Wherever you go, you should learn by a certified instructor so you can get an IKO card saying you are certified. That will enable you to rent equipment anywhere in the world after that...particularly in the USA.
The standard course is nine hours long and is usually taught over a three-day period. The first day consists a familiarizing you with the equipment and the safety features. Then you go on the beach and start with a training kite to start to learn muscle memory and get a feeling of how the wind affects the kite and what to do to move the kite left to right and etc. Then you will get a small regular kite after that to practice with.
Second day you will get a small regular kite and practice with that and by the end of the day you will be in the water getting dragged and learning how to get the kite back in the air after it has crashed into the water.
Third day you will learn how to get up on the board and then turn around and come back to shore.
Proper instruction is super important because of the safety factor and because you don't want to learn improper techniques that will make it hard for you to get better in the future. Just like golf, if you learn the right way at the beginning you can achieve a low handicap with practice, but if you learn the wrong technique, you will be forever struggling to get better after achieving a certain level. Also, this is an extreme sport. Safety has to be learned by muscle memory so you can get out of trouble instantly...without thinking.
We had a girl, non guest, hanging out at our bar a couple months ago. She started talking to a local Dominican beach bum that knew how to kite. Rather than pay the regular fee for learning, she went with him at half the price. He had the wrong equipment, did not teach her properly and she did not know how to save herself when things went wrong. She ended up spending the night in the hospital because
the kite carried her over the shore and into a masonry wall. The rest of her time in the DR was spent in crutches and for two days she was dizzy because she also had a concussion.
My advice is to suck up the expense and learn the proper way. When you stop at my place I will introduce you to the school that teaches the teachers.
If you want to buy anything before hand, but some water shades (sun glasses) and water shirts. Nothing is essential. Equipment can be a bit expensive, so you really don't want to buy too much beforehand as your preferences for equipment and etc. may change after you learn.
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