One of the most frequently asked questions in kite surfing is which kite to buy as a beginner. Terms like bow and delta kites may mean little to you. Instead of delving into all the details, we’ll simply show you the best model to start with for each brand.
Depending on your progression, you can have at least two seasons of fun with it, and even much longer if you’re not extremely advanced! You can also use this overview to search for the best beginner models on second-hand websites.
The kites we review below score high on easy relaunching when your kite falls into the water, how well the kite stays in the air without requiring much effort from you, forgiveness, number of struts, bar pressure while riding, and how easy the kite makes your hobby everywhere.
Of course, as a beginner, you could also buy a big air kite right away. But that will surely hinder your progression at first, so we wouldn’t recommend it.
We think that the Duotone Evo SLS is the best all-around and also the best kite for beginners on the market. The kite is so good that you can start with it and also progress with the same kite if you’re ready to go for high jumps or freestyle tricks, or even if you want to try your first foil sessions.
This kite stays in the air with very low winds and is the easiest kite to relaunch, thanks to the light and strong SLS material.
If you passed the beginner fase and want a kite which excels in every field, we considered the D/Lab to be the best all round kite in 2023. But since it’s so light, we believe it’s too fast for beginners. If you’ve been kiting for a while, we think that should be your kite of choice, assuming your budget allows it.
But on another note, all of the kites mentioned above are excellent beginner kites! All of these brands have designed them to be their top kite for all-around use, and they will give you an amazing time on the water!
For beginners North Reach is the number two out of our test. The kite does it all. A bit less light than the Duotone Evo SLS, which is no problem at all since you don’t want to be too quick in the beginning. The quicker the kite, the bigger the change you would send yourself into an hard crash.
The great part about all of our tested kites is that you can start with them and grow together with those kites in the meanwhile. You could easily ride them for five years, before you would change them for an other model, which would boost you even more. But after two years, you will probably make the step to a new big air kite. But as said, we don’t recommend that to a beginner.
If you look for a new or a second hand kite, it’s most important to look for a three strut kite. Struts are the tubes on the kite self. A Big air kite usually has five struts, which gives it a lot of power, but also make is slower and harder to ride.
The three strut models are faster and more enjoyable to ride. Besides that it’s important to figure out if the kite is one of the models out of our test. Since those are all made for beginners / overall use.
Fluid, Ventum, Harlem are all brands that focus on cheap kites. They save money on smaller teams, marketing budget, R&D but still use the same factories as the big guys. But also even provide you with good service. We would definitly recommand you to get started on some of those kites if you don’t want to get started on the second hand market.