Kiteboarding for Everyone
If you have been admiring kiteboarding from afar, David Dorn says it’s time to try it yourself.
Dorn is the owner of Action Sports Maui and has been teaching kiteboarding since 1997. Back then, he says, “It was more of an extreme sport with a radical reputation and, now, with our safe teaching techniques, it’s open to a wide demographic. It can be extreme, but it can also be a weekend sport for the whole family.”
Kiteboarding is “essentially two sports in one: You’re riding the board and sailing,” he says. “If you can ride a surfboard or skateboard, you’re that much closer, and then you need kite-flying skills. Kite flying is 80 percent of the skills and riding a board is 20.”
Action Sports Maui offers two-and-half-hour private introductory classes and more advanced three- to 10-day courses. “In the old days, you used to take a licking to learn. Today the learning process can be fun. Anyone willing to put in the time will get it. And it’s so worth it, it’s ridiculous! It’s a little like being Superman, where you have periods of flying.”
