Airbossworld Basic Powerkite Course

This is a review of an introductory course I did recently at Airbossworld Powerkite School at The Airfield, Prestwold Lane, Hoton, Leicestershire. I did the course along with a mate of mine – as we both wanted to get into power kiting but had never done any kite flying what so ever and not being able to bounce as well as I used to thought it best to learn from a pro rather than from the school of hard knocks!

The Airboss website describes the course as:

Basic Powerkite Course

Never flown a four-line powerkite before? Then this is the powerkite lesson for you - teaching the very basics of flying four line kites, with kite control tips and safety points. The end of the day see's you having total control of the powerkite in all conditions and situations from unpacking to pack down - all Powerkiting Equipment Supplied.

We went not really knowing what to expect – the site a Hoton is fantastic. It’s a great big airfield with great facilities. There is a great shop where you have to be extremely disciplined not to come away with a boot-full of kit and a huge credit card bill. The staff there really know their onions – they also know a huge amount about kiting too!!

From the start everyone was really welcoming and all the staff are very experienced kiters – but not in the least bit intimidating. We did the course with about 5 other people; our instructor put us all at ease, as we were all a little apprehensive. After a bit of input from the instructor in the classroom we got out onto the airfield. We took a selection of kites and were shown how unpack a kite safely and the pro’s and con’s of different ways of unpacking. We then learnt about the different parts of the kite and what they did. Then after a demo we got our hands on the kites!

What a buzz! Our instructor got us to concentrate on flying the kite in different areas of the wind window, practicing launching and landing from different areas of the window. All along the instructor gave us little pointers on how to improve our technique and we were coached on reverse launching – further improving our enjoyment. We changed over to different kites throughout the morning – the unfortunately we had to stop to eat our lunch – though the learning didn’t stop as we discussed all different aspects of kiting including insurance plus at Horton you can roll up, check in and fly your kite – Thus we got to see some de-powerables, landboards, buggies and LEI’s.

After lunch the wind had dropped slightly so we took out some larger kites to supplement the smaller kites. This was great as we got to see more styles of kite and to see the effect that different size kite have, thus you get an idea of what make of kites suited us most. Towards the end of the day we also a go in a buggy to which was a giggle. Throughout the day all our questions were answered

Overall this was a fantastic day and I would totally recommend this course to anyone who wants to get into kiting. I will be going back once I have some airtime under my belt to do the landboarding course.