Zero to Hero: Beginner Kite Camp

Trip Highlights

"If you are serious about “learning” to kiteboard you need the best instruction available and “REAL” is the best in the world – experienced, friendly coaches make you feel welcome, two students to one coach with a waverunner insures quick progress, and you can’t beat Cape Hatteras – warm water that’s 4 ft deep for as far as the eye can see." - Ken Walsh, Steamboat Springs, CO We’re very proud to announce that Matt Nuzzo and Trip Forman were named among the “Top 10 Most Influential People in the History of Kiteboarding” by Kiteboarding Magazine. Zero to Hero Camp: The Zero to Hero Kite Camp takes you from an absolute beginner to a self-sufficient kiteboarder! Our camp allows you to become fully immersed in kiteboarding for three full days with some of the best rider-coaches in the world. We’ve proved that back to back instructional days are the fastest way to become a kiteboarder and our Zero to Hero Camp provides complete beginners with the skills, knowledge and gear they need to become self-sufficient riders!! Zero to Hero breaks down the sport of kiteboarding into the digestible parts of flying the kite and riding the board. Once you have mastered both skills you combine them and become a kiteboarder!! You'll learn everything about the kite - how to rig it, fly it, launch it, land it, self-rescue, re-launch it from the water, power it up, depower it, how the safety systems work and how to fix your kite if it breaks or rips. After our certified REAL Coaches get you dialed in, we take you to the water for some serious riding! In the water, body drags come first, and then you will move right into your first board starts. Once you're up on the board, let 'er rip because there's no walking upwind in this camp! Goals of the Camp: The ultimate goal of our Zero to Hero Camp is for you to become a kiteboarder!! In order to get you there, we’ve developed a well thought out plan for each camp that will make you a safe, self-sufficient rider. Self-sufficiency means that upon completion of the camp, graduates will always be able to practice the skills learned on their own. Students are thus able to confidently acquire valuable time on the water once their lessons are complete – a key element to becoming a successful kiteboarder. Zero to Hero divides kiteboarding into 5 separate goals that we’ll focus on during each of your camp sessions. Essentially, these include; flying the kite, riding the board and learning all the information involved to keep you safe and get you ripping!! Kiteboarding is not only the ability to ride well, but also the ability to ride safely and conduct yourself properly on land and water. This camp addresses all three topics and sends you home with the skills you need to keep progressing!

Price Details

Price

From: USD1995 per person (3 Days)

Price Includes

Price Excludes

Itinerary

Kite School Revolutionaries

As the inventors of REAL Kiteboarding’s kite camp, a destination-based learn-to-kite experience, Matt Nuzzo and Trip Forman have made kiting accessible to the masses since 2001. They made it easy enough even for Matt Lauer from the Today Show to learn how to kiteboard, and their school has taught the sport to over 32,000 others as well. Before REAL Kiteboarding, many instructors sent newbies on the water by themselves, sometimes with a waterproof walkie-talkie, if they were lucky. “We created ‘on-the-fly’ coaching to use personal watercraft as a teaching tool so instructors can be with students 100 percent of the time and make the experience as fun and as safe as possible,“ says Nuzzo. The approach earned REAL Outside magazine’s “Top 10 Adventure Camps in the World” distinction in 2004. Ever since, they’ve been helping turn an extreme sport into a mainstream activity.

Student to Coach Ratio & PWCs: The student to coach ratio for all REAL Kite Camps is 2 students to 1 coach. All coaches are fully equipped with a personal watercraft for "On the Fly" coaching. The maximum camp size is ten students with five coaches. This allows the group to meet each morning and afternoon in a manageable size for group topics and then break up into self-sufficient "pods" on the water.

What to Expect: The Zero to Hero Kite Camp runs from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday every week from March - November at our Cape Hatteras location. Students are expected to check in at the REAL Lesson Center in Waves at 9:30 am sharp every morning.

Your camp runs six hours a day for three days and is taught by some of the best rider-coaches in the world. Full immersion with these coaches means that you’ll leave with skills, knowledge, gear and a plan that will allow you to quickly progress to the next level.

Included in the price of the camp is access to REAL's massive rental fleet of kites and boards. We have over 150 kites and 100 boards available for all students in Kite Camp. All of our equipment is the latest gear on the market and is yours to use during the duration of your Kite Camp.

Wetsuits are needed for the fringe months of the season, so if you have one, bring it with you. Booties are required for all students in Kite Camp. Protect those feet!

All REAL Coaches teach from a personal watercraft, and they follow you downwind as your board skills and confidence increase at a rapid rate. REAL Kiteboarding was the first to develop this "On the Fly" coaching technique in 1998, and we have perfected it since then.

Daily Activities: In your camp, we’ll get you comfortable flying the kite on land and progress quickly into using the kite to control your direction and movement in the water. Next we provide you with the knowledge you need to put your board on and get up and riding! Once you're up on the board, let 'er rip because there's no walking upwind in this camp! Daily activities will be selected by your coach based on the given weather conditions for the day. See below for a typical camp activity outline.

Day 1 consists of learning basic foil and inflatable kite skills on the beach in the morning and then moves into the water for the afternoon.

Day 2 and 3 build off of the skills that were learned in the first day and the curriculum is dictated by the conditions. When the wind is blowing, you’ll be on the water with the kite and the board, and when it’s glassy you’ll be building your board skills on kiteboards or wakeskates behind our PWC’s. We also have a gear tech and knowledge base development section known as Life of a Kiter that provides you with all the knowledge that beginner kiteboarders need to know such as bar tuning, right of way and basic kite maintenance.

Other specific camp topics include; kite flying, launching/landing, body dragging upwind/downwind, water relaunching, self-rescue techniques, kite tuning, boardstarts and more!

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