continue to practice your kite stability, make sure you can keep your kite stable at 45° angles on both sides with one hand. Also make sure you can do fluid power strokes towards the same direction without letting the kite pass "12 o'clock" in between strokes. Start being aware of the traffic that surrounds you. After knowing the previous skills begin practicing the up-wind body dragging.

7. Handling Your Board and How To Get It Back
Practice body dragging with your board and handling it in the water switching it on and off your feet, side by side. In order to get your board back you need to know how to body drag up-wind. Some other tips include buying orange or yellow boards when learning because white and dark boards are not as visible in a windy sea of water and white caps. Make sure you have your ear on your shoulder, that helps you point upwind better. Do about 100 yard tacks because beginners tend do not do long enough tacks. Always wait for the board to be in front of you before you reach to grab it, if you are reaching behind to grab it you might hurt your shoulder or as you life it out of the water the wind may blow it toward you or in between your lines.

8. Water Starting Power Strokes
Once the board is on your feet you will need to know how much power you will need to generate with your kite in order for you to be able to be pulled up and begin riding. If you are still learning, try these two things: either start with an up-stroke before you do the down stroke (this way you will be pulled up and out of the water a little before you are pulled across the water), or just try to first learn how much down-stroke power you need to just stand up, not up and riding. These exercises will help you learn how much power you need and prevent you from face planting.

9. Riding Stance and Transitions
As soon as you can control the kite power you will have the ability to start riding. You progression at this stage depends on your board skills, but basically controlling the kite speed and using the kite as your speed leverage is the key to riding. Being able to stay upwind and travel upwind is important so you can return to the same beach. As a beginner it is common to end up downwind from where you started, so make sure you know where you will be coming into the shore downwind and have a plan of how to do it.

10. Kiteboarding Rule of Thumbs
There are lots of tips and rules of thumbs when learning how to kiteboard, and these are just a few of the most important ones: kite sizes depend on the wind speed and the kiter's weight; never kiteboard in offshore winds; before launching your kite go ahead and put your board by the shore so you can grab it as you are entering the water; do not stay on the beach with the kite in the air, the beach is for launching and landing; make sure someone knows you are kiteboarding; have a plan B of where you will might need to come off the water in case of light wind or not being able to ride upwind; be safe and aware of other people's safety.

Playa Central Kiteboarding is located in La Ventana, Baja California Sur, and is one of the best places in the world to learn how to kiteboard. For anybody who is able to learn how to kiteboard here, welcome! If you live far and are learning how to kiteboard in other countries or places, we hope our blog has helped you. For lessons email or call us at 918.398.0114.

Kiteracing Enduro Month in La Ventana, Baja: 28 days of #kiteracing.

The Playa Central staff is creating an opportunity for kiteracers and people who are getting into kiteracing, to go on a long term training vacation  to improve their skills, tune their gear set-up to go the fastest possible and network with pros, brand owners, and learn about upcoming races and events. We have learned that when pro racers, gear designers, and people who are getting into kiteracing are at the same beach sharing information and experiences it helps the kiteracing industry grow in a direction that is welcoming to beginners, interesting to spectators and promotes the pro racers of today. Playa Central´s Kiteracing Enduro Month will be a chance for optimized trainning, allow people to receive instruction for specific areas of their kiteracing, let the industry more familiar with the hands on experience that beginner racers face when getting started with the discipline, and it provide a real time testing ground for R&D with gear designers and their team riders all at the same beach.

The enduro month will be Feb 1st-28th, and will be twenty eight days of #kiteracing, clinics, yoga, racing drills, and fun. Racers can register for a month or week at a time, yet we will keep score of the total race points of the whole month and have an Enduro champion. Playa Central will run one evening race every day, and a regatta on Fridays with hopefully 5 starts, weather permitting. After the Friday races there will be a small awards ceremony for each week at the Playa Central wood oven restaurant bar and there will be soft goods as prizes for both men and women. Twice a week we will have a short clinic on gear, and another on tactics and skills, both which will be included with the enrollment, as wel as morning yoga classes for all racers. The idea is to be one stop kiteracing training center for international and national riders, covering all areas, including raceboard storage, at a low price.




This 2014 Kiteracing Enduro Month has been inspired by ASV Performance Kites, Rista Fins, Aguera Boards, Adam Withington, Adam Koch, to name a few companies and pro racers who have been using La Ventana as their training grounds and as R&D hot spot. The fact that lots of other pro racers, like John and Erika Heineken, Bryan Lake, Joey Pasquali, Jessica Sikinger, Brian Kender, Sean Farley Gomez, Cynthia Brown and Julien Kernuer have also spent weeks and months in and out of Baja for regattas, R&D and training has promoted La Ventana as a kiteracing spot, and made it a place where people can go and race and most likely be lining up next to the best in the world.



 We expect to see American and international teams of kiteracers come down for the whole month, and train here because it will be inexpensive living, valuable training, and fun networking. Beginner racers mainly from the West Coast, as well as other places will seek out one of two weeks of the Enduro Month and get the most concentrated practice time they can get, or if they can work it out, we would hope to see beginners commit to the whole month. We also would like to invite kite companies and their team riders to base out of Playa Central for the month, and really take advantage of the casual, yet high level of the kiteracing that will be going on.

During the enduro month we will have some options for kiteracers who would like one on one instruction, or who would like to work on specific areas like tacks, jibes, starts, etc, that can be purchased while in La Ventana. If there is a beginner racer who still needs to have the gear set up, we can order race kites and a race board for them before the Enduro Month, or they can demo some gear here and decide what works best.

The sponsors for the event will be kiteracing brands, sunglass and head wear, sports magazines, and will only be sponsoring with products and cross promotion though social media and websites. The sponsors´ logos will be on all official posters, bands, T-shirts, and will donate the prizes for the Friday regatta awards every week. We would like to thank our friends and sponsors who are already onboard, and invite other companies who are interested to jump on soon. Thank you to ASV Performance kites, Rista Fins, Kitesurfing Planet, Pacific Paddle, Weendy (wind app), Aguera Boards and our staff at Playa Central. To be involved as a sponsor please e-mail jessica@playacentralkiteboarding.com. Thank you!

Adam Koch Riding ASV Kites after Testing Gear La Ventana, Baja

Adam Koch, an American pro kite racer makes his switch to the ASV Performance kiteboarding team after testing the kites with Paolo Rista and Simone Vanucci in La Ventana. In the past few years, La Ventana has become a place for pro kiters, kite designers, kite brand owners, magazine editors and people who are new to the sport to spend time testing gear, sharing and trying new kite tactics, and giving feedback to each other. Today, Adam Koch, an American pro-kiteracer and former world kiterboard racing champion, has endorsed ASV Performance kites by claiming them as his official kites after giving them a thorough test. During this season, Playa Central Kiteboarding in La Ventana became one of the R&D and networking centers for the kiteracing industry, attracting international kite racers and gear designers from Hawaii and U.S.A., Italy, Mexico, Canada and others.

The occasion of having Paolo Rista from Rista Fins, Simone Vanucci from ASV Performance, and Adam Koch, a pro-kite racer, kite racing together here in Baja lead to valuable time for their gear testing, tuning, and optimal riding for Adam Koch. Paolo Rista is owner/shaper of RistaFins, who works with Adam Koch to provide him with custom fins for his board and kite choices. Besides this trio of kiters, riders like Joey Pasquali (ASV), Brian Kender (Cabrinha), Johnny Heineken (Ozone), Bryan Lake (Cabrinha), Adam Withington (ASV), Catherine Darfur (Ozone), Nuria Goma (Ozone), Cynthia Brown (Ozone, Simone Vanuci (ASV), Alex Aguera (Aguera) and more top riders race at Playa Central and can test their performance in real time and with the right people. 

We interviewed Adam Koch about his decision to ride ASV Performance kites and what looks to be the main reason is that he can now work with a company that focuses all of their resources on kiteracing, and believes this approach already has lead to a quality performance kite that has helped Adam "go faster than he ever has before". Offering an easy platform for kiters who are just getting into kite racing will be a catalyst for riders who are on the edge of making a decision on buying the right gear from the right company. A one-stop place that can sell "race ready set up" to the average rider is the key to promoting the sport and also to putting all your R&D to making the gear the best it can be for ktieracing.

Watch when Adam Koch gets interviewed by Jessica Withington in La Ventana, 

at Playa Central, the place to race. 

Playa Central sells ASV Performance Kites and will have the ASV race boards and race kites available for demo in October 2013, to start out the next kiteboarding season. La Ventana is also a prime spot where people can try racing, as well as where new kite racers will vacation at for weeks or months at time to train and get better at kiteracing. For February 2014 Playa Central and ASV Performance will host  a one month kite race training schedule with races, clinics with pro riders including Adam Koch, morning and evening yoga, daily races, and an overall end of the month kiteracing tournament. If you are a racer or are going to get into kiteracing, make sure to be here in February. To keep updates with the latest on kiteracing in Baja, follow Playa Central´s blog. 

For information on racing, lodging, kite lessons or more, please visit our website. Playa Central is happy to see the kiteracing industry growing at such a great pace and are here to help new racers put on regattas, tournaments, and clincs. You can also book your kiteracing clinic with Adam Koch for February 2014, and more info on the enduro training month my e-mailing us directly. Thank you! 

Salsa Lessons at Playa Central in La Ventana, Baja!

Salsa is one of the most fun and popular dances people want to learn, and you can take free lessons in La Ventana every Tuesday at Playa Central.  Jessica from Playa Central and special instructor guests give a free lesson from 7:00- 8:00 PM on Tuesdays every week for beginners, and the class stays til after 9:00 PM dancing and practicing together. We´ve learned that having a margarita before the class seams to be a good idea to losen up and sometimes there is definitely a salsa party that gets started after the lesson.  

Here we have Jessica and Matt, dancing salsa in January 2013 as a promotion of their Tuesday Salsa Nights. 

You can come single or with a partner, we will have someone for you to dance with and people will often switch partners to improve on their salsa skills. 

A cool thing about the lesson is you can come alone and meet people; you can bring a partner and switch a few times during the lesson; or come with a group of friends. With just one lesson you can go from someone who has never danced salsa before and has no clue how to, to someone who can do the basics and be able to carry on a salsa dance next time. Sometimes really good salsa dancers who happen to be vacationing in La Ventana will come to the Tuesday class and share their time by teaching advanced steps to the class. After the one hour of lessons the class becomes a dance floor where people dance and help eachother improve their salsa moves. 

Jessica and Walid teaching variations of the basic salsa step to make sure first timers can start having fun immediately. 

Maybe this will help you dance salsa, this is Jessica´s best description of how to do the basic salsa dance, or you can watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDODx6qVuRg

* Small step forward with left foot, slight heal lift in place with the right foot, then bring left back next to your right foot. (Count to this would be 1, 2, 3) .
* Now you step the right foot back, slight heal lift in place with the left foot, then bring the right foot back next to your left foot. (Count 5, 6, 7)
* Notice that the 4 and the 8 are not mentioned above, that is because it is just a slight pause.

Playa Central will bring big salsa orchestras to play live music for the town. Azucar!!

 Once everyone can do the basic steps and turns, then Jessica goes into practicing with music and switching partners. At the end of the lesson they always teach a semi-advanced move to teach the regulars who are ready for a new move. Nowadays you will notice that there are a lot more salsa dancers on the dance floor at parties in La Ventana. Another great thing is that this Tuesday Salsa class gives Jessica and Playa Central a good excuse to throw salsa parties a few times a year for all the salseros in town! 

Everybody is welcome to get up and dance to the live salsa music! 

Let us tell you, some live salsa music, margaritas, and a few salseros can transform any room! Now we now!

Hope you get to come to one of our free salsa lessons. We would like to also recognize the Secret Salsa Society (or Not So Secret Salsa Society) from White Salmon, W.A., as well as the Hood River, O.R. area for the way they have started cultivating a dancing community in their active town. Jessica never misses their Wednesday Salsa nights while she is in Hood River during summer vacations and would like to thank the society for inspiring this movement at Playa Central and La Ventana. Check them out if you are in the area too! For contact or more info you can visit www.playacentralkiteboarding.com or our facebook page www.facebook.com/PlayaCentralKiteboarding

Baja Yoga, the "Mejor Que Nada" kiteboarding stretches in La Ventana

If you walk or stand up paddle by Playa Central in the mornings this season you will see our "Mejor Que Nada" kiteboarding yoga stretches happening on our front lawn. There are anywhere from 5-25 people who are here to stretch out their bodies and get ready for another day on the water. The whole routine is 20 minutes of basic stretches that help people kite board safely and better that day. When you are in La Ventana next time, drop by Playa Central and ask about the "Mejor Que Nada" yoga in the mornings.

The "Mejor Que Nada" starts with the typical morning squat that in past decades we have pretty much stopped doing regularly every day and through out the day in the Western World. 

Joyus Avait and Achintya Miranda Seeton are kiteboarders who take care of their bodies by stretching every day, strengthening through yoga and eating well. A special thanks to both of them who have started the Mejor Que Nada this year. 

Lots of the stretches are soft and easy to remember so you can take it home with you! 

Scapula and shoulder stretches. If these kiters crash in the water and stick their arm out and have it pulled back by the water, they wil be happy they did the Mejor Que Nada that day!

Our friends and fellow kiters, Achintya and Joyous, who are from California and spend time kiteboarding in La Ventana decided to share their morning stretching with other kiters in the bay. They came up with this 20 minute basic routine that really gets you going and helps your circulation, flexibility, and may prevent injuries throughout one´s active watersport-filled Baja lives. For Achintya and Joyus´ 2013 New Year´s resolution they decided to promote their daily stretching as a way of better health and better kiteboarding Since January 1st we have gathered on Playa Central´s front lawn every morning for the "Mejor Que Nada" daily free yoga session.

The balance pose, ground your leg on the floor and grab the inside of the other foot. Kick out and then lean forward focusing on something that is not moving. 

I think pretty much everybody can manage to do a 30 second meditation after some heated stretching. 

If you watch closely you can see the wind line coming closer! 

This season Joyus and Achintya have been leading the morning session, but their goal is to get enough people into doing it every day so that it will get momentum of its own and eventually be able to be lead by other people who have learned it and might want to pay it forward. You can also do your own "Mejor Que Nada" by checking out Joyous´ video of the routine.  The stretch session is free for everyone and is short enough to be able to fit into your every day. We hope to see you here on your next visit to La Ventana.


 For more information you can contact us at Playa Central or just stop by. Follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/PlayaCentralKiteboarding for the lattest updates or check out our website www.playacentralkiteboarding.com for more. Hope to see you at the Mejor Que Nada. Namaste!