Let me start by being blatantly honest.  This winter was not great for wind.  We had brief episodes of wind here and there but you had to go searching for it.  Our normal steady, constant trade wind pattern was replaced by what seemed to be an endless supply of Kona wind storm fronts.  If you are a competent kiter and had a full range of kites and boards you could have driven around the island to eventually find wind somewhere but rarely on the North Shore.  That being said the waves were pumping all winter long so if you are a surfer then you really had a wonderful winter.

Well the seasons have changed.  The wave sets out the back are barely visible and have been replaced with endless whitecaps.  Yep you heard right, the wind is back!  For the past month we have had a ton of great wind days and some of the best possible teaching/learning conditions.  I am very lucky to have such a large pool of returning students and referral clients.  Sometimes its overwhelming to try to fit everyone in but it normally works out.

Learning to kiteboard takes a solid commitment.  If you have two solid weeks of good wind you should be able to go from a complete novice to a competent independent rider.  That means nothing to perhaps your first jumps.  Many of you do not have that long of a vacation or if you did the wind might have been cooperating the entire time.  So think of learning to kiteboard as a journey and an investment.  It can take a couple trips to your favorite kiting destination to figure this sport out but it is well worth the effort.

I have basically lived and breathed kiteboarding everyday for the past 5 years.  And I started to look elsewhere to sports like surfing and skateboarding to find something new and exciting.  Surfing is awesome and will be part of my winter offseason from now on, and skateboarding the park bowl is super fun but the ground hurts.  It took a long winter of no wind to remember how much I love kiteboarding and how much I really love teaching kiteboarding.  I am a jack of all trades yet master of none.  Kiting is where I am at my best but even within kiteboarding there is a huge range of disciplines such as surf, freestyle, wakestyle, racing, hydrofoiling, fishing, strapless freestyle, etc.  And I do them all, so then again I can only manage to be a jack of all trades and never the best.  I like it that way, keeps me wanting more.  Wanting to learn the next trick.  And there is always another trick.

So until we meet again, Ill be on the beach teaching or on the water learning something new for myself.  And just if you need to hear it again – THE WIND IS BACK!